Search results for: signal processing

Authors: Claudia Norambuena, Myissa Weiss, Maria Ruiz Maya, Matthew Straley, Elijah Hammond, Benjamin Chesebrough, David Grow

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The purpose of this project is to develop a low-cost, portable sensor device that can be used at home for long-term analysis of gait and balance abnormalities. One area of particular concern involves the asymmetries in movement and balance that can accompany certain types of injuries and/or the associated devices used in the repair and rehabilitation process (e.g. the use of splints and casts) which can often increase chances of falls and additional injuries. This device has the capacity to monitor a patient during the rehabilitation process after injury or operation, increasing the patient’s access to healthcare while decreasing the number of visits to the patient’s clinician. The sensor device may thereby improve the quality of the patient’s care, particularly in rural areas where access to the clinician could be limited, while simultaneously decreasing the overall cost associated with the patient’s care. The device consists of nine interconnected accelerometer/ gyroscope/compass chips (9-DOF IMU, Adafruit, New York, NY). The sensors attach to and are used to determine the orientation and acceleration of the patient’s lower abdomen, C7 vertebra (lower neck), L1 vertebra (middle back), anterior side of each thigh and tibia, and dorsal side of each foot. In addition, pressure sensors are embedded in shoe inserts with one sensor (ESS301, Tekscan, Boston, MA) beneath the heel and three sensors (Interlink 402, Interlink Electronics, Westlake Village, CA) beneath the metatarsal bones of each foot. These sensors measure the distribution of the weight applied to each foot as well as stride duration. A small microntroller (Arduino Mega, Arduino, Ivrea, Italy) is used to collect data from these sensors in a CSV file. MATLAB is then used to analyze the data and output the hip, knee, ankle, and trunk angles projected on the sagittal plane. An open-source program Processing is then used to generate an animation of the patient’s gait. The accuracy of the sensors was validated through comparison to goniometric measurements (±2° error). The sensor device was also shown to have sufficient sensitivity to observe various gait abnormalities. Several patients used the sensor device, and the data collected from each represented the patient’s movements. Further, the sensors were found to have the ability to observe gait abnormalities caused by the addition of a small amount of weight (4.5 - 9.1 kg) to one side of the patient. The user-friendly interface and portability of the sensor device will help to construct a bridge between patients and their clinicians with fewer necessary inpatient visits.

Keywords: biomedical sensing, gait analysis, outpatient, rehabilitation

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Authors: G. Wimmers

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The University of Northern British Columbia needed a new laboratory building for the Master of Engineering in Integrated Wood Design Program and its new Civil Engineering Program. Since the University is committed to reducing its environmental footprint and because the Master of Engineering Program is actively involved in research of energy efficient buildings, the decision was made to request the energy efficiency of the Passive House Standard in the Request for Proposals. The building is located in Prince George in Northern British Columbia, a city located at the northern edge of climate zone 6 with an average low between -8 and -10.5 in the winter months. The footprint of the building is 30m x 30m with a height of about 10m. The building consists of a large open space for the shop and laboratory with a small portion of the floorplan being two floors, allowing for a mezzanine level with a few offices as well as mechanical and storage rooms. The total net floor area is 1042m² and the building’s gross volume 9686m³. One key requirement of the Passive House Standard is the airtight envelope with an airtightness of < 0.6 ach@50Pa. In the past, we have seen that this requirement can be challenging to reach for industrial buildings. When testing for air tightness, it is important to test in both directions, pressurization, and depressurization, since the airflow through all leakages of the building will, in reality, happen simultaneously in both directions. A specific detail or situation such as overlapping but not sealed membranes might be airtight in one direction, due to the valve effect, but are opening up when tested in the opposite direction. In this specific project, the advantage was the overall very compact envelope and the good volume to envelope area ratio. The building had to be very airtight and the details for the windows and doors installation as well as all transitions from walls to roof and floor, the connections of the prefabricated wall panels and all penetrations had to be carefully developed to allow for maximum airtightness. The biggest challenges were the specific components of this industrial building, the large bay door for semi-trucks and the dust extraction system for the wood processing machinery. The testing was carried out in accordance with EN 132829 (method A) as specified in the International Passive House Standard and the volume calculation was also following the Passive House guideline resulting in a net volume of 7383m3, excluding all walls, floors and suspended ceiling volumes. This paper will explore the details and strategies used to achieve an airtightness of 0.07 ach@50Pa, to the best of our knowledge the lowest value achieved in North America so far following the test protocol of the International Passive House Standard and discuss the crucial steps throughout the project phases and the most challenging details.

Keywords: air changes, airtightness, envelope design, industrial building, passive house

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Authors: Afnan Al-Romi, Iman Al-Momani

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The urge of applying the Software Engineering (SE) processes is both of vital importance and a key feature in critical, complex large-scale systems, for example, safety systems, security service systems, and network systems. Inevitably, associated with this are risks, such as system vulnerabilities and security threats. The probability of those risks increases in unsecured environments, such as wireless networks in general and in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in particular. WSN is a self-organizing network of sensor nodes connected by wireless links. WSNs consist of hundreds to thousands of low-power, low-cost, multi-function sensor nodes that are small in size and communicate over short-ranges. The distribution of sensor nodes in an open environment that could be unattended in addition to the resource constraints in terms of processing, storage and power, make such networks in stringent limitations such as lifetime (i.e. period of operation) and security. The importance of WSN applications that could be found in many militaries and civilian aspects has drawn the attention of many researchers to consider its security. To address this important issue and overcome one of the main challenges of WSNs, security solution systems have been developed by researchers. Those solutions are software-based network Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs). However, it has been witnessed, that those developed IDSs are neither secure enough nor accurate to detect all malicious behaviours of attacks. Thus, the problem is the lack of coverage of all malicious behaviours in proposed IDSs, leading to unpleasant results, such as delays in the detection process, low detection accuracy, or even worse, leading to detection failure, as illustrated in the previous studies. Also, another problem is energy consumption in WSNs caused by IDS. So, in other words, not all requirements are implemented then traced. Moreover, neither all requirements are identified nor satisfied, as for some requirements have been compromised. The drawbacks in the current IDS are due to not following structured software development processes by researches and developers when developing IDS. Consequently, they resulted in inadequate requirement management, process, validation, and verification of requirements quality. Unfortunately, WSN and SE research communities have been mostly impermeable to each other. Integrating SE and WSNs is a real subject that will be expanded as technology evolves and spreads in industrial applications. Therefore, this paper will study the importance of Requirement Engineering when developing IDSs. Also, it will study a set of existed IDSs and illustrate the absence of Requirement Engineering and its effect. Then conclusions are drawn in regard of applying requirement engineering to systems to deliver the required functionalities, with respect to operational constraints, within an acceptable level of performance, accuracy and reliability.

Keywords: software engineering, requirement engineering, Intrusion Detection System, IDS, Wireless Sensor Networks, WSN

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Authors: In-Tsang Lin, Chiching Wei

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Reading order is an important task in many digitization scenarios involving the preservation of the logical structure of a document. From the paper survey, it finds that the state-of-the-art algorithm could not fulfill to get the accurate reading order in the portable document format (PDF) files with rich formats, diverse layout arrangement. In recent years, most of the studies on the analysis of reading order have targeted the specific problem of associating layout components with logical labels, while less attention has been paid to the problem of extracting relationships the problem of detecting the reading order relationship between logical components, such as cross-references. Over 3 years of development, the company Foxit has demonstrated the layout recognition (LR) engine in revision 20601 to eager for the accuracy of the reading order. The bounding box of each paragraph can be obtained correctly by the Foxit LR engine, but the result of reading-order is not always correct for single-column, and two-column layout format due to the table issue, formula issue, and multiple mini separated bounding box and footer issue. Thus, the algorithm is developed to improve the accuracy of the reading order based on the Foxit LR structure. In this paper, a creative observation method (Here called the MESH method) is provided here to open a new chance in the research of the reading-order field. Here two important parameters are introduced, one parameter is the number of the bounding box on the right side of the present bounding box (NRight), and another parameter is the number of the bounding box under the present bounding box (Nunder). And the normalized x-value (x/the whole width), the normalized y-value (y/the whole height) of each bounding box, the x-, and y- position of each bounding box were also put into consideration. Initial experimental results of single column layout format demonstrate a 19.33% absolute improvement in accuracy of the reading-order over 7 PDF files (total 150 pages) using our proposed method based on the LR structure over the baseline method using the LR structure in 20601 revision, which its accuracy of the reading-order is 72%. And for two-column layout format, the preliminary results demonstrate a 44.44% absolute improvement in accuracy of the reading-order over 2 PDF files (total 18 pages) using our proposed method based on the LR structure over the baseline method using the LR structure in 20601 revision, which its accuracy of the reading-order is 0%. Until now, the footer issue and a part of multiple mini separated bounding box issue can be solved by using the MESH method. However, there are still three issues that cannot be solved, such as the table issue, formula issue, and the random multiple mini separated bounding boxes. But the detection of the table position and the recognition of the table structure are out of the scope in this paper, and there is needed another research. In the future, the tasks are chosen- how to detect the table position in the page and to extract the content of the table.

Keywords: document processing, reading order, observation method, layout recognition

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Authors: Jung-Hong Hong, Jing-Cen Yang, Cai-Yu Ou

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The analysis of geographic inequality heavily relies on the use of location-enabled statistical data and quantitative measures to present the spatial patterns of the selected phenomena and analyze their differences. To protect the privacy of individual instance and link to administrative units, point-based datasets are spatially aggregated to area-based statistical datasets, where only the overall status for the selected levels of spatial units is used for decision making. The partition of the spatial units thus has dominant influence on the outcomes of the analyzed results, well known as the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). A new spatial reference framework, the Taiwan Geographical Statistical Classification (TGSC), was recently introduced in Taiwan based on the spatial partition principles of homogeneous consideration of the number of population and households. Comparing to the outcomes of the traditional township units, TGSC provides additional levels of spatial units with finer granularity for presenting spatial phenomena and enables domain experts to select appropriate dissemination level for publishing statistical data. This paper compares the results of respectively using TGSC and township unit on the mortality data and examines the spatial characteristics of their outcomes. For the mortality data between the period of January 1^st, 2008 and December 31^st, 2010 of the Taitung County, the all-cause age-standardized death rate (ASDR) ranges from 571 to 1757 per 100,000 persons, whereas the 2^nd dissemination area (TGSC) shows greater variation, ranged from 0 to 2222 per 100,000. The finer granularity of spatial units of TGSC clearly provides better outcomes for identifying and evaluating the geographic inequality and can be further analyzed with the statistical measures from other perspectives (e.g., population, area, environment.). The management and analysis of the statistical data referring to the TGSC in this research is strongly supported by the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. An integrated workflow that consists of the tasks of the processing of death certificates, the geocoding of street address, the quality assurance of geocoded results, the automatic calculation of statistic measures, the standardized encoding of measures and the geo-visualization of statistical outcomes is developed. This paper also introduces a set of auxiliary measures from a geographic distribution perspective to further examine the hidden spatial characteristics of mortality data and justify the analyzed results. With the common statistical area framework like TGSC, the preliminary results demonstrate promising potential for developing a web-based statistical service that can effectively access domain statistical data and present the analyzed outcomes in meaningful ways to avoid wrong decision making.

Keywords: mortality map, spatial patterns, statistical area, variation

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Authors: Jean-Eric Pelet, Erhard Lick, Basma Taieb

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Purpose This research bridges the gap between sensory marketing and the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in luxury hotels. We investigated how stimulating guests’ senses through IoT devices influenced their emotions, affective experiences, eudaimonism (well-being), and, ultimately, guest behavior. We examined potential moderating effects of gender. Design/methodology/approach We adopted a mixed method approach, combining qualitative research (semi-structured interviews) to explore hotel managers’ perspectives on the potential use of IoT in luxury hotels and quantitative research (surveying hotel guests; n=357). Findings The results showed that while the senses of smell, hearing, and sight had an impact on guests’ emotions, the senses of touch, hearing, and sight impacted guests’ affective experiences. The senses of smell and taste influenced guests’ eudaimonism. The sense of smell had a greater effect on eudaimonism and behavioral intentions among women compared to men. Originality IoT can be applied in creating customized multi-sensory hotel experiences. For example, hotels may offer unique and diverse ambiences in their rooms and suites to improve guest experiences. Research limitations/implications This study concentrated on luxury hotels located in Europe. Further research may explore the generalizability of the findings (e.g., in other cultures, comparison between high-end and low-end hotels). Practical implications Context awareness and hyper-personalization, through intensive and continuous data collection (hyper-connectivity) and real time processing, are key trends in the service industry. Therefore, big data plays a crucial role in the collection of information since it allows hoteliers to retrieve, analyze, and visualize data to provide personalized services in real time. Together with their guests, hotels may co-create customized sensory experiences. For instance, if the hotel knows about the guest’s music preferences based on social media as well as their age and gender, etc. and considers the temperature and size (standard, suite, etc.) of the guest room, this may determine the playlist of the concierge-tablet made available in the guest room. Furthermore, one may record the guest’s voice to use it for voice command purposes once the guest arrives at the hotel. Based on our finding that the sense of smell has a greater impact on eudaimonism and behavioral intentions among women than men, hotels may deploy subtler scents with lower intensities, or even different scents, for female guests in comparison to male guests.

Keywords: affective experience, emotional value, eudaimonism, hospitality industry, Internet of Things, sensory marketing

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Authors: Seyed Esmail Seyedi Bariran, Khairul Salleh Mohamed Sahari

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Apparent quality defects such as warpage, shrinkage, weld line, etc. are such an irresistible phenomenon in mass production of auto plastic appearance parts. These frequently occurred manufacturing defects should be satisfied concurrently so as to achieve a final product with acceptable quality standards. Determining the significant control factors that simultaneously affect multiple quality characteristics can significantly improve the optimization results by eliminating the deviating effect of the so-called ineffective outliers. Hence, a robust quantitative approach needs to be developed upon which major control factors and their level can be effectively determined to help improve the reliability of the optimal processing parameter design. Hence, the primary objective of current study was to develop a systematic methodology for selection of significant control factors (SCF) relevant to multiple quality optimization of auto plastic appearance part. Auto bumper was used as a specimen with the most identical quality and production characteristics to APAP group. A preliminary failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) was conducted to nominate a database of pseudo significant significant control factors prior to the optimization phase. Later, CAE simulation Moldflow analysis was implemented to manipulate four rampant plastic injection quality defects concerned with APAP group including warpage deflection, volumetric shrinkage, sink mark and weld line. Furthermore, a step-backward elimination searching method (SESME) has been developed for systematic pre-optimization selection of SCF based on hierarchical orthogonal array design and priority-based one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The development of robust parameter design in the second phase was based on DOE module powered by Minitab v.16 statistical software. Based on the F-test (F 0.05, 2, 14) one-way ANOVA results, it was concluded that for warpage deflection, material mixture percentage was the most significant control factor yielding a 58.34% of contribution while for the other three quality defects, melt temperature was the most significant control factor with a 25.32%, 84.25%, and 34.57% contribution for sin mark, shrinkage and weld line strength control. Also, the results on the he least significant control factors meaningfully revealed injection fill time as the least significant factor for both warpage and sink mark with respective 1.69% and 6.12% contribution. On the other hand, for shrinkage and weld line defects, the least significant control factors were holding pressure and mold temperature with a 0.23% and 4.05% overall contribution accordingly.

Keywords: plastic injection moulding, quality optimization, FMEA, ANOVA, SESME, APAP

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Authors: Zdzislaw Kaminski, Zbigniew Czyz, Krzysztof Skiba

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This paper discusses the CFD simulation of a flow around a rotor of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Numerical simulation, unlike experiments, enables us to validate project assumptions when it is designed and avoid a costly preparation of a model or a prototype for a bench test. CFD simulation enables us to compare characteristics of aerodynamic forces acting on rotor working surfaces and define operational parameters like torque or power generated by a turbine assembly. This research focused on the rotor with the blades capable of modifying their working surfaces, i.e. absorbing wind kinetic energy. The operation of this rotor is based on adjusting angular aperture α of the top and bottom parts of the blades mounted on an axis. If this angular aperture α increases, the working surface which absorbs wind kinetic energy also increases. The operation of turbines is characterized by parameters like the angular aperture of blades, power, torque, speed for a given wind speed. These parameters have an impact on the efficiency of assemblies. The distribution of forces acting on the working surfaces in our turbine changes according to the angular velocity of the rotor. Moreover, the resultant force from the force acting on an advancing blade and retreating blade should be as high as possible. This paper is part of the research to improve an efficiency of a rotor assembly. Therefore, using simulation, the courses of the above parameters were studied in three full rotations individually for each of the blades for three angular apertures of blade working surfaces, i.e. 30 °, 60 °, 90 °, at three wind speeds, i.e. 4 m / s, 6 m / s, 8 m / s and rotor speeds ranging from 100 to 500 rpm. Finally, there were created the characteristics of torque coefficients and power as a function of time for each blade separately and for the entire rotor. Accordingly, the correlation between the turbine rotor power as a function of wind speed for varied values of rotor rotational speed. By processing this data, the correlation between the power of the turbine rotor and its rotational speed for each of the angular aperture of the working surfaces was specified. Finally, the optimal values, i.e. of the highest output power for given wind speeds were read. The research results in receiving the basic characteristics of turbine rotor power as a function of wind speed for the three angular apertures of the blades. Given the nature of rotor operation, the growth in the output turbine can be estimated if angular aperture of the blades increases. The controlled adjustment of angle α enables a smooth adjustment of power generated by a turbine rotor. If wind speed is significant, this type of adjustment enables this output power to remain at the same level (by reducing angle α) with no risk of damaging a construction. This work has been financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, numerical analysis, renewable energy, wind turbine

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Authors: Katarzyna Lubecka, Kirsty Flower, Megan Beetch, Lucinda Kurzava, Hannah Buvala, Samer Gawrieh, Suthat Liangpunsakul, Tracy Gonzalez, George McCabe, Naga Chalasani, James M. Flanagan, Barbara Stefanska

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most prevalent type of primary liver cancer, is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Late onset of clinical symptoms in HCC results in late diagnosis and poor disease outcome. Approximately 85% of individuals with HCC have underlying liver cirrhosis. However, not all cirrhotic patients develop cancer. Reliable early detection biomarkers that can distinguish cirrhotic patients who will develop cancer from those who will not are urgently needed and could increase the cure rate from 5% to 80%. We used Illumina-450K microarray to test whether blood DNA, an easily accessible source of DNA, bear site-specific changes in DNA methylation in response to HCC before diagnosis with conventional tools (pre-diagnostic). Top 11 differentially methylated sites were selected for validation by pyrosequencing. The diagnostic potential of the 11 pyrosequenced probes was tested in blood samples from a prospective cohort of cirrhotic patients. We identified 971 differentially methylated CpG sites in pre-diagnostic HCC cases as compared with healthy controls (P < 0.05, paired Wilcoxon test, ICC ≥ 0.5). Nearly 76% of differentially methylated CpG sites showed lower levels of methylation in cases vs. controls (P = 2.973E-11, Wilcoxon test). Classification of the CpG sites according to their location relative to CpG islands and transcription start site revealed that those hypomethylated loci are located in regulatory regions important for gene transcription such as CpG island shores, promoters, and 5’UTR at higher frequency than hypermethylated sites. Among 735 CpG sites hypomethylated in cases vs. controls, 482 sites were assigned to gene coding regions whereas 236 hypermethylated sites corresponded to 160 genes. Bioinformatics analysis using GO, KEGG and DAVID knowledgebase indicate that differentially methylated CpG sites are located in genes associated with functions that are essential for gene transcription, cell adhesion, cell migration, and regulation of signal transduction pathways. Taking into account the magnitude of the difference, statistical significance, location, and consistency across the majority of matched pairs case-control, we selected 11 CpG loci corresponding to 10 genes for further validation by pyrosequencing. We established that methylation of CpG sites within 5 out of those 10 genes distinguish cirrhotic patients who subsequently developed HCC from those who stayed cancer free (cirrhotic controls), demonstrating potential as biomarkers of early detection in populations at risk. The best predictive value was detected for CpGs located within BARD1 (AUC=0.70, asymptotic significance ˂0.01). Using an additive logistic regression model, we further showed that 9 CpG loci within those 5 genes, that were covered in pyrosequenced probes, constitute a panel with high diagnostic accuracy (AUC=0.887; 95% CI:0.80-0.98). The panel was able to distinguish pre-diagnostic cases from cirrhotic controls free of cancer with 88% sensitivity at 70% specificity. Using blood as a minimally invasive material and pyrosequencing as a straightforward quantitative method, the established biomarker panel has high potential to be developed into a routine clinical test after validation in larger cohorts. This study was supported by Showalter Trust, American Cancer Society (IRG#14-190-56), and Purdue Center for Cancer Research (P30 CA023168) granted to BS.

Keywords: biomarker, DNA methylation, early detection, hepatocellular carcinoma

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Authors: Zhuo Job Chen, Kevin Nute

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The work reported examines potential linkages between spatial and temporal prospects, and more specifically, between variations in the spatial depth and foreground obstruction of window views, and observers’ sense of connection to the future. It was found that external views from indoor spaces were strongly associated with a sense of the future, that partially obstructing such a view with foreground objects significantly reduced its association with the future, and replacing it with a pictorial representation of the same scene (with no real actual depth) removed most of its temporal association. A lesser change in the spatial depth of the view, however, had no apparent effect on association with the future. While the role of spatial depth has still to be confirmed, the results suggest that spatial prospects directly affect temporal ones. The word “prospect” typifies the overlapping of the spatial and temporal in most human languages. It originated in classical times as a purely spatial term, but in the 16th century took on the additional temporal implication of an imagined view ahead, of the future. The psychological notion of prospection, then, has its distant origins in a spatial analogue. While it is not yet proven that space directly structures our processing of time at a physiological level, it is generally agreed that it commonly does so conceptually. The mental representation of possible futures has been a central part of human survival as a species (Boyer, 2008; Suddendorf & Corballis, 2007). A sense of the future seems critical not only practically, but also psychologically. It has been suggested, for example, that lack of a positive image of the future may be an important contributing cause of depression (Beck, 1974; Seligman, 2016). Most people in the developed world now spend more than 90% of their lives indoors. So any direct link between external views and temporal prospects could have important implications for both human well-being and building design. We found that the ability to see what lies in front of us spatially was strongly associated with a sense of what lies ahead temporally. Partial obstruction of a view was found to significantly reduce that sense connection to the future. Replacing a view with a flat pictorial representation of the same scene removed almost all of its connection with the future, but changing the spatial depth of a real view appeared to have no significant effect. While foreground obstructions were found to reduce subjects’ sense of connection to the future, they increased their sense of refuge and security. Consistent with Prospect and Refuge theory, an ideal environment, then, would seem to be one in which we can “see without being seen” (Lorenz, 1952), specifically one that conceals us frontally from others, without restricting our own view. It is suggested that these optimal conditions might be translated architecturally as screens, the apertures of which are large enough for a building occupant to see through unobstructed from close by, but small enough to conceal them from the view of someone looking from a distance outside.

Keywords: foreground obstructions, prospection, spatial depth, window views

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Authors: Isabella Bianco, Gian Andrea Blengini

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The environmental impact related to ornamental stones (such as marbles and granites) is largely debated. Starting from the industrial revolution, continuous improvements of machineries led to a higher exploitation of this natural resource and to a more international interaction between markets. As a consequence, the environmental impact of the extraction and processing of stones has increased. Nevertheless, if compared with other building materials, ornamental stones are generally more durable, natural, and recyclable. From the scientific point of view, studies on stone life cycle sustainability have been carried out, but these are often partial or not very significant because of the high percentage of approximations and assumptions in calculations. This is due to the lack, in life cycle databases (e.g. Ecoinvent, Thinkstep, and ELCD), of datasets about the specific technologies employed in the stone production chain. For example, databases do not contain information about diamond wires, chains or explosives, materials commonly used in quarries and transformation plants. The project presented in this paper aims to populate the life cycle databases with specific data of specific stone processes. To this goal, the methodology follows the standardized approach of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), according to the requirements of UNI 14040-14044 and to the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook guidelines of the European Commission. The study analyses the processes of the entire production chain (from-cradle-to-gate system boundaries), including the extraction of benches, the cutting of blocks into slabs/tiles and the surface finishing. Primary data have been collected in Italian quarries and transformation plants which use technologies representative of the current state-of-the-art. Since the technologies vary according to the hardness of the stone, the case studies comprehend both soft stones (marbles) and hard stones (gneiss). In particular, data about energy, materials and emissions were collected in marble basins of Carrara and in Beola and Serizzo basins located in the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola. Data were then elaborated through an appropriate software to build a life cycle model. The model was realized setting free parameters that allow an easy adaptation to specific productions. Through this model, the study aims to boost the direct participation of stone companies and encourage the use of LCA tool to assess and improve the stone sector environmental sustainability. At the same time, the realization of accurate Life Cycle Inventory data aims at making available, to researchers and stone experts, ILCD compliant datasets of the most significant processes and technologies related to the ornamental stone sector.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, LCA datasets, ornamental stone, stone environmental impact

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Authors: Qimin Shi, Yi Sun, Constantinus Politis, Shoufeng Yang

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In-situ preparation of particle-reinforced aluminium matrix composites (PRAMCs) by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing is a promising strategy to strengthen traditional Al-based alloys. The laser-driven thermite reaction can be a practical mechanism to in-situ synthesize PRAMCs. However, introducing oxygen elements through adding Fe₂O₃ makes the powder mixture highly sensitive to form porosity and Al₂O₃ film during LPBF, bringing challenges to producing dense Al-based materials. Therefore, this work develops a processing strategy combined with consecutive high-energy laser melting scanning and low-energy laser remelting scanning to prepare PRAMCs from a Fe₂O₃/AlSi12 powder mixture. The powder mixture consists of 5 wt% Fe₂O₃ and the remainder AlSi12 powder. The addition of 5 wt% Fe₂O₃ aims to achieve balanced strength and ductility. A high relative density (98.2 ± 0.55 %) was successfully obtained by optimizing laser melting (Emelting) and laser remelting surface energy density (Eremelting) to Emelting = 35 J/mm² and Eremelting = 5 J/mm². Results further reveal the necessity of increasing Emelting, to improve metal liquid’s spreading/wetting by breaking up the Al₂O₃ films surrounding the molten pools; however, the high-energy laser melting produced much porosity, including H₂₋, O₂₋ and keyhole-induced pores. The subsequent low-energy laser remelting could close the resulting internal pores, backfill open gaps and smoothen solidified surfaces. As a result, the material was densified by repeating laser melting and laser remelting layer by layer. Although with two-times laser scanning, the microstructure still shows fine cellular Si networks with Al grains inside (grain size of about 370 nm) and in-situ nano-precipitates (Al₂O₃, Si, and Al-Fe(-Si) intermetallics). Finally, the fine microstructure, nano-structured dispersion strengthening, and high-level densification strengthened the in-situ PRAMCs, reaching yield strength of 426 ± 4 MPa and tensile strength of 473 ± 6 MPa. Furthermore, the results can expect to provide valuable information to process other powder mixtures with severe porosity/oxide-film formation potential, considering the evidenced contribution of laser melting/remelting strategy to densify material and obtain good mechanical properties during LPBF.

Keywords: densification, laser powder bed fusion, metal matrix composites, microstructures, mechanical properties

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Authors: Valerii Levshakov, Olga Fedorova

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Specific features of ship structures, made from composites, i.e. simultaneous shaping of material and structure, large sizes, complicated outlines and tapered thickness have defined leading role of technology, integrating test results from material science, designing and structural analysis. Main procedures of composite shipbuilding are contact molding, vacuum molding and winding. Now, the most demanded composite shipbuilding technology is the manufacture of structures from fiberglass and multilayer hybrid composites by means of vacuum molding. This technology enables the manufacture of products with improved strength properties (in comparison with contact molding), reduction of production duration, weight and secures better environmental conditions in production area. Mechanized winding is applied for the manufacture of parts, shaped as rotary bodies – i.e. parts of ship, oil and other pipelines, deep-submergence vehicles hulls, bottles, reservoirs and other structures. This procedure involves processing of reinforcing fiberglass, carbon and polyaramide fibers. Polyaramide fibers have tensile strength of 5000 MPa, elastic modulus value of 130 MPa and rigidity of the same can be compared with rigidity of fiberglass, however, the weight of polyaramide fiber is 30% less than weight of fiberglass. The same enables to the manufacture different structures, including that, using both – fiberglass and organic composites. Organic composites are widely used for the manufacture of parts with size and weight limitations. High price of polyaramide fiber restricts the use of organic composites. Perspective area of winding technology development is the manufacture of carbon fiber shafts and couplings for ships. JSC ‘Shipbuilding & Shiprepair Technology Center’ (JSC SSTC) developed technology of dielectric uncouplers for cryogenic lines, cooled by gaseous or liquid cryogenic agents (helium, nitrogen, etc.) for temperature range 4.2-300 K and pressure up to 30 MPa – the same is used for separating components of electro physical equipment with different electrical potentials. Dielectric uncouplers were developed, the manufactured and tested in accordance with International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Technical specification. Spiral uncouplers withstand operating voltage of 30 kV, direct-flow uncoupler – 4 kV. Application of spiral channel instead of rectilinear enables increasing of breakdown potential and reduction of uncouplers sizes. 95 uncouplers were successfully the manufactured and tested. At the present time, Russian the manufacturers of ship composite structures have started absorption of technology of manufacturing the same using automated prepreg laminating; this technology enables the manufacture of structures with improved operational specifications.

Keywords: fiberglass, infusion, polymeric composites, winding

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Authors: M. N. Baig, F. N. Khan, M. Junaid

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Titanium alloys are widely employed in aerospace, medical, chemical, and marine applications. These alloys offer many advantages such as low specific weight, high strength to weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance, high melting point and good fatigue behavior. These attractive properties make titanium alloys very unique and therefore they require special attention in all areas of processing, especially welding. In this work, 1.6 mm thick sheets of Ti-5Al-2,5Sn, an alpha titanium (α-Ti) alloy, were welded using electron beam (EBW) and laser beam (LBW) welding processes to achieve a full penetration Bead-on Plate (BoP) configuration. The weldments were studied using polarized optical microscope, SEM, EDS and XRD. Microhardness distribution across the weld zone and smooth and notch tensile strengths of the weldments were also recorded. Residual stresses using Hole-drill Strain Measurement (HDSM) method and deformation patterns of the weldments were measured for the purpose of comparison of the two welding processes. Fusion zone widths of both EBW and LBW weldments were found to be approximately equivalent owing to fairly similar high power densities of both the processes. Relatively less oxide content and consequently high joint quality were achieved in EBW weldment as compared to LBW due to vacuum environment and absence of any shielding gas. However, an increase in heat-affected zone width and partial ά-martensitic transformation infusion zone of EBW weldment were observed because of lesser cooling rates associated with EBW as compared with LBW. The microstructure infusion zone of EBW weldment comprised both acicular α and ά martensite within the prior β grains whereas complete ά martensitic transformation was observed within the fusion zone of LBW weldment. Hardness of the fusion zone in EBW weldment was found to be lower than the fusion zone of LBW weldment due to the observed microstructural differences. Notch tensile specimen of LBW exhibited higher load capacity, ductility, and absorbed energy as compared with EBW specimen due to the presence of high strength ά martensitic phase. It was observed that the sheet deformation and deformation angle in EBW weldment were more than LBW weldment due to relatively more heat retention in EBW which led to more thermal strains and hence higher deformations and deformation angle. The lowest residual stresses were found in LBW weldments which were tensile in nature. This was owing to high power density and higher cooling rates associated with LBW process. EBW weldment exhibited highest compressive residual stresses due to which the service life of EBW weldment is expected to improve.

Keywords: Laser and electron beam welding, Microstructure and mechanical properties, Residual stress and distortions, Titanium alloys

Procedia PDF Downloads 226

Authors: C. Fúnez Guerra, B. Nieto Calderón, M. Jaén Caparrós, L. Reyes-Bozo, A. Godoy-Faúndez, E. Vyhmeister

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The global energy system is experiencing a change of scenery. Unstable energy markets, an increasing focus on climate change and its sustainable development is forcing businesses to pursue new solutions in order to ensure future economic growth. This has led to the interest in using hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation and industrial applications. As an energy carrier, hydrogen is accessible and holds a high gravimetric energy density. Abundant in hydrocarbons, hydrogen can play an important role in the shift towards low-emission fossil value chains. By combining hydrogen production by natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage, the overall CO2 emissions are significantly reduced. In addition, the flexibility of hydrogen as an energy storage makes it applicable as a stabilizer in the renewable energy mix. The recent development in hydrogen fuel cells is also raising the expectations for a hydrogen powered transportation sector. Hydrogen value chains exist to a large extent in the industry today. The global hydrogen consumption was approximately 50 million tonnes (7.2 EJ) in 2013, where refineries, ammonia, methanol production and metal processing were main consumers. Natural gas reforming produced 48% of this hydrogen, but without carbon capture and storage (CCS). The total emissions from the production reached 500 million tonnes of CO2, hence alternative production methods with lower emissions will be necessary in future value chains. Hydrogen from electrolysis is used for a wide range of industrial chemical reactions for many years. Possibly, the earliest use was for the production of ammonia-based fertilisers by Norsk Hydro, with a test reactor set up in Notodden, Norway, in 1927. This application also claims one of the world’s largest electrolyser installations, at Sable Chemicals in Zimbabwe. Its array of 28 electrolysers consumes 80 MW per hour, producing around 21,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen. These electrolysers can compete if cheap sources of electricity are available and natural gas for steam reforming is relatively expensive. Because electrolysis of water produces oxygen as a by-product, a system of Autothermal Reforming (ATR) utilizing this oxygen has been analyzed. Replacing the air separation unit with electrolysers produces the required amount of oxygen to the ATR as well as additional hydrogen. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the technical and economic potential of large-scale production of hydrogen for oil refining industry. Sensitivity analysis of parameters such as investment costs, plant operating hours, electricity price and sale price of hydrogen and oxygen are performed.

Keywords: autothermal reforming, electrolyser, hydrogen, natural gas, steam methane reforming

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: U. K. Sahin, N. Erdumlu, C. Saricam, I. Gocek, M. H. Arslan, H. Acikgoz-Tufan, B. Kalav

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Finishing is an important part of fabric processing with which a wide range of features are imparted to greige or colored fabrics for various end-uses. Especially, by the addition or impartation of nano-scaled particles to the fabric structure composite fabrics, a kind of composite materials can be acquired. Composite materials, generally shortened as composites or in other words composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more component materials with significantly different physical, mechanical or chemical characteristics remaining separate and distinctive at the macroscopic or microscopic scale within the end product structure. Therefore, the technique finishing which is one of the fundamental methods to be applied on fabrics for obtainment of composite fabrics with many functionalities was used in the current study with the same purpose. However, regardless of the finishing materials applied, the efficient life of finished product on offering desired feature is low, since the durability of finishes on the material is limited. Any increase in durability of these finishes on textiles would enhance the life of use for textiles, which will result in happier users. Therefore, in this study, since higher durability was desired for the finishing materials fixed on the fabrics, nano-scaled hollow structured cyclodextrins were chemically imparted by grafting to the structure of conventional cotton fabrics by the help of finishing technique in order to be fixed permanently. By this way, a processed and functionalized base fabric having potential to be treated in the subsequent processes with many different finishing agents and nanomaterials could be obtained. Henceforth, this fabric can be used as a multi-functional fabric due to the encapturing ability of cyclodextrins to molecules/particles via physical/chemical means. In this study, scoured and rinsed woven bleached plain weave 100% cotton fabrics were utilized because textiles made of cotton are the most demanded textile products in the textile market by the textile consumers in daily life. Cotton fabric samples were immersed in treating baths containing β-cyclodextrin and 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid and to reduce the curing temperature the catalyst sodium hypophosphite monohydrate was used. All impregnated fabric samples were pre-dried. The reaction of grafting was performed in dry state. The treated and cured fabric samples were rinsed with warm distilled water and dried. The samples were dried for 4 h and weighed before and after finishing and rinsing. Stability and durability of β-cyclodextrins on fabric surface against external factors such as washing as well as strength of functionalized fabric in terms of tensile and tear strength were tested. Presence and homogeneity of distribution of β-cyclodextrins on fabric surface were characterized.

Keywords: cotton fabric, cyclodextrine, improved durability, multifunctional composite textile

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Nejoud Alostad, Anup Bora, Prashant Dhote

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Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has been producing from its major reservoirs that are well defined and highly productive and of superior reservoir quality. These reservoirs are maturing and priority is shifting towards difficult reservoir to meet future production requirements. This paper discusses the results of the detailed integrated study for one of the satellite complex field discovered in the early 1960s. Following acquisition of new 3D seismic data in 1998 and re-processing work in the year 2006, an integrated G&G study was undertaken to review Lower Cretaceous prospectivity of this reservoir. Nine wells have been drilled in the area, till date with only three wells showing hydrocarbons in two formations. The average oil density is around 300API (American Petroleum Institute), and average porosity and water saturation of the reservoir is about 23% and 26%, respectively. The area is dissected by a number of NW-SE trending faults. Structurally, the area consists of horsts and grabens bounded by these faults and hence compartmentalized. The Wara/Burgan formation consists of discrete, dirty sands with clean channel sand complexes. There is a dramatic change in Upper Wara distributary channel facies, and reservoir quality of Wara and Burgan section varies with change of facies over the area. So predicting reservoir facies and its quality out of sparse well data is a major challenge for delineating the prospective area. To characterize the reservoir of Wara/Burgan formation, an integrated workflow involving seismic, well, petro-physical, reservoir and production engineering data has been used. Porosity and water saturation models are prepared and analyzed to predict reservoir quality of Wara and Burgan 3rd sand upper reservoirs. Subsequently, boundary conditions are defined for reservoir and non-reservoir facies by integrating facies, porosity and water saturation. Based on the detailed analyses of volumetric parameters, potential volumes of stock-tank oil initially in place (STOIIP) and gas initially in place (GIIP) were documented after running several probablistic sensitivity analysis using Montecalro simulation method. Sensitivity analysis on probabilistic models of reservoir horizons, petro-physical properties, and oil-water contacts and their effect on reserve clearly shows some alteration in the reservoir geometry. All these parameters have significant effect on the oil in place. This study has helped to identify uncertainty and risks of this prospect particularly and company is planning to develop this area with drilling of new wells.

Keywords: original oil-in-place, sensitivity, uncertainty, sandstone, reservoir modeling, Monte-Carlo simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 197

Authors: Keenoo Bibi Sumera, Alsheikh Mona, Mubarak Jan Beebee Zeba Mahetaab

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Background: Due to the busy schedule of the practicing clinicians at the hospitals, students may not always be attended to, which is to their detriment. The clinicians at the hospitals are also not always acquainted with teaching and/or supervising students on their placements. Additionally, there is a high student-patient ratio. Since they are the prospective clinical doctors under training, they need to reach the competence levels in clinical decision-making skills to be able to serve the healthcare system of the country and to be safe doctors. Aims and Objectives: A reflective portfolio was used to provide a means for students to learn by reflecting on their experiences and obtaining continuous feedback. This practice is an attempt to compensate for the scarcity of lack of resources, that is, clinical placement supervisors and patients. It is also anticipated that it will provide learners with a continuous monitoring and learning gap analysis tool for their clinical skills. Methodology: A hardcopy reflective portfolio was designed and validated. The portfolio incorporated a mini clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX), direct observation of procedural skills and reflection sections. Workshops were organized for the stakeholders, that is the management, faculty and students, separately. The rationale of reflection was emphasized. Students were given samples of reflective writing. The portfolio was then implemented amongst the undergraduate medical students of years four, five and six during clinical clerkship. After 16 weeks of implementation of the portfolio, a survey questionnaire was introduced to explore how undergraduate students perceive the educational value of the reflective portfolio and its impact on their deep information processing. Results: The majority of the respondents are in MD Year 5. Out of 52 respondents, 57.7% were doing the internal medicine clinical placement rotation, and 42.3% were in Otorhinolaryngology clinical placement rotation. The respondents believe that the implementation of a reflective portfolio helped them identify their weaknesses, gain professional development in terms of helping them to identify areas where the knowledge is good, increase the learning value if it is used as a formative assessment, try to relate to different courses and in improving their professional skills. However, it is not necessary that the portfolio will improve the self-esteem of respondents or help in developing their critical thinking, The portfolio takes time to complete, and the supervisors are not useful. They had to chase supervisors for feedback. 53.8% of the respondents followed the Gibbs reflective model to write the reflection, whilst the others did not follow any guidelines to write the reflection 48.1% said that the feedback was helpful, 17.3% preferred the use of written feedback, whilst 11.5% preferred oral feedback. Most of them suggested more frequent feedback. 59.6% of respondents found the current portfolio user-friendly, and 28.8% thought it was too bulky. 27.5% have mentioned that for a mobile application. Conclusion: The reflective portfolio, through the reflection of their work and regular feedback from supervisors, has an overall positive impact on the learning process of undergraduate medical students during their clinical clerkship.

Keywords: Portfolio, Reflection, Feedback, Clinical Placement, Undergraduate Medical Education

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Anastasios Georgoulas, Manolia Andredaki, Marco Marengo

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The present paper investigates the hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of slug-plug flows under saturated flow boiling conditions within circular micro-channels. Numerical simulations are carried out, using an enhanced version of the open-source CFD-based solver ‘interFoam’ of OpenFOAM CFD Toolbox. The proposed user-defined solver is based in the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method for interface advection, and the mentioned enhancements include the implementation of a smoothing process for spurious current reduction, the coupling with heat transfer and phase change as well as the incorporation of conjugate heat transfer to account for transient solid conduction. In all of the considered cases in the present paper, a single phase simulation is initially conducted until a quasi-steady state is reached with respect to the hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layer development. Then, a predefined and constant frequency of successive vapour bubbles is patched upstream at a certain distance from the channel inlet. The proposed numerical simulation set-up can capture the main hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of slug-plug flow regimes within circular micro-channels. In more detail, the present investigation is focused on exploring the interaction between subsequent vapour slugs with respect to their generation frequency, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the liquid film between the generated vapour slugs and the channel wall as well as of the liquid plug between two subsequent vapour slugs. The proposed investigation is carried out for the 3 different working fluids and three different values of applied heat flux in the heated part of the considered microchannel. The post-processing and analysis of the results indicate that the dynamics of the evolving bubbles in each case are influenced by both the upstream and downstream bubbles in the generated sequence. In each case a slip velocity between the vapour bubbles and the liquid slugs is evident. In most cases interfacial waves appear close to the bubble tail that significantly reduce the liquid film thickness. Finally, in accordance with previous investigations vortices that are identified in the liquid slugs between two subsequent vapour bubbles can significantly enhance the convection heat transfer between the liquid regions and the heated channel walls. The overall results of the present investigation can be used to enhance the present understanding by providing better insight of the complex, underpinned heat transfer mechanisms in saturated boiling within micro-channels in the slug-plug flow regime.

Keywords: slug-plug flow regime, micro-channels, VOF method, OpenFOAM

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: M. I. Ribah, M. Jibir, Y. A. Bashar, S. S. Manga

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Food safety is a significant and growing public health problem in the world and Nigeria as a developing country, since food-borne diseases are important contributors to the huge burden of sickness and death of humans. In Nigeria, traditional ready-to-eat meat products (RTE-MPs) like balangu, tsire, guru and dried meat products like kilishi, dambun nama, banda, were reported to be highly appreciated because of their eating qualities. The consumption of these products was considered as safe due to the treatments that are usually involved during their production process. However, during processing and handling, the products could be contaminated by pathogens that could cause food poisoning. Therefore, a hazard identification for pathogenic bacteria on some traditional RTE-MPs was conducted in Kebbi and Sokoto States, Nigeria. A total of 116 RTE-MPs (balangu-38, kilishi-39 and tsire-39) samples were obtained from retail outlets and analyzed using standard cultural microbiological procedures in general and selective enrichment media to isolate the target pathogens. A six-fold serial dilution was prepared and using the pour plating method, colonies were counted. Serial dilutions were selected based on the prepared pre-labeled Petri dishes for each sample. A volume of 10-12 ml of molten Nutrient agar cooled to 42-45°C was poured into each Petri dish and 1 ml each from dilutions of 102, 104 and 106 for every sample was respectively poured on a pre-labeled Petri plate after which colonies were counted. The isolated pathogens were identified and confirmed after series of biochemical tests. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe the presence of pathogens. The General Linear Model was used to analyze data on pathogen presence according to RTE-MPs and means were separated using the Tukey test at 0.05 confidence level. Of the 116 RTE-MPs samples collected, 35 (30.17%) samples were found to be contaminated with some tested pathogens. Prevalence results showed that Escherichia coli, salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus were present in the samples. Mean total bacterial count was 23.82×106 cfu/g. The frequency of individual pathogens isolated was; Staphylococcus aureus 18 (15.51%), Escherichia coli 12 (10.34%) and Salmonella 5 (4.31%). Also, among the RTE-MPs tested, the total bacterial counts were found to differ significantly (P < 0.05), with 1.81, 2.41 and 2.9×104 cfu/g for tsire, kilishi, and balangu, respectively. The study concluded that the presence of pathogenic bacteria in balangu could pose grave health risks to consumers, and hence, recommended good manufacturing practices in the production of balangu to improve the products’ safety.

Keywords: ready-to-eat meat products, retail outlets, public health, safety assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Nidhi Choudhary, Silke A. Peeters, Ciaran T. Lennon, Dmytro Besprozvannyy, Harm C. M. Knoops, Robert H. Hadfield

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Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) have become leading devices in quantum optics and photonics, known for their exceptional efficiency in detecting single photons from ultraviolet to mid-infrared wavelengths with minimal dark counts, low noise, and reduced timing jitter. Recent advancements in materials science focus attention on refractory metal thin films such as NbN and NbTiN to enhance the optical properties and superconducting performance of SNSPDs, opening the way for next-generation detectors. These films have been deposited by several different techniques, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD), plasma pro-advanced plasma processing (ASP) and magnetron sputtering. The fabrication flexibility of these films enables precise control over morphology, crystallinity, stoichiometry and optical properties, which is crucial for optimising the SNSPD performance. Hence, it is imperative to study the optical and superconducting properties of these materials across a wide range of wavelengths. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the optical and superconducting properties of some important materials in this category (NbN, NbTiN) by different deposition methods. Using Variable angle ellipsometry spectroscopy (VASE), we measured the refractive index, extinction, and absorption coefficient across a wide wavelength range (200-1700 nm) to enhance light confinement for optical communication devices. The critical temperature and sheet resistance were measured using a four-probe method in a custom-built, cryogen-free cooling system with a Sumitomo RDK-101D cold head and CNA-11C compressor. Our results indicate that ALD-deposited NbN shows a higher refractive index and extinction coefficient in the near-infrared region (~1500 nm) than sputtered NbN of the same thickness. Further, the analysis of the optical properties of plasma pro-ASP deposited NbTiN was performed at different substrate bias voltages and different thicknesses. The analysis of substrate bias voltage indicates that the maximum value of the refractive index and extinction coefficient observed for the substrate biasing of 50-80 V across a substrate bias range of (0 V - 150 V). The optical properties of sputtered NbN films are also investigated in terms of the different substrate temperatures during deposition (100 °C-500 °C). We find the higher the substrate temperature during deposition, the higher the value of the refractive index and extinction coefficient has been observed. In all our superconducting thin films ALD-deposited NbN films possess the highest critical temperature (~12 K) compared to sputtered (~8 K) and plasma pro-ASP (~5 K).

Keywords: optical communication, thin films, superconductivity, atomic layer deposition (ALD), niobium nitride (NbN), niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN), SNSPD, superconducting detector, photon-counting.

Procedia PDF Downloads 30

Authors: Yung-Chih Kuo, Che-Yu Lin, Jay-Shake Li, Yung-I Lou

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Curcumin (CRM) and nerve growth factor (NGF) were entrapped in liposomes (LIP) with cardiolipin (CL) to downregulate the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) management. AD belongs to neurodegenerative disorder with a gradual loss of memory, yielding irreversible dementia. CL-conjugated LIP loaded with CRM (CRM-CL/LIP) and that with NGF (NGF-CL/LIP) were applied to AD models of SK-N-MC cells and Wistar rats with an insult of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ). Lipids comprising 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine (Avanti Polar Lipids, Alabaster, AL), 1',3'-bis[1,2- dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho]-sn-glycerol (CL; Avanti Polar Lipids), 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N- [methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (Avanti Polar Lipids), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[carboxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (Avanti Polar Lipids) and CRM (Sigma–Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) were dissolved in chloroform (J. T. Baker, Phillipsburg, NJ) and condensed using a rotary evaporator (Panchum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan). Human β-NGF (Alomone Lab, Jerusalem, Israel) was added in the aqueous phase. Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA; Medicago AB, Uppsala, Sweden) was grafted on LIP loaded with CRM for (WGA-CRM-LIP) and CL-conjugated LIP loaded with CRM (WGA-CRM-CL/LIP) using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (Sigma–Aldrich) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (Alfa Aesar, Ward Hill, MA). The protein samples of SK-N-MC cells (American Type Tissue Collection, Rockville, MD) were used for sodium dodecyl sulfate (Sigma–Aldrich) polyacrylamide gel (Sigma–Aldrich) electrophoresis. In animal study, the LIP formulations were administered by intravenous injection via a tail vein of male Wistar rats (250–280 g, 8 weeks, BioLasco, Taipei, Taiwan), which were housed in the Animal Laboratory of National Chung Cheng University in accordance with the institutional guidelines and the guidelines of Animal Protection Committee under the Council of Agriculture of the Republic of China. We found that CRM-CL/LIP could inhibit the expressions of phosphorylated p38 (p-p38), p-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK), and p-tau protein at serine 202 (p-Ser202) to retard the neuronal apoptosis. Free CRM and released CRM from CRM-LIP and CRM-CL/LIP were not in a straightforward manner to effectively inhibit the expression of p-p38 and p-JNK in the cytoplasm. In addition, NGF-CL/LIP enhanced the quantities of p-neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor type 1 (p-TrkA) and p-extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 5 (p-ERK5), preventing the Aβ-induced degeneration of neurons. The membrane fusion of NGF-LIP activated the ERK5 pathway and the targeting capacity of NGF-CL/LIP enhanced the possibility of released NGF to affect the TrkA level. Moreover, WGA-CRM-LIP improved the permeation of CRM across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and significantly reduced the Aβ plaque deposition and malondialdehyde level and increased the percentage of normal neurons and cholinergic function in the hippocampus of AD rats. This was mainly because the encapsulated CRM was protected by LIP against a rapid degradation in the blood. Furthermore, WGA on LIP could target N-acetylglucosamine on endothelia and increased the quantity of CRM transported across the BBB. In addition, WGA-CRM-CL/LIP could be effective in suppressing the synthesis of acetylcholinesterase and reduced the decomposition of acetylcholine for better neurotransmission. Based on the in vitro and in vivo evidences, WGA-CRM-CL/LIP can rescue neurons from apoptosis in the brain and can be a promising drug delivery system for clinical AD therapy.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, β-amyloid, liposome, mitogen-activated protein kinase

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Marcela De Oliveira, Marina P. Da Silva, Fernando C. G. Da Rocha, Jorge M. Santos, Jaime S. Cardoso, Paulo N. Lisboa-Filho

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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system characterized by neurodegeneration, inflammation, demyelination, and axonal loss. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), due to the richness in the information details provided, is the gold standard exam for diagnosis and follow-up of neurodegenerative diseases, such as MS. Brain atrophy, the gradual loss of brain volume, is quite extensive in multiple sclerosis, nearly 0.5-1.35% per year, far off the limits of normal aging. Thus, the brain volume quantification becomes an essential task for future analysis of the occurrence atrophy. The analysis of MRI has become a tedious and complex task for clinicians, who have to manually extract important information. This manual analysis is prone to errors and is time consuming due to various intra- and inter-operator variability. Nowadays, computerized methods for MRI segmentation have been extensively used to assist doctors in quantitative analyzes for disease diagnosis and monitoring. Thus, the purpose of this work was to evaluate the brain volume in MRI of MS patients. We used MRI scans with 30 slices of the five patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis according to the McDonald criteria. The computational methods for the analysis of images were carried out in two steps: segmentation of the brain and brain volume quantification. The first image processing step was to perform brain extraction by skull stripping from the original image. In the skull stripper for MRI images of the brain, the algorithm registers a grayscale atlas image to the grayscale patient image. The associated brain mask is propagated using the registration transformation. Then this mask is eroded and used for a refined brain extraction based on level-sets (edge of the brain-skull border with dedicated expansion, curvature, and advection terms). In the second step, the brain volume quantification was performed by counting the voxels belonging to the segmentation mask and converted in cc. We observed an average brain volume of 1469.5 cc. We concluded that the automatic method applied in this work can be used for the brain extraction process and brain volume quantification in MRI. The development and use of computer programs can contribute to assist health professionals in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In future works, we expect to implement more automated methods for the assessment of cerebral atrophy and brain lesions quantification, including machine-learning approaches. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by a grant from Brazilian agency Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (number 2019/16362-5).

Keywords: brain volume, magnetic resonance imaging, multiple sclerosis, skull stripper

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Chris Miskelly, Eoin Cunningham, Beatrice Smyth, John. D. Holbrey, Gosia Swadzba-Kwasny, Emily L. Byrne, Yoan Delavoux, Mantian Li.

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Recently, the use of ionic liquids (ILs) for the preparation of lignocellulose derived cellulosic materials as alternatives to petrochemical feedstocks has been the focus of considerable research interest. While the technical viability of IL-based lignocellulose treatment methodologies has been well established, the high cost of reagents inhibits commercial feasibility. This work aimed to assess the technoeconomic viability of the preparation of cellulose rich materials (CRMs) using protic ionic liquids (PILs) synthesized from low cost alkylamines and sulphuric acid. For this purpose, the tertiary alkylamines, triethylamine, and dimethylbutylamine were selected. Bulk scale production cost of the synthesized PILs, triethylammonium hydrogen sulphate and dimetheylbutylammonium hydrogen sulphate, was reported as $0.78 kg-1 to $1.24 kg-1. CRMs were prepared through the treatment of common wheat (Triticum aestivum) straw with these PILs. By controlling treatment parameters, CRMs with a cellulose content of ≥ 80 wt% were prepared. This was achieved using a T. aestivum straw to PIL loading ratio of 1:15 w/w, a treatment duration of 180 minutes, and ethanol as a cellulose antisolvent. Infrared spectra data and decreased onset degradation temperature of CRMs (ΔTONSET ~ 70 °C) suggested the formation of cellulose sulphate esters during treatment. Chemical derivatisation can aid the dispersion of prepared CRMs in non-polar polymer/ composite matrices, but act as a barrier to thermal processing at temperatures above 150 °C. It was also shown that treatment increased the crystallinity of CRMs (ΔCrI ~ 40 %) without altering the native crystalline structure or crystallite size (~ 2.6 nm) of cellulose; peaks associated with the cellulose I crystalline planes (110), (200), and (004) were observed at Bragg angles 16.0 °, 22.5 ° and 35.0 ° respectively. This highlighted the inability of assessed PILs to dissolve crystalline cellulose and was attributed to the high acidity (pKa ~ - 1.92 to - 6.42) of sulphuric acid derived anions. Electron micrographs revealed that the stratified multilayer tissue structure of untreated T. aestivum straw was significantly modified during treatment. T. aestivum straw particles were disassembled during treatment, with prepared CRMs adopting a golden-brown film-like appearance. This work demonstrated the degradation of non-cellulosic fractions of lignocellulose without dissolution of cellulose. It is the first to report on the derivatisation of cellulose during treatment with protic hydrogen sulphate ionic liquids, and the potential implications of this with reference to biopolymer feedstock preparation.

Keywords: cellulose, extraction, protic ionic liquids, esterification, thermal stability, waste valorisation, biopolymer feedstock

Procedia PDF Downloads 38

Authors: M. Patterson, R. Bond, K. Cowan, M. Mulvenna, C. Reid, F. McMahon, P. McGowan, H. Cormican

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This paper outlines the design of a simulator to allow for the optimisation of clinical workflows through a pathology laboratory and to improve the laboratory’s efficiency in the processing, testing, and analysis of specimens. Often pathologists have difficulty in pinpointing and anticipating issues in the clinical workflow until tests are running late or in error. It can be difficult to pinpoint the cause and even more difficult to predict any issues which may arise. For example, they often have no indication of how many samples are going to be delivered to the laboratory that day or at a given hour. If we could model scenarios using past information and known variables, it would be possible for pathology laboratories to initiate resource preparations, e.g. the printing of specimen labels or to activate a sufficient number of technicians. This would expedite the clinical workload, clinical processes and improve the overall efficiency of the laboratory. The simulator design visualises the workflow of the laboratory, i.e. the clinical tests being ordered, the specimens arriving, current tests being performed, results being validated and reports being issued. The simulator depicts the movement of specimens through this process, as well as the number of specimens at each stage. This movement is visualised using an animated flow diagram that is updated in real time. A traffic light colour-coding system will be used to indicate the level of flow through each stage (green for normal flow, orange for slow flow, and red for critical flow). This would allow pathologists to clearly see where there are issues and bottlenecks in the process. Graphs would also be used to indicate the status of specimens at each stage of the process. For example, a graph could show the percentage of specimen tests that are on time, potentially late, running late and in error. Clicking on potentially late samples will display more detailed information about those samples, the tests that still need to be performed on them and their urgency level. This would allow any issues to be resolved quickly. In the case of potentially late samples, this could help to ensure that critically needed results are delivered on time. The simulator will be created as a single-page web application. Various web technologies will be used to create the flow diagram showing the workflow of the laboratory. JavaScript will be used to program the logic, animate the movement of samples through each of the stages and to generate the status graphs in real time. This live information will be extracted from an Oracle database. As well as being used in a real laboratory situation, the simulator could also be used for training purposes. ‘Bots’ would be used to control the flow of specimens through each step of the process. Like existing software agents technology, these bots would be configurable in order to simulate different situations, which may arise in a laboratory such as an emerging epidemic. The bots could then be turned on and off to allow trainees to complete the tasks required at that step of the process, for example validating test results.

Keywords: laboratory-process, optimization, pathology, computer simulation, workflow

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Huidan Yu, Anurag Deb, Rou Chen, I-Wen Wang

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The use of left ventricle assist devices (LVADs) in patients with heart failure has been a proven and effective therapy for patients with severe end-stage heart failure. Due to the limited availability of suitable donor hearts, LVADs will probably become the alternative solution for patient with heart failure in the near future. While the LVAD is being continuously improved toward enhanced performance, increased device durability, reduced size, a better understanding of implantation management becomes critical in order to achieve better long-term blood supplies and less post-surgical complications such as thrombi generation. Important issues related to the LVAD implantation include the location of outflow grafting (OG), the angle of the OG, the combination between LVAD and native heart pumping, uniform or pulsatile flow at OG, etc. We have hypothesized that an optimal implantation of LVAD is patient specific. To test this hypothesis, we employ a novel in-house computational modeling technique, named InVascular, to conduct a systematic evaluation of cardiac output at aortic arch together with other pertinent hemodynamic quantities for each patient under various implantation scenarios aiming to get an optimal implantation strategy. InVacular is a powerful computational modeling technique that integrates unified mesoscale modeling for both image segmentation and fluid dynamics with the cutting-edge GPU parallel computing. It first segments the aortic artery from patient’s CT image, then seamlessly feeds extracted morphology, together with the velocity wave from Echo Ultrasound image of the same patient, to the computation model to quantify 4-D (time+space) velocity and pressure fields. Using one NVIDIA Tesla K40 GPU card, InVascular completes a computation from CT image to 4-D hemodynamics within 30 minutes. Thus it has the great potential to conduct massive numerical simulation and analysis. The systematic evaluation for one patient includes three OG anastomosis (ascending aorta, descending thoracic aorta, and subclavian artery), three combinations of LVAD and native heart pumping (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3), three angles of OG anastomosis (inclined upward, perpendicular, and inclined downward), and two LVAD inflow conditions (uniform and pulsatile). The optimal LVAD implantation is suggested through a comprehensive analysis of the cardiac output and related hemodynamics from the simulations over the fifty-four scenarios. To confirm the hypothesis, 5 random patient cases will be evaluated.

Keywords: graphic processing unit (GPU) parallel computing, left ventricle assist device (LVAD), lumped-parameter model, patient-specific computational hemodynamics

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Authors: Katri K. Cornelissen, Lise Gulli Brokjob, Kristofor McCarty, Jiri Gumancik, Martin J. Tovee, Piers L. Cornelissen

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Recent research has shown that body size estimation of healthy women is driven by independent attitudinal and perceptual components. The attitudinal component represents psychological concerns about body, coupled to low self-esteem and a tendency towards depressive symptomatology, leading to over-estimation of body size, independent of the Body Mass Index (BMI) someone actually has. The perceptual component is a normal bias known as contraction bias, which, for bodies is dependent on actual BMI. Women with a BMI less than the population norm tend to overestimate their size, while women with a BMI greater than the population norm tend to underestimate their size. Women whose BMI is close to the population mean are most accurate. This is indexed by a regression of estimated BMI on actual BMI with a slope less than one. It is well established that body dissatisfaction, i.e. an attitudinal distortion, leads to body size overestimation in eating disordered individuals. However, debate persists as to whether women with eating disorders may also suffer a perceptual body distortion. Therefore, the current study was set to ask whether women with eating disorders exhibit the normal contraction bias when they estimate their own body size. If they do not, this would suggest differences in the way that women with eating disorders process the perceptual aspects of body shape and size in comparison to healthy controls. 100 healthy controls and 33 women with a history of eating disorders were recruited. Critically, it was ensured that both groups of participants represented comparable and adequate ranges of actual BMI (e.g. ~18 to ~40). Of those with eating disorders, 19 had a history of anorexia nervosa, 6 bulimia nervosa, and 8 OSFED. 87.5% of the women with a history of eating disorders self-reported that they were either recovered or recovering, and 89.7% of them self-reported that they had had one or more instances of relapse. The mean time lapsed since first diagnosis was 5 years and on average participants had experienced two relapses. Participants were asked to fill number of psychometric measures (EDE-Q, BSQ, RSE, BDI) to establish the attitudinal component of their body image as well as their tendency to internalize socio-cultural body ideals. Additionally, participants completed a method of adjustment psychophysical task, using photorealistic avatars calibrated for BMI, in order to provide an estimate of their own body size and shape. The data from the healthy controls replicate previous findings, revealing independent contributions to body size estimation from both attitudinal and perceptual (i.e. contraction bias) body image components, as described above. For the eating disorder group, once the adequacy of their actual BMI ranges was established, a regression of estimated BMI on actual BMI had a slope greater than 1, significantly different to that from controls. This suggests that (some) eating disordered individuals process the perceptual aspects of body image differently from healthy controls. It therefore is necessary to develop interventions which are specific to the perceptual processing of body shape and size for the management of (some) individuals with eating disorders.

Keywords: body image distortion, perception, recovery, relapse, BMI, eating disorders

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Authors: Tatiana V. Melnikova, Lyudmila P. Polyakova, Alla A. Oudalova

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As a result of environmental pollution, the production of agriculture and foodstuffs inevitably contain residual amounts of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP). The special attention must be given to organic pollutants, including various organochlorinated pesticides (OCP). Among priorities, OCP is DDT (and its metabolite DDE), alfa-HCH, gamma-HCH (lindane). The control of these substances spends proceeding from requirements of sanitary norms and rules. During too time often is lost sight of that the primary product can pass technological processing (in particular irradiation treatment) as a result of which transformation of physicochemical forms of initial polluting substances is possible. The goal of the present work was to study the OCP radiation degradation at a various gamma-radiation dosimetric characteristics. The problems posed for goal achievement: to evaluate the content of the priority of OCPs in food; study the character the degradation of OCP in model solutions (with micro concentrations commensurate with the real content of their agricultural and food products) depending upon dosimetric characteristics of gamma-radiation. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of OCP in food and model solutions by gas chromatograph Varian 3400 (Varian, Inc. (USA)); chromatography-mass spectrometer Varian Saturn 4D (Varian, Inc. (USA)) was carried out. The solutions of DDT, DDE, alpha- and gamma- isomer HCH (0.01, 0.1, 1 ppm) were irradiated on "Issledovatel" (60Co) and "Luch - 1" (60Co) installations at a dose 10 kGy with a variation of dose rate from 0.0083 up to 2.33 kGy/sec. It was established experimentally that OCP residual concentration in individual samples of food products (fish, milk, cereal crops, meat, butter) are evaluated as 10-1-10-4 mg/kg, the value of which depends on the factor-sensations territory and natural migration processes. The results were used in the preparation of model solutions OCP. The dependence of a degradation extent of OCP from a dose rate gamma-irradiation has complex nature. According to our data at a dose 10 kGy, the degradation extent of OCP at first increase passes through a maximum (over the range 0.23 – 0.43 Gy/sec), and then decrease with the magnification of a dose rate. The character of the dependence of a degradation extent of OCP from a dose rate is kept for various OCP, in polar and nonpolar solvents and does not vary at the change of concentration of the initial substance. Also in work conditions of the maximal radiochemical yield of OCP which were observed at having been certain: influence of gamma radiation with a dose 10 kGy, in a range of doses rate 0.23 – 0.43 Gy/sec; concentration initial OCP 1 ppm; use of solvent - 2-propanol after preliminary removal of oxygen. Based on, that at studying model solutions of OCP has been established that the degradation extent of pesticides and qualitative structure of OCP radiolysis products depend on a dose rate, has been decided to continue researches radiochemical transformations OCP into foodstuffs at various of doses rate.

Keywords: degradation extent, dosimetric characteristics, gamma-radiation, organochlorinated pesticides, persistent organic pollutants

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Authors: Tamas Dani

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The author’s research explores the geo-economical role and importance of some small and medium sized states, reviews their adaption strategies in foreign trade and also in foreign affairs in the course of changing into a multipolar world, uses international background. With these, the paper analyses the recent years and the future of ‘Opening towards Eastern foreign economic policies’ from East-Central Europe and parallel with that the ‘Western foreign economy policies’ from Asia, as the Chinese One Belt One Road new silk route plans (so far its huge part is an infrastructural development plan to reach international trade and investment aims). It can be today’s question whether these ideas will reshape the global trade or not. How does the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union reflect the effect of globalization? It is worth to analyse that how did Central and Eastern European countries open to Asia; why does China have the focus of the opening policies in many countries and why could China be seen as the ‘winner’ of the world economic crisis after 2008. The research is based on the following methodologies: national and international literature, policy documents and related design documents, complemented by processing of international databases, statistics and live interviews with leaders from East-Central European countries’ companies and public administration, diplomats and international traders. The results also illustrated by mapping and graphs. The research will find out as major findings whether the state decision-makers have enough margin for manoeuvres to strengthen foreign economic relations. This work has a hypothesis that countries in East-Central Europe have real chance to diversify their relations in foreign trade, focus beyond their traditional partners. This essay focuses on the opportunities of East-Central-European countries in diversification of foreign trade relations towards China and Russia in terms of ‘Eastern Openings’. The effects of the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union to Hungary’s economy with a comparing outlook on East-Central European countries and exploring common regional cooperation opportunities in this area. The essay concentrate on the changing trade relations between East-Central-Europe and China as well as Russia, try to analyse the effects of the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union also. In the conclusion part, it shows how the cooperation is necessary for the East-Central European countries if they want to have a non-asymmetric trade with Russia, China or some Chinese regions (Pearl River Delta, Hainan, …). The form of the cooperation for the East-Central European nations can be Visegrad 4 Cooperation (V4), Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC16), 3 SEAS Cooperation (or BABS – Baltic, Adriatic, Black Seas Initiative).

Keywords: China, East-Central Europe, foreign trade relations, geoeconomics, geopolitics, Russia

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Authors: Andreea Campu, Ilinica Muresan, Simona Cainap, Simion Astilean, Monica Focsan

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Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most severe cardiovascular disease, which has threatened human lives for decades, thus a continuous interest is directed towards the detection of cardiac biomarkers such as cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in order to predict risk and, implicitly, fulfill the early diagnosis requirements in AMI settings. Microfluidics is a major technology involved in the development of efficient sensing devices with real-time fast responses and on-site applicability. Microfluidic devices have gathered a lot of attention recently due to their advantageous features such as high sensitivity and specificity, miniaturization and portability, ease-of-use, low-cost, facile fabrication, and reduced sample manipulation. The integration of gold nanoparticles into the structure of microfluidic sensors has led to the development of highly effective detection systems, considering the unique properties of the metallic nanostructures, specifically the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR), which makes them highly sensitive to their microenvironment. In this scientific context, herein, we propose the implementation of a novel detection device, which successfully combines the efficiency of gold bipyramids (AuBPs) as signal transducers and thermal generators with the sample-driven advantages of the microfluidic channels into a miniaturized, portable, low-cost, specific, and sensitive test for the dual LSPR-thermographic cTnI detection. Specifically, AuBPs with longitudinal LSPR response at 830 nm were chemically synthesized using the seed-mediated growth approach and characterized in terms of optical and morphological properties. Further, the colloidal AuBPs were deposited onto pre-treated silanized glass substrates thus, a uniform nanoparticle coverage of the substrate was obtained and confirmed by extinction measurements showing a 43 nm blue-shift of the LSPR response as a consequence of the refractive index change. The as-obtained plasmonic substrate was then integrated into a microfluidic “Y”-shaped polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel, fabricated using a Laser Cutter system. Both plasmonic and microfluidic elements were plasma treated in order to achieve a permanent bond. The as-developed microfluidic plasmonic chip was further coupled to an automated syringe pump system. The proposed biosensing protocol implicates the successive injection inside the microfluidic channel as follows: p-aminothiophenol and glutaraldehyde, to achieve a covalent bond between the metallic surface and cTnI antibody, anti-cTnI, as a recognition element, and target cTnI biomarker. The successful functionalization and capture of cTnI was monitored by LSPR detection thus, after each step, a red-shift of the optical response was recorded. Furthermore, as an innovative detection technique, thermal determinations were made after each injection by exposing the microfluidic plasmonic chip to 785 nm laser excitation, considering that the AuBPs exhibit high light-to-heat conversion performances. By the analysis of the thermographic images, thermal curves were obtained, showing a decrease in the thermal efficiency after the anti-cTnI-cTnI reaction was realized. Thus, we developed a microfluidic plasmonic chip able to operate as both LSPR and thermal sensor for the detection of the cardiac troponin I biomarker, leading thus to the progress of diagnostic devices.

Keywords: gold nanobipyramids, microfluidic device, localized surface plasmon resonance detection, thermographic detection

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