Search results for: average information ratio

Authors: Kristina Pflug, Markus Busch

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Being able to predict polymer properties and processing behavior based on the applied operating reaction conditions in one of the key challenges in modern polymer reaction engineering. Especially, for cost-intensive processes such as the high-pressure polymerization of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with high safety-requirements, the need for simulation-based process optimization and product design is high. A multi-scale modelling approach was set-up and validated via a series of high-pressure mini-plant autoclave reactor experiments. The approach starts with the numerical modelling of the complex reaction network of the LDPE polymerization taking into consideration the actual reaction conditions. While this gives average product properties, the complex polymeric microstructure including random short- and long-chain branching is calculated via a hybrid Monte Carlo-approach. Finally, the processing behavior of LDPE -its melt flow behavior- is determined in dependence of the previously determined polymeric microstructure using the branch on branch algorithm for randomly branched polymer systems. All three steps of the multi-scale modelling approach can be independently validated against analytical data. A triple-detector GPC containing an IR, viscosimetry and multi-angle light scattering detector is applied. It serves to determine molecular weight distributions as well as chain-length dependent short- and long-chain branching frequencies. 13C-NMR measurements give average branching frequencies, and rheological measurements in shear and extension serve to characterize the polymeric flow behavior. The accordance of experimental and modelled results was found to be extraordinary, especially taking into consideration that the applied multi-scale modelling approach does not contain parameter fitting of the data. This validates the suggested approach and proves its universality at the same time. In the next step, the modelling approach can be applied to other reactor types, such as tubular reactors or industrial scale. Moreover, sensitivity analysis for systematically varying process conditions is easily feasible. The developed multi-scale modelling approach finally gives the opportunity to predict and design LDPE processing behavior simply based on process conditions such as feed streams and inlet temperatures and pressures.

Keywords: low-density polyethylene, multi-scale modelling, polymer properties, reaction engineering, rheology

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Authors: Ziv Kassner, Gal Ribak

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Members of the Odonata order (dragonflies and damselflies) stand out for their maneuverability and superb flight control, which allow them to catch flying prey in the air. These outstanding aerial abilities were fine-tuned during millions of years of an evolutionary arms race between Odonata and their prey, providing an attractive research model for studying the relationship between sensory input – and aerodynamic output in a flying insect. The ability to catch a maneuvering target in air is interesting not just for insect behavioral ecology and neuroethology but also for designing small and efficient robotic air vehicles. While the aerial prey interception of dragonflies (suborder: Anisoptera) have been studied before, little is known about how damselflies (suborder: Zygoptera) intercept prey. Here, high-speed cameras (filming at 1000 frames per second) were used to explore how damselflies catch unpredictable targets that move through air. Blue-tailed damselflies - Ischnura elegans (family: Coenagrionidae) were introduced to a flight arena and filmed while landing on moving targets that were oscillated harmonically. The insects succeeded in capturing targets that were moved with an amplitude of 6 cm and frequencies of 0-2.5 Hz (fastest mean target speed of 0.3 m s⁻¹) and targets that were moved in 1 Hz (an average speed of 0.3 m s⁻¹) but with an amplitude of 15 cm. To land on stationary or slow targets, damselflies either flew directly to the target, or flew sideways, up to a point in which the target was fixed in the center of the field of view, followed by direct flight path towards the target. As the target moved in increased frequency, damselflies demonstrated an ability to track the targets while flying sideways and minimizing the changes of their body direction on the yaw axis. This was likely an attempt to keep the targets at the center of the visual field while minimizing rotational optic flow of the surrounding visual panorama. Stabilizing rotational optic flow helps in estimation of the velocity and distance of the target. These results illustrate how dynamic visual information is used by damselflies to guide them towards a maneuvering target, enabling the superb aerial hunting abilities of these insects. They also exemplifies the plasticity of the damselfly flight apparatus which enables flight in any direction, irrespective of the direction of the body.

Keywords: bio-mechanics, insect flight, target fixation, tracking and interception

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Authors: Rajasekhar Reddy Poonuru, Anusha Parnem

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Purpose: To formulate proliposome powder of agomelatine, an antipsychotic drug, and to evaluate physicochemical, in vitro characters and effect of surface charge on ex vivo intestinal permeation. Methods: Film deposition technique was employed to develop proliposomal powders of agomelatin with varying molar ratios of lipid Hydro Soy PC L-α-phosphatidylcholine (HSPC) and cholesterol with fixed sum of drug. With the aim to derive free flowing and stable proliposome powder, fluid retention potential of various carriers was examined. Liposome formation and number of vesicles formed for per mm3 up on hydration, vesicle size, and entrapment efficiency was assessed to deduce an optimized formulation. Sodium cholate added to optimized formulation to induce surface charge on formed vesicles. Solid-state characterization (FTIR, DSC, and XRD) was performed with the intention to assess native crystalline and chemical behavior of drug. The in vitro dissolution test of optimized formulation along with pure drug was evaluated to estimate dissolution efficiency (DE) and relative dissolution rate (RDR). Effective permeability co-efficient (Peff(rat)) in rat and enhancement ratio (ER) of drug from formulation and pure drug dispersion were calculated from ex vivo permeation studies in rat ileum. Results: Proliposomal powder formulated with equimolar ratio of HSPC and cholesterol ensued in higher no. of vesicles (3.95) with 90% drug entrapment up on hydration. Neusilin UFL2 was elected as carrier because of its high fluid retention potential (4.5) and good flow properties. Proliposome powder exhibited augmentation in DE (60.3 ±3.34) and RDR (21.2±01.02) of agomelation over pure drug. Solid state characterization studies demonstrated the transformation of native crystalline form of drug to amorphous and/or molecular state, which was in correlation with results obtained from in vitro dissolution test. The elevated Peff(rat) of 46.5×10-4 cm/sec and ER of 2.65 of drug from charge induced proliposome formulation with respect to pure drug dispersion was assessed from ex vivo intestinal permeation studies executed in ileum of wistar rats. Conclusion: Improved physicochemical characters and ex vivo intestinal permeation of drug from charge induced proliposome powder with Neusilin UFL2 unravels the potentiality of this system in enhancing oral delivery of agomelatin.

Keywords: agomelatin, proliposome, sodium cholate, neusilin

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Authors: Chhaya Gangwal, R. N. Bhaumik, Shishir Kumar

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Handling uncertainty and impreciseness of knowledge appears to be a challenging task in Information Systems. Intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) and rough set theory enhances databases by allowing it for the management of uncertainty and impreciseness. This paper presents a new efficient query optimization technique for the multi-valued or imprecise IF rough database. The usefulness of this technique was illustrated on malaria knowledge from the rural tribal communities of Tripura where most of the information is multi-valued and imprecise. Then, the querying about knowledge on malaria is executed into SQL server to make the implementation of IF rough data querying simpler.

Keywords: intuitionistic fuzzy set, rough set, relational database, IF rough relational database

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Authors: Nana Bolashvili, Vakhtang Geladze, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Machavariani, George Geladze, Davit Kartvelishvili, Ana Karalashvili

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Fresh water is the major natural resource of Georgia. The average perennial sum of the rivers' runoff in Georgia is 52,77 km³, out of which 9,30 km³ inflows from abroad. The major volume of transit river runoff is ascribed to the Chorokhi river. Average perennial runoff in Western Georgia is 41,52 km³, in Eastern Georgia 11,25 km³. The indices of Eastern and Western Georgia were calculated with 50% and 90% river runoff respectively, while the same index calculation for other countries is based on a 50% river runoff. Out of total volume of resources, 133,2 m³/sec (4,21 km³) has been geologically prospected by the State Commission on Reserves and Acknowledged as reserves available for exploitation, 48% (2,02 km³) of which is in Western Georgia and 2,19 km³ in Eastern Georgia. Considering acknowledged water reserves of all categories per capita water resources accounts to 2,2 m³/day, whereas high industrial category -0. 88 m³ /day fresh drinking water. According to accepted norms, the possibility of using underground water reserves is 2,5 times higher than the long-term requirements of the country. The volume of abundant fresh-water reserves in Georgia is about 150 m³/sec (4,74 km³). Water in Georgia is consumed mostly in agriculture for irrigation purposes. It makes 66,4% around Georgia, in Eastern Georgia 72,4% and 38% in Western Georgia. According to the long-term forecast provision of population and the territory with water resources in Eastern Georgia will be quite normal. A bit different is the situation in the lower reaches of the Khrami and Iori rivers which could be easily overcome by corresponding financing. The present day irrigation system in Georgia does not meet the modern technical requirements. The overall efficiency of their majority varies between 0,4-0,6. Similar is the situation in the fresh water and public service water consumption. Organization of the mentioned systems, installation of water meters, introduction of new methods of irrigation without water loss will substantially increase efficiency of water use. Besides new irrigation norms developed from agro-climatic, geographical and hydrological angle will significantly reduce water waste. Taking all this into account we assume that for irrigation agricultural lands in Georgia is necessary 6,0 km³ water, 5,5 km³ of which goes to Eastern Georgia on irrigation arable areas. To increase water supply in Eastern Georgian territory and its population is possible by means of new water reservoirs as the runoff of every river considerably exceeds the consumption volume. In conclusion, we should say that fresh water resources by which Georgia is that rich could be significant source for barter exchange and investment attraction. Certain volume of fresh water can be exported from Western Georgia quite trouble free, without bringing any damage to population and hydroecosystems. The precise volume of exported water per region/time and method/place of water consumption should be defined after the estimation of different hydroecosystems and detailed analyses of water balance of the corresponding territories.

Keywords: GIS, management, rivers, water resources

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Authors: Marianne Paimre

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Estonia is heralded as the most successful digital country in the world with the highly acclaimed eHealth system. Yet 40% of the 65–74-year-olds do not use the Internet at all, and digital divide between young and elderly people's use of ICT is larger than in many advanced countries. Poor access to ICT resource and insufficient digital skills can lead to detachment from digital health resources, delayed diagnoses, and increased rates of hospitalization. To reveal digital divide within the elderly population itself, the presentation focuses on the health information behavior of Estonian seniors who either continue or have stopped working after retirement to use digital health applications. The author's main interest is on access, trust, and skills to use the Internet for medical purposes. Fifteen in-depth interviews with 65+ working persons, as well as 15 interviews with full-time retirees, were conducted. Also, six think-aloud protocols were conducted. The results indicate that older adults, who due to the nature of their work, have regular access to computers, often search for health-related information online. They exposed high source criticism and were successful in solving the given tasks. Conversely, most of the fully retired older adults claimed not using computers or other digital devices and cited lack of skills as the main reason for their inactivity. Thus, when developing health applications, it should be borne in mind that the ability and willingness of older adults to use e-solutions are very different.

Keywords: digital divide, digital healthcare, health information behavior, older adults

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Authors: Martin Kendra, Tomas Skrucany, Jozef Gnap, Jan Ponicky

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Paper deals with the modeling and simulation of energy consumption and GHG production of two different modes of regional passenger transport – road and railway. These two transport modes use the same type of fuel – diesel. Modeling and simulation of the energy consumption in transport is often used due to calculation satisfactory accuracy and cost efficiency. Paper deals with the calculation based on EN standards and information collected from technical information from vehicle producers and characteristics of tracks. Calculation included maximal theoretical capacity of bus and train and real passenger’s measurement from operation. Final energy consumption and GHG production is calculated by using software simulation. In evaluation of the simulation is used system ‘well to wheel’.

Keywords: bus, consumption energy, GHG, production, simulation, train

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Authors: Michela Del Vicario, Walter Quattrociocchi, Antonio Scala, Ana Lucía Schmidt, Fabiana Zollo

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Information, rumors, and debates may shape and impact public opinion heavily. In the latest years, several concerns have been expressed about social influence on the Internet and the outcome that online debates might have on real-world processes. Indeed, on online social networks users tend to select information that is coherent to their system of beliefs and to form groups of like-minded people –i.e., echo chambers– where they reinforce and polarize their opinions. In this way, the potential benefits coming from the exposure to different points of view may be reduced dramatically, and individuals' views may become more and more extreme. Such a context fosters misinformation spreading, which has always represented a socio-political and economic risk. The persistence of unsubstantiated rumors –e.g., the hypothetical and hazardous link between vaccines and autism– suggests that social media do have the power to misinform, manipulate, or control public opinion. As an example, current approaches such as debunking efforts or algorithmic-driven solutions based on the reputation of the source seem to prove ineffective against collective superstition. Indeed, experimental evidence shows that confirmatory information gets accepted even when containing deliberately false claims while dissenting information is mainly ignored, influences users’ emotions negatively and may even increase group polarization. Moreover, confirmation bias has been shown to play a pivotal role in information cascades, posing serious warnings about the efficacy of current debunking efforts. Nevertheless, mitigation strategies have to be adopted. To generalize the problem and to better understand social dynamics behind information spreading, in this work we rely on a tight quantitative analysis to investigate the behavior of more than 300M users w.r.t. news consumption on Facebook over a time span of six years (2010-2015). Through a massive analysis on 920 news outlets pages, we are able to characterize the anatomy of news consumption on a global and international scale. We show that users tend to focus on a limited set of pages (selective exposure) eliciting a sharp and polarized community structure among news outlets. Moreover, we find similar patterns around the Brexit –the British referendum to leave the European Union– debate, where we observe the spontaneous emergence of two well segregated and polarized groups of users around news outlets. Our findings provide interesting insights into the determinants of polarization and the evolution of core narratives on online debating. Our main aim is to understand and map the information space on online social media by identifying non-trivial proxies for the early detection of massive informational cascades. Furthermore, by combining users traces, we are finally able to draft the main concepts and beliefs of the core narrative of an echo chamber and its related perceptions.

Keywords: information spreading, misinformation, narratives, online social networks, polarization

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Authors: Keith T. S. Tung, Frederick K. Ho, Rosa S. Wong, Camilla K. M. Lo, Wilfred H. S. Wong, C. B. Chow, Patrick Ip

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Objectives: Underage drinking is an important public health problem both locally and globally. Conventional prevention/intervention relies on unidirectional knowledge transfer such as mail leaflets or health talks which showed mixed results in changing the target behaviour. Previously, we conducted a school internet-based intervention which was found to be effective in reducing alcohol use among adolescents, yet the underlying mechanisms have not been properly investigated. This study, therefore, examined the mechanisms that explain how the intervention produced a change in alcohol drinking behaviours among Chinese adolescent as observed in our previous clustered randomised controlled trial (RCT) study. Methods: This is a cluster randomised controlled trial with parallel group design. Participating schools were randomised to the Internet intervention or the conventional health education group (control) with a 1:1 allocation ratio. Secondary 1–3 students of the participating schools were enrolled in this study. The Internet intervention was a web-based quiz game competition, in which participating students would answer 1,000 alcohol-related multiple-choice quiz questions. Conventional health education group received a promotional package on equivalent alcohol-related knowledge. The participants’ alcohol-related attitude, knowledge, and perceived behavioural control were self-reported before the intervention (baseline) and one month and three months after the intervention. Results: Our RCT results showed that participants in the Internet group were less likely to drink (risk ratio [RR] 0.79, p < 0.01) as well as in lesser amount (β -0.06, p < 0.05) compared to those in the control group at both post-intervention follow-ups. Within the intervention group, regression analyses showed that high quiz scorer had greater improvement in alcohol-related knowledge (β 0.28, p < 0.01) and attitude (β -0.26, p < 0.01) at 1 month after intervention, which in turn increased their perceived behavioural control against alcohol use (β 0.10 and -0.26, both p < 0.01). Attitude, compared to knowledge, was found to be a stronger contributor to the intervention effect on perceived behavioural control. Conclusions: Our internet-based intervention has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing the risk of underage drinking when compared with conventional health education. Our study results further showed an attitude to be a more important factor than knowledge in changing health-related behaviour. This has an important implication for future prevention/intervention on an underage drinking problem.

Keywords: adolescents, internet-based intervention, randomized controlled trial, underage drinking

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Authors: O. G. Onuk, L. S. Taura, C. M. Eze, S. M. Ngaram

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The decay chain of radioactive elements in the laboratory and the verification of natural radioactivity of the human body was investigated using the High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. Properties of the HPGe detectors were also investigated. The efficiency and energy resolution of HPGe detector used in the laboratory was found to be excellent. The detector was calibrated three times so as to cover a wider energy range. Also the Centroid C of the detector was found to have a linear relationship with the energies of the known gamma-rays. Using the three calibrations of the detector, the energy of an unknown radionuclide was found to follow the decay chain of thorium-232 (232Th) and it was also found that an average adult has about 2.5g Potasium-40 (40K) in the body.

Keywords: detector, efficiency, energy, radionuclides, resolution

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Authors: C. W. F. Che Wan Putra, M. Alshawi, M. S. Al Ahbabi, M. Jabakhanji

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The construction industry is a multi-disciplinary and multi-national industry, which has an important role to play within the overall economy of any country. There are major challenges to an improved performance within the industry. Particularly lacking is, the ability to capture the large amounts of information generated during the life-cycle of projects and to make these available, in the right format, so that professionals can then evaluate alternative solutions based on life-cycle analysis. The fragmented nature of the industry is the main reason behind the unavailability and ill utilisation of project information. The lack of adequately engaging clients and managing their requirements contributes adversely to construction budget and schedule overruns. This is a difficult task to achieve, particularly if clients are not continuously and formally involved in the design and construction process, which means that the design intent is left to designers that may not always satisfy clients’ requirements. Client lead is strongly recognised in bringing change through better collaboration between project stakeholders. However, one of the major challenges is that collaboration is operated under conventional procurement methods, which hugely limit the stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities to bring about the required level of collaboration. A research has been conducted with a typical project in the UAE. A qualitative research work was conducted including semi-structured interviews with project partners to discover the real reasons behind this delay. The case study also investigated the real causes of the problems and if they can be adequately addressed by BIM and IPD. Special focus was also placed on the Client leadership and the role the Client can play to eliminate/minimize these problems. It was found that part of the ‘key elements’ from which the problems exist can be attributed to the client leadership and the collaborative environment and BIM.

Keywords: client leadership, building information modelling (BIM), integrated project delivery (IPD), case study

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Authors: Mbah Fidelix Njong, Sabi Emile Forkwa

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Social cognition is an aspect of social psychology that focuses on how people process, store and apply information about others and social situations. It lay emphasis on how cognitive processes play in our social interactions. In this article, we try to show how culture can influence our ways of thinking about others, how we feel and interact with the world around us. Social cognitive processes involve perceiving people and how we learn about the people around us. It concerns the mental processes of remembering, thinking and attending to other people with different cultural backgrounds and how we attend to certain information about the world. Especially in an educational setting, students’ learning processes are most often than not influenced by their cultural background. We can also talk of social schemas. That’s people’s mental representation of social patterns and norms. This involves information about the societal role and the expectations of individuals within a group. These cognitive processes can also be influence by culture. There are important cultural differences in social cognition. In any social situation, two individuals may have different interpretations. Each person brings in a unique background of experiences, knowledge, social influence, feelings and cultural variations. Cultural differences can also affect how people interpret social situations. The same social behavior in one cultural setting might have completely different meaning and interpretation if observed or applied in another culture. However, as people interpret behaviors and bring out meaning from the interpretations, they act based on their beliefs about situations they are confronted with. This helps to reinforce and reproduce the cultural norms that influence their social cognition.

Keywords: social cognition, social schema, cultural influence, psychology

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Authors: Sultan Z. Mahmud, Emily C. Graff, Adil Bashir

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Phosphoprotein enriched in astrocytes 15 kDa (PEA-15) is a multifunctional adapter protein which is associated with the regulation of apoptotic cell death. Recently it has been discovered that PEA-15 is crucial in normal neurodevelopment of domestic cats, a gyrencephalic animal model, although the exact function of PEA-15 in neurodevelopment is unknown. This study investigates how PEA-15 affects the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability in cat brain, which can cause abnormalities in tissue metabolite and energy supplies. Severe polymicrogyria and microcephaly have been observed in cats with a loss of function PEA-15 mutation, affecting the normal neurodevelopment of the cat. This suggests that the vital role of PEA-15 in neurodevelopment is associated with gyrification. Neurodevelopment is a highly energy demanding process. The mammalian brain depends on glucose as its main energy source. PEA-15 plays a very important role in glucose uptake and utilization by interacting with phospholipase D1 (PLD1). Mitochondria also plays a critical role in bioenergetics and essential to supply adequate energy needed for neurodevelopment. Cerebral blood flow regulates adequate metabolite supply and recent findings also showed that blood plasma contains mitochondria as well. So the BBB can play a very important role in regulating metabolite and energy supply in the brain. In this study the blood-brain permeability in cat brain was measured using MRI magnetization transfer (MT) effect on the perfusion signal. Perfusion is the tissue mass normalized supply of blood to the capillary bed. Perfusion also accommodates the supply of oxygen and other metabolites to the tissue. A fraction of the arterial blood can diffuse to the tissue, which depends on the BBB permeability. This fraction is known as water extraction fraction (EF). MT is a process of saturating the macromolecules, which has an effect on the blood that has been diffused into the tissue while having minimal effect on intravascular blood water that has not been exchanged with the tissue. Measurement of perfusion signal with and without MT enables to estimate the microvascular blood flow, EF and permeability surface area product (PS) in the brain. All the experiments were performed with Siemens 7T Magnetom with 32 channel head coil. Three control cats and three PEA-15 mutant cats were used for the study. Average EF in white and gray matter was 0.9±0.1 and 0.86±0.15 respectively, perfusion in white and gray matter was 85±15 mL/100g/min and 97±20 mL/100g/min respectively, PS in white and gray matter was 201±25 mL/100g/min and 225±35 mL/100g/min respectively for control cats. For PEA-15 mutant cats, average EF in white and gray matter was 0.81±0.15 and 0.77±0.2 respectively, perfusion in white and gray matter was 140±25 mL/100g/min and 165±18 mL/100g/min respectively, PS in white and gray matter was 240±30 mL/100g/min and 259±21 mL/100g/min respectively. This results show that BBB is compromised in PEA-15 mutant cat brain, where EF is decreased and perfusion as well as PS are increased in the mutant cats compared to the control cats. This findings might further explain the function of PEA-15 in neurodevelopment.

Keywords: BBB, cat brain, magnetization transfer, PEA-15

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Authors: Gabriela V. Angeles Perez, Jose Castillejos Lopez, Araceli L. Reyes Cabello, Emilio Bravo Grajales, Adriana Perez Espinosa, Jose L. Quiroz Fabian

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Road traffic accidents are among the principal causes of traffic congestion, causing human losses, damages to health and the environment, economic losses and material damages. Studies about traditional road traffic accidents in urban zones represents very high inversion of time and money, additionally, the result are not current. However, nowadays in many countries, the crowdsourced GPS based traffic and navigation apps have emerged as an important source of information to low cost to studies of road traffic accidents and urban congestion caused by them. In this article we identified the zones, roads and specific time in the CDMX in which the largest number of road traffic accidents are concentrated during 2016. We built a database compiling information obtained from the social network known as Waze. The methodology employed was Discovery of knowledge in the database (KDD) for the discovery of patterns in the accidents reports. Furthermore, using data mining techniques with the help of Weka. The selected algorithms was the Maximization of Expectations (EM) to obtain the number ideal of clusters for the data and k-means as a grouping method. Finally, the results were visualized with the Geographic Information System QGIS.

Keywords: data mining, k-means, road traffic accidents, Waze, Weka

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Authors: H. Anzai, H. Nakayama, H. Kaminaga, Y. Morimoto, Y. Miyadera, S. Nakamura

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Various research resources such as papers and presentation slides are handled in the process of research activities. It is extremely important for smooth progress of the research to skillfully manage those research resources and utilize them for further investigations. However, number of the research resources increases more and more. Moreover, there are the differences in usage of each kind of research resource and their accumulation styles. So, it is actually difficult to satisfactorily manage and use the accumulated research resources. Therefore, a lack of tidiness of the resources causes the problems such as an oversight of the problem to be polish. Although there have existed research projects on support for management of research resources and for sharing of know-how, almost existing systems have not been effective enough since these systems have not sufficiently considered the polish process. This paper mainly describes a system that enables the strategic management of research resources together with polish process and their practical use.

Keywords: research resource, polish process, information sharing, knowledge management, information visualization

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Authors: Ratanavadee Takerngsukvatana

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The purposes of this research were to study reading behavior of undergraduate students at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. A stratified random sample of 380 participants was collected. A Likert five-scale questionnaire was developed to collect data and to obtain students’ opinions regarding their reading behavior. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents read mainly for academic purpose. They preferred to read magazines. The majority of respondents read an average of 3-7 pages a day. The places to read were home and library. Buying with their own money and borrowing from the library were two main sources of books. The suggested activity to promote is planning the curriculum to suit students’ reading behavior.

Keywords: reading, reading behavior, undergraduate students, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University

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Authors: B. S. Jayashankarbabu, Karisiddappa

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The finite element method is used to obtain the elastic buckling load factor for square isotropic plate containing circular, square and rectangular cutouts. ANSYS commercial finite element software had been used in the study. The applied inplane loads considered are uniaxial and biaxial compressions. In all the cases the load is distributed uniformly along the plate outer edges. The effects of the size and shape of concentric cutouts with different plate thickness ratios and the influence of plate edge condition, such as SSSS, CCCC and mixed boundary condition SCSC on the plate buckling strength have been considered in the analysis.

Keywords: concentric cutout, elastic buckling, finite element method, inplane loads, thickness ratio

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Authors: Fatima Sohail, Faizan Iftikhar

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This paper studies the relationship between digital finance, renewable energy, and the economic development of Pakistan and least developed countries from 2000 to 2022. The paper used panel analysis and generalized method of moments Arellano-Bond approaches. The findings show that under the growth model, renewable energy (RE) has a strong and favorable link with fixed broadband and mobile subscribers. However, FB and MD have a strong but negative association with the uptake of renewable energy (RE) in the average and simple model. This paper provides valuable insights for policymakers, investors of the digital economy.

Keywords: digital finance, renewable energy, economic development, mobile subscription, fixed broadband

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Authors: Afif Saleh Abugharsa

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The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is designed for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPAN) with focus on enabling wireless sensor networks. It aims to give a low data rate, low power consumption, and low cost wireless networking on the device-level communication. The objective of this study is to investigate the performance of IEEE 802.15.4 based networks using simulation tool. In this project the network simulator 2 NS2 was used to several performance measures of wireless sensor networks. Three scenarios were considered, multi hop network with a single coordinator, star topology, and an ad hoc on demand distance vector AODV. Results such as packet delivery ratio, hop delay, and number of collisions are obtained from these scenarios.

Keywords: ZigBee, wireless sensor networks, IEEE 802.15.4, low power, low data rate

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Authors: Daniel Herrera Gonzalez, Maria Luisa Montas

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There are some factors affecting consumer decision-making regarding the use of the front of package labels in order to find benefits to the well-being of the human being. Currently, there are several labels that help influence or change the purchase decision for food products. These labels communicate the impact that food has on human health; therefore, consumers are more critical and intelligent when buying and consuming food products. The research explores the association between front-of-pack labeling and food choice; the association between label content and purchasing decisions is complex and influenced by different factors, including the packaging itself. The main objective of this study was to examine the perception of health labels and nutritional declarations and their influence on buying decisions in the non-alcoholic beverages sector. This comparative study of two developing countries will show how consumers take nutritional labels into account when deciding to buy certain foods. This research applied a quantitative methodology with correlational scope. This study has a correlational approach in order to analyze the degree of association between variables. Likewise, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) method and structural equation modeling (SEM) as a powerful multivariate technique was used as statistical technique to find the relationships between observable and unobservable variables. The main findings of this research were the obtaining of three large groups and their perception and effects on nutritional and wellness labels. The first group is characterized by taking an attitude of high interest on the issue of the imposition of the nutritional information label on products and would agree that all products should be packaged given its importance to preventing illnesses in the consumer. Likewise, they almost always care about the brand, the size, the list of ingredients, and nutritional information of the food, and also the effect of these on health. The second group stands out for presenting some interest in the importance of the label on products as a purchase decision, in addition to almost always taking into account the characteristics of size, money, components, etc. of the products to decide on their consumption and almost always They are never interested in the effect of these products on their health or nutrition, and in group 3, it differs from the others by being more neutral regarding the issue of nutritional information labels, and being less interested in the purchase decision and characteristics of the product and also on the influence of these on health and nutrition. This new knowledge is essential for different companies that manufacture and market food products because they will have information to adapt or anticipate the new laws of developing countries as well as the new needs of health-conscious consumers when they buy food products.

Keywords: healthy labels, consumer behavior, nutritional information, healthy products

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Authors: Yunseok Noh, Chang-Uk Kwak, Sun-Joong Kim, Seong-Bae Park

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Scripts are one of the basic text resources to understand broadcasting contents. Since broadcast media wields lots of influence over the public, tools for understanding broadcasting contents are more required. Topic modeling is the method to get the summary of the broadcasting contents from its scripts. Generally, scripts represent contents descriptively with directions and speeches. Scripts also provide scene segments that can be seen as semantic units. Therefore, a script can be topic modeled by treating a scene segment as a document. Because scripts consist of speeches mainly, however, relatively small co-occurrences among words in the scene segments are observed. This causes inevitably the bad quality of topics based on statistical learning method. To tackle this problem, we propose a method of learning with additional word co-occurrence information obtained using scene similarities. The main idea of improving topic quality is that the information that two or more texts are topically related can be useful to learn high quality of topics. In addition, by using high quality of topics, we can get information more accurate whether two texts are related or not. In this paper, we regard two scene segments are related if their topical similarity is high enough. We also consider that words are co-occurred if they are in topically related scene segments together. In the experiments, we showed the proposed method generates a higher quality of topics from Korean drama scripts than the baselines.

Keywords: broadcasting contents, scripts, text similarity, topic model

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Authors: Georg Ebner

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The National Defence Academy, an element of the Austrian Ministry of Defence, is undergoing a transition process leading the Academy towards a new target structure that is currently being developed. In so doing, in addition to a subject-oriented approach, also an employee-oriented process was introduced. This process was initiated by the Ministry of Defence and should lead the National Defence Academy into a new constellation. During this process, the National Defence Academy worked in very special adapted World Café sessions. The “change manager” dealed with very different issues. They took the data feedback from the sessions and prepared with the feedback and information from the guidance the next session. So they got various information and a very different picture around the academy. It was very helpful to involve most of the employees of the academy during this process and to take their knowledge and wisdom. The process himself started with very different feelings and ended with great consent. A very interesting part of this process was also that the commander and his deputy worked together during all of this sessions and they answered all questions from the employees in time. The adapted World Café phases were necessary to deal with the information of the staff and to implement these absolutely needful data into this process. In cooperation with the responsible Headquarters, the first items resulting from the World Café phases could already be fed back to the employees and be implemented. The staff-oriented process is currently supported via a point of contact, through which the staff can contribute ideas as well, but also by the active information policy on the part of the Headquarters. The described change process makes innovative innovations possible. So far, in the event of change processes staff members have been entrusted only with the concrete implementation plan and tied into the process when the respective workplaces were to be re-staffed. The procedure described here can be seen as food-for-thought for further change processes. The findings of this process are that a staff oriented process can lead an organisation into a new era of thinking and working. This process has shown, that a lot of innovative ideas can also take place in a ministry. This process can be a background for a lot of change management processes in ministries and governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Keywords: both directions approach, change management, knowledge database, transformation process, World Cafe

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Authors: Marlin Mubarak

Abstract:

Background: Endometriosis is a complex disabling disease affecting young females in the reproductive period mainly. The aim of this project is to generate a diagnostic model to predict severity and stage of endometriosis prior to Laparoscopic surgery. This will help to improve the pre-operative diagnostic accuracy of stage 3 & 4 endometriosis and as a result, refer relevant women to a specialist centre for complex Laparoscopic surgery. The model is based on the British Society of Gynaecological Endoscopy (BSGE) pain questionnaire, clinical examination and ultrasound scan. Design: This is a prospective, observational, study, in which women completed the BSGE pain questionnaire, a BSGE requirement. Also, as part of the routine preoperative assessment patient had a routine ultrasound scan and when recto-vaginal and deep infiltrating endometriosis was suspected an MRI was performed. Setting: Luton & Dunstable University Hospital. Patients: Symptomatic women (n = 56) scheduled for laparoscopy due to pelvic pain. The age ranged between 17 – 52 years of age (mean 33.8 years, SD 8.7 years). Interventions: None outside the recognised and established endometriosis centre protocol set up by BSGE. Main Outcome Measure(s): Sensitivity and specificity of endometriosis diagnosis predicted by symptoms based on BSGE pain questionnaire, clinical examinations and imaging. Findings: The prevalence of diagnosed endometriosis was calculated to be 76.8% and the prevalence of advanced stage was 55.4%. Deep infiltrating endometriosis in various locations was diagnosed in 32/56 women (57.1%) and some had DIE involving several locations. Logistic regression analysis was performed on 36 clinical variables to create a simple clinical prediction model. After creating the scoring system using variables with P < 0.05, the model was applied to the whole dataset. The sensitivity was 83.87% and specificity 96%. The positive likelihood ratio was 20.97 and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.17, indicating that the model has a good predictive value and could be useful in predicting advanced stage endometriosis. Conclusions: This is a hypothesis-generating project with one operator, but future proposed research would provide validation of the model and establish its usefulness in the general setting. Predictive tools based on such model could help organise the appropriate investigation in clinical practice, reduce risks associated with surgery and improve outcome. It could be of value for future research to standardise the assessment of women presenting with pelvic pain. The model needs further testing in a general setting to assess if the initial results are reproducible.

Keywords: deep endometriosis, endometriosis, minimally invasive, MRI, ultrasound.

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Authors: Musefiu Aderinola, F. A. Amuda

Abstract:

Outages of GSM signals may be experienced at some indoor locations even when there are strong outdoor receptions. This is often traced to the building penetration loss, which account for increased attenuation of received GSM signals level when a mobile signal device is moved indoor from outdoor. In this work, measurement of two existing GSM operators signal level were made outside and inside two selected buildings- mud and block which represent the prevalent building types in Kazaure, Jigawa State, Nigeria. A gionee P2 mobile phone with RF signal tracker software installed in it was used and the result shows that an average loss of 10.62dBm and 4.25dBm for mud and block buildings respectively.

Keywords: penetration loss, outdoor reception, Gionee P2, RF signal tracker, mud and block building

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Authors: Junfeng Yan, Wenkui Hou

Abstract:

Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is a technology to monitor the equipment status and predict impending faults. It is used to predict the potential fault and provide fault information and track trends of system degradation by capturing characteristics signals. So how to detect characteristics signals is very important. The select of test point plays a very important role in detecting characteristics signal. Traditionally, we use dependency model to select the test point containing the most detecting information. But, facing the large complicated system, the dependency model is not built so easily sometimes and the greater trouble is how to calculate the matrix. Rely on this premise, the paper provide a highly effective method to select test point without dependency model. Because signal flow model is a diagnosis model based on failure mode, which focuses on system’s failure mode and the dependency relationship between the test points and faults. In the signal flow model, a fault information can flow from the beginning to the end. According to the signal flow model, we can find out location and structure information of every test point and module. We break the signal flow model up into serial and parallel parts to obtain the final relationship function between the system’s testability or prediction metrics and test points. Further, through the partial derivatives operation, we can obtain every test point’s importance degree in determining the testability metrics, such as undetected rate, false alarm rate, untrusted rate. This contributes to installing the test point according to the real requirement and also provides a solid foundation for the Prognostics and Health Management. According to the real effect of the practical engineering application, the method is very efficient.

Keywords: false alarm rate, importance degree, signal flow model, undetected rate, untrusted rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Ananya Das, Arun Kumar, Gazala Habib, Vivekanandan Perumal

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Regulatory bodies has proposed limits on Particulate Matter (PM) concentration in air; however, it does not explicitly indicate the incorporation of effects of toxicities of constituents of PM in developing regulatory limits. This study aimed to provide a structured approach to incorporate toxic effects of components in developing regulatory limits on PM. A four-step human health risk assessment framework consists of - (1) hazard identification (parameters: PM and its constituents and their associated toxic effects on health), (2) exposure assessment (parameters: concentrations of PM and constituents, information on size and shape of PM; fate and transport of PM and constituents in respiratory system), (3) dose-response assessment (parameters: reference dose or target toxicity dose of PM and its constituents), and (4) risk estimation (metric: hazard quotient and/or lifetime incremental risk of cancer as applicable). Then parameters required at every step were obtained from literature. Using this information, an attempt has been made to determine limits on PM using component-specific information. An example calculation was conducted for exposures of PM_2.5 and its metal constituents from Indian ambient environment to determine limit on PM values. Identified data gaps were: (1) concentrations of PM and its constituents and their relationship with sampling regions, (2) relationship of toxicity of PM with its components.

Keywords: air, component-specific toxicity, human health risks, particulate matter

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Eman A. Al-Hilo, Hawraa H. Al-Waelly

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In this work, fractal compression (FIC) technique is introduced based on using moment features to block indexing the zero-mean range-domain blocks. The moment features have been used to speed up the IFS-matching stage. Its moments ratio descriptor is used to filter the domain blocks and keep only the blocks that are suitable to be IFS matched with tested range block. The results of tests conducted on Lena picture and Cat picture (256 pixels, resolution 24 bits/pixel) image showed a minimum encoding time (0.89 sec for Lena image and 0.78 of Cat image) with appropriate PSNR (30.01dB for Lena image and 29.8 of Cat image). The reduction in ET is about 12% for Lena and 67% for Cat image.

Keywords: fractal gray level image, fractal compression technique, iterated function system, moments feature, zero-mean range-domain block

Procedia PDF Downloads 490

Authors: Noraizah Abu Bakar, Norhayati Alais, Nurdiana Azizan, Fatimah Alwi, Muhammad Zaky Razaly

Abstract:

This is a concise research module with the Islamic values concept proposed to a group of researches, potential researchers, PhD and Master Scholars to prepare themselves for their studies. The intention of designing this module is to help and guide Malaysian citizens to undergone their postgraduate’s studies. This is aligned with the 10th Malaysian plan- MyBrain 15. MyBrain 15 is a financial aid to Malaysian citizens to pursue PhD and Master programs. The program becomes one of Ministry of Education Strategic Plan to ensure by year 2013, there will be 60,000 PhD scholars in Malaysia. This module is suitable for the social science researchers; however it can be useful tool for science technology researchers such as Engineering and Information Technology disciplines too. The module consists of eight (8) series that provides a proper flow of information in doing research with the Islamic Value Application provided in each of the series. This module is designed to produce future researchers with a comprehensive knowledge of humankind and the hereafter. The uniqueness about this research module is designed based on Islamic values concept. Researchers were able to understand the proper research process and simultaneously be able to open their minds to understand Islam more closely. Application of Islamic values in each series could trigger a broader idea for researchers to examine in greater depth of knowledge related to humanities.

Keywords: Eight Series Research Module, Islamic Values concept, Teaching Methodology, Flow of Information, Epistemology of research

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Bing Gu

Abstract:

Abstract—Most of Conventional facial recognition systems are based on image features, such as LBP, SIFT. Recently some DBN-based 2D facial recognition systems have been proposed. However, we find there are few DBN-based 3D facial recognition system and relative researches. 3D facial images include all the individual biometric information. We can use these information to build more accurate features, So we present our DBN-based face recognition system using Light Field. We can see Light Field as another presentation of 3D image, and Light Field Camera show us a way to receive a Light Field. We use the commercially available Light Field Camera to act as the collector of our face recognition system, and the system receive a state-of-art performance as convenient as conventional 2D face recognition system.

Keywords: DBN, face recognition, light field, Lytro

Procedia PDF Downloads 457

Authors: Bao-Fang Wen, Meng-Na Dai, Gao-Pei Zhu, Chen-Xi Zhang, Jing Sun, Xun-Bao Yin, Yu-Han Zhao, Hong-Wei Sun, Wei-Fen Zhang

Abstract:

A drug-loaded nanoparticles containing berberine hydrochloride (BH/FA-CTS-NPs) was prepared. The physicochemical characterizations of BH/FA-CTS-NPs and the inhibitory effect on the HeLa cells were investigated. Folic acid-conjugated chitosan (FA-CTS) was prepared by amino reaction of folic acid active ester and chitosan molecules; BH/FA-CTS-NPs were prepared using ionic cross-linking technique with BH as a model drug. The morphology and particle size were determined by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The average diameters and polydispersity index (PDI) were evaluated by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The interaction between various components and the nanocomplex were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The entrapment efficiency (EE), drug-loading (DL) and in vitro release were studied by UV spectrophotometer. The effect of cell anti-migratory and anti-invasive actions of BH/FA-CTS-NPs were investigated using MTT assays, wound healing assays, Annexin-V-FITC single staining assays, and flow cytometry, respectively. HeLa nude mice subcutaneously transplanted tumor model was established and treated with different drugs to observe the effect of BH/FA-CTS-NPs in vivo on HeLa bearing tumor. The BH/FA-CTS-NPs prepared in this experiment have a regular shape, uniform particle size, and no aggregation phenomenon. The results of DLS showed that mean particle size, PDI and Zeta potential of BH/FA-CTS NPs were (249.2 ± 3.6) nm, 0.129 ± 0.09, 33.6 ± 2.09, respectively, and the average diameter and PDI were stable in 90 days. The results of FT-IR demonstrated that the characteristic peaks of FA-CTS and BH/FA-CTS-NPs confirmed that FA-CTS cross-linked successfully and BH was encapsulated in NPs. The EE and DL amount were (79.3 ± 3.12) % and (7.24 ± 1.41) %, respectively. The results of in vitro release study indicated that the cumulative release of BH/FA-CTS NPs was (89.48±2.81) % in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) within 48h; these results by MTT assays and wund healing assays indicated that BH/FA-CTS NPs not only inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells in a concentration and time-dependent manner but can induce apoptosis as well. The subcutaneous xenograft tumor formation rate of human cervical cancer cell line HeLa in nude mice was 98% after inoculation for 2 weeks. Compared with BH group and BH/CTS-NPs group, the xenograft tumor growth of BH/FA-CTS-NPs group was obviously slower; the result indicated that BH/FA-CTS-NPs could significantly inhibit the growth of HeLa xenograft tumor. BH/FA-CTS NPs with the sustained release effect could be prepared successfully by the ionic crosslinking method. Considering these properties, block proliferation and impairing the migration of the HeLa cell line, BH/FA-CTS NPs could be an important compound for consideration in the treatment of cervical cancer.

Keywords: folic-acid, chitosan, berberine hydrochloride, nanoparticles, cervical cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 115