Search results for: Free-space optical communication
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5568

Search results for: Free-space optical communication

1098 Learning from Dendrites: Improving the Point Neuron Model

Authors: Alexander Vandesompele, Joni Dambre

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The diversity in dendritic arborization, as first illustrated by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, has always suggested a role for dendrites in the functionality of neurons. In the past decades, thanks to new recording techniques and optical stimulation methods, it has become clear that dendrites are not merely passive electrical components. They are observed to integrate inputs in a non-linear fashion and actively participate in computations. Regardless, in simulations of neural networks dendritic structure and functionality are often overlooked. Especially in a machine learning context, when designing artificial neural networks, point neuron models such as the leaky-integrate-and-fire (LIF) model are dominant. These models mimic the integration of inputs at the neuron soma, and ignore the existence of dendrites. In this work, the LIF point neuron model is extended with a simple form of dendritic computation. This gives the LIF neuron increased capacity to discriminate spatiotemporal input sequences, a dendritic functionality as observed in another study. Simulations of the spiking neurons are performed using the Bindsnet framework. In the common LIF model, incoming synapses are independent. Here, we introduce a dependency between incoming synapses such that the post-synaptic impact of a spike is not only determined by the weight of the synapse, but also by the activity of other synapses. This is a form of short term plasticity where synapses are potentiated or depressed by the preceding activity of neighbouring synapses. This is a straightforward way to prevent inputs from simply summing linearly at the soma. To implement this, each pair of synapses on a neuron is assigned a variable,representing the synaptic relation. This variable determines the magnitude ofthe short term plasticity. These variables can be chosen randomly or, more interestingly, can be learned using a form of Hebbian learning. We use Spike-Time-Dependent-Plasticity (STDP), commonly used to learn synaptic strength magnitudes. If all neurons in a layer receive the same input, they tend to learn the same through STDP. Adding inhibitory connections between the neurons creates a winner-take-all (WTA) network. This causes the different neurons to learn different input sequences. To illustrate the impact of the proposed dendritic mechanism, even without learning, we attach five input neurons to two output neurons. One output neuron isa regular LIF neuron, the other output neuron is a LIF neuron with dendritic relationships. Then, the five input neurons are allowed to fire in a particular order. The membrane potentials are reset and subsequently the five input neurons are fired in the reversed order. As the regular LIF neuron linearly integrates its inputs at the soma, the membrane potential response to both sequences is similar in magnitude. In the other output neuron, due to the dendritic mechanism, the membrane potential response is different for both sequences. Hence, the dendritic mechanism improves the neuron’s capacity for discriminating spa-tiotemporal sequences. Dendritic computations improve LIF neurons even if the relationships between synapses are established randomly. Ideally however, a learning rule is used to improve the dendritic relationships based on input data. It is possible to learn synaptic strength with STDP, to make a neuron more sensitive to its input. Similarly, it is possible to learn dendritic relationships with STDP, to make the neuron more sensitive to spatiotemporal input sequences. Feeding structured data to a WTA network with dendritic computation leads to a significantly higher number of discriminated input patterns. Without the dendritic computation, output neurons are less specific and may, for instance, be activated by a sequence in reverse order.

Keywords: dendritic computation, spiking neural networks, point neuron model

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1097 Green Computing: Awareness and Practice in a University Information Technology Department

Authors: Samson Temitope Obafemi

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The fact that ICTs is pervasive in today’s society paradoxically also calls for the need for green computing. Green computing generally encompasses the study and practice of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources effectively and efficiently without negatively affecting the environment. Since the emergence of this innovation, manufacturers and governmental bodies such as Energy Star and the United State of America’s government have obviously invested many resources in ensuring the reality of green design, manufacture, and disposal of ICTs. However, the level of adherence to green use of ICTs among users have been less accounted for especially in developing ICT consuming nations. This paper, therefore, focuses on examining the awareness and practice of green computing among academics and students of the Information Technology Department of Durban University of Technology, Durban South Africa, in the context of green use of ICTs. This was achieved through a survey that involved the use of a questionnaire with four sections: (a) demography of respondents, (b) Awareness of green computing, (c) practices of green computing, and (d) attitude towards greener computing. One hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires were distributed, one hundred and twenty (125) were completed and collected for data analysis. Out of the one hundred and twenty-five (125) respondents, twenty-five percent (25%) were academics while the remaining seventy-five percent (75%) were students. The result showed a higher level of awareness of green computing among academics when compared to the students. Green computing practices are also shown to be highly adhered to among academics only. However, interestingly, the students were found to be more enthusiastic towards greener computing in the future. The study, therefore, suggests that the awareness of green computing should be further strengthened among students from the curriculum point of view in order to improve on the greener use of ICTs in universities especially in developing countries.

Keywords: awareness, green computing, green use, information technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 163
1096 Query Task Modulator: A Computerized Experimentation System to Study Media-Multitasking Behavior

Authors: Premjit K. Sanjram, Gagan Jakhotiya, Apoorv Goyal, Shanu Shukla

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In psychological research, laboratory experiments often face the trade-off issue between experimental control and mundane realism. With the advent of Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET), this issue seems to be at bay. However there is a growing challenge within the IVET itself to design and develop system or software that captures the psychological phenomenon of everyday lives. One such phenomena that is of growing interest is ‘media-multitasking’ To aid laboratory researches in media-multitasking this paper introduces Query Task Modulator (QTM), a computerized experimentation system to study media-multitasking behavior in a controlled laboratory environment. The system provides a computerized platform in conducting an experiment for experimenters to study media-multitasking in which participants will be involved in a query task. The system has Instant Messaging, E-mail, and Voice Call features. The answers to queries are provided on the left hand side information panel where participants have to search for it and feed the information in the respective communication media blocks as fast as possible. On the whole the system will collect multitasking behavioral data. To analyze performance there is a separate output table that records the reaction times and responses of the participants individually. Information panel and all the media blocks will appear on a single window in order to ensure multi-modality feature in media-multitasking and equal emphasis on all the tasks (thus avoiding prioritization to a particular task). The paper discusses the development of QTM in the light of current techniques of studying media-multitasking.

Keywords: experimentation system, human performance, media-multitasking, query-task

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1095 A Qualitative Study of the Psychologically Challenging Aspects of Taking Part in an Ultra-Endurance Atlantic Rowing Event

Authors: John Allbutt, Andrew Murray, Jonathan Ling, Thomas M. Heffernan

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Ultra-endurance events place unique physical and psychological pressures on participants. In this study, we examined the psychologically challenging aspects of taking part in a 3000 mile transatlantic rowing race using a qualitative approach. To date, more people have been into space than have rowed an ocean and only one psychological study has been conducted on this experience which had a specific research focus. The current study was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Participants were an opportunity sample of seven competitors from a recent ocean rowing race. Participants were asked about the psychological aspects of the event after it had finished. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Several themes emerged from the analysis. These related to: 1) preparation; 2) bodily aches/pains, 3) race setbacks; 4) boat conditions; 5) interpersonal factors and communication; 6) strategies for managing stress and interpersonal tensions. While participants were generally very positive about the event, the analysis showed that they experienced significant psychological challenges during their voyage. Competitors paid considerable attention to preparing for the physical challenges of the event. However, not all prospective competitors gave the same time to preparing for psychological factors or were aware how they might play out during their voyage. All Atlantic rowing crews should be aware of the psychological challenges they face, and have strategies in place to help cope with the psychological strain of taking part.

Keywords: confinement experiences, ocean rowing, stress, ultra-endurance sport

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1094 Critical Success Factors Quality Requirement Change Management

Authors: Jamshed Ahmad, Abdul Wahid Khan, Javed Ali Khan

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Managing software quality requirements change management is a difficult task in the field of software engineering. Avoiding incoming changes result in user dissatisfaction while accommodating to many requirement changes may delay product delivery. Poor requirements management is solely considered the primary cause of the software failure. It becomes more challenging in global software outsourcing. Addressing success factors in quality requirement change management is desired today due to the frequent change requests from the end-users. In this research study, success factors are recognized and scrutinized with the help of a systematic literature review (SLR). In total, 16 success factors were identified, which significantly impacted software quality requirement change management. The findings show that Proper Requirement Change Management, Rapid Delivery, Quality Software Product, Access to Market, Project Management, Skills and Methodologies, Low Cost/Effort Estimation, Clear Plan and Road Map, Agile Processes, Low Labor Cost, User Satisfaction, Communication/Close Coordination, Proper Scheduling and Time Constraints, Frequent Technological Changes, Robust Model, Geographical distribution/Cultural differences are the key factors that influence software quality requirement change. The recognized success factors and validated with the help of various research methods, i.e., case studies, interviews, surveys and experiments. These factors are then scrutinized in continents, database, company size and period of time. Based on these findings, requirement change will be implemented in a better way.

Keywords: global software development, requirement engineering, systematic literature review, success factors

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1093 Chaotic Electronic System with Lambda Diode

Authors: George Mahalu

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The Chua diode has been configured over time in various ways, using electronic structures like operational amplifiers (AOs) or devices with gas or semiconductors. When discussing the use of semiconductor devices, tunnel diodes (Esaki diodes) are most often considered, and more recently, transistorized configurations such as lambda diodes. The paperwork proposed here uses in the modeling a lambda diode type configuration consisting of two junction field effect transistors (JFET). The original scheme is created in the MULTISIM electronic simulation environment and is analyzed in order to identify the conditions for the appearance of evolutionary unpredictability specific to nonlinear dynamic systems with chaos-induced behavior. The chaotic deterministic oscillator is one autonomous type, a fact that places it in the class of Chua’s type oscillators, the only significant and most important difference being the presence of a nonlinear device like the one mentioned structure above. The chaotic behavior is identified both by means of strange attractor-type trajectories and visible during the simulation and by highlighting the hypersensitivity of the system to small variations of one of the input parameters. The results obtained through simulation and the conclusions drawn are useful in the further research of ways to implement such constructive electronic solutions in theoretical and practical applications related to modern small signal amplification structures, to systems for encoding and decoding messages through various modern ways of communication, as well as new structures that can be imagined both in modern neural networks and in those for the physical implementation of some requirements imposed by current research with the aim of obtaining practically usable solutions in quantum computing and quantum computers.

Keywords: chua, diode, memristor, chaos

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1092 IoT and Deep Learning approach for Growth Stage Segregation and Harvest Time Prediction of Aquaponic and Vermiponic Swiss Chards

Authors: Praveen Chandramenon, Andrew Gascoyne, Fideline Tchuenbou-Magaia

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Aquaponics offers a simple conclusive solution to the food and environmental crisis of the world. This approach combines the idea of Aquaculture (growing fish) to Hydroponics (growing vegetables and plants in a soilless method). Smart Aquaponics explores the use of smart technology including artificial intelligence and IoT, to assist farmers with better decision making and online monitoring and control of the system. Identification of different growth stages of Swiss Chard plants and predicting its harvest time is found to be important in Aquaponic yield management. This paper brings out the comparative analysis of a standard Aquaponics with a Vermiponics (Aquaponics with worms), which was grown in the controlled environment, by implementing IoT and deep learning-based growth stage segregation and harvest time prediction of Swiss Chards before and after applying an optimal freshwater replenishment. Data collection, Growth stage classification and Harvest Time prediction has been performed with and without water replenishment. The paper discusses the experimental design, IoT and sensor communication with architecture, data collection process, image segmentation, various regression and classification models and error estimation used in the project. The paper concludes with the results comparison, including best models that performs growth stage segregation and harvest time prediction of the Aquaponic and Vermiponic testbed with and without freshwater replenishment.

Keywords: aquaponics, deep learning, internet of things, vermiponics

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1091 Improving Fault Tolerance and Load Balancing in Heterogeneous Grid Computing Using Fractal Transform

Authors: Saad M. Darwish, Adel A. El-Zoghabi, Moustafa F. Ashry

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The popularity of the Internet and the availability of powerful computers and high-speed networks as low-cost commodity components are changing the way we use computers today. These technical opportunities have led to the possibility of using geographically distributed and multi-owner resources to solve large-scale problems in science, engineering, and commerce. Recent research on these topics has led to the emergence of a new paradigm known as Grid computing. To achieve the promising potentials of tremendous distributed resources, effective and efficient load balancing algorithms are fundamentally important. Unfortunately, load balancing algorithms in traditional parallel and distributed systems, which usually run on homogeneous and dedicated resources, cannot work well in the new circumstances. In this paper, the concept of a fast fractal transform in heterogeneous grid computing based on R-tree and the domain-range entropy is proposed to improve fault tolerance and load balancing algorithm by improve connectivity, communication delay, network bandwidth, resource availability, and resource unpredictability. A novel two-dimension figure of merit is suggested to describe the network effects on load balance and fault tolerance estimation. Fault tolerance is enhanced by adaptively decrease replication time and message cost while load balance is enhanced by adaptively decrease mean job response time. Experimental results show that the proposed method yields superior performance over other methods.

Keywords: Grid computing, load balancing, fault tolerance, R-tree, heterogeneous systems

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1090 Collaborative Learning Strategies in Engineering Tuition Focused on Students’ Engagement

Authors: Maria Gonzalez Alriols, Itziar Egues, Maria A. Andres, Mirari Antxustegi

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Peer to peer learning is an educational tool very useful to enhance teamwork and reinforce cooperation between mates. It is particularly successful to work with students of different level of previous knowledge, as it often happens among pupils of subjects in the first course of science and engineering studies. Depending on the performed pre-university academic itinerary, the acquired knowledge in disciplines as mathematics, physics, or chemistry may be quite different. This fact is an added difficulty to the tuition of first-course basic science subjects of engineering degrees, with inexperienced students that do not know each other. In this context, peer to peer learning applied in small groups facilitates the communication between mates and makes it easier for the students with low level to be helped by the ones with better prior knowledge. In this work, several collaborative learning strategies were designed to be applied in the tuition of the subject 'chemistry', which is imparted in the first course of an engineering degree. Students were organized in groups combining mates with different level of prior knowledge. The teaching role was offered to the more experienced students who were responsible for designing learning pills to help the other mates in their group. This workload was rewarded with an extra mark, and more extra points were offered to all the group mates if every student in the group reached a determined level at the end of the semester. It was very important to start these activities from the beginning of the semester in order to avoid absenteeism. The obtained results were positive as a higher percentage of mates signed up and passed the final exam, the obtained final marks were higher, and a much better atmosphere was observed in the class.

Keywords: peer to peer tuition, collaborative learning, engineering instruction, chemistry

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1089 A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study on the Impact of Automation on People and Gardening

Authors: Hamilton V. Niculescu

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Following a three year study conducted on eighteen Irish people that are involved in growing vegetables in various community gardens around Dublin, Republic of Ireland, it was revealed that addition of some automated features aimed at improving agricultural practices represented a process which was regarded as potentially beneficial, and as a great tool to closely monitor climate conditions inside the greenhouses. The participants were provided with a free custom-built mobile app through which they could remotely monitor and control features such as irrigation, air ventilation, and windows to ensure optimal growing conditions for vegetables growing inside purpose-built greenhouses. While the initial interest was generally high, within weeks, the participants' level of interaction with the enclosures slowly declined. By employing a constructivist grounded theory methodology, following focus group discussions, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and observations, it was revealed that participants' trust in newer technologies, and renewables, in particular, was low. There are various reasons for this, but because the participants in this study consist of mainly working-class people, it can be argued that lack of education and knowledge are the main barriers acting against the adoption of innovations. Consequently, it was revealed that most participants eventually decided to "set and forget" the systems in automatic working mode, indicating that the immediate effect of introducing people to assisting technologies also introduced some unintended consequences into their lifestyle. It is argued that this occurrence also indicates the fact that people initially "read" newer technologies and only adopt those features that they find useful and less intrusive in regards to their current lifestyle.

Keywords: automation, communication, greenhouse, sustainable

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1088 Language Effects on the Prestige and Product Image of Advertised Smartphone in Consumer Purchases in Indonesia

Authors: Vidyarini Dwita, Rebecca Fanany

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This study will discuss the growth of the market for smartphone technology in Indonesia. This country, with the world’s fourth largest population, has a reputation as the social media capital of the world, and this reputation is largely justified. The penetration of social media is high in Indonesia which has one of the largest global markets. Most Indonesian users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms access the sites from their mobile phones. Indonesia is expected to continue to be a major market for digital mobile devices, such as smartphone and tablets that can access the internet. The aim of this study to describe the way responses of Indonesian consumers to smartphone advertising using English and Indonesian will impact on their perceptions of the prestige and product image of the advertised items and thus influence consumer intention to purchase the item. Advertising for smartphones and similar products is intense and dynamic and often draws on the social attitudes of Indonesians with respect to linguistic and cultural content and especially appeals to their desire to be part of global mainstream culture. The study uses a qualitative method based on in-depth interviews with 30 participants. Content analysis is employed to analyse the responses of Indonesian consumers to smartphone advertising that uses English and Indonesian text. Its findings indicate that consumers’ impressions of English and Indonesian slogans influence their attitudes toward smartphones, suggesting that linguistic context plays a role in influencing consumer purchases.

Keywords: consumer purchases, marketing communication, product image, smartphone advertising, sociolinguistic

Procedia PDF Downloads 199
1087 IoT Continuous Monitoring Biochemical Oxygen Demand Wastewater Effluent Quality: Machine Learning Algorithms

Authors: Sergio Celaschi, Henrique Canavarro de Alencar, Claaudecir Biazoli

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Effluent quality is of the highest priority for compliance with the permit limits of environmental protection agencies and ensures the protection of their local water system. Of the pollutants monitored, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) posed one of the greatest challenges. This work presents a solution for wastewater treatment plants - WWTP’s ability to react to different situations and meet treatment goals. Delayed BOD5 results from the lab take 7 to 8 analysis days, hindered the WWTP’s ability to react to different situations and meet treatment goals. Reducing BOD turnaround time from days to hours is our quest. Such a solution is based on a system of two BOD bioreactors associated with Digital Twin (DT) and Machine Learning (ML) methodologies via an Internet of Things (IoT) platform to monitor and control a WWTP to support decision making. DT is a virtual and dynamic replica of a production process. DT requires the ability to collect and store real-time sensor data related to the operating environment. Furthermore, it integrates and organizes the data on a digital platform and applies analytical models allowing a deeper understanding of the real process to catch sooner anomalies. In our system of continuous time monitoring of the BOD suppressed by the effluent treatment process, the DT algorithm for analyzing the data uses ML on a chemical kinetic parameterized model. The continuous BOD monitoring system, capable of providing results in a fraction of the time required by BOD5 analysis, is composed of two thermally isolated batch bioreactors. Each bioreactor contains input/output access to wastewater sample (influent and effluent), hydraulic conduction tubes, pumps, and valves for batch sample and dilution water, air supply for dissolved oxygen (DO) saturation, cooler/heater for sample thermal stability, optical ODO sensor based on fluorescence quenching, pH, ORP, temperature, and atmospheric pressure sensors, local PLC/CPU for TCP/IP data transmission interface. The dynamic BOD system monitoring range covers 2 mg/L < BOD < 2,000 mg/L. In addition to the BOD monitoring system, there are many other operational WWTP sensors. The CPU data is transmitted/received to/from the digital platform, which in turn performs analyses at periodic intervals, aiming to feed the learning process. BOD bulletins and their credibility intervals are made available in 12-hour intervals to web users. The chemical kinetics ML algorithm is composed of a coupled system of four first-order ordinary differential equations for the molar masses of DO, organic material present in the sample, biomass, and products (CO₂ and H₂O) of the reaction. This system is solved numerically linked to its initial conditions: DO (saturated) and initial products of the kinetic oxidation process; CO₂ = H₂0 = 0. The initial values for organic matter and biomass are estimated by the method of minimization of the mean square deviations. A real case of continuous monitoring of BOD wastewater effluent quality is being conducted by deploying an IoT application on a large wastewater purification system located in S. Paulo, Brazil.

Keywords: effluent treatment, biochemical oxygen demand, continuous monitoring, IoT, machine learning

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1086 Evaluation of Polymerisation Shrinkage of Randomly Oriented Micro-Sized Fibre Reinforced Dental Composites Using Fibre-Bragg Grating Sensors and Their Correlation with Degree of Conversion

Authors: Sonam Behl, Raju, Ginu Rajan, Paul Farrar, B. Gangadhara Prusty

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Reinforcing dental composites with micro-sized fibres can significantly improve the physio-mechanical properties of dental composites. The short fibres can be oriented randomly within dental composites, thus providing quasi-isotropic reinforcing efficiency unlike unidirectional/bidirectional fibre reinforced composites enhancing anisotropic properties. Thus, short fibres reinforced dental composites are getting popular among practitioners. However, despite their popularity, resin-based dental composites are prone to failure on account of shrinkage during photo polymerisation. The shrinkage in the structure may lead to marginal gap formation, causing secondary caries, thus ultimately inducing failure of the restoration. The traditional methods to evaluate polymerisation shrinkage using strain gauges, density-based measurements, dilatometer, or bonded-disk focuses on average value of volumetric shrinkage. Moreover, the results obtained from traditional methods are sensitive to the specimen geometry. The present research aims to evaluate the real-time shrinkage strain at selected locations in the material with the help of optical fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. Due to the miniature size (diameter 250 µm) of FBG sensors, they can be easily embedded into small samples of dental composites. Furthermore, an FBG array into the system can map the real-time shrinkage strain at different regions of the composite. The evaluation of real-time monitoring of shrinkage values may help to optimise the physio-mechanical properties of composites. Previously, FBG sensors have been able to rightfully measure polymerisation strains of anisotropic (unidirectional or bidirectional) reinforced dental composites. However, very limited study exists to establish the validity of FBG based sensors to evaluate volumetric shrinkage for randomly oriented fibres reinforced composites. The present study aims to fill this research gap and is focussed on establishing the usage of FBG based sensors for evaluating the shrinkage of dental composites reinforced with randomly oriented fibres. Three groups of specimens were prepared by mixing the resin (80% UDMA/20% TEGDMA) with 55% of silane treated BaAlSiO₂ particulate fillers or by adding 5% of micro-sized fibres of diameter 5 µm, and length 250/350 µm along with 50% of silane treated BaAlSiO₂ particulate fillers into the resin. For measurement of polymerisation shrinkage strain, an array of three fibre Bragg grating sensors was embedded at a depth of 1 mm into a circular Teflon mould of diameter 15 mm and depth 2 mm. The results obtained are compared with the traditional method for evaluation of the volumetric shrinkage using density-based measurements. Degree of conversion was measured using FTIR spectroscopy (Spotlight 400 FT-IR from PerkinElmer). It is expected that the average polymerisation shrinkage strain values for dental composites reinforced with micro-sized fibres can directly correlate with the measured degree of conversion values, implying that more C=C double bond conversion to C-C single bond values also leads to higher shrinkage strain within the composite. Moreover, it could be established the photonics approach could help assess the shrinkage at any point of interest in the material, suggesting that fibre-Bragg grating sensors are a suitable means for measuring real-time polymerisation shrinkage strain for randomly fibre reinforced dental composites as well.

Keywords: dental composite, glass fibre, polymerisation shrinkage strain, fibre-Bragg grating sensors

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1085 Understanding the Manifestation of Psychosocial Difficulties in Children with Developmental Language Disorder, with a Focus on Anxiety and Social Frustration

Authors: Annabel Burnley, Michelle St. Clair, Charlotte Dack, Yvonne Wren

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Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are well documented to experience social and emotional difficulties. Despite this, there is little consensus as to how these difficulties manifest, without which the ability to develop prevention initiatives is limited. An online survey was completed by 107 parents of either child with DLD (‘DLD sample’; n=57), or typically developing children (‘typical sample’; n=50), all aged 6-12 years old. Psychosocial symptom measures were used, alongside 11 psychosocial statements generated from previous qualitative work. Qualitative interviews were then held to understand the manifestation of key difficulties in more depth (n=4). The DLD sample scored significantly higher on all psychosocial statements than the typical sample. Experiencing anxiety (80.7%), requiring routine and sameness (75.4%) and struggling to regulate their emotions (75.4%) were the most common difficulties for a majority of children with DLD. For this DLD sample, family communication and coping styles were found not to contribute to the manifestation of these difficulties. Two separate mediation models were run to understand the role of other psychosocial difficulties in the manifestation of (1) anxiety and (2) social frustration. ‘Intolerance of uncertainty was found to strongly mediate the relationship between DLD diagnosis and symptoms of anxiety. Emotion regulation was found to moderately mediate the relationship between DLD diagnosis and social frustration. Parents appear to cope well with their children’s complex psychosocial needs, but further external intervention is needed. Intervention focussing on intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation may help the management of anxiety and social frustration. Further research is needed to understand the children’s routined behaviors.

Keywords: psychosocial difficulties, developmental language disorder, specific language impairment, parent, anxiety

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1084 Physiological Normoxia and Cellular Adhesion of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Primary Cells: Real-Time PCR and Immunohistochemistry Study

Authors: Kamila Duś-Szachniewicz, Kinga M. Walaszek, Paweł Skiba, Paweł Kołodziej, Piotr Ziółkowski

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Cell adhesion is of fundamental importance in the cell communication, signaling, and motility, and its dysfunction occurs prevalently during cancer progression. The knowledge of the molecular and cellular processes involved in abnormalities in cancer cells adhesion has greatly increased, and it has been focused mainly on cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs) and tumor microenvironment. Unfortunately, most of the data regarding CAMs expression relates to study on cells maintained in standard oxygen condition of 21%, while the emerging evidence suggests that culturing cells in ambient air is far from physiological. In fact, oxygen in human tissues ranges from 1 to 11%. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of physiological lymph node normoxia (5% O2), and hyperoxia (21% O2) on the expression of cellular adhesion molecules of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells (DLBCL) isolated from 10 lymphoma patients. Quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to confirm the differential expression of several CAMs, including ICAM, CD83, CD81, CD44, depending on the level of oxygen. Our findings also suggest that DLBCL cells maintained at ambient O2 (21%) exhibit reduced growth rate and migration ability compared to the cells growing in normoxia conditions. Taking into account all the observations, we emphasize the need to identify the optimal human cell culture conditions mimicking the physiological aspects of tumor growth and differentiation.

Keywords: adhesion molecules, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, physiological normoxia, quantitative RT-PCR

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1083 Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm vs. Genetic Algorithm for Image Watermarking Based Discrete Wavelet Transform

Authors: Omaima N. Ahmad AL-Allaf

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Over communication networks, images can be easily copied and distributed in an illegal way. The copyright protection for authors and owners is necessary. Therefore, the digital watermarking techniques play an important role as a valid solution for authority problems. Digital image watermarking techniques are used to hide watermarks into images to achieve copyright protection and prevent its illegal copy. Watermarks need to be robust to attacks and maintain data quality. Therefore, we discussed in this paper two approaches for image watermarking, first is based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and the second approach is based on Genetic Algorithm (GA). Discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) is used with the two approaches separately for embedding process to cover image transformation. Each of PSO and GA is based on co-relation coefficient to detect the high energy coefficient watermark bit in the original image and then hide the watermark in original image. Many experiments were conducted for the two approaches with different values of PSO and GA parameters. From experiments, PSO approach got better results with PSNR equal 53, MSE equal 0.0039. Whereas GA approach got PSNR equal 50.5 and MSE equal 0.0048 when using population size equal to 100, number of iterations equal to 150 and 3×3 block. According to the results, we can note that small block size can affect the quality of image watermarking based PSO/GA because small block size can increase the search area of the watermarking image. Better PSO results were obtained when using swarm size equal to 100.

Keywords: image watermarking, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, discrete wavelet transform

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1082 Computed Tomography Guided Bone Biopsies: Experience at an Australian Metropolitan Hospital

Authors: K. Hinde, R. Bookun, P. Tran

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Percutaneous CT guided biopsies provide a fast, minimally invasive, cost effective and safe method for obtaining tissue for histopathology and culture. Standards for diagnostic yield vary depending on whether the tissue is being obtained for histopathology or culture. We present a retrospective audit from Western Health in Melbourne Australia over a 12-month period which aimed to determine the diagnostic yield, technical success and complication rate for CT guided bone biopsies and identify factors affecting these results. The digital imaging storage program (Synapse Picture Archiving and Communication System – Fujifilm Australia) was analysed with key word searches from October 2015 to October 2016. Nineteen CT guided bone biopsies were performed during this time. The most common referring unit was oncology, work up imaging included CT, MRI, bone scan and PET scan. The complication rate was 0%, overall diagnostic yield was 74% with a technical success of 95%. When performing biopsies for histologic analysis diagnostic yield was 85% and when performing biopsies for bacterial culture diagnostic yield was 60%. There was no significant relationship identified between size of lesion, distance of lesion to skin, lesion appearance on CT, the number of samples taken or gauge of needle to diagnostic yield or technical success. CT guided bone biopsy at Western Health meets the standard reported at other major clinical centres for technical success and safety. It is a useful investigation in identification of primary malignancy in distal bone metastases.

Keywords: bone biopsy, computed tomography, core biopsy, histopathology

Procedia PDF Downloads 177
1081 Development and Implementation of E-Disease Surveillance Systems for Public Health Southern Africa: A Critical Review

Authors: Taurai T. Chikotie, Bruce W. Watson

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The manifestation of ‘new’ infectious diseases and the re-emergence of ‘old’ infectious diseases now present global problems and Southern Africa has not been spared from such calamity. Although having an organized public health system, countries in this region have failed to leverage on the proliferation in use of Information and Communication Technologies to promote effective disease surveillance. Objective: The objective of this study was to critically review and analyse the crucial variables to consider in the development and implementation of electronic disease surveillance systems in public health within the context of Southern Africa. Methodology: A critical review of literature published in English using, Google Scholar, EBSCOHOST, Science Direct, databases from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC and articles from the World Health Organisation (WHO) was undertaken. Manual reference and grey literature searches were also conducted. Results: Little has been done towards harnessing the potential of information technologies towards disease surveillance and this has been due to several challenges that include, lack of funding, lack of health informatics experts, poor supporting infrastructure, an unstable socio-political and socio-economic ecosystem in the region and archaic policies towards integration of information technologies in public health governance. Conclusion: The Southern African region stands to achieve better health outcomes if they adopt the use of e-disease surveillance systems in public health. However, the dynamics and complexities of the socio-economic, socio-political and technical variables would need addressing to ensure the successful development and implementation of e-disease surveillance systems in the region.

Keywords: critical review, disease surveillance, public health informatics, Southern Africa

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1080 An IoT-Enabled Crop Recommendation System Utilizing Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) for Efficient Data Transmission to AI/ML Models

Authors: Prashansa Singh, Rohit Bajaj, Manjot Kaur

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In the modern agricultural landscape, precision farming has emerged as a pivotal strategy for enhancing crop yield and optimizing resource utilization. This paper introduces an innovative Crop Recommendation System (CRS) that leverages the Internet of Things (IoT) technology and the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol to collect critical environmental and soil data via sensors deployed across agricultural fields. The system is designed to address the challenges of real-time data acquisition, efficient data transmission, and dynamic crop recommendation through the application of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models. The CRS architecture encompasses a network of sensors that continuously monitor environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and nutrient levels. This sensor data is then transmitted to a central MQTT server, ensuring reliable and low-latency communication even in bandwidth-constrained scenarios typical of rural agricultural settings. Upon reaching the server, the data is processed and analyzed by AI/ML models trained to correlate specific environmental conditions with optimal crop choices and cultivation practices. These models consider historical crop performance data, current agricultural research, and real-time field conditions to generate tailored crop recommendations. This implementation gets 99% accuracy.

Keywords: Iot, MQTT protocol, machine learning, sensor, publish, subscriber, agriculture, humidity

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1079 Colloid-Based Biodetection at Aqueous Electrical Interfaces Using Fluidic Dielectrophoresis

Authors: Francesca Crivellari, Nicholas Mavrogiannis, Zachary Gagnon

Abstract:

Portable diagnostic methods have become increasingly important for a number of different purposes: point-of-care screening in developing nations, environmental contamination studies, bio/chemical warfare agent detection, and end-user use for commercial health monitoring. The cheapest and most portable methods currently available are paper-based – lateral flow and dipstick methods are widely available in drug stores for use in pregnancy detection and blood glucose monitoring. These tests are successful because they are cheap to produce, easy to use, and require minimally invasive sampling. While adequate for their intended uses, in the realm of blood-borne pathogens and numerous cancers, these paper-based methods become unreliable, as they lack the nM/pM sensitivity currently achieved by clinical diagnostic methods. Clinical diagnostics, however, utilize techniques involving surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which are expensive and unfeasible in terms of portability. To develop a better, competitive biosensor, we must reduce the cost of one, or increase the sensitivity of the other. Electric fields are commonly utilized in microfluidic devices to manipulate particles, biomolecules, and cells. Applications in this area, however, are primarily limited to interfaces formed between immiscible interfaces. Miscible, liquid-liquid interfaces are common in microfluidic devices, and are easily reproduced with simple geometries. Here, we demonstrate the use of electrical fields at liquid-liquid electrical interfaces, known as fluidic dielectrophoresis, (fDEP) for biodetection in a microfluidic device. In this work, we apply an AC electric field across concurrent laminar streams with differing conductivities and permittivities to polarize the interface and induce a discernible, near-immediate, frequency-dependent interfacial tilt. We design this aqueous electrical interface, which becomes the biosensing “substrate,” to be intelligent – it “moves” only when a target of interest is present. This motion requires neither labels nor expensive electrical equipment, so the biosensor is inexpensive and portable, yet still capable of sensitive detection. Nanoparticles, due to their high surface-area-to-volume ratio, are often incorporated to enhance detection capabilities of schemes like SPR and fluorimetric assays. Most studies currently investigate binding at an immobilized solid-liquid or solid-gas interface, where particles are adsorbed onto a planar surface, functionalized with a receptor to create a reactive substrate, and subsequently flushed with a fluid or gas with the relevant analyte. These typically involve many preparation and rinsing steps, and are susceptible to surface fouling. Our microfluidic device is continuously flowing and renewing the “substrate,” and is thus not subject to fouling. In this work, we demonstrate the ability to electrokinetically detect biomolecules binding to functionalized nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interfaces using fDEP. In biotin-streptavidin experiments, we report binding detection limits on the order of 1-10 pM, without amplifying signals or concentrating samples. We also demonstrate the ability to detect this interfacial motion, and thus the presence of binding, using impedance spectroscopy, allowing this scheme to become non-optical, in addition to being label-free.

Keywords: biodetection, dielectrophoresis, microfluidics, nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 362
1078 “Referral for re-submission” – The Case of EFL Applied Linguistics Doctoral Defense Sessions

Authors: Alireza Jalilifar, Nadia Mayahi

Abstract:

An oral defense is the examination of a doctoral program in which the candidates display their academic capacity through sharing and disseminating the findings of their study and defending their position. In this challenging criticism-generating context, the examiners evaluate the PhD dissertation critically so as to confirm its scholarly merit or lack of it. To identify the examiners’ expectations of the viva, this study used a conversation analytic approach for analyzing the data. The research is inductive in that it seeks to develop theory that is grounded in the data. The data comprised transcripts of the question and answer section of two applied linguistics doctoral defense sessions from two accredited Iranian state universities in 2019, both of which are among the top Iranian universities on the list of Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In spite of the similar shortcomings and deficiencies, for instance, in terms of innovation, development, sampling, and treatment, raised by the examiners, one of these defenses passed with distinction while the other was referred for re-submission. It seems that the outcome of a viva, in an EFL context, not only depends on adherence to the rules and regulations of doctoral research but is also influenced to a certain extent by the strictness of the examiners and the candidates’ language proficiency and effective negotiation and communication skills in this confrontational communicative event. The findings of this study provide evidence for the issues determining the success or failure of PhD candidates in displaying their claims of scholarship during their defense sessions. This study has implications for both applied linguistics doctoral students and academics in EFL contexts who try to prove and authenticate the doctorateness of a dissertation.

Keywords: academic discourse, conversation analysis, doctoral defense, doctorateness, EFL

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1077 The Need for a Tool to Support Users of E-Science Infrastructures in a Virtual Laboratory Environment

Authors: Hashim Chunpir

Abstract:

Support processes play an important role to facilitate researchers (users) to accomplish their research activities with the help of cyber-infrastructure(s). However, the current user-support process in cyber-infrastructure needs a feasible tool to support users. This tool must enable the users of a cyber-infrastructure to communicate efficiently with the staffs of a cyber-infrastructure in order to get technical and scientific assistance, whilst saving resources at the same time. This research paper narrates the real story of employing various forms of tools to support the user and staff communication. In addition, this paper projects the lessons learned from an exploration of the help-desk tools in the current state of user support process in Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) from support staffs’ perspective. ESGF is a climate cyber-infrastructure that facilitates Earth System Modeling (ESM) and is taken as a case study in this paper. Finally, this study proposes a need for a tool, a framework or a platform that not only improves the user support process to address support servicing needs of end-users of e-Science infrastructures but also eases the life of staffs in providing assistance to the users. With the help of such a tool; the collaboration between users and the staffs of cyber-infrastructures is made easier. Consequently, the research activities of the users of e-Science infrastructure will thrive as the scientific and technical support will be available to users. Finally, this results into painless and productive e-Research.

Keywords: e-Science User Services, e-Research in Earth Sciences, Information Technology Services Management (ITSM), user support process, service desk, management of support activities, help desk tools, application of social media

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1076 Promotion of Public Participation in Community Planning, Bang Nang Li Sub-District, Amphawa District, Samutsongkhram Province

Authors: Sakapas Saengchai, Wilasinee Jintalikitdee, Matinee Kongsatit, Natapol Puaprasert

Abstract:

The study on promotion of public participation in community planning is a qualitative research. The data collection tools included participating observation, in-depth interview and focus group of executives of sub-district administrative organizations, sub-district headmen, community leaders of 5 villages, including civil society forums for exchanging ideas of village members. The study results revealed that key promotions of public participation in community planning were as follows: 1) Perception on public authorities’ information: Public relations should be set and information on community planning, key principles of local people participation should be prepared. Collaboration with community leaders in each village via sub-district administrative organizations should be established. 2) Discussion: In civil society forums, village members should brainstorm their opinions towards community development, village development, quality of life, current situation and problems to be revolved. 3) Participation: Members of each village should jointly participate, with community leaders, in setting sub-district development policies and community development projects. 4) Collaboration: To achieve goals, communities of each member should participate in project implementation and activities of community plans. 5) People power promotion: In each stage of communication planning, community leaders, village committees, local people should jointly set directions of village development and make decisions. This will enhance their joint learning and create community driving power. Community will become strong leading to sustainable self-reliance.

Keywords: people participation, community plans, community development, community driving power

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1075 Examining Awareness, Foresight and Expectations about Fatih Project Increasing the Occasions and Normalizing the Technology Movement

Authors: Agah Tugrul Korucu, Mustafa Mucahit Gundogdu, Tarık Gencturk, Ahmet Yucel

Abstract:

Countries are developing big projects and supplying financial resource for developing technological substructure and integrating technology into the education. In Turkey, the Ministry of Education, with the aim of integrating ICT into learning and teaching processes, created a project named increasing occasions and normalizing the technology movement. FATIH Project with this project, the aim is to create teaching environments which are enriched with technology. In orientating people with the technology and integrating technology into the education, teacher and teacher candidates have a big responsibility. While teachers are using technology in lesson, the devices in class and the methods developed are important factors. The aim of this research is to examine awareness, and foresight about FATIH Project in different aspects. This study was conducted during the practice period of the second semester in the 2014-2015 academic years. The working group of the research was created from 209 teacher candidates which are from different teaching departments in the Ahmet Kelesoglu Education Faculty of Necmettin Erbakan University. Scanning model was used in this research. In research, as a getting data tool evaluation of “opinion about FATIH Project: awareness, foresight and expectation scale” which was developed by Karal et. al.; personal information form which was developed by researchers were used. Cronbach coefficient which is the reliability of the scale is 0.91. In analyzing the data, statistical package program average, standard deviation, percentage, correlation, t-test and variance analysis test were used.

Keywords: Fatih Project, information and communication technologies, information technology integration, views on the Fatih Project, technology integration in education

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1074 Non-Adherence to Antidepressant Treatment and Its Predictors among Outpatients with Depressive Disorders

Authors: Selam Mulugeta, Barkot Milkias, Mesfin Araya, Abel Worku, Eyasu Mulugeta

Abstract:

In Ethiopia, there is inadequate information on non-adherence to antidepressant treatment in patients with depressive disorders. Having awareness of the pattern of adherence is important in future prognosis, quality of life, and functionality in these patients. This hospital-based cross-sectional quantitative study was done on a sample of 216 consecutive outpatients with depressive disorders. Data were collected using questionnaires through in-person and phone call interviews. The 8-item Morisky scale was used to assess the pattern of medication adherence. Other specially developed tools were used to obtain sociodemographic and clinical information from electronic medical records and patient interviews. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version - 25. Univariate and multivariable analyses were carried out to assess factors associated with non-adherence. 90% of the participants had a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder. Based on the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, the prevalence of non-adherence was found to be 84.7%. Living distance between 11 to 50 km from the hospital (AOR= 11, 95% CI (29,46.6)), post-secondary level of education (AOR= 8.3, 95% CI (1, 64.4)) and taking multiple medications (AOR= 6.1, 95% CI (1, 34.9)) were found to have significantly increased odds of non-adherence. Non-adherence was significantly associated with factors such as increased living distance from the hospital, relatively higher educational level, and polypharmacy. Proper and patient-centered psychoeducation, addressing the communication gap between patients and doctors, adherence to prescribing guidelines, avoiding polypharmacy unless indicated & working on accessibility of treatment is essential to decrease non-adherence.

Keywords: depressive disorders, Ethiopia, medication adherence, Addis Ababa

Procedia PDF Downloads 116
1073 The Adoption and Use of Social Media as a Source of Information by Egyptian Government Journalists

Authors: Essam Mansour

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This study purposes to explore the adoption and use of social media as a source of information by Egyptian government journalists. It applied a survey with a total of 386 journalists representing the three official newspapers of Egypt. Findings showed that 27.2% of journalists were found to not use social media, mainly males (69.7%), older than 40 years (77.7%) and mostly with a BA degree (80.4%). On the other hand, 72.8% of them were found to use these platforms who were also males (59.1%), younger than 40 years (65.9%) and mostly with a BA degree (93.2%). More than two-thirds (69.9%) were somewhat old users whose experience ranged from seven to ten years, and more than two-thirds (73.5%) have been heavily using these platforms (four to more than six hours a day. Such results confirm that a large number (95.7%) of users were found to be at least advanced users. Social media users’ home and work were the most significant places to access these platforms, which were found to be easy and useful to use. Most types of social media used were social news, media sharing and micro blogging, blogs comments and forums, social networking sites and bookmarking sites to perform tasks, such as finding information, making communication, keeping up to date, checking materials, sharing information and making discussions. A large number of users tend to accept these media platforms to be a source of information since they are accessible, linked references updated sources, accurate, promote current work, convenient, secured, credible, reliable, stabled, easily identified, copyrighted, build confident and contain filtered information. However, lack of know-how to cite sources, followed by lack of credibility of the source of news, lack of quality of information sources and lack of time were at least significant to journalists when using social media platforms.

Keywords: social media, social networking sites, newspapers, journalists, Egypt

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1072 Beyond the Water Seal: On-Field Observations of Occupational Hazards of Faecal Sludge Management in Southern Karnataka

Authors: Anissa Mary Thomas Thattil, Nancy Angeline Gnanaselvam, B. Ramakrishna Goud

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Faecal sludge management (FSM) is an unorganized sector, and in India, there is an absence of regulations regarding the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of faecal sludge. FSM has a high degree of occupational hazards that need to be thoroughly understood in order to shape effective solutions. On-field observations of five FSM operations were conducted in Anekal Taluk of southern Karnataka. All five of the FSM operations were privately owned and snowball method of sampling was employed. Two types of FS operations observed were: mechanical emptying involving direct human contact with faecal sludge and mechanical emptying without direct human contact with faecal sludge. Each operation was manned by 3-4 faecal sludge operators (FSOs). None of the observed FSOs used personal protective equipment. According to the WHO semi-quantitative risk assessment, the very high risk occupational hazards identified were dermal contact with faecal sludge, inhalation of toxic gases, and social stigma. The high risk hazards identified were trips and falls, injuries, ergonomic hazards, substance abuse, and mental health problems. In all five FSM operations, the collected faecal sludge was discharged untreated onto abandoned land. FSM in India is fraught with occupational and environmental hazards which need to be urgently addressed. This includes formalizing the institution of FSM, contextualized behaviour change communication, capacity building of local bodies, awareness programmes among agriculturists and FSOs, and designation of sites for the safe harnessing of faecal sludge as soil nutrient.

Keywords: faecal sludge, faecal sludge management, FSM, occupational hazards, sanitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 143
1071 Drama Education: Towards Building Multicultural Adolescent Peer Relationships

Authors: Tahnee West

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Drama education is increasingly understood as a useful tool in promoting positive social change and cultural awareness. The effects of both positive and negative peer relationships are also a researched facet of education systems. Despite this, very little research has been conducted in the intersection of these two areas, even given current, significant public interest surrounding multicultural relationships. This research addresses a problem faced by educators and students: facilitating meaningful multicultural relationships. The research explores the following question in an Australian context: in what ways does Drama education affect peer relationships between culturally diverse students? In doing so, the study explores the various challenges and experiences of a multicultural group of adolescents, in terms of forming and maintaining effective intercultural friendships, while participating in a series of drama workshops. The project presents a starting point for providing educators with strategies for inclusivity and relationship development amongst diverse student populations. Findings show that Drama education can positively affect culturally diverse young people’s peer relationships; interactions between participants and data collected in focus groups throughout the eight-week Drama program show a steady improvement in sense of trust, support, tolerance, empathy, familiarity with other participants, and enjoyment. Data also points to a positive correlation between the Drama activities and improved conflict resolution and communication skills, as well as an improved understanding of the other participants’ cultures. Diversities and commonalities within the group were explored, with similarities encouraging social cohesion, and decreasing cultural ‘cliques’.

Keywords: cultural diversity, drama education, friendship, multicultural, peer relationships

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1070 Sensing Study through Resonance Energy and Electron Transfer between Föster Resonance Energy Transfer Pair of Fluorescent Copolymers and Nitro-Compounds

Authors: Vishal Kumar, Soumitra Satapathi

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Föster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) is a powerful technique used to probe close-range molecular interactions. Physically, the FRET phenomenon manifests as a dipole–dipole interaction between closely juxtaposed fluorescent molecules (10–100 Å). Our effort is to employ this FRET technique to make a prototype device for highly sensitive detection of environment pollutant. Among the most common environmental pollutants, nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) are of particular interest because of their durability and toxicity. That’s why, sensitive and selective detection of small amounts of nitroaromatic explosives, in particular, 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP), 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) has been a critical challenge due to the increasing threat of explosive-based terrorism and the need of environmental monitoring of drinking and waste water. In addition, the excessive utilization of TNP in several other areas such as burn ointment, pesticides, glass and the leather industry resulted in environmental accumulation, and is eventually contaminating the soil and aquatic systems. To the date, high number of elegant methods, including fluorimetry, gas chromatography, mass, ion-mobility and Raman spectrometry have been successfully applied for explosive detection. Among these efforts, fluorescence-quenching methods based on the mechanism of FRET show good assembly flexibility, high selectivity and sensitivity. Here, we report a FRET-based sensor system for the highly selective detection of NACs, such as TNP, DNT and TNT. The sensor system is composed of a copolymer Poly [(N,N-dimethylacrylamide)-co-(Boc-Trp-EMA)] (RP) bearing tryptophan derivative in the side chain as donor and dansyl tagged copolymer P(MMA-co-Dansyl-Ala-HEMA) (DCP) as an acceptor. Initially, the inherent fluorescence of RP copolymer is quenched by non-radiative energy transfer to DCP which only happens once the two molecules are within Förster critical distance (R0). The excellent spectral overlap (Jλ= 6.08×10¹⁴ nm⁴M⁻¹cm⁻¹) between donors’ (RP) emission profile and acceptors’ (DCP) absorption profile makes them an exciting and efficient FRET pair i.e. further confirmed by the high rate of energy transfer from RP to DCP i.e. 0.87 ns⁻¹ and lifetime measurement by time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) to validate the 64% FRET efficiency. This FRET pair exhibited a specific fluorescence response to NACs such as DNT, TNT and TNP with 5.4, 2.3 and 0.4 µM LODs, respectively. The detection of NACs occurs with high sensitivity by photoluminescence quenching of FRET signal induced by photo-induced electron transfer (PET) from electron-rich FRET pair to electron-deficient NAC molecules. The estimated stern-volmer constant (KSV) values for DNT, TNT and TNP are 6.9 × 10³, 7.0 × 10³ and 1.6 × 104 M⁻¹, respectively. The mechanistic details of molecular interactions are established by time-resolved fluorescence, steady-state fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy confirmed that the sensing process is of mixed type, i.e. both dynamic and static quenching as lifetime of FRET system (0.73 ns) is reduced to 0.55, 0.57 and 0.61 ns DNT, TNT and TNP, respectively. In summary, the simplicity and sensitivity of this novel FRET sensor opens up the possibility of designing optical sensor of various NACs in one single platform for developing multimodal sensor for environmental monitoring and future field based study.

Keywords: FRET, nitroaromatic, stern-Volmer constant, tryptophan and dansyl tagged copolymer

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1069 Translation of Culture-Specific References in the Turkish Translation of Shakespeare's Macbeth

Authors: Feride Sumbul

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Drama is a literary genre that mirrors the people and society and transfers the human nature and life to the reader or the audience within its own social-cultural structure. Each play takes on a new reality in the time and culture of the staging, and each performance actually brings a new interpretation to the play. Similarly, each translation adds a new meaning to the source text. In other words, the translated theatrical text transcends the boundaries of its language and culture and finds a new interpretation. Thus the translation of drama takes place as a transfer from one culture to another as a cross cultural communication. In this context, translating culture specific references play a key role in terms of reflecting cultural aspects of a target society. This study aims to explore the use of Venuti's translation principles of domestication and foreignization in the transfer of culture specific references in the Turkish translation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth is to be compared with its Turkish version in terms of the transference of culture specific references such as religious, witchcraft, and mythological, which have no equivalent in the target language and culture. To evaluate these principles of Venuti, Davies’s translation strategies are also conducted. As a method, for the most part, he predominantly uses Davies’ method of ‘addition’ through adding extra information in the notes. For instance, rather than finding the Turkish renderings of them, the translator mostly chooses to transfer witchcraft references through retaining them in the target text, but he mainly adds extra information about the references in the notes. Therefore, the translator Nutku mostly uses Venuti’s translation principle of foreignization so that he preserves the foreignness of the theatrical text.

Keywords: drama translation, theatrical texts, culture specific references, Macbeth

Procedia PDF Downloads 135