Search results for: descriptive study

Authors: Stephan Schiffer, Andreas Kain, Philipp Wilde, Maximilian Helbing, Bernard Bäker

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Automobile manufacturers progressively focus on a downsizing strategy to meet the EU's CO2 requirements concerning type-approval consumption cycles. The reduction in naturally aspirated engine power is compensated by increased levels of turbocharging. By downsizing conventional engines, CO2 emissions are reduced. However, it also implicates major challenges regarding longitudinal dynamic characteristics. An example of this circumstance is the delayed turbocharger-induced torque reaction which leads to a partially poor response behavior of the vehicle during acceleration operations. That is why it is important to focus conventional drive train design on real customer driving again. The currently considered dynamic maneuvers like the acceleration time 0-100 km/h discussed by journals and car manufacturers describe longitudinal dynamics experienced by a driver inadequately. For that reason we present the realization and evaluation of a comprehensive proband study. Subjects are provided with different vehicle concepts (electrified vehicles, vehicles with naturally aspired engines and vehicles with different concepts of turbochargers etc.) in order to find out which dynamic criteria are decisive for a subjectively strong acceleration and response behavior of a vehicle. Subsequently, realistic acceleration criteria are derived. By weighing the criteria an evaluation metric is developed to objectify customer-oriented transient dynamics. Fully-electrified vehicles are the benchmark in terms of customer-oriented longitudinal dynamics. The electric machine provides the desired torque almost without delay. This advantage compared to combustion engines is especially noticeable at low engine speeds. In conclusion, we will show the degree to which extent customer-relevant longitudinal dynamics of conventional vehicles can be approximated to electrified vehicle concepts. Therefore, various technical measures (turbocharger concepts, 48V electrical chargers etc.) and drive train designs (e.g. varying the final drive) are presented and evaluated in order to strengthen the vehicle’s customer-relevant transient dynamics. As a rating size the newly developed evaluation metric will be used.

Keywords: 48V, customer-oriented driving dynamics, electric charger, electrified vehicles, vehicle concepts

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Authors: Josline Salib, Sayed El-Toumy, Abeer Salama, Enayat Omara, Emad Hassan

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Diabetic nephropathy is an important cause of morbidity and mortality and is now among the most common causes of end-stage renal failure (ESRF) in developed countries. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the phenolic compounds content of Cichorium intybus aerial parts extracts as well as the therapeutic effects on diabetic nephropathy, oxidative stress, and anti-inflammatory by characterizing biochemical, histopathological changes and immunohistochemistry in an experimental diabetic rat model as compared with Amaryl. Ten known compounds of flavonoids, coumarins and phenolic acid derivatives were isolated from the C. intybus aqueous methanolic extract. Structures of the isolated compounds were established by chromatography, UV and 1D⁄2D 1H⁄ 13C spectroscopy. The aqueous methanol extract of C. intybus aerial parts was administered to Streptozotocin diabetes rats at doses (100 and 200 mg/kg) for 21 days. After treatment, blood glucose, serum insulin, urea, creatinine, and TNF-α were evaluated. Enzymatic scavengers including catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) were determined to evaluate the oxidative status in the renal tissue. Diabetic rats treated with C. intybus extract showed a dose-dependent reduction of fasting blood glucose and kidney antioxidant status in comparison to the diabetic control group. The extract was able to enhance the antioxidant defenses of the kidney by increasing the reduced GSH and CAT content and decreasing MDA content in addition to significantly decreasing kidney nitric oxide content compared to diabetic control rats. Furthermore, the histopathological findings in C. intybus extract administered rats were observed at markedly lesser extent than the diabetic control group. Also, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) levels were decreased significantly after the administration of high-dose C. intybus extract in diabetic rats. Showing significant antihyperglycemic and antioxidant properties of C. intybus aerial parts extract, which is attributed to its polyphenolic content, may offer a potential source for the treatment of diabetes.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, anti-diabetic nephropathy, cichorium intybus aerial parts, phenolic compounds

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Authors: Adi Levy

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Military and security personnel defections during nonviolent resistance (NVR) campaigns are recognized as an effective way of undermining the regime’s power, but they also may generate moral dilemmas that contradict the moral standing of NVR tactics. NVR campaigns have been primarily praised for their adherence to moral and legal norms, yet some of NVR tactics raise serious ethical concerns. This paper focuses on NVR tactics that seek to promote defections and disobedience within military and security personnel to sustain their campaign. Academic literature regarding NVR tactics indicates that compared to violent forms of resistance, defections are more likely to occur when security forces confront nonviolent activists. Indeed, defections play a strategically fundamental role in nonviolent campaigns, particularly against authoritarian regimes, as it enables activists to undermine the regime’s central pillars of support. This study examines the events of the Arab Spring and discusses the ethical problems that arise in nonviolent activists’ promotion of defections and disobedience. The cases of Syria and Egypt suggest that the strategic promotion of defections and disobedience was significantly effective in sustaining the campaign. Yet, while such defections enhance nonviolent activists’ resilience, how they are promoted can be morally contentious and the consequences can be dire. Defections are encouraged by social, moral and emotional appeals that use the power disparities between unarmed civilians and powerful regimes to affect soldiers and security personnel’s process of decision-making. In what is commonly referred to as dilemma action, nonviolent activists deliberately entangle security forces in a moral dilemma that compels them to follow a moral code to protect unarmed civilians. In this way, activists sustain their struggle and even gain protection. Nonviolent activists are likely to be completely defeated when confronted with armed forces. Therefore they rely on the military and security personnel’s moral conscious of convincing them to refrain from using force against them. While this is effective, it also leaves soldiers and security forces exposed to the implications and punishments that might follow their disobedience or defection. As long as they remain nonviolent, activists enjoy civilian immunity despite using morally contentious tactics. But the severe implications brought upon defectors. As a result, demand a deep examination of this tactic’s moral permissibility and a discussion that assesses culpability for the moral implications of its application.

Keywords: culpability, defections, nonviolence, permissibility

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Authors: Wei Wang, Yannick Liu, Lu Zhen, H. Wang

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Maritime transport plays an important role in global economic development but also inevitably faces increasing pressures from all sides, such as ship operating cost reduction and environmental protection. An ideal innovation to address these pressures is electric ships. The electric ship is in the early stage. Considering the special characteristics of electric ships, i.e., travel range limit, to guarantee the efficient operation of electric ships, the service network needs to be re-designed carefully. This research designs a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly service network for electric ships, including the location of charging stations, charging plan, route planning, ship scheduling, and ship deployment. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming model with the objective of minimizing total cost comprised of charging cost, the construction cost of charging stations, and fixed cost of ships. A case study using data of the shipping network along the Yangtze River is conducted to evaluate the performance of the model. Two operating scenarios are used: an electric ship scenario where all the transportation tasks are fulfilled by electric ships and a conventional ship scenario where all the transportation tasks are fulfilled by fuel oil ships. Results unveil that the total cost of using electric ships is only 42.8% of using conventional ships. Using electric ships can reduce 80% SOx, 93.47% NOx, 89.47% PM, and 42.62% CO2, but will consume 2.78% more time to fulfill all the transportation tasks. Extensive sensitivity analyses are also conducted for key operating factors, including battery capacity, charging speed, volume capacity, and a service time limit of transportation task. Implications from the results are as follows: 1) it is necessary to equip the ship with a large capacity battery when the number of charging stations is low; 2) battery capacity will influence the number of ships deployed on each route; 3) increasing battery capacity will make the electric ship more cost-effective; 4) charging speed does not affect charging amount and location of charging station, but will influence the schedule of ships on each route; 5) there exists an optimal volume capacity, at which all costs and total delivery time are lowest; 6) service time limit will influence ship schedule and ship cost.

Keywords: cost reduction, electric ship, environmental protection, sustainable shipping

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Authors: Xiang Shijie, Zhou Dong, Tian Dan

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This paper focuses on the application of real-time semantic segmentation technology in complex road condition recognition, aiming to address the critical issue of how to improve segmentation accuracy while ensuring real-time performance. Semantic segmentation technology has broad application prospects in fields such as autonomous vehicle navigation and remote sensing image recognition. However, current real-time semantic segmentation networks face significant technical challenges and optimization gaps in balancing speed and accuracy. To tackle this problem, this paper conducts an in-depth study and proposes an innovative Guided Image Reconstruction Module. By resampling high-resolution images into a set of low-resolution images, this module effectively reduces computational complexity, allowing the network to more efficiently extract features within limited resources, thereby improving the performance of real-time segmentation tasks. In addition, a dual-branch network structure is designed in this paper to fully leverage the advantages of different feature layers. A novel Hybrid Attention Mechanism is also introduced, which can dynamically capture multi-scale contextual information and effectively enhance the focus on important features, thus improving the segmentation accuracy of the network in complex road condition. Compared with traditional methods, the proposed model achieves a better balance between accuracy and real-time performance and demonstrates competitive results in road condition segmentation tasks, showcasing its superiority. Experimental results show that this method not only significantly improves segmentation accuracy while maintaining real-time performance, but also remains stable across diverse and complex road conditions, making it highly applicable in practical scenarios. By incorporating the Guided Image Reconstruction Module, dual-branch structure, and Hybrid Attention Mechanism, this paper presents a novel approach to real-time semantic segmentation tasks, which is expected to further advance the development of this field.

Keywords: hybrid attention mechanism, image reconstruction, real-time, road status recognition

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Authors: Tamara Vagg, Cathy Shortt, Claire Hickey, Joseph A. Eustace, Barry J. Plant, Sabin Tabirca

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Introduction: Paper-based patient passports have been used advantageously for older patients, patients with diabetes, and patients with learning difficulties. However, these passports can experience issues with data security, patients forgetting to bring the passport, patients being over encumbered, and uncertainty with who is responsible for entering and managing data in this passport. These issues could be resolved by transferring the paper-based system to a convenient platform such as a smartphone application (app). Background: Life expectancy for some Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients are rising and as such new complications and procedures are predicted. Subsequently, there is a need for education and management interventions that can benefit CF adults. This research proposes a CF patient passport to record basic medical information through a smartphone app which will allow CF adults access to their basic medical information. Aim: To provide CF patients with their basic medical information via mobile multimedia so that they can receive care when traveling abroad or between CF centres. Moreover, by recording their basic medical information, CF patients may become more aware of their own condition and more active in their health care. Methods: This app is designed by a CF multidisciplinary team to be a lightweight reflection of a hospital patient file. The passport app is created using PhoneGap so that it can be deployed for both Android and iOS devices. Data entered into the app is encrypted and stored locally only. The app is password protected and includes the ability to set reminders and a graph to visualise weight and lung function over time. The app is introduced to seven participants as part of a stress test. The participants are asked to test the performance and usability of the app and report any issues identified. Results: Feedback and suggestions received via this testing include the ability to reorder the list of clinical appointments via date, an open format of recording dates (in the event specifics are unknown), and a drop down menu for data which is difficult to enter (such as bugs found in mucus). The app is found to be usable and accessible and is now being prepared for a pilot study with adult CF patients. Conclusions: It is anticipated that such an app will be beneficial to CF adult patients when travelling abroad and between CF centres.

Keywords: Cystic Fibrosis, digital patient passport, mHealth, self management

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Authors: Franco Bruno Castaldo

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Aim: The term bioethics is a term coined by VanPotter R ., who in 1970 thought of a discipline, capable of contributing to a better quality of human life and the cosmos. At first he intended bioethics as a wisdom capable of creating a bridge between bios and ethos and between bio-experimental science and ethical-anthropological sciences.Similarly, the modern sport is presented as a polysemic phenomenon, multidisciplinary, pluris value. From the beginning, the sport is included in the discussion of bioethical problems with doping. Today, the ethical problems of the sport are not only ascribable to doping, the medicalization of society, Techniques for enhancement, violence, Fraud, corruption, even the acceptance of anthropological transhumanist theories. Our purpose is to shed light on these issues so that there is a discernment, a fine-tuning also in educational programs, for the protection of all the sport from a scientist adrift, which would lead to an imbalance of values. Method: Reading, textual and documentary analysis, evaluation of critical examples. Results: Harold VanderZwaag, (1929-2011) in ancient times, asked: how many athletic directors have read works of sport philosophy or humanities? Along with E.A. Zeigler (North American Society for Sport Management) are recognized as pioneers of educational Sport Management. Comes the need to leave the confines of a scientific field, In order to deal with other than itself. Conclusion: The quantitative sciences attracts more funds than qualitative ones, the philosopher M. Nussbaum, has relaunched the idea that the training of students will have to be more disinterested than utilitarian, Offering arguments against the choice of anti-classical, analyzing and comparing different educational systems. schools, universities must assign a prominent place in the program of study to the humanistic, literary and artistic subjects, cultivating a participation that can activate and improve the ability to see the world through the eyes of another person. In order to form citizens who play their role in society, science and technology alone are not enough, we need disciplines that are able to cultivate critical thinking, respect for diversity, solidarity, the judgment, the freedom of expression. According to A. Camelli, the humanities faculties prepare for that life-long learning, which will characterize tomorrow's jobs.

Keywords: bioethics, management, sport, transhumanist, medicalization

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Authors: Cláudia Moço, Maria Santos, Carlos Arsénio, Débora Mendes, Miguel Oliveira. José Paulo Da Silva

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Construction industry generates large amounts of waste all over the world. About 450 million tons of construction and demolition wastes (C&DW) are produced annually in the European Union. C&DW are highly heterogeneous materials in size and composition, which imposes strong difficulties on their management. Directive n.º 2008/98/CE, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November establishes that 70 % of the C&DW have to be recycled by 2020. To evaluate possible applications of these materials, a detailed physical, chemical and environmental characterization is necessary. Multi Triagem, Lda. is a company located in Algarve (Portugal) and was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (grant QREN 30307 Multivalor) to quantify and characterize the received C&DW, in order to evaluate their possible applications. This evaluation, performed in collaboration with the University of Algarve, involves a physical, chemical and environmental detailed characterization of the received C&DW. In this work we report on the amounts, trial procedures and properties of the C&DW received over a period of fifteen month. In this period the company received C&DW coming from 393 different origins. The total amount was 32.458 tons, mostly mixtures containing concrete, masonry/mortar and soil/rock. Most of C&DW came from demodulation constructions and diggings. The organic/inert component, namely metal, glass, wood and plastics, were screened first and account for about 3 % of the received materials. The remaining materials were screened and grouped according to their origin and contents, the latter evaluated by visual inspection. Twenty five samples were prepared and submitted to a detailed physical, chemical and environmental analysis. The C&DW aggregates show lower quality properties than natural aggregates for concrete preparation and unbound layers of road pavements. However, chemical analyzes indicated that most samples are environmentally safe. A continuous monitoring of the presence of heavy metals and organic compounds is needed in order to perform a proper screening of the C&DW. C&DW aggregates provide a good alternative to natural aggregates.

Keywords: construction and demolition wastes, waste classification, waste composition, waste screening

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Authors: Evgeniya Y. Yuzbasheva, Tigran V. Yuzbashev, Natalia I. Perkovskaya, Elizaveta B. Mostova

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Cell-surface display of lipase is of great interest as it has many applications in the field of biotechnology owing to its unique advantages: simplified product purification, and cost-effective downstream processing. One promising area of application for whole-cell biocatalysts with surface displayed lipase is biodiesel synthesis. Biodiesel is biodegradable, renewable, and nontoxic alternative fuel for diesel engines. Although the alkaline catalysis method has been widely used for biodiesel production, it has a number of limitations, such as rigorous feedstock specifications, complicated downstream processes, including removal of inorganic salts from the product, recovery of the salt-containing by-product glycerol, and treatment of alkaline wastewater. Enzymatic synthesis of biodiesel can overcome these drawbacks. In this study, Lip2p lipase was displayed on Yarrowia lipolytica cells via C- and N-terminal fusion variant. The active site of lipase is located near the C-terminus, therefore to prevent the activity loosing the insertion of glycine-serine linker between Lip2p and C-domains was performed. The hydrolytic activity of the displayed lipase reached 12,000–18,000 U/g of dry weight. However, leakage of enzyme from the cell wall was observed. In case of C-terminal fusion variant, the leakage was occurred due to the proteolytic cleavage within the linker peptide. In case of N-terminal fusion variant, the leaking enzyme was presented as three proteins, one of which corresponded to the whole hybrid protein. The calculated number of recombinant enzyme displayed on the cell surface is approximately 6–9 × 105 molecules per cell, which is close to the theoretical maximum (2 × 106 molecules/cell). Thus, we attribute the enzyme leakage to the limited space available on the cell surface. Nevertheless, cell-bound lipase exhibited greater stability to short-term and long-term temperature treatment than the native enzyme. It retained 74% of original activity at 60°C for 5 min of incubation, and 83% of original activity after incubation at 50°C during 5 h. Cell-bound lipase had also higher stability in organic solvents and detergents. The developed whole-cell biocatalyst was used for recycling biodiesel synthesis. Two repeated cycles of methanolysis yielded 84.1–% and 71.0–% methyl esters after 33–h and 45–h reactions, respectively.

Keywords: biodiesel, cell-surface display, lipase, whole-cell biocatalyst

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Authors: Meysam Saidi

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While the specific externalities and required regulatory measures in relation to Islamic banking are fairly uncertain, the business is growing across the world. Unofficial data indicate that the Islamic Finance market is growing with annual rate of 15% and it has reached 1.3 $ trillion size. This trend is associated with inherent systematic connection of Islamic financial institutions to other entities and different sectors of economies. Islamic banking has been subject of market development policies in major economies, most notably the UK. This trend highlights the need for identification of distinct risk features of Islamic banking and crafting customized regulatory measures. So far there has not been a significant systemic crisis in this market which can be attributed to its distinct nature. However, the significant growth and spread of its products worldwide necessitate an in depth study of its nature for customized congruent regulatory measures. In the post financial crisis era some market analysis and reports suggested that the Islamic banks fairly weathered the crisis. As far as heavily blamed conventional financial products such as subprime mortgage backed securities and speculative credit default swaps were concerned the immunity claim can be considered true, as Islamic financial institutions were not directly exposed to such products. Nevertheless, similar to the experience of the conventional banking industry, it can be only a matter of time for Islamic banks to face failures that can be specific to the nature of their business. Using the experience of conventional banking regulations and identifying those peculiarities of Islamic banking that need customized regulatory approach can aid to prevent major failures. Frank Knight has stated that “We perceive the world before we react to it, and we react not to what we perceive, but always to what we infer”. The debate over congruent Islamic banking regulations might not be an exception to Frank Knight’s statement but I will try to base my discussion on concrete evidences. This paper first analyzes both theoretical and actual features of Islamic banking in order to ascertain to its peculiarities in terms of market stability and other externalities. Next, the paper discusses distinct features of Islamic financial transactions and banking which might require customized regulatory measures. Finally, the paper explores how a more transparent path for the Islamic banking regulations can be drawn.

Keywords: Islamic banking, regulation, risks, capital requirements, customer protection, financial stability

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Authors: Daniel John Avutia

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Solar Photovoltaic (PV) development is reliant on the sunlight hours available in a particular region to generate electricity. A potential area is assessed through its inherent solar radiation intensity measured in watts per square meter. Solar energy development involves the feasibility, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the relevant infrastructure, but this paper will focus on the design and construction aspects. Africa and Australasia have the longest sunlight hours per day and the highest solar radiation per square meter, 7 sunlight hours/day and 5 kWh/day respectively. Solar PV support configurations consist of fixed-tilt support and tracker system structures, the differentiation being that the latter was introduced to improve the power generation efficiency of the former due to the sun tracking movement capabilities. The installation of Solar PV foundations involves rammed piles, drilling/grout piles and shallow raft reinforced concrete structures. This paper presents a case study of 2 solar PV projects in Africa and Australia, discussing the foundation design consideration and associated construction cost implications of the selected foundations systems. Solar PV foundations represent up to one fifth of the civil works costs in a project. Therefore, the selection of the most structurally sound and feasible foundation for the prevailing ground conditions is critical towards solar PV development. The design wind speed measured by anemometers govern the pile embedment depth for rammed and drill/grout foundation systems. The lateral pile deflection and vertical pull out resistance of piles increase proportionally with the embedment depth for uniform pile geometry and geology. The pile driving rate may also be used to anticipate the lateral resistance and skin friction restraining the pile. Rammed pile foundations are the most structurally suitable due to the pile skin friction and ease of installation in various geological conditions. The competitiveness of solar PV projects within the renewable energy mix is governed by lowering capital expenditure, improving power generation efficiency and power storage technological advances. The power generation reliability and efficiency are areas for further research within the renewable energy niche.

Keywords: design, foundations, piles, solar

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Authors: Diptoshi Roy, G. Sreevidya Varma, S. Asokan, Chandasree Das

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Germanium Telluride based quaternary thin film switching devices with composition Ge₁₅In₅Te₅₆Ag_24, have been deposited in sandwich geometry on glass substrate with aluminum as top and bottom electrodes. The bulk glassy form of the said composition is prepared by melt quenching technique. In this technique, appropriate quantity of elements with high purity are taken in a quartz ampoule and sealed under a vacuum of 10^-5 mbar. Then, it is allowed to rotate in a horizontal rotary furnace for 36 hours to ensure homogeneity of the melt. After that, the ampoule is quenched into a mixture of ice - water and NaOH to get the bulk ingot of the sample. The sample is then coated on a glass substrate using flash evaporation technique at a vacuum level of 10^-6 mbar. The XRD report reveals the amorphous nature of the thin film sample and Energy - Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX) confirms that the film retains the same chemical composition as that of the base sample. Electrical switching behavior of the device is studied with the help of Keithley (2410^c) source-measure unit interfaced with Lab VIEW 7 (National Instruments). Switching studies, mainly SET (changing the state of the material from amorphous to crystalline) operation is conducted on the thin film form of the sample. This device is found to manifest memory switching as the device remains 'ON' even after the removal of the electric field. Also it is found that amorphous Ge₁₅In₅Te₅₆Ag₂₄ thin film unveils clean memory type of electrical switching behavior which can be justified by the absence of fluctuation in the I-V characteristics. The I-V characteristic also reveals that the switching is faster in this sample as no data points could be seen in the negative resistance region during the transition to on state and this leads to the conclusion of fast phase change during SET process. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies are performed on the chosen sample to study the structural changes at the time of switching. SEM studies on the switched Ge₁₅In₅Te₅₆Ag₂₄ sample has shown some morphological changes at the place of switching wherein it can be explained that a conducting crystalline channel is formed in the device when the device switches from high resistance to low resistance state. From these studies it can be concluded that the material may find its application in fast switching Non-Volatile Phase Change Memory (PCM) Devices.

Keywords: Chalcogenides, Vapor deposition, Electrical switching, PCM.

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Authors: Seung Oh, Satoshi Okada

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

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

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Authors: Shwu-Ling Peng, Chiung-Man Tsai, Chia-Jui Weng

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Chronic micro-inflammation is a hallmark of many aging-related neurodegenerative and metabolic syndrome-driven diseases. In high glucose (HG) environment, reactive oxygen species (ROS) is generated and the ROS induced inflammation, cytokines secretion, DNA damage, and cell cycle arrest to lead to cellular senescence. Water chestnut shell (WCS) is a plant hull which containing polyphenolic compounds and showed antioxidant and anticancer activities. Orchid, which containing a natural polysaccharide compound, possesses many physiological activities including anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. These agricultural plants might be able to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. This study was used HG-induced human normal dermal fibroblasts (HG-HNDFs) as an in vitro model to disclose the effects of water extract of Phalaenopsis orchid flower (WEPF) and ethanol extract of water chestnut shell (EEWCS) on the anti-aging and their underlying molecular mechanisms. The toxicity of extracts on human normal dermal fibroblasts (HNDFs) was determined by MTT method. The senescence of cells was assayed by β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) kit. ROS and nitrate production was analyzed by Intracellular ROS contents and ELISA, respectively. Western blotting was used to detect the proteins in cells. The results showed that the exposure of HNDFs to HG (30 mM) for 72 h were caused cellular senescence and arrested cells at G0/G1 phase. Indeed, the treatment of HG-HNDFs with WEPF (200 μg/ml) and EEWCS (10 μg/ml) significantly released cell cycle arrest and promoted cell proliferation. The G1/S phase transition regulatory proteins such as protein retinoblastoma (pRb), p53, and p16ᴵᴺᴷ⁴ᵃ depressed by WEPF and EEWCS were also observed. Additionally, the treatment of WEPF and EEWCS increased the activity of HO-1 through upregulating Nrf2 as well as decreased the ROS and NO of HG-HNDFs. Therefore, the senescence marker protein-30 (SMP30) in cells was diminished. In conclusion, the WEPF and EEWCS might inhibit HG-induced aging of HNDFs by reducing oxidative stress and free radicals.

Keywords: agricultural plant extract, anti-aging, high glucose, Phalaenopsis orchid flower, water chestnut shell

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Authors: Valdir Moura, Raniele dos Anjos de Souza, Fernando Gomes de Souza, Jose Vagner da Silva, Jerry Adriani Johann

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The estimate of the Area of Land to be planted with annual crops and its stratification by the municipality are important variables in crop forecast. Nowadays in Brazil, these information’s are obtained by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and published under the report Assessment of the Agricultural Production. Due to the high cloud cover in the main crop growing season (October to March) it is difficult to acquire good orbital images. Thus, one alternative is to work with remote sensing data from dates before the crop growing season. This work presents the use of multitemporal Landsat data gathered on July and September (before the summer growing season) in order to estimate the area of land to be planted with summer crops in an area of São Paulo State, Brazil. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and digital image processing techniques were applied for the treatment of the available data. Supervised and non-supervised classifications were used for data in digital number and reflectance formats and the multitemporal Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images. The objective was to discriminate the tracts with higher probability to become planted with summer crops. Classification accuracies were evaluated using a sampling system developed basically for this study region. The estimated areas were corrected using the error matrix derived from these evaluations. The classification techniques presented an excellent level according to the kappa index. The proportion of crops stratified by municipalities was derived by a field work during the crop growing season. These proportion coefficients were applied onto the area of land to be planted with summer crops (derived from Landsat data). Thus, it was possible to derive the area of each summer crop by the municipality. The discrepancies between official statistics and our results were attributed to the sampling and the stratification procedures. Nevertheless, this methodology can be improved in order to provide good crop area estimates using remote sensing data, despite the cloud cover during the growing season.

Keywords: area intended for summer culture, estimated area planted, agriculture, Landsat, planting schedule

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Authors: Gezahegn Bekele Welldgiyorgise

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It is obvious that the economics, politics and social conditions of a country are determined by the quality and standard of its education. Indeed, education plays a vital role in changing the consciousness and awareness of society and transforming it on a large scale. Moreover, education contributes a lot to the advancement of science and technology, information and communication, and above all, it speeds up its progress in no time if it focuses mainly on the qualitative approach to education. Education brings about universal change and transformation and lightens mankind in all dimensions. It creates an educated, enlightened and brightened generation in society. The generation will be sharped, sharpened and well-oriented if it gets modern, sophisticated and standardized education in its field of study. The main goal of education is to produce well-qualified, well-trained and disciplined young offers in a given community. If the youth is well trained and well-mannered, he will certainly be enlightened, problem solvers and solution seekers, researchers, and innovators. In this respect, we have to provide the youth with modern education, a teaching-learning process led by active learning and a participatory approach with a new curriculum preparation for the age of children supported by modern facilities (ICT).In addition to that, the curriculum should have to give attention to mathematics and science lessons that include international experience in a comfortable school and classrooms. Therefore, the generation that will be created through such kinds of the guided education system will make the students active participants, self-confident, researchers and problem solvers, besides that result in changed life standards and a developed country. Similarly, our country, Ethiopia, has aimed to get such change in youth (generation) through modern education, designing a new educational policy and curriculum which was implemented for many years, although the goal of education has not reached the required level. To get the main idea of the article, I should have answered the question of why our country's educational goal had not reached the desired level because it is necessary to lay the foundation for research in finding out problems seen through students learning performance, the first task is selecting primary-school as a sample. Therefore, we selected “Dilla primary school (5-8)” which is a workplace for a teacher and gives me a chance to recognize students’ learning performance to recognize their learning grades (internal and external) and measure performance (achievement) of students easily’.

Keywords: curriculum, performance, innovation, learning

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Authors: N. L. Letsoalo, H. T. Pule, J. T. Tjelele, N. R. Mkhize, K. R. Mbatha

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Rangelands are major feed resource for livestock farming in South Africa, despite being subjected to different forms of degradation. These forms of degradation are as a result of inappropriate veld and livestock management practices such as excessive stocking rates. While information on judicious veld management is available, adoption of appropriate practices is still unsatisfactory and seems to depend partly on the type of land ownership of farmers. The objectives of this study were to; (I) compare rangeland condition (species richness, basal cover, veld condition score, and herbaceous biomass) among three land ownership types (leased land, communal land and private land), and (II) determine the relationships between veld condition score (%) and herbaceous biomass (kg DM/ha) production. Vegetation was assessed at fifty farms under different land use types using nearest plant technique. Grass species composition and forage value were estimated using PROC FREQ procedure of SAS 9.3. A one-way ANOVA was used to determine significant differences (P < 0.05) in species richness, basal cover, veld condition (%) large stock units, grazing capacity and herbaceous biomass production among the three grazing systems. A total of 28 grass species were identified, of which 95% and 5% were perennials and annuals, respectively. The most commonly distributed and highly palatable grass species, Digitaria eriantha had significantly higher frequency under private owned lands (32.3 %) compared to communal owned lands (12.3%). There were no significant difference on grass species richness and basal cover among land ownership types (P > 0.05). There were significant differences on veld condition score and biomass production (P < 0.05). Private lands had significantly higher (69.63%) veld condition score than leased (56.07%) and communal lands (52.55%). Biomass production was significantly higher (± S.E.) 2990.30 ± 214 kg DM/ha on private owned lands, compared to leased lands 2069.85 ± 196 kg DM/ha and communal lands 1331.04 ± 102 kg DM/ha. Biomass production was positively correlated with rangeland condition (r = 0.895; P < 0.005). These results suggest that rangeland conditions on communal and leased lands are in poor condition than those on private lands. More research efforts are needed to improve management of rangelands in communal and leased land in Gauteng province.

Keywords: grazing, herbaceous biomass, management practices, species richness

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Authors: Indu Bala Sethi, Meena Sewhag, Rakesh Kumar, Parveen Kumar

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Field experiment was conducted at Pulse Research Area of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during rabi 2012-13 to study the economics of chickpea cultivars as influenced by sowing time and seed rate on sandy loam soils under irrigated conditions. The factorial experiment consisting of 24 treatment combinations with two sowing time (1st fortnight of November and 1st fortnight of December.) and four cultivars (H09-23, H08-18, C-235 and HC-1) kept in main plots while three seed rates viz. 40 kg ha-1, 50 kg ha-1 and 60 kg ha-1 was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The crop was sown with common row spacing of 30 cm as per the dates of sowing. The fertilizer was applied in the form of di- ammonium phosphate. The soil of the experimental site was deep sandy loam having pH of 7.9, EC of 0.13 dS/m and low in organic carbon (0.34%), low in available N status (193.36 kg ha-1), medium in available P2O5 (32.18 kg ha-1) and high in available K2O (249.67 kg ha-1). The crop was irrigated as and when required so as to maintain adequate soil moisture in the root zone The crop was sprayed with monocrotophos (1.25 l/ha) at initiation of flowering and at pod filling stage to protect the crop from pod borer attack. The yield was measured at the time of harvest. The cost of field preparation, sowing of seeds, thinning, weeding, plant protection, harvesting and cleaning contributed to fixed cost. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with two sowing time (1st fortnight of November and 1st fortnight of December.) and four cultivars (H09-23, H08-18, C-235 and HC-1) kept in main plots while three seed rates viz. 40 kg ha-1, 50 kg ha-1 and 60 kg ha-1 were kept in subplots and replicated thrice. Results revealed that 1st fortnight of November sowing recorded significantly higher gross (Rs.1, 01,254 ha-1), net returns (Rs. 68,504 ha-1) and BC (3.09) ratio as compared to delayed crop of chickpea. Highest gross (Rs.91826 ha-1), net returns (Rs. 59076ha-1) and BC ratio (2.81) was recorded with H08-18. Higher value of cost of cultivation of chickpea was observed in higher seed rate than the lower ones. However no significant variation in net and gross returns was observed due to seed rates. Highest BC (2.72) ratio was recorded with 50 kg ha-1 which differs significantly from 60 kg ha-1 but was at par with 40 kg ha-1. This is because of higher grain yield obtained with 50 kg ha-1 seed rate. Net profit for farmers growing chickpea with seed rate of 50 kg ha-1 was higher than the farmers growing chickpea with seed rate of 40 and 60 kg ha.

Keywords: chickpea, cultivars, seed rate, sowing time

Procedia PDF Downloads 443

Authors: Nune Ayvazyan

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Since the proclamation of monolingual foreign-language learning methods (the Berlitz Method in the early 20ᵗʰ century and the like), the dilemma has been to allow or not to allow learners’ mother tongue in the foreign-language learning process. The reason for not allowing learners’ mother tongue is reported to create a situation of immersion where students will only use the target language. It could be argued that this artificial monolingual situation is defective, mainly because there are very few real monolingual situations in the society. This is mainly due to the fact that societies are nowadays increasingly multilingual as plurilingual speakers are the norm rather than an exception. More recently, the use of learners’ mother tongue and translation has been put under the spotlight as valid foreign-language teaching tools. The logic dictates that if learners were permitted to use their mother tongue in the foreign-language learning process, that would not only be natural, but also would give them additional means of participation in class, which could eventually lead to learning. For example, when learners’ metalinguistic skills are poor in the target language, a question they might have could be asked in their mother tongue. Otherwise, that question might be left unasked. Attempts at empirically testing the role of translation as a didactic tool in foreign-language teaching are still very scant. In order to fill this void, this study looks into the interaction patterns between students in two kinds of English-learning classes: one with translation and the other in English only (immersion). The experiment was carried out with 61 students enrolled in a second-year university subject in English grammar in Spain. All the students underwent the two treatments, classes with translation and in English only, in order to see how they interacted under the different conditions. The analysis centered on four categories of interaction: teacher talk, teacher-initiated student interaction, student-initiated student-to-teacher interaction, and student-to-student interaction. Also, pre-experiment and post-experiment questionnaires and individual interviews gathered information about the students’ attitudes to translation. The findings show that translation elicited more student-initiated interaction than did the English-only classes, while the difference in teacher-initiated interactional turns was not statistically significant. Also, student-initiated participation was higher in comprehension-based activities (into L1) as opposed to production-based activities (into L2). As evidenced by the questionnaires, the students’ attitudes to translation were initially positive and mainly did not vary as a result of the experiment.

Keywords: foreign language, learning, mother tongue, translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Shouta Sora, Shizuki Kuriu, Radhika Mishra, Ariunbuyan Sukhbaatar, Maya Sakamoto, Shiro Mori, Tetsuya Kodama

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Lymph node (LN) metastasis accounts for 20 - 30 % of all deaths in patients with head and neck cancer. Therefore, the control of metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs) is necessary to improve the life prognosis of patients with cancer. In a classical metastatic theory, tumor cells are thought to metastasize hematogenously through a bead-like network of lymph nodes. Recently, a lymph node-mediated hematogenous metastasis theory has been proposed, in which sentinel LNs are regarded as a source of distant metastasis. Therefore, the treatment of MLNs at the early stage is essential to prevent distant metastasis. Radiation therapy is one of the primary therapeutic modalities in cancer treatment. In addition, total body irradiation (TBI) has been reported to act as activation of natural killer cells and increase of infiltration of CD4+ T-cells to tumor tissues. However, the treatment effect of TBI for MLNs remains unclear. This study evaluated the possibilities of low-dose total body irradiation (L-TBI) and middle-dose total body irradiation (M-TBI) for the treatment of MLNs. Mouse breast cancer FM3A-Luc cells were injected into subiliac lymph node (SiLN) of MXH10/Mo/LPR mice to induce the metastasis to the proper axillary lymph node (PALN) and lung. Mice were irradiated for the whole body on 4 days after tumor injection. The L-TBI and M-TBI were defined as irradiations to the whole body at 0.2 Gy and 1.0 Gy, respectively. Tumor growth was evaluated by in vivo bioluminescence imaging system. In the non-irradiated group, tumor activities on SiLN and PALN significantly increased over time, and the metastasis to the lung from LNs was confirmed 28 days after tumor injection. The L-TBI led to a tumor growth delay in PALN but did not control tumor growth in SiLN and metastasis to the lung. In contrast, it was found that the M-TBI significantly delayed the tumor growth of both SiLN and PALN and controlled the distant metastasis to the lung compared with non-irradiated and L-TBI groups. These results suggest that the M-TBI is an effective treatment method for MLNs in the early stage and distant metastasis from lymph nodes via blood vessels connected with LNs.

Keywords: metastatic lymph node, lung metastasis, radiation therapy, total body irradiation, lymphatic system

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Adriana Sosa, Susana Rincon, Chérif Ben, Diana Cabañas, Juan E. Ruiz, Alejandro Zepeda

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The complex chemical composition (mixtures of ammonium and recalcitrant compounds) of the effluents from the chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries represents a challenge in their biological treatment. This treatment involves nitrification process that can suffer an inhibition due to the presence of aromatic compounds giving as a result the decrease of the process efficiency. The inhibitory effects on nitrification in the presence of aromatic compounds have already been studied; however a few studies have considered the presence of phenolic compounds in the form of mixtures, which is the form that they are present in real context. For this reason, we realized a kinetic study on the nitrifying process in the presence of different concentrations of a mixture of phenol, o-cresol, m-cresol and p-cresol (0 - 320 mg C/L) in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Firstly, the nitrifying process was evaluated in absence of the phenolic mixture (control 1) in a SBR with 2 L working volume and 176 mg/L of nitrogen of microbial protein. Total oxidation of initial ammonium (efficiency; ENH4+ of 100 %) to nitrate (nitrifying yield; YNO3- of 0.95) were obtained with specific rates of ammonium consumption (qN-NH4+) and nitrate production (qN-NO3-) (of 1.11 ± 0.04 h-1 and 0.67 h-1 ± 0.11 respectively. During the phase of acclimation with 40 mg C/L of the phenolic mixture, an inhibitory effect on the nitrifying process was observed, provoking a decrease in ENH4+ and YNO3- (11 and 54 % respectively) as well as in the specific rates (89 y 46 % respectively), being the ammonia oxidizing bacteria (BAO) the most affected. However, in the next cycles without the phenolic mixture (control 2), the nitrifying consortium was able to recover its nitrifying capacity (ENH4+ = 100% and YNO3-=0.98). Afterwards the SBR was fed with 10 mg C/L of the phenolic mixture, obtaining and ENH4+ of 100%, YNO3- and qN-NH4+ 0.62 ± 0.006 and 0.13 ± 0.004 respectively, while the qN-NO3- was 0.49 ± 0.007. Moreover, with the increase of the phenolic concentrations (10-160 mg C/L) and the number of cycles the nitrifying consortium was able to oxidize the ammonia with ENH4+ of 100 % and YNO3- close to 1. However a decrease in the values of the nitrification specific rates and increase in the oxidation in phenolic compounds (70 to 94%) were observed. Finally, in the presence of 320 mg C/L, the nitrifying consortium was able to simultaneously oxidize the ammonia (ENH4+= 100%) and the phenolic mixture (p-cresol>phenol>m-cresol>o-cresol) being the o-cresol the most recalcitrant compound. In all the experiments the use of a SBR allowed a respiratory adaptation of the consortium to oxidize the phenolic mixture achieving greater adaptation of the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) than in the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB).

Keywords: cresol, inhibition, nitrification, phenol, sequencing batch reactor

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Authors: Mina Iskander, Mina Melad, Mourad Yasser, Waleed Abdel Rahim, Amr Mosa, Mohamed El Lahamy, Ezzeldin Sayed-Ahmed, Mohamed Abou-Zeid

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Strengthening of reinforced concrete beams in flexure using externally bonded composite laminate of high tensile strength is easy and of the minimum cost compared to traditional methods such as increasing the concrete section depth or reinforcement that requires formwork and curing which affect the structure usability. One of the main limitations of this technique is debonding of the externally bonded laminate, either by end delamination or by mid-span flexural crack-induced debonding. ACI 440.2-08 suggests that using side-bonded FRP laminate in the flexural strengthening of RC beams may serve to limit the extent and width of flexural cracks. Consequently, this technique may decrease the effect of flexural cracks on initiating the mid-span debonding; i.e. delays the flexural crack-induced debonding. Furthermore, bonding the FRP strips to the side of the beam may offer an attractive, practical solution when the soffit of this beam is not accessible. This paper presents an experimental programme designed to investigate the effect of using externally bonded CFRP laminate on the sides of reinforced concrete beams and compares the results to those of bonding the CFRP laminate to the soffit of the beams. In addition, the paper discusses the effect of using end anchorage by U-wrapping the CFRP strips at their end zones with CFRP sheets for beams strengthened with soffit-bonded and side-bonded CFRP strips. Thus, ten rectangular reinforced concrete beams were tested to failure in order to study the effect of changing the location of the externally bonded laminate on the flexural capacity and ductility of the strengthened beams. Pultruded CFRP strips were bonded to the soffit of the beams or their sides to check the possibility of limiting the flexural cracking in mid-span region, which is the main reason for mid-span debonding. Pre-peg CFRP sheets were used near the support as U-wrap for the beam to act as an end-anchorage for the externally bonded strips in order to delay/prevent the end delamination. Strength gains of 38% and 43% were recorded for the soffit-bonded and the side-bonded composite strips with end U-wrapped sheets, respectively. Furthermore, beams with end sheets applied as an end anchorage showed higher ductility than those without these sheets.

Keywords: flexural strengthening, externally bonded CFRP, side-bonded CFRP, CFRP laminates

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Balazs Kulcsar

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Professional energy organizations perform analyses mainly on the global and national levels about the expected development of the share of renewables in electric power generation, heating, and cooling, as well as the transport sectors. There are just a few publications, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and national initiatives with a focus on studies in the individual towns, settlements. Issues concerning the self-supply of energy on the settlement level have not become too wide-spread. The goal of our energy geographic studies is to determine the share of local renewable energy sources in the settlement-based electricity supply across Hungary. The Hungarian energy supply system defines four categories based on the installed capacities of electric power generating units. From these categories, the theoretical annual electricity production of small-sized household power plants (SSHPP) featuring installed capacities under 50 kW and small power plants with under 0.5 MW capacities have been taken into consideration. In the above-mentioned power plant categories, the Hungarian Electricity Act has allowed the establishment of power plants primarily for the utilization of renewable energy sources since 2008. Though with certain restrictions, these small power plants utilizing renewable energies have the closest links to individual settlements and can be regarded as the achievements of the host settlements in the shift of energy use. Based on the 2017 data, we have ranked settlements to reflect the level of self-sufficiency in electricity production from renewable energy sources. The results show that the supply of all the energy demanded by settlements from local renewables is within reach now in small settlements, e.g., in the form of the small power plant categories discussed in the study, and is not at all impossible even in small towns and cities. In Hungary, 30 settlements produce more renewable electricity than their own annual electricity consumption. If these overproductive settlements export their excess electricity towards neighboring settlements, then full electricity supply can be realized on further 29 settlements from renewable sources by local small power plants. These results provide an opportunity for governmental planning of the realization of energy shift (legislative background, support system, environmental education), as well as framing developmental forecasts and scenarios until 2030.

Keywords: energy geography, Hungary, local small power plants, renewable energy sources, self-sufficiency settlements

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Raphael Udeh, Luis García De Guadiana Romualdo, Xenia Dolje-Gore

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Background: Quite disturbing is the huge public health impact of COVID-19: As at today [25th March 2021, the COVID-19 global burden shows over 123 million cases and over 2.7 million deaths worldwide. Rationale: Recent evidence shows calprotectin’s potential as a therapeutic target, stating that tasquinimod, from the Quinoline-3-Carboxamide family is capable of blocking the interaction between calprotectin and TLR4. Hence preventing the cytokine release syndrome, that heralds the functional exhaustion in COVID-19. Early preclinical studies showed that tasquinimod inhibit tumor growth and prevent angiogenesis/cytokine storm. Phase I – III clinical studies in prostate cancer showed it has a good safety profile with good radiologic progression free survival but no effect on overall survival. Rationale/hypothesis: Strategic endeavors have been amplified globally to assess new therapeutic interventions for COVID-19 management – thus the clinical and antiviral efficacy of tasquinimod in COVID-19 remains to be explored. Hence the primary objective of this trial will be to evaluate the efficacy of tasquinimod in the treatment of adult patients with severe COVID-19 infections. Therefore, I hypothesise that among adults with COVID19 infection, tasquinimod will reduce the severe respiratory distress associated with COVID-19 compared to placebo, over a 28-day study period. Method: The setting is in Europe. Design – a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase II double-blinded trial. Trial lasts for 28 days from randomization, Tasquinimod capsule given as 0.5mg daily 1st fortnight, then 1mg daily 2nd fortnight. I0 outcome - assessed using six-point ordinal scale alongside eight 20 outcomes. 125 participants to be enrolled, data collection at baseline and subsequent data points, and safety reporting monitored via serological profile. Significance: This work could potentially establish tasquinimod as an effective and safe therapeutic agent for COVID-19 by reducing the severe respiratory distress, related time to recovery, time on oxygen/admission. It will also drive future research – as in larger multi-centre RCT.

Keywords: Calprotectin, COVID-19, Phase II Trial, Tasquinimod

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Authors: Claudia Carbajal, Jija Dutt, Smriti Pahwa, Sumukhi Vaid, Karishma Vats

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ASER Centre, the research and assessment arm of Pratham Education Foundation sees measurement as the first stage of action. ASER uses primary research to push and give empirical foundations to policy discussions at a multitude of levels. At a household level, common citizens use a simple assessment (a floor-level test) to measure learning across rural India. This paper presents the evidence on the applicability of an ASER approach to the health sector. A citizen-led assessment was designed and executed that collected information from young mothers with children up to a year of age. The pilot assessments were rolled-out in two different models: Paid surveyors and student volunteers. The survey covered three geographic areas: 1,239 children in the Jaipur District of Rajasthan, 2,086 in the Rae Bareli District of Uttar Pradesh, and 593 children in the Bhuj Block in Gujarat. The survey tool was designed to study knowledge of health-related issues, daily practices followed by young mothers and access to relevant services and programs. It provides insights on behaviors related to infant and young child feeding practices, child and maternal nutrition and supplementation, water and sanitation, and health services. Moreover, the survey studies the reasons behind behaviors giving policy-makers actionable pathways to improve implementation of social sector programs. Although data on health outcomes are available, this approach could provide a rapid annual assessment of health issues with indicators that are easy to understand and act upon so that measurements do not become an exclusive domain of experts. The results give many insights into early childhood health behaviors and challenges. Around 98% of children are breastfed, and approximately half are not exclusively breastfed (for the first 6 months). Government established diet diversity guidelines are met for less than 1 out of 10 children. Although most households are satisfied with the quality of drinking water, most tested households had contaminated water.

Keywords: citizen-led assessment, rapid health assessment, Infant and Young Children Feeding, water and sanitation, maternal nutrition, supplementation

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Authors: Wei-Shan Wang, Klaus Vogel, Felix Gabler, Maik Wiemer, Thomas Gessner

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Metallic glasses, which are free of grain boundaries, have superior properties including large elastic limits, high strength, and excellent wear and corrosion resistance. Therefore, bulk metallic glasses (BMG) and thin film metallic glasses (TFMG) have been widely developed and investigated. Among various kinds of metallic glasses, Pd-Cu-Si TFMG, which has lower elastic modulus and better resistance of oxidation and corrosions compared to Zr- and Fe-based TFMGs, can be a promising candidate for MEMS applications. However, the study of Pd-TFMG membrane is still limited. This paper presents free-standing Pd-based metallic glass membranes with large area fabricated on wafer level for the first time. Properties of Pd-Cu-Si thin film metallic glass (TFMG) with various deposition parameters are investigated first. When deposited at 25°C, compressive stress occurs in the Pd76Cu6Si18 thin film regardless of Ar pressure. When substrate temperature is increased to 275°C, the stress state changes from compressive to tensile. Thin film stresses are slightly decreased when Ar pressure is higher. To show the influence of temperature on Pd-TFMGs, thin films without and with post annealing below (275°C) and within (370°C) supercooled liquid region are investigated. Results of XRD and TEM analysis indicate that Pd-TFMGs remain amorphous structure with well-controlled parameters. After verification of amorphous structure of the Pd-TFMGs, free-standing Pd-Cu-Si membranes were fabricated by depositing Pd-Cu-Si thin films directly on 200nm-thick silicon nitride membranes, followed by post annealing and dry etching of silicon nitride layer. Post annealing before SiNx removal is used to further release internal stress of Pd-TFMGs. The edge length of the square membrane ranges from 5 to 8mm. The effect of post annealing on Pd-Cu-Si membranes are discussed as well. With annealing at 370°C for 5 min, Pd-MG membranes are fully distortion-free after removal of SiNx layer. Results show that, by introducing annealing process, the stress-relief, distortion-free Pd-TFMG membranes with large area can be a promising candidate for sensing applications such as pressure and gas sensors.

Keywords: amorphous alloy, annealing, metallic glasses, TFMG membrane

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Authors: Ke Wang, Zhu Wang

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Coordinating and promoting urban and rural development has been a new round of institutional change in Zhejiang province since 2004. And this plan was fully implemented, which showed that the isolation between the urban and rural areas had gradually diminished. Little by little, an infiltration interface that is dynamic, flexible and interactive is formed, and this morphological structure starts to appear on the landscape form in the surrounding villages. In order to study the specific function and formation of the structure in the context of industrial revolution, Bimen village located on the interface between Anji Township, Huzhou and Yuhang District, Hangzhou is taken as the case. Anji township is in the cross area between Yangtze River delta economic circle and innovation center in Hangzhou. Awarded with ‘Chinese beautiful village’, Bimen has witnessed the growing process of infiltration in ecology, economy, technology and culture on the interface. Within the opportunity, Bimen village presents internal reformation to adapt to the energy exchange with urban areas. In the research, the reformation is to adjust the industrial structure, to upgrade the local special bamboo crafts, to release space for activities, and to establish infrastructures on the interface. The characteristic of an interface is elasticity achieved by introducing an Internet platform using ‘O2O’ agriculture method to connect cities and farmlands. There is a platform of this kind in Bimen named ‘Xiao Mei’. ‘Xiao’ in Chinese means small, ‘Mei’ means beautiful, which indicates the method to refine the landscape form. It turns out that the new agriculture mode will strengthen the interface by orienting the Third Party Platform upon the old dynamic basis and will bring new vitality for economy development in Bimen village. The research concludes opportunities and challenges generated by the evolution of the infiltration interface. It also proposes strategies for how to organically adapt to the urbanization process. Finally it demonstrates what will happen by increasing flexibility in the landscape forms of suburbs in the Bimen village.

Keywords: Bimen village, infiltration interface, flexibility, suburban landscape form

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Authors: Aya Al Masri, Stefaan Carpentier, Fabrice Leroy, Thibault Julien, Safoin Aktaou, Malorie Martin, Fouad Maaloul

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Introduction: During an 'Interventional Radiology (IR)' procedure, the patient's skin-dose may become very high for a burn, necrosis and ulceration to appear. In order to prevent these deterministic effects, an accurate calculation of the patient skin-dose mapping is essential. For most machines, the 'Dose Area Product (DAP)' and fluoroscopy time are the only information available for the operator. These two parameters are a very poor indicator of the peak skin dose. We developed a mathematical model that reconstructs the magnitude (delivered dose), shape, and localization of each irradiation field on the patient skin. In case of critical dose exceeding, the system generates warning alerts. We present the results of its comparison with clinical studies. Materials and methods: Two series of comparison of the skin-dose mapping of our mathematical model with clinical studies were performed: 1. At a first time, clinical tests were performed on patient phantoms. Gafchromic films were placed on the table of the IR machine under of PMMA plates (thickness = 20 cm) that simulate the patient. After irradiation, the film darkening is proportional to the radiation dose received by the patient's back and reflects the shape of the X-ray field. After film scanning and analysis, the exact dose value can be obtained at each point of the mapping. Four experimentation were performed, constituting a total of 34 acquisition incidences including all possible exposure configurations. 2. At a second time, clinical trials were launched on real patients during real 'Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO)' procedures for a total of 80 cases. Gafchromic films were placed at the back of patients. We performed comparisons on the dose values, as well as the distribution, and the shape of irradiation fields between the skin dose mapping of our mathematical model and Gafchromic films. Results: The comparison between the dose values shows a difference less than 15%. Moreover, our model shows a very good geometric accuracy: all fields have the same shape, size and location (uncertainty < 5%). Conclusion: This study shows that our model is a reliable tool to warn physicians when a high radiation dose is reached. Thus, deterministic effects can be avoided.

Keywords: clinical experimentation, interventional radiology, mathematical model, patient's skin-dose mapping.

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Authors: John McDowall, Lucy Lightfoot

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Stigma constitutes a significant barrier to the recovery and social integration of individuals affected by mental illness. Although there is some debate in the literature regarding the definition and utility of stigma as a concept, it is widely accepted that it comprises three components: stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial reactions, and discrimination. Stereotypical beliefs describe the cognitive knowledge-based component of stigma, referring to beliefs (often negative) about members of a group that is based on cultural and societal norms (e.g. ‘People with anxiety are just weak’). Prejudice refers to the affective/evaluative component of stigma and describes the endorsement of negative stereotypes and the resulting negative emotional reactions (e.g. ‘People with anxiety are just weak, and they frustrate me’). Discrimination refers to the behavioural component of stigma, which is arguably the most problematic, as it exerts a direct effect on the stigmatized person and may lead people to behave in a hostile or avoidant way towards them (i.e. refusal to hire them). Research exploring anti-stigma initiatives focus primarily on an educational approach, with the view that accurate information will replace misconceptions and decrease stigma. Many approaches take a biogenetic stance, emphasising brain and biochemical deficits - the idea being that ‘mental illness is an illness like any other.' While this approach tends to effectively reduce blame, it has also demonstrated negative effects such as increasing prognostic pessimism, the desire for social distance and perceptions of stereotypes. In the present study 144 participants were split into three groups and read one of three vignettes presenting causal explanations for Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): One explanation emphasized biogenetic factors as being important in the etiology of GAD, another emphasised psychosocial factors (e.g. aversive life events, poverty, etc.), and a third stressed the adaptive features of the disorder from an evolutionary viewpoint. A variety of measures tapping the various components of stigma were administered following the vignettes. No difference in stigma measures as a function of causal explanation was found. People who had contact with mental illness in the past were significantly less stigmatising across a wide range of measures, but this did not interact with the type of causal explanation.

Keywords: generalised anxiety disorder, discrimination, prejudice, stigma

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Saeed Farivar, Mohsen Kahrom

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The purpose of this work is to develop a physical simulation model for the purpose of studying the effect of various design parameters on the performance of packaged-liquid chillers. This paper presents a steady-state model for predicting the performance of package-Liquid chiller over a wide range of operation condition. The model inputs are inlet conditions; geometry and output of model include system performance variable such as power consumption, coefficient of performance (COP) and states of refrigerant through the refrigeration cycle. A computer model that simulates the steady-state cyclic performance of a vapor compression chiller is developed for the purpose of performing detailed physical design analysis of actual industrial chillers. The model can be used for optimizing design and for detailed energy efficiency analysis of packaged liquid chillers. The simulation model takes into account presence of all chiller components such as compressor, shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers, thermostatic expansion valve and connection pipes and tubing’s by thermo-hydraulic modeling of heat transfer, fluids flow and thermodynamics processes in each one of the mentioned components. To verify the validity of the developed model, a 7.5 USRT packaged-liquid chiller is used and a laboratory test stand for bringing the chiller to its standard steady-state performance condition is build. Experimental results obtained from testing the chiller in various load and temperature conditions is shown to be in good agreement with those obtained from simulating the performance of the chiller using the computer prediction model. An entropy-minimization-based optimization analysis is performed based on the developed analytical performance model of the chiller. The variation of design parameters in construction of shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers are studied using the developed performance and optimization analysis and simulation model and a best-match condition between the physical design and construction of chiller heat exchangers and its compressor is found to exist. It is expected that manufacturers of chillers and research organizations interested in developing energy-efficient design and analysis of compression chillers can take advantage of the presented study and its results.

Keywords: optimization, packaged liquid chiller, performance, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 278