Search results for: single skin curtain wall

Authors: Abbas Kamalibandpey, Alain Beland, Joseph Mukendi Kabuya

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Since a rock mass is a discontinuum medium, its behaviour is governed by discontinuities such as faults, joint sets, lithologic contact, and bedding planes. Thus, rock slope stability analysis in jointed rock masses is largely dependent upon discontinuities constitutive equations. This paper studies the difference between the Mohr-Coulomb (MC) and the Barton-Bandis (BB) joint constitutive numerical models for lithological contacts and joint sets. For the rock in these models, generalized Hoek-Brown criteria have been considered. The joint roughness coefficient (JRC) and the joint wall compressive strength (JCS) are vital parameters in the BB model. The numerical models are applied to the rock slope stability analysis in the Mont-Wright (MW) mine. The Mont-Wright mine is owned and operated by ArcelorMittal Mining Canada (AMMC), one of the largest iron-ore open pit operations in Canada. In this regard, one of the high walls of the mine has been selected to undergo slope stability analysis with RS2D software, finite element method. Three piezometers have been installed in this zone to record pore water pressure and it is monitored by radar. In this zone, the AMP-IF and QRMS-IF contacts and very persistent and altered joint sets in IF control the rock slope behaviour. The height of the slope is more than 250 m and consists of different lithologies such as AMP, IF, GN, QRMS, and QR. To apply the B-B model, the joint sets and geological contacts have been scanned by Maptek, and their JRC has been calculated by different methods. The numerical studies reveal that the JRC of geological contacts, AMP-IF and QRMS-IF, and joint sets in IF had a significant influence on the safety factor. After evaluating the results of rock slope stability analysis and the radar data, the B-B constitutive equation for discontinuities has shown acceptable results to the real condition in the mine. It should be noted that the difference in safety factors in MC and BB joint constitutive models in some cases is more than 30%.

Keywords: barton-Bandis criterion, Hoek-brown and Mohr-Coulomb criteria, open pit, slope stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Hein Win Zaw

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Today, the advanced strategies for aircraft production technology potentially need the higher performance, and on the other hand, those strategies and engineering technologies should meet considerable process and reduce of production costs. Thus, professionals who are working in these scopes are attempting to develop new materials to improve the manufacturability of designs, the creation of new technological processes, tools and equipment. This paper discusses about the research on structural changes in plastic deformation during rotary expansion and crimp of pipes. Pipelines are experiencing high pressure and pulsating load. That is why, it is high demands on the mechanical properties of the material, the quality of the external and internal surfaces, preserve cross-sectional shape and the minimum thickness of the pipe wall are taking into counts. In the manufacture of pipes, various operations: distribution, crimping, bending, etc. are used. The most widely used at various semi-products, connecting elements found the process of rotary expansion and crimp of pipes. In connection with the use of high strength materials and less-plastic, these conventional techniques do not allow obtaining high-quality parts, and also have a low economic efficiency. Therefore, research in this field is relevantly considerable to develop in advanced. Rotary expansion and crimp of pipes are accompanied by inhomogeneous plastic deformation, which leads to structural changes in the material, causes its deformation hardening, by this result changes the operational reliability of the product. Parts of the tube obtained by rotary expansion and crimp differ by multiplicity of form and characterized by various diameter in the various section, which formed in the result of inhomogeneous plastic deformation. The reliability of the coupling, obtained by rotary expansion and crimp, is determined by the structural arrangement of material formed by the formation process; there is maximum value of deformation, the excess of which is unacceptable. The structural state of material in this condition is determined by technological mode of formation in the rotary expansion and crimp. Considering the above, objective of the present study is to investigate the structural changes at different levels of plastic deformation, accompanying rotary expansion and crimp, and the analysis of stress concentrators of different scale levels, responsible for the formation of the primary zone of destruction.

Keywords: plastic deformation, rolling of tubes, crimping of tubes, structural changes

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: Anusha Chanda, Reenu Singh

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Packaging is one of the major contributors to global waste. While efforts are being made to switch to more sustainable types of packaging, such as switching from single use plastics to paper, not all polluting materials, have been rethought in terms of recycling. Minimalism in packaging design can help reduce the amount of waste produced greatly. While online companies have shifted to using cardboard boxes for packages, a large amount of waste in still generated from other materials affiliated with cardboard packaging, such as tape, bubble wrap, plastic wrap, among others. Minimalism also works by reducing extra packaging and increasing the reusability of the material. This paper looks at research related to minimalism in packaging design, minimalism, and sustainability. A survey was conducted in order to find out the different ways in which minimalism can be implemented in packaging design. Information gathered from the research and responses from the survey was used to ideate product design alternatives for sustainable substitutes for bubble wrap in packaging. This would help greatly reduce the amount of packaging waste and improve environmental quality.

Keywords: environment, minimalism, packaging, product design, sustainable

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Sudip Kumar Sinha, Saptarshi Ghosh

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While there’s a perpetual buzz around zinc oxide (ZnO) superstructures for their unique optical features, the versatile material has been constantly utilized to manifest tailored electronic properties through rendition of distinct morphologies. And yet, the unorthodox approach of implementing the novel 1D nanostructures of ZnO (pristine or doped) for volatile sensing applications has ample scope to accommodate new unconventional morphologies. In the last two decades, solid-state sensors have attracted much curiosity for their relevance in identifying pollutant, toxic and other industrial gases. In particular gas sensors based on metal oxide semiconducting (wide Eg) nanomaterials have recently attracted intensive attention owing to their high sensitivity and fast response and recovery time. These materials when exposed to air, the atmospheric O2 dissociates and get absorb on the surface of the sensors by trapping the outermost shell electrons. Finally a depleted zone on the surface of the sensors is formed, that enhances the potential barrier height at grain boundary . Once a target gas is exposed to the sensor, the chemical interaction between the chemisorbed oxygen and the specific gas liberates the trapped electrons. Therefore altering the amount of adsorbate is a considerable approach to improve the sensitivity of any target gas/vapour molecule. Likewise, this study presents a spontaneous but self catalytic creation of Sn-doped ZnO hexagonal nanoprisms on Si (100) substrates through thermal evaporation-condensation method, and their subsequent deployment for volatile sensing. In particular, the sensors were utilized to detect molecules of ethanol, acetone and ammonia below their permissible exposure limits which returned sensitivities of around 85%, 80% and 50% respectively. The influence of Sn concentration on the growth, microstructural and optical properties of the nanoprisms along with its role in augmenting the sensing parameters has been detailed. The single-crystalline nanostructures have a typical diameter ranging from 300 to 500 nm and a length that extends up to few micrometers. HRTEM images confirmed the hexagonal crystallography for the nanoprisms, while SAED pattern asserted the single crystalline nature. The growth habit is along the low index <0001>directions. It has been seen that the growth mechanism of the as-deposited nanostructures are directly influenced by varying supersaturation ratio, fairly high substrate temperatures, and specified surface defects in certain crystallographic planes, all acting cooperatively decide the final product morphology. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of this rod like structures exhibits a weak ultraviolet (UV) emission peak at around 380 nm and a broad green emission peak in the 505 nm regime. An estimate of the sensing parameters against dispensed target molecules highlighted the potential for the nanoprisms as an effective volatile sensing material. The Sn-doped ZnO nanostructures with unique prismatic morphology may find important applications in various chemical sensors as well as other potential nanodevices.

Keywords: gas sensor, HRTEM, photoluminescence, ultraviolet, zinc oxide

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: Oveis Abedinia, Noradin Ghadimi, Nasser Mikaeilvand, Roza Poursoleiman, Asghar Poorfaraj

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In this paper a robust Fuzzy Proportional Integral Differential (PID) controller is applied to multi-machine power system based on Modified Shuffled Frog Leaping (MSFL) algorithm. This newly proposed controller is more efficient because it copes with oscillations and different operating points. In this strategy the gains of the PID controller is optimized using the proposed technique. The nonlinear problem is formulated as an optimization problem for wide ranges of operating conditions using the MSFL algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness, good robustness and validity of the proposed method through some performance indices such as ITAE and FD under wide ranges operating conditions in comparison with TS and GSA techniques. The single-machine infinite bus system and New England 10-unit 39-bus standard power system are employed to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.

Keywords: fuzzy PID, MSFL, multi-machine, low frequency oscillation

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Authors: Jianli Chang, Yusheng Zhang, Yali Yao, Diane Hildebrandt, Xinying Liu

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The influence of feed-gas ratio on the ethene hydroformylation over an Rh-Co bimetallic catalyst supported by reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has been investigated in a tubular fixed bed reactor. Argon was used as balance gas when the feed-gas ratio was changed, which can keep the partial pressure of the other two kinds of gas constant while the ratio of one component in feed-gas was changed. First, the effect of single-component gas ratio on the performance of ethene hydroformylation was studied one by one (H₂, C₂H₄ and CO). Then an optimized ratio was found to obtain a high selectivity to C₃ oxygenates. The results showed that: (1) 0.5%Rh-20%Co/RGO is a promising heterogeneous catalyst for ethene hydroformylation. (2) H₂ and CO have a more significant influence than C₂H₄ on selectivity to oxygenates. (3) A lower H₂ ratio and a higher CO ratio in feed-gas can lead to a higher selectivity to oxygenates. (4) The highest selectivity to oxygenates, 61.70%, was obtained at the feed-gas ratio CO: C₂H₄: H₂ = 4: 2: 1.

Keywords: ethene hydroformylation, reduced graphene oxide, rhodium cobalt bimetallic catalyst, the effect of feed-gas ratio

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Authors: Ganesh V., Asit Kumar Khanra

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An in-situ powder metallurgy technique was employed to create Ni-Al3Ni/Al3Ni2 core-shell-shaped aluminum-based intermetallic reinforced composites. The impact of Ni addition on the phase composition, microstructure, and mechanical characteristics of the Al-4Cu-xNi (x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 wt.%) in relation to various sintering temperatures was investigated. Microstructure evolution was extensively examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Initially, under sintering conditions, the formation of "Single Core-Shell" structures was observed, consisting of Ni as the core with Al3Ni2 intermetallic, whereas samples sintered at 620°C exhibited both "Single Core-Shell" and "Double Core-Shell" structures containing Al3Ni2 and Al3Ni intermetallics formed between the Al matrix and Ni reinforcements. The composite achieved a high compressive yield strength of 198.13 MPa and ultimate strength of 410.68 MPa, with 24% total elongation for the sample containing 10 wt.% Ni. Additionally, there was a substantial increase in hardness, reaching 124.21 HV, which is 2.4 times higher than that of the base aluminum. Nanoindentation studies showed hardness values of 1.54, 4.65, 21.01, 13.16, 5.52, 6.27, and 8.39GPa corresponding to α-Al matrix, Ni, Al3Ni2, Ni and Al3Ni2 interface, Al3Ni, and their respective interfaces. Even at 200°C, it retained 54% of its room temperature strength (90.51 MPa). To investigate the deformation behavior of the composite material, experiments were conducted at deformation temperatures ranging from 300°C to 500°C, with strain rates varying from 0.0001s-1 to 0.1s-1. A sine-hyperbolic constitutive equation was developed to characterize the flow stress of the composite, which exhibited a significantly higher hot deformation activation energy of 231.44 kJ/mol compared to the self-diffusion of pure aluminum. The formation of Al2Cu intermetallics at grain boundaries and Al3Ni2/Al3Ni within the matrix hindered dislocation movement, leading to an increase in activation energy, which might have an adverse effect on high-temperature applications. Two models, the Strain-compensated Arrhenius model and the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model, were developed to predict the composite's flow behavior. The ANN model outperformed the Strain-compensated Arrhenius model with a lower average absolute relative error of 2.266%, a smaller root means square error of 1.2488 MPa, and a higher correlation coefficient of 0.9997. Processing maps revealed that the optimal hot working conditions for the composite were in the temperature range of 420-500°C and strain rates between 0.0001s-1 and 0.001s-1. The changes in the composite microstructure were successfully correlated with the theory of processing maps, considering temperature and strain rate conditions. The uneven distribution in the shape and size of Core-shell/Al3Ni intermetallic compounds influenced the flow stress curves, leading to Dynamic Recrystallization (DRX), followed by partial Dynamic Recovery (DRV), and ultimately strain hardening. This composite material shows promise for applications in the automobile and aerospace industries.

Keywords: core-shell structure, hot deformation, intermetallic compounds, powder metallurgy

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Authors: McClain Thiel

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Object detection and localization has historically required two or more sensors due to the loss of information from 3D to 2D space, however, most surveillance systems currently in use in the real world only have one sensor per location. Generally, this consists of a single low-resolution camera positioned above the area under observation (mall, jewelry store, traffic camera). This is not sufficient for robust 3D tracking for applications such as security or more recent relevance, contract tracing. This paper proposes a lightweight system for 3D person tracking that requires no additional hardware, based on compressed object detection convolutional-nets, facial landmark detection, and projective geometry. This approach involves classifying the target into a demographic category and then making assumptions about the relative locations of facial landmarks from the demographic information, and from there using simple projective geometry and known constants to find the target's location in 3D space. Preliminary testing, although severely lacking, suggests reasonable success in 3D tracking under ideal conditions.

Keywords: monocular distancing, computer vision, facial analysis, 3D localization

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Alireza Vakili, Shahab Ehtesham, Mohsen Danesh Mesgaran

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The objective of this study was use different levels of spent mushroom substrate as a suitable substitute for wheat straw in the ration of male lambs. In this study 20 male lambs with the age of 90 days and initial average weight of 33± 1.7 kg were used. The animals were divided separately into single boxes with four treatments (control treatment, spent mushroom substrate 15%, spent mushroom substrate 25% and spent mushroom substrate 35%) and five replications. The experiment period was 114 days being 14 days adaptation and 90 days for breeding. On the days 36 and 94, blood samples were taken from the jugular vein. In order to carry out the trial, 20 male lambs received the four experimental diets in completely randomized design. The statistical analyses were carried out by using the GLM procedure of SAS 9.1. Means among treatments were compared by Tukey test. The results of the study showed that there was no significant differences between the serum biochemical and hematological contents of the lambs in the four treatments (p>0.05). It was concluded that spent mushroom substrate consumption has no harmful effect on the blood parameters of Kurdish male lambs.

Keywords: alternative food, nutrition, sheep performance, spent mushroom substrate

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Kholood A. Baron

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While radiologist numbers specialized in spine interventional procedures are limited in Kuwait, the number of patients demanding these procedures is increasing rapidly. Due to this high demand, the workload of radiologists is increasing, which might represent a radiation exposure concern. During these procedures, the doctor’s hands are in very close proximity to the main radiation beam/ if not within it. The aim of this study is to measure the radiation dose for radiologists during several interventional procedures for the spine. Methods: Two doctors carrying different workloads were included. (DR1) was performing procedures in the morning and afternoon shifts, while (DR2) was performing procedures in the morning shift only. Comparing the radiation exposures that the hand of each doctor is receiving will assess radiation safety and help to set up workload regulations for radiologists carrying a heavy schedule of such procedures. Entrance Skin Dose (ESD) was measured via TLD (ThermoLuminescent Dosimetry) placed at the right wrist of the radiologists. DR1 was covering the morning shift in one hospital (Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital) and the afternoon shift in another hospital (Dar Alshifa Hospital). The TLD chip was placed in his gloves during the 2 shifts for a whole week. Since DR2 was covering the morning shift only in Al Razi Hospital, he wore the TLD during the morning shift for a week. It is worth mentioning that DR1 was performing 4-5 spine procedures/day in the morning and the same number in the afternoon and DR2 was performing 5-7 procedures/day. This procedure was repeated for 4 consecutive weeks in order to calculate the ESD value that a hand receives in a month. Results: In general, radiation doses that the hand received in a week ranged from 0.12 to 1.12 mSv. The ESD values for DR1 for the four consecutive weeks were 1.12, 0.32, 0.83, 0.22 mSv, thus for a month (4 weeks), this equals 2.49 mSv and calculated to be 27.39 per year (11 months-since each radiologist have 45 days of leave in each year). For DR2, the weekly ESD values are 0.43, 0.74, 0.12, 0.61 mSv, and thus, for a month, this equals 1.9 mSv, and for a year, this equals 20.9 mSv /year. These values are below the standard level and way below the maximum limit of 500 mSv per year (set by ICRP = International Council of Radiation Protection). However, it is worth mentioning that DR1 was a senior consultant and hence needed less fluoro-time during each procedure. This is evident from the low ESD values of the second week (0.32) and the fourth week (0.22), even though he was performing nearly 10-12 procedures in a day /5 days a week. These values were lower or in the same range as those for DR2 (who was a junior consultant). This highlighted the importance of increasing the radiologist's skills and awareness of fluoroscopy time effect. In conclusion, the radiation dose that radiologists received during spine interventional radiology in our setting was below standard dose limits.

Keywords: radiation protection, interventional radiology dosimetry, ESD measurements, radiologist radiation exposure

Procedia PDF Downloads 58

Authors: Anna Rudzińska, Katarzyna Szklener, Pola Juchaniuk, Anna Rodzajweska, Katarzyna Machulska-Ciuraj, Monika Rychlik- Grabowska, Michał łOziński, Agnieszka Kolak-Bruks, SłAwomir Mańdziuk

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Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) belongs to the modern forms of anti-cancer treatment. Due to the constant development and continuous research in the field of ICI, many aspects of the treatment are yet to be discovered. One of the less researched aspects of ICI treatment is the influence of the adverse effects on the treatment success rate. It is suspected that adverse events in the course of the ICI treatment indicate a better response rate and correlate with longer progression-free- survival. Methodology: The research was conducted with the usage of the documentation of the Department of Clinical Oncology and Chemotherapy. Data of the patients with a lung cancer diagnosis who were treated between 2019-2022 and received ICI treatment were analyzed. Results: Out of over 133 patients whose data was analyzed, the vast majority were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. The majority of the patients did not experience adverse effects. Most adverse effects reported were classified as grade 1 or grade 2 according to CTCAE classification. Most adverse effects involved skin, thyroid and liver toxicity. Statistical significance was found for the adverse effect incidence and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (p=0,0263) and for the time of toxicity onset and OS and PFS (p<0,001). The number of toxicity sites was statistically significant for prolonged PFS (p=0.0315). The highest OS was noted in the group presenting grade 1 and grade 2 adverse effects. Conclusions: Obtained results confirm the existence of the prolonged OS and PFS in the adverse-effects-charged patients, mostly in the group presenting mild to intermediate (Grade 1 and Grade 2) adverse effects and late toxicity onset. Simultaneously our results suggest a correlation between treatment response rate and the toxicity grade of the adverse effects and the time of the toxicity onset. Similar results were obtained in several similar research conducted - with the proven tendency of better survival in mild and moderate toxicity; meanwhile, other studies in the area suggested an advantage in patients with any toxicity regardless of the grade. The contradictory results strongly suggest the need for further research on this topic, with a focus on additional factors influencing the course of the treatment.

Keywords: adverse effects, immunotherapy, lung cancer, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Ruomeng Xiao, Zhulin Zong, Longfa Yang

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Aiming at the problem that the target signal is difficult to detect under the strong ground clutter environment, this paper proposes a clutter suppression algorithm based on the combination of singular value decomposition and the Mallat fast wavelet algorithm. The method first carries out singular value decomposition on the radar echo data matrix, realizes the initial separation of target and clutter through the threshold processing of singular value, and then carries out wavelet decomposition on the echo data to find out the target location, and adopts the discard method to select the appropriate decomposition layer to reconstruct the target signal, which ensures the minimum loss of target information while suppressing the clutter. After the verification of the measured data, the method has a significant effect on the target extraction under low SCR, and the target reconstruction can be realized without the prior position information of the target and the method also has a certain enhancement on the output SCR compared with the traditional single wavelet processing method.

Keywords: clutter suppression, singular value decomposition, wavelet transform, Mallat algorithm, low SCR

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Amara Rafik, Mostefa Belhadj Aissa

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Radar data is one of the many data sources used by ATM Air Traffic Management systems. These data come from air navigation radar antennas. These radars intercept signals emitted by the various aircraft crossing the controlled airspace and calculate the position of these aircraft and retransmit their positions to the Air Traffic Management System. For greater reliability, these radars are positioned in such a way as to allow their coverage areas to overlap. An aircraft will therefore be detected by at least one of these radars. However, the position coordinates of the same aircraft and sent by these different radars are not necessarily identical. Therefore, the ATM system must calculate a single position (radar track) which will ultimately be sent to the control position and displayed on the air traffic controller's monitor. There are several techniques for calculating the radar track. Furthermore, the geographical nature of the problem requires the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS), i.e. a geographical database on the one hand and geographical processing. The objective of this work is to propose a GIS for traffic simulation which reconstructs the evolution over time of aircraft positions from a multi-source radar data set and by applying these different techniques.

Keywords: ATM, GIS, radar data, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Aryana Collins Jackson, Elisabetta Bevacqua, Pierre De Loor, Ronan Querrec

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This paper presents a taxonomy of non-technical skills, communicative intentions, and behavior for an individual acting as a medical coordinator. In medical emergency situations, a leader among the group is imperative to both patient health and team emotional and mental health. Situational Leadership is used to make clear and easy-to-follow guidelines for behavior depending on circumstantial factors. Low-level leadership behaviors belonging to two different styles, directive and supporting, are identified from literature and are included in the proposed taxonomy. The high-level information in the taxonomy consists of the necessary non-technical skills belonging to a medical coordinator: situation awareness, decision making, task management, and teamwork. Finally, communicative intentions, dimensions, and functions are included. Thus this work brings high-level and low-level information - medical non-technical skills, communication capabilities, and leadership behavior - into a single versatile taxonomy of behavior.

Keywords: human behavior, leadership styles, medical, taxonomy

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Jian Shao

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The effect of entrepreneurship on economic, innovation, and employment has been widely acknowledged by scholars and governments. As an essential factor of influencing entrepreneurship activities, entrepreneurship policy creates a conducive environment to support and develop entrepreneurship. However, the challenge in developing entrepreneurship policy is that policy is normally a combination of many different goals and instruments. Instead of examining the effect of individual policy instruments, we argue that attention to a policy mix is necessary. In recent years, much attention has been focused on comparing a single policy instrument to a policy mix, evaluating the interactions between different instruments within a mix or assessment of particular policy mixes. However, another required step in understanding policy mixes is to understand how and why mixes evolve and change over time and to determine whether any changes are an improvement. In this paper, we try to trace the development of the policy mix for entrepreneurship in China by mapping the policy goals and instruments and reveal the process of policy mix changing over time. We find two main process mechanisms of the entrepreneurship policy mix in China: patching and stretching. Compared with policy repackaging, patching and stretching are more realistic processes in the real world of the policy mix, and they are possible to achieve effectiveness by avoiding conflicts and promoting synergies among policy goals and instruments.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, China, policy design, policy mix, policy patching

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Cristina Munoz-Shuguli, Francisco Rodriguez, Julio Bruna, M. Jose Galotto, Abel Guarda

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The microbial contamination in fruits due to the presence of fungal is the most important cause of their deterioration and loss. The development of active food packaging materials with antifungal properties has been proposed as an innovative strategy in order to prevent this problem. In this way, natural compounds as the essential oils or their derivatives, also called volatile compounds (VC), can be incorporated in the food packaging materials to control the fungal growth during fruit packaging. However, if the VC is incorporated directly in the packaging material, it is released very fast due to VC high volatility. For this reason, the formation of inclusion complexes through the encapsulation of VC into beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and their incorporation in package materials is an alternative to maintain an antifungal atmosphere around the packaged fruits for longer times. In this context, the aim of this work was to develop inclusion complexes based in β-CD and VC (β-CD:VC) for further application in the antifungal food packaging materials development. β-CD:VC inclusion complexes were obtained with two different molar ratios 2:1 and 1:1, through co-precipitation method. The entrapment efficiency of β-CD:VC as well the release of antifungal compound from inclusion complexes exposed to different relative humidity (25, 50, and 97 %) to headspace were determined by gaseous chromatography (GC). Also, thermal and antimicrobial properties of β-CD:VC were determined through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and antifungal assays against Botrytis cinerea, respectively. GC results showed that β-CD:VC 2:1 had a higher entrapment efficiency than β-CD:VC 1:1, with values of 75.5 ± 3.71 % and 59.6 ± 1.51 %, respectively. It was probably because during the synthesis of β-CD:VC 1:1, there was less molecular space to the movement of VC molecules. Furthermore, the release of VC from β-CD:VC was directly related with the relative humidity. High amount of VC was released when the inclusion complexes were exposed to high humidity, possibly due to the interactions between the water molecules and the β-CD hydrophilic wall. On the other hand, a better thermal stability of VC in inclusion complexes allowed to verify its effective encapsulation into β-CD. Finally, antimicrobial assays showed that the inclusion complexes had a high antifungal activity at very low concentrations. Therefore, the results obtained in this work allow suggesting the β-CD:VC inclusion complexes as potential candidates to the development of fruit antifungal packaging materials, which activity is relative humidity dependent.

Keywords: Botrytis cinerea, fruit packaging, headspace release, volatile compounds

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Cheng-Kuang Hsu, Chih-Hsiang Chang, Chi-Chih Wang

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Black soybeans contain high amount of antioxidants including polyphenols, anthocyanins and flavones. The protective function of black soybean against CCl4 (a strong oxidant) induced acute and chronic liver damage was investigated in vivo using SD rats or ICR mouse. The evaluation of CCl4 induced oxidative stress in the liver tissues included the measurements of the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), the concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), the activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase SOD, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase GPx), as well as the level of histological lesion in the liver tissues. For chronic experiment, a decoction at the concentration of 100 or 1000 mg/kg of body weight, produced by baking black soybean at 130°C for 5 min and followed by immerging in 100°C hot water for 20 min, showed the inhibitory effect against CCl4 induced liver damage in SD rats. Hot-water extract (80 °C for 30 min) from un-preheated black soybean at the concentration of 200 mg/kg of body weight could not reduce ALT and AST levels in CCl4 treated SD rats, but the hot-water extract from preheated black soybean did enhance antioxidant enzymes activities, decline ALT and AST levels. Specially, the hot-water extract from the seed cost of black soybean had the highest liver protective function since it can reduce vacuolization and necrosis in the liver tissues. For acute experiment, the hot-water extracts from black soybean and the seed coat, as well as pure cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G) could reduce ALT and AST levels of CCl4 induced ICR mouse. The decoction and hot-water extract from the seed coat of black soybean had higher total polyphenols, anthocyanins and flavones contents than those extracts from whole black soybean. Such results agreed with high liver protective function in the decoction and hot-water from the seed coat of black soybean. Black soybean showed protective function only after preheating process (baking at 130°C for 5 to 10 min) because preheating treatment damaged the cell wall and made the extraction of the antioxidants more effectively.

Keywords: black soybean, liver protective function, antioxidant, antioxidative stress

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Authors: Ferhat Mohamed, Boukhatem Mohamed Nadjib, Chemat Farid

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Simultaneous distillation–extraction (SDE) is routinely used by analysts for sample preparation prior to gas chromatography analysis. In this work, a new process design and operation for microwave assisted simultaneous distillation – solvent extraction (MW-SDE) of volatile compounds was developed. Using the proposed method, isolation, extraction and concentration of volatile compounds can be carried out in a single step. To demonstrate its feasibility, MW-SDE was compared with the conventional technique, Simultaneous distillation–extraction (SDE), for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of volatile compounds in a fresh orange juice and a dry spice “carvi seeds”. SDE method required long time (3 h) to isolate the volatile compounds, and large amount of organic solvent (200 mL of hexane) for further extraction, while MW-SDE needed little time (only 30 min) to prepare sample, and less amount of organic solvent (10 mL of hexane). These results show that MW-SDE–GC-MS is a simple, rapid and solvent-less method for determination of volatile compounds from aromatic plants.

Keywords: essential oil, extraction, distillation, carvi seeds

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Authors: Sandra So, Mohd Roslan Ismail, Safurah Jaafar

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With the rapid proliferation of data in healthcare has provided an opportune platform creation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has brought a paradigm shift for healthcare professionals, promising improvement in delivery and quality. This study aims to determine the perception of healthcare personnel on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and subjective norm toward attitude for artificial intelligence acceptance. A cross-sectional single institutional study of employees’ perception of adopting AI in the hospital was conducted. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire adapted from Technology Acceptance Model and a four-point Likert scale was used. There were 96 or 75.5% of the total population responded. This study has shown the significant relationship and the importance of ease of use, perceived usefulness, and subjective norm to the acceptance of AI. In the study results, it concluded that the determining factor to the strong acceptance of AI in their practices is mostly those respondents with the most interaction with the patients and clinical management.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, subjective norm

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Authors: Huseyin Canci

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Chlorophylls are green photosynthetic pigment in plants. Therefore, photosynthesis in plants occurs in the leaves. Roles of chlorophylls help plants to get energy from light. The aim of the present study is to compare of chlorophyll contents in some bean species including common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and runner bean (P. coccineous L.) and genotypes. This research was carried out in fields of Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University in Antalya. Species and genotypes were grown in 2 m single row and 50 cm row spacing. A randomized blocks design was used with two replications. Totally, 124 beans species and genotypes which 122 common beans and 2 runner beans were sown on February, 17th 2014 by hand. Chlorophyll a + b (SPAD values) were determined seedling stage, days to flowering 50% and pod setting stage on bean genotypes. Results showed that there were significant differences for genotypes, stages and interaction of genotypes X stages. There was statistically significant relationships between yield and chlorophyll content of bean species and genotypes.

Keywords: bean, chlorophyll, Phaseolus, SPAD values

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Authors: Hadeer M. Sayed, Hesham E. El Deeb, Shereen A. Taie

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In the big data era, we are facing a diversity of datasets from different sources in different domains that describe a single life event. These datasets consist of multiple modalities, each of which has a different representation, distribution, scale, and density. Multimodal fusion is the concept of integrating information from multiple modalities in a joint representation with the goal of predicting an outcome through a classification task or regression task. In this paper, multimodal fusion techniques are classified into two main classes: model-agnostic techniques and model-based approaches. It provides a comprehensive study of recent research in each class and outlines the benefits and limitations of each of them. Furthermore, the audiovisual speech recognition task is expressed as a case study of multimodal data fusion approaches, and the open issues through the limitations of the current studies are presented. This paper can be considered a powerful guide for interested researchers in the field of multimodal data fusion and audiovisual speech recognition particularly.

Keywords: multimodal data, data fusion, audio-visual speech recognition, neural networks

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Authors: H. Alheeh, M. Alameri, A. Al Tarabsheh

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There has been a growing interest in CMOS-based sensors technology in cameras as they afford low-power, small-size, and cost-effective imaging systems. This article describes the CMOS image sensor pixel categories and presents the design and the simulation of the 3-Transistor (3T) Active Pixel Sensor (APS) in MATLAB/Simulink tool. The analysis investigates the conversion of the light into an electrical signal for a single pixel sensing circuit, which consists of a photodiode and three NMOS transistors. The paper also proposes three modes for the pixel operation; reset, integration, and readout modes. The simulations of the electrical signals for each of the studied modes of operation show how the output electrical signals are correlated to the input light intensities. The charging/discharging speed for the photodiodes is also investigated. The output voltage for different light intensities, including in dark case, is calculated and showed its inverse proportionality with the light intensity.

Keywords: APS, CMOS image sensor, light intensities photodiode, simulation

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Authors: Meng-Cong Zheng, Yu-Sheng Chen

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The meeting behavior is a pervasive kind of interaction, which often occurs between the passenger and the shuttle. However, the meeting point set up at the Taoyuan International Airport is too far from the entry-exit, often causing passengers to stop searching near the entry-exit. When the number of people waiting for the rush hour increases, it often results in chaos in the waiting area. This study tried to find out what is the key factor to promote the rapid finding of each other between the passengers and the pick-ups. Then we implemented several design proposals to improve the meeting behavior of passengers and pick-ups based on behavior mapping and post-occupancy evaluation to enhance their meeting efficiency in unfamiliar environments. The research base is the reception hall of the second terminal of Taoyuan International Airport. Behavioral observation and mapping are implemented on the entry of inbound passengers into the welcome space, including the crowd distribution of the people who rely on the separation wall in the waiting area, the behavior of meeting and the interaction between the inbound passengers and the pick-ups. Then we redesign the space planning and signage design based on post-occupancy evaluation to verify the effectiveness of space plan and signage design. This study found that passengers ignore existing meeting-point designs which are placed on distant pillars at both ends. The position of the screen affects the area where the receiver is stranded, causing the pick-ups to block the passenger's moving line. The pick-ups prefer to wait where it is easy to watch incoming passengers and where it is closest to the mode of transport they take when leaving. Large visitors tend to gather next to landmarks, and smaller groups have a wide waiting area in the lobby. The location of the meeting point chosen by the pick-ups is related to the view of the incoming passenger. Finally, this study proposes an improved design of the meeting point, setting the traffic information in it, so that most passengers can see the traffic information when they enter the country. At the same time, we also redesigned the pick-ups desk to improve the efficiency of passenger meeting.

Keywords: meeting point design, post-occupancy evaluation, behavioral mapping, international airport

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Authors: J. Nisar, S. Halim

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The additional relationships i.e., start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish, between activity in Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) provides a more flexible schedule than traditional Critical Path Method (CPM). But, changing the duration of critical activities in the PDM network will have an anomalous effect on the critical path and the project completion date. In this study, we classified the critical activities in two groups i.e., 1. activity on single critical path and 2. activity on multi-critical paths, and six classes i.e., normal, reverse, neutral, perverse, decrease-reverse and increase-normal, based on their effects on project duration in PDM. Furthermore, we determined the maximum float of time by which the duration each type of critical activities can be changed without effecting the project duration. This study would help the project manager to clearly understand the behavior of each critical activity on critical path, and he/she would be able to change the project duration by shortening or lengthening activities based on project budget and project deadline.

Keywords: construction management, critical path method, project scheduling network, precedence diagram method

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Authors: M. Nageswara Rao, V. S. N. K. Chaitanya, K. Amarendranath

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This paper presents an optimal allocation and sizing of Distributed Generation (DG) in Radial Distribution Network (RDN) for total power loss minimization and enhances the voltage profile of the system. The two main important part of this study first is to find optimal allocation and second is optimum size of DG. The locations of DGs are identified by Analytical expressions and crow search algorithm has been employed to determine the optimum size of DG. In this study, the DG has been placed on single and multiple allocations.CSA is a meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the intelligent behavior of the crows. Crows stores their excess food in different locations and memorizes those locations to retrieve it when it is needed. They follow each other to do thievery to obtain better food source. This analysis is tested on IEEE 33 bus and IEEE 69 bus under MATLAB environment and the results are compared with existing methods.

Keywords: analytical expression, distributed generation, crow search algorithm, power loss, voltage profile

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Authors: Ishay Wolf

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In this study, the financial position of pension actors in the market during the pension system transition toward a more funded capitalized scheme is explored, mainly via an option benefit model. This is enabled by not considering the economy as a single earning cohort. We analytically demonstrate a socio-economic anomaly in the funded pension system, which is in favor of high earning cohorts on at the expense of low earning cohorts. This anomaly is realized by a lack of insurance and exposure to financial and systemic risks. Furthermore, the anomaly might lead to pension re-reform back to unfunded scheme, mostly due to political pressure. We find that a minimum pension guarantee is a rebalance mechanism to this anomaly, which increases the probability to of the sustainable pension scheme. Specifically, we argue that implementing the guarantee with an intra-generational, risk-sharing mechanism is the most efficient way to reduce the effect of this abnormality. Moreover, we exhibit the convergence process toward implementing minimum pension guarantee in many countries which have capitalized their pension systems during the last three decades, particularly among Latin America and CEE countries.

Keywords: benefits, pension scheme, put option, social security

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Authors: Antonela Matana, Dubravka Brdar, Vesela Torlak, Marijana Popovic, Ivana Gunjaca, Ozren Polasek, Vesna Boraska Perica, Maja Barbalic, Ante Punda, Caroline Hayward, Tatijana Zemunik

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Parathyroid hormone (PTH) plays a critical role in the regulation of bone mineral metabolism and calcium homeostasis. Higher PTH levels are associated with heart failure, hypertension, coronary artery disease, cardiovascular mortality and poorer bone health. A twin study estimated that 60% of the variation in PTH concentrations is genetically determined. Only one GWAS of PTH concentration has been reported to date. Identified loci explained 4.5% of the variance in circulating PTH, suggesting that additional genetic variants remain undiscovered. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify novel genetic variants associated with PTH levels in a general population. We have performed a GWAS meta-analysis on 2596 individuals originating from three Croatian cohorts: City of Split and the Islands of Korčula and Vis, within a large-scale project of “10,001 Dalmatians”. A total of 7 411 206 variants, imputed using the 1000 Genomes reference panel, with minor allele frequency ≥ 1% and Rsq ≥ 0.5 were analyzed for the association. GWAS within each data set was performed under an additive model, controlling for age, gender and relatedness. Meta-analysis was conducted using the inverse-variance fixed-effects method. Furthermore, to identify sex-specific effects, we have conducted GWAS meta-analyses analyzing males and females separately. In addition, we have performed biological pathway analysis. Four SNPs, representing one locus, reached genome-wide significance. The most significant SNP was rs11099476 on chromosome 4 (P=1.15x10-8), which explained 1.14 % of the variance in PTH. The SNP is located near the protein-coding gene RASGEF1B. Additionally, we detected suggestive association with SNPs, rs77178854 located on chromosome 2 in the DPP10 gene (P=2.46x10-7) and rs481121 located on chromosome 1 (P=3.58x10-7) near the GRIK1 gene. One of the top hits detected in the main meta-analysis, intron variant rs77178854 located within DPP10 gene, reached genome-wide significance in females (P=2.21x10-9). No single locus was identified in the meta-analysis in males. Fifteen biological pathways were functionally enriched at a P<0.01, including muscle contraction, ion homeostasis and cardiac conduction as the most significant pathways. RASGEF1B is the guanine nucleotide exchange factor, known to be associated with height, bone density, and hip. DPP10 encodes a membrane protein that is a member of the serine proteases family, which binds specific voltage-gated potassium channels and alters their expression and biophysical properties. In conclusion, we identified 2 novel loci associated with PTH levels in a general population, providing us with further insights into the genetics of this complex trait.

Keywords: general population, genome-wide association analysis, parathyroid hormone, single nucleotide polymorphisms.

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Authors: Gabrielle Peck, Ryan Hayes

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Four façade systems were tested using a reduced height BS 8414-2 (5 m) test rig. An L-shaped masonry test wall was clad with three types of insulation and an aluminum composite panel with a non-combustible filling (meeting Euroclass A2). A large (3 MW) wooden crib was ignited in a recess at the base of the L, and the fire was allowed to burn for 30 minutes. Air velocity measurements and gas samples were taken from the main ventilation duct and also a small additional ventilation duct, like those in an apartment bathroom or kitchen. This provided a direct route of travel for smoke from the building façade to a theoretical room using a similar design to many high-rise buildings where the vent is connected to (approximately) 30 m³ rooms. The times to incapacitation and lethality of the effluent were calculated for both the main exhaust vent and for a vent connected to a theoretical 30 m³ room. The rainscreen façade systems tested were the common combinations seen in many tower blocks across the UK. Three tests using ACM A2 with Stonewool, Phenolic foam, and Polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam. A fourth test was conducted with PIR and ACM-PE (polyethylene core). Measurements in the main exhaust duct were representative of the effluent from the burning wood crib. FEDs showed incapacitation could occur up to 30 times quicker with combustible insulation than non-combustible insulation, with lethal gas concentrations accumulating up to 2.7 times faster than other combinations. The PE-cored ACM/PIR combination produced a ferocious fire, resulting in the termination of the test after 13.5 minutes for safety reasons. Occupants of the theoretical room in the PIR/ACM A2 test reached a FED of 1 after 22 minutes; for PF/ACM A2, this took 25 minutes, and for stone wool, a lethal dose measurement of 0.6 was reached at the end of the 30-minute test. In conclusion, when measuring smoke toxicity in the exhaust duct, there is little difference between smoke toxicity measurements between façade systems. Toxicity measured in the main exhaust is largely a result of the wood crib used to ignite the façade system. The addition of a vent allowed smoke toxicity to be quantified in the cavity of the façade, providing a realistic way of measuring the toxicity of smoke that could enter an apartment from a façade fire.

Keywords: smoke toxicity, large-scale testing, BS8414, FED

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Authors: Thirsa Sherry, Utkarsh Shrivastav, Kannan B. T., Iynthezhuton K.

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The field of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics remains one of the most poignant and well-researched fields of today. The current paper aims to investigate the predominant problem concerning the effects of noise of varying frequencies and waveforms on airflow surrounding an airfoil. Using a single speaker beneath the airfoil at different positions, we wish to simulate the effects of sound directly impinging on an airfoil and study its direct effects on airflow. We wish to study the same using smoke visualization methods with incense as our smoke-generating material in a variable-speed subsonic wind tunnel. Using frequencies and wavelengths similar to those of common engine noise, we wish to simulate real-world conditions of engine noise interfering with airflow and document the arising trends. These results will allow us to look into the real-world effects of noise on airflow and how to minimize them and expand on the possible relation between waveforms and noise. The parameters used in the study include frequency, Reynolds number, waveforms, angle of attack, and the effects on airflow when varying these parameters.

Keywords: engine noise, aeroacoustics, acoustic excitation, low speed

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Authors: Ibrahim Mohamed Ibrahim Hassanin, Hany Hassan Mostafa, Mona Mohamed Shaban, Ahlam El Said Kamel

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Background: New so-called minimally invasive devices have been developed to limit groin pain after sling placement for treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) to minimize the risk of postoperative pain and organ perforation. A new generation of suburethral slings was described that avoided skin incision to pull out and tension the sling. Evaluation of this device through prospective short-term series has shown controversial results compared with other tension-free techniques. The aim of this study is to compare success rates and complications for tension-free vaginal tape secur (TVT secur) and trans-obturator sub urethral tape inside-out technique (TVT-O) for treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with genuine SUI were divided into two groups: group S (n=25) were operated upon using (TVT secur) and group O (n=25) were operated upon using trans-obturator suburethral tape inside-out technique (TVT-O). Success rate, quality of life and postoperative complications such as groin pain, urgency, urine retention and vaginal tape erosion were reported in both groups at one, three, and six months after surgery. Results: As regards objective cure rate at one, three, six months intervals; there was a significant difference between group S (56%, 64%, and 60%), and group O (80%, 88%, and 88%) respectively (P <0.05). As regards subjective cure rate at one, three, six months intervals; there was a significant difference between group S (44%, 44%, and 48%), and group O (76%, 80%, and 80%) respectively (P <0.05). Quality of life (QoL) parameters improved significantly in cured patients with no difference between both groups. As regards complications, group O had a higher frequency of complications than group S; groin pain (12% vs 12% p= 0.05), urgency (4% (1 case) vs 0%), urine retention (8% (2 cases) vs 0%), vaginal tape erosion (4% (1 case) vs 0%). No cases were complicated with wound infection. Conclusion: Compared to TVT secur, TVT-O showed higher subjective and objective cure rates after six months but higher rate of complications. Both techniques were comparable as regards improvement of quality of life after surgery.

Keywords: stress urinary incontinence, trans-vaginal tape-obturator, TVT Secur, TVT-O

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