Search results for: ground resistance reducing agent

Authors: Buntheng Chhorn, WooYoung Jung

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Large-scale swing has been used in entertainment and performance, especially in circus, for a very long time. To increase the safety of this type of structure, a thorough analysis for displacement and bearing stress was performed for an extreme condition where a full cycle swing occurs. Different masses, ranging from 40 kg to 220 kg, and velocities were applied on the swing. Then, based on the solution of differential dynamics equation, swing velocity response to harmonic force was obtained. Moreover, the resistance capacity was estimated based on ACI steel structure design guide. Subsequently, numerical analysis was performed in ABAQUS to obtain the stress on each frame of the swing. Finally, the analysis shows that the expansion of swing structure frame section was required for mass bigger than 150kg.

Keywords: swing structure, displacement, bearing stress, dynamic loads response, finite element analysis

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Authors: A. Ozkose

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This study was conducted to determination of yield and yield components of some fodder beet types (Amarilla Barres, Feldherr, Kyros, Magnum, and Rota) under the Konya region conditions. Fodder beet was obtained from the Selcuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, at 2006-2007 season and the experiment was established in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Differences among the averages of the fodder beet cultivars are statistically important in terms of all the characteristics investigated. Leaf attitude value was 1.2–2.2 (1=erect; 5= prostrate), root shape scale value was (1=spheroidal – 9=cylindrical), root diameter 11.0–12.2 cm, remaining part of root on the ground was 6.3–13.7 cm, root length was 21.4 – 29.6 cm, leaf yield 1592 – 1917 kg/da, root yield was 10083–12258 kg/da, root dry matter content was %8.2– 18.6 and root dry matter yield was 889–1887 kg/da. As a result of the study, it was determined that fodder beet cultivars are different conditions in terms of yield and yield components. Therefore, determination of appropriate cultivars for each region affect crop yield importantly.

Keywords: fedder beet, root yield, yield components, Konya, agriculture

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Authors: Iris Vogeler, Rogerio Cichota, Armin Werner

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Dairy farms are under pressure to increase productivity while reducing environmental impacts. Effective fertiliser management practices are critical to achieve this. Determination of optimum nitrogen (N) fertilisation rates which maximise pasture growth and minimise N losses is challenging due to variability in plant requirements and likely near-future supply of N by the soil. Remote sensing can be used for mapping N nutrition status of plants and to rapidly assess the spatial variability within a field. An algorithm is, however, lacking which relates the N status of the plants to the expected yield response to additions of N. The aim of this simulation study was to develop a multi-variate model for determining N fertilisation rate for a target percentage of the maximum achievable yield based on the pasture N concentration (ii) use of an algorithm for guiding fertilisation rates, and (iii) evaluation of the model regarding pasture yield and N losses, including N leaching, denitrification and volatilisation. A simulation study was carried out using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM). The simulations were done for an irrigated ryegrass pasture in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. A multi-variate model was developed and used to determine monthly required N fertilisation rates based on pasture N content prior to fertilisation and targets of 50, 75, 90 and 100% of the potential monthly yield. These monthly optimised fertilisation rules were evaluated by running APSIM for a ten-year period to provide yield and N loss estimates from both nonurine and urine affected areas. Comparison with typical fertilisation rates of 150 and 400 kg N/ha/year was also done. Assessment of pasture yield and leaching from fertiliser and urine patches indicated a large reduction in N losses when N fertilisation rates were controlled by the multi-variate model. However, the reduction in leaching losses was much smaller when taking into account the effects of urine patches. The proposed approach based on biophysical modelling to develop a multi-variate model for determining optimum N fertilisation rates dependent on pasture N content is very promising. Further analysis, under different environmental conditions and validation is required before the approach can be used to help adjust fertiliser management practices to temporal and spatial N demand based on the nitrogen status of the pasture.

Keywords: APSIM modelling, optimum N fertilization rate, pasture N content, ryegrass pasture, three dimensional surface response function.

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Authors: H. Gonzalez-Rivera, J. L. Palmeros-Torres

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This paper describes the application of traditional computer vision techniques as a procedure for automatic measurement of the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) from microscopic images. The algorithm is capable of finding the lineal or curve-shaped secondary column of the main microstructure, measuring its length size in a micro-meter and counting the number of spaces between dendrites. The automatic characterization was compared with a set of 1728 manually characterized images, leading to an accuracy of −0.27 µm for the length size determination and a precision of ± 2.78 counts for dendrite spacing counting, also reducing the characterization time from 7 hours to 2 minutes.

Keywords: dendrite arm spacing, microstructure inspection, pattern recognition, polynomial regression

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Authors: Selena Gutiérrez, Araceli Martínez

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One of the most important challenges worldwide, scientific and technological, is to have a sustainable energy source; friendly to the environment and widely available. Currently, the 85% of the energy used comes from the fossil sources. Another important environmental problem is that several rubber products (tires, gloves, hoses, among others) are discarded practically without any treatment. In nature, the degradation of such products will take at least 500 years. In 2009, the worldwide rubber production was about 23.6 million tons. In order to solve this problems, our research focus in an alternative synthesis of biofuels in a two-step approach: The metathesis degradation of industrial rubber (models of rubber waste), and the oligomers transesterification. Thus, cis-1,4-polybutadiene (Mn= 9.1x105, Mw/Mn= 2.2) and styrene-butadiene block copolymers with 30% (Mn= 1.61x105; Mw/Mn= 1.3) and 21% wt styrene (Mn= 1.92x105; Mw/Mn= 1.4) were degraded via metathesis with soybean oil as chain transfer agent (CTA) and green solvent; using [(PCy3)2Cl2Ru=CHPh] and [(1,3-diphenyl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene)(PCy3)Ru=CHPh] catalysts. Afterwards, the products were transesterified by basic homogeneous catalysis. Before transesterification, the polystyrene microblocks (Mn= 16,761; Mw/Mn= 1.2) were isolated. Finally, the biofuels obtained (BO) were purified, characterized and showed similar properties to standards biodiesel (SB) (Norms: EN 14214-03 and ASTM D6751-02), i.e. (SB / BO): molecular weight [Daltons] (570 / 543-596), density [g/cm3] (0.86-0.90 / 0.88), kinematic viscosity [mm2/s] (1.90-6.0 / 3.5-4.5), iodine (97 / 97-98) and cetane number (Min.47 / 56-58).

Keywords: biofuels, industrial rubber, metathesis, vegetable oils

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Authors: Rajesh Kumar, Roopali Dogra, Puneet Aggarwal

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Based on a survey conducted for second and third year students of the electrical engineering department at Maharishi Markandeshwar University, India, it was found that around 92% of students felt that it would be better to introduce a virtual environment for laboratory experiments. Hence, a need was felt to perform modern pedagogy techniques for students which consist of a virtual environment using MATLAB/Simulink. In this paper, a virtual environment for the speed control of a DC motor is performed using MATLAB/Simulink. The various speed control methods for the DC motor include the field resistance control method and armature voltage control method. The performance analysis of the DC motor is hence analyzed.

Keywords: DC Motor, field control, pedagogy techniques, speed control, virtual environment, voltage control

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Authors: Geoffrey A. Wright

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In an attempt to address shortcomings revealed in international assessments and lamented in legislation, many schools are reducing or eliminating elective courses, applying the rationale that replacing "non-essential" subjects with core subjects, such as mathematics and language arts, will better position students in the global market. However, there is evidence that systematically pairing a core subject with another complementary subject may lead to greater overall learning in both subjects. In this paper, we outline the methods and preliminary findings from a study we conducted analyzing the influence learning programming has on student mathematical comprehension and ability. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate in what ways two subjects might complement each other, and to better understand the principles and conditions that encourage what we call lateral transfer, the synergistic effect that occurs when a learner studies two complementary subjects.

Keywords: programming, engineering, technology, complementary subjects

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Authors: Mohamed Boualem Salah

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This work involves an experimental study of the behavior of chlef sand under effect of various parameters influencing on shear strength. Because of their distinct nature, sands, silts and clays exhibit completely different behavior (shear strength, the contracting and dilatancy, the angle of internal friction and cohesion etc.). By cons when these materials are mixed, their behavior will become different from each considered alone. The behavior of these mixtures (silty sands etc.) is currently the state of several studies to better use. We studied in this work: The influence of the following factors on the shear strength: (The density, the fines content, the water content). The apparatus used for the tests is the shear box casagrande. This device, although one may have some disadvantages and modern instrumentation is appropriate used to study the shear strength of soils.

Keywords: behavior, shear strength, sand, silt, friction angle, cohesion, fines content, moisture content

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Authors: Hamid Aslani, Ahmed Radwan

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In this paper, a single element microstrip antenna is presented for UWB applications by using techniques as partial ground plane and modified the shape of the patch. The antenna is properly designed to have a compact size and constant gain against frequency. The simulated results have done using two EM software and show good agreement with the measured results for the fabricated antenna. Then a designing of two elements patch antenna array for UWB in the frequency band of 3.1-10 GHz is presented in this paper. The array is constructed by means of feeding two omni-directional modified circular patch elements with a modified power divider. Experimental results show that the array has a stable radiation pattern and low return loss over a broad bandwidth of 64% (3.1–10 GHz). Due to its planar profile, physically compact size, wide impedance bandwidth, directive performance over a wide bandwidth proposed antenna is a good candidate for portable UWB applications and other UWB integrated circuits.

Keywords: ultra wide band, radiation performance, microstrip antenna, size miniaturized antenna

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Authors: Bharatendra Rai

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Cutting tools are widely used in manufacturing processes and drilling is the most commonly used machining process. Although drill-bits used in drilling may not be expensive, their breakage can cause damage to expensive work piece being drilled and at the same time has major impact on productivity. Predicting drill-bit breakage, therefore, is important in reducing cost and improving productivity. This study uses twenty features extracted from two degradation signals viz., thrust force and torque. The methodology used involves developing and comparing decision tree, random forest, and multinomial logistic regression models for classifying and predicting drill-bit breakage using degradation signals.

Keywords: degradation signal, drill-bit breakage, random forest, multinomial logistic regression

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Authors: Zohreh Marbooti, Rezvan Khavari

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Groundwater as an essential part of natural resources seems to be an important issue in environmental engineering, so preservation and purification of it can have a critical value for any community. This paper investigates the concentration of elements of Pb, Cd, As, Se. For ground water in Behbahan (a city on south west of Iran), to this purpose a group of 30 wells were studied to examine the concentration of the elements of Pb, Cd, As, Se, and also to determine PH, EC, TDS, temperature and the ions of HCO32-, SO42-, Cl-, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+ for the wells. Results of the analyses show that the concentration of the elements of Pb, As and, Cd in 33,13,56 percent of the wells respectively and Se in all the samples were greater than normal range of WHO. Since there is a low correlation between Pb and major ions of (HCO32-, SO42-, Cl-, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+) it can be revealed that Pb overconcentration caused by human contamination. Relative great correlation between Se and the ions showed that Se derived from Gypsum and Dolomit. The big correlation between As and major cations and onions, imply that As can originate from dissolution and liquidation of mineral evaporation in the zone. The high rate of Cadmium concentration in urban sewagewater is due to the small industries, workshops and, mills wastewater.

Keywords: heavy elements, underground water, pollution, waste water

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Authors: Dessie Tibebe, Muluken Asmare, Marye Mulugeta, Yezbie Kassa, Zerubabel Moges, Dereje Yenealem, Tarekegn Fentie, Agmas Amare

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The performance of electrocoagulation (EC) using Aluminium electrodes for the treatment of effluent-containing chromium metal using a fixed bed electrochemical batch reactor was studied. In the present work, the efficiency evaluation of EC in removing physicochemical and heavy metals from real industrial tannery wastewater in the Amhara region, collected from Bahirdar, Debre Brihan, and Haik, was investigated. The treated and untreated samples were determined by AAS and ICP OES spectrophotometers. The results indicated that selected heavy metals were removed in all experiments with high removal percentages. The optimal results were obtained regarding both cost and electrocoagulation efficiency with initial pH = 3, initial concentration = 40 mg/L, electrolysis time = 30 min, current density = 40 mA/cm2, and temperature = 25oC favored metal removal. The maximum removal percentages of selected metals obtained were 84.42% for Haik, 92.64% for Bahir Dar and 94.90% for Debre Brihan. The sacrificial electrode and sludge were characterized by FT-IR, SEM and XRD. After treatment, some metals like chromium will be used again as a tanning agent in leather processing to promote a circular economy.

Keywords: electrochemical, treatment, aluminum, tannery effluent

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Authors: Hela Ghali, Sihem Ben Fredj, Mohamed Ben Rejeb, Sawssen Layouni, Salwa Khefacha, Lamine Dhidah, Houyem Said Laatiri

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Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing threat to public health and motivates to improve prevention and control programs both at international (WHO) and national levels. Despite their low pathogenicity, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are common nosocomial pathogens in several countries. The high potential for transmission of VRE between patients and the threat to send its resistance genes to other bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus already resistant to meticilin, justify strict control measures. Indeed, in Europe, the proportion of Enterococcus faecium responsible for invasive infections, varies from 1% to 35% in 2011 and less than 5% were resistant to vancomycin. In addition, it represents the second cause of urinary tract and wound infections and the third cause of nosocomial bacteremia in the United States. The nosocomial outbreaks of VRE have been mainly described in intensive care services, hematology-oncology and haemodialysis. An epidemic of VRE has affected our hospital and the objective of this work is to describe the measures put in place. Materials/Methods: Following the alert given by the service of plastic surgery concerning a patient carrier of VRE, a team of the prevention and healthcare security service (doctor + technician) made an investigation. A review of files was conducted to draw the synoptic table and the table of cases. Results: By contacting the microbiology laboratory, we have identified four other cases of VRE and who were hospitalized in Medical resuscitation department (2 cases, one of them was transferred to the Physical rehabilitation department), and Nephrology department (2 cases). The visit has allowed to detect several malfunctions in professional practice. A crisis cell has allowed to validate, coordinate and implement control measures following the recommendations of the Technical Center of nosocomial infections. In fact, the process was to technically isolate cases in their sector of hospitalization, to restrict the use of antibiotics, to strength measures of basic hygiene, and to make a screening by rectal swab for both cases and contacts (other patients and health staff). These measures have helped to control the situation and no other case has been reported for a month. 2 new cases have been detected in the intensive care unit after a month. However, these are short-term strategies, and other measures in the medium and long term should be taken into account in order to face similar outbreaks. Conclusion: The efforts to control the outbreak were not efficient since 2 new cases have been reported after a month. Therefore, a continuous monitoring in order to detect new cases earlier is crucial to minimize the dissemination of VRE.

Keywords: hospitals, nosocomial infection, outbreak, vancomycin-resistant enterococci

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Authors: Danish Gadda

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Kashmir has been a bleeding-spot in the South Asian politics since 1947 when the subcontinent was bifurcated into Hindu, India and Muslim Pakistan by the departing British colonisers. Kashmir couldn’t accede to either of the two new-born, sovereign nations until tribal invasion from Pakistan forced an unfortunate change of events. India, driven by conditional accession signed by the Kashmir’s last monarch, sent its army to defend Kashmir Valley, with a promise, made subsequently, that the region’s fate would be decided by the natives through an internationally-monitored plebiscite. The country, however, broke its promise, choosing not to withdraw its military to allow the plebiscite, and, instead, strengthened its claim over Kashmir, which it later started describing as her integral part. War, fought in the shape of three and a half bloody battles, ensued between India and Pakistan, even as the United Nations’ intervention managed a ceasefire as early as in the 1950s, though not before Kashmir had come to be divided into its India-controlled and Pakistan-controlled halves. Prolonged, the dispute over Kashmir took a violent turn in 1989-90 with the start of an anti-India armed rebellion. Kashmiris have been fighting for their right to self-determination, and bringing their own life to a grinding halt has been one of their preferred forms of protest against the Indian rule. This form of resistance is locally called ‘Hartals’, and recognised as shutdowns, which have often been prolonged and violent. Since 1989-90, the shutdowns have become only more frequent and forceful, and there are marked days on which Kashmir shuts down in protest every year, like a ritual. This paper is based on a study of how the Indian and Kashmir press covered the shutdowns observed in the troubled valley on four such days: January 26 (Indian Republic Day), February 11 (the day on which India executed a prominent Kashmiri resistance leader), August 15 (India’s Independence Day), and October 27 (the day on which the Indian military has landed in Kashmir). The coverage given by the Indian and Kashmiri press to the shutdowns observed on these days has been studied using the multi-tier content analysis approach: 1) Difference in the number of shutdowns covered by the two section is looked at, 2) the placement of the stories in the two section of the press is analysed, 3) the discourse highlighted by the two section of the press is compared, and 4) the editorials written by the two section of the press about the shutdowns are analysed. The findings show the Indian and the local press have been focussing on the two, predictable extremes of the situation: the Indian press has favoured the state, while the Kashmir or the local press has focussed on the narrative opposing the state’s. The difference is noticed in the quantitative as well as the qualitative aspects of their coverage.

Keywords: Indo-Pak tension, Kashmir conflict, protest shutdowns, South-Asian politics

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Authors: Ruth Manzanares, Victor Honores, Hugo Zapata, Javier Cansaya, Deivid Yavar, Junior Meza

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LogiSum is a robot focused on education like a solution to the ecological crisis. This robot allows reducing the pollution on the beaches by stimulating environmental awareness of not contaminating through the collection of waste. Through the use of the methodology of design thinking, it is intended to reinforce values in adults and with a greater focus on children, so as not to contaminate the beaches. The goal is to encourage the use of the container of the robot LogiSum to put the garbage, with visual interaction and simulation of dialogue with the function of the robot. The results obtained of the testings of the interaction of children with the robot showed an encouraging behavior. With the robot, children left the waste in the right places and not bury it in the sand or in the floor.

Keywords: interaction human-robot, pollution reduction, social robot, robot container, beach pollution

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Authors: Mouhamed Mbouandi Njikam

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This work assesses the trade potential of countries in the Economic Community of Central Africa States (ECCAS). The gravity model of trade is used to evaluate the trade flows of member countries, and to compute the trade potential index of ECCAS during 1995-2010. The focus is on the removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers in the sub-region. Estimates from the gravity model are used for the calculation of the sub-region’s commercial potential. Its three main findings are: (i) the background research shows a low level of integration in the sub-region and open economies; (ii) a low level of industrialization and diversification are the main factors reducing trade potential in the sub-region; (iii) the trade creation predominate on the deflections of trade between member countries.

Keywords: gravity model, ECCAS, trade flows, trade potential, regional cooperation

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Authors: Aneeqa Suhail, Shabana Naveed

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The public sector (in both developed and developing countries) has gone through various waves of radical reforms in recent decades. In Pakistan, under the influence of New Public Management(NPM) Reforms; best practices of private sector are introduced in the public sector to modernize public organizations. Human Resource Information System (HRIS) has been popular in the private sector and proven to be a successful system, therefore it is being adopted in the public sector too. However, implementation of private business practices in public organizations us very challenging due to differences in context. This implementation gets further critical in Pakistan due to a centralizing tendency and lack of autonomy in public organizations. Adoption of HRIS by public organizations in Pakistan raises several questions: What challenges are faced by public organizations in implementation of HRIS? Are benefits of HRIS such as efficiency, process integration and cost reduction achieved? How is the previous system improved with this change and what are the impacts? Yet, it is an under-researched topic, especially in public enterprises. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by empirically exploring benefits and challenges of implementation of HRIS in public organizations. The research adopts a case study approach and uses qualitative data based on in-depth interviews conducted at various levels in the hierarchy including top management, departmental heads and employees. The unit of analysis is LESCO, the Lahore Electric Supply Company, a state-owned entity that generates, transmits and distributes electricity to 4 big cities in Punjab, Pakistan. The findings of the study show that LESCO has not achieved the benefits of HRIS as established in literature. The implementation process remained quite slow and costly. Various functions of HR are still in isolation and integration is a big challenge for the organization. Although the data is automated, the previous system of manually record maintenance and paperwork is still in work, resulting in the presence of parallel practices. The findings also identified resistance to change from top management and labor workforce, lack of commitment and technical knowledge, and costly vendors as major barriers that affect the effective implementation of HRIS. The paper suggests some potential actions to overcome these barriers and to enhance effective implementation of HR-technology. The findings are explained in light of an institutional logics perspective. HRIS’ new logic of automated and integrated HR system is in sharp contrast with the prevailing logic of process-oriented manual data maintenance, leading to resistance to change and deadlock.

Keywords: human resource information system, technological changes, state-owned enterprise, implementation challenges

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Authors: Asif Jamal, Asad Ali, Muhammad Ishtiaq Ali

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The agriculture productivity losses due to microbial pathogens have been a serious issue in Pakistan and rest of the world. Present work was designed to isolate soil borne microorganisms having the antagonistic ability against notorious phytopathogens. From the initial collection of 23 bacterial isolates, two potent strains of Bacillus were screened on the basis of their comparative efficacy against devastating fungal pathogens. The strains AK-1 and AK-5 showed excellent inhibitory indexes against the majority of tested fungal strains. It was noted that both strains of Bacillus showed significant biocontrolling activity against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium moniliforme, Colletotricum falcatum, Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Phythopthora capsici and Rhizopus oryzae. The strain AK-1 was efficient to suppress Aspergillus species and Rhizopus oryzae while AK-5 expressed significant antagonistic activity against Fusarium, Botrytis, and Colletotricum species. On the basis of in vitro assay, it can be postulated that the Bacillus strains AK-1 and AK-5 can be used as a bio-protective agent against various plant diseases. In addition, their applications as natural pesticides could be very helpful to prevent the adverse effects of chemical pesticides.

Keywords: biological control, Bacillus spp, fungal pathogens, agriculture

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Authors: Atucungwiire Rwebiita

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Introduction: In Uganda, provision of adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services for key population is still hindered by negative attitudes, stigma and discrimination (S&D) at both the community and facility levels. To address this barrier, Integrated Community Based Initiatives (ICOBI) with support from SIDA is currently implementing a quality improvement (QI) innovative approach for strengthening the capacity of key population (KP) peer leaders and health workers to deliver friendly SRHR services without S&D. Methods: Our innovative approach involves continuous mentorship and coaching of 8 QI teams at 8 health facilities and their catchment areas. Each of the 8 teams (comprised of 5 health workers and 5 KP peer leaders) are facilitated twice a month by two QI Mentors in a 2-hour mentorship session over a period of 4 months. The QI mentors were provided a 2-weeks training on QI approaches for reducing S&D against young key populations in the delivery of SRHR Services. The mentorship sessions are guided by a manual where teams base to analyse root causes of S&D and develop key performance indicators (KPIs) in the 1st and 2nd second sessions respectively. The teams then develop action plans in the 3rd session and review implementation progress on KPIs at the end of subsequent sessions. The KPIs capture information on the attitude of health workers and peer leaders and the general service delivery setting as well as clients’ experience. A dashboard is developed to routinely track the KPIs for S&D across all the supported health facilities and catchment areas. After 4 months, QI teams share documented QI best practices and tested change packages on S&D in a learning and exchange session involving all the teams. Findings: The implementation of this approach is showing positive results. So far, QI teams have already identified the root causes of S&D against key populations including: poor information among health workers, fear of a perceived risk of infection, perceived links between HIV and disreputable behaviour. Others are perceptions that HIV & STIs are divine punishment, sex work and homosexuality are against religion and cultural values. They have also noted the perception that MSM are mentally sick and a danger to everyone. Eight QI teams have developed action plans to address the root causes of S&D. Conclusion: This approach is promising, offers a novel and scalable means to implement stigma-reduction interventions in facility and community settings.

Keywords: key populations, sexual reproductive health and rights, stigma and discrimination , quality improvement approach

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Authors: Razak Zakariya, Fazliana Mustajap, Lenny Sharinee Sakai

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A sediment map is quite important in the marine environment. The sediment itself contains thousands of information that can be used for other research. This study was conducted by using a multibeam echo sounder Reson T20 on 15 August 2020 at the Karang Sela (coral reef area) at Pulau Bidong. The study aims to identify the sediment type around the coral reef by using bathymetry and backscatter data. The sediment in the study area was collected as ground truthing data to verify the classification of the seabed. A dry sieving method was used to analyze the sediment sample by using a sieve shaker. PDS 2000 software was used for data acquisition, and Qimera QPS version 2.4.5 was used for processing the bathymetry data. Meanwhile, FMGT QPS version 7.10 processes the backscatter data. Then, backscatter data were analyzed by using the maximum likelihood classification tool in ArcGIS version 10.8 software. The result identified three types of sediments around the coral which were very coarse sand, coarse sand, and medium sand.

Keywords: sediment type, MBES echo sounder, backscatter, ArcGIS

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Authors: Meiling Yang, Shuguo Xie, Yilong Zhu

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Nowadays, due to diverse electric products and complex electromagnetic environment, the localization and troubleshooting of the electromagnetic radiation source is urgent and necessary especially on the condition of far field. However, based on the existing DOA positioning method, the system or devices are complex, bulky and expensive. To address this issue, this paper proposes a single antenna radiation source localization method. A single antenna moves to form a virtual antenna array combined with DOA and MUSIC algorithm to position accurately, meanwhile reducing the cost and simplify the equipment. As shown in the results of simulations and experiments, the virtual antenna array DOA estimation modeling is correct and its positioning is credible.

Keywords: virtual antenna array, DOA, localization, far field

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Authors: Chae Hoon Park, Jong Kang Park, Jong Tae Kim

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Electrical characteristics of capacitive touchscreen need to be accurately analyzed to result in better performance for multi-channel capacitance sensing. In this paper, we extracted the panel resistances and capacitances of the touchscreen by comparing measurement data and model data. By employing a lumped RC model for driver-to-receiver paths in touchscreen, we estimated resistance and capacitance values according to the physical lengths of channel paths which are proportional to the RC model. As a result, we obtained the model having 95.54% accuracy of the measurement data.

Keywords: electrical characteristics of capacitive touchscreen, iterative extraction, lumped RC model, physical lengths of channel paths

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Authors: Dae Il Kim, Jungho Moon, Tae Yun Chung

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This paper presents a car parking monitoring system using a wireless sensor network. The presented sensor network has a line-shaped topology and adopts a TDMA-based protocol for allowing multi-hop communications. Sensor nodes are deployed in the ground of an outdoor parking lot in such a way that a sensor node monitors a parking space. Each sensor node detects the availability of the associated parking space and transmits the detection result to a sink node via intermediate sensor nodes existing between the source sensor node and the sink node. We evaluate the feasibility of the presented sensor network and the TDMA-based communication protocol through experiments using 11 sensor nodes deployed in a real parking lot. The result shows that the presented car parking monitoring system is robust to changes in the communication environments and efficient for monitoring parking spaces of outdoor parking lots.

Keywords: multi-hop communication, parking monitoring system, TDMA, wireless sensor network

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Authors: Ruchi Sharma, Rajasekhar Balasubramanian

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Motor vehicles emit a number of air pollutants, among which fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) is of major concern in cities with high population density due to its negative impacts on air quality and human health. Typically, people spend more than 80% of their time indoors. Consequently, human exposure to traffic-related PM₂.₅ in indoor environments has received considerable attention. Most of the public residential buildings in tropical countries are designed for natural ventilation where indoor air quality tends to be strongly affected by the migration of air pollutants of outdoor origin. However, most of the previously reported traffic-related PM₂.₅ exposure assessment studies relied on ambient PM₂.₅ concentrations and thus, the health impact of traffic-related PM₂.₅ on occupants in naturally ventilated buildings remains largely unknown. Therefore, a systematic field study was conducted to assess indoor human exposure to traffic-related PM₂.₅ with and without mitigation measures in a typical naturally ventilated residential apartment situated near a road carrying a large volume of traffic. Three PM₂.₅ exposure scenarios were simulated in this study, i.e., Case 1: keeping all windows open with a ceiling fan on as per the usual practice, Case 2: keeping all windows fully closed as a mitigation measure, and Case 3: keeping all windows fully closed with the operation of a portable indoor air cleaner as an additional mitigation measure. The indoor to outdoor (I/O) ratios for PM₂.₅ mass concentrations were assessed and the effectiveness of using the indoor air cleaner was quantified. Additionally, potential human health risk based on the bioavailable fraction of toxic trace elements was also estimated for the three cases in order to identify a suitable mitigation measure for reducing PM₂.₅ exposure indoors. Traffic-related PM₂.₅ levels indoors exceeded the air quality guidelines (12 µg/m³) in Case 1, i.e., under natural ventilation conditions due to advective flow of outdoor air into the indoor environment. However, while using the indoor air cleaner, a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in the PM₂.₅ exposure levels was noticed indoors. Specifically, the effectiveness of the air cleaner in terms of reducing indoor PM₂.₅ exposure was estimated to be about 74%. Moreover, potential human health risk assessment also indicated a substantial reduction in potential health risk while using the air cleaner. This is the first study of its kind that evaluated the indoor human exposure to traffic-related PM₂.₅ and identified a suitable exposure mitigation measure that can be implemented in densely populated cities to realize health benefits.

Keywords: fine particulate matter, indoor air cleaner, potential human health risk, vehicular emissions

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Authors: Delsy Salinas, Andreia Garcês, Augusto Silva, Paula Brilhante Simões

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Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common disease affecting dogs and cats in both community and hospital environment. Bacteria is the most frequent agent isolated, fewer than 1% of infections are due to parasitic, fungal, or viral agents. Common symptoms and laboratory abnormalities includeabdominal pain, pyrexia, renomegaly, and neutrophilia with left shift. A rapid and precise identification of the bacterial agent is still a challenge in veterinarian laboratories. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aims to describe bacterial colony patterns of urine samples by using chromID™ CPS® EliteAgar (BioMérieux, France) from canine and feline specimens submitted to a veterinary laboratory in Portugal (INNO Veterinary Laboratory, Braga)from January to March2022. All urine samples were cultivated in CPS Elite Agar with calibrated 1 µL inoculating loop and incubated at 37ºC for 18-24h. Color,size, and shape (regular or irregular outline)were recorded for all samples. All colonies were classified as Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteriausing Gram stain (PREVI® Color BioMérieux, France) and determined if they were pure colonies. Identification of bacteria species was performed using GP and GN cards inVitek 2® Compact(BioMérieux, France). A total of 256/1003 submitted urine samples presented bacterial growth, from which 172 isolates were included in this study. The sample’s population included 111 dogs (n=45 males and n=66 females) and 61 cats (n=35 males and n=26 females). The most frequent isolated bacteria wasEscherichia coli (44,7%), followed by Proteus mirabilis (13,4%). All Escherichia coli isolates presented red to burgundy colonies, a colony diameter between 2 to 6 mm, and regular or irregular outlines. Similarly, 100% of Proteus mirabilis isolates were dark yellow colonies with a diffuse pigment and the same size and shape as Escherichia coli. White and pink pale colonies where Staphylococcus species exclusively and S. pseudintermedius was the most frequent (8,2 %). Cian to blue colonies were mostly Enterococcusspp. (8,2%) and Streptococcus spp. (4,6%). Beige to brown colonies were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2,9%) and Citrobacter spp. (1,2%).Klebsiella spp.,Serratia spp. and Enterobacter spp were green colonies. All Gram-positive isolates were 1 to 2 mm diameter long and had a regular outline, meanwhile, Gram-negative rods presented variable patterns. This results showed that theprevalence of E coli and P. mirabilis as uropathogenic agents follows the same trends in Europe as previously described in other studies. Both agents presented a particular color pattern in CPS Elite Agar to identify them without needing complementary tests. No other bacteria genus could be correlated strongly to a specific color pattern, and similar results have been observed instudies using human’s samples. Chromogenic media shows a great advantage for common urine bacteria isolation than traditional COS, McConkey, and CLEDAgar mediums in a routine context, especially when mixed fermentative Gram-negative agents grow simultaneously. In addition, CPS Elite Agar is versatile for Artificial Intelligent Reading Plates Systems. Routine veterinarian laboratories could use CPS Elite Agar for a rapid screening for bacteria identification,mainlyE coli and P.mirabilis, saving 6h to 10h of automatized identification.

Keywords: cats, CPS elite agar, dogs, urine pathogens

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Authors: Mansur Abdulrasheed, Ibrahim I. Hussein, Ahmed M. Mubarak, Ahmed F. Umar

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This study was aimed at evaluating the phytochemical constituents and the antimicrobial activity of the seed oil of Moringa oleifera and garlic against some selected food-borne microorganisms (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) using disc diffusion method. The results of the phytochemical screening revealed differences in the presence of the phytochemicals among the extracts. Saponins were detected in both Moringa oleifera and garlic seed oil, while alkaloid and tannins were observed in seed oil of garlic. Furthermore, the antibacterial assay results show that the seed oil of Moringa oleifera was inactive against all the tested organisms, even at 100 % concentration. In contrast, garlic oil was found to be active against all the tested organisms. The highest inhibition was observed in E. coli (12 mm) at 100 % concentration, while at 20 % concentration, Salmonella Sp and P. aeruginosa showed the least inhibiton (6 mm). The antimicrobial activity of the seed oil of garlic may be attributed to its phytochemicals components which were not detected in the seed oil of Moringa oleifera. The results of this study have shown the potentials of the seed oil of garlic as an antimicrobial agent more especially in foods, by inhibiting the growth of the test organisms, which range from food-borne pathogens to food spoilage organisms.

Keywords: antimicrobial, garlic, Moringa oleifera, food borne pathogens

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Authors: R. Naveen, E. Vanitha, S. Gayathri

Abstract:

The use of Sandwich composite materials in aerospace and civil infrastructure application has been increasing especially due to their enormously low weight that leads to a reduction in the total weight and fuel consumption, high flexural and transverse shear stiffness, and corrosion resistance. The essential properties of sandwich materials vary according to the application area of the structure. The objectives of this study are to identify the mechanical behaviour and failure mechanisms of sandwich structures made of bamboo, V- board and metal (Aluminium as face sheet and Foam as Core material). The three-point bending test and UTM (Universal testing machine) experimental tests are done for three specimens for each type of sandwich composites. From the experiment results of three sandwich composites, bamboo shows high Young’s modulus of elasticity and low density.

Keywords: bamboo sandwich composite, metal sandwich composite, sandwich composite, v-board sandwich composite

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Takashi Kaminagayoshi, Shigeyuki Haruyama

Abstract:

To improve the manufacturing efficiency of biologics, such as antibody drugs, a quality engineering framework was designed. Within this framework, critical steps and parameters in the manufacturing process were studied. Identification of these critical steps and critical parameters allows a deeper understanding of manufacturing capabilities, and suggests to process development department process control standards based on actual manufacturing capabilities as part of a PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle. This cycle can be applied to each manufacturing process so that it can be standardized, reducing the time needed to establish each new process.

Keywords: antibody drugs, biologics, manufacturing efficiency, PDCA cycle, quality engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 345

Authors: Meriem Harmel, Houari Khachai

Abstract:

We have investigated the structural, electronic and optical properties of a compound perovskite CsSrF3 using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method within density functional theory (DFT). In this approach, both the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) were used for exchange-correlation potential calculation. The ground state properties such as lattice parameter, bulk modulus and its pressure derivative were calculated and the results are compared whit experimental and theoretical data. Electronic and bonding properties are discussed from the calculations of band structure, density of states and electron charge density, where the fundamental energy gap is direct under ambient conditions. The contribution of the different bands was analyzed from the total and partial density of states curves. The optical properties (namely: the real and the imaginary parts of the dielectric function ε(ω), the refractive index n(ω) and the extinction coefficient k(ω)) were calculated for radiation up to 35.0 eV. This is the first quantitative theoretical prediction of the optical properties for the investigated compound and still awaits experimental confirmations.

Keywords: DFT, fluoroperovskite, electronic structure, optical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 477

Authors: Ali Aldakhil

Abstract:

This paper explores the many faces of the barriers and exclusionary attitudes and practices that disabled teachers and students experience in a school where they teach or attend. Critical disability studies and inclusive education theory were used to conceptualise this inquiry and ground it in the literature. These theories were used because they magnify and expose the problems of disability/disablism as within-society instead of within-individual. Similarly, disability-first language was used in this study because it seeks to expose the social oppression and discrimination of disabled. Data were generated through conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with six disabled teachers who teach disabled children in a Saudi mainstream school. Thematic analysis of data concludes that the school is fettered by disabling barriers, attitudes, and practices, which reflect the dominant culture of disablism that disabled people encounter in the Saudi society on a daily basis. This leads to the conclusion that overall deconstruction and reformation of Saudi mainstream schools are needed, including non-disabled people’s attitudes, policy, spaces, and overall arrangements of teaching and learning.

Keywords: disablism, disability studies, mainstream schools, Saudi Arabia

Procedia PDF Downloads 159