Search results for: bio indicator

Authors: Arif İsmailov, Naila Hasanova, Gunay Orujalieva

Abstract:

Homocysteine (HCY) is an indicator of prognostic value in monitoring regenerative processes in osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. The osteoporosis is known to be a serious health and economic problem, especially for women in the postmenopausal period. The study was carried out on patients 45-83 years old divided into 3 groups: group I – 14 patients with osteoporosis , group II – 15 patients with non-osteoporotic fractures, group III – 25 patients with osteoporotic fractures. The control group consisted of practically healthy 14 people. A blood sample was taken at 3 stages to monitor the dynamics of HCY level: on the 1st day before treatment, on the 10th day of treatment and 1 month after it. Blood levels of Hcy were determined at a wavelength of 450 nm by the ELİSA(Cloud Clone Corp.Elisa kits,USA). The statistical evaluation was performed by using SPSS 26.0 program (IBM SPSS Inc., USA).The results showed that on the 1st day before the treatment HCY concentration was statistically increased 2.7 times(PU = 0.108) in group I, 5.6 times (PU <0.001) in group II and 6.5 times (PU <0.001) in group III compared to the control group. Thus, the average value of HCY in group I was 1.76 ± 0.56 μg/ml; in group II – 3.57 ± 0.62 μg/ml; in group III – 4.2 ± 0.50 μg/ml. HCY level increases more sharply after fractures,especially in osteoporotic patients. In treatment period Vitamin D plays an important role in synthesis of the Cystathionine β‐synthase enzyme, which regulates HCY metabolism. Increased Hcy levels could lead to an increase in the risk of fracture through the interference in collagen cross-linking.

Keywords: homocysteine, osteoporosis, osteoporotic fractures, Vitamin D

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Yogendar Singh, Parasmani Rajput, Pawan Kumar Kulriya

Abstract:

Understanding the radiation response of the pyrochlore structured ceramics in the nuclear reactor core-like environment is of quite an interest for their utilization as host matrices. Electronic excitation (100 MeV I7+) induced crystalline to amorphous phase transition in Nd2Zr2O7 pyrochlore synthesized through three steps solid-state sintering method was investigated. The x-ray diffraction, along with Raman spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments conducted on pristine and irradiated pyrochlore, showed an increase in the rate of amorphization with ion fluence. XRD results indicate that specimen is completely amorphized on irradiation at the highest fluence of 5×1013 ions/cm2. The EXAFS spectra of the K-Zr edge and the Nd LIII edge confirmed a significant change in the chemical environment of Nd upon swift heavy ion irradiation. Observation of a large change in the intensity of K-Zr pre-edge spectra is also a good indicator of the phase transition from pyrochlore to the amorphous phase, which is supported by the FT modulus of the LIII-Nd edge. However, the chemical environment of Zr is less affected by irradiation, but it clearly exhibits an increase in the degree of disorder.

Keywords: nuclear host matrices, swift heavy ion irradiation, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, pyrochlore oxides

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Ayu Nabila Kusuma Pradana, Aprinaldi Jasa Mantau, Tomohiko Akahoshi

Abstract:

The incidence of Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) following gastrointestinal surgery has a poor prognosis. Therefore, it is important to determine the factors that can predict the prognosis of DIC. This study will investigate the factors that may influence the outcome of DIC in patients after gastrointestinal surgery. Eighty-one patients were admitted to the intensive care unit after gastrointestinal surgery in Kyushu University Hospital from 2003 to 2021. Acute DIC scores were estimated using the new Japanese Association for Acute Medicine (JAAM) score from before and after surgery from day 1, day 3, and day 7. Acute DIC scores will be compared with The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, platelet count, lactate level, and a variety of biochemical parameters. This study applied machine learning algorithms to predict the prognosis of DIC after gastrointestinal surgery. The results of this study are expected to be used as an indicator for evaluating patient prognosis so that it can increase life expectancy and reduce mortality from cases of DIC patients after gastrointestinal surgery.

Keywords: the survival rate, gastrointestinal surgery, JAAM score, neural network, machine learning, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Yu Shan Wang

Abstract:

Different from other industries, the structure of the tourism industry depends to a large degree the environmental and cultural resources. The industry has to undertake social responsibilities for its commercial behaviour. This paper refers to the seven dimensions of the KLD STATS in 1991-2011 as the indicator to CSR practices. The purpose is to investigate what CSR activities create significant impacts on accounting-based financials and firm values by delving into different CSR dimensions. Meanwhile, this paper takes into consideration S&P 500 and control variables (firm sizes and financial leverage). In fact, the commercial behavior of the tourism-related industry may result in negative impacts on the economy and the society. Therefore, this paper classifies a positive set of CSR elements and a negative set of CSR elements for the tourism-related industry in order to examine their respective effects on short-term profitability and long-term firm values. This can shed light on which CSR dimensions exhibit significant impacts on CFP better than holistic CSR indicators, and hence provide more useful information to investors and corporates. This paper uses quantile regressions to avoid the impact of outliers in the data set. This helps to offer specific information so that companies can make informed decisions.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, CSR, firm value, tourism, corporate financial performance, CFP

Procedia PDF Downloads 288

Authors: Muhadam Labolo, Afdal R. Anwar, Sucia Miranti Sipisang

Abstract:

Electronic Local Finance Management Information System (ELFMIS) is integrated application that was used as a tool for local governments to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of the various areas of financial management regulations. Appropriate With Exceptions Opinion (WDP) of Indonesia Audit Agency (BPK) for local governments Mempawah is a financial management problem that must be improved to avoid mistakes in decision-making. The use of Electronic Local Finance Management Information System (ELFMIS) by Mempawah authority has not yet performed maximally. These problems became the basis for research in measuring the effectiveness LFMIS in Mempawah regency. This research uses an indicator variable for measuring information systems effectiveness proposed by Bodnar. This research made use descriptive with inductive approach. Data collection techniques were mixed from qualitative and quantitative techniques, used questionnaires, interviews and documentation. The obstacles in Local Finance Board (LFB) for the application of ELFMIS such as connection, the quality and quantity of human resources, realization of financial resources, absence of maintenance and another facilities of ELFMIS and verification for financial information.

Keywords: effectiveness, E-LFMIS, finance, local government, system

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Mahmoud Tarek Mohamed Hammad

Abstract:

Despite the importance of the role and efforts made by the universities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in reviving and preserving heritage architecture as an important cultural heritage in the Kingdom, The idea revolves around restoration and conservation processes and neglects the architectural heritage values, whose content can be used in sustainable contemporary architectural works. Educational values based on heritage architecture and how to integrate with the contemporary requirements were investigated in this research. For this purpose, by understanding the heritage architectural values as well as educational, academic process, the researcher presented an educational model of questionnaire forms for architecture students and the staff at the Architecture Department at Al-Baha University as a case study that serves the aims of the research. The results of the research show that heritage values especially those interview results are considered as a positive indicator of the importance of these values. The students and the staff need both to gain an understanding of heritage values as well as an understanding of theories of incorporating those values into the design process of contemporary local architecture. The research concludes that a correct understanding of the heritage values, its performance, and its reintegration with modern architecture technology should be focused on architectural education.

Keywords: heritage architecture, academic work, heritage values, sustainable contemporary local architectural

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: S. Hasan, I. Beshara

Abstract:

Infrastructure maintenance is a great challenge facing sustainable development of infrastructure assets due to the high cost of passive implementation of a sustainable maintenance plan. An assessment model of sustainable maintenance for highway infrastructure projects in Egypt is developed in this paper. It helps in improving the implementation of sustainable maintenance criteria. Thus, this paper has applied the analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) to rank and explore the weight of 26 assessment indicators using three hierarchy levels containing the main sustainable categories and subcategories with related indicators. Overall combined weight of each indicator for sustainable maintenance evaluation has been calculated to sum up to a sustainable maintenance performance index (SMI). The results show that the factor "Preventive maintenance cost" has the highest relative contribution factor among others (13.5%), while two factors of environmental performance have the least weights (0.7%). The developed model aims to provide decision makers with information about current maintenance performance and support them in the decision-making process regarding future directions of maintenance activities. It can be used as an assessment performance tool during the operation and maintenance stage. The developed indicators can be considered during designing the maintenance plan. Practices for successful implementation of the model are also presented.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, assessment performance Model, KPIs for sustainable maintenance, sustainable maintenance index

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Jitin Rahul, Manish Kumar Jain

Abstract:

Dust pollution refers to the various locations, activities, or factors which are responsible for the releasing of pollutants into the atmosphere. The sources of dust can be classified into two major categories anthropogenic sources (man-made sources) and natural sources. Dust kicked up by heavy vehicles (Bus, Truck, Loaders, Tankers, car etc.) travelling on highways may make up approximately 33-40% of air pollution. Plants naturally cleanse the atmosphere by absorbing gases and particulate matter plants (Leaves). Plants are very good pollution indicator and also very good for dust capturing (Dust controlling). Many types tree species like Azadirachta indica A. juss, Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntz., Ficus bengalensis (Linn)., Pterocarpus marspium (Roxb.), Terminalia arjuna (Roxb, exDC.), Dalbergia sissoo roxb., and Ficus religiosa (Linn.) generally occur in roadside. These selected tree spiciness can control the dust pollution or dust capturing. It is well known that plants absorb particulate pollutants and help in dust controlling. Some tree species like (Ficus bengalensis, Ficus religiosa and Azadirachta indica) are very effective and natural means for controlling air pollution.

Keywords: dust, pollution, road, tree species

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Xiangmei Li

Abstract:

Domestic violence (DV) victims are at a greater risk of suffering mental health problems; however, not all victims experience the same degree of depression. Women respond differently to gender inequalities based on their gender ideologies. This study explored the moderating role of gender ideology in the relation between exposure to DV and depression. Data were drawn from a sub-sample of women aged 18-60 from the Third WaveSurvey on the Social Status of Women in China (N = 10,701). The survey adopted astratified three-stage sampling design to select a representative sample of respondents from the country. Regression models were used to examine the moderating effects of gender ideology on the relation between DV and depression. Women who reported DV experience had more severe depressive symptoms after controlling for confounding social–demographic factors (β = 0.592, 95% CI: 0.489 – 0.695). Women's gender ideology moderated the association between DV severity and depression (β = -0.049, 95% CI: -0.085 – -0.013), despite being subjected to the same levels of victimization. The experience of domestic violence is a useful indicator for routine screening for depression in clinic and community settings. Interventions that aim to decrease depression caused by DV are more likely to be effective if they promote more egalitarian gender ideology to counter the mindset that a woman's role is confined to the home and a family suffers if the wife participates in the labor force.

Keywords: domestic violence against wives, depression, gender ideology, moderation

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Mona Hamdy, Iman Shaheen, Hadeel Seif Eldin, Basma Ali, Omnia Abdeldayem

Abstract:

Summary: Bone involvement of sickle cell disease (SCD) patients varies from acute clinical manifestations of painful vaso-occlusive crises or osteomyelitis to more chronic affection of bone mineral density (BMD) and debilitating osteonecrosis and osteoporosis. Secreted klotho protein is involved in calcium (Ca) reabsorption in the kidney. This study aimed to measure serum klotho levels in children with SCD to determine the possibility of using it as a marker of low BMD in children with SCD in correlation with a dual-energy radiograph absorptiometry scan. This study included 60 sickle disease patients and 30 age-matched and sex-matched control participants without SCD. A highly statistically significant difference was found between patients with normal BMD and those with low BMD, with serum Ca and klotho levels being lower in the latter group. Klotho serum level correlated positively with both serum Ca and BMD. Serum klotho level showed 94.9% sensitivity and 95.2% specificity in the detection of low BMD. Both serum Ca and klotho serum levels may be useful markers for detection of low BMD related to SCD with high sensitivity and specificity; however, klotho may be a better indicator as it is less affected by the nutritional and endocrinal status of patients or by intake of Ca supplements.

Keywords: sickle cell disease, BMD, osteoporosis, DEXA, klotho

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: E. Verduci, I. Aguglia, A. Filocamo, I. Macrì, R. Scala, A. Vinci

Abstract:

One of the first indicator of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a decreasing tendency or failure to respond to name (RTN) call. Despite RTN is important for social and language developmentand it’s a common target for early interventions for children with ASD, research on specific treatments is insufficient and does not consider the importance of the discrimination between the own name and other names. The purpose of the current study was to replicate an assessment and treatment model proposed by Conine et al. (2020) to teach children with ASD to respond to their own name and to not respond to other names (RTO). The model includes three different phases (baseline/screening, treatment, and generalization), and itgradually introduces the different treatment components, starting with the most naturalistic ones (such as social interaction) and adding more intrusive components (such as tangible reinforcements, prompt and fading procedures) if necessary. The participants of this study were three children with ASD diagnosis: D. (5 years old) with a low frequency of RTN, M. (7 years old) with a RTN unstable and no ability of discrimination between his name and other names, S. (3 years old) with a strong RTN but a constant response to other names. Moreover, the treatment for D. and M. consisted of social and tangible reinforcements (treatment T1), for S. the purpose of the treatment was to teach the discrimination between his name and the others. For all participants, results suggest the efficacy of the model to acquire the ability to selectively respond to the own name and the generalization of the behavior with other people and settings.

Keywords: response to name, autism spectrum disorder, progressive training, ABA

Procedia PDF Downloads 84

Authors: Anant Sharma, Ashwin Rajan

Abstract:

Customer experience is measured today based on defining a set of metrics and KPIs, setting up thresholds and defining triggers across those thresholds. While this is an effective way of measuring against a Key Performance Indicator ( referred to as KPI in the rest of the paper ), this approach cannot capture the various nuances that make up the overall customer experience. Customers consume a product or service at various levels, which is not reflected in metrics like Customer Satisfaction or Net Promoter Score, but also across other measurements like recurring revenue, frequency of service usage, e-learning and depth of usage. Here we explore an alternative method of measuring customer experience by flipping the traditional views. Rather than rolling customers up to a metric, we roll up metrics to hierarchies and then measure customer experience. This method allows any team to quantify customer experience across multiple touchpoints in a customer’s journey. We make use of various data sources which contain information for metrics like CXSAT, NPS, Renewals, and depths of service usage collected across a customer lifecycle. This data can be mined systematically to get linkages between different data points like geographies, business groups, products and time. Additional views can be generated by blending synthetic contexts into the data to show trends and top/bottom types of reports. We have created a framework that allows us to measure customer experience using the above logic.

Keywords: analytics, customers experience, BI, business operations, KPIs, metrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Vandana Singh, Subash Singh

Abstract:

Introduction: Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor of the oral cavity. Normally the death of cell and the growth are active processes and depend not only on external factors but also on the expression of genes like Bcl-2, which activate and inhibit apoptosis. The term Bcl-2 is an acronym for B-cell lymphoma/ leukemia -2 genes. Objectives: An attempt was made to evaluate Bcl-2 oncoprotein expression in patients with oral precancer and cancer and to assess possible correlation between Bcl-2 oncoprotein expression and clinicopathological features of oral precancer and cancer. Material and Methods: This is a selective prospective clinical and immunohistochemical study. Clinicopathological examination is correlated with immunohistochemical findings. The immunolocalization of Bcl-2 protein is performed using the labeled streptavidin biotin (LSAB) method. To visualize the reaction, 3, 3-diaminobenzidine (DAB) is used. Results: Bcl-2 expression was positive in 11 [36.66 %, low Bcl-2 expression 3 (10.00 %), moderate Bcl-2 expression 7 (23.33 %), and high Bcl-2 expression 1 (3.33 %)] oral cancer cases and in 14 [87.50 %, low expression 8 (50 %), moderate expression 6 (37.50 %)] precancer cases. Conclusion: On the basis of the results of our study we conclude that positive Bcl-2 expression may be an indicator of poor prognosis in oral cancer and precancer. Relevance: It has been reported that there is deregulation of Bcl-2 expression during progression from oral epithelial dysplasia to squamous cell carcinoma. It can be used for revealing progression of epithelial dysplasia to malignancy and as a prognostic marker in oral precancer and cancer.

Keywords: BcL-2, immunohistochemistry, oral cancer, oral precancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Santiago Guerra Fernández

Abstract:

Abstract—This study is focused on exploring the conditions for the development of Galician music in the communities of Latin America after the massive arrival of Galician immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fleeing from hunger and misery in Spain. Migration would be accentuated after 1936 with the arrival of refugees from the Spanish Civil War due to their Republican political militancy fleeing fascism. The aim of this paper is to investigate the part that miscegenation with other local musical traditions has played within Galician expat music, helping to understand the complexity of contemporary Galician identity. Through archival work, the focus is set on examining the different traditional dances (such as the ‘muiñeira’), folk instruments (bagpipes, ‘pandeireta’), and poetic forms (‘cantiga’, ‘copla’) that were exported to Argentina and Cuba. Although research about migrant Galician music has been conducted in Spanish scholarship, there is a gap in the English literature on the topic that this paper intends to fill in. The results show how these musical traditions have played an essential role in shaping the social life and customs of Galician emigrants. By virtue of its malleability and blending properties, music serves here as an indicator of social cohesion.

Keywords: folk, Galicia, migration, identity

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Saeid Doaei

Abstract:

Background: Obesity in adolescence is a primary risk factor for obesity in adulthood. The objective of this study was the assessment of the effect of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention on different anthropometric indices in 12 to 16 years old boy adolescents. Methods: 96 adolescent boys of two schools of District 5 of Tehran have participated in this study. The schools were randomly assigned as intervention school (n=53) and control school (n=43). The height and weight of students were measured with a calibrated tape line and digital scale respectively and their BMI were calculated. The amounts of body fat percent (BF) and body muscle (BM) percent were determined by Bio Impedance Analyzer (BIA) considering the age, gender and height of students at baseline and after intervention. The intervention was implemented in the intervention school, according to the Ottawa charter principles. Results: 12 weeks of intervention decreased body fat percent in the intervention group in comparison with the control group (decreased by 1.81 % in the intervention group and increased by .39 % in the control group, P < .01). However, weight, BMI and BM did not change significantly. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that the implementation of comprehensive intervention in obese adolescents may improve the body composition, although these changes may not be reflected in BMI. It is possible that BMI is not a good indicator in assessment of the success of obesity management intervention.

Keywords: obesity, childhood, BMI, nutrition

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Gamze Sekeroglu, Mikail Altan

Abstract:

Working capital is identified as firm’s all current assets. Inventories which are one of the working capital elements are very important among current assets for firms. Because, profitability is an indicator for firms’ financial success is provided with minimum cost and optimum inventory quantity. So in this study, it is investigated as comparatively that the effect of inventory management on the profitability of Turkish firms which operated in weaving industry, eatables industry, wholesale and retail industry in between 2003 – 2012 years. Research data consist of profitability ratios and inventory turnovers ratio calculated by using balance sheets and income statements of firms which operated in Borsa Istanbul (BIST). In this research, the relationship between inventories and profitability is investigated by using SPSS-20 software with regression and correlation analysis. The results achieved from three industry departments which exist in study interpreted as comparatively. Accordingly, it is determined that there is a positive relationship between inventory management and profitability in eatables industry. However, it was founded that there is no relationship between inventory management and profitability in weaving industry and wholesale and retail industry.

Keywords: profitability, regression analysis, inventory management, working capital

Procedia PDF Downloads 333

Authors: Chiung-Hui Chen

Abstract:

The Internet of Things (IoT) was designed for widespread convenience. With the smart tag and the sensing network, a large quantity of dynamic information is immediately presented in the IoT. Through the internal communication and interaction, meaningful objects provide real-time services for users. Therefore, the service with appropriate decision-making has become an essential issue. Based on the science of human behavior, this study employed the environment model to record the time sequences and locations of different behaviors and adopted the probability module of the hierarchical Hidden Markov Model for the inference. The statistical analysis was conducted to achieve the following objectives: First, define user behaviors and predict the user behavior routes with the environment model to analyze user purposes. Second, construct the hierarchical Hidden Markov Model according to the logic framework, and establish the sequential intensity among behaviors to get acquainted with the use and activity fabric of the intelligent environment. Third, establish the intensity of the relation between the probability of objects’ being used and the objects. The indicator can describe the possible limitations of the mechanism. As the process is recorded in the information of the system created in this study, these data can be reused to adjust the procedure of intelligent design services.

Keywords: behavior, big data, hierarchical hidden Markov model, intelligent object

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Yan Li, Yujiang Gao

Abstract:

Passengers are the main users of the airport. Whether the travel experience of passengers in the airport is comfortable or not is an important indicator for evaluating the reasonableness of airport design. Taking the Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport as an example, this paper analyzes the airport’s solution to the problem of passengers’ inconvenience caused by lost directions, excessive congestion, and excessively long streamlines during passenger use. First of all, by using the method of analyzing the design of architectural function streamlines, the design of interior spaces of buildings, and the interrelationship between interior design and passenger experience, it was first concluded that the airport is capable of performing the two major problems of easy disorientation and excessive congestion. Later, by using the method of analyzing architectural function streamlines and collecting passenger experience evaluations, it was concluded that the airport could not solve the inconvenience caused by excessively long streamlines to passengers. Finally came to the conclusion that the airport design meets the demand in terms of the overall design of the passenger experience, but the boarding line is still relatively long and some fly in the ointment.

Keywords: passengers’ experience, terminal 3 of Beijing capital international airport, lost directions, excessive congestion, excessively long streamlines

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: A. E. El-Henawey, A. A. El-Kouny, M. M. Abd –El-Halim

Abstract:

Moving target indication (MTI) which is an anti-clutter technique that limits the display of clutter echoes. It uses the radar received information primarily to display moving targets only. The purpose of MTI is to discriminate moving targets from a background of clutter or slowly-moving chaff particles as shown in this paper. Processing system in these radars is so massive and complex; since it is supposed to perform a great amount of processing in very short time, in most radar applications the response of a single canceler is not acceptable since it does not have a wide notch in the stop-band. A double-delay canceler is an MTI delay-line canceler employing the two-delay-line configuration to improve the performance by widening the clutter-rejection notches, as compared with single-delay cancelers. This canceler is also called a double canceler, dual-delay canceler, or three-pulse canceler. In this paper, a double delay line canceler is chosen for study due to its simplicity in both concept and implementation. Discussing the implementation of a simple digital moving target indicator (DMTI) using FPGA which has distinct advantages compared to other application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for the purposes of this work. The FPGA provides flexibility and stability which are important factors in the radar application.

Keywords: FPGA, MTI, double delay line canceler, Doppler Shift

Procedia PDF Downloads 644

Authors: Hai Chi, Ibrahim Mehmeti, Kirill Ovchinnikov, Hegle Holo, Ingolf F. Nes, Dzung B. Diep

Abstract:

By using a panel of multiple indicator strains of different bacterial species and genera, we screened a large collection of bacterial isolates (over 1800 isolates) derived from raw milk, for bacteriocin producers with broad inhibition spectra (BIS). Fourteen isolates with BIS were identified, and by 16S rDNA sequencing they were found to belong to Lactococcus garvieae (10 isolates) and Enterococcus feacalis (4 isolates). Further analysis of the ten L. garvieae isolates revealed that they were very similar, if not identical, to each other in metabolic and genetic terms: they had the same fermentation profile on different types of sugars, repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) DNA pattern as well as they all had the same inhibition profile towards over 50 isolates of different species. The bacteriocin activity from one of the L. garvieae isolates was assessed further. The bacteriocin which was termed garvicin KS, was found to be heatstable and proteinase-labile and its inhibition spectrum contained many distantly related genera of Firmicutes, comprising most lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as well as problematic species of Bacillus, Listeria, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus and their antibiotic resistant derivatives (e.g. VRE, MRSA). Taken together, the results indicate that this is a potent bacteriocin from L. garvieae and that its very broad inhibition spectrum can be a very useful property for use in food preservation as well as in infection treatments caused by gram-positive pathogens and their antibiotic-derivatives.

Keywords: bacteriocin, lactic acid bacteria, Lactococcus garvieae, antibiotics resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Md. Abid Khan

Abstract:

Arc Flash safety assessment is a critical component for continuous improvement of any company’s safe electrical arc flash standard (SEAFS). The standard requires periodic internal or external audits to verify compliance and assess implementation. Assessments will identify strengths and opportunities for improvement, and serve as the basis for corrective actions. An arc flash safety assessment is comprised of a review of any existing safe electrical arc flash standard documentation (e.g., such as work procedures or other supporting documents), onsite interviews, and observations (e.g., facility inspections and work task observations). Substation-based arc flash assessment is very popular as it is more specific for each substation. The enhanced department-based arc flash safety assessment will shift focus to more effective hazard control measures and emphasis will be placed on highlighting inherently unsafe equipment to support resolution actions by facility management, rather than relying on lessor effective control methods in the hierarchy of controls currently deployed at a number of facilities.

Keywords: assessment, remote racking device (RRD), key performance indicator (KPI), personal protective equipment (PPE), operation & maintenance (O&M), safety management system (SMS), safe electrical arc flash standard (SEAFS)

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Hamidreza Ghazvinian, Khosro Ghazvinian, Touba Khodaiean

Abstract:

The importance of evaporation estimation in water resources and agricultural studies is undeniable. Pan evaporation are used as an indicator to determine the evaporation of lakes and reservoirs around the world due to the ease of interpreting its data. In this research, intelligent models were investigated in estimating pan evaporation on a daily basis. Shahroud and Mayamey were considered as the studied cities. These two cities are located in Semnan province in Iran. The mentioned cities have dry weather conditions that are susceptible to high evaporation potential. Meteorological data of 11 years of synoptic stations of Shahrood and Mayamey cities were used. The intelligent models used in this study are Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LSSVM), and M5 tree models. Meteorological parameters of minimum and maximum air temperature (Tmax, Tmin), wind speed (WS), sunshine hours (SH), air pressure (PA), relative humidity (RH) as selected input data and evaporation data from pan (EP) to The output data was considered. 70% of data is used at the education level, and 30 % of the data is used at the test level. Models used with explanation coefficient evaluation (R2) Root of Mean Squares Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results for the two Shahroud and Mayamey stations showed that the above three models' operations are rather appropriate.

Keywords: pan evaporation, intelligent methods, shahroud, mayamey

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: T. M. Samuel, O. O. Aremu, I. O. Ismaila, L. I. Onu, B. O. Adetifa, S. E. Adegbite, O. O. Olokoshe

Abstract:

The imperative of anthropometry in designing to fit cannot be overemphasized. Of essence is the variability of measurements among population for which data is collected. In this paper anthropometric data were collected for the design of gari-frying facility such that work system would be designed to fit the gari-frying population in the Southwestern states of Nigeria comprising Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti. Twenty-seven body dimensions were measured among 120 gari-frying processors. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS package to determine the mean, standard deviation, minimum value, maximum value and percentiles (2nd, 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 95th, and 98th) of the different anthropometric parameters. One sample t-test was conducted to determine the variation within the population. The 50th percentiles of some of the anthropometric parameters were compared with those from other populations in literature. The correlation between the worker’s age and the body anthropometry was also investigated.The mean weight, height, shoulder height (sitting), eye height (standing) and eye height (sitting) are 63.37 kg, 1.57 m, 0.55 m, 1.45 m, and 0.67 m respectively.Result also shows a high correlation with other populations and a statistically significant difference in variability of data within the population in all the body dimensions measured. With a mean age of 42.36 years, results shows that age will be a wrong indicator for estimating the anthropometry for the population.

Keywords: anthropometry, cassava processing, design to fit, gari-frying, workstation design

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: Awol Seid Ebrie

Abstract:

HIV results as an incurable disease, AIDS. After a person is infected with virus, the virus gradually destroys all the infection fighting cells called CD4 cells and makes the individual susceptible to opportunistic infections which cause severe or fatal health problems. Several studies show that the CD4 cells count is the most determinant indicator of the effectiveness of the treatment or progression of the disease. The objective of this paper is to investigate the progression of the disease over time among patient under HAART treatment. Two main approaches of the generalized multilevel ordinal models; namely the proportional odds model and the nonproportional odds model have been applied to the HAART data. Also, the multilevel part of both models includes random intercepts and random coefficients. In general, four models are explored in the analysis and then the models are compared using the deviance information criteria. Of these models, the random coefficients nonproportional odds model is selected as the best model for the HAART data used as it has the smallest DIC value. The selected model shows that the progression of the disease increases as the time under the treatment increases. In addition, it reveals that gender, baseline clinical stage and functional status of the patient have a significant association with the progression of the disease.

Keywords: nonproportional odds model, proportional odds model, random coefficients model, random intercepts model

Procedia PDF Downloads 421

Authors: Ozioma Beauty Nwaodu, Adebowale E Salako, Omolara Mabel Akinyemi, Nkechi Uche, Isuama Isu, Uchechi Jane Elechi

Abstract:

Goats form an integral part of livestock production in the tropics. Meat potential is determined subjectively by resource poor livestock keepers, using hand to measure the rump width (RW). Objective evaluation of meat potential in different breads of goats can overcome problems associated with subjective evaluation. Hence, the objectives were to predict meatiness in Red Sokoto (RS), Sahel and the West African Dwarf (WAD) goats, using product of the body length (BL), wither height (WH) and (RW) and to indicate the inherent size of each breed, using WH: BL ratio. These three parameters were used because they are less environmentally sensitive. A total of 2849 goats were sampled purposefully from the Akinyele and Oranyan markets in Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria. RS showed no significant difference for BL and WH but different from the RW of both sexes (p < 0.01). Similarly WAD showed no significant difference for the BL and WH, but differed (p < 0.01) between sexes for RW. Using the ANOVA, BL:WH ratio showed no significant difference between the breeds. WAD goats have the highest mean for BL:WH ratio. Western meat livestock is primarily identified using BL:WH. The combinations of these body parameters as indicator for meat type in meat animals showed that WAD goat has more potential to lay down meat, than RS and Sahel.

Keywords: quantitative, morphologial traits, descriptive analysis, goats

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Angga Hidayah Ramadhan, Luciana Andrawina, M. Azani Hasibuan

Abstract:

Data will be as a core of the decision if it has a good treatment or process, which is process that data into information, and information into knowledge to make a wisdom or decision. Today, many companies have not realize it include XYZ University Admission Directorate as executor of National Admission called Seleksi Masuk Bersama (SMB) that during the time, the workers only uses their feeling to make a decision. Whereas if it done, then that company can analyze the data to make a right decision to get a pin sales from student candidate or registrant that follow SMB as many as possible. Therefore, needs Knowledge Management System (KMS) with Geographic Information System (GIS) use 5C4C that can process that company data becomes more useful and can help make decisions. This information system can process data into information based on the pin sold data with 5C (Contextualized, Categorize, Calculation, Correction, Condensed) and convert information into knowledge with 4C (Comparing, Consequence, Connection, Conversation) that has been several steps until these data can be useful to make easier to take a decision or wisdom, resolve problems, communicate, and quicker to learn to the employees have not experience and also for ease of viewing/visualization based on spatial data that equipped with GIS functionality that can be used to indicate events in each province with indicator that facilitate in this system. The system also have a function to save the tacit on the system then to be proceed into explicit in expert system based on the problems that will be found from the consequences of information. With the system each team can make a decision with same ways, structured, and the important is based on the actual event/data.

Keywords: 5C4C, data, information, knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 461

Authors: Wenting Zhang, Shishi Liu, Peihong Fu

Abstract:

As an indicator of air quality and directly related to concentration of ground PM2.5, the spatial-temporal variation and impact factor analysis of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) have been a hot spot in air pollution. This paper concerns the non-stationarity and the autocorrelation (with Moran’s I index of 0.75) of the AOD in Wuhan agglomeration (WHA), in central China, uses the geographically weighted regression (GRW) to identify the spatial relationship of AOD and its impact factors. The 3 km AOD product of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) is used in this study. Beyond the economic-social factor, land use density factors, vegetable cover, and elevation, the landscape metric is also considered as one factor. The results suggest that the GWR model is capable of dealing with spatial varying relationship, with R square, corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) and standard residual better than that of ordinary least square (OLS) model. The results of GWR suggest that the urban developing, forest, landscape metric, and elevation are the major driving factors of AOD. Generally, the higher AOD trends to located in the place with higher urban developing, less forest, and flat area.

Keywords: aerosol optical depth, geographically weighted regression, land use change, Wuhan agglomeration

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: András Szekrényes

Abstract:

Delamination is one of the major failure modes in laminated composite structures. Delamination tips are mostly captured by spatial numerical models in order to predict crack growth. This paper presents some mechanical models of delaminated composite shells based on shallow shell theories. The mechanical fields are based on a third-order displacement field in terms of the through-thickness coordinate of the laminated shell. The undelaminated and delaminated parts are captured by separate models and the continuity and boundary conditions are also formulated in a general way providing a large size boundary value problem. The system of differential equations is solved by the state space method for an elliptic delaminated shell having simply supported edges. The comparison of the proposed and a numerical model indicates that the primary indicator of the model is the deflection, the secondary is the widthwise distribution of the energy release rate. The model is promising and suitable to determine accurately the J-integral distribution along the delamination front. Based on the proposed model it is also possible to develop finite elements which are able to replace the computationally expensive spatial models of delaminated structures.

Keywords: J-integral, levy method, third-order shell theory, state space solution

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Souid Wafa, Boudjenah-Haroun Saliha, Khacef Linda

Abstract:

In this work, we focused on the valuation of discharges from the dairy industry. Whey is by-product of dairy industry, which is a formidable pollution factor and contains components (lactose, minerals and proteins) with high nutritional value. Whey is an excellent culture medium for microorganisms. The objective of our work is to investigate the ability of a lactic strain (of the genus Lactococcus) to grow in culture media based on whey of cattle and camels and comparing it with that recorded on M17 as indicator medium. In this study we isolated from a local sample of camel milk a lactic strain (S1).the strain had positive Gram shaped, cocci form and catalase (-). The strain has been purified by the method of streaks on M17 medium. Phenotypic identification allows us to classify this strain in the species: Lactococcus lactis subsp. Cremoris. We subsequently tested the ability of this strain to grow in cattle whey medium and camel whey, both media were deproteinized and unsupplemented. The obtained results revealed that: The cattle and camel whey are appropriate media for the growth of the strain Lactococcus lactis subsp cremoris but is more adapted to grow on a medium rich in lactose as the camel whey. In fact, after 48h and at initial pH 6.8 this strain acidified more camel whey (pH 3.99) than cattle whey (pH 4.8). And biomass produced in the camel whey is 1.50g /1 by contributing to the cattle whey which is 1g / l.

Keywords: cremoris, dairy industry, Lactococcus lactis subsp, medium, whey

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: Nam-Seok Joo, Da-Eun Jung, Beom-Hee Choi

Abstract:

Background and Objectives: Recently, the triglyceride/high-density lipoprotine cholesterol (TG/HDL) ratio and pericardial adipose tissue (PAT) has gained attention as an indicator related to metabolic syndrome (MS). To date, there has been no research on the relationship between TG/HDL and PAT, we aimed to investigate the association between the TG/HDL and PAT. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we investigated 627 patients who underwent coronary multidetector computed tomography and metabolic parameters. We divided subjects into two groups according to the cut-off PAT volume associated with MS, which is 142.2 cm³, and we compared metabolic parameters between those groups. We divided the TG/HDL ratio into tertiles according to Log(TG/HDL) and compared PAT-related parameters by analysis of variance. Finally, we applied logistic regression analysis to obtain the odds ratio of high PAT (PAT volume≥142.2 cm³) in each tertile, and we performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to get the cut-off of TG/HDL ratio according to high PAT. Results: The mean TG/ HDL ratio of the high PAT volume group was 3.6, and TG/ HDL ratio had a strong positive correlation with various metabolic parameters. In addition, in the Log (TG/HDL) tertile groups, the higher tertile had more metabolic derangements, including PAT, and showed higher odds ratios of having high PAT (OR=4.10 in the second tertile group and OR=5.06 in their third tertile group, respectively) after age, sex, smoking adjustments. TG/HDL ratio according to the having increased PAT by ROC curve showed 1.918 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: TG/HDL ratio and high PAT volume have a significant positive correlation, and higher TG/HDL ratio showed high PAT. The cut-off value of the TG/HDL ratio was 1.918 to have a high PAT.

Keywords: triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein, pericardial adipose tissue, cut-off value

Procedia PDF Downloads 15