Search results for: urban boundary layer

Authors: Seung Oh, Satoshi Okada

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Today, religious organizations that have long existed alongside local people are being challenged by social changes in the districts they control. The influence of religious organizations is declining everywhere as locals seeking diversity and economic benefits become more interested in developing projects that attract investors and increase market value instead of opting for conservation. Religions whose moral and philosophical stance rejects materialism have a limited capacity to act as agents of local development in modern society. However, in Tokyo, the city’s oldest temple, Senso-Ji played a vital role in the local development of Asakusa, as an entertainment district while nevertheless retaining the area’s traditional character, despite almost complete destruction caused by the Tokyo air raids. The temple played a vigorous role as a mediator between the community and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a spokesman for common interests. This research, therefore, examines the social conflicts that Senso-Ji has confronted with regard to the pressures of development of Asakusa on the one hand, and the legitimacy of perpetuating its traditional religious and cultural role in local society on the other. First, this article examines Senso-Ji’s place in society based on its location in the history of Japanese Buddhism, which existed to offer spiritual and practical help to the ordinary people, and to investigate its social legitimacy as a local stakeholder and historical institution. Second, this paper considers the impact of the social changes that Asakusa had undergone during the Meiji and Taisho eras, by examining the social conflicts and changes in the Asakusa entertainment district, taking the Tokyo Air Raids as the Inceptive Point (IP). Third, it reconsiders how Senso-Ji responded to today’s growth-oriented local developments, as proposed by Tokyo’s Metropolitan planning authorities along lines commonly seen in all cities. Studying the role of Senso-Ji in the development of Asakusa can serve as a case study to justify the involvement of religious institutions in local issues and as a useful and practical example of progressive development which nevertheless permitted conservation of traditional features, as a result of pressure from social groups in a way that may be useful for other places facing similar problems.

Keywords: Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Planning, Preservation, Conservation, Social Science

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Authors: Macdonald Kanyangale, Sandram Naluso

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Globally, researchers have struggled over time to adequately define the notion of health system to inform research. This study is significant because it proposes an integrative framework for a robust definition of the health system. The objective of this article is to examine major pitfalls in definitions of health system used in prior literature and implications of these for research and management. The study used methodological steps of a scoping review proposed by Arksey and O'Malley to identify and examine 24 definitions of a health system in articles selected from six databases and web search engines. Thematic analysis was used to delineate and categorise definitional pitfalls into broader themes. There are a plethora of five major pitfalls in the extant definitions of a health system which may easily scupper any unsuspecting researcher if not avoided or addressed in research. These definitional pitfalls are reductionist assumptions which ignore dynamic and complex connections, overly wide boundary and lack of specification of levels in a health system, and limited focus on process in a health system. In addition, there is the tendency of treating different components of the health system as equal and simplifying of the ontological complexity of the health system. Future scholars are advised to avoid or address the identified five major pitfalls if they are to develop robust definitions of an HS. The use of an integrative framework for a robust definition of a health system is recommended, while implications of the pitfalls are discussed as a basis and catalyst for complexity-informed research and managing interactively.

Keywords: complexity management, health system, pitfalls, reductionism, research

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Authors: Xiangfang Xu, Bintao Wu, Yugang Miao, Duanfeng Han

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Experiments were conducted on 5A06 aluminum alloy and Q235 steel using the laser-TIG hybrid heat source welding-brazing method to realize the reliable connection of Al/Fe dissimilar metals and the welding characteristics were analyzed. It was found that the joints with uniform seam and high tensile strength could be obtained using such a method, while the welding process demanded special welding parameters. Spectrum measurements showed that the Al and Fe atoms diffused more thoroughly at the brazing interface and formed a 3μm-thick intermetallic compound layer at the Al/Fe joints brazed connection interface. Shearing tests indicated that the shearing strength of the Al/Fe welding-brazed joint was 165MPa. The fracture occurred near the melting zone of aluminum alloy, which belonged to the mixed mode with the ductile fracture as the base and the brittle fracture as the supplement.

Keywords: Al/Fe dissimilar metals, laser-TIG hybrid heat source, shearing strength, welding-brazing method

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Authors: Mulugeta Shegaze, Mekitie Wondafrash, Alemayehu A. Alemayehu, Shikur Mohammed, Zewdu Shewangezaw, Mukerem Abdo, Gebresilasea Gendisha

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Background: The 2004 World Health Assembly called for specific actions to halt the overweight and obesity epidemic that is currently penetrating urban populations in the developing world. Adolescents require particular attention due to their vulnerability to develop obesity and the fact that adolescent weight tracks strongly into adulthood. However, there is scarcity of information on the modifiable risk factors to be targeted for primary intervention among urban adolescents in Ethiopia. This study was aimed at determining the magnitude and risk factors of overweight and obesity among high school adolescents in Addis Ababa. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in February and March 2014 on 456 randomly selected adolescents from 20 high schools in Addis Ababa city.  Demographic data and other risk factors of overweight and obesity were collected using self-administered structured questionnaire, whereas anthropometric measurements of weight and height were taken using calibrated equipment and standardized techniques. The WHO STEPS instrument for chronic disease risk was applied to assess dietary habit and physical activity. Overweight and obesity status was determined based on BMI-for-age percentiles of WHO 2007 reference population. Results: The prevalence rates of overweight, obesity, and overall overweight/ obesity among high school adolescents in Addis Ababa were 9.7% (95%CI = 6.9-12.4%), 4.2% (95%CI = 2.3-6.0%), and 13.9% (95%CI = 10.6-17.1%), respectively. Overweight/obesity prevalence was highest among female adolescents, in private schools, and in the higher wealth category. In multivariable regression model, being female [AOR(95%CI) = 5.4(2.5,12.1)], being from private school [AOR(95%CI) = 3.0(1.4,6.2)], having >3 regular meals [AOR(95%CI) = 4.0(1.3,13.0)], consumption of sweet foods [AOR(95%CI) = 5.0(2.4,10.3)] and spending >3 hours/day sitting [AOR(95%CI) = 3.5(1.7,7.2)] were found to increase overweight/ obesity risk, whereas high Total Physical Activity level [AOR(95%CI) = 0.21(0.08,0.57)] and better nutrition knowledge [AOR(95%CI) = 0.160.07,0.37)] were found protective. Conclusions: More than one in ten of the high school adolescents were affected by overweight/obesity with dietary habit and physical activity are important modifiable risk factors. Well-tailored nutrition education program targeting lifestyle change should be initiated with more emphasis to female adolescents and students in private schools.

Keywords: adolescents, NCDs, overweight, obesity

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Authors: Mecabih Zohra

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Water is such an important element of many manufacturing processes which that use a big amount of chemical substances, It is likely to cause it contamination of water returning to rivers by industrial discharged. These contaminants can be a high in suspended solid and chemical oxygen demand. In this study, urban wastewater of sidi bel abbes city (Algeria) was treated by adsorption using modified bentonite from Magnia (Algeria) by conducting batch experiments to investigate its equilibrium characteristics and kinetics. Purified bentonite is characterized by; CEC, XRF, BET, FITR, XRD, SEM and 27Al spectroscopy. The results showed the removal of suspended solids exceeds 98.47% and COD up to 99.52%, and regarding of sorption efficiencies (qm), the maximum COD sorption efficiencies (qm) calculated using the Langmuir model is 156.23, 64.47 and 17.19 mg/g respectively, for a pH range of 4 to 9.

Keywords: adsorption, bentonite, COD, wastewater

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Authors: Mecabih Zohra

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Water is such an important element of many manufacturing processes which that use a big amount of chemical substances, It is likely to cause it contamination of water returning to rivers by industrial discharged. These contaminants can be a high in suspended solid and chemical oxygen demand. In this study, urban wastewater of sidi bel abbes city (Algeria) was treated by adsorption using modified bentonite from Magnia (Algeria) by conducting batch experiments to investigate its equilibrium characteristics and kinetics. Purified bentonite is characterized by; CEC, XRF, BET, FITR, XRD, SEM and 27Al spectroscopy. The results showed the removal of suspended solids exceeds 98.47% and COD up to 99.52%, and regarding of sorption efficiencies (qm), the maximum COD sorption efficiencies (qm) calculated using the Langmuir model is 156.23, 64.47 and 17.19 mg/g respectively, for a pH range of 4 to 9.

Keywords: adsorption, bentonite, COD, wastewater

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Authors: Sivapan Choo-In

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This research aims to study the Zinc (Zn) concentration in fine particulate matter on Rajchawithee roadside in rush hour. 30 Samples were collected in Jun to August 2013 by 8 stage non-avaible cascade impactor. Each samples (filter paper) were digest with nitric acid and analyed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer for Zinc determination. The highest value for the mean fraction (18.00 ± 9.28 %) is the size 9.0 – 110.0 micron follow by the range 3.3 – 4.7 micron (14.77 ± 14.66 %) and 1.1 – 2.1 micron (14.01 ± 11.77 %) .The concentration of Zn in the particulate matter of range 0.43 – 0.7 μm, 0.7 – 1.1 μm, 1.1 – 2.1 μm, 2.1 – 3.3 μm, 3.3 – 4.7 μm, 4.7 – 5.8 μm, 5.8 – 9.0 μm, 9.0 – 10.0 μm, were 41.56 – 217.62 μg/m3 (175.86 ± 32.25 μg/m3), 152.60 – 217.24 μg/m3 (187.71 ± 17.42 μg/m3), 142.90 – 214.67 μg/m3 (180.95 ± 18.71 μg/m3), 155.48 – 218.19 μg/m3 (183.22 ± 19.94 μg/m3), 151.72 – 217.39 μg/m3 (181.85 ± 17.57 μg/m3), 133.86 – 220.17 μg/m3 (178.78 ± 23.45 μg/m3), 160.00 – 220.35 μg/m3 (182.58 ± 18.08 μg/m3), 153.30 – 226.70 μg/m3 (181.52 ± 20.05 μg/m3), repectively. The Zn concentration in each size of particulate matter was not statistically significant different (p > .005)

Keywords: air pollution, particulate matter, size distribution, zinc

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Authors: Mohammad Javad Afroughi, Vahid Hosseini, Jason S. Olfert

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Both traffic-generated particles and noise have been associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases, especially in near-highway environments. Although noise and particulate matters (PM) have different mechanisms of dispersion, sharing the same emission source in urban areas (road traffics) can result in a similar degree of variability in their levels. This study investigated the temporal variation of and correlation between noise levels, PM concentrations and traffic intensities near a major highway in Tehran, Iran. Tehran particulate concentration is highly influenced by road traffic. Additionally, Tehran ultrafine particles (UFP, PM<0.1 µm) are mostly emitted from combustion processes of motor vehicles. This gives a high possibility of a strong association between traffic-related noise and UFP in near-highway environments of this megacity. Hourly average of equivalent continuous sound pressure level (Leq), total number concentration of UFPs, mass concentration of PM2.5 and PM10, as well as traffic count and speed were simultaneously measured over a period of three days in winter. Additionally, meteorological data including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction were collected in a weather station, located 3 km from the monitoring site. Noise levels showed relatively low temporal variability in near-highway environments compared to PM concentrations. Hourly average of Leq ranged from 63.8 to 69.9 dB(A) (mean ~ 68 dB(A)), while hourly concentration of particles varied from 30,800 to 108,800 cm-3 for UFP (mean ~ 64,500 cm-3), 41 to 75 µg m-3 for PM2.5 (mean ~ 53 µg m-3), and 62 to 112 µg m-3 for PM10 (mean ~ 88 µg m-3). The Pearson correlation coefficient revealed strong relationship between noise and UFP (r ~ 0.61) overall. Under downwind conditions, UFP number concentration showed the strongest association with noise level (r ~ 0.63). The coefficient decreased to a lesser degree under upwind conditions (r ~ 0.24) due to the significant role of wind and humidity in UFP dynamics. Furthermore, PM2.5 and PM10 correlated moderately with noise (r ~ 0.52 and 0.44 respectively). In general, traffic counts were more strongly associated with noise and PM compared to traffic speeds. It was concluded that noise level combined with meteorological data can be used as a proxy to estimate PM concentrations (specifically UFP number concentration) in near-highway environments of Tehran. However, it is important to measure joint variability of noise and particles to study their health effects in epidemiological studies.

Keywords: noise, particulate matter, PM10, PM2.5, ultrafine particle

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Authors: Thinh Ngo, Paul Rad, Brian Kelley

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Noise estimation is essential in today wireless systems for power control, adaptive modulation, interference suppression and quality of service. Deep learning (DL) has already been applied in the physical layer for modulation and signal classifications. Unacceptably low accuracy of less than 50% is found to undermine traditional application of DL classification for SNR prediction. In this paper, we use divide-and-conquer algorithm and classifier fusion method to simplify SNR classification and therefore enhances DL learning and prediction. Specifically, multiple CNNs are used for classification rather than a single CNN. Each CNN performs a binary classification of a single SNR with two labels: less than, greater than or equal. Together, multiple CNNs are combined to effectively classify over a range of SNR values from −20 ≤ SNR ≤ 32 dB.We use pre-trained CNNs to predict SNR over a wide range of joint channel parameters including multiple Doppler shifts (0, 60, 120 Hz), power-delay profiles, and signal-modulation types (QPSK,16QAM,64-QAM). The approach achieves individual SNR prediction accuracy of 92%, composite accuracy of 70% and prediction convergence one order of magnitude faster than that of traditional estimation.

Keywords: classification, CNN, deep learning, prediction, SNR

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Authors: Estibe Dagne Mekonnen

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In recent years, the prevalence of undernourishment was 30 percent for sub-Saharan Africa, compared with 16 percent for Asia and the Pacific (Ali, 2011). In Ethiopia, almost 40 percent of the total population in the country and 57 percent of Addis Ababa population lives below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day (UNICEF, 2009). This study aims to analyze the determinant of household food secrity in Addis Ababa city administration. Primary data were collected from a survey of 256 households in the selected sub-city, namely Addis Ketema, Arada, and Kolfe Keranio, in the year 2022. Both Purposive and multi-stage cluster random sampling procedures were employed to select study areas and respondents. Descriptive statistics and order logistic regression model were used to test the formulated hypotheses. The result reveals that out of the total sampled households, 25% them were food secured, 13% were mildly food insecure, 26% were moderately food insecure and 36% were severely food insecure. The study indicates that household family size, house ownership, household income, household food source, household asset possession, household awareness on inflation, household access to social protection program, household access to credit and saving and household access to training and supervision on food security have a positive and significant effect on the likelihood of household food security status. However, marital status of household head, employment sector of household head, dependency ratio and household’s nonfood expenditure has a negative and significant influence on household food security status. The study finally suggests that the government in collaboration with financial institutions and NGO should work on sustaining household food security by creating awareness, providing credit, facilitate rural-urban linkage between producer and consumer and work on urban infrastructure improvement. Moreover, the governments also work closely and monitor consumer good suppliers, if possible find a way to subsidize consumable goods to more insecure households and make them to be food secured. Last but not least, keeping this country’s peace will play a crucial role to sustain food security.

Keywords: determinants, household, food security, order logit model, Addis Ababa

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Authors: Kusno Kamil, Andi Asni, Sungkono

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According to a report of the World Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO): the post-harvest fish losses in Indonesia reaches 30 percent from 170 trillion rupiahs of marine fisheries reserves, then the potential loss reaches 51 trillion rupiahs (end of 2016 data). This condition is caused by traditionally vulnerable fish catches damaged due to disruption of the cold chain of preservation. The physical and chemical changes in fish flesh increase rapidly, especially if exposed to the scorching heat in the middle of the sea, exacerbated by the low awareness of catch hygiene; many unclean catches which contain blood are often treated without special attention and mixed with freshly caught fish, thereby increasing the potential for faster fish spoilage. This background encourages research on traditional fisherman catch preservation methods that aim to find the best and most affordable methods and/or combinations of fish preservation methods so that they can help fishermen increase their fishing duration without worrying that their catch will be damaged, thereby reducing their economic value when returning to the beach to sell their catches. This goal is expected to be achieved through experimental methods of treatment of fresh fish catches in containers with the addition of anti-bacterial copper, liquid smoke solution, and the use of vacuum containers. The other three treatments combined the three previous treatment variables with an electrically powered cooler (temperature 0~4 ᵒC). As a control specimen, the untreated fresh fish (placed in the open air and in the refrigerator) were also prepared for comparison for 1, 3, and 6 days. To test the level of freshness of fish for each treatment, physical observations were used, which were complemented by tests for bacterial content in a trusted laboratory. The content of copper (Cu) in fish meat (which is suspected of having a negative impact on consumers) was also part of the examination on the 6th day of experimentation. The results of physical observations on the test specimens (organoleptic method) showed that preservation assisted by the use of coolers was still better for all treatment variables. The specimens, without cooling, sequentially showed that the best preservation effectiveness was the addition of copper plates, the use of vacuum containers, and then liquid smoke immersion. Especially for liquid smoke, soaking for 6 days of preservation makes the fish meat soft and easy to crumble, even though it doesn't have a bad odor. The visual observation was then complemented by the results of testing the amount of growth (or retardation) of putrefactive bacteria in each treatment of test specimens within similar observation periods. Laboratory measurements report that the minimum amount of putrefactive bacteria achieved by preservation treatment combining cooler with liquid smoke (sample A+), then cooler only (D+), copper layer inside cooler (B+), vacuum container inside cooler (C+), respectively. Other treatments in open air produced a hundred times more putrefactive bacteria. In addition, treatment of the copper layer contaminated the preserved fresh fish more than a thousand times bigger compared to the initial amount, from 0.69 to 1241.68 µg/g.

Keywords: fish, preservation, traditional, fishermen, boat

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Authors: Mohammed Nabeel Khan, C. Perisamy

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Convective vortices are normal highlights of air that ingest lower-entropy-energy at higher temperatures than they dismiss higher-entropy-energy to space. By means of the thermodynamic proficiency, it has been anticipated that the force of convective vortices relies upon the profundity of the convective layer. The atmospheric vortex engine is proposed as a gadget for delivering mechanical energy by methods for artificially produced vortex. The task of the engine is in view of the certainties that the environment is warmed from the base and cooled from the top. By generation of the artificial vortex, it is planned to take out the physical solar updraft tower and decrease the capital of the solar chimney power plants. The study shows the essentials of the atmospheric vortex engine, furthermore, audits the cutting edge in subject. Moreover, the study talks about a thought on using the solar energy as heat source to work the framework. All in all, the framework is attainable and promising for electrical power production.

Keywords: AVE, atmospheric vortex engine, atmosphere, updraft, vortex

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Authors: Minas Balyan

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In the third-order nonlinear Takagi’s equations for monochromatic waves and in the third-order nonlinear time-dependent dynamical diffraction equations for X-ray pulses for forbidden reflections the Fourier-coefficients of the linear and the third order nonlinear susceptibilities are zero. The dynamical diffraction in the nonlinear case is related to the presence in the nonlinear equations the terms proportional to the zero order and the second order nonzero Fourier coefficients of the third order nonlinear susceptibility. Thus in the third order nonlinear Bragg diffraction case a nonlinear analogue of the well known Renninger effect takes place. In this work, the ‘third order nonlinear Renninger effect’ is considered theoretically and numerically. If the reflection exactly is forbidden the diffracted wave’s amplitude is zero both in Laue and Bragg cases since the boundary conditions and dynamical diffraction equations are compatible with zero solution. But in real crystals due to some percent of dislocations and other localized defects, the atoms are displaced with respect to their equilibrium positions. Thus in real crystals susceptibilities of forbidden reflection are by some order small than for usual not forbidden reflections but are not exactly equal to zero. The numerical calculations for susceptibilities two order less than for not forbidden reflection show that in Bragg geometry case the nonlinear reflection curve’s behavior is the same as for not forbidden reflection, but for forbidden reflection the rocking curves’ width, center and boundaries are two order sensitive on the input intensity value. This gives an opportunity to investigate third order nonlinear X-ray dynamical diffraction for not intense beams – 0.001 in the units of critical intensity.

Keywords: third order nonlinearity, Bragg diffraction, nonlinear Renninger effect, rocking curves

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Authors: John G. Vongas, Raghid Al Hajj

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In recent years, there has been a surge in research on empathy across disciplines ranging from management and psychology to philosophy and neuroscience. In organizational behavior, in particular, scholars have become interested in leader empathy given the rise of workplace diversity and the growing perception of leaders as managers of group emotions. It would appear that the current zeitgeist in behavioral and philosophical science is that empathy is a cornerstone of morality and that our world would be better off if only more people – and by extension, more leaders – were empathic. In spite of these claims, however, researchers have used different terminologies to explore empathy, confusing it at times with other related constructs such as emotional intelligence and compassion. Second, extant research that specifies what empathic leaders do and how their behavior affects organizational stakeholders, including themselves, does not devolve from a unifying theoretical framework. These problems plague knowledge development in this important research domain. Therefore, to the authors' best knowledge, this paper provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of the literature on leader empathy by drawing on disparate yet complementary fields of inquiry. It clarifies empathy from other constructs and presents a theoretical model that elucidates the mechanisms by which a leader’s empathy translates into behaviors that could be either beneficial or harmful to the leaders themselves, as well as to their followers and groups. And third, it specifies the boundary conditions under which a leader’s empathy will become manifest. Finally, it suggests ways in which training could be implemented to improve empathy in practice while also remaining skeptical of its conceptualization as a moral or even effective guide in human affairs.

Keywords: compassion, empathy, leadership, group outcomes

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Authors: Emiliano Lustrissimi, Bonifacio Bianco, Sebastiano Caravaggi, Antonio Rosato

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A mathematical framework has been designed to enhance the configuration of an end-of-production-line (EOL) test bench. This system can be used to assess the performance of electric motors or axles intended for electric vehicles. The model has been developed to predict the behaviour of EOL test benches and electric motors/axles under various boundary conditions, eliminating the need for extensive physical testing and reducing the corresponding power consumption. The suggested model is versatile, capable of being utilized across various types of electric motors or axles, and adaptable to accommodate varying power ratings of electric motors or axles. The maximum performance to be guaranteed by the EMs according to the car maker's specifications are taken as inputs in the model. Then, the required performance of each main EOL test bench component is calculated, and the corresponding systems available on the market are selected based on manufacturers’ catalogues. In this study, an EOL test bench has been designed according to the proposed model outputs for testing a low-power (about 22 kW) electric axle. The performance of the designed EOL test bench has been measured and used to validate the proposed model and assess both the consistency of the constraints as well as the accuracy of predictions in terms of electric demands. The comparison between experimental and predicted data exhibited a reasonable agreement, allowing to demonstrate that, despite some discrepancies, the model gives an accurate representation of the EOL test benches' performance.

Keywords: electric motors, electric vehicles, end-of-production-line test bench, mathematical model, field tests

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Authors: Mohamed H. Gabr, Kiyoshi Uzawa

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The current study aims to investigate the effect of fillers with different geometries and sizes on the interfacial shear properties of PA6 composites with de-sized carbon fiber. The fillers which have been investigated are namely; nano-layer silicates (nanoclay), sub-micro aluminum titanium (ALTi) particles, and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT). By means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), epoxide group which defined as a sizing agent, has been removed. Sizing removal can reduce the acid parameter of carbon fibers surface promoting bonding strength at the fiber/matrix interface which is a desirable property for the carbon fiber composites. Microdroplet test showed that the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) has been enhanced with the addition of 10wt% ALTi by about 23% comparing with neat PA6. However, with including other types of fillers into PA6, the results did not show enhancement of IFSS.

Keywords: sub-micro particles, nano-composites, interfacial shear strength, polyamide 6

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Authors: Hireni R. Mankodi, D. J. Chudasama

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The textile preforms play a key role in providing the mechanical properties and gives the idea about selection parameter of preforms to improve the quality and performance of laminates. The main objectives of this work are to study the effect of non-crimp fabric preform structure in final properties of laminates. It has been observed that the multi-axial preform give better mechanical properties of laminates as compared to woven and biaxial fabrics. This study investigated the effect of different non-crimp glass preform structure on tensile strength, bending and compression properties of glass laminates. The different woven, bi-axial and multi-axial fabrics with similar GSM used to manufacture the laminates using polyester resin. The structural and mechanical properties of preform and laminates were studied using standard methods. It has been observed that the glass fabric geometry, including type of weaves, warps and filling density and number of layer plays significant role in deciding mechanical properties of laminates.

Keywords: preform, non-crimp structure, laminates, bi-axial, multiaxial

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Authors: Olarinde Olaniran, Oluyomi A. Sowemimo

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Toxoplasmosis is frequently misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, and it is the third most common cause of hospitalization due to food-borne infection. Intra-uterine infection with Toxoplasma gondii due to active parasitaemia during pregnancy can cause severe and often fatal cerebral damage, abortion, and stillbirth of a fetus. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of T. gondii infection in women of childbearing age in selected communities of Osun State with a view to determining the risk factors which predispose to the T. gondii infection. Five (5) ml of blood was collected by venopuncture into a plain blood collection tube by a medical laboratory scientist. Serum samples were separated by centrifuging the blood samples at 3000 rpm for 5 mins. The sera were collected with Eppendorf tubes and stored at -20°C analysis for the presence of IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii by commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit (Demeditec Diagnostics GmbH, Germany) conducted according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The optical densities of wells were measured by a photometer at a wavelength of 450 nm. Data collected were analysed using appropriate computer software. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii among the women of child-bearing age in selected seven communities in Osun state was 76.3%. Out of 76.3% positive for Toxoplasma gondii infection, 70.0% were positive for anti- T. gondii IgG, and 32.3% were positive for IgM, and 26.7% for both IgG and IgM. The prevalence of T. gondii was lowest (58.9%) among women from Ile Ife, a peri-urban community, and highest (100%) in women residing in Alajue, a rural community. The prevalence of infection was significantly higher (P= 0.000) among Islamic women (87.5%) than in Christian women (70.8%). The highest prevalence (86.3%) was recorded in women with primary education, while the lowest (61.2%) was recorded in women with tertiary education (p =0.016). The highest prevalence (79.7%) was recorded in women that reside in rural areas, and the lowest (70.1%) was recorded in women that reside in peri-urban area (p=0.025). The prevalence of T. gondii infection was highest (81.4%) in women with one miscarriage, while the prevalence was lowest in women with no miscarriages (75.9%). The age of the women (p=0.042), Islamic religion (p=0.001), the residence of the women (p=0.001), and water source were all positively associated with T. gondii infection. The study concluded that there was a high seroprevalence of T. gondii recorded among women of child-bearing age in the study area. Hence, there is a need for health education and create awareness of the disease and its transmission to women of reproductive age group in general and pregnant women in particular to reduce the risk of T. gondii in pregnant women.

Keywords: seroepidemiology, Toxoplasma gondii, women, child-bearing, age, communities, Ile -Ife, Nigeria

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Authors: Mirna John Shawky Demian

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Internal marketing changed into proposed in the 1970s. The idea has continually been modified over the last forty years. This study discussed the subsequent troubles: the definition and implication of internal advertising, the improvement of its development, and the evolution of its theoretical version. Moreover, the study systematically organized the strategies of the inner advertising and marketing principles adopted in an organization and the way they were positioned in exercise. Also, in contrast, the empirical research focuses on how the existent theories prompted the essential variables of internal marketing. The results of this are predicted to serve as references for future exploration of the boundary and research aiming at how internal advertising and marketing are applied to one-of-a-kind styles of organizations. Information technology (IT) has prevailed over all capabilities of strategic and operational control. The internet has increasingly grown to be a famous medium for advertising and marketing. This paper examines the potential of the internet for tourism marketing. To acquire this, the paper examines the characteristics of tourism advertising and examines the application of the Internet in tourism advertising. It's far argued that using the internet for tourism advertising will now not only reach a wide target audience and reduce the price of transactions (with the aid of traditional strategies utilized by journey agents in instances past) but will even alleviate the problems of identity, authentication and affirmation of travels/package deal excursions by way of travelers as well as advertising of tourism enterprises.

Keywords: direct marketing, mobile phones mobile marketing, sms advertising, marketing sponsorship, marketing communication theories, marketing communication tools

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Authors: Narges Farokhshad, Milad Molazadeh, Saman Jamalabbasi, Hamed Babaei Giglou, Saeed Bibak

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The Persian language is an inflectional subject-object-verb language. This fact makes Persian a more uncertain language. However, using techniques such as Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction will lead us to a more understandable and precise language. In most of the works in Persian, these techniques are addressed individually. Despite that, we believe that for text refinement in Persian, all of these tasks are necessary. In this work, we proposed a ViraPart framework that uses embedded ParsBERT in its core for text clarifications. First, used the BERT variant for Persian followed by a classifier layer for classification procedures. Next, we combined models outputs to output cleartext. In the end, the proposed model for ZWNJ recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction performs the averaged F1 macro scores of 96.90%, 92.13%, and 98.50%, respectively. Experimental results show that our proposed approach is very effective in text refinement for the Persian language.

Keywords: Persian Ezafe, punctuation, ZWNJ, NLP, ParsBERT, transformers

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Authors: T. Pathinathan, M. Peter

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Fuzzy graphs incorporate concepts from graph theory with fuzzy principles. In this paper, we make a study on the properties of fuzzy graphs which are non-cyclic and are of two-dimensional in structure. In particular, this paper presents 2D structure or the structure of double layer for a non-cyclic fuzzy graph whose underlying crisp graph is non-cyclic. In any graph structure, introducing 2D structure may lead to an inherent cycle. We propose relevant conditions for 2D structured non-cyclic fuzzy graphs. These conditions are extended even to fuzzy graphs of the 3D structure. General theoretical properties that are studied for any fuzzy graph are verified to 2D structured or double layered fuzzy graphs. Concepts like Order, Degree, Strong and Size for a fuzzy graph are studied for 2D structured or double layered non-cyclic fuzzy graphs. Using different types of fuzzy graphs, the proposed concepts relating to 2D structured fuzzy graphs are verified.

Keywords: double layered fuzzy graph, double layered non–cyclic fuzzy graph, order, degree and size

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Authors: Asadollah Bahrami

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In the present study, spectral radiative entropy generation is analyzed in a furnace filled with a mixture of H₂O, CO₂ and soot at radiative equilibrium. For the angular and spatial discretization of the radiative transfer equation and radiative entropy generation equations, the discrete ordinates method and the finite volume method are used, respectively. Spectral radiative properties are obtained using the correlated-k (CK) non-gray model with updated parameters based on the HITEMP2010 high-resolution database. In order to evaluate the effects of the location of the heat source, boundary condition and wall emissivity on radiative entropy generation, five cases are considered with different conditions. The spectral and total radiative entropy generation in the system are calculated for all cases and the effects of mentioned parameters on radiative entropy generation are attentively analyzed and finally, the optimum condition is especially presented. The most important results can be stated as follows: Results demonstrate that the wall emissivity has a considerable effect on the radiative entropy generation. Also, irreversible radiative transfer at the wall with lower temperatures is the main source of radiative entropy generation in the furnaces. In addition, the effect of the location of the heat source on total radiative entropy generation is less than other factors. Eventually, it can be said that characterizing the effective parameters of radiative entropy generation provides an approach to minimizing the radiative entropy generation and enhancing the furnace's performance practicality.

Keywords: spectral radiative entropy generation, non-gray medium, correlated k(CK) model, heat source

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Authors: Yu T. Tsai, Jin H. Huang

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In this paper, the specific sound transmission loss (TL) of the laminated composite plate (LCP) with different material properties in each layer is investigated. The numerical method to obtain the TL of the LCP is proposed by using elastic plate theory. The transfer matrix approach is novelty presented for computational efficiency in solving the numerous layers of dynamic stiffness matrix (D-matrix) of the LCP. Besides the numerical simulations for calculating the TL of the LCP, the material properties inverse method is presented for the design of a laminated composite plate analogous to a metallic plate with a specified TL. As a result, it demonstrates that the proposed computational algorithm exhibits high efficiency with a small number of iterations for achieving the goal. This method can be effectively employed to design and develop tailor-made materials for various applications.

Keywords: sound transmission loss, laminated composite plate, transfer matrix approach, inverse problem, elastic plate theory, material properties

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Authors: Anas H. Aljemely, Jianping Xuan

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Rolling bearing fault diagnosis plays a pivotal issue in the rotating machinery of modern manufacturing. In this research, a raw vibration signal and improved deep learning method for bearing fault diagnosis are proposed. The multi-dimensional scales of raw vibration signals are selected for evaluation condition monitoring system, and the deep learning process has shown its effectiveness in fault diagnosis. In the proposed method, employing an Exponential linear unit (ELU) layer in a convolutional neural network (CNN) that conducts the identical function on positive data, an exponential nonlinearity on negative inputs, and a particular convolutional operation to extract valuable features. The identification results show the improved method has achieved the highest accuracy with a 100-dimensional scale and increase the training and testing speed.

Keywords: bearing fault prognostics, developed CNN model, multiple-scale evaluation, deep learning features

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Authors: Alessandra Swiny, Michalis Georgiou, Yiorgos Hadjichristou

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This paper focuses on the questions raised through the work of Unit 5: ‘In/Out of crisis, emergent and adaptive’; an architectural research-based studio at the University of Nicosia. It focusses on sustainable architectural and urban explorations tackling with the ever growing crises in its various types, phases and locations. ‘Great crisis situations’ are seen as ‘great chances’ that trigger investigations for further development and evolution of the built environment in an ultimate sustainable approach. The crisis is taken as an opportunity to rethink the urban and architectural directions as new forces for inventions leading to emergent and adaptive built environments. The Unit 5’s identity and environment facilitates the students to respond optimistically, alternatively and creatively towards the global current crisis. Mark Wigley’s notion that “crises are ultimately productive” and “They force invention” intrigued and defined the premises of the Unit. ‘Weather and nature are coauthors of the built environment’ Jonathan Hill states in his ‘weather architecture’ discourse. The weather is constantly changing and new environments, the subnatures are created which derived from the human activities David Gissen explains. The above set of premises triggered innovative responses by the Unit’s students. They thoroughly investigated the various kinds of crisis and their causes in relation to their various types of Terrains. The tools used for the research and investigation were chosen in contradictive pairs to generate further crisis situations: The re-used/salvaged competed with the new, the handmade rivalling with the fabrication, the analogue juxtaposed with digital. Students were asked to delve into state of art technologies in order to propose sustainable emergent and adaptive architectures and Urbanities, having though always in mind that the human and the social aspects of the community should be the core of the investigation. The resulting unprecedented spatial conditions and atmospheres of the emergent new ways of living are deemed to be the ultimate aim of the investigation. Students explored a variety of sites and crisis conditions such as: The vague terrain of the Green Line in Nicosia, the lost footprints of the sinking Venice, the endangered Australian coral reefs, the earthquake torn town of Crevalcore, and the decaying concrete urbanscape of Athens. Among other projects, ‘the plume project’ proposes a cloud-like, floating and almost dream-like living environment with unprecedented spatial conditions to the inhabitants of the coal mine of Centralia, USA, not just to enable them to survive but even to prosper in this unbearable environment due to the process of the captured plumes of smoke and heat. Existing water wells inspire inversed vertical structures creating a new living underground network, protecting the nomads from catastrophic sand storms in the Araoune of Mali. “Inverted utopia: Lost things in the sand”, weaves a series of tea-houses and a library holding lost artifacts and transcripts into a complex underground labyrinth by the utilization of the sand solidification technology. Within this methodology, crisis is seen as a mechanism for allowing an emergence of new and fascinating ultimate sustainable future cultures and cities.

Keywords: adaptive built environments, crisis as opportunity, emergent urbanities, forces for inventions

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Authors: F. C. Amadi, G. C. Enyi, G. G. Nasr

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Hydraulic fracturing is one of the most important stimulation techniques available to the petroleum engineer to extract hydrocarbons in tight gas sandstones. It allows more oil and gas production in tight reservoirs as compared to conventional means. The main aim of the study is to optimize the hydraulic fracturing as technique and for this purpose three multi-zones layer formation is considered and fractured contemporaneously. The three zones are named as Zone1 (upper zone), Zone2 (middle zone) and Zone3 (lower zone) respectively and they all occur in shale rock. Simulation was performed with Mfrac integrated software which gives a variety of 3D fracture options. This simulation process yielded an average fracture efficiency of 93.8%for the three respective zones and an increase of the average permeability of the rock system. An average fracture length of 909 ft with net height (propped height) of 210 ft (average) was achieved. Optimum fracturing results was also achieved with maximum fracture width of 0.379 inches at an injection rate of 13.01 bpm with 17995 Mscf of gas production.

Keywords: hydraulic fracturing, optimisation, shale, tight reservoir

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Authors: Rami El-Hajj Mohamad, Mahmoud Skafi, Ali Massoud Haidar

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Several meteorological parameters were used for the prediction of monthly average daily global solar radiation on horizontal using recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Climatological data and measures, mainly air temperature, humidity, sunshine duration, and wind speed between 1995 and 2007 were used to design and validate a feed forward and recurrent neural network based prediction systems. In this paper we present our reference system based on a feed-forward multilayer perceptron (MLP) as well as the proposed approach based on an RNN model. The obtained results were promising and comparable to those obtained by other existing empirical and neural models. The experimental results showed the advantage of RNNs over simple MLPs when we deal with time series solar radiation predictions based on daily climatological data.

Keywords: recurrent neural networks, global solar radiation, multi-layer perceptron, gradient, root mean square error

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Authors: Trenton Hubbard, Kenneth Soyemi, Emily Siffermann

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Introduction: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) there are different weight-based recommendations for the treatment of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) in patients who are being evaluated for sexual assault. Current AAP Red Book guidelines recommend that uncomplicated C. trachomatis anogenital infection in prepubertal patients weighing less than =<45 kg be treated with oral erythromycin 50 mg/kg/day QID for 14 days with no alternative therapies, and for patients whose weight => 45 kg are Azithromycin 1 gm PO once. Our study objective was to determine the efficacy of single-dose Azithromycin therapy for the treatment of Chlamydia trachomatis in patients weighing less than 50 kg who were evaluated for child sexual abuse in an urban setting. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of historical medical records (paper and electronic) patients weighing less than 50 kg who were evaluated for child sexual abuse and subsequently treated for C. trachomatis infection with Azithromycin (20 mg/kg PO once up to a maximum 1 gm) and received a Test of Cure (TOC) from 2006-2016. Qualitative variables were expressed as percentages. Quantitative variables were expressed as mean values (+/- standard deviation [SD]) if they followed a normal distribution or as median values (interquartile range[IQR]) if they did not. Wilcoxson two-sample test was used to compare means of Azithromycin Dose, mg/kg, and TOC timing between treatment responders and non-responders. Results: We reviewed records of 34 patients, average age (SD) was 5.4 (2.0) years, 33 (97%) were treated for CT and 1(3%) for both GC and CT. 25 (74%) were females. Urine PCR was the most commonly used test at evaluation and as TOC with 13 (38%) patients completing both tests. The average (SD) dose of Azithromycin at treatment was 470 (136) mg and average (SD) mg/kg dose of 20 (1.9) mg/kg for all patients. Median (IQR) timing for TOC testing was 19 (14-26) days. Of the 33 with complete data 25 (74%) had a negative TOC. When compared with treatment non-responders (TOC failures), treatment responders received higher doses (average dose (SD) received 495 (139) vs 401(110), P 0.06)); similar average (SD) weight base dosing received (20.8(2.0) vs 19.7 (1.5), P 0.15)), and earlier average (SD)TOC test timing (18.8 (5.6) vs 32 (28.6) P 0.02)). Conclusion: Azithromycin dosing appears to be efficacious in the treatment of CT post sexual assault as majority of patients responded. Although treatment responders and non-responders received similar weight based doses, there is need for additional studies to understand variances and predictors of response.

Keywords: child sexual abuse, chlmaydia trachmotis infection, single-dose azithromycin, weight less than or equal to 45 kilograms

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Authors: A. Oukaira, A. Lakhssassi, O. Ettahri

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To make a good thermal management in an ABDM (Adapter Board Detector Module) card, we must first control temperature and its gradient from the first step in the design of integrated circuits ASIC of our complex system. In this paper, our main goal is to develop and validate the thermal stability in order to get an idea of the flow of heat around the ASIC in transient and thus address the thermal issues for integrated circuits at the ABDM card. However, we need heat sources simulations for ABDM card to establish its thermal mapping. This led us to perform simulations at each ASIC that will allow us to understand the thermal ABDM map and find real solutions for each one of our complex system that contains 36 ABDM map, taking into account the different layers around ASIC. To do a transient simulation under NISA, we had to build a function of power modulation in time TIMEAMP. The maximum power generated in the ASIC is 0.6 W. We divided the power uniformly in the volume of the ASIC. This power was applied for 5 seconds to visualize the evolution and distribution of heat around the ASIC. The DBC (Dirichlet Boundary conditions) method was applied around the ABDM at 25°C and just after these simulations in NISA tool we will validate them by COMSOL tool, wich is a numerical calculation software for a modular finite element for modeling a wide variety of physical phenomena characterizing a real problem. It will also be a design tool with its ability to handle 3D geometries for complex systems.

Keywords: ABDM, APD, thermal mapping, complex system

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Authors: Victoria Y. Garnova, Vladimir G. Merzlikin, Sergey V. Khudyakov, Aleksandr A. Gajour, Andrei P. Garnov

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This paper refers to the analysis of the characteristics of industrial and lifestyle facilities heat- energy objects as a part of the thermal envelope of Earth's surface for inclusion in any database of economic forecasting. The idealized model of the Earth's surface is discussed. This model gives the opportunity to obtain the energy equivalent for each element of terrain and world ocean. Energy efficiency criterion of comfortable human existence is introduced. Dynamics of changes of this criterion offers the possibility to simulate the possible technogenic catastrophes with a spontaneous industrial development of the certain Earth areas. Calculated model with the confirmed forecast of the Gulf Stream freezing in the Polar Regions in 2011 due to the heat-energy balance disturbance for the oceanic subsurface oil polluted layer is given. Two opposing trends of human development under the limited and unlimited amount of heat-energy resources are analyzed.

Keywords: Earth's surface, heat-energy consumption, energy criteria, technogenic catastrophes

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