Search results for: distance measurement error

Authors: Ramadhani Yasyfi Cysela, Adinda Syifa Azhari, Eleonora Agustine

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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to environmental pollution. The soil is a part of environment that have a widespread problem. The contaminated soil should no longer be used to grow food because the chemicals can leech into the food and harm people who eat it. The chemical fertilizer industry gives specific effect due to soil pollution. To determine ammonia and urea emissions from fertilizer industry, we can use physical characteristic of soil, which is magnetic susceptibility. Rock magnetism is used as a proxy indicator to determine changes in physical properties. Magnetic susceptibilities of samples in low and high frequency have been measured by Bartington MS2B magnetic susceptibility measurement device. The sample was taken from different area which located closer by pollution source and far from the pollution source. The susceptibility values of polluted samples in topsoil were quite low, with range from 187.1- 494.8 [x 10-8 m3 kg-1] when free polluted area’s sample has high values (1188.7- 2237.8 [x 10-8 m3 kg-1 ]). From this studies shows that susceptibility values in areas of the fertilizer industry are lower than the free polluted area.

Keywords: environmental, magnetic susceptibility, rock magnetism, soil pollution

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Authors: Ahmad Shanei, Milad Baradaran-Ghahfarokhi

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This study aimed to investigate testicular dose (TD) and the associated risk of heritable disease from common pelvis radiotherapy of male patients in Iran. In this work, the relation between TD and changes in beam energy, pelvis size, source to skin distance (SSD) and beam directions (anterior or posterior) were also evaluated. The values of TDs were measured on 67 randomly selected male patients during common pelvis radiotherapy using 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, Theratron Cobalt-60 unit at SSD of 80 cm and 9 MV, Neptun 10 PC and 18 MV, GE Saturne 20 at SSD of 100 cm at Seyed-Al Shohada Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. Results showed that the maximum TD was up to 12% of the tumor dose. Considering the risk factor for radiation-induced heritable disorders of 0.1% per Sv, an excess risk of hereditary disorders of 72 per 10000 births was conservatively calculated. There was a significant difference in the measured TD using different treatment machines and energies (P < 0.001). The TD at 100 cm SSD were much less than that for 80 cm SSD (P <0.001). The Pearson Correlation test showed that, as expected, there was a strong correlation between TD and patient’s pelvis size (r = 0.275, P <0.001). Using the student’s t-tests, it was found that, there was not a significant difference between TD and beam direction (P = 0.231). Iranian male patients undergoing pelvic radiotherapy have the potential of receiving a TD of more than 1 Gy which might result in temporary azoospermia. The risk for induction of hereditary disorders in future generations should be considered as low but not negligible in comparison with the correspondent nominal risk.

Keywords: pelvis radiotherapy, testicular dose, infertility, hereditary effects

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Authors: Mahmoud Hassanin, Amita Gupta

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Background: During current practice, Thiopentone is not cost-effectively added to resources wastage, risk of drug error with antibiotics, short shelf life, infection risk, and risk of delay while preparing during category one cesarean section. There is no significant difference or preference to the other alternative as per current use. Aims and Objectives: Patient safety, Cost-effective use of trust resources, problem awareness, Consider improvising on the current practice. Methods: In conjunction with the local department survey results, many studies support the change. Results: More than 50%(15 from 29) are already using Propofol, more than 75% of the participant are willing to shift to Propofol if it becomes standard, and the cost analysis also revealed that Thiopentone 10 X500=£60 Propofol 10X200= £5.20, Cost of Thiopentone/year =£2190. Approximately GA in a year =35-40 could cost approximately £20 Propofol, given it is a well-established practice. We could save not only money, but it will be environmentally friendly also to avoid adding any carbon footprints. Recommendation: Thiopentone is rarely used as an induction agent for the category one Caesarean section in our obstetric emergency theatres. Most obstetric anesthetists are using Propofol. Keep both Propofol and thiopentone(powder not withdrawn) in the cat one cesarean section emergency drugs tray ready until the department completely changes the practice protocol. A further retrospective study is required to compare the outcomes for these induction agents through the local database.

Keywords: thiopentone, propofol, category 1 caesarean, induction agents

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Authors: Zahra Hatami, Hesham Ali, David Volkman

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Selecting a portfolio for investing is a crucial decision for individuals and legal entities. In the last two decades, with economic globalization, a stream of financial innovations has rushed to the aid of financial institutions. The importance of selecting stocks for the portfolio is always a challenging task for investors. This study aims to create a financial network to identify optimal portfolios using network centralities metrics. This research presents a community detection technique of superior stocks that can be described as an optimal stock portfolio to be used by investors. By using the advantages of a network and its property in extracted communities, a group of stocks was selected for each of the various time periods. The performance of the optimal portfolios compared to the famous index. Their Sharpe ratio was calculated in a timely manner to evaluate their profit for making decisions. The analysis shows that the selected potential portfolio from stocks with low centrality measurement can outperform the market; however, they have a lower Sharpe ratio than stocks with high centrality scores. In other words, stocks with low centralities could outperform the S&P500 yet have a lower Sharpe ratio than high central stocks.

Keywords: portfolio management performance, network analysis, centrality measurements, Sharpe ratio

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Authors: Hyo-In Koh, Anders Nordborg, Alex Sievi, Chun-Kwon Park

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The noise source for the interior room of the high speed train is constituted by the rolling contact between the wheel and the rail, aerodynamic noise and structure-borne sound generated through the vibrations of bogie, connection points to the carbody. Air-borne sound is radiated through the panels and structures into the interior room of the trains. The high-speed lines are constructed with slab track systems and many tunnels. The interior noise level and the frequency characteristics vary according to types of the track structure and the infrastructure. In this paper the main sound sources and the transfer paths are studied to find out the contribution characteristics of the sources to the interior noise of a high-speed rail vehicle. For the identification of the acoustic power of each parts of the rolling noise sources a calculation model of wheel/rail noise is developed and used. For the analysis of the transmission of the sources to the interior noise noise and vibration are measured during the operation of the vehicle. According to operation speeds, the mainly contributed sources and the paths could be analyzed. Results of the calculations on the source generation and the results of the measurement with a high-speed train are shown and discussed.

Keywords: rail vehicle, high-speed, interior noise, noise source

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Authors: Sura Al-Khafaji, Phil Purnell

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Measurement of the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) is an important tool in diagnostic examination of concrete. In this method piezoelectric transducers are normally held in direct contact with the concrete surface. The current study aims to test the hypothesis that a preferential coupling effect might exist i.e. that the speed of sound measured depends on the couplant used. In this study, different coupling media of varying acoustic impedance were placed between the transducers and concrete samples made with constant aggregate content but with different compressive strengths. The preliminary results show that using coupling materials (both solid and a range of liquid substances) has an effect on the pulse velocity measured in a given concrete. The effect varies depending on the material used. The UPV measurements with solid coupling were higher than these from the liquid coupling at all strength levels. The tests using couplants generally recorded lower UPV values than the conventional test, except when carbon fiber composite was used, which retuned higher values. Analysis of variances (ANOVA) was performed to confirm that there are statistically significant differences between the measurements recorded using a conventional system and a coupled system.

Keywords: compressive strength, coupling effect, statistical analysis, ultrasonic

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Authors: Rui Liu, Pengyu Cui, Nan Jiang

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At present, there is much research on the application of centralized management and cross-integration application of basic geographic information. However, the idea of information integration and sharing between land, sea, and air navigation targets is not deeply applied into the research of navigation information service, especially in the information expression. Targeting at this problem, the paper carries out works about the expression pattern of navigation electronic map for ground vehicles under air and land united navigation mechanism. At first, with the support from multi-source information fusion of GIS vector data, RS data, GPS data, etc., an air and land united information expression pattern is designed aiming at specific navigation task of emergency rescue in the earthquake. And then, the characteristics and specifications of the united expression of air and land navigation information under the constraints of map load are summarized and transferred into expression rules in the rule bank. At last, the related navigation experiment is implemented to evaluate the effect of the expression pattern. The experiment selects evaluation factors of the navigation task accomplishment time and the navigation error rate as the main index, and make comparisons with the traditional single information expression pattern. To sum up, the research improved the theory of navigation electronic map and laid a certain foundation for the design and realization of united navigation system in the aspect of real-time navigation information delivery.

Keywords: navigation electronic map, united navigation, multi-element expression pattern, multi-source information fusion

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Authors: K. Bresilla, L. Manfrini, B. Morandi, A. Boini, G. Perulli, L. C. Grappadelli

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Image/video processing for fruit in the tree using hard-coded feature extraction algorithms have shown high accuracy during recent years. While accurate, these approaches even with high-end hardware are computationally intensive and too slow for real-time systems. This paper details the use of deep convolution neural networks (CNNs), specifically an algorithm (YOLO - You Only Look Once) with 24+2 convolution layers. Using deep-learning techniques eliminated the need for hard-code specific features for specific fruit shapes, color and/or other attributes. This CNN is trained on more than 5000 images of apple and pear fruits on 960 cores GPU (Graphical Processing Unit). Testing set showed an accuracy of 90%. After this, trained data were transferred to an embedded device (Raspberry Pi gen.3) with camera for more portability. Based on correlation between number of visible fruits or detected fruits on one frame and the real number of fruits on one tree, a model was created to accommodate this error rate. Speed of processing and detection of the whole platform was higher than 40 frames per second. This speed is fast enough for any grasping/harvesting robotic arm or other real-time applications.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, computer vision, deep learning, fruit recognition, harvesting robot, precision agriculture

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Authors: Shuang Qiu, Zhipeng Chen, Lingfeng Wang, Shijian Ge

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Biowastes are a concern due to the large amounts of commercial food required for model animals during the biomedical research. Searching for sustainable food alternatives with negligible physiological effects on animals is critical to solving or reducing this challenge. Microalgae have been demonstrated as suitable for both human consumption and animal feed in addition to biofuel and bioenergy applications. In this study, the possibility of using Chlorella vulgaris and Senedesmus obliquus as a feed replacement to Drosophila melanogaster, one of the fly models commonly used in biomedical studies, was investigated to assess the fly locomotor activity, motor pattern, lifespan, and body weight. Compared to control, flies fed on 60% or 80% (w/w) microalgae exhibited varied walking performance including travel distance and apparent step size, and flies treated with 40% microalgae had shorter lifespans and decreased body weight. However, the 20% microalgae treatment showed no statistical differences in all parameters tested with respect to the control. When partially including 20% microalgae in the standard food, it can annually reduce the food waste (~ 202 kg) by 22.7 % and save $ 7,200 of the food cost, offering an environmentally superior and cost-effective food alternative without compromising physiological performance.

Keywords: animal feed, Chlorella vulgaris, Drosophila melanogaster, food waste, microalgae

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Authors: Thet Su Hlaing, Shoichi Kojima

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The growing desire for better indoor thermal performance with moderate energy consumption is becoming an issue for challenging today’s built environment. Studies related to the effective way of enhancing indoor thermal comfort had been done by approaching in numerous ways. Few studies have been focused on the correlation between building material and indoor thermal comfort of vernacular house. This paper analyzes the thermal comfort conditions of Bamboo House, mostly located in a hot and humid region. Depending on the roofing material, how the indoor environment varies will be observed through monitoring indoor and outdoor comfort measurement of Bamboo house as well as occupants’ preferable comfort condition. The result revealed that the indigenous roofing material mostly influences the indoor thermal environment by performing to have less effect from the outdoor temperature. It can keep the room cool with moderate thermal comfort, especially in the early morning and night, in the summertime without mechanical device assistance. After analyzing the performance of roofing material, which effect on indoor thermal comfort for 24 hours, it can be efficiently managed the time for availing mechanical cooling devices and make it supply only the necessary period of a day, which will lead to a partially reduce energy consumption.

Keywords: bamboo house, hot and humid climate, indoor thermal comfort, local indigenous roofing material

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Authors: Safa’ Abdelkarim Hammad

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The electrical power system is one of the main parts of the nation's infrastructure, and the availability and cost of electricity are critical factors in industrial competitiveness and strategy. Restructuring of the electricity supply industries is a very complex exercise based on national energy strategies and policies, macroeconomic developments, and national conditions, and its application varies from country to country. Electricity regulation of natural monopolies is a challenging task. Regulators face the problem of providing appropriate incentives for improvement of efficiency. Incentive regulation is often considered as an efficient regulatory tool to handle the problem, and it is widely applied in several countries. However, the exact regulation methodologies differ from one country to another. Network quantitative reliability evaluation is an essential factor with regard to the quality of supply. The main factors used to judge the reliability of supply is measured by the number and duration of interruptions experienced by customers. Several indicators are used to evaluate reliability in distribution networks. This paper addresses the impact of incentive regulation and performance benchmarking in the field of electricity distribution in Jordan. The theory of efficiency measurement and the most common models; NCSQS and DEA models are presented.

Keywords: incentive regulations, reliability, restructuring, Tarrif

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Authors: Issam Aouari, Abdelmalek Abdelhamid

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For seismologists, the characterization of seismic demand should include the amplitude and duration of strong shaking in the system. The duration of ground shaking is one of the key parameters in earthquake resistant design of structures. This paper proposes a nonlinear statistical model to estimate earthquake ground motion duration in soft soils using multiple seismicity indicators. Three definitions of ground motion duration proposed by literature have been applied. With a comparative study, we select the most significant definition to use for predict the duration. A stochastic model is presented for the McCann and Shah Method using nonlinear regression analysis based on a data set for moment magnitude, source to site distance and site conditions. The data set applied is taken from PEER strong motion databank and contains shallow earthquakes from different regions in the world; America, Turkey, London, China, Italy, Chili, Mexico...etc. Main emphasis is placed on soft site condition. The predictive relationship has been developed based on 600 records and three input indicators. Results have been compared with others published models. It has been found that the proposed model can predict earthquake ground motion duration in soft soils for different regions and sites conditions.

Keywords: duration, earthquake, prediction, regression, soft soil

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Authors: Spandan Sahu, Amiya Kumar Pati, Kishanjit Kumar Khatua

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The river is our main source of water which is a form of open channel flow and the flow in the open channel provides with many complex phenomena of sciences that need to be tackled such as the critical flow conditions, boundary shear stress, and depth-averaged velocity. The development of society, more or less solely depends upon the flow of rivers. The rivers are major sources of many sediments and specific ingredients which are much essential for human beings. During floods, part of a river is carried by the simple main channel and rest is carried by flood plains. For such compound asymmetric channels, the flow structure becomes complicated due to momentum exchange between the main channel and adjoining flood plains. Distribution of boundary shear in subsections provides us with the concept of momentum transfer between the interface of the main channel and the flood plains. Experimentally, to get better data with accurate results are very complex because of the complexity of the problem. Hence, CES software has been used to tackle the complex processes to determine the shear stresses at different sections of an open channel having asymmetric flood plains on both sides of the main channel, and the results are compared with the symmetric flood plains for various geometrical shapes and flow conditions. Error analysis is also performed to know the degree of accuracy of the model implemented.

Keywords: depth average velocity, non prismatic compound channel, relative flow depth, velocity distribution

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Authors: Yavuz Demir, Mucip Genisel, Hulya Turk, Turgay Sisman, Serkan Erdal

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In this study, the changes in contents of inorganic elements in the aquatic plant (Potamogeton natans) as a reflection of the impact of chemical nature pollution in a cement factory region (CFR) was evaluated. For this purpose, P, S, K, Ca, Fe, Cl, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mo, Ni, Si, Al, and Cd concentrations were measured in the aquatic plant (Potamogeton natans) taken from a CFR. As a control, aquatic plant was collected at a distance of 2000 m from the outer zone of the cement factory. Inorganic element compositions were measured by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF). Three aquatic plant exhibited similar changes in contents of microelements and macroelements in their leaves. P, S, K, Cl, Ca, and Mo contents in plant grown in the CFR were reduced significantly compared to control plant, whereas their contents of Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd were very high. According to these findings, it is possible that aquatic plant (Potamogeton natans) inhabiting in the vicinity of cement factory sustains the deficiency of important essential elements like P, S, K, Ca, and Mo and greatly accumulate heavy metals like Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd. In addition, results of water analysis showed that heavy metal content such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, and Al of water taken from CFR was remarkably high than that of outer zone of CFR. These findings with relation to changes in inorganic composition can contribute to be elucidated of effect mechanism on growth and development of aquatic plant (Potamogeton natans) of pollution resulted from cement factories.

Keywords: aquatic plant, cement factory, heavy metal pollution, inorganic element, Potamogeton natans

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Authors: Dan Wang

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Sandplay therapy is a Jungian psychological therapy developed by Dora Kalff in 1956. In sandplay therapy, the client first makes a sandtray with various miniatures and then has a communication with the therapist based on the sandtray. The special method makes sandplay therapy has great assessment potential. With regarding that the core treatment hypothesis of sandplay therapy - the self-healing power, is very similar to resilience. This study tries to use sandplay to evaluate psychological resilience. Participants are 107 undergraduates recruited from three public universities in China who were required to make an initial sandtray and to complete the Ego-Resiliency Scale (ER89) respectively. First, a 28- category General Sandtray Coding Manual (GSCM) was developed based on literature on sandplay therapy. Next, using GSCM to code the 107 initial sandtrays and conducted correlation analysis and regression analysis between all GSCM categories and ER89. Results show three categories (i.e., vitality, water types, and relationships) of sandplay account for 36.6% of the variance of ego-resilience and form the four-point Likert-type Sandtray Projective Test of Resilience (SPTR). Finally, it is found that SPTR dimensions and total score all have good inter-rater reliability, ranging from 0.89 to 0.93. This study provides an alternative approach to measure psychological resilience and can help to guide clinical social work.

Keywords: sandplay therapy, psychological resilience, measurement, college students

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Authors: Óscar Alfonso Gómez Sepúlveda, Julián Ernesto Jaramillo, Diego Camilo Durán

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The global climate crisis has affected different aspects of human life, and in an effort to reverse the effects generated, we seek to optimize and improve the equipment and plants that produce high emissions of CO₂, being possible to achieve this through numerical simulations. These equipments include biomass combustion chambers. The objective of this research is to visualize the thermal behavior of a gas chamber that is used in the process of obtaining vegetable extracts. The simulation is carried out with OpenFOAM taking into account the conservation of energy, turbulence, and radiation; for the purposes of the simulation, combustion is omitted and replaced by heat generation. Within the results, the streamlines generated by the primary and secondary flows are analyzed in order to visualize whether they generate the expected effect, and the energy is used to the maximum. The inclusion of radiation seeks to compare its influence and also simplify the computational times to perform mesh analysis. An analysis is carried out with simplified geometries and with experimental data to corroborate the selection of the models to be used, and it is obtained that for turbulence, the appropriate one is the standard k - w. As a means of verification, a general energy balance is made and compared with the results of the numerical analysis, where the error is 1.67%, which is considered acceptable. From the approach to improvement options, it was found that with the implementation of fins, heat can be increased by up to 7.3%.

Keywords: CFD analysis, biomass, heat transfer, radiation, OpenFOAM

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Authors: Fredrick Ishengoma, Leonard Mselle, Hector Mongi

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The growing number of mobile phone subscribers in Tanzania offers the government a new channel for the delivery of information and government services to citizens, thus mobile Government (m-Government). In Tanzania, m-Government services usage is in the early stages, and factors that influence its adoption are yet to be known. This study seeks to identify and understand the critical success factors (CSFs) that influence citizens’ behavioural intention (BI) to adopt m-Government services in Tanzania. The study employed the mobile services acceptance model (MSAM) and extends it with external factors relevant in the Tanzanian context. A survey questionnaire was used to collect primary data from users of m-Government services in Dar es salaam and Dodoma cities, and 253 responses were received. Data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS AMOS 23.0 software using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings of the study indicate that perceived usefulness, trust, perceived mobility, power distance, quality of service, awareness, perceived cost, personal initiatives, and characteristics significantly influence the BI to adopt m-Government services. However, perceived ease of use was found statistically insignificant to predict BI. Furthermore, the interplay between CSFs, discussion on theoretical and practical implications that follow from the results are presented.

Keywords: adoption, critical success factors, structural equation modeling, m-Government, MSAM, Tanzania

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Authors: Fatima Ali Abbass, Hassan Ibrahim Rkein

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The number of entities worldwide that currently accept digital currency as payment is increasing; however, digital currency still is not widely accepted as a medium of exchange, nor they represent legal tender. At the same time, this makes accounting for cryptocurrency, as cash (Currency) is not possible under IAS 7 and IAS 32, Cryptocurrency also cannot be accounted for as Financial Assets at fair value through profit or loss under IFRS 9. Therefore, this paper studies the possible means to account for Cryptocurrency, since, as of today, there is not yet an accounting standard that deals with cryptocurrency. The request to have a specific accounting standard is increasing from top accounting firms and from professional accounting bodies. This study uses a mixture of qualitative and quantitative analysis in its quest to explore the best possible way to account for cryptocurrency. Interviews and surveys were conducted targeting accounting professionals. This study highlighted the deficiencies in the current way of accounting for Cryptocurrency as intangible Assets with an indefinite life. The deficiency becomes well highlighted, as the asset will then be subject to impairment, where under GAAP, only depreciation in the value of the intangible asset is recognized. On the other hand, appreciation in the value of the asset is ignored, and this prohibits the reporting entity from showing the true value of the cryptocurrency asset. This research highlights the gap that arises due to using accounting standards that are not specific for Cryptocurrency and this study confirmed that there is an urgent need to call upon the accounting standards setters (IASB and FASB) to issue accounting standards specifically for Cryptocurrency.

Keywords: cryptocurrency, accounting, IFRS, GAAP, classification, measurement

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Authors: Van-Dycke Sarpong Asare, Vincent Adongo

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Field measurement of subsurface seismic p-wave velocities was undertaken through seismic refraction tomography. The aim of this work is to obtain a model of the shallow subsurface material elastic properties relevant for geotechnical site characterization. The survey area is at Pwalugu in Northern Ghana, where a multipurpose dam, for electricity generation, irrigation, and potable water delivery, is being planned. A 24-channel seismograph and 24, 10 Hz electromagnetic geophones, deployed 5 m apart constituted the acquisition hardware. Eleven (2-D) seismic refraction profiles, nine of which ran almost perpendicular and two parallel to the White Volta at Pwalugu, were acquired. The refraction tomograms of the thirteen profiles revealed a subsurface model consisting of one minor and one major acoustic impedance boundaries – the top dry/loose sand and the variably weathered sandstone contact, and the overburden-sandstones bedrock contact respectively. The p-wave velocities and by inference, with a priori values of poison ratios, the s-wave velocities, assisted in characterizing the geotechnical conditions of the proposed site and also in evaluating the dynamic properties such as the maximum shear modulus, the bulk modulus, and the Young modulus.

Keywords: tomography, characterization, consolidated, Pwalugu and seismograph

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Authors: Arpit Panwar, Arvind Deshpande

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The study of external vehicle aerodynamics using Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model with adjoint method was conducted. The accessibility and ease of working with the Fluent module of ANSYS and OpenFOAM were considered. The objective of the study was to understand and analyze the possibility of bringing high-level aerodynamic simulation to the average consumer vehicle. A form-factor of BMW M6 vehicle was designed in Solidworks, which was analyzed in OpenFOAM and Fluent. The turbulence model being a single equation provides much faster convergence rate when clubbed with the adjoint method. Fluent being commercial software still does not allow us to solve Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model using the adjoint method. Hence, the turbulence model was solved using the SIMPLE method in Fluent. OpenFOAM being an open source provide flexibility in simulation but is not user-friendly. It supports solving the defined turbulence model with the adjoint method. The result generated from the simulation gives us acceptable values of drag, when validated with the result of percentage error in drag values for a notch-back vehicle model on an extensive simulation produced at 6th ANSA and μETA conference, Greece. The success of this approach will allow us to bring more aerodynamic vehicle body design to all segments of the automobile and not limiting it to just the high-end sports cars.

Keywords: Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, OpenFOAM, adjoint method, SIMPLE method, vehicle aerodynamic design

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Authors: K. A. Ghazaryan, G. A. Gevorgyan, H. S. Movsesyan, N. P. Ghazaryan, K. V. Grigoryan

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The heavy metal pollution degree in the soils around the Zangezur copper and molybdenum combine in Syunik Marz, Armenia was aessessed. The results of the study showed that heavy metal pollution degree in the soils mainly decreased with increasing distance from the open mine and the ore enrichment combine which indicated that the open mine and the ore enrichment combine were the main sources of heavy metal pollution. The only exception was observed in the northern part of the open mine where pollution degree in the sites (along the open mine) situated 600 meters far from the mine was higher than that in the sites located 300 meters far from the mine. This can be explained by the characteristics of relief and air currents as well as the weak vegetation cover of these sites and the characteristics of soil structure. According to geo-accumulation index (I-geo), contamination factor (Cf), contamination degree (Cd) and pollution load index (PLI) values, the pollution degree in the soils around the open mine and the ore enrichment combine was higher than that in the soils around the tailing dumps which was due to the proper and accurate operation of the Artsvanik tailing damp and the recultivation of the Voghji tailing dump. The high Cu and Mo pollution of the soils was conditioned by the character of industrial activities, the moving direction of air currents as well as the physicochemical peculiarities of the soils.

Keywords: Armenia, Zangezur copper and molybdenum combine, soil, heavy metal pollution degree

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Authors: Robert Rusinek, Marek Gancarz, Jolanta Wawrzyniak, Marzena Gawrysiak-Witulska, Dariusz Wiącek, Agnieszka Nawrocka

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Investigations were performed to examine the possibility of using an electronic nose to monitor the development of fungal microflora during the first eighteen days of rapeseed storage. The Cyranose 320 device with polymer-composite sensors was used. Each sample of infected material was divided into three parts, and the degree of spoilage was measured in three ways: analysis of colony forming units (CFU), determination of ergosterol content (ERG), and measurement with the eNose. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the generated patterns of signals, and six groups of different spoilage levels were isolated. The electronic nose with polymer-composite sensors under laboratory conditions distinguished between species of spoiled and unspoiled seeds with 100% accuracy. Despite some minor differences in the CFU and ergosterol content, the electronic nose provided responses correctly corresponding to the level of spoilage with 85% accuracy. Therefore, the main conclusion from the study is that the electronic nose is a promising tool for quick and non-destructive detection of the level of oil seed spoilage. The research was supported by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Grant No. PBS2/A8/22/2013.

Keywords: colony forming units, electronic nose, ergosterol, rapeseed

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Authors: Katie Strong, Brian P. O'Connor, Jacqueline M. Kanippayoor

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To date, self-report measures of psychopathy have largely been conceptualized with a male-focused understanding of the disorder, with the presumption that psychopathy expression is uniform across genders. However, generalizing this understanding to the female population may be misleading. The objective of this research was to explore gender differences in the expression of psychopathy and to assess current self-report psychopathy measures for gender bias. It was hypothesized that some items in commonly used measures of psychopathy may show gender bias and that existing measures may not contain enough items that are relevant to the manifestation of psychopathy in women. An exploratory investigation was conducted on statistical bias in common measures of psychopathy, and novel, relevant, but previously neglected items and measures were included in a new data collection. The participant pool included a sample of 403 university students and 354 participants recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Item Response Theory methods - including Differential Item Functioning - were used to assess for the item- and test- level bias across several common self-report measures of psychopathy. Analyses indicated occasional and modest levels of item-level bias, and that some additional female-relevant items merit consideration for inclusion in measures of psychopathy. These findings suggest that current self-report measures of psychopathy may be demonstrating gender-bias and warrant further examination.

Keywords: gender, measurement bias, personality, psychopathy

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Authors: Muhammad Arif Mahmood, Andrei C. Popescu, Mihai Oane, Diana Chioibascu, Carmen Ristoscu, Ion N. Mihailescu

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Powder flow and temperature distributions are recognized as influencing factors during laser melting deposition (LMD) process, that not only affect the consolidation rate but also characteristics of the deposited layers. Herewith, two simplified analytical models will be presented to simulate the powder flow with the inclusion of powder particles size distribution in Gaussian form, under three powder jet nozzles, and temperature analyses during LMD process. The output of the 1st model will serve as the input in the 2nd model. The models will be validated with experimental data, i.e., weight measurement method for powder particles distribution and infrared imaging for temperature analyses. This study will increase the cost-efficiency of the LMD process by adjustment of the operating parameters for reaching optimal powder debit and energy. This research has received funds under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 764935, from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

Keywords: laser additive manufacturing, powder particles size distribution in Gaussian form, powder stream distribution, temperature analyses

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Authors: Qing Wu, Fei-Yan Li, Heng-Chang Zhang

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Multitask learning support vector machines (SVMs) have recently attracted increasing research attention. Given several related tasks, the single-task learning methods trains each task separately and ignore the inner cross-relationship among tasks. However, multitask learning can capture the correlation information among tasks and achieve better performance by training all tasks simultaneously. In addition, the asymmetric squared loss function can better improve the generalization ability of the models on the most asymmetric distributed data. In this paper, we first make two assumptions on the relatedness among tasks and propose two multitask learning proximal support vector machine algorithms, named MTL-a-PSVM and EMTL-a-PSVM, respectively. MTL-a-PSVM seeks a trade-off between the maximum expectile distance for each task model and the closeness of each task model to the general model. As an extension of the MTL-a-PSVM, EMTL-a-PSVM can select appropriate kernel functions for shared information and private information. Besides, two corresponding special cases named MTL-PSVM and EMTLPSVM are proposed by analyzing the asymmetric squared loss function, which can be easily implemented by solving linear systems. Experimental analysis of three classification datasets demonstrates the effectiveness and superiority of our proposed multitask learning algorithms.

Keywords: multitask learning, asymmetric squared loss, EMTL-a-PSVM, classification

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Authors: M. S. Gadala, Khaled Ahmed, Elasadig Mahdi

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduced a gradient-based inverse solver to obtain the missing boundary conditions based on the readings of internal thermocouples. The results show that the method is very sensitive to measurement errors, and becomes unstable when small time steps are used. The artificial neural networks are shown to be capable of capturing the whole thermal history on the run-out table, but are not very effective in restoring the detailed behavior of the boundary conditions. Also, they behave poorly in nonlinear cases and where the boundary condition profile is different. GA and PSO are more effective in finding a detailed representation of the time-varying boundary conditions, as well as in nonlinear cases. However, their convergence takes longer. A variation of the basic PSO, called CRPSO, showed the best performance among the three versions. Also, PSO proved to be effective in handling noisy data, especially when its performance parameters were tuned. An increase in the self-confidence parameter was also found to be effective, as it increased the global search capabilities of the algorithm. RPSO was the most effective variation in dealing with noise, closely followed by CRPSO. The latter variation is recommended for inverse heat conduction problems, as it combines the efficiency and effectiveness required by these problems.

Keywords: inverse analysis, function specification, neural net works, particle swarm, run-out table

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: A. Majeed, P. Ali

Abstract:

Before designing an electrical system, the estimation of load is necessary for unit sizing and demand-generation balancing. The system could be a stand-alone system for a village or grid connected or integrated renewable energy to grid connection, especially as there are non–electrified villages in developing countries. In the classical model, the energy demand was found by estimating the household appliances multiplied with the amount of their rating and the duration of their operation, but in this paper, information exists for electrified villages could be used to predict the demand, as villages almost have the same life style. This paper describes a method used to predict the average energy consumed in each two months for every consumer living in a village by Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The input data are collected using a regional survey for samples of consumers representing typical types of different living, household appliances and energy consumption by a list of information, and the output data are collected from administration office of Piramagrun for each corresponding consumer. The result of this study shows that the average demand for different consumers from four villages in different months throughout the year is approximately 12 kWh/day, this model estimates the average demand/day for every consumer with a mean absolute percent error of 11.8%, and MathWorks software package MATLAB version 7.6.0 that contains and facilitate Neural Network Toolbox was used.

Keywords: artificial neural network, load estimation, regional survey, rural electrification

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Chao Wu

Abstract:

Thioredoxin reductase 2 is a mitochondrial enzyme that belongs to the cellular defense against oxidative stress. We deleted mitochondrial Txnrd2 in a KrasG12D-driven pancreatic tumor model. Despite an initial increase in precursor lesions, tumor incidence decreased significantly. We isolated cancer cell lines from these genetically engineered mice and observed an impaired proliferation and colony formation. Reactive Oxygen Species, as determined by DCF fluorescence, were increased. We detected a higher mitochondrial copy number in Txnrd2-deficient cells (KTP). However, measurement of mitochondrial bioenergetics showed no impairment of mitochondrial function and comparable O₂-consumption and extracellular acidification rates. In addition, the mitochondrial complex composition was affected in Txnrd2 deleted cell lines. To gain better insight into the role of Txnrd2, we deleted Txnrd2 in clones from parental KrasG12D cell lines using Crispr/Cas9 technology. The deletion was confirmed by western blot and activity assay. Interestingly, and in line with previous RNA expression analysis, we saw changes in EMT markers in Txnrd2 deleted cell lines and control cell lines. This might help us explain the reduced tumor incidence in KrasG12D; Txnrd2∆panc mice.

Keywords: PDAC, TXNRD2, epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition, ROS

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Saad Mohamed Elsaid Abdelrahman

Abstract:

The adsorption method is one of the best modern techniques used in removing pollutants, especially organic hydrocarbon compounds, from polluted water. Through this research, bentonite clay can be used to remove organic hydrocarbon compounds, such as heptane and octane, resulting from oil spills in seawater. Bentonite clay can be obtained from the Kholayaz area, located north of Jeddah, at a distance of 80 km. Chemical analysis shows that bentonite clay consists of a mixture of silica, alumina and oxides of some elements. Bentonite clay can be activated in order to raise its adsorption efficiency and to make it suitable for removing pollutants using an ionic organic solvent. It is necessary to study some of the factors that could be in the efficiency of bentonite clay in removing oily organic compounds, such as the time of contact of the clay with heptane and octane solutions, pH and temperature, in order to reach the highest adsorption capacity of bentonite clay. The temperature can be a few degrees Celsius higher. The adsorption capacity of the clay decreases when the temperature is raised more than 4°C to reach its lowest value at the temperature of 50°C. The results show that the friction time of 30 minutes and the pH of 6.8 is the best conditions to obtain the highest adsorption capacity of the clay, 467 mg in the case of heptane and 385 mg in the case of octane compound. Experiments conducted on bentonite clay were encouraging to select it to remove heavy molecular weight pollutants such as petroleum compounds under study.

Keywords: adsorbent, bentonite clay, oil spills, removal

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Hanan Mikhael Dawood, Afaneen Anwer Abood Al-Khazraji

Abstract:

The paper presents an investigation of field oriented control strategy of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) based on hardware in the loop simulation (HIL) over a wide speed range. A sensorless rotor position estimation using sliding mode observer for permanent magnet synchronous motor is illustrated considering the effects of magnetic saturation between the d and q axes. The cross saturation between d and q axes has been calculated by finite-element analysis. Therefore, the inductance measurement regards the saturation and cross saturation which are used to obtain the suitable id-characteristics in base and flux weakening regions. Real time matrix multiplication in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using floating point number system is used utilizing Quartus-II environment to develop FPGA designs and then download these designs files into development kit. dSPACE DS1103 is utilized for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) switching and the controller. The hardware in the loop results conducted to that from the Matlab simulation. Various dynamic conditions have been investigated.

Keywords: magnetic saturation, rotor position estimation, sliding mode observer, hardware in the loop (HIL)

Procedia PDF Downloads 529