Search results for: martensite process

Authors: Bozena Dohnalkova

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This paper presents a part of the project solving which is dedicated to the identification of the hazardous waste with the most critical production within the Czech Republic with the aim to study and find the optimal composition of the cement matrix that will ensure maximum content disposal of chosen hazardous waste. In the first stage of project solving – which represents this paper – a specific hazardous waste was chosen, its properties were identified and suitable solidification agents were chosen. Consequently solidification formulas and testing methodology was proposed.

Keywords: cementation, solidification, waste, binder

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Authors: Ramona Georgeta Biholar

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Gender-based violence against women plagues societies around the world. The work to eliminate it is an ongoing battle. At the international level, Article 5 (a) CEDAW establishes an agenda for social and cultural transformation: it imposes on States parties to CEDAW an obligation to modify sex roles and stereotypical social and cultural patterns of conduct. Also, it provides for the protection of women from violence stemming from such gender norms. Yet, the lived realities of women are frequently disconnected from this agenda. Nonetheless, it is the reality of the local that is crucial for the articulation, implementation and realization of women’s rights in general, and for the elimination of gender-based violence against women in particular. In this paper we discuss the transformation of sex roles and gender stereotyping with a view to realize women’s right to be free from gender-based violence. This paper is anchored in qualitative data collection undertaken in Jamaica and socio-legal research. Based on this research, 1) We explain the process of vernacularisation as a strategy that enables women’s human rights to hit the ground and benefit rights holders, and 2) We present a synergistic model for the implementation of Article 5 (a) CEDAW so that women’s right to be free from gender-based violence can be realized in a concrete national jurisdiction. This model is grounded in context-based demands and recommendations for social and cultural transformation as a remedy for the incidence of gender-based violence against women. Moreover, the synergistic model offers directions that have a general application for the implementation of CEDAW and Article 5 (a) CEDAW in particular, with a view to realize women’s right to be free from gender-based violence. The model is thus not only a conceptual tool of analysis, but also a prescriptive tool for action. It contributes to the work of both academics and practitioners, such as Governmental officials, and national and local civil society representatives. Overall, this paper contributes to understanding the process necessary to bridge that gap between women’s human rights norms and women’s life realities of discrimination and violence.

Keywords: CEDAW, gender-based violence against women, international human rights law, women’s rights implementation, the Caribbean

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Authors: F. Saleh, F. Lyall, A. Abdulsid, L. Marks

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Background: Labour in human is a complex biological process that involves interactions of neurological, hormonal and inflammatory pathways, with the placenta being a key regulator of these pathways. It is known that uterine contractions and labour pain cause physiological changes in gene expression in maternal and fetal blood, and in placenta during labour. Oxidative and inflammatory stress pathways are implicated in labour and they may cause alteration of placental gene expression. Additionally, in placental tissues, labour increases the expression of genes involved in placental oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines, angiogenic regulators and apoptosis. Recently, Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) has been considered as an endogenous gaseous mediator which promotes vasodilation and exhibits cytoprotective anti-inflammatory properties. The endogenous H2S is synthesised predominantly by two enzymes: cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) and cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE). As the H2S pathway has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory characteristics thus, we hypothesised that the expression of CBS and CSE in placental tissues would alter during labour. Methods: CBS and CSE expressions were examined in placentas using western blotting and RT-PCR in inner, middle and outer placental zones in placentas obtained from healthy non labouring women who delivered by caesarian section. These were compared with the equivalent zone of placentas obtained from women who had uncomplicated labour and delivered vaginally. Results: No differences in CBS and CSE mRNA or protein levels were found between the different sites within placentas in either the labour or non-labour group. There were no significant differences in either CBS or CSE expression between the two groups at the inner site and middle site. However, at the outer site there was a highly significant decrease in CBS protein expression in the labour group when compared to the non-labour group (p = 0.002). Conclusion: To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first report to suggest that, CBS is expressed in a spatial manner within the human placenta. Further work is needed to clarify the precise function and mechanism of this spatial regulation although it is likely that inflammatory pathways regulation is a complex process in which this plays a role.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory, hydrogen sulphide, labour, oxidative stress

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Authors: Rishi Sharma, S. N. Maiti

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The non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of PP/SEBS-g-MA blends up to 0-50% concentration of copolymer was studied by differential scanning calorimetry at four different cooling rates. Crystallization parameters were analyzed by Avrami and Jeziorny models. Primary and secondary crystallization processes were described by Avrami equation. Avrami model showed that all types of shapes grow from small dimensions during primary crystallization. However, three-dimensional crystal growth was observed during the secondary crystallization process. The crystallization peak and onset temperature decrease, however

Keywords: crystallization kinetics, non-isothermal, polypropylene, SEBS-g-MA

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Authors: Izadi Banafsheh, Sedaghat Reza

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Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) of machinery are a key recent issue concerning the automotive industry. It has always been a debated question what order or priority should be adopted for the MRO of machinery. This study attempts to examine several criteria including process sensitivity, average time between machine failures, average duration of repair, availability of parts, availability of maintenance personnel and workload through a literature review and experts survey so as to determine the condition of the machine. According to the mentioned criteria, the machinery were ranked in four modes below: A) Need for inspection, B) Need for minor repair, C) Need for part replacement, and D) Need for major repair. The Fuzzy AHP was employed to determine the weighting of criteria. At the end, the obtained weights were ranked through the AHP for each criterion, three groups were specified: shaving machines, assembly and painting in four modes. The statistical population comprises the elite in the Iranian automotive industry at IKCO covering operation managers, CEOs and maintenance professionals who are highly specialized in MRO and perfectly knowledgeable in how the machinery function. The information required for this study were collected from both desk research and field review, which eventually led to construction of a questionnaire handed out to the sample respondents in order to collect information on the subject matter. The results of the AHP for weighting the criteria revealed that the availability of maintenance personnel was the top priority at coefficient of 0.206, while the process sensitivity took the last priority at coefficient of 0.066. Furthermore, the results of TOPSIS for prioritizing the IKCO machinery suggested that at the mode where there is need for inspection, the assembly machines took the top priority while paining machines took the third priority. As for the mode where there is need for minor repairs, the assembly machines took the top priority while the third priority belonged to the shaving machines. As for the mode where there is need for parts replacement, the assembly machines took the top priority while the third belonged to the paining machinery. Finally, as for the mode where there is need for major repair, the assembly machines took the top priority while the third belonged to the paining machinery.

Keywords: maintenance, repair, overhaul, MRO, prioritization of machinery, fuzzy logic, AHP, TOPSIS

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Authors: Debabrata Adhikari, Mikhail Matveev, Louise Brown, Jan Kočí, Andy Long

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Resin transfer molding (RTM) is increasingly used for manufacturing high-quality composite structures due to its additional advantages over prepregs of low-cost out-of-autoclave processing. However, to retain the advantages, it is critical to reduce the void content during the injection. Reinforcements commonly used in RTM, such as woven fabrics, have dual-scale porosity with mesoscale pores between the yarns and the micro-scale pores within the yarns. Due to the fabric geometry and the nature of the dual-scale flow, the flow front during injection creates a complicated fingering formation which leads to void formation. Analytical modeling of void formation for woven fabrics has been widely studied elsewhere. However, there is scope for improvement to the reduction in void formation in 3D fabrics wherein the in-plane yarn layers are confined by additional through-thickness binder yarns. In the present study, the structural morphology of the tortuous pore spaces in the 3D fabric has been studied and implemented using open-source software TexGen. An analytical model for the void and the fingering formation has been implemented based on an idealized unit cell model of the 3D fabric. Since the pore spaces between the yarns are free domains, the region is treated as flow-through connected channels, whereas intra-yarn flow has been modeled using Darcy’s law with an additional term to account for capillary pressure. Later the void fraction has been characterised using the criterion of void formation by comparing the fill time for inter and intra yarn flow. Moreover, the dual-scale two-phase flow of resin with air has been simulated in the commercial CFD solver OpenFOAM/ANSYS to predict the probable location of voids and validate the analytical model. The use of an idealised unit cell model will give the insight to optimise the mesoscale geometry of the reinforcement and injection parameters to minimise the void content during the LCM process.

Keywords: 3D fiber, void formation, RTM, process modelling

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Authors: Bogale Tadesse, Krutik Parikh, Ndagha Mkandawire, Boris Albijanic, Nimal Subasinghe

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It is well established that the floatability and selectivity of mineral particles are highly dependent on the particle size. Generally, a particle size of 10 micron is considered as the critical size below which both flotation selectivity and recovery decline sharply. It is widely accepted that the majority of ultrafine particles, including highly liberated valuable minerals, will be lost in tailings during a conventional flotation process. This is highly undesirable particularly in the processing of finely disseminated complex and refractory ores where there is a requirement for fine grinding in order to liberate the valuable minerals. In addition, the continuing decline in ore grade worldwide necessitates intensive processing of low grade mineral deposits. Recent advances in comminution allow the economic grinding of particles down to 10 micron sizes to enhance the probability of liberating locked minerals from low grade ores. Thus, it is timely that the flotation of fine and ultrafine particles is improved in order to reduce the amount of valuable minerals lost as slimes. It is believed that the use of fine bubbles in flotation increases the bubble-particle collision efficiency and hence the flotation performance. Electroflotation, where bubbles are generated by the electrolytic breakdown of water to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases, leads to the formation of extremely finely dispersed gas bubbles with dimensions varying from 5 to 95 micron. The sizes of bubbles generated by this method are significantly smaller than those found in conventional flotation (> 600 micron). In this study, microbubbles generated by electrolysis of water were injected into a bench top flotation cell to assess the performance electroflotation in enhancing the flotation of fine and ultrafine pyrite particles of sizes ranging from 5 to 53 micron. The design of the cell and the results from optimization of the process variables such as current density, pH, percent solid and particle size will be presented at this conference.

Keywords: electroflotation, fine bubbles, pyrite, ultrafine particles

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Authors: Fidelia A. Orji, Julita Vassileva

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This research aims to develop machine learning models for students' academic performance and study strategy prediction, which could be generalized to all courses in higher education. Key learning attributes (intrinsic, extrinsic, autonomy, relatedness, competence, and self-esteem) used in building the models are chosen based on prior studies, which revealed that the attributes are essential in students’ learning process. Previous studies revealed the individual effects of each of these attributes on students’ learning progress. However, few studies have investigated the combined effect of the attributes in predicting student study strategy and academic performance to reduce the dropout rate. To bridge this gap, we used Scikit-learn in python to build five machine learning models (Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbour, Random Forest, Linear/Logistic Regression, and Support Vector Machine) for both regression and classification tasks to perform our analysis. The models were trained, evaluated, and tested for accuracy using 924 university dentistry students' data collected by Chilean authors through quantitative research design. A comparative analysis of the models revealed that the tree-based models such as the random forest (with prediction accuracy of 94.9%) and decision tree show the best results compared to the linear, support vector, and k-nearest neighbours. The models built in this research can be used in predicting student performance and study strategy so that appropriate interventions could be implemented to improve student learning progress. Thus, incorporating strategies that could improve diverse student learning attributes in the design of online educational systems may increase the likelihood of students continuing with their learning tasks as required. Moreover, the results show that the attributes could be modelled together and used to adapt/personalize the learning process.

Keywords: classification models, learning strategy, predictive modeling, regression models, student academic performance, student motivation, supervised machine learning

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Authors: Ammar Alali, Mahmoud Abughaban, William Contreras Otalvora

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Optimizing the drilling process for cost and efficiency requires the optimization of the rate of penetration (ROP). ROP is the measurement of the speed at which the wellbore is created, in units of feet per hour. It is the primary indicator of measuring drilling efficiency. Maximization of the ROP can indicate fast and cost-efficient drilling operations; however, high ROPs may induce unintended events, which may lead to nonproductive time (NPT) and higher net costs. The proposed ROP optimization solution is a hybrid, data-driven system that aims to improve the drilling process, maximize the ROP, and minimize NPT. The system consists of two phases: (1) utilizing existing geological and drilling data to train the model prior, and (2) real-time adjustments of the controllable dynamic drilling parameters [weight on bit (WOB), rotary speed (RPM), and pump flow rate (GPM)] that direct influence on the ROP. During the first phase of the system, geological and historical drilling data are aggregated. After, the top-rated wells, as a function of high instance ROP, are distinguished. Those wells are filtered based on NPT incidents, and a cross-plot is generated for the controllable dynamic drilling parameters per ROP value. Subsequently, the parameter values (WOB, GPM, RPM) are calculated as a conditioned mean based on physical distance, following Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation methodology. The first phase is concluded by producing a model of drilling best practices from the offset wells, prioritizing the optimum ROP value. This phase is performed before the commencing of drilling. Starting with the model produced in phase one, the second phase runs an automated drill-off test, delivering live adjustments in real-time. Those adjustments are made by directing the driller to deviate two of the controllable parameters (WOB and RPM) by a small percentage (0-5%), following the Constrained Random Search (CRS) methodology. These minor incremental variations will reveal new drilling conditions, not explored before through offset wells. The data is then consolidated into a heat-map, as a function of ROP. A more optimum ROP performance is identified through the heat-map and amended in the model. The validation process involved the selection of a planned well in an onshore oil field with hundreds of offset wells. The first phase model was built by utilizing the data points from the top-performing historical wells (20 wells). The model allows drillers to enhance decision-making by leveraging existing data and blending it with live data in real-time. An empirical relationship between controllable dynamic parameters and ROP was derived using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The adjustments resulted in improved ROP efficiency by over 20%, translating to at least 10% saving in drilling costs. The novelty of the proposed system lays is its ability to integrate historical data, calibrate based geological formations, and run real-time global optimization through CRS. Those factors position the system to work for any newly drilled well in a developing field event.

Keywords: drilling optimization, geological formations, machine learning, rate of penetration

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Authors: Manvelidze irakli, Iashvili Genadi

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Research has shown that public institutions in Autonomous Republic of Ajara try their best to make their official electronic data (web-pages, social websites) more informative and improve them. Part of public institutions offer interesting electronic services and initiatives to the public although they are seldom used in communication process. The statistical analysis of the use of web-pages and social websites of public institutions for example their facebook page show lack of activity. The reason could be the fact that public institutions give people less possibility of interaction in official web-pages. Second reason could be the fact that these web-pages are less known to the public and the third reason could be the fact that heads of these institutions lack awareness about the necessity of strengthening citizens’ involvement. In order to increase people’s involvement in this process it is necessary to have at least 23 e-services in one web-page. The research has shown that 11 of the 16 public institutions have only 5 services which are contact, social networks and hotline. Besides introducing innovative services government institutions should evaluate them and make them popular and easily accessible for the public. It would be easy to solve this problem if public institutions had concrete strategic plan of public relations which involved matters connected with maximum usage of electronic services while interaction with citizens. For this moment only one governmental body has a functioning action plan of public relations. As a result of the research organizational, social, methodological and technical problems have been revealed. It should be considered that there are many feedback possibilities like forum, RSS, blogs, wiki, twitter, social networks, etc. usage of only one or three of such instruments indicate that there is no strategy of regional electronic governance. It is necessary to develop more mechanisms of feedback which will increase electronic interaction, discussions and it is necessary to introduce the service of online petitions. It is important to reduce the so-called “digital inequality” and increase internet access for the public. State actions should decrease such problems. In the end if such shortcomings will be improved the role of electronic interactions in democratic processes will increase.

Keywords: e-Government, electronic services, information technology, regional government, regional government

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Authors: Seyed-Yaser Nabavi-Chashmi, Davood Asadi, Karim Ahmadi, Eren Demir

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The landing phase of a UAV is very critical as there are many uncertainties in this phase, which can easily entail a hard landing or even a crash. In this paper, the estimation of relative distance and velocity to the ground, as one of the most important processes during the landing phase, is studied. Using accurate measurement sensors as an alternative approach can be very expensive for sensors like LIDAR, or with a limited operational range, for sensors like ultrasonic sensors. Additionally, absolute positioning systems like GPS or IMU cannot provide distance to the ground independently. The focus of this paper is to determine whether we can measure the relative distance and velocity of UAV and ground in the landing phase using just low-resolution images taken by a monocular camera. The Lucas-Konda feature detection technique is employed to extract the most suitable feature in a series of images taken during the UAV landing. Two different approaches based on Extended Kalman Filters (EKF) have been proposed, and their performance in estimation of the relative distance and velocity are compared. The first approach uses the kinematics of the UAV as the process and the calculated optical flow as the measurement; On the other hand, the second approach uses the feature’s projection on the camera plane (pixel position) as the measurement while employing both the kinematics of the UAV and the dynamics of variation of projected point as the process to estimate both relative distance and relative velocity. To verify the results, a sequence of low-quality images taken by a camera that is moving on a specifically developed testbed has been used to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm. The case studies show that the quality of images results in considerable noise, which reduces the performance of the first approach. On the other hand, using the projected feature position is much less sensitive to the noise and estimates the distance and velocity with relatively high accuracy. This approach also can be used to predict the future projected feature position, which can drastically decrease the computational workload, as an important criterion for real-time applications.

Keywords: altitude estimation, drone, image processing, trajectory planning

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Authors: Eman AbdelSabour

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Sustainability is increasingly being considered as a critical aspect in shaping the urban environment. It works as an invention development basis for global urban growth. Currently, different models and structures impact the means of interpreting the criteria that would be included in defining a sustainable city. There is a collective need to improve the growth path to an extremely durable path by presenting different suggestions regarding multi-scale initiatives. The global rise in urbanization has led to increased demand and pressure for better urban planning choice and scenarios for a better sustainable urban alternative. The need for an assessment tool at the urban scale was prompted due to the trend of developing increasingly sustainable urban development (SUD). The neighborhood scale is being managed by a growing research committee since it seems to be a pertinent scale through which economic, environmental, and social impacts could be addressed. Although neighborhood design is a comparatively old practice, it is in the initial years of the 21st century when environmentalists and planners started developing sustainable assessment at the neighborhood level. Through this, urban reality can be considered at a larger scale whereby themes which are beyond the size of a single building can be addressed, while it still stays small enough that concrete measures could be analyzed. The neighborhood assessment tool has a crucial role in helping neighborhood sustainability to perform approach and fulfill objectives through a set of themes and criteria. These devices are also known as neighborhood assessment tool, district assessment tool, and sustainable community rating tool. The primary focus of research has been on sustainability from the economic and environmental aspect, whereas the social, cultural issue is rarely focused. Therefore, this research is based on Doha, Qatar, the current urban conditions of the neighborhoods is discussed in this study. The research problem focuses on the spatial features in relation to the socio-cultural aspects. This study is outlined in three parts; the first section comprises of review of the latest use of wellbeing assessment methods to enhance decision process of retrofitting physical features of the neighborhood. The second section discusses the urban settlement development, regulations and the process of decision-making rule. An analysis of urban development policy with reference to neighborhood development is also discussed in this section. Moreover, it includes a historical review of the urban growth of the neighborhoods as an atom of the city system present in Doha. Last part involves developing quantified indicators regarding subjective well-being through a participatory approach. Additionally, applying GIS will be utilized as a visualizing tool for the apparent Quality of Life (QoL) that need to develop in the neighborhood area as an assessment approach. Envisaging the present QoL situation in Doha neighborhoods is a process to improve current condition neighborhood function involves many days to day activities of the residents, due to which areas are considered dynamic.

Keywords: neighborhood, subjective wellbeing, decision support tools, Doha, retrofiring

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Authors: D. Castillo T., Luis F. Jimenez

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The compressed earth blocks (CEBs) constitute an alternative as a constructive element for building homes in regions with high levels of poverty and marginalization. Such is the case of Southeastern Mexico, where the population, predominantly indigene, build their houses with feeble materials like wood and palm, vulnerable to extreme weather in the area, because they do not have the financial resources to acquire concrete blocks. There are several advantages that can provide BTCs compared to traditional vibro-compressed concrete blocks, such as the availability of materials, low manufacturing cost and reduced CO2 emissions to the atmosphere for not be subjected to a burning process. However, to improve its mechanical properties and resistance to adverse weather conditions in terms of humidity and temperature of the sub-humid climate zones, it requires the use of a chemical stabilizer; in this case we chose Ca(OH)2. The stabilization method Eades-Grim was employed, according to ASTM C977-03. This method measures the optimum amount of lime required to stabilize the soil, increasing the pH to 12.4 or higher. The minimum amount of lime required in this experiment was 1% and the maximum was 10%. The employed material was clay unconsolidated low to medium plasticity (CL type according to the Unified Soil Classification System). Based on these results, the CEBs manufacturing process was determined. The obtained blocks were from 10x15x30 cm using a mixture of soil, water and lime in different proportions. Later these blocks were put to dry outdoors and subjected to several physical and mechanical tests, such as compressive strength, absorption and drying shrinkage. The results were compared with the limits established by the Mexican Standard NMX-C-404-ONNCCE-2005 for the construction of housing walls. In this manner an alternative and sustainable material was obtained for the construction of rural households in the region, with better security conditions, comfort and cost.

Keywords: calcium hydroxide, chemical stabilization, compressed earth blocks, sub-humid warm weather

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Authors: Nishanthi N. S., Srikanth Vedantam

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Intracellular delivery of materials has always proved to be a challenge in research and therapeutic applications. Usually, vector-based methods, such as liposomes and polymeric materials, and physical methods, such as electroporation and sonoporation have been used for introducing nucleic acids or proteins. Reliance on exogenous materials, toxicity, off-target effects was the short-comings of these methods. Microinjection was an alternative process which addressed the above drawbacks. However, its low throughput had hindered its adoption widely. Mechanical deformation of cells by squeezing them through constriction channel can cause the temporary development of pores that would facilitate non-targeted diffusion of materials. Advantages of this method include high efficiency in intracellular delivery, a wide choice of materials, improved viability and high throughput. This cell squeezing process can be studied deeper by employing simple models and efficient computational procedures. In our current work, we present a finite sized dissipative particle dynamics (FDPD) model to simulate the dynamics of the cell flowing through a constricted channel. The cell is modeled as a capsule with FDPD particles connected through a spring network to represent the membrane. The total energy of the capsule is associated with linear and radial springs in addition to constraint of the fixed area. By performing detailed simulations, we studied the strain on the membrane of the capsule for channels with varying constriction heights. The strain on the capsule membrane was found to be similar though the constriction heights vary. When strain on the membrane was correlated to the development of pores, we found higher porosity in capsule flowing in wider channel. This is due to localization of strain to a smaller region in the narrow constriction channel. But the residence time of the capsule increased as the channel constriction narrowed indicating that strain for an increased time will cause less cell viability.

Keywords: capsule, cell squeezing, dissipative particle dynamics, intracellular delivery, microfluidics, numerical simulations

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Authors: Nemanja Kidzin, Danka Puric

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Recently, the field of personality change has received an increasing amount of attention. Previously under-researched variables, such as the intention to change or taking on new social roles (in a working environment, education, family, etc.), have been shown to be relevant for personality change. Following this line of research, our study aimed to determine whether the process of acting can bring about personality changes in students of acting and, if yes, in which way. We hypothesized that there will be a significant difference between self-reported personality traits of students acting at the beginning and the end of preparing for a role. Additionally, as potential moderator variables, we measured the reported personality traits of the roles the students were acting, as well as empathy, disintegration, and years of formal education. The sample (N = 47) was composed of students of acting from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (first- to fourth-year) and the Faculty of Modern Arts (first-year students only). Participants' mean age was 20.2 (SD = 1.47), and there were 64% of females. The procedure included two waves of testing (T1 at the beginning and T2 at the end of the semester), and students’ acting exercises and character immersion comprised the pseudo-experimental procedure. Students’ personality traits (HEXACO-60, self-report version), empathy (Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, QCAE), and disintegration (DELTA9, 10-item version) were measured at both T1 and T2, while the personality of the role (HEXACO-60 observer version) was measured at T2. Responses to all instruments were given on a 5-point Likert scale. A series of repeated-measures T-tests showed significant differences in emotionality (t(46) = 2.56, p = 0.014) and conscientiousness (t(46) = -2.39, p = 0.021) between T1 and T2. Moreover, an index of absolute personality change was significantly different from 0 for all traits (range .53 to .34, t(46) = 4.20, p < .001 for the lowest index. The average test-retest correlation for HEXACO traits was 0.57, which is lower than proposed by other similar researches. As for moderator variables, neither the personality of the role nor empathy or disintegration explained the change in students’ personality traits. The magnitude of personality change was the highest in fourth-year students, with no significant differences between the remaining three years of studying. Overall, our results seem to indicate some personality changes in students of acting. However, these changes cannot be unequivocally related to the process of preparing for a role. Further and methodologically stricter research is needed to unravel the role of acting in personality change.

Keywords: theater, personality change, acting, HEXACO

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Authors: Noura Al Akkari, Aurélie Foucquier, Sylvain Lespinats

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Load monitoring is a management process for energy consumption towards energy savings and energy efficiency. Non Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) is one method of load monitoring used for disaggregation purposes. NILM is a technique for identifying individual appliances based on the analysis of the whole residence data retrieved from the main power meter of the house. Our NILM framework starts with data acquisition, followed by data preprocessing, then event detection, feature extraction, then general appliance modeling and identification at the final stage. The event detection stage is a core component of NILM process since event detection techniques lead to the extraction of appliance features. Appliance features are required for the accurate identification of the household devices. In this research work, we aim at developing a new event detection methodology with accurate load disaggregation to extract appliance features. Time-domain features extracted are used for tuning general appliance models for appliance identification and classification steps. We use unsupervised algorithms such as Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). The proposed method relies on detecting areas of operation of each residential appliance based on the power demand. Then, detecting the time at which each selected appliance changes its states. In order to fit with practical existing smart meters capabilities, we work on low sampling data with a frequency of (1/60) Hz. The data is simulated on Load Profile Generator software (LPG), which was not previously taken into consideration for NILM purposes in the literature. LPG is a numerical software that uses behaviour simulation of people inside the house to generate residential energy consumption data. The proposed event detection method targets low consumption loads that are difficult to detect. Also, it facilitates the extraction of specific features used for general appliance modeling. In addition to this, the identification process includes unsupervised techniques such as DTW. To our best knowledge, there exist few unsupervised techniques employed with low sampling data in comparison to the many supervised techniques used for such cases. We extract a power interval at which falls the operation of the selected appliance along with a time vector for the values delimiting the state transitions of the appliance. After this, appliance signatures are formed from extracted power, geometrical and statistical features. Afterwards, those formed signatures are used to tune general model types for appliances identification using unsupervised algorithms. This method is evaluated using both simulated data on LPG and real-time Reference Energy Disaggregation Dataset (REDD). For that, we compute performance metrics using confusion matrix based metrics, considering accuracy, precision, recall and error-rate. The performance analysis of our methodology is then compared with other detection techniques previously used in the literature review, such as detection techniques based on statistical variations and abrupt changes (Variance Sliding Window and Cumulative Sum).

Keywords: general appliance model, non intrusive load monitoring, events detection, unsupervised techniques;

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Authors: Fawad Zaidi

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This paper discusses a variety of challenges and solutions involved with creating computer games and the issues faced by the software engineers working in this field. This review further investigates the articles coverage of project scope and the problem of feature creep that appears to be inherent with game development. The paper tries to answer the following question: Is this a problem caused by a shortage, or bad software engineering practices, or is this outside the control of the software engineering component of the game production process?

Keywords: software engineering, computer games, software applications, development

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Authors: Nanh Lovanh, John Loughrin, Kimberly Cook, Phil Silva, Byung-Taek Oh

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In the era of sustainability, utilization of livestock wastes as soil amendment to provide micronutrients for crops is very economical and sustainable. It is well understood that livestock wastes are comparable, if not better, nutrient sources for crops as chemical fertilizers. However, the large concentrated volumes of animal manure produced from livestock operations and the limited amount of available nearby agricultural land areas necessitated the need for volume reduction of these animal wastes. Composting of these animal manures is a viable option for biomass and pathogenic reduction in the environment. Nevertheless, composting also increases the potential loss of available nutrients for crop production as well as unwanted emission of anthropogenic air pollutants due to the loss of ammonia and other compounds via volatilization. In this study, we examine the emission of ammonia and nitrous oxide from swine manure windrows to evaluate the benefit of biomass reduction in conjunction with the potential loss of available nutrients. The feedstock for the windrows was obtained from swine farm in Kentucky where swine manure was mixed with wood shaving as absorbent material. Static flux chambers along with photoacoustic gas analyzer were used to monitor ammonia and nitrous oxide concentrations during the composting process. The results show that ammonia and nitrous oxide fluxes were quite high during the initial composting process and after the turning of each compost pile. Over the period of roughly three months of composting, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) decreased by about 90%. Although composting of animal waste is quite beneficial for biomass reduction, composting may not be economically feasible from an agronomical point of view due to time, nutrient loss (N loss), and potential environmental pollution (ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions). Therefore, additional studies are needed to assess and validate the economics and environmental impact of animal (swine) manure composting (e.g., crop yield or impact on climate change).

Keywords: windrow, swine manure, ammonia, nitrous oxide, fluxes, management

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Authors: M. Kumpugdee-Vollrath, M. Tabatabaeifar, M. Helmis

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Shellac is a natural polyester resin secreted by insects. Pectins are natural, non-toxic and water-soluble polysaccharides extracted from the peels of citrus fruits or the leftovers of apples. Both polymers are allowed for the use in the pharmaceutical industry and as a food additive. SSB Aquagold® is the aqueous solution of shellac and can be used for a coating process as an enteric or controlled drug release polymer. In this study, tablets containing 10 mg methylene blue as a model drug were prepared with a rotary press. Those tablets were coated with mixtures of shellac and one of the pectin different types (i.e. CU 201, CU 501, CU 701 and CU 020) mostly in a 2:1 ratio or with pure shellac in a small scale fluidized bed apparatus. A stable, simple and reproducible three-stage coating process was successfully developed. The drug contents of the coated tablets were determined using UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The characterization of the surface and the film thickness were performed with the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the light microscopy. Release studies were performed in a dissolution apparatus with a basket. Most of the formulations were enteric coated. The dissolution profiles showed a delayed or sustained release with a lagtime of at least 4 h. Dissolution profiles of coated tablets with pure shellac had a very long lagtime ranging from 13 to 17.5 h and the slopes were quite high. The duration of the lagtime and the slope of the dissolution profiles could be adjusted by adding the proper type of pectin to the shellac formulation and by variation of the coating amount. In order to apply a coating formulation as a colon delivery system, the prepared film should be resistant against gastric fluid for at least 2 h and against intestinal fluid for 4-6 h. The required delay time was gained with most of the shellac-pectin polymer mixtures. The release profiles were fitted with the modified model of the Korsmeyer-Peppas equation and the Hixson-Crowell model. A correlation coefficient (R²) > 0.99 was obtained by Korsmeyer-Peppas equation.

Keywords: shellac, pectin, coating, fluidized bed, release, colon delivery system, kinetic, SEM, methylene blue

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Authors: Ira Irawati, Muhammad Rangga Sururi

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The expansion of built-up areas in many cities, particularly, as the consequences of urbanization process, is a common phenomenon in our contemporary world. As happened in many cities in developing world, this horizontal expansion let only a handful size of the area left for green open spaces, creating an extreme unbalance between built-up and green spaces. Combined with the high density and variety of human activities with its transportation modes; a process of urban heat island will occur, resulting in an increase in air temperature. This is one of the indicators of decreasing of the quality of urban microclimate. This paper will explore the effect of several variables of built-up areas and open spaces to the increase of air temperature using multiple linear regression analysis. We selected 11 zones within the radius of 1 km in Inner Bandung city center, and each zones measured within 300 m radius to represent the variety of land use, as well as the composition of buildings and green open spaces. By using a quantitative method which is multiple linear regression analysis, six dependent variables which are a) tree density-x1, b) shade level of tree-x2, c) surface area of buildings’ side which are facing west and east-x3, d) surface area of building side material-x4, e) surface area of pathway material, and f) numbers of motorized vehicles-x6; are calculated to find those influence to the air temperature as an independent variable-y. Finally, the relationship between those variables shows in this equation: y = 30.316 - 3.689 X1 – 6.563 X2 + 0.002 X3 – 2,517E6 X4 + 1.919E-9 X5 + 1.952E-4 X6. It shows that the existence of vegetation has a great impact on lowering temperature. In another way around, built up the area and motorized vehicles would increase the temperature. However, one component of built up area, the surface area of buildings’ sides which are facing west and east, has different result due to the building material is classified in low-middle heat capacity.

Keywords: built-up area, microclimate, vehicles, urban heat island, vegetation

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Authors: Komal Rathore, Kiesha Pierre, Kyle Cogswell, Aaron Driscoll, Andres Tejada Martinez, Gita Iranipour, Luke Mulford, Aydin Sunol

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Modeling of Biological Wastewater Treatment Plants requires several parameters for kinetic rate expressions, thermo-physical properties, and hydrodynamic behavior. The kinetics and associated mechanisms become complex due to several biological processes taking place in wastewater treatment plants at varying times and spatial scales. A dynamic process model that incorporated the complex model for activated sludge kinetics was developed using the BioWin software platform for an Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Valrico, Florida. Due to the extensive number of tunable parameters, an experimental design was employed for judicious selection of the most influential parameter sets and their bounds. The model was tuned using both the influent and effluent plant data to reconcile and rectify the forecasted results from the BioWin Model. Amount of mixed liquor suspended solids in the oxidation ditch, aeration rates and recycle rates were adjusted accordingly. The experimental analysis and plant SCADA data were used to predict influent wastewater rates and composition profiles as a function of time for extended periods. The lumped dynamic model development process was coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of the key units such as oxidation ditches in the plant. Several CFD models that incorporate the nitrification-denitrification kinetics, as well as, hydrodynamics was developed and being tested using ANSYS Fluent software platform. These realistic and verified models developed using BioWin and ANSYS were used to plan beforehand the operating policies and control strategies for the biological wastewater plant accordingly that further allows regulatory compliance at minimum operational cost. These models, with a little bit of tuning, can be used for other biological wastewater treatment plants as well. The BioWin model mimics the existing performance of the Valrico Plant which allowed the operators and engineers to predict effluent behavior and take control actions to meet the discharge limits of the plant. Also, with the help of this model, we were able to find out the key kinetic and stoichiometric parameters which are significantly more important for modeling of biological wastewater treatment plants. One of the other important findings from this model were the effects of mixed liquor suspended solids and recycle ratios on the effluent concentration of various parameters such as total nitrogen, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, etc. The ANSYS model allowed the abstraction of information such as the formation of dead zones increases through the length of the oxidation ditches as compared to near the aerators. These profiles were also very useful in studying the behavior of mixing patterns, effect of aerator speed, and use of baffles which in turn helps in optimizing the plant performance.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, flow-sheet simulation, kinetic modeling, process dynamics

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Authors: Timilehin Martins Oyinloye, Won Byong Yoon

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Simulation technology is being adopted in many industries, with research focusing on the development of new ways in which technology becomes embedded within production, services, and society in general. 3D printing (3DP) technology is fast developing in the food industry. However, the limited processability of high-performance material restricts the robustness of the process in some cases. Significantly, the printability of materials becomes the foundation for extrusion-based 3DP, with residual stress being a major challenge in the printing of complex geometry. In many situations, the trial-a-error method is being used to determine the optimum printing condition, which results in time and resource wastage. In this report, the analysis of 3 moisture levels for surimi paste was investigated for an optimum 3DP material and printing conditions by probing its rheology, flow characteristics in the nozzle, and post-deposition process using the finite element method (FEM) model. Rheological tests revealed that surimi pastes with 82% moisture are suitable for 3DP. According to the FEM model, decreasing the nozzle diameter from 1.2 mm to 0.6 mm, increased the die swell from 9.8% to 14.1%. The die swell ratio increased due to an increase in the pressure gradient (1.15107 Pa to 7.80107 Pa) at the nozzle exit. The nozzle diameter influenced the fluid properties, i.e., the shear rate, velocity, and pressure in the flow field, as well as the residual stress and the deformation of the printed sample, according to FEM simulation. The post-printing stability of the model was investigated using the additive layer manufacturing (ALM) model. The ALM simulation revealed that the residual stress and total deformation of the sample were dependent on the nozzle diameter. A small nozzle diameter (0.6 mm) resulted in a greater total deformation (0.023), particularly at the top part of the model, which eventually resulted in the sample collapsing. As the nozzle diameter increased, the accuracy of the model improved until the optimum nozzle size (1.0 mm). Validation with 3D-printed surimi products confirmed that the nozzle diameter was a key parameter affecting the geometry accuracy of 3DP of surimi paste.

Keywords: 3D printing, deformation analysis, die swell, numerical simulation, surimi paste

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Authors: Sukhila Krishnan, Smita Mohanty, Sanjay K. Nayak

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Polylactide (PLA) and thermoplastic starch (TPS) are the most promising bio-based materials presently available on the market. Polylactic acid is one of the versatile biodegradable polyester showing wide range of applications in various fields and starch is a biopolymer which is renewable, cheap as well as extensively available. The usual increase in the cost of petroleum-based commodities in the next decades opens bright future for these materials. Their biodegradability and compostability was an added advantage in applications that are difficult to recycle. Currently, thermoplastic starch (TPS) has been used as a substitute for synthetic plastic in several commercial products. But, TPS shows some limitations mainly due to its brittle and hydrophilic nature, which has to be resolved to widen its application.The objective of the work we report here was to initiate chemical modifications on TPS and to build up a process to control its chemical structure using a solution process which can reduce its water sensitive properties and then blended it with PLA to improve compatibility between PLA and TPS. The method involves in cleavage of starch amylose and amylopectin chain backbone to plasticize with glycerol and water in batch mixer and then the prepared TPS was reacted in solution with diisocyanates i.e, 4,4'-Methylenediphenyl Diisocyanate (MDI).This diisocyanate was used before with great success for the chemical modification of TPS surface. The method utilized here will form an urethane-linkages between reactive isocyanate groups (–NCO) and hydroxyl groups (-OH) of starch as well as of glycerol. New polymer synthesised shows a reduced crystallinity, less hydrophilic and enhanced compatibility with other polymers. The TPS was prepared by Haake Rheomix 600 batch mixer with roller rotors operating at 50 rpm. The produced material is then refluxed for 5hrs with MDI in toluene with constant stirring. Finally, the modified TPS was melt blended with PLA in different compositions. Blends obtained shows an improved mechanical properties. These materials produced are characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra (FTIR), DSC, X-Ray diffraction and mechanical tests.

Keywords: polylactic acid, thermoplastic starch, Methylenediphenyl Diisocyanate, Polylactide (PLA)

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Authors: H. Gholami, M. Jalali Azizpour

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For materials such as hard coating whose stresses state are difficult to obtain by a widely used method called high-speed hole-drilling method (ASTM Standard E837). It is important to develop a non contact method. This process itself imposes an additional stresses. The through thickness residual stress of st37 steel using elector-discharge was investigated. The strain gage and dynamic strain indicator used in all cases was FRS-2-11 rosette type and TML 221, respectively. The average residual stress in depth of 320 µm was -6.47 MPa.

Keywords: HVOF, residual stress, thermal spray, WC-Co

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Authors: Mahnaz Khalafehnilsaz, Rozina Rahnama

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Introduction: The aging process has been linked to a wide range of non-communicable diseases that cause a loss of health-related quality of life. This process can be worsened if an active and healthy lifestyle is not followed by adults, especially in the workplace. This setting not only may create a sedentary lifestyle but will lead to obesity and overweight in the long term and create unhealthy and inactive aging. In addition, eating habits are always known to be associated with active aging. Therefore, it is very valuable to know the eating patterns of people at work in order to detect and prevent diseases in the coming years. This study aimed to design and test a model to improve eating habits among employees at an industrial complex as a practical strategy. Material and method: The present research was a mixed-method study with a subsequent exploratory design which was carried out in two phases, qualitative and quantitative, in 2018 year. In the first step, participants were selected by purposive sampling (n=34) to ensure representation of different job roles; hours worked, gender, grade, and age groups, and semi-structured interviews were used. All interviews were conducted in the workplace and were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the Strauss and Corbin approach. The interview question was, “what were their experiences of eating at work, and how could these nutritional habits affect their health in old age.” Finally, a total of 1500 basic codes were oriented at the open coding step, and they were merged together to create the 17 classes, and six concepts and a conceptual model were designed. The second phase of the study was conducted in the form of a cross-sectional study. After verification of the research tool, the developed questionnaire was examined in a group of employees. In order to test the conceptual model of the study, a total of 500 subjects were included in psychometry. Findings: Six main concepts have been known, including 1. undesirable control of stress, 2. lack of eating knowledge, 3. effect of the social network, 4. lack of motivation for healthy habits, 5. environmental-organizational intensifier, 6. unhealthy eating behaviors. The core concept was “Motivation Loss to do preventive behavior.” The main constructs of the motivational-based model for the promotion of eating habits are “modification and promote of eating habits,” increase of knowledge and competency, convey of healthy nutrition behavior culture and effecting of behavioral model especially in older age, desirable of control stress. Conclusion: A key factor for unhealthy eating behavior at the workplace is a lack of motivation, which can be an obstacle to conduct preventive behaviors at work that can affect the healthy aging process in the long term. The motivational-based model could be considered an effective conceptual framework and instrument for designing interventions for the promotion to create healthy and active aging.

Keywords: aging, eating habits, older age, workplace

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Authors: Abu Yousuf, Maksudur Rahman Khan, Ahasanul Karim, Amirul Islam, Minhaj Uddin Monir, Sharmin Sultana, Domenico Pirozzi

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Traditional biodiesel feedstock like edible oils or plant oils, animal fats and cooking waste oil have been replaced by microbial oil in recent research of biodiesel synthesis. The well-known community of microbial oil producers includes microalgae, oleaginous yeast and seaweeds. Conventional transesterification of microbial oil to produce biodiesel is lethargic, energy consuming, cost-ineffective and environmentally unhealthy. This process follows several steps such as microbial biomass drying, cell disruption, oil extraction, solvent recovery, oil separation and transesterification. Therefore, direct transesterification of biodiesel synthesis has been studying for last few years. It combines all the steps in a single reactor and it eliminates the steps of biomass drying, oil extraction and separation from solvent. Apparently, it seems to be cost-effective and faster process but number of difficulties need to be solved to make it large scale applicable. The main challenges are microbial cell disruption in bulk volume and make faster the esterification reaction, because water contents of the medium sluggish the reaction rate. Several methods have been proposed but none of them is up to the level to implement in large scale. It is still a great challenge to extract maximum lipid from microbial cells (yeast, fungi, algae) investing minimum energy. Electroporation technique results a significant increase in cell conductivity and permeability caused due to the application of an external electric field. Electroporation is required to alter the size and structure of the cells to increase their porosity as well as to disrupt the microbial cell walls within few seconds to leak out the intracellular lipid to the solution. Therefore, incorporation of electroporation techniques contributed in direct transesterification of microbial lipids by increasing the efficiency of biodiesel production rate.

Keywords: biodiesel, electroporation, microbial lipids, transesterification

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Authors: Peter Pomlenyi, Orsolya Semperger, Gergely Hegedus

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The purpose of the project is to develop a complex composite component with visible class ‘A’ surface. It is going to integrate more functions, including continuous fiber reinforcement, foam core, injection molded ribs, and metal inserts. Therefore we are going to produce recyclable structural composite part from thermoplastic polymer in serial production with short cycle time for automotive applications. Our design of the process line is determined by the principles of Industry 4.0. Accordingly, our goal is to map in details the properties of the final product including the mechanical properties in order to replace metal elements used in automotive industry, with special regard to the effect of each manufacturing process step on the afore mentioned properties. Period of the project is 3 years, which lasts from the 1st of December 2016 to the 30th November 2019. There are four consortium members in the R&D project evopro systems engineering Ltd., Department of Polymer Engineering of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Research Centre for Natural Sciences of Hungarian Academy of Sciences and eCon Engineering Ltd. One of the most important result that we can obtain short cycle time (up to 2-3 min) with in-situ polymerization method, which is an innovation in the field of thermoplastic composite production. Because of the mentioned method, our fully automated production line is able to manufacture complex thermoplastic composite parts and satisfies the short cycle time required by the automotive industry. In addition to the innovative technology, we are able to design, analyze complex composite parts with finite element method, and validate our results. We are continuously collecting all the information, knowledge and experience to improve our technology and obtain even more accurate results with respect to the quality and complexity of the composite parts, the cycle time of the production, and the design and analyzing method of the composite parts.

Keywords: T-RTM technology, composite, automotive, class A surface

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Authors: Ana Maria Reis D'Azevedo Breda, Catarina Maria Neto da Cruz

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The Japanese art of origami provides a rich context for designing exploratory mathematical activities for children and young people. By folding a simple sheet of paper, fascinating and surprising planar and spatial configurations emerge. Equally surprising is the unfolding process, which also produces striking patterns. The procedure of folding, unfolding, and folding again allows the exploration of interesting geometric patterns. When adequately and systematically done, we may deduce some of the mathematical rules ruling origami. As the child/youth folds the sheet of paper repeatedly, he can physically observe how the forms he obtains are transformed and how they relate to the pattern of the corresponding unfolding, creating space for the understanding/discovery of mathematical principles regulating the folding-unfolding process. As part of a 2023 Summer Academy organized by a Portuguese university, a session entitled “Folding, Thinking and Generalizing” took place. Twenty-three students attended the session, all enrolled in the 2nd cycle of Portuguese Basic Education and aged between 10 and 12 years old. The main focus of this session was to foster the development of critical cognitive and socio-emotional skills among these young learners using origami. These skills included creativity, critical analysis, mathematical reasoning, collaboration, and communication. Employing a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative analysis of data collected during the session through field notes and students’ written productions, our findings reveal that structured origami-based activities not only promote student engagement with mathematical concepts in a playful and interactive but also facilitate the development of socio-emotional skills, which include collaboration and effective communication between participants. This research highlights the value of integrating origami into educational practices, highlighting its role in supporting comprehensive cognitive and emotional learning experiences.

Keywords: skills, origami rules, active learning, hands-on activities

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Authors: Afeez Kolawole Shittu

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Democracy as practiced across the globe is sustained with the increase participation of all eligible voters irrespective of class, race, colour, and disabilities. However, there is a perception within the contemporary African society that people with disability (PWDs) belongs to charity and welfare. This is exacerbated with little understanding among African counties including Nigeria that persons with disability have fundamental rights inevitably rooted in the constitution. This significant viewpoint has continued to militate against the social inclusion of persons with disabilities in various aspects of societal lives including their political participation It is instructive to note that the political right of PWDs has been protected by various international conventions. Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights and Dignities for Persons with Disability (CRPD) guaranteed the participation of persons with disability in the political process. Domesticating and ratification of this right has been a challenge for many African countries including Nigeria. Against the backdrop, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections in Nigeria provided forum for the participation of persons with disability in election through implementations of electoral act. Section 56 (1) and (2) of the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) provide for voting participation of persons with disability. This study examines the implementation of the electoral act and how it impacts the voting participation of persons with disability vis-à-vis other challenges affecting the participation of PWDs in electoral process in Nigeria’s 2019 general election. This paper draws on mixed method in sourcing relevant information from the respondents. Interview will be conducted among INEC officials, Civil Society Organisations, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD). Questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion will be held among different forms of PWDs. The data will be analysed using appropriate descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, as well as thematic content analysis. The study will enlighten understanding on the awareness of the political rights of PWDs as well as improving their electoral participation for sustainable democracy in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

Keywords: electoral reforms, voting participation, persons with disabilities

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Authors: Madushani Rodrigo, Banuka Athuraliya

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In today's world of medical diagnosis and prediction, machine learning stands out as a strong tool, transforming old ways of caring for health. This study analyzes the use of machine learning in the specialized domain of sports medicine, with a focus on the timely and accurate detection of bone fractures in cricket athletes. Failure to identify bone fractures in real time can result in malunion or non-union conditions. To ensure proper treatment and enhance the bone healing process, accurately identifying fracture locations and types is necessary. When interpreting X-ray images, it relies on the expertise and experience of medical professionals in the identification process. Sometimes, radiographic images are of low quality, leading to potential issues. Therefore, it is necessary to have a proper approach to accurately localize and classify fractures in real time. The research has revealed that the optimal approach needs to address the stated problem and employ appropriate radiographic image processing techniques and object detection algorithms. These algorithms should effectively localize and accurately classify all types of fractures with high precision and in a timely manner. In order to overcome the challenges of misidentifying fractures, a distinct model for fracture localization and classification has been implemented. The research also incorporates radiographic image enhancement and preprocessing techniques to overcome the limitations posed by low-quality images. A classification ensemble model has been implemented using ResNet18 and VGG16. In parallel, a fracture segmentation model has been implemented using the enhanced U-Net architecture. Combining the results of these two implemented models, the FracXpert system can accurately localize exact fracture locations along with fracture types from the available 12 different types of fracture patterns, which include avulsion, comminuted, compressed, dislocation, greenstick, hairline, impacted, intraarticular, longitudinal, oblique, pathological, and spiral. This system will generate a confidence score level indicating the degree of confidence in the predicted result. Using ResNet18 and VGG16 architectures, the implemented fracture segmentation model, based on the U-Net architecture, achieved a high accuracy level of 99.94%, demonstrating its precision in identifying fracture locations. Simultaneously, the classification ensemble model achieved an accuracy of 81.0%, showcasing its ability to categorize various fracture patterns, which is instrumental in the fracture treatment process. In conclusion, FracXpert has become a promising ML application in sports medicine, demonstrating its potential to revolutionize fracture detection processes. By leveraging the power of ML algorithms, this study contributes to the advancement of diagnostic capabilities in cricket athlete healthcare, ensuring timely and accurate identification of bone fractures for the best treatment outcomes.

Keywords: multiclass classification, object detection, ResNet18, U-Net, VGG16

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