Search results for: miRNA:mRNA target prediction

Authors: Teerapon Pirom, Ura Pancharoen

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Amoxicillin is an antibiotic which is widely used to treat various infections in both human beings and animals. However, when amoxicillin is released into the environment, it is a major problem. Amoxicillin causes bacterial resistance to these drugs and failure of treatment with antibiotics. Liquid membrane is of great interest as a promising method for the separation and recovery of the target ions from aqueous solutions due to the use of carriers for the transport mechanism, resulting in highly selectivity and rapid transportation of the desired metal ions. The simultaneous processes of extraction and stripping in a single unit operation of liquid membrane system are very interesting. Therefore, it is practical to apply liquid membrane, particularly the HFSLM for industrial applications as HFSLM is proved to be a separation process with lower capital and operating costs, low energy and extractant with long life time, high selectivity and high fluxes compared with solid membranes. It is a simple design amenable to scaling up for industrial applications. The extraction and recovery for (Amoxicillin) through the hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) using aliquat336 as a carrier were explored with the experimental data. The important variables affecting on transport of amoxicillin viz. extractant concentration and operating time were investigated. The highest AMOX- extraction percentages of 85.35 and Amoxicillin stripping of 80.04 were achieved with the best condition at 6 mmol/L [aliquat336] and operating time 100 min. The extraction reaction order (n) and the extraction reaction rate constant (kf) were found to be 1.00 and 0.0344 min-1, respectively.

Keywords: aliquat336, amoxicillin, HFSLM, kinetic

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Authors: Fatima Ghassan Al-Abtah, Naser Al-Huniti, Elsadig Mahdi

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As the lightest constructional metal on earth, magnesium alloys offer excellent potential for weight reduction in the transportation industry, and it was observed that some magnesium alloys exhibit superior ductility and superplastic behavior at high temperatures. The main limitation of the superplastic forming (SPF) includes the low production rate since it needs a long forming time for each part. Through this study, an SPF process that starts with a mechanical pre-forming stage is developed to promote formability and reduce forming time. A two-dimensional finite element model is used to simulate the process. The forming process consists of two steps. At the pre-forming step (deep drawing), the sheet is drawn into the die to a preselected level, using a mechanical punch, and at the second step (SPF) a pressurized gas is applied at a controlled rate. It is shown that a significant reduction in forming time and improved final thickness uniformity can be achieved when the hybrid forming technique is used, where the process achieved a fully formed part at 400°C. Investigation for the impact of different forming process parameters achieved by comparing forming time and the distribution of final thickness that were obtained from the simulation analysis. Maximum thinning decreased from over 67% to less than 55% and forming time significantly decreased by more than 6 minutes, and the required gas pressure profile was predicted for optimum forming process parameters based on the 0.001/sec target constant strain rate within the sheet.

Keywords: magnesium, plasticity, superplastic forming, finite element analysis

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Authors: Indira Kothalanka

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For individuals born with a cleft palate (CP), there is no separation between the nasal cavity and the oral cavity, due to which they cannot build up enough air pressure in the mouth for speech. Therefore, it is common for them to have speech problems. Common cleft type speech errors include abnormal articulation (compensatory or obligatory) and abnormal resonance (hyper, hypo and mixed nasality). These are generally resolved after palate repair. However, in some individuals, articulation problems do persist even after the palate repair. Such individuals develop variant articulations in an attempt to compensate for the inability to produce the target phonemes. A spectrographic analysis is used to investigate the compensatory articulatory behaviours of pressure consonants in the speech of 10 Telugu speaking individuals aged between 7-17 years with a history of cleft palate. Telugu is a Dravidian language which is spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in India. It is a language with the third largest number of native speakers in India and the most spoken Dravidian language. The speech of the informants is analysed using single word list, sentences, passage and conversation. Spectrographic analysis is carried out using PRAAT, speech analysis software. The place and manner of articulation of consonant sounds is studied through spectrograms with the help of various acoustic cues. The types of compensatory articulation identified are glottal stops, palatal stops, uvular, velar stops and nasal fricatives which are non-native in Telugu.

Keywords: cleft palate, compensatory articulation, spectrographic analysis, PRAAT

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Authors: Shafait Hussain Ali

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Since its outbreak in China, the Covid_19 19 disease has been caused by the corona virus SARS N coyote 2. Italy was the first Western country to be severely affected, and the first country to take drastic measures to control the disease. In start of December 2019, the sudden outbreaks of the Coronary Virus Disease was caused by a new Corona 2 virus (SARS-CO2) of acute respiratory syndrome in china city Wuhan. The World Health Organization declared the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020,. On February 14, 2020, 49,053 laboratory-confirmed deaths and 1481 deaths have been reported worldwide. The threat of the disease has forced most of the governments to implement various control measures. Therefore it becomes necessary to analyze the Italian data very carefully, in particular to investigates and to find out the present condition and the number of infected persons in the form of positive cases, death, hospitalized or some other features of infected persons will clear in simple form. So used such a model that will clearly shows the real facts and figures and also understandable to every readable person which can get some real benefit after reading it. The model used must includes(total positive cases, current positive cases, hospitalized patients, death, recovered peoples frequency rates ) all features that explains and clear the wide range facts in very simple form and helpful to administration of that country.

Keywords: machine learning tools and techniques, rapid miner tool, Naive-Bayes algorithm, predictions

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Authors: Renáta Nagy, Alexandra Csongor, Jon Marquette, Vilmos Warta

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The presentation aims at eliciting insight into the results of ongoing research regarding evolving trends and attitudes towards online assessment of English for Medical Purposes. The focus pinpointsonline as one of the most trending formsavailable during the global pandemic. The study was first initiated in 2019 in which its main target was to reveal the intriguing question of students’ and assessors’ attitudes towards online assessment. The research questions the attitudes towards the latest trends, possible online task types, their advantagesand disadvantages through an in-depth experimental process currently undergoing implementation. Material and methods include surveys, needs and wants analysis, and thorough investigations regarding candidates’ and assessors’ attitudes towards online tests in the field of Medicine. The examined test tasks include various online tests drafted in both English and Hungarian by student volunteers at the Medical School of the University of Pécs, Hungary. Over 400 respondents from more than 28 countries participated in the survey, which gives us an international and intercultural insight into how students with different cultural and educational background deal with the evolving online world. The results show the pandemic’s impact, which brought the slumbering online world of assessing roaring alive, fully operational andnowbearsphenomenalrelevancein today’s global education. Undeniably, the results can be used as a perspective in a vast array of contents. The survey hypothesized the generation of the 21st century expect everything readily available online, however, questions whether they are ready for this challenge are lurking in the background.

Keywords: assessment, changes, english, ESP, online assessment, online, trends

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Authors: Naseer Iqbal, Mukesh Kumar, Pradeep Sharma, Satya Prakash Yadav, Punit Kaur, Sujata Sharma, T. P. Singh

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Dehydroquinase (3-dehydroquinate dehydratase, DHQD, EC 4.2.1.10) is involved in shikimate pathway and catalyzes the conversion of dehydroquinate to dehydroshikimate. Shikimate pathway is important drug target as this pathway is absent in mammals. DHQD from Acinetobacter baumannii (AbDHQD) was cloned, expressed and purified to homogeneity. The binding studies showed that compounds quinic acid and citrazinic acid bound to AbDHQD at micromolar concentrations. AbDHQD was crystallized using 30% PEG-3350, 50mM tris-HCl, and 1.0M MgSO4 at PH 8.0. Crystals of AbDHQD were stabilized by transferring them into reservoir solution to which 25% glycerol was added for data collection at 100K. The X-ray intensity data were collected to 2.0Å resolution. The crystals belong to monoclinic space group P21 with cell dimensions, a = 82.3, b = 95.3, c = 132.3Å and β = 95.7°. The structure was solved with molecular replacement method and refined to Rcryst/Rfree factors of 0.200/0.232. The structures of 12 crystallographically independent molecules in the asymmetry unit were identical with r.m.s shifts for the C atoms ranging from 0.3 Å to 0.8 Å. They formed a dodecamer with four trimers arranged in a tetrahedral manner. The classical lid adopted an open conformation although a sulfate ion was observed in the substrate binding site. As a result of which, the compounds quinic acid and citrazinic acid did not bind to AbDHQD.

Keywords: acinetobacter Bauman Nii, dehydroquinate dehydratase, dodecamer, open conformation

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Authors: Ilya B. Tsyrlov, Dmitry Y. Oshchepkov

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A computational search for dioxin response elements (DREs) in genes of proteins comprising the Ah receptor (AhR) cytosolic core complex was performed by highly efficient tool SITECON. Eventually, the following number of new DREs in 5’flanking region was detected by SITECON: one in AHR gene, five in XAP2, eight in HSP90AA1, and three in HSP90AB1 genes. Numerous DREs found in genes of AhR and AhR cytosolic complex members would shed a light on potential mechanisms of expression, the stoichiometry of unliganded AhR core complex, and its degradation vs biosynthesis dynamics resulted from treatment of target cells with the AhR most potent ligand, 2,3,7,8-TCDD. With human viruses, reduced susceptibility to TCDD of geneencoding HIV-1 P247 was justified by the only potential DRE determined in gag gene encoding HIV-1 P24 protein, whereas the regulatory region of CMV genes encoding IE gp/UL37 has five potent DRE, 1.65 kb/UL36 – six DRE, pp65 and pp71 – each has seven DRE, and pp150 – ten DRE. Also, from six to eight DRE were determined with SITECON in the regulatory region of HSV-1 IE genes encoding tegument proteins, UL36 and UL37, and of UL19 gene encoding bindingglycoprotein C (gC). So, TCDD in the low picomolar range may activate in human cells AhR: Arnt transcription pathway that triggers CMV and HSV-1 reactivation by binding to numerous promoter DRE within immediate-early (IE) genes UL37 and UL36, thus committing virus to the lytic cycle.

Keywords: dioxin response elements, Ah receptor, AhR: Arnt transcription pathway, human and viral genes

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Authors: Alexander G. Yushchenko

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From a multi-science point of view, we analyze threats to security resulting from globalization of international information space and information and communication aggression of Russia. A definition of Ruschism is formulated as an ideology supporting aggressive actions of modern Russia against the Euro-Atlantic community. Stages of the hybrid war Russia is leading against Ukraine are described, including the elements of subversive activity of the special services, the activation of the military phase and the gradual shift of the focus of confrontation to the realm of information and communication technologies. We reveal an emergence of a threat for democratic states resulting from the destabilizing impact of a target state’s mass media and social networks being exploited by Russian secret services under freedom-of-speech disguise. Thus, we underline the vulnerability of cyber- and information security of the network society in regard of hybrid war. We propose to define the latter a synergetic war. Our analysis is supported with a long-term qualitative monitoring of representation of top state officials on popular TV channels and Facebook. From the memetics point of view, we have detected a destructive psycho-information technology used by the Kremlin, a kind of information catastrophe, the essence of which is explained in detail. In the conclusion, a comprehensive plan for information protection of the public consciousness and mentality of Euro-Atlantic citizens from the aggression of the enemy is proposed.

Keywords: cyber and information security, hybrid war, psycho-information technology, synergetic war, Ruschism

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Authors: Ahmad Idris, Bishir Kado, Murtala Umar, Armaya`u Suleiman Labo

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Superpave is the short form of Superior Performing Asphalt Pavement and represents a basis for specifying component materials, asphalt mixture design and analysis, and pavement performance prediction. This new technology is the result of long research projects conducted by the strategic Highway Research program (SHRP) of the Federal Highway Administration. This research was aimed at examining the suitability of Aggregates found in Kano for used in Superpave design method. Aggregates samples were collected from different sources in Kano Nigeria and their Engineering properties, as they relate to the SUPERPAVE design requirements were determined. The average result of Coarse Aggregate Angularity in Kano was found to be 87% and 86% of one fractured face and two or more fractured faces respectively with a standard of 80% and 85% respectively. Fine Aggregate Angularity average result was found to be 47% with a requirement of 45% minimum. A flat and elongated particle which was found to be 10% has a maximum criterion of 10%. Sand equivalent was found to be 51% with the criteria of 45% minimum. Strength tests were also carried out, and the results reflect the requirements of the standards. The tests include Impact value test, Aggregate crushing value, and Aggregate Abrasion tests and the results are 27.5%, 26.7%, and 13%, respectively, with the maximum criteria of 30%. Specific gravity was also carried out and the result was found to have an average value of 2.52 with a criterion of 2.6 to 2.9 and Water absorption was found to be 1.41% with maximum criteria of 0.6%. From the study, the result of the tests indicated that the aggregates properties has met the requirements of Superpave design method based on the specifications of ASTMD 5821, ASTM D 4791, AASHTO T176, AASHTO T33 and BS815.

Keywords: Superpave, aggregates, asphalt mix, Kano

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Authors: Rida Akzar, Risti Permani, Wahida , Wendy Umberger

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Adoption of farm innovations may increase farm productivity, and therefore improve market access and farm incomes. However, most studies that look at the level and drivers of innovation adoption only focus on a specific type of innovation. Farmers may consider multiple innovation options, and constraints such as budget, environment, scarcity of labour supply, and the cost of learning. There have been some studies proposing different methods to combine a broad variety of innovations into a single measurable index. However, little has been done to compare these methods and assess whether they provide similar information about farmer segmentation by their ‘innovativeness’. Using data from a recent survey of 220 dairy farm households in West Java, Indonesia, this study compares and considers different methods of deriving an innovation index, including expert-weighted innovation index; an index derived from the total number of adopted technologies; and an index of the extent of adoption of innovation taking into account both adoption and disadoption of multiple innovations. Second, it examines the distribution of different farming systems taking into account their innovativeness and farm characteristics. Results from this study will inform policy makers and stakeholders in the dairy industry on how to better design, target and deliver programs to improve and encourage farm innovation, and therefore improve farm productivity and the performance of the dairy industry in Indonesia.

Keywords: adoption, dairy, household survey, innovation index, Indonesia, multiple innovations dairy, West Java

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Authors: Fharia Tilat Loba

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Studies show that there is a certain group of students who are more vulnerable to bullying due to their physical appearance, disability, sexual preference, race, and lack of social and behavioral skills. Students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are one of the most vulnerable groups among these at-risk groups. Researchers suggest that focusing on vulnerable groups of students who can be the target of bullying helps to understand the causes and patterns of aggression, which ultimately helps in structuring intervention programs to reduce bullying. Since Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, it has been committed to providing an inclusive, safe, and effective learning environment for all children. In addition, the 2005 Disability Standards for Education seeks to ensure that students with disabilities can access and participate in education on the same basis as other students, covering all aspects of education, including harassment and victimization. However, bullying hinders students’ ability to fully participate in schooling. The proposed study aims to synthesize the notions of traditional bullying and cyberbullying and attempts to understand the experiences of students with ASD who are experiencing bullying in their schools. The proposed study will primarily focus on identifying the gaps between policy and practice related to bullying, and it will also attempt to understand the experiences of parents of students with ASD and professionals who have experience dealing with bullying at the school level in Australia. This study is expected to contribute to the theoretical knowledge of the bullying phenomenon and provide a reference for advocacy at the school, organization, and government levels.

Keywords: education policy, bullying, Australia, neurodiversity

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Authors: Xiaoqing Wang, Junfeng Wang, Xiaolan Zhu

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Android operating system has been recognized by most application developers because of its good open-source and compatibility, which enriches the categories of applications greatly. However, it has become the target of malware attackers due to the lack of strict security supervision mechanisms, which leads to the rapid growth of malware, thus bringing serious safety hazards to users. Therefore, it is critical to detect Android malware effectively. Generally, the permissions declared in the AndroidManifest.xml can reflect the function and behavior of the application to a large extent. Since current Android system has not any restrictions to the number of permissions that an application can request, developers tend to apply more than actually needed permissions in order to ensure the successful running of the application, which results in the abuse of permissions. However, some traditional detection methods only consider the requested permissions and ignore whether it is actually used, which leads to incorrect identification of some malwares. Therefore, a machine learning detection method based on the actually used permissions combination and API calls was put forward in this paper. Meanwhile, several experiments are conducted to evaluate our methodology. The result shows that it can detect unknown malware effectively with higher true positive rate and accuracy while maintaining a low false positive rate. Consequently, the AdaboostM1 (J48) classification algorithm based on information gain feature selection algorithm has the best detection result, which can achieve an accuracy of 99.8%, a true positive rate of 99.6% and a lowest false positive rate of 0.

Keywords: android, API Calls, machine learning, permissions combination

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Authors: Kwok W. Mui, Ling T. Wong, Chi T. Cheung

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Cooling energy consumption in the residential sector, different from shopping mall, office or commercial buildings, is significantly subject to occupant decisions where in-depth investigations are found limited. It shows that energy consumptions could be associated with housing types. Surveys have been conducted in existing Hong Kong public housings to understand the housing characteristics, apartment electricity demands, occupant’s thermal expectations, and air–conditioning usage patterns for further cooling energy-saving assessments. The aim of this study is to develop a hybrid cooling energy prediction model, which integrated by EnergyPlus (EP) and artificial neural network (ANN) to estimate cooling energy consumption in public residential sector. Sensitivity tests are conducted to find out the energy impacts with changing building parameters regarding to external wall and window material selection, window size reduction, shading extension, building orientation and apartment size control respectively. Assessments are performed to investigate the relationships between cooling demands and occupant behavior on thermal environment criteria and air-conditioning operation patterns. The results are summarized into a cooling energy calculator for layman use to enhance the cooling energy saving awareness in their own living environment. The findings can be used as a directory framework for future cooling energy evaluation in residential buildings, especially focus on the occupant behavioral air–conditioning operation and criteria of energy-saving incentives.

Keywords: artificial neural network, cooling energy, occupant behavior, residential buildings, thermal environment

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Authors: N. K. Chougule, G. V. Parishwad

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The pin fin heat sink is a novel heat transfer device to transfer large amount of heat through with very small temperature differences and it also possesses large uniform cooling characteristics. Pin fins are widely used as elements that provide increased cooling for electronic devices. Increasing demands regarding the performance of such devices can be observed due to the increasing heat production density of electronic components. For this reason, extensive work is being carried out to select and optimize pin fin elements for increased heat transfer. In this paper, the effects of design parameters and the optimum design parameters for a Pin-Fin heat sink (PFHS) under multi-jet impingement case with thermal performance characteristics have been investigated by using Taguchi methodology based on the L9 orthogonal arrays. Various design parameters, such as pin-fin array size, gap between nozzle exit to impingement target surface (Z/d) and air velocity are explored by numerical experiment. The average convective heat transfer coefficient is considered as the thermal performance characteristics. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is applied to find the effect of each design parameter on the thermal performance characteristics. Then the results of confirmation test with the optimal level constitution of design parameters have obviously shown that this logic approach can effective in optimizing the PFHS with the thermal performance characteristics. The analysis of the Taguchi method reveals that, all the parameters mentioned above have equal contributions in the performance of heat sink efficiency. Experimental results are provided to validate the suitability of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Pin Fin Heat Sink (PFHS), Taguchi method, CFD, thermal performance

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Authors: A. V. Popa, C. Barna, V. Mihalache

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Being the largest port at the Black Sea and functioning as a civil and military nodal point between Europe and Asia, Constantza Port has become a potential target on the terrorist international agenda. The authors use qualitative research based on both face-to-face and online semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders (top decision-makers in the Romanian Naval Authority, Romanian Maritime Training Centre, National Company "Maritime Ports Administration" and military staff) in order to detect potential vulnerabilities which might be exploited by terrorists in the case of Constantza Port. Likewise, this will enable bringing together the experts’ opinions on potential mitigation measures. Subsequently, this paper formulates various counter-terrorism policies to enhance the robustness of Constantza Port under potential terror attacks and connects them with the attributions in the field of critical infrastructure protection conferred by the law to the lead national authority for preventing and countering terrorism, namely the Romanian Intelligence Service. Extending the national counterterrorism efforts to an international level, the authors propose the establishment – among the experts of the NATO member states of the Wider Black Sea Region – of a platform for the exchange of know-how and best practices in the field of critical infrastructure protection.

Keywords: Constantza Port, counter-terrorism policies, critical infrastructure protection, security, Wider Black Sea Region

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Authors: Yongseok Hong, Kurt Louis Solis

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In the present study, a hybrid sorbent using the metal organic framework (MOF), UiO-66, and powdered activated carbon (pAC) is synthesized to remove cationic and anionic metals simultaneously. UiO-66 is an octahedron-shaped MOF with a Zr₆O₄(OH)₄ metal node and 1,4-benzene dicarboxylic acid (BDC) organic linker. Zr-based MOFs are attractive for trace element remediation in wastewaters, because Zr is relatively non-toxic as compared to other classes of MOF and, therefore, it will not cause secondary pollution. Most remediation studies with UiO-66 target anions such as fluoride, but trace element oxyanions such as arsenic, selenium, and antimony have also been investigated. There have also been studies involving mercury removal by UiO-66 derivatives, however these require post-synthetic modifications or have lower effective surface areas. Activated carbon is known for being a readily available, well-studied, effective adsorbent for metal contaminants. Solvothermal method was employed to prepare hybrid sorbent from UiO66 and activated carbon, which could be used to remove mercury and selenium simultaneously. The hybrid sorbent was characterized using FSEM-EDS, FT-IR, XRD, and TGA. The results showed that UiO66 and activated carbon are successfully composited. From BET studies, the hybrid sorbent has a SBET of 1051 m² g⁻¹. Adsorption studies were performed, where the hybrid showed maximum adsorption of 204.63 mg g⁻¹ and 168 mg g⁻¹ for Hg (II) and selenite, respectively, and follows the Langmuir model for both species. Kinetics studies have revealed that the Hg uptake of the hybrid is pseudo-2nd order and has rate constant of 5.6E-05 g mg⁻¹ min⁻¹ and the selenite uptake follows the simplified Elovich model with α = 2.99 mg g⁻¹ min⁻¹, β = 0.032 g mg⁻¹.

Keywords: adsorption, flue gas wastewater, mercury, selenite, metal organic framework

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Authors: Bilal Zubair

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In a constantly challenging internal security environment, Pakistan is making ways to improvise and respond to the new variations in the pervasive phenomenon of terrorism. The state’s endeavors towards securitizing terrorism as an existential threat are both extensive and intensive which have systematically incorporated both military and non-military means. Since 2007, the military has been conducting intermittent operations and by 2014 has successfully neutralized the terrorist ability to target vital security installations and security personal. The terrorists have responded by targeting communities which are soft targets and extremely vulnerable to organized assaults. Within this context, the study aims to explain the emerging trends of terrorism in Pakistan, which multi-layered and complex developments are having far-reaching implications for state and society. With a view to explore the underlining reasons, present trends and ensuing ramifications of the emerging trends in terrorism, this study would examine the following: First, the historical processes and development of Terrorism in Pakistan; secondly the processes of securitization which include political consensus, legal frameworks and military operations against the terrorist groups; thirdly , the socio-cultural dimensions and geopolitical influences on the transforming nature of sectarian terrorism. The study will also highlight the grey areas and weak links in the ongoing securitization process. Finally, the study will thoroughly explore the societal insecurity which is manifested in internal displacements, identity crisis and weakening the socio-political fabric of the state.

Keywords: counter-terrorism, terrorism, sectarianism, securitizing

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Authors: Suwapitch Chalongkulasak, Teerasak E-Kobon, Pramote Chumnanpuen

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Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease mainly caused by the Gram–positive pathogenic bacterium, Propionibacterium acnes. This bacterium stimulates inflammation process in human sebaceous glands. Giant African snail (Achatina fulica) is alien species that rapidly reproduces and seriously damages agricultural products in Thailand. There were several research reports on the medical and pharmaceutical benefits of this snail mucus peptides and proteins. This study aimed to in silico predict multifunctional bioactive peptides from A. fulica mucus peptidome using several bioinformatic tools for determination of antimicrobial (iAMPpred), anti–biofilm (dPABBs), cytotoxic (Toxinpred), cell membrane penetrating (CPPpred) and anti–quorum sensing (QSPpred) peptides. Three candidate peptides with the highest predictive score were selected and re-designed/modified to improve the required activities. Structural and physicochemical properties of six anti–P. acnes (APA) peptide candidates were performed by PEP–FOLD3 program and the five aforementioned tools. All candidates had random coiled structure and were named as APA1–ori, APA2–ori, APA3–ori, APA1–mod, APA2–mod and APA3–mod. To validate the APA activity, these peptide candidates were synthesized and tested against six isolates of P. acnes. The modified APA peptides showed high APA activity on some isolates. Therefore, our biomimetic mucus peptides could be useful for preventing acne vulgaris and further examined on other activities important to medical and pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: Propionibacterium acnes, Achatina fulica, peptidomes, antibacterial peptides, snail mucus

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Authors: Feng-Tsung Cheng, Shu-Li Wang, Mei-Fang Wu, , Hui-Yu Chuang

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Due to the rapid development of modern technology, the widespread usage of the Internet makes business environment changing quickly. In order to be a leader in the global competitive market and to pursuit survive, “changing” becomes an unspoken rules need to follow for the company survival. The purpose of this paper is to build change model by using SWOT, strategy map, and balance scorecard, KPI and change management theory. The research findings indicate that organizational change plan formulated by the case company should require the employee to resist change factors and performance management system issues into consideration and must be set organizational change related programs, such as performance appraisal reward system, consulting and counseling mechanisms programs to improve motivation and reduce staff negative emotions. Then according to the model revised strategy maps and performance indicators proposed in this paper, such as strategy maps add and modify corporate culture, improve internal processes management, increase the growth rate of net income and other strategies. The performance indicators are based on strategy maps new and modified by adding net income growth rate, to achieve target production rate, manpower training achievement rates and other indicators, through amendments to achieve the company’s goal, be a leading brand of precision machinery industry.

Keywords: organizational change, SWOT analysis, strategy maps, performance indicators

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Authors: Iftekhar Hassan, Sayedil Morsalin, Easir A Khan

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Accidents involving fire occur frequently in recent times and their causes showing a great deal of variety which require intervention methods and risk assessment strategies are unique in each case. On September 4, 2020, a fire and explosion occurred in a confined space caused by a methane gas leak from an underground pipeline in Baitus Salat Jame mosque during Night (Esha) prayer in Narayanganj District, Bangladesh that killed 34 people. In this research, this incident is simulated using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software to analyze and understand the nature of the accident and associated consequences. FDS is an advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) system of fire-driven fluid flow which solves numerically a large eddy simulation form of the Navier–Stokes’s equations for simulation of the fire and smoke spread and prediction of thermal radiation, toxic substances concentrations and other relevant parameters of fire. This study focuses on understanding the nature of the fire and consequence evaluation due to thermal radiation caused by vapor cloud explosion. An evacuation modeling was constructed to visualize the effect of evacuation time and fractional effective dose (FED) for different types of agents. The results were presented by 3D animation, sliced pictures and graphical representation to understand fire hazards caused by thermal radiation or smoke due to vapor cloud explosion. This study will help to design and develop appropriate respond strategy for preventing similar accidents.

Keywords: consequence modeling, fire and explosion, fire dynamics simulation (FDS), thermal radiation

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Authors: Bernard Igoche Igoche, Olumuyiwa Matthew, Peter Bednar, Alexander Gegov

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This study presents an ontology-driven approach for knowledge discovery and validation from admission databases in Nigerian polytechnic institutions. The research aims to address the challenges of extracting meaningful insights from vast amounts of admission data and utilizing them for decision-making and process improvement. The proposed methodology combines the knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) process with a structural causal model (SCM) ontological framework. The admission database of Benue State Polytechnic Ugbokolo (Benpoly) is used as a case study. The KDD process is employed to mine and distill knowledge from the database, while the SCM ontology is designed to identify and validate the important features of the admission process. The SCM validation is performed using the conditional independence test (CIT) criteria, and an algorithm is developed to implement the validation process. The identified features are then used for machine learning (ML) modeling and prediction of admission status. The results demonstrate the adequacy of the SCM ontological framework in representing the admission process and the high predictive accuracies achieved by the ML models, with k-nearest neighbors (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) achieving 92% accuracy. The study concludes that the proposed ontology-driven approach contributes to the advancement of educational data mining and provides a foundation for future research in this domain.

Keywords: admission databases, educational data mining, machine learning, ontology-driven knowledge discovery, polytechnic education, structural causal model

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Authors: Mukesh Khadka, Alexander Paz, Hanns de la Fuente-Mella

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Typically, pavement performance models are developed in two steps: (i) pavement segments with similar characteristics are grouped together to form a cluster, and (ii) the corresponding performance models are developed using statistical techniques. A challenge is to select the characteristics that define clusters and the segments associated with them. If inappropriate characteristics are used, clusters may include homogeneous segments with different performance behavior or heterogeneous segments with similar performance behavior. Prediction accuracy of performance models can be improved by grouping the pavement segments into more uniform clusters by including both characteristics and a performance measure. This grouping is not always possible due to limited information. It is impractical to include all the potential significant factors because some of them are potentially unobserved or difficult to measure. Historical performance of pavement segments could be used as a proxy to incorporate the effect of the missing potential significant factors in clustering process. The current state-of-the-art proposes Clusterwise Linear Regression (CLR) to determine the pavement clusters and the associated performance models simultaneously. CLR incorporates the effect of significant factors as well as a performance measure. In this study, a mathematical program was formulated for CLR models including multiple explanatory variables. Pavement data collected recently over the entire state of Nevada were used. International Roughness Index (IRI) was used as a pavement performance measure because it serves as a unified standard that is widely accepted for evaluating pavement performance, especially in terms of riding quality. Results illustrate the advantage of the using CLR. Previous studies have used CLR along with experimental data. This study uses actual field data collected across a variety of environmental, traffic, design, and construction and maintenance conditions.

Keywords: clusterwise regression, pavement management system, performance model, optimization

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Authors: Rama Shanker, Anil Kumar Sachan

Abstract:

Basic ingredients of concrete are cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. To produce a concrete of certain specific properties, optimum proportion of these ingredients are mixed. The important factors which govern the mix design are grade of concrete, type of cement and size, shape and grading of aggregates. Concrete mix design method is based on experimentally evolved empirical relationship between the factors in the choice of mix design. Basic draw backs of this method are that it does not produce desired strength, calculations are cumbersome and a number of tables are to be referred for arriving at trial mix proportion moreover, the variation in attainment of desired strength is uncertain below the target strength and may even fail. To solve this problem, a lot of cubes of standard grades were prepared and attained 28 days strength determined for different combination of cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. An artificial neural network (ANN) was prepared using these data. The input of ANN were grade of concrete, type of cement, size, shape and grading of aggregates and output were proportions of various ingredients. With the help of these inputs and outputs, ANN was trained using feed forward back proportion model. Finally trained ANN was validated, it was seen that it gave the result with/ error of maximum 4 to 5%. Hence, specific type of concrete can be prepared from given material properties and proportions of these materials can be quickly evaluated using the proposed ANN.

Keywords: aggregate proportions, artificial neural network, concrete grade, concrete mix design

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Authors: Albert Suryaprawira

Abstract:

The Nasion-Sella Line (NSL) has been used for several years as a reference line in longitudinal growth study. Therefore this line is considered to be stable not only to evaluate treatment outcome and to predict relapse possibility but also to manage prognosis. This is a radiographic superimposition of an adult male aged 19 years who complained of difficulty in aesthetic, talking and chewing. Patient has a midface hypoplasia profile (concave). He was diagnosed to have a severe Skeletal Class III with Class III malocclusion, increased lower vertical height, and an anterior open bite. A pre-treatment cephalometric radiograph was taken to analyse the skeletal problem and to measure the amount of bone movement and the prediction soft tissue response. A panoramic radiograph was also taken to analyse bone quality, bone abnormality, third molar impaction, etc. Before the surgery, a pre-surgical cephalometric radiograph was taken to re-evaluate the plan and to settle the final amount of bone cut. After the surgery, a post-surgical cephalometric radiograph was taken to confirm the result with the plan. The superimposition using NSL as a reference line between those radiographs was performed to analyse the outcome. It is important to describe the amount of hard and soft tissue movement and to predict the possibility of relapse after the surgery. The patient also needs to understand all the surgical plan, outcome and relapse prevention. The surgical management included maxillary impaction and advancement of Le Fort I osteotomy. The evaluation using NSL as a reference was a very useful method in determining the outcome and prognosis.

Keywords: Nasion-Sella Line, midface hypoplasia, Le Fort 1, maxillary advancement

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Shidvash Vakilipour, Masoud Mohammadi, Rouzbeh Riazi, Scott Ormiston, Kimia Amiri, Sahar Barati

Abstract:

An essential component of a finite volume method (FVM) is the advection scheme that estimates values on the cell faces based on the calculated values on the nodes or cell centers. The most widely used advection schemes are upwind schemes. These schemes have been developed in FVM on different kinds of structured and unstructured grids. In this research, the physical influence scheme (PIS) is developed for a cell-centered FVM that uses an implicit coupled solver. Results are compared with the exponential differencing scheme (EDS) and the skew upwind differencing scheme (SUDS). Accuracy of these schemes is evaluated for a lid-driven cavity flow at Re = 1000, 3200, and 5000 and a backward-facing step flow at Re = 800. Simulations show considerable differences between the results of EDS scheme with benchmarks, especially for the lid-driven cavity flow at high Reynolds numbers. These differences occur due to false diffusion. Comparing SUDS and PIS schemes shows relatively close results for the backward-facing step flow and different results in lid-driven cavity flow. The poor results of SUDS in the lid-driven cavity flow can be related to its lack of sensitivity to the pressure difference between cell face and upwind points, which is critical for the prediction of such vortex dominant flows.

Keywords: cell-centered finite volume method, coupled solver, exponential differencing scheme (EDS), physical influence scheme (PIS), pressure weighted interpolation method (PWIM), skew upwind differencing scheme (SUDS)

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: V. Shapaval, N. K. Afseth, D. Tzimorotas, A. Kohler

Abstract:

Globally there is a dramatic increase in the demand for food, energy, materials and clean water since natural resources are limited. As a result, industries are looking for ways to reduce rest materials and to improve resource efficiency. Microorganisms have a high potential to be used as bio factories for the production of primary and secondary metabolites that represent high-value bio-products (enzymes, polyunsaturated fatty acids, bio-plastics, glucans, etc.). In order to find good microbial producers, to design suitable substrates from food rest materials and to optimize fermentation conditions, rapid analytical techniques for quantifying target bio products in microbial cells are needed. In the EU project FUST (R4SME, Fp7), we have developed a fully automated high-throughput FUST system based on micro-cultivation and FTIR spectroscopy that facilitates the screening of microorganisms, substrates and fermentation conditions for the optimization of the production of different high-value metabolites (single cell oils, bio plastics). The automated system allows the preparation of 100 samples per hour. Currently, The FUST system is in use for screening of filamentous fungi in order to find oleaginous strains with the ability to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the optimization of cheap substrates, derived from food rest materials, and the optimization of fermentation conditions for the high yield of single cell oil.

Keywords: FTIR spectroscopy, FUST system, screening, biotechnology

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Authors: Sonia Hamiche, Naima Bouzidi, Mohamed Reda Zahi, Yasmina Daghbouche, Abdelmalek Badis, Mohamed El Hattab

Abstract:

This study was carried out on the brown alga Zonaria tourfortii harvested on the central coast of Algeria. The chemical study enabled the characterization of phenolic compounds, mainly acyl phloroglucinol and chromone metabolites. The study isolated a significant quantity of all-cis-5,8,11,14,17 eicosapentanoic acid (EPA). Based on a literature review, we have proposed a biosynthetic pathway leading from EPA to phenolic metabolites. Bacterial screening from the algal surface led to isolate 30 bacterial strains, including 26 Gram+ containing the Staphylococcus and Bacillus genus, and 4 Gram- containing the Acinetobacter and Enterobacteracea genus. In terms of activity profiles, strain S13 (identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens based on 16S rRNA technique) proved highly interesting inhibitory activities against target germs, as well as its production of diffusible and volatile compounds. Bacterial cells from the B. amyloliquefaciens S13 strain were used to recover a volatile fraction. Analysis was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The main volatile compounds identified were: 13-epi-manoyl oxide (29.39%), manool (17.39%), 15,16-dinorlabd-8(20)-en-13-one (13.17%), labda-8(17),13Z-dien-15-ol (9. 51%) and 3-acetoxy-13 epimanoyl oxide (5.26%) belonging to the labdane class of diterpenes, the latter having never been described in the category of microbial volatile organic compounds. Ecological aspects were discussed.

Keywords: chemical analysis, acylphloroglucinols, phenolic compounds, microbial volatiles, Zonaria tournefortii

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Authors: Rafael Zhindon Almeida

Abstract:

Surface water quality is an important concern for the evaluation and prediction of water quality conditions. The objective of this study is to develop a statistical model that can accurately predict the water quality of the El Macho estuary in the city of Machala, El Oro province. The methodology employed in this study is of a basic type that involves a thorough search for theoretical foundations to improve the understanding of statistical modeling for water quality analysis. The research design is correlational, using a multivariate statistical model involving multiple linear regression and principal component analysis. The results indicate that water quality parameters such as fecal coliforms, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, iron and dissolved oxygen exceed the allowable limits. The water of the El Macho estuary is determined to be below the required water quality criteria. The multiple linear regression model, based on chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved solids, explains 99.9% of the variance of the dependent variable. In addition, principal component analysis shows that the model has an explanatory power of 86.242%. The study successfully developed a statistical model to evaluate the water quality of the El Macho estuary. The estuary did not meet the water quality criteria, with several parameters exceeding the allowable limits. The multiple linear regression model and principal component analysis provide valuable information on the relationship between the various water quality parameters. The findings of the study emphasize the need for immediate action to improve the water quality of the El Macho estuary to ensure the preservation and protection of this valuable natural resource.

Keywords: statistical modeling, water quality, multiple linear regression, principal components, statistical models

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Adelina Castelo

Abstract:

The increasing number of learners of Portuguese as Foreign Language in China justifies the need to define the phonetic profile of these learners and to design didactic materials that are adjusted to their specific problems in pronunciation. Different aspects of this topic have been studied, but the production of oral vowels still needs to be investigated. This study aims: (i) to identify the problems the Chinese learners of Portuguese experience in the pronunciation of oral vowels; (ii) to discuss the didactic implications drawn from those problems. The participants were eight native speakers of Mandarin Chinese that had been learning Portuguese in College for almost a year. They named pictured objects and their oral productions were recorded and phonetically transcribed. The selection of the objects to name took into account some linguistic variables (e.g. stress pattern, syllable structure, presence of the Portuguese oral vowels in different word positions according to stress location). The results are analysed in two ways: the impact of linguistic variables on the success rate in the vowels' production; the replacement strategies used in the non-target productions. Both analyses show that the Chinese learners of Portuguese (i) have significantly more difficulties with the mid vowels as well as the high central vowel and (ii) do not master the vowel height feature. These findings contribute to define the phonetic profile of these learners in terms of oral vowel production. Besides, they have important didactic implications for the pronunciation teaching to these specific learners. Those implications are discussed and exemplified.

Keywords: Chinese learners, learners’ phonetic profile, linguistic variables, Portuguese as foreign language, production data, pronunciation teaching, oral vowels

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Irfan Ahmad, Raza Ghafoor, Hammad Raza Ahmad, Muhammad Asif, Farrakh Nawaz, M. Tahir Siddiqui

Abstract:

Due to the exploding population of Pakistan the pressure on natural forests is increasing to meet the demands of wood and wood based products. Agroforestry is being practiced throughout the world on scientific basis but unfortunately the farmers of Pakistan are reluctant in its adoption. The presents study was designed to assess the adoption of agroforestry practices in Faisalabad with respect to land holdings of farmers and future suitability by using Geographic information system (GIS). Faisalabad is the third largest city of the country and is famous due to the textile industry. A comprehensive survey from target villages of the Lyallpur town of Faisalabad district was carried out. Out of total 65 villages, 40 were selected for study. From each selected village, one farmer who was actively engaged in farming activities was selected. It was observed that medium sized farmers having 10-20 acre were more in number as compared to small and large farmers. Number of trees was found maximum in large farm lands, ratio of diseased trees was almost similar in all categories with maximum in small farmlands (24.1%). Regarding the future prospects 35% farmer were interested in agroforestry practices 65% were not interested in the promotion of trees due to the non-availability of technical guidance and proper markets. Geographic images of the study site can further help the researchers and policy makers in the promotion of agroforestry.

Keywords: agroforestry trends, adoption, Faisalabad, geographic information system (GIS)

Procedia PDF Downloads 486