Search results for: suitable location

Authors: Seyedomid Fatemi

Abstract:

The walls of the building, as the main intermediary between the outside and the inside of the building, play an important role in controlling the environmental conditions and ensuring the comfort of the residents, thus reducing the heating and cooling loads. Therefore, the use of suitable materials is considered one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce the heating and cooling loads of the building, which will also save energy. Therefore, in order to achieve the goal of the research "Ranking of optimal materials for building walls," optimal materials for building walls in a temperate and humid climate (case example: Sari city) from the perspective of embodied energy, waste of electricity and gas energy, cost and reuse been investigated to achieve sustainable architecture. In this regard, using information obtained from Sari Municipality, design components have been presented by experts using the Delphi method. Considering the criteria of experts' opinions (cost and reuse), the amount of embodied energy of the materials, as well as the amount of waste of electricity and gas of different materials of the walls, with the help of the AHP weighting technique and finally with the TOPSIS technique, the best type of materials in the order of 1- 3-D Panel 2-ICF-, 3-Cement block with pumice, 4-Wallcrete block, 5-Clay block, 6-Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC), 7-Foam cement block, 8-Aquapanel and 9-Reinforced concrete wall for use in The walls of the buildings were proposed in Sari city.

Keywords: optimum materials, building walls, moderate and humid climate, sustainable architecture, AHP-TOPSIS technique

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Nassim Salmi

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This study aimed to identify the administrative, social, cultural, economic and psychological challenges facing the nursing s ector in the Tebessa Algeria. It also seeks to identify whether there are differences between the opinions of managers in public and private hospitals about these challenges. To achieve the objectives of the study, the descriptive analytical method was adopted. The study also used the questionnaire as a tool for collecting the necessary data and information, which was applied to a sample of directors of public and private hospitals in the Tebessa, which amounted to (114) individuals. The study reached a set of results, including: that there are no statistically significant differences between the opinions of managers in public and private hospitals about the administrative, social, cultural, economic and psychological challenges facing the nursing sector in the Tebessa . The results also showed agreement between the views of managers in private public hospitals that the most important administrative challenges are the lack of training programs that affect the efficiency and performance of nursing work, and that the most important social and cultural challenges are the hospital’s failure to provide suitable nurseries for Saudi female nurses, and that the most important economic challenges are the lack of Availability of medical equipment and devices, and the most important psychological challenge is the tense relationship between the administration and the hospital's nursing staff. The study recommended focusing on the importance of rehabilitation and training together, activating the role of training in the ministry and making it compulsory and a condition of renewal for practicing and continuing the nursing profession, and providing the social and economic needs of the nursing staff.

Keywords: postoperative care, gynecology, nursing documentation, database

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Keunhong Chae, Seokho Yoon

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Recently, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as Galileo and GPS is employing more satellites to provide a higher degree of accuracy for the location service, thus calling for a more efficient signaling scheme among the satellites used in the overall GNSS network. In that the network throughput is improved, the spatial diversity can be one of the efficient signaling schemes; however, it requires multiple antenna that could cause a significant increase in the complexity of the GNSS. Thus, a diversity scheme called the cooperative signaling was proposed, where the virtual multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signaling is realized with using only a single antenna in the transmit satellite of interest and with modeling the neighboring satellites as relay nodes. The main drawback of the cooperative signaling is that the relay nodes receive the transmitted signal at different time instants, i.e., they operate in an asynchronous way, and thus, the overall performance of the GNSS network could degrade severely. To tackle the problem, several modified cooperative signaling schemes were proposed; however, all of them are difficult to implement due to a signal decoding at the relay nodes. Although the implementation at the relay nodes could be simpler to some degree by employing the time-reversal and conjugation operations instead of the signal decoding, it would be more efficient if we could implement the operations of the relay nodes at the source node having more resources than the relay nodes. So, in this paper, we propose a novel cooperative signaling scheme, where the data signals are combined in a unique way at the source node, thus obviating the need of the complex operations such as signal decoding, time-reversal and conjugation at the relay nodes. The numerical results confirm that the proposed scheme provides the same performance in the cooperative diversity and the bit error rate (BER) as the conventional scheme, while reducing the complexity at the relay nodes significantly. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the National GNSS Research Center program of Defense Acquisition Program Administration and Agency for Defense Development.

Keywords: global navigation satellite network, cooperative signaling, data combining, nodes

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Cheng Shen, LaiHong Shen

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Ammonia is an important carrier of hydrogen energy, with the characteristics of high hydrogen content density and no carbon dioxide emission. Ammonia synthesis by the Haber process is the main method for industrial ammonia synthesis, but the conversion rate of ammonia per pass is only about 12%, while the conversion rate of biomass synthesis ammonia is as high as 56%. Therefore, safe and efficient ammonia capture for ammonia synthesis from biomass is an important way to alleviate the energy crisis and solve the energy problem. Metal chloride has a chemical adsorption effect on ammonia, and can be desorbed at high temperature to obtain high-concentration ammonia after combining with ammonia, which has a good development prospect in ammonia capture and separation technology. In this paper, the ammonia adsorption properties of CuCl₂ were measured, and the composite adsorbents were prepared by using silicon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes respectively to support CuCl₂, and the ammonia adsorption properties of the composite adsorbents were studied. The study found that the ammonia adsorption capacity of the three adsorbents decreased with the increase in temperature, so metal chlorides were more suitable for the low-temperature adsorption of ammonia. Silicon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes have an enhanced effect on the ammonia adsorption of CuCl₂. The reason is that the porous material itself has a physical adsorption effect on ammonia, and silicon can play the role of skeleton support in cupric chloride particles, which enhances the pore structure of the adsorbent, thereby alleviating sintering.

Keywords: ammonia, adsorption properties, metal chloride, silicon, MWCNTs

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: Andreea Cârâc, Elena Morosan, Ana Corina Ionita, Rica Bosencu, Geta Carac

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Lanthanum carbonate exhibits a considerable ability to bind phosphate and the substitution of Ca2+ ions by divalent or trivalent lanthanide metal ions attracted attention during the past few years. Although Lanthanum carbonate has not been approved by the FDA for treatment of hyperphosphatemia, we prospectively evaluated the efficacy of the combination of Calcium hydroxyapatite and Lanthanum carbonate for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia on mice. Calcium hydroxyapatite commonly referred as CHAp is a bioceramic material and is one of the most important implantable materials due to its biocompatibility and osteoconductivity. We prepared calcium hydroxyapatite and lanthanum carbonate. CHAp was prepared by co-precipitation method using Ca(OH)2, H3PO4, NH4OH with calcination at 1200ºC. Lanthanum carbonate was prepared by chemical method using NaHCO3 and LaCl3 at low pH environment , ph below 4.0 The confirmation of both substances structures was made using XRD characterization, FTIR spectra and SEM /EDX analysis. The study group included 20 subjects-mice divided into four groups according to the administered substance: lanthanum carbonate (group A), lanthanum carbonate + CHAp (group B), CHAp (group C) and salt water (group D). The results indicate a phosphate decrease when subjects (mice) were treated with CHAp and lanthanum carbonate (0.5 % CMC), in a single dose of 1500 mg/kg. Serum phosphate concentration decreased [from 4.5 ± 0.8 mg/dL) to 4.05 ± 0.2 mg/dL), P < 0.01] in group A and to 3.6 ± 0.2 mg/dL] only after the 24 hours of combination therapy. The combination of CHAp and lanthanum carbonate is a suitable regimen for hyperphosphatemia treatment subjects because it avoids both the hypercalcemia of CaCO3 and the adverse effects of CHAp. The ability of CHAp to decrease the serum phosphate concentration is 1/3 that of lanthanum carbonate.

Keywords: calcium hydroxyapatite, hyperphosphatemia, lanthanum carbonate, phosphate, structures

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: B. B. van Schalkwyk, C. B. Schoeman, E. J. Cilliers

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High levels of urbanisation and the lingering effects of Apartheid have caused South African municipalities to experience difficulties in planning for sustainability and, more specifically, sustainable community development. Sustainable community development is needed in order to achieve more integrated and sustainable towns and cities with an improved living environment and a higher quality of life. Due to this, sustainable community development is of particular relevance to South Africa. Although policies and legislation exist at international, national and local level, there is a lack of suitable planning instruments to guide sustainable community development. Tlokwe Local Municipality is researched in this paper as study area to test and develop planning instruments for sustainable community development. A comparative assessment matrix of sustainability indicators is linked to Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and applied to identify the themes and sub-themes applicable to sustainability in which intervention is required to improve the sustainability rating of the municipality. The result of the comparative sustainability assessment is that the Tlokwe Local Municipality is considered to be relatively sustainable, performing overall better than the three spheres of government against which it was measured. It is recommended that municipalities use the comparative assessment matrix method to determine its level of sustainability when developing respective sectorial plans (SDFs, ITPs, EMFs and IDPs). Areas in which there is a lack of sustainability are highlighted and can consequently be addressed through intervention strategies. The comparative assessment matrix method is a valuable planning instrument with which to achieve sustainable community development.

Keywords: sustainable community development, sustainability indicators, comparative sustainability, urbanisation, development planning, urban management

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Dibyendu Roy, V. Ramu Reddy, Parijat Deshpande, Ranjan Dasgupta

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Imaging of underwater objects is primarily conducted by acoustic imagery due to the severe attenuation of electro-magnetic waves in water. Acoustic imagery underwater has varied range of significant applications such as side-scan sonar, mine hunting sonar. It also finds utility in other domains such as imaging of body tissues via ultrasonography and non-destructive testing of objects. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of using active acoustic imagery in air and simulate phased array beamforming techniques available in literature for various array designs to achieve a suitable acoustic sensor array design for a portable mobile robot which can be applied to detect the presence/absence of anomalous objects in a room. The multi-path reflection effects especially in enclosed rooms and environmental noise factors are currently not simulated and will be dealt with during the experimental phase. The related hardware is designed with the same feasibility criterion that the developed system needs to be deployed on a portable mobile robot. There is a trade of between image resolution and range with the array size, number of elements and the imaging frequency and has to be iteratively simulated to achieve the desired acoustic sensor array design. The designed acoustic imaging array system is to be mounted on a portable mobile robot and targeted for use in surveillance missions for intruder alerts and imaging objects during dark and smoky scenarios where conventional optic based systems do not function well.

Keywords: acoustic sensor array, acoustic imagery, anomaly detection, phased array beamforming

Procedia PDF Downloads 391

Authors: Ma Yuzhe, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

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The computer is a great invention. As people use computers more and more frequently, the demand for PCs is growing, and the performance of computer hardware is also rising to face more complex processing and operation. However, the operating system, which provides the soul for computers, has stopped developing at a stage. In the face of the high price of UNIX (Uniplexed Information and Computering System), batch after batch of personal computer owners can only give up. Disk Operating System is too simple and difficult to bring innovation into play, which is not a good choice. And MacOS is a special operating system for Apple computers, and it can not be widely used on personal computers. In this environment, Linux, based on the UNIX system, was born. Linux combines the advantages of the operating system and is composed of many microkernels, which is relatively powerful in the core architecture. Linux system supports all Internet protocols, so it has very good network functions. Linux supports multiple users. Each user has no influence on their own files. Linux can also multitask and run different programs independently at the same time. Linux is a completely open source operating system. Users can obtain and modify the source code for free. Because of these advantages of Linux, it has also attracted a large number of users and programmers. The Linux system is also constantly upgraded and improved. It has also issued many different versions, which are suitable for community use and commercial use. Linux system has good security because it relies on a file partition system. However, due to the constant updating of vulnerabilities and hazards, the using security of the operating system also needs to be paid more attention to. This article will focus on the analysis and discussion of Linux security issues.

Keywords: Linux, operating system, system management, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Umar Rehman, Holly Roy, K. T. Tsang, D. S. Jeyaretna, W Singleton, B. Fisher, P. A. Glew, J. Greig, Peter C. Whitfield

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Introduction: A brain abscess is a life-threatening condition, carrying significant mortality. It requires rapid identification and treatment. Management involves a combination of antibiotics and surgery. The aim of the current study was to identify common bacteria responsible for cerebral abscesses as well as the long term functional and neurological outcomes of patients following treatment in a retrospective series at a single UK neurosurgical centre. Methodology: We analysed patients that had received a diagnosis of 'cerebral abscess' or 'subdural empyema' between June 2002 and June 2018. This was done in the form of a retrospective review. The search resulted in a total of 180 patients; with 37 patients being excluded (spinal abscess, below 18 or non-abscess related admissions). Data were collected from medical case notes including information about demographics, comorbidities, immunosuppression, presentation, size/location of lesions, pathogens, treatment, and outcomes. Results: In total, we analysed 143 patients between the ages of 18-90. Focal neurological deficit and headaches were seen in 84% and 68% of patients respectively. 108 positive brain cultures were seen; with the largest proportion, 59.2% being gram-positive cocci, with strep intermedius being the most common pathogen identified in 13.9% of patients. Of the patients with positive blood cultures (n=11), 72.7% showed the same organism both in the blood and on the brain cultures. Long term outcomes (n=72) revealed that 48% of patients seizure-free without requiring anti-epileptics, 51.3% of patients had full recovery of their neurological symptoms. There was a mortality rate of 13.9% in the series. Conclusion: In conclusion, the largest bacterial cause of abscess within our population was due to gram-positive cocci. The majority of the patient demonstrated full neurological recovery with close to half of patients not requiring anti-epileptics following discharge.

Keywords: bacteria, cerebral abscess, long term outcome, neurological deficit

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: G. Raviraja Shetty, K. G. Poojitha, Pranay Kumar

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Biodiversity refers to the numbers, variety and variability of living organisms and ecosystem. The climatic and altitudinal variations, coupled with varied ecological habitats of this country, have contributed to the development of immensely rich vegetation with a unique diversity in medicinal plants which provides an important source of medicinal raw materials for traditional medicine systems as well as for pharmaceutical industries in the country and abroad. World Health Organization has listed over 21000 plant species used around the world for medicinal purpose. In India, about 2500 plant species are being used in indigenous system of medicine. The red data book lists 427 Indian Medicinal plant entries on endangered species, of which 28 are considered extinct, 124 endangered, 81 rare, and 34 insufficiently known. It is abundantly clear from the experience of all govt agencies that on their own they cannot efficiently conserve the biodiversity. Participatory Approach with the involvement of local people in conservation is found to be more effective these days. Involvement of local people reduces the cost involved in conservation. Local communities have long tradition of resource use in particular area, hold in depth knowledge and experience of plant which can be invaluable for conservation efforts.Medicinal plants occupy a vital sector of health care system in India and represent a major national resource.There is an immense need for conservation of diversity of medicinal plant wealth for the present and fore coming generations, by adapting the suitable strategy with most appropriate method of conservation.

Keywords: conservation, biodiversity, participatory, medicinal plants

Procedia PDF Downloads 464

Authors: Ahmad Al-Turki

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Composting is the suitable way of recycling organic waste for agricultural application and environment protection. In Saudi Arabia, several composting facilities are available and producing high quantity of composts. The aim of this study is to evaluate the physical characteristics of composts manufactured in Saudi Arabia and acquire a comprehensive image of its quality through the comparative with international standards of compost quality such as CCQC and PAS-100. In the present study different locally produced compost were identified and most of the producing factories were visited during the manufacturing of composts. Representative samples of different compost production stage were collected and Physical characteristics were determined, which included moisture content, bulk density, percentage of sand and the size of distribution of the compost particles. Results showed wide variations in all parameters investigated. Results of the study indicated generally that there is a wide variation in the physical characteristics of the types of compost under study. The initial moister contents in composts were generally low, it was less than 60% in most samples and not sufficient for microbial activities for biodegradation in 96% of the 96% of the types of compost and this will impede the decomposition of organic materials. The initial bulk density values ranged from 117 gL-1 to 1110.0 gL-1, while the final apparent bulk density ranged from 340.0 gL-1 to 1000gL-1 and about 45.4 % did not meet the ideal bulk density value. Sand percents in composts were between 3.3 % and 12.5%. This study has confirmed the need for a standard specification for compost manufactured in Saudi Arabia for agricultural use based on international standards for compost and soil characteristics and climatic conditions in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: compost, maturity, Saudi Arabia, organic material

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Tuba Kizilirmak

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Distinct properties of porous metamaterials have been largely processed for biomedicine requiring a three-dimensional (3D) porous structure engaged with fine mechanical features, biodegradation ability, and biocompatibility. Applications of metamaterials are (i) porous orthopedic and dental implants; (ii) in vitro cell culture of metamaterials and bone regeneration of metamaterials in vivo; (iii) macro-, micro, and nano-level porous metamaterials for sensors, diagnosis, and drug delivery. There are some specific properties to design metamaterials for tissue engineering. These are surface to volume ratio, pore size, and interconnection degrees are selected to control cell behavior and bone ingrowth. In this study, additive manufacturing technique selective laser melting will be used to print the scaffolds. Selective Laser Melting prints the 3D components according to designed 3D CAD models and manufactured materials, adding layers progressively by layer. This study aims to design metamaterials with Ti6Al4V material, which gives benefit in respect of mechanical and biological properties. Ti6Al4V scaffolds will support cell attachment by conferring a suitable area for cell adhesion. This study will control the osteoblast cell attachment on Ti6Al4V scaffolds after the determination of optimum stiffness and other mechanical properties which are close to mechanical properties of bone. Before we produce the samples, we will use a modeling technique to simulate the mechanical behavior of samples. These samples include different lattice models with varying amounts of porosity and density.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, titanium lattices, metamaterials, porous metals

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Maninderjeet K. Grewal, Sakshi Bhatnor, Renu Chadha

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The composition of pharmaceutical entities and the molecular interactions can be altered to optimize drug properties such as solubility and bioavailability by the crystal engineering technique. The present work has emphasized on the preparation, characterization, and biopharmaceutical evaluation of co-crystal of BCS Class II anti-osteoarthritis drug, Oxaprozin (OXA) with aspartic acid (ASPA) as co-former. The co-crystals were prepared through the mechanochemical solvent drop grinding method. Characterization of the prepared co-crystal (OXA-ASPA) was done by using analytical tools such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). DSC thermogram of OXA-ASPA cocrystal showed a single sharp melting endotherm at 235 ºC, which was between the melting peaks of the drug and the counter molecules suggesting the formation of a new phase which is a co-crystal that was further confirmed by using other analytical techniques. FT-IR analysis of OXA-ASPA cocrystal showed a shift in a hydroxyl, carbonyl, and amine peaks as compared to pure drugs indicating all these functional groups are participating in cocrystal formation. The appearance of new peaks in the PXRD pattern of cocrystals in comparison to individual components showed that a new crystalline entity has been formed. The Crystal structure of cocrystal was determined using material studio software (Biovia) from PXRD. The equilibrium solubility study of OXA-ASPA showed improvement in solubility as compared to pure drug. Therefore, it was envisioned to prepare the co-crystal of oxaprozin with a suitable conformer to modulate its physiochemical properties and consequently, the biopharmaceutical parameters.

Keywords: cocrystals, coformer, oxaprozin, solubility

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Gholba Niranjan Dilip, Anil Kumar

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Conduct of accurate reliable mapping of oil palm plantations and census of individual palm trees is a huge challenge. This study addresses this challenge and developed an optimized solution implemented deep learning techniques on remote sensing data. The oil palm is a very important tropical crop. To improve its productivity and land management, it is imperative to have accurate census over large areas. Since, manual census is costly and prone to approximations, a methodology for automated census using panchromatic images from Cartosat-2, SkySat and World View-3 satellites is demonstrated. It is selected two different study sites in Indonesia. The customized set of training data and ground-truth data are created for this study from Cartosat-2 images. The pre-trained model of Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) Lite MobileNet V2 Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) from the TensorFlow Object Detection API is subjected to transfer learning on this customized dataset. The SSD model is able to generate the bounding boxes for each oil palm and also do the counting of palms with good accuracy on the panchromatic images. The detection yielded an F-Score of 83.16 % on seven different images. The detections are buffered and dissolved to generate polygons demarcating the boundaries of the oil palm plantations. This provided the area under the plantations and also gave maps of their location, thereby completing the automated census, with a fairly high accuracy (≈100%). The trained CNN was found competent enough to detect oil palm crowns from images obtained from multiple satellite sensors and of varying temporal vintage. It helped to estimate the increase in oil palm plantations from 2014 to 2021 in the study area. The study proved that high-resolution panchromatic satellite image can successfully be used to undertake census of oil palm plantations using CNNs.

Keywords: object detection, oil palm tree census, panchromatic images, single shot multibox detector

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Dernie Taganna Olguera

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Marginal uplands are fragile ecosystems in the tropics that need to be evaluated for sustainable utilization and land degradation mitigation. Thus, this study evaluated the dominant soil degradation processes in selected marginal uplands of Samar Island, Philippines; evaluated the important factors influencing soil degradation in the selected sites and identified the indicators of soil degradation in marginal uplands of the tropical landscape of Samar Island, Philippines. Two (2) sites were selected (Sta. Rita, Samar and Salcedo, Eastern, Samar) representing the western and eastern sides of Samar Island respectively. These marginal uplands represent different agro-climatic zones suitable for the study. Soil erosion is the major soil degradation process in the marginal uplands studied. It resulted in not only considerable soil losses but nutrient losses as well. Soil erosion varied with vegetation cover and site. It was much higher in the sweetpotato, cassava, and gabi crops than under natural vegetation. In addition, soil erosion was higher in Salcedo than in Sta. Rita, which is related to climatic and soil characteristics. Bulk density, porosity, aggregate stability, soil pH, organic matter, and carbon dioxide evolution are good indicators of soil degradation. The dominance of Saccharum spontaneum Linn., Imperata cylindrica Linn, Melastoma malabathricum Linn. and Psidium guajava Linn indicated degraded soil condition. Farmer’s practices particularly clean culture and organic fertilizer application influenced the degree of soil degradation in the marginal uplands of Samar Island, Philippines.

Keywords: soil degradation, soil erosion, marginal uplands, Samar island, Philippines

Procedia PDF Downloads 399

Authors: Salina Budin, Shaira Ismail

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Students learn effectively in a learning environment with a suitable teaching approach that matches their learning preferences. The main objective of the study is to examine the learning preferences amongst the students in the Science and Technology (S&T), and Social Science (SS) fields of study at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Pulau Pinang. The measurement instrument is based on the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles which measure five elements of learning styles; environmental, sociological, emotional, physiological and psychological. Questionnaires are distributed amongst undergraduates in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Business Management. The respondents comprise of 131 diploma students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and 111 degree students of the Faculty of Business Management. The results indicate that, both S&T and SS students share a similar learning preferences on the environmental aspect, emotional preferences, motivational level, learning responsibility, persistent level in learning and learning structure. Most of the S&T students are concluded as analytical learners and the majority of SS students are global learners. Both S&T and SS students are concluded as visual learners, preferred to be in an active mobility in a relaxing and enjoying mode with some light of refreshments during the learning process and exhibited reflective characteristics in learning. Obviously, the S&T students are considered as left brain dominant, whereas the SS students are right brain dominant. The findings highlighted that both categories of students exhibited similar learning preferences except on psychological preferences.

Keywords: learning preferences, Dunn and Dunn learning style, teaching approach, science and technology, social science

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Abinaya Balasubramanian, Satyabrata Ghosh, Satyahari Dey

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Non-Digestible Oligosaccharides(NDOs) are low molecular weight carbohydrates with degree of polymerization (DP) 3-20, that are delivered intact to the large intestine. NDOs are gaining attention as effective prebiotic molecules that facilitate prevention and treatment of several chronic diseases. Recently, NDOs are being obtained by cleaving complex polysaccharides as it results in high yield and also as the former tend to display greater bioactivity. Thelebolus sp. IITKGP BT-12, a recently identified psychrophilic, Ascomycetes fungus has been reported to produce a bioactive extracellular polysaccharide(EPS). The EPS has been proved to possess strong prebiotic activity and anti- proliferative effects. The current study is an attempt to identify and optimise the most suitable method for hydrolysis of the above mentioned novel EPS into NDOs, and further purify and characterise the same. Among physical, chemical and enzymatic methods, enzymatic hydrolysis was identified as the best method and the optimum hydrolysis conditions obtained using response surface methodology were: reaction time of 24h, β-(1,3) endo-glucanase concentration of 0.53U and substrate concentration of 10 mg/ml. The NDOs were purified using gel filtration chromatography and their molecular weights were determined using MALDI-TOF. The major fraction was found to have a DP of 7,8. The monomeric units of the NDOs were confirmed to be glucose using TLC and GCMS-MS analysis. The obtained oligosaccharides proved to be non-digestible when subjected to gastric acidity, salivary and pancreatic amylases and hence could serve as efficient prebiotics.

Keywords: characterisation, enzymatic hydrolysis, non-digestible oligosaccharides, response surface methodology

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: W. Pungchompoo, A. Richardson, L. Brindle

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Background: The developing of a culturally acceptable end of life survey (the VOICES-ESRD/Thai questionnaire) is an essential instrument for evaluation health services provision of older persons with ESRD in Thailand. The focus of the questionnaire was on symptoms, symptom control and the health care needs of older people with ESRD who are managed without dialysis. Objective: The objective of this study was to develop and adapt VOICES to make it suitable for use in a population survey in Thailand. Methods: The mixed methods exploratory sequential design was focussed on modifying an instrument. Data collection: A cognitive interviewing technique was implemented, using two cycles of data collection with a sample of 10 bereaved carers and a prototype of the Thai VOICES questionnaire. Qualitative study was used to modify the developing a culturally acceptable end of life survey (the VOICES-ESRD/Thai questionnaire). Data analysis: The data were analysed by using content analysis. Results: The revisions to the prototype questionnaire were made. The results were used to adapt the VOICES questionnaire for use in a population-based survey with older ESRD patients in Thailand. Conclusions: A culturally specific questionnaire was generated during this second phase and issues with questionnaire design were rectified.

Keywords: VOICES-ESRD/Thai questionnaire, cognitive interviewing, end of life survey, health services provision, older persons with ESRD

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Veerpal Kaur

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The present paper aims at investigating the role of dynamic externalities of agglomeration in the regional productivity growth of manufacturing sector in India and China. Taking 2-digit level manufacturing sector data of states and provinces of India and China respectively for the period of 1998-99 to 2011-12, this paper examines the effect of dynamic externalities namely – Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR) specialization externalities, Jacobs’s diversity externalities, and Porter’s competition externalities on regional total factor productivity growth (TFPG) of manufacturing sector in both economies. Regressions have been carried on pooled data for all 2-digit manufacturing industries for India and China separately. The estimation of Panel has been based on a fixed effect by sector model. The results of econometric exercise show that labour-intensive industries in Indian regional manufacturing benefit from diversity externalities and capital intensive industries gain more from specialization in terms of TFPG. In China, diversity externalities and competition externalities hold better prospectus for regional TFPG in both labour intensive and capital intensive industries. But if we look at results for coastal and non-coastal region separately, specialization tends to assert a positive effect on TFPG in coastal regions whereas it has a negative effect on TFPG of coastal regions. Competition externalities put a negative effect on TFPG of non-coastal regions whereas it has a positive effect on TFPG of coastal regions. Diversity externalities made a positive contribution to TFPG in both coastal and non-coastal regions. So the results of the study postulate that the importance of dynamic externalities should not be examined by pooling all industries and all regions together. This could hold differential implications for region specific and industry-specific policy formulation. Other important variables explaining regional level TFPG in both India and China have been the availability of infrastructure, level of competitiveness, foreign direct investment, exports and geographical location of the region (especially in China).

Keywords: China, dynamic externalities, India, manufacturing, productivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Mpaphi Major

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Soil erosion is becoming an important aspect of land degradation. Therefore it is of great consideration to note any factor that may escalate the rate of soil erosion in our arable land. There exist 3 main driving forces in soil erosion which are rainfall, wind and land use of which in this project only rainfall and land use will be looked at. With the increase in world population at an alarming rate, the demand for food production is expected to increase which will in turn lead to more land being converted from forests to agricultural use of which very few of it are now fertile. In our country Botswana, the rate of crop production is decreasing due to the wearing away of the fertile top soil and poor arable land management. As a result, some studies on the rate of soil loss and farm management practices should be conducted so that best soil and water conservation practices should be employed and hence reduce the risk of soil loss and increase the rate of crop production and yield. The Soil loss estimation model for Southern Africa (SLEMSA) will be used to estimate the rate of soil loss in some selected arable farms within the Palapye watershed and some field observations will be made to determine the management practices used and their impact on the arable land. Upon observations it have been found that many arable fields have been exposed to soil erosion, of which the affected parts are no longer suitable for any crop production unless the land areas are modified. Improper land practices such as ploughing along the slope and land cultivation practices were observed. As a result farmers need to be educated on best conservation practices that can be used to manage their arable land hence reduced risk of soil erosion and improved crop production.

Keywords: soil and water conservation, soil erosion, SLEMSA, land degradation

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Leila Habibi, Hadi Hakimi, Hadi Sadeghian, Maryam Jafari Mehrabadi

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Nowadays, the importance of information technology and web-based information in tourism is very obvious. Increasing of sales and promotion of brands, the rise of information about tourist attractions and tourist areas, entrepreneurship and making money, introducing of hotels and side information to tourists via web are some examples of website effects on tourism. The hotels using web-based information can succeed in attracting tourists and improve the quality of services to the tourists. So, the study of hotel websites has become one of the most important issues in tourism. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the status of hotel websites in Yazd County as one of the most tourist visited counties in Iran. The quality of hotel website in a county can be very vital for tourism. Hence, this research compares the status of hotel websites in Yazd County with standard indexes and items that extracted from literature and theoretical framework. Content analysis is used for analyzing hotel websites with indexes and items in methodology. In the other words, all of the items are compared with the content of hotel-websites in Yazd one by one. Finally, every hotel archived final score which represents the position of the hotel among the others. All of scores and status of hotels are displayed in their own figures. The result of this research shows that many hotels do not offer standard web-based services and information. So, the existing situation is not very suitable for the attraction of web users or improving the tourism. The result of this research may help the managers and authorities of tourism to offer and improve the web-based services and information.

Keywords: e-tourism, hotel websites, tourism, web-tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Neel K. Shah

Abstract:

Passive flow control on aerofoils has largely been achieved through the use of protrusions such as vane-type vortex generators. Consequently, innovative flow-control concepts should be explored in an effort to improve current component performance. Therefore, experimental research has been performed at The University of Manchester to evaluate the flow-control effectiveness of a vortex generator made in the form of a surface indentation. The surface indentation has a trapezoidal planform. A spanwise array of indentations has been applied in a convergent orientation around the maximum-thickness location of the upper surface of a NACA-0015 aerofoil. The aerofoil has been tested in a two-dimensional set-up in a low-speed wind tunnel at an angle of attack (AoA) of 3° and a chord-based Reynolds number (Re) of ~2.7 x 105. The baseline model has been found to suffer from a laminar separation bubble at low AoA. The application of the indentations at 3° AoA has considerably shortened the separation bubble. The indentations achieve this by shedding up-flow pairs of streamwise vortices. Despite the considerable reduction in bubble length, the increase in leading-edge suction due to the shorter bubble is limited by the removal of surface curvature and blockage (increase in surface pressure) caused locally by the convergent indentations. Furthermore, the up-flow region of the vortices, which locally weakens the pressure recovery around the trailing edge of the aerofoil by thickening the boundary layer, also contributes to this limitation. Due to the conflicting effects of the indentations, the changes in the pressure-lift and pressure-drag coefficients, i.e., cl,p and cd,p, are small. Nevertheless, the indentations have improved cl,p and cd,p beyond the uncertainty range, i.e., by ~1.30% and ~0.30%, respectively, at 3° AoA. The wake measurements show that turbulence intensity and Reynolds stresses have considerably increased in the indented case, thus implying that the indentations increase the viscous drag on the model. In summary, the convergent indentations are able to reduce the size of the laminar separation bubble, but conversely, they are not highly effective in reducing cd,p at the tested Reynolds number.

Keywords: aerofoil flow control, laminar separation bubbles, low Reynolds-number flows, surface indentations

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Authors: B. Padmaja, V. V. Rama Prasad, K. V. N. Sunitha, E. Krishna Rao Patro

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Stress is a psychological condition that reduces the quality of sleep and affects every facet of life. Constant exposure to stress is detrimental not only for mind but also body. Nevertheless, to cope with stress, one should first identify it. This paper provides an effective method for the cognitive stress level detection by using data provided from a physical activity tracker device Fitbit. This device gathers people’s daily activities of food, weight, sleep, heart rate, and physical activities. In this paper, four major stressors like physical activities, sleep patterns, working hours and change in heart rate are used to assess the stress levels of individuals. The main motive of this system is to use machine learning approach in stress detection with the help of Smartphone sensor technology. Individually, the effect of each stressor is evaluated using logistic regression and then combined model is built and assessed using variants of ordinal logistic regression models like logit, probit and complementary log-log. Then the quality of each model is evaluated using Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and probit is assessed as the more suitable model for our dataset. This system is experimented and evaluated in a real time environment by taking data from adults working in IT and other sectors in India. The novelty of this work lies in the fact that stress detection system should be less invasive as possible for the users.

Keywords: physical activity tracker, sleep pattern, working hours, heart rate, smartphone sensor

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Authors: A. Alsoqeer

Abstract:

The establishment, dry matter production and feeding value of six perennial grasses were measured over two growing seasons in a field experiments. The experiments were conducted at the Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2009 and 2010 seasons. The six perennial grasses were: creeping bluegrass (Bothriochloa insculpta cv. Bisset), digit grass (Digitaria smutsi), Jarra digit grass (Digitaria milanjiana), panic (Panicum coloratum cv. Bambatsii), Sabi grass (Urochloa mosambicensis) and setaria (Setaria sphacelata cv. Kazungula). The experimental design used was a completely randomized block design with four replications. The results revealed significant differences among plant species of all agronomic characters and quality traits in the first year, while in the second year, plant species differed significantly for quality traits only. D. smutsi had a superior performance for all agronomic characters, however, it had the lowest values in protein content in the two years comparing with other genotypes. D. milanjiana and U. mosambicensis showed high values in dry matter yield and protein content in the first year, but showed a very poor performance in the second year because most of plants were die due to the low temperatures in the winter. These two species appear to be suitable for annual cultivation. The other species tolerate the cold winter and were a highly productive in the second year.

Keywords: dry mater yield, grass species, cuts, quality traits, crude protein content

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Authors: Asima Ranjan Parhi

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English language teaching-learning in higher education departments in Indian and Asian contexts needs to be one of innovation and experimentation rather than rigid prescription. The communicative language teaching has been proposing the context to be of primary importance in this process. Today, English print and electronic media have flooded the market with plenty of material suitable to the classroom context. The entries are poetic, catchy and contain a deliberate method in them which could be utilized to teach not only English language but literature, literary terms and the theory of literature. The Bollywood movies, especially through their songs have been propagating a package which may be useful to teach language and even theory in the sub-continent. While investigating, one may be fascinated to see how such material in the body of media (print and electronic), movies and popular songs generate a data for our classroom in our context, thereby developing a mass language with huge pedagogical implications. Harping on the four skills of teaching and learning of a language in general and English language in particular appears stale and mechanical in a decontextualised, matter of fact classroom. So this discussion visualizes a model beyond these skills as well as the conventional theory, literature, language classroom practices in order to build up a systematic pattern stressing the factors responsible in the particular context, that of specific language, society and culture in tune with language-literature teaching. This study intends to examine certain catchy use of the language entries in mass media which could be in the direction of inviting more such investigations in the Asian context in order to develop a common platform of decolonized pedagogy.

Keywords: pedagogy, electronic media, Bollywood, decolonized, mass media

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Authors: I. V. Pinto, M. R. Sooriyarachchi

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It can be frequently observed that the data arising in our environment have a hierarchical or a nested structure attached with the data. Multilevel modelling is a modern approach to handle this kind of data. When multilevel modelling is combined with a binary response, the estimation methods get complex in nature and the usual techniques are derived from quasi-likelihood method. The estimation methods which are compared in this study are, marginal quasi-likelihood (order 1 & order 2) (MQL1, MQL2) and penalized quasi-likelihood (order 1 & order 2) (PQL1, PQL2). A statistical model is of no use if it does not reflect the given dataset. Therefore, checking the adequacy of the fitted model through a goodness-of-fit (GOF) test is an essential stage in any modelling procedure. However, prior to usage, it is also equally important to confirm that the GOF test performs well and is suitable for the given model. This study assesses the suitability of the GOF test developed for binary response multilevel models with respect to the method used in model estimation. An extensive set of simulations was conducted using MLwiN (v 2.19) with varying number of clusters, cluster sizes and intra cluster correlations. The test maintained the desirable Type-I error for models estimated using PQL2 and it failed for almost all the combinations of MQL. Power of the test was adequate for most of the combinations in all estimation methods except MQL1. Moreover, models were fitted using the four methods to a real-life dataset and performance of the test was compared for each model.

Keywords: goodness-of-fit test, marginal quasi-likelihood, multilevel modelling, penalized quasi-likelihood, power, quasi-likelihood, type-I error

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Authors: Radovan Bures, Madgalena Streckova, Maria Faberova, Pavel Kurek

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Composite material based on Fe3Si micro-particles and Mn-Zn nano-ferrite was prepared using powder metallurgy technology. The sol-gel followed by autocombustion process was used for synthesis of Mn0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 ferrite. 3 wt.% of mechanically milled ferrite was mixed with Fe3Si powder alloy. Mixed micro-nano powder system was homogenized by the Resonant Acoustic Mixing using ResodynLabRAM Mixer. This non-invasive homogenization technique was used to preserve spherical morphology of Fe3Si powder particles. Uniaxial cold pressing in the closed die at pressure 600 MPa was applied to obtain a compact sample. Microwave sintering of green compact was realized at 800°C, 20 minutes, in air. Density of the powders and composite was measured by Hepycnometry. Impulse excitation method was used to measure elastic properties of sintered composite. Mechanical properties were evaluated by measurement of transverse rupture strength (TRS) and Vickers hardness (HV). Resistivity was measured by 4 point probe method. Ferrite phase distribution in volume of the composite was documented by metallographic analysis. It has been found that nano-ferrite particle distributed among micro- particles of Fe3Si powder alloy led to high relative density (~93%) and suitable mechanical properties (TRS >100 MPa, HV ~1GPa, E-modulus ~140 GPa) of the composite. High electric resistivity (R~6.7 ohm.cm) of prepared composite indicate their potential application as soft magnetic material at medium and high frequencies.

Keywords: micro- and nano-composite, soft magnetic materials, microwave sintering, mechanical and electric properties

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Authors: Cherifi Katia, Al-Hawat Marie-Lynn, Tricou Leo-Paul, Lamontagne Stephanie, Tran Minh, Ngu Amy Ching Yie, Manrique Gabriela, Guirguis Natalie, Machuca Parra Arturo Israel, Matoori Simon

Abstract:

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a serious and prevalent complication of diabetes. Current diagnostic options are limited to macroscopic wound analysis such as wound size, depth, and infection. Molecular diagnostics promise to improve DFU diagnosis, staging, and assessment of treatment response. Here, we developed a rapid and easy-to-use fluorescent pH-sensing bandage for wound diagnostics. In a fluorescent dye screen, we identified pyranine as the lead compound due to its suitable pH-sensing properties in the clinically relevant pH range of 6 to 9. To minimize the release of this dye into the wound bed, we screened a library of ionic microparticles and found a strong adhesion of the anionic dye to a cationic polymeric microparticle. These dye-loaded microparticles showed a strong fluorescence response in the clinically relevant pH range of 6 to 9 and a dye release below 1% after one day in biological media. The dye-loaded microparticles were subsequently encapsulated in a calcium alginate hydrogel to minimize the interaction of the microparticles with the wound tissue. This pH-sensing diagnostic wound dressing was tested on full-thickness dorsal wounds of mice, and a linear fluorescence response (R2 = 0.9909) to clinically relevant pH values was observed. These findings encourage further development of this pH-sensing system for molecular diagnostics in DFUs.

Keywords: wound ph, fluorescence, diagnostics, diabetic foot ulcer, wound healing, chronic wounds, diabetes

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Authors: Edwin Oviedo, Carlos Linares, Philippe Ayrault, Sylvette Brunet

Abstract:

Nowadays, light conventional crude oils are going down. Therefore, the exploitation of heavy crude oils has been increasing. Hence, a major quantity of refractory sulfur compounds such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) should be removed. Many efforts have been carried out to modify hydrotreatment typical supports in order to increase hydrodesulfurization (HDS) reactions. The present work shows the synthesis of tertiaries MgFeAl(0.16), MgFeAl(0.32), CoFeAl, ZnFeAl hydrotalcites, as supports of CoMo based catalysts, where 0.16 and 0.32 are the Fe3+/Al3+ molar ratio. Solids were characterized by different techniques (XRD, CO2-TPD, H2-TPR, FT-IR, BET, Chemical Analysis and HRTEM) and tested in the DBT HDS reaction. The reactions conditions were: Temp=325°C, P=40 Bar, H2/feed=475. Results show that the catalysts CoMo/MgFeAl(0.16) and CoMo/MgFeAl(0.32), which were the most basics, reduced the sulfur content from 500ppm to less than 1 ppm, increasing the cyclohexylbenzene content, i.e. presented a higher selective toward the HYD pathway than reference catalyst CoMo/γ- Al2O3. This is suitable for improving the fuel quality due to the increase of the cetane number. These catalysts were also more active to the HDS reaction increasing the direct desulfurization (DDS) way and presented a good stability. It is advantageous when the gas oil centane number should be improved. Cobalt, iron or zinc species inside support could avoid the Co and Mo dispersion or form spinel species which could be less active to hydrodesulfuration reactions, while hydrotalcites containing Mg increases the HDS activity probably due to improved Co/Mo ratio.

Keywords: catalyst, cetane number, dibenzothiophene, diesel, hydrodesulfurization, hydrotreatment, MoS2

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Authors: Ting Kai Chia, Ruifeng Yan, Feifei Bai, Tapan Saha

Abstract:

This research presents a real-world power system oscillation incident in 2022 originated by a hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind renewable energy farm with a rated capacity of approximately 300MW in Australia. The voltage and reactive power outputs recorded at the point of common coupling (PCC) oscillated at a sub-synchronous frequency region, which sustained for approximately five hours in the network. The reactive power oscillation gradually increased over time and reached a recorded maximum of approximately 250MVar peak-to-peak (from inductive to capacitive). The network service provider was not able to quickly identify the location of the oscillation source because the issue was widespread across the network. After the incident, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) concluded that the oscillation problem was caused by the incorrect setting recovery of the hybrid power plant controller (HPPC) in the voltage and reactive power control loop after a loss of communication event. The voltage controller normally outputs a reactive (Q) reference value to the Q controller which controls the Q dispatch setpoint of PV and wind plants in the hybrid farm. Meanwhile, a feed-forward (FF) configuration is used to bypass the Q controller in case there is a loss of communication. Further study found that the FF control mode was still engaged when communication was re-established, which ultimately resulted in the oscillation event. However, there was no detailed explanation of why the FF control mode can cause instability in the hybrid farm. Also, there was no duplication of the event in the simulation to analyze the root cause of the oscillation. Therefore, this research aims to model and replicate the oscillation event in a simulation environment and investigate the underlying behavior of the HPPC and the consequent oscillation mechanism during the incident. The outcome of this research will provide significant benefits to the safe operation of large-scale renewable energy generators and power networks.

Keywords: PV, oscillation, modelling, wind

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