Search results for: time reduction

Authors: A. Mollafilabi, A. Koocheki, P. Rezvani Moghaddam, M. Nassiri Mahalati

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In order to study the effects of corm weights and times of corm lifting saffron in different planting beds, an experiment was conducted as Factorial layout based on a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications at the Fadak Research Center of Agricultural Research in Food Science during 2010. Treatments were two corm weights (8-10, 10 < g), two planting beds (stone wool and peat moss) and five levels of lifting time (mi-June, early July, mid-July, early August and mid-August). No. of corms were 457 corms.m-2 and for 40 days and were stored for 90 days in incubation, 85% relative humidity and 25°C temperature in the darkness. Then, saffron corms were transferred to growth chamber with 17 °C in 8 hours light and 16 hours darkness. Characteristics were number of flower, fresh weight of flower, dry weight of flower, fresh and dry weight of stigma, fresh and dry weight of style, fresh and dry weight of stigma+style and Picrocrocin, Safronal and Crocin contents of saffron were measured. Results showed that the corm weight, bed type and time of corm lifting had significant effects on economical yield of saffron such as picked flowers, dry weight of stigma and fresh weight of flowers. The highest saffron economical yield was obtained in interaction of corm weight, 10 g, peat moss and lifting time in mid-June as much as 5.2 g.m-2. This yield is 11 fold of average yield of Iranian farms. Picrocrocin, Safranal and Crocin contents was graded as excellent thread in peat moss under controlled conditions compared with ISO Standard of 203.

Keywords: corm density, dry stigma, safranal-flowering, yield saffron

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Authors: Desouky Abd El Haleem, Sahar Zaki

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This work was conducted to develop a one-step multiplex PCR system for rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of three different bacterial pathogens, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella spp, directly in wastewater without prior isolation on selective media. As a molecular confirmatory test after isolation of the pathogens by classical microbiological methods, PCR-RFLP of their amplified 16S rDNA genes was performed. It was observed that the developed protocols have significance impact in the ability to detect sensitively, rapidly and specifically the three pathogens directly in water within short-time, represents a considerable advancement over more time-consuming and less-sensitive methods for identification and characterization of these kinds of pathogens.

Keywords: multiplex PCR, bacterial pathogens, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp.

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Authors: Kumar Dron Shrivastav, Ankan Mukherjee Das, Arti Taneja, Harpreet Singh, Priya Ranjan, Rajiv Janardhanan

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Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancer among women worldwide which can be cured if detected early. Manual pathology which is typically utilized at present has many limitations. The current gold standard for cervical cancer diagnosis is exhaustive and time-consuming because it relies heavily on the subjective knowledge of the oncopathologists which leads to mis-diagnosis and missed diagnosis resulting false negative and false positive. To reduce time and complexities associated with early diagnosis, we require an interactive diagnostic tool for early detection particularly in developing countries where cervical cancer incidence and related mortality is high. Incorporation of digital pathology in place of manual pathology for cervical cancer screening and diagnosis can increase the precision and strongly reduce the chances of error in a time-specific manner. Thus, we propose a robust and interactive cervical cancer image analysis and diagnostic tool, which can categorically process both histopatholgical and cytopathological images to identify abnormal cells in the least amount of time and settings with minimum resources. Furthermore, incorporation of a set of specific parameters that are typically referred to for identification of abnormal cells with the help of open source software -’R’ is one of the major highlights of the tool. The software has the ability to automatically identify and quantify the morphological features, color intensity, sensitivity and other parameters digitally to differentiate abnormal from normal cells, which may improve and accelerate screening and early diagnosis, ultimately leading to timely treatment of cervical cancer.

Keywords: cervical cancer, early detection, digital Pathology, screening

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Authors: Augustus K. Lebechi, Kenneth I. Ozoemena

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Rechargeable zinc-air batteries (RZABs) have been described as one of the most viable next-generation ‘beyond-the-lithium-ion’ battery technologies with great potential for renewable energy storage. It is safe, with a high specific energy density (1086 Wh/kg), environmentally benign, and low-cost, especially in resource-limited African countries. For widespread commercialization, the sluggish oxygen reaction kinetics pose a major challenge that impedes the reversibility of the system. Hence, there is a need for low-cost and highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts. Manganese oxide catalysts on carbon conducting additives remain the best couple for the realization of such low-cost RZABs. In this work, hausmannite Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles were synthesized through the annealing method from commercial electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were synthesized via the electrospinning process with subsequent carbonization. Both Mn₃O₄ catalysts and the carbon conducting additives (MWCNT and CNF) were thoroughly characterized using X-ray powder diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Composite electrocatalysts (Mn₃O₄/CNT and Mn₃O₄/CNF) were investigated for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an alkaline medium. Using the established electrocatalytic modalities for evaluating the electrocatalytic performance of materials (including double layer, electrochemical active surface area, roughness factor, specific current density, and catalytic stability), CNFs proved to be the most efficient conducting additive material for the Mn₃O₄ catalyst. From the DFT calculations, the higher performance of the CNFs over the MWCNTs is related to the ability of the CNFs to allow for a more favorable distribution of the d-electrons of the manganese (Mn) and enhanced synergistic effect with Mn₃O₄ for weaker adsorption energies of the oxygen intermediates (O*, OH* and OOH*). In a proof-of-concept, Mn₃O₄/CNF was investigated as the air cathode for rechargeable zinc-air battery (RZAB) in a micro-3D-printed cell configuration. The RZAB showed good performance in terms of open circuit voltage (1.77 V), maximum power density (177.5 mW cm-2), areal-discharge energy and cycling stability comparable to Pt/C (20 wt%) + IrO2. The findings here provide fresh physicochemical perspectives on the future design and utility of CNFs for developing manganese-based RZABs.

Keywords: bifunctional electrocatalyst, oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reactions, rechargeable zinc-air batteries.

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Authors: R. Vishalakshi, P. Chaithra, M. Dakshayini

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An engineering degree is not a ticket that automatically provides a job. The competition for good jobs is going steep as the global economy and outsourcing is increasing. It is not sufficient to be simply more qualified. In this competitive world, it is important to stand out from everyone else. Going to college and getting a degree is the foremost important step. At the same time, students should be competent enough to face this technically growing and challenging world. So the classroom learning can be greatly enhanced by working with real-time applications. In this paper, we discuss how it can be realized by getting internships with the companies, where students actually get an opportunity to work in real work environment with live problems along with co-workers. Also presents case studies of how the practical industry work experience helps them in constructing their future carrier path.

Keywords: real work environment, industry work experience, internship, college students

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Authors: Prataksitorn Chonlakan, Tiparat Wongsilarat

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The traditional clinical practice guideline used at the emergency room at Songkhla Hospital in caring for patients who come in contact with jellyfish venom took a long time for the pain to reduce to the level that patients can cope with. To investigate the effectiveness of clinical practice guidelines by comparing the effectiveness of a newly developed clinical practice guideline with the traditional clinical practice guideline in the following aspects: 1) pain reduction, 2) length of pain, 3) the rate of patient’s re-visit, 4) the rate of severe complications such as anaphylactic shock, and cardiac arrest, and death, and 5) patient satisfaction. This study employed a quasi-experimental research design. Thirty subjects were selected with purposive sampling from jellyfish-sting patients who came for treatment at the Emergency Room of Songkhla Hospital. The subjects were divided using random assignment into two groups of 15 each: an experimental group, and the control group. The control group was treated using the traditional clinical practice guideline consisting of rinsing the affected area with 0.9% normal saline, using a cloth soaked with vinegar to press against the affected area, and controlling pain using tramadol or diclofenac intramuscular injection. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test at the significance level p < 0.05. The results of the study revealed the following. The pain level in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group (the average pain score of the experimental group was 3.46 while that of the control group was 6.33) (p < 0.05).The length of pain in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group (the average length of pain in the experimental group was 48.67 minutes while that of the control group was 105.35 minutes) (p < 0.05). The rate of re-visit within 12 hours in the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group (the rate of re-visit within 12 hours of the experimental group was 0.07 while that of the control group was 0.00) (p < 0.05).No severe complications such as anaphylactic shock, and cardiac arrest were found in the two groups of subjects.The rate of satisfaction among the subjects in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (the rate of satisfaction among the subjects of the experimental group was 90.00 percent while that among the control group was 66.33 percent) (p < 0.05). The newly develop clinical practice guideline could reduce pain and increase satisfaction among jellyfish-sting patients better than the traditional clinical practice guideline.

Keywords: effectiveness, clinical practice guideline, jellyfish-sting patients, cardiac arrest

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Ramezani, Shahriyar Afandizadeh

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Since the intersections play a crucial role in traffic delay, it is significant to evaluate them precisely. In this paper, three critical intersections in Tehran (Capital of Iran) had been simulated. The main purpose of this paper was to optimize the public transit delay. The simulation had three different phase in three intersections of Tehran. The first phase was about the current condition of intersection; the second phase was about optimized signal timing and the last phase was about prioritized public transit access. The Aimsun software was used to simulate all phases, and the Synchro software was used to optimization of signals as well. The result showed that the implement of optimization and prioritizing system would reduce about 50% of delay for public transit.

Keywords: transit signal priority, intersection optimization, public transit, simulation

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Authors: Abdullah S. Alghamdi, Khaled Alghamdi, Richard O. Jenkins, Parvez I. Haris

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Background: Unhealthy diet is one of the modifiable risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Improvement in diet can be beneficial for countering diabetes. For example, HbA1c, an important biomarker for diabetes, can be reduced by 1.1% through only alteration in diet. Ramadan fasting has been reported to provide positive health benefits. However, optimal benefits are not achieved, often due to poor dietary habits and lifestyle. There is a need to better understand the dietary habits of people fasting during Ramadan, so that necessary improvements can be made to develop this form of fasting as a non-pharmacological strategy for management and prevention of T2DM. Aim: This study aimed to assess the dietary patterns of Saudi adult patients with T2DM over three different periods (before, during, and after Ramadan) and relate this to HbA1c levels. Methods: This study recruited 82 Saudi with T2DM, who chose to fast during Ramadan, from the Endocrine and Diabetic Centre of Al Iman General Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ethical approvals for the study were obtained from De Montfort University and Saudi Ministry of Health. Dietary patterns were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire in each period. This assessment included the diet type and frequency. Blood samples were collected in each period for determination of HbA1c. Results: The number of meals per day for the participants significantly decreased during Ramadan (P < 0.001). The consumption of fruit and vegetables significantly increased during Ramadan (P = 0.017). However, the consumption of sugary drinks significantly increased during and after Ramadan (P = 0.005). Approximately 60% of the patients indicated that they ate sugary foods at least once per week. The consumption of bread and rice was reported to be at least two times per week. The consumption of rice significantly reduced during Ramadan (P = 0.002). The mean HbA1c significantly varied between periods (P = 0.001), with lowest level during Ramadan compared to before and after Ramadan. The increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables had a medium effect size on the reduction in HbA1c during Ramadan. There was a variance of 7.7% in the mean difference in HbA1c levels between groups (who changed their fruit and vegetable consumption) which can be accounted for by the increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Likewise, 9.3% of the variance in the mean HbA1c difference between the groups was accounted for by a decrease in the consumption of rice. Conclusion: The increase in the frequency of fruit and vegetables intake, and especially the reduction in the frequency of rice consumption, during Ramadan produce beneficial effects in reducing HbA1c level. Therefore, further improving the dietary habits of patients with T2DM, such as reducing their sugary drinks intake, may help them to obtain greater benefits from Ramadan fasting in the management of their diabetes. It is recommended that dietary guidance is provided to the public to maximise health benefits through Ramadan fasting.

Keywords: Diabetes, Diet, Fasting, HbA1c, Ramadan

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Authors: Felicia Orah Rein Moshe

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Soil erosion has become a priority global concern, impairing water quality and degrading ecosystem services. In Mediterranean climates, following a long dry period, the onset of rain occurs when agricultural soils are often bare and most vulnerable to erosion. Early storms transport sediments and sediment-bound pollutants into streams, along with dissolved chemicals. This results in loss of valuable topsoil, water quality degradation, and potentially expensive dredged-material disposal costs. Information on the provenance of fine sediment and priority sources of adsorbed pollutants represents a critical need for developing effective control strategies aimed at source reduction. Modifying sediment traps designed for marine systems, this study tested a cost-effective method to collect suspended sediments on a catchment scale to characterize stream water quality during first-flush storm events in a flashy Eastern Mediterranean coastal perennial stream. This study investigated the Kishon Basin, deploying sediment traps in 23 locations, including 4 in the mainstream and one downstream in each of 19 tributaries, enabling the characterization of sediment as a vehicle for transporting chemicals. Further, it enabled direct comparison of sediment-bound pollutants transported during the first-flush winter storms of 2020 from each of 19 tributaries, allowing subsequent ecotoxicity ranking. Sediment samples were successfully captured in 22 locations. Pesticides, pharmaceuticals, nutrients, and metal concentrations were quantified, identifying a total of 50 pesticides, 15 pharmaceuticals, and 22 metals, with 16 pesticides and 3 pharmaceuticals found in all 23 locations, demonstrating the importance of this transport pathway. Heavy metals were detected in only one tributary, identifying an important watershed pollution source with immediate potential influence on long-term dredging costs. Simultaneous sediment sampling at first flush storms enabled clear identification of priority tributaries and their chemical contributions, advancing a new national watershed monitoring approach, facilitating strategic plan development based on source reduction, and advancing the goal of improving the farm-stream interface, conserving soil resources, and protecting water quality.

Keywords: adsorbed pollution, dredged material, heavy metals, suspended sediment, water quality monitoring

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Authors: Dalia Elsheakh, Hala Elsadek

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The objective of this paper is to propose a competitive microwave security system that can be applied with reasonable price at museums in Egypt, considering the priceless elements in 23 Egyptian museums countrywide and the lack of good recent security systems even in big ones. The system main goal is to detect valuable targets to ensure their presence in the pre-defined positions in order to protect them from being stolen. The system is based on real time microwave scanning for the required space volume through transmitting RF waves at consecutive angles and detecting the back scattered waves from required objects to detect their existence at pre-specified locations.

Keywords: microwave security system, object locating system, real time locating system (RTLS), antenna array, array electronic scanning

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Authors: Janaina Pereira, Barbara Gonzalez, Valentina Chitas, Teresa Molina

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Intro: The positive impact of opioid maintenance programs on the health of heroin addicts, and on public health in general, has been widely recognized, namely on the prevalence reduction of infectious diseases as HIV, and on the social reintegration of this population. Nevertheless, a part of patients in these programs cannot remain heroin abstinent, or has relapses, during the treatment. Method: Thus, this cross-sectional research aims at analyzing the relation between a set of psychological and psychosocial variables, which have been associated with the onset of heroin use, and assess if they are also associated with absence of abstinence in participants in an opioid maintenance program. A total of 62 patients, aged between 26 and 58 years old (M= 40.87, DP= 7.39) with a time in opioid maintenance program between 1 and 10 years (M= 5.42, DP= 3.05), 77.4% male and 22.6% female, participated in this research. To assess the criterion variable (heroin use) we used the mean value of positive results in urine tests during the participation in the program, weighted according to the number of months in program. The predictor variables were the coping strategies, the dispositional sensation seeking, and the existence of Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results: The results showed that only 33.87% of the patients were totally abstinent of heroin use since the beginning of the program, and the absence of abstinence, as the number of positive heroin tests, was primarily predicted by less proactive coping, and secondarily by a higher level of sensation seeking. 16.13% of the sample fulfilled diagnosis criteria for PTSD, and 67.74 % had at least one traumatic experience throughout their lives. The total of PTSD symptoms had a positive correlation with the number of physical health problems, and with the lack of professional occupation. These results have several implications for the clinical practice in this field, and we suggest the promotion of proactive coping strategies should integrate these opioid maintenance programs, as they represent the tendency to face future events as challenges and opportunities, being positively related to positive results on several fields. The early identification of PTSD in the participants, before entering the opioid maintenance programs, would be important as it is related to negative features that hinder social reintegration, Finally, to identify individuals with a sensation seeking profile would be relevant, not only because they face a higher risk of relapse, but also because the therapeutical approaches should not ignore this dispositional feature in the alternatives they propose to the patients.

Keywords: opioid maintenance programs, proactive coping, PTSD, sensation seeking

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Authors: Liang Zhao, Chongquan Zhong

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Introduction: According to statistics, people spend 80% to 90% of time indoor, so indoor air quality, either at home or in the office, greatly impacts the quality of life, health and work efficiency. Therefore, indoor air quality is very important to human activities. With the acceleration of urbanization, people are spending more time in indoor activity. The time in indoor environment, the living space, and the frequency interior decoration are all increasingly increased. However, housing decoration materials contain formaldehyde and other harmful substances, causing environmental and air quality problems, which have brought serious damage to countless families and attracted growing attention. According to World Health Organization statistics, the indoor environments in more than 30% of buildings in China are polluted by poisonous and harmful gases. Indoor pollution has caused various health problems, and these widespread public health problems can lead to respiratory diseases. Long-term inhalation of low-concentration formaldehyde would cause persistent headache, insomnia, weakness, palpitation, weight loss and vomiting, which are serious impacts on human health and safety. On the other hand, as for offices, some surveys show that good indoor air quality helps to enthuse the staff and improve the work efficiency by 2%-16%. Therefore, people need to further understand the living and working environments. There is a need for easy-to-use indoor environment monitoring instruments, with which users only have to power up and monitor the environmental parameters. The corresponding real-time data can be displayed on the screen for analysis. Environment monitoring should have the sensitive signal alarm function and send alarm when harmful gases such as formaldehyde, CO, SO2, are excessive to human body. System design: According to the monitoring requirements of various gases, temperature and humidity, we designed a portable, light, real-time and accurate monitor for various environmental parameters, including temperature, humidity, formaldehyde, methane, and CO. This monitor will generate an alarm signal when a target is beyond the standard. It can conveniently measure a variety of harmful gases and provide the alarm function. It also has the advantages of small volume, convenience to carry and use. It has a real-time display function, outputting the parameters on the LCD screen, and a real-time alarm function. Conclusions: This study is focused on the research and development of a portable parameter monitoring instrument for indoor environment. On the platform of an STM32 development board, the monitored data are collected through an external sensor. The STM32 platform is for data acquisition and processing procedures, and successfully monitors the real-time temperature, humidity, formaldehyde, CO, methane and other environmental parameters. Real-time data are displayed on the LCD screen. The system is stable and can be used in different indoor places such as family, hospital, and office. Meanwhile, the system adopts the idea of modular design and is superior in transplanting. The scheme is slightly modified and can be used similarly as the function of a monitoring system. This monitor has very high research and application values.

Keywords: indoor air quality, gas concentration detection, embedded system, sensor

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Authors: Joseph Thomas Eghwerido, Julian I. Mbegbu

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In modelling environment processes, we apply multidisciplinary knowledge to explain, explore and predict the Earth's response to natural human-induced environmental changes. Thus, the analysis of spatial-time ecological and environmental studies, the spatial parameters of interest are always heterogeneous. This often negates the assumption of stationarity. Hence, the dispersion of the transportation of atmospheric pollutants, landscape or topographic effect, weather patterns depends on a good estimate of spatial covariance. The generalized linear mixed model, although linear in the expected value parameters, its likelihood varies nonlinearly as a function of the covariance parameters. As a consequence, computing estimates for a linear mixed model requires the iterative solution of a system of simultaneous nonlinear equations. In other to predict the variables at unsampled locations, we need to know the estimate of the present sampled variables. The geostatistical methods for solving this spatial problem assume covariance stationarity (locally defined covariance) and uniform in space; which is not apparently valid because spatial processes often exhibit nonstationary covariance. Hence, they have globally defined covariance. We shall consider different existing methods of solutions of spatial covariance of a space-time processes at unsampled locations. This stationary covariance changes with locations for multiple time set with some asymptotic properties.

Keywords: parametric, nonstationary, Kernel, Kriging

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Authors: Chin Pang Lei

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Colonized by the UK, handed over to China, and now as a global financial city, Hong Kong’s history is never easy to write under the dominant discourses of colonialism, nationalism and globalization. In this plight, cinema, regarded as Hong Kong’s most representative cultural form, is used for writing, exploring and questioning the local history of the city. In their writing of the past, Hong Kong directors such as Wong Kar-wai, Stanley Kwan and Tsui Hark have demonstrated alternative ways of historicizing Hong Kong. Despite their interests in different periods of time (Wong is obsessed with the 1960s; Kwan is attracted to the 1930s; Tsui often goes back to the early 20th century), all these directors use genres as their time machines to revisit the past. As a popular cultural form, genres always come with a series of ideologies which define our lives and explain the society. Hence, in a changing society, genres change and complicate themselves with different packages of meanings. Genres function as open-ended and corrigible schemata which can contain multiple themes and various meanings. In Hong Kong, genres, often seen as highly commercial and overly market-oriented, are opportunities for alternative history writing and the exploration of local identities. This paper examines how these Hong Kong directors use the popular forms of genres, such as melodrama, martial art and gangster films, to present the past, and how the stories of the fictional characters, such as prostitutes, martial artists and jobless hooligans mobilize imagination of history. These texts show that genre is a crucial platform for Hong Kong’s post-colonial self-writing. Via genres, history in these films is against official and canonical history as well as grand narrative. Genres as time machines articulate a voice for Hong Kong.

Keywords: Hong Kong cinema, genre, historicizing, local history, Wong Kar-Wai

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Authors: Maria Korman, Carmit Gal, Ella Gabitov, Avi Karni

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The main question addressed in this study was whether the time-of-day wherein training is afforded is a significant factor for motor skill ('how-to', procedural knowledge) acquisition and consolidation into long term memory in the healthy elderly population. Twenty-nine older adults (60-75 years) practiced an explicitly instructed 5-element key-press sequence by repeatedly generating the sequence ‘as fast and accurately as possible’. Contribution of three parameters to acquisition, 24h post-training consolidation, and 1-week retention gains in motor sequence speed was assessed: (a) time of training (morning vs. evening group) (b) sleep quality (actigraphy) and (c) chronotype. All study participants were moderately morning type, according to the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire score. All participants had sleep patterns typical of age, with average sleep efficiency of ~ 82%, and approximately 6 hours of sleep. Speed of motor sequence performance in both groups improved to a similar extent during training session. Nevertheless, evening group expressed small but significant overnight consolidation phase gains, while morning group showed only maintenance of performance level attained at the end of training. By 1-week retention test, both groups showed similar performance levels with no significant gains or losses with respect to 24h test. Changes in the tapping patterns at 24h and 1-week post-training were assessed based on normalized Pearson correlation coefficients using the Fisher’s z-transformation in reference to the tapping pattern attained at the end of the training. Significant differences between the groups were found: the evening group showed larger changes in tapping patterns across the consolidation and retention windows. Our results show that morning-oriented older adults effectively acquired, consolidated, and maintained a new sequence of finger movements, following both morning and evening practice sessions. However, time-of-training affected the time-course of skill evolution in terms of performance speed, as well as the re-organization of tapping patterns during the consolidation period. These results are in line with the notion that motor training preceding a sleep interval may be beneficial for the long-term memory in the elderly. Evening training should be considered an appropriate time window for motor skill learning in older adults, even in individuals with morning chronotype.

Keywords: time-of-day, elderly, motor learning, memory consolidation, chronotype

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Authors: Hyery Kang, Dong-Yeun Koh, Yun-Ho Ahn, Huen Lee

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Determination of the behavior of clathrate hydrate with inhibitor in the THz region will provide useful information about hydrate plug control in the upstream of the oil and gas industry. In this study, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) revealed the inhibition of the THF clathrate hydrate system with dosage of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with three different molecular weights. Distinct footprints of phase transition in the THz region (0.4–2.2 THz) were analyzed and absorption coefficients and real part of refractive indices are obtained in the temperature range of 253 K to 288 K. Along with the optical properties, ring breathing and stretching modes for different molecular weights of PVP in THF hydrate are analyzed by Raman spectroscopy.

Keywords: clathrate hydrate, terahertz spectroscopy, tetrahydrofuran, inhibitor

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Authors: Ravi Kiran Jaladi, Ezz I. El-Masry

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Emerging technologies such as ultra-wide band wireless access technology that operate at ultra-low power present several challenges due to their inherent design that limits the use of voltage-mode filters. Therefore, Continuous-time current-mode (CTCM) filters have become very popular in recent times due to the fact they have a wider dynamic range, improved linearity, and extended bandwidth compared to their voltage-mode counterparts. The goal of this research is to develop analog filters which are suitable for the current scaling CMOS technologies. Bulk-driven MOSFET is one of the most popular low power design technique for the existing challenges, while other techniques have obvious shortcomings. In this work, a CTCM Gate-driven (GD) differentiator has been presented with a frequency range from dc to 100MHz which operates at very low supply voltage of 0.7 volts. A novel CTCM Bulk-driven (BD) differentiator has been designed for the first time which reduces the power consumption multiple times that of GD differentiator. These GD and BD differentiator has been simulated using CADENCE TSMC 65nm technology for all the bilinear and biquadratic band-pass frequency responses. These basic building blocks can be used to implement the higher order filters. A 6th order cascade CTCM Chebyshev band-pass filter has been designed using the GD and BD techniques. As a conclusion, a low power GD and BD 6th order chebyshev stagger-tuned band-pass filter was simulated and all the parameters obtained from all the resulting realizations are analyzed and compared. Monte Carlo analysis is performed for both the 6th order filters and the results of sensitivity analysis are presented.

Keywords: bulk-driven (BD), continuous-time current-mode filters (CTCM), gate-driven (GD)

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Authors: Fatemeh Babaeian, Nemai Chandra Karmakar

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Chipless RFID system is a wireless system for tracking and identification which use passive tags for encoding data. The advantage of using chipless RFID tag is having a planar tag which is printable on different low-cost materials like paper and plastic. The printed tag can be attached to different items in the labelling level. Since the price of chipless RFID tag can be as low as a fraction of a cent, this technology has the potential to compete with the conventional optical barcode labels. However, due to the passive structure of the tag, data processing of the reflection signal is a crucial challenge. The captured reflected signal from a tag attached to an item consists of different components which are the reflection from the reader antenna, the reflection from the item, the tag structural mode RCS component and the antenna mode RCS of the tag. All these components are summed up in both time and frequency domains. The effect of reflection from the item and the structural mode RCS component can distort/saturate the frequency domain signal and cause difficulties in extracting the desired component which is the antenna mode RCS. Therefore, it is required to study the reflection of the tag in both time and frequency domains to have a better understanding of the nature of the captured chipless RFID signal. The other benefits of this study can be to find an optimised encoding technique in tag design level and to find the best processing algorithm the chipless RFID signal in decoding level. In this paper, the reflection from a typical backscattered chipless RFID tag with six resonances is analysed, and different components of the signal are separated in both time and frequency domains. Moreover, the time domain signal corresponding to each resonator of the tag is studied. The data for this processing was captured from simulation in CST Microwave Studio 2017. The outcome of this study is understanding different components of a measured signal in a chipless RFID system and a discovering a research gap which is a need to find an optimum detection algorithm for tag ID extraction.

Keywords: antenna mode RCS, chipless RFID tag, resonance, structural mode RCS

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Authors: İkbal Eski

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This investigation is researched on design of robust neural network predictors for analyzing vibration effects on moving parts of a drilling machine. Moreover, the research is divided two parts; first part is experimental investigation, second part is simulation analysis with neural networks. Therefore, a real time the drilling machine is used to vibrations during working conditions. The measured real vibration parameters are analyzed with proposed neural network. As results: Simulation approaches show that Radial Basis Neural Network has good performance to adapt real time parameters of the drilling machine.

Keywords: artificial neural network, vibration analyses, drilling machine, robust

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Authors: Haythem Barrak, Gaetan Laroche, Adel M’nif, Ahmed Hichem Hamzaoui

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The use of semiconductor oxides, as chemical or biological, requires their functionalization with appropriate dependent molecules of the substance to be detected. generally, the support materials used are TiO2 and SiO2. In the present work, we used zinc oxide (ZnO) known for its interesting physical properties. The synthesis of nano scale ZnO was performed by co-precipitation at low temperature (60 ° C).To our knowledge, the obtaining of this material at this temperature was carried out for the first time. This shows the low cost of this operation. On the other hand, the surface functionalization of ZnO was performed with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) by using a specific method using ethanol for the first time. In addition, the duration of this stage is very low compared to literature. The samples obtained were analyzed by XRD, TEM, DLS, FTIR, and TGA shows that XPS that the operation of grafting of APTES on our support was carried out with success.

Keywords: functionalization, nanoparticle, ZnO, APTES, caractérisation

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Authors: Balwinder Singh, Veerpaul Kaur Mann

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A composite material is formed by the combination of two or more phases or materials. Natural minerals-derived Basalt fiber is a kind of fiber being introduced in the polymer composite industry due to its good mechanical properties similar to synthetic fibers and low cost, environment friendly. Also, there is a rising trend towards the use of industrial wastes as fillers in polymer composites with the aim of improving the properties of the composites. The mechanical properties of the fiber-reinforced polymer composites are influenced by various factors like fiber length, fiber weight %, filler weight %, filler size, etc. Thus, a detailed study has been done on the characterization of short-chopped Basalt fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites using fly ash as filler. Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array has been used to develop the composites by considering fiber length (6, 9 and 12 mm), fiber weight % (25, 30 and 35 %) and filler weight % (0, 5 and 10%) as input parameters with their respective levels and a thorough analysis on the mechanical characteristics (tensile strength and impact strength) has been done using ANOVA analysis with the help of MINITAB14 software. The investigation revealed that fiber weight is the most significant parameter affecting tensile strength, followed by fiber length and fiber weight %, respectively, while impact characterization showed that fiber length is the most significant factor, followed by fly ash weight, respectively. Introduction of fly ash proved to be beneficial in both the characterization with enhanced values upto 5% fly ash weight. The present study on the natural fibres reinforced epoxy composites using fly ash as filler material to study the effect of input parameters on the tensile strength in order to maximize tensile strength of the composites. Fabrication of composites based on Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design of experiments by using three factors fibre type, fibre weight % and fly ash % with three levels of each factor. The Optimization of composition of natural fibre reinforces composites using ANOVA for obtaining maximum tensile strength on fabricated composites revealed that the natural fibres along with fly ash can be successfully used with epoxy resin to prepare polymer matrix composites with good mechanical properties. Paddy- Paddy fibre gives high elasticity to the fibre composite due to presence of approximately hexagonal structure of cellulose present in paddy fibre. Coir- Coir fibre gives less tensile strength than paddy fibre as Coir fibre is brittle in nature when it pulls breakage occurs showing less tensile strength. Banana- Banana fibre has the least tensile strength in comparison to the paddy & coir fibre due to less cellulose content. Higher fibre weight leads to reduction in tensile strength due to increased nuclei of air pockets. Increasing fly ash content reduces tensile strength due to nonbonding of fly ash particles with natural fibre. Fly ash is also not very strong as compared to the epoxy resin leading to reduction in tensile strength.

Keywords: tensile strength and epoxy resin. basalt Fiber, taguchi, polymer matrix, natural fiber

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Alessio Varotto, Lorenzo Freschi, Umberto Pasqual Laverdura, Anastasia Moschovi, Davide Pumiglia, Iakovos Yakoumis, Marta Feroci, Maria Luisa Grilli

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Dry reforming of Methane (DRM) is considered one of the most valuable technologies for green-house gas valorization thanks to the fact that through this reaction, it is possible to obtain syngas, a mixture of H₂ and CO in an H₂/CO ratio suitable for utilization in the Fischer-Tropsch process of high value-added chemicals and fuels. Challenges of the DRM process are the reduction of costs due to the high temperature of the process and the high cost of precious metals of the catalyst, the metal particles sintering, and carbon deposition on the catalysts’ surface. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of the synthesis of catalysts using a leachate solution containing Pt coming directly from the recovery of spent diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) without further purification. An unusual perovskite support for DRM, the BaCe₁₋ₓ₋ᵧZrₓGdᵧO₃ (BCZG) perovskite, has been chosen as the catalyst support because of its high thermal stability and capability to produce oxygen vacancies, which suppress the carbon deposition and enhance the catalytic activity of the catalyst. BCZG perovskite has been synthesized by a sol-gel modified Pechini process and calcinated in air at 1100 °C. BCZG supports have been impregnated with a Pt-containing leachate solution of DOC, obtained by a mild hydrometallurgical recovery process, as reported elsewhere by some of the authors of this manuscript. For comparison reasons, a synthetic solution obtained by digesting commercial Pt-black powder in aqua regia was used for BCZG support impregnation. Pt nominal content was 2% in both BCZG-based catalysts formed by real and synthetic solutions. The structure and morphology of catalysts were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) was used to study the thermal stability of the catalyst’s samples. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis provided a high surface area of the catalysts. H₂-TPR (Temperature Programmed Reduction) analysis was used to study the consumption of hydrogen for reducibility, and it was associated with H₂-TPD characterization to study the dispersion of Pt on the surface of the support and calculate the number of active sites used by the precious metal. Dry reforming of methane (DRM) reaction, carried out in a fixed bed reactor, showed a high conversion efficiency of CO₂ and CH4. At 850°C, CO₂ and CH₄ conversion were close to 100% for the catalyst obtained with the aqua regia-based solution of commercial Pt-black, and ~70% (for CH₄) and ~80 % (for CO₂) in the case of real HCl-based leachate solution. H₂/CO ratios were ~0.9 and ~0.70 in the first and latter cases, respectively. As far as we know, this is the first pioneering work in which a BCGZ catalyst and a real Pt-containing leachate solution were successfully employed for DRM reaction.

Keywords: dry reforming of methane, perovskite, PGM, recycled Pt, syngas

Procedia PDF Downloads 40

Authors: V. Benedico, C. Anacleto, A. Bearzi, L. Brice, V. Delahaye

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The aim in present paper is to construct an affordable and reliable commodity prices based on a recalculation of its cost through time which allows visualize the potential risks and thus, take more appropriate decisions regarding forecasts. Here attention has been focused on Levy model, more reliable and realistic than classical random Gaussian one as it takes into consideration observed abrupt jumps in case of sudden price variation. In application to Energy Trading sector where it has never been used before, equations corresponding to Levy model have been written for electricity pricing in European market. Parameters have been set in order to predict and simulate the price and its evolution through time to remarkable accuracy. As predicted by Levy model, the results show significant spikes which reach unconventional levels contrary to currently used Brownian model.

Keywords: commodity pricing, Lévy Model, price spikes, electricity market

Procedia PDF Downloads 430

Authors: F. A. Saracoglu Varol, H. Agaccıoglu

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Experimental studies to investigate the depth of the scour conducted at a side-weir intersection located at the 1800 curved flume which located Hydraulic Laboratory of Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey. Side weirs were located at the middle of the straight part of the main channel. Three different lengths (25, 40 and 50 cm) and three different weir crest height (7, 10 and 12 cm) of the side weir placed on the side weir station. There is no scour when the material is only kaolin. Therefore, the cohesive bed was prepared by properly mixing clay material (kaolin) with 31% sand in all experiments. Following 24h consolidation time, in order to observe the effect of flow intensity on the scour depth, experiments were carried out for five different upstream Froude numbers in the range of 0.33-0.81. As a result of this study the relation between scour depth and upstream flow intensity as a function of time have been established. The longitudinal velocities decreased along the side weir; towards the downstream due to overflow over the side-weirs. At the beginning, the scour depth increases rapidly with time and then asymptotically approached constant values in all experiments for all side weir dimensions as in non-cohesive sediment. Thus, the scour depth reached equilibrium conditions. Time to equilibrium depends on the approach flow intensity and the dimensions of side weirs. For different heights of the weir crest, dimensionless scour depths increased with increasing upstream Froude number. Equilibrium scour depths which formed 7 cm side-weir crest height were obtained higher than that of the 12 cm side-weir crest height. This means when side-weir crest height increased equilibrium scour depths decreased. Although the upstream side of the scour hole is almost vertical, the downstream side of the hole is inclined.

Keywords: clay-sand mixed sediments, scour, side weir, hydraulic structures

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Eylem Guzel, Faruk Osmanoglu, Muhammet Kurucu

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The concrete filled steel tube (CFST) columns are commonly used in construction applications such as high-rise buildings and bridges owing to its lots of remarkable benefits. The use of concrete-filled steel tube columns provides large areas by reduction in cross-sectional area of columns. The main aim of this study is to examine the axial load capacities of circular high strength concrete-filled steel tube columns according to Eurocode 4 (EC4) and Chinese Code (DL/T). The results showed that the predictions of EC4 and Chinese Code DL/T are unsafe for all specimens.

Keywords: concrete-filled steel tube column, axial load capacity, Chinese code, Australian standard

Procedia PDF Downloads 401

Authors: Ergun Sakalar, Kubra Bilgic

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Faster detection and characterization of pathogens are the basis of the evoid from foodborne pathogens. Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes are common foodborne bacteria that are among the most life-threatining. It is important to rapid and accurate detection of these pathogens to prevent food poisoning and outbreaks or to manage food chains. The present work promise to develop a sensitive, species specific and reliable PCR based detection system for simultaneous detection of Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. For this purpose, three genes were picked out, ompC for Salmonella spp., ipaH for Shigella spp. and hlyA for L. monocytogenes. After short pre-enrichment of milk was passed through a vacuum filter and bacterial DNA was exracted using commercially available kit GIDAGEN®(Turkey, İstanbul). Detection of amplicons was verified by examination of the melting temperature (Tm) that are 72° C, 78° C, 82° C for Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and L. monocytogenes, respectively. The method specificity was checked against a group of bacteria strains, and also carried out sensitivity test resulting in under 10² CFU mL⁻¹ of milk for each bacteria strain. Our results show that the flourescence based triplex qPCR method can be used routinely to detect Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and L. monocytogenes during the milk processing procedures in order to reduce cost, time of analysis and the risk of foodborne disease outbreaks.

Keywords: evagreen, food-born bacteria, pathogen detection, real-time pcr

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Sagwata A. Manyike, Hulisani Magada

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The South African National Biodiversity Institute is in the process of developing a guideline which sets out how biodiversity can be incorporated into land use (zoning) schemes. South Africa promulgated its Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act in 2015 and the act seeks, amongst other things, to bridge the gap between spatial planning and land use management within the country. In addition, the act requires local governments to develop wall-to-wall land use schemes for their entire jurisdictions as they had previously only developed them for their urban areas. At the same time, South Africa has a rich history of systematic conservation planning whereby Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas have been spatially delineated at a scale appropriate for spatial planning and land use management at the scale of local government. South Africa is also in the process of spatially delineating ecological infrastructure which is defined as naturally occurring ecosystems which provide valuable services to people such as water and climate regulation, soil formation, disaster risk reduction, etc. The Biodiversity and Land Use Project, which is funded by the Global Environmental Facility through the United Nations Development Programme is seeking to explore ways in which biodiversity information and ecological infrastructure can be incorporated into the spatial planning and land use management systems of local governments. Towards this end, the Biodiversity and Land Use Project have developed a guideline which sets out how local governments can integrate biodiversity into their land-use schemes as a way of not only ensuring sustainable development but also as a way helping them prepare for climate change. In addition, by incorporating biodiversity into land-use schemes, the project is exploring new ways of protecting biodiversity through land use schemes. The Guideline for Incorporating Biodiversity into Land Use Schemes was developed as a response to the fact that the National Land Use Scheme Guidelines only indicates that local governments needed to incorporate biodiversity without explaining how this could be achieved. The Natioanl Guideline also failed to specify which biodiversity-related layers are compatible with which land uses or what the benefits of incorporating biodiversity into the schemes will be for that local government. The guideline, therefore, sets out an argument for why biodiversity is important in land management processes and proceeds to provide a step by step guideline for how schemes can integrate priority biodiversity layers. This guideline will further be added as an addendum to the National Land Use Guidelines. Although the planning act calls for local government to have wall to wall schemes within 5 years of its enactment, many municipalities will not meet this deadline and so this guideline will support them in the development of their new schemes.

Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, land use schemes, local government

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Xuan (Iris) Li, Jenny Zhengye Hou, Greg Hearn

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Food waste is a global issue, with an estimated 30% to 50% of food created never being consumed. Therefore, it is vital to reduce food waste and convert wasted food into recyclable outputs. TikTok provides a simple way of creating and duetting videos in just a few steps by using templates with the same sound/vision/caption effects to produce personalized content – this is called a duet, which is revealing to study the impact of TikTok on wasting more food or saving food. The research focuses on examining food-related content on TikTok, with particular attention paid to two distinct themes, food waste pranks and food-saving practices, to understand the potential impacts of these themes on adolescents and their attitudes toward sustainable food consumption practices. Specifically, the analysis explores how TikTok content related to food waste and/or food saving may contribute to the normalization and promotion of either positive or negative food behaviours among young viewers. The research employed content analysis and semi-structured interviews to understand what factors contribute to the difference in popularity between food pranks and food-saving videos and insights from the former can be applied to the latter to increase their communication effectiveness. The first category of food content on TikTok under examination pertains to food waste, including videos featuring pranks and mukbang. These forms of content have the potential to normalize or even encourage food waste behaviours among adolescents, exacerbating the already significant food waste problem. The second category of TikTok food content under examination relates to food saving, for example, videos teaching viewers how to maximize the use of food to reduce waste. This type of content can potentially empower adolescents to act against food waste and foster positive and sustainable food practices in their communities. The initial findings of the study suggest that TikTok content related to pranks appears to be more popular among viewers than content focused on teaching people how to save food. Additionally, these types of videos are gaining fans at a faster rate than content promoting more sustainable food practices. However, we argue there is a great potential for social media platforms like TikTok to play an educative role in promoting positive behaviour change among young people by sharing engaging content suitable to target audiences. This research serves as the first to investigate the potential utility of TikTok in food waste reduction and underscores the important role social media platforms can play in promoting sustainable food practices. The findings will help governments, organizations, and communities promote tailored and effective interventions to reduce food waste and help achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goal of halving food waste by 2030.

Keywords: food waste reduction, behaviour, social media, TikTok, adolescents

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: M. Amara, M. Tahar Abbes, A. Dokkiche, M. Benbrike

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Shear stresses generate frictional forces thus lead to the reduction of engine performance due to the power losses. This friction can also cause damage to the piston material. Thus, the choice of an optimal material for the piston is necessary to improve the elastohydrodynamical contacts of the piston. In this study, to achieve this objective, an elastohydrodynamical lubrication model that satisfies the best tribological behavior of the piston with the optimum choice of material is developed. Several aluminum alloys composed of different components are studied in this simulation. An application is made on the piston 60 x 120 mm Diesel engine type F8L413 currently mounted on Deutz trucks TB230 by using different aluminum alloys where alloys based on aluminum-silicon have better tribological performance.

Keywords: EHD lubricated contacts, friction, properties of materials, tribological performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Matt Fullmer, Carol Wilkinson, Keven Prusak, Dennis Eggett, Todd Pennington

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Obesity and chronic health issues are linked to physical inactivity. Physical education (PE) programs in school can play a major role in combating these health-related issues. This study focused on supporting competence through keeping a leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) record as part of PE. Keeping a daily LTPA record may be an effective intervention helping students feel more competent toward exercise, and thus, self-determined (within the context of self-determination theory) to exercise. Little is known about the relationship between daily LTPA records and perceived competence, motivational profiles, and LTPA levels of students enrolled in PE. This study examined the relationship between keeping a daily, online LTPA record and adolescent (a) motivational profiles toward LTPA, (b) perceived competence toward LTPA, and (c) LTPA behaviors. Secondary students (N = 124) in physical education classes completed a baseline questionnaire which consisted of the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire–2, the Perceived Competence Scale, and the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire. For three weeks, the students were assigned to keep the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award Challenge (PALAC) as their online LTPA record. They completed the questionnaire after each week. A 2 (gender) x 4 (trials) repeated measures ANCOVA examined the relationships between recording compliance and motivation, perceived competence, and physical activity. Results showed that recording compliance was not a significant predictor of perceived competence to participate in LTPA. Examining motivational factors, a significant interaction between recording compliance and introjected regulation was found. The more students recorded the less motivated they were by guilt or obligation to exercise in their leisure-time. Also, a significant interaction was found between recording compliance and intrinsic regulation, indicating that the more students recorded the more intrinsically motivated they were to exercise in their leisure-time. Lastly, there was a significant interaction between recording compliance and LTPA. As students kept the LTPA record, girls’ LTPA levels significantly decreased and boys’ LTPA levels significantly increased. The key findings are that, as implemented in this study: a) the lack of PALAC compliance suggests that daily LTPA records may NOT be the most effective intervention for this population, b) keeping a daily LTPA record did NOT help students feel more competent to exercise in their leisure-time, c) a daily LTPA record may help students move towards being more self-determined in their feelings towards LTPA, and d) the outcome of keeping a LTPA record on LTPA behavior is statistically significant, although actual differences may not be practically important.

Keywords: behavioural regulation in exercise questionnaire–2, Godin leisure–time exercise questionnaire, online physical activity log, perceived competence scale, self-determination theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 342