Search results for: value added meat products

Authors: Guerich Mohamed, Assaf Samir

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The application of viscoelastic materials in the form of constrained layers in mechanical structures is an efficient and cost-effective technique for solving noise and vibration problems. This technique requires a design tool to select the best location, type, and thickness of the damping treatment. This paper presents a finite element model for the vibration of beams partially or fully covered with a constrained viscoelastic damping material. The model is based on Bernoulli-Euler theory for the faces and Timoshenko beam theory for the core. It uses four variables: the through-thickness constant deflection, the axial displacements of the faces, and the bending rotation of the beam. The sandwich beam finite element is compatible with the conventional C1 finite element for homogenous beams. To validate the proposed model, several free vibration analyses of fully or partially covered beams, with different locations of the damping patches and different percent coverage, are studied. The results show that the proposed approach can be used as an effective tool to study the influence of the location and treatment size on the natural frequencies and the associated modal loss factors. Then, a parametric study regarding the variation in the damping characteristics of partially covered beams has been conducted. In these studies, the effect of core shear modulus value, the effect of patch size variation, the thickness of constraining layer, and the core and the locations of the patches are considered. In partial coverage, the spatial distribution of additive damping by using viscoelastic material is as important as the thickness and material properties of the viscoelastic layer and the constraining layer. Indeed, to limit added mass and to attain maximum damping, the damping patches should be placed at optimum locations. These locations are often selected using the modal strain energy indicator. Following this approach, the damping patches are applied over regions of the base structure with the highest modal strain energy to target specific modes of vibration. In the present study, a more efficient indicator is proposed, which consists of placing the damping patches over regions of high energy dissipation through the viscoelastic layer of the fully covered sandwich beam. The presented approach is used in an optimization method to select the best location for the damping patches as well as the material thicknesses and material properties of the layers that will yield optimal damping with the minimum area of coverage.

Keywords: finite element model, damping treatment, viscoelastic materials, sandwich beam

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Idan Chiyanzu, Maruping Mangena

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Crude glycerol, a major by-product from the transesterification of triacylglycerides with alcohol to biodiesel, is known to have a broad range of applications. For example, its bioconversion can afford a wide range of chemicals including alcohols, organic acids, hydrogen, solvents and intermediate compounds. In bacteria, the 2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase (2-OGD) enzymes are widely found among the Pseudomonas syringae species and have been recognized with an emerging importance in ethylene formation. However, the use of optimized enzyme function in recombinant systems for crude glycerol conversion to ethylene is still not been reported. The present study investigated the production of ethylene from crude glycerol using engineered E. coli MG1655 and JM109 strains. Ethylene production with an optimized expression system for 2-OGD in E. coli using a codon optimized construct of the ethylene-forming gene was studied. The codon-optimization resulted in a 20-fold increase of protein production and thus an enhanced production of the ethylene gas. For a reliable bioreactor performance, the effect of temperature, fermentation time, pH, substrate concentration, the concentration of methanol, concentration of potassium hydroxide and media supplements on ethylene yield was investigated. The results demonstrate that the recombinant enzyme can be used for future studies to exploit the conversion of low-priced crude glycerol into advanced value products like light olefins, and tools including recombineering techniques for DNA, molecular biology, and bioengineering can be used to allowing unlimited the production of ethylene directly from the fermentation of crude glycerol. It can be concluded that recombinant E.coli production systems represent significantly secure, renewable and environmentally safe alternative to thermochemical approach to ethylene production.

Keywords: crude glycerol, bioethylene, recombinant E. coli, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: M. Gil, R. Montalvo

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Business Intelligence (BI) has become a major source of competitive advantages for firms around the world. BI has been defined as the process of data visualization and reporting for understanding what happened and what is happening. Moreover, BI has been studied for its predictive capabilities in the context of trade and financial transactions. The current literature has identified that BI permits managers to identify market trends, understand customer relations, and predict demand for their products and services. This last capability of BI has been of special concern to academics. Specifically, due to its power to build predictive models adaptable to specific time horizons and geographical regions. However, the current literature of BI focuses on predicting specific markets and industries because the impact of such predictive models was relevant to specific industries or organizations. Currently, the existing literature has not developed a predictive model of BI that takes into consideration the whole economy of a geographical area. This paper seeks to create a predictive model of BI that would show the bigger picture of a geographical area. This paper uses a data set from the Secretary of Economic Development of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Such data set includes data from all the commercial transactions that occurred in the state in the last years. By analyzing such data set, it will be possible to generate a BI model that predicts supply and demand from specific industries around the state of Jalisco. This research has at least three contributions. Firstly, a methodological contribution to the BI literature by generating the predictive supply and demand model. Secondly, a theoretical contribution to BI current understanding. The model presented in this paper incorporates the whole picture of the economic field instead of focusing on a specific industry. Lastly, a practical contribution might be relevant to local governments that seek to improve their economic performance by implementing BI in their policy planning.

Keywords: business intelligence, predictive model, supply and demand, Mexico

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: A. Abbas, X. Tridon, J. Michelon

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In the electronic or in the photovoltaic industries, components are made from wafers which are stacks of thin film layers of a few nanometers to serval micrometers thickness. Early evaluation of the bounding quality between different layers of a wafer is one of the challenges of these industries to avoid dysfunction of their final products. Traditional pump-probe experiments, which have been developed in the 70’s, give a partial solution to this problematic but with a non-negligible drawback. In fact, on one hand, these setups can generate and detect ultra-high ultrasounds frequencies which can be used to evaluate the adhesion quality of wafer layers. But, on the other hand, because of the quiet long acquisition time they need to perform one measurement, these setups remain shut in punctual measurement to evaluate global sample quality. This last point can lead to bad interpretation of the sample quality parameters, especially in the case of inhomogeneous samples. Asynchronous Optical Sampling (ASOPS) systems can perform sample characterization with picosecond acoustics up to 106 times faster than traditional pump-probe setups. This last point allows picosecond ultrasonic to unlock the acoustic imaging field at the nanometric scale to detect inhomogeneities regarding sample mechanical properties. This fact will be illustrated by presenting an image of the measured acoustical reflection coefficients obtained by mapping, with an ASOPS setup, a 255nm thin-film tungsten layer deposited on a silicone substrate. Interpretation of the coefficient reflection in terms of bounding quality adhesion will also be exposed. Origin of zones which exhibit good and bad quality bounding will be discussed.

Keywords: adhesion, picosecond ultrasonics, pump-probe, thin film

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: G. J. Fan, T. T. Lee, M. H. Chen, T. F. Shiao, B. Yu, C. F. Lee

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Rice straw with poor feed quality and spent mushroom substrate are both the most abundant agricultural residues in Taiwan. Edible mushrooms from white rot fungi possess lignocellulase activity. It was expected to improve the feeding value of rice straw for ruminant by solid-state fermentation pretreatment using spent mushroom substrate. Six varieties or subspecies of spent edible mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus (blue or white color), P. sajor-caju, P. citrinopileatus, P. eryngii and Ganoderma lucidium) substrate were evaluated in solid-state fermentation process with rice straw for 8 wks. Quality improvement of fermented rice straw was determined by its in vitro digestibility, lignocellulose degradability, and cell wall breakdown checked by scanning electron microscope. Results turned out that Pleurotus ostreatus (white color) and P. sajor-caju had the better lignocellulose degradation effect than the others and was chosen for advance in vivo study. Rice straw fermented with spent Pleurotus ostreatus or Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrate 8 wks was prepared for growing and lactating feeding trials of dairy goat, respectively. Pangolagrass hay at 15% diet dry matter was the control diet. Fermented or original rice straw was added to substitute pangolagrass hay in both feeding trials. A total of 30 head of Alpine castrated ram were assigned into three groups for 11 weeks, 5 pens (2 head/pen) each group. A total of 21 head of Saanen and Alpine goats were assigned into three treatments and individually fed in two repeat lactating trials with 28-d each. In castrated ram study, results showed that fermented rice straw by spent Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom substrate attributed the higher daily dry matter intakes (DMI, 1.53 vs. 1.20 kg) and body weight gain (138 vs. 101 g) than goats fed original rice straw. DMI (2.25 vs. 1.81 kg) and milk yield (3.31 vs. 3.02 kg) of lactating goats fed control pangolagrass diet and fermented rice straw by spent Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrate were also higher than those fed original rice straw diet (P < 0.05). Milk compositions, milk fat, protein, total solid and lactose, were similar among treatments. In conclusion, solid-state fermentation by spent Pleurotus ostreatus or Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrate could effectively improve the feeding value of rice straw. Fermented rice straw is a good alternative fiber feed resource for growing and lactating dairy goats and 15% in diet dry matter is recommended.

Keywords: feeding value, fermented rice straw, growing and lactating dairy goat, spent Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrate

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Nurul Aqilah Mohd Zaini, Afroditi Chatzifragkou, Dimitris Charalampopoulos

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D-Lactic acid production is gaining increasing attention due to the thermostable properties of its polymer, Polylactic Acid (PLA). In this study, D-lactic acid was produced in microbial cultures using Lactobacillus coryniformis subsp. torquens as D-lactic acid producer and hydrolysates of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) as fermentation substrate. Prior to fermentation, DDGS was first alkaline pretreated with 5% (w/v) NaOH, for 15 minutes (121oC/ ~16 psi). This led to the generation of DDGS solid residues, rich in carbohydrates and especially cellulose (~52%). The carbohydrate-rich solids were then subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis with Accellerase® 1500. For Separate Hydrolysis and Fermentation (SHF), enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out at 50oC for 24 hours, followed by fermentation of D-lactic acid at 37oC in controlled pH 6. The obtained hydrolysate contained 24 g/l glucose, 5.4 g/l xylose and 0.6 g/l arabinose. In the case of Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF), hydrolysis and fermentation were conducted in a single step process at 37oC in pH 5. The enzymatic hydrolysis of DGGS pretreated solids took place mostly during lag phase of L. coryniformis fermentation, with only a small amount of glucose consumed during the first 6 h. When exponential phase was started, glucose generation reduced as the microorganism started to consume glucose for D-lactic acid production. Higher concentrations of D-lactic acid were produced when SSF approach was applied, with 28 g/l D-lactic acid after 24 h of fermentation (84.5% yield). In contrast, 21.2 g/l D-lactic acid were produced when SHF was used. The optical pu rity of D-lactic acid produced from both experiments was 99.9%. Besides, approximately 2 g/l acetic acid was also generated due to lactic acid degradation after glucose depletion in SHF. SSF was proved an efficient towards DDGS ulilisation and D-lactic acid production, by reducing the overall processing time, yielding sufficient D-lactic acid concentrations without the generation of fermentation by-products.

Keywords: DDGS, alkaline pretreatment, SSF, D-lactic acid

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: Kuniyoshi Abe

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Bi-conjugate gradient (Bi-CG) is a well-known method for solving linear equations Ax = b, for x, where A is a given n-by-n matrix, and b is a given n-vector. Typically, the dimension of the linear equation is high and the matrix is sparse. A number of hybrid Bi-CG methods such as conjugate gradient squared (CGS), Bi-CG stabilized (Bi-CGSTAB), BiCGStab2, and BiCGstab(l) have been developed to improve the convergence of Bi-CG. Bi-CGSTAB has been most often used for efficiently solving the linear equation, but we have seen the convergence behavior with a long stagnation phase. In such cases, it is important to have Bi-CG coefficients that are as accurate as possible, and the stabilization strategy, which stabilizes the computation of the Bi-CG coefficients, has been proposed. It may avoid stagnation and lead to faster computation. Motivated by a large number of processors in present petascale high-performance computing hardware, the scalability of Krylov subspace methods on parallel computers has recently become increasingly prominent. The main bottleneck for efficient parallelization is the inner products which require a global reduction. The resulting global synchronization phases cause communication overhead on parallel computers. The parallel variants of Krylov subspace methods reducing the number of global communication phases and hiding the communication latency have been proposed. However, the numerical stability, specifically, the convergence speed of the parallel variants of Bi-CGSTAB may become worse than that of the standard Bi-CGSTAB. In this paper, therefore, we compare the convergence speed between the standard Bi-CGSTAB and the parallel variants by numerical experiments and show that the convergence speed of the standard Bi-CGSTAB is faster than the parallel variants. Moreover, we propose the stabilization strategy for the parallel variants.

Keywords: bi-conjugate gradient stabilized method, convergence speed, Krylov subspace methods, linear equations, parallel variant

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Georgios Psakis, Imren Rahbay, David Spiteri, Jeanice Mallia, Martin Polidano, Vasilis P. Valdramidis

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Absence of surface water and progressive groundwater quality deterioration have exacerbated scarcity rapidly, making the Mediterranean island of Malta one of the most water-stressed countries in Europe. Water scarcity challenges have been addressed by reverse osmosis desalination of seawater, 60% of which is blended with groundwater to form the current potable tap-water supply. Chlorination has been the adopted method of water disinfection prior to distribution. However, with the Malteseconsumer chlorine sensory-threshold being as low as 0.34 ppm, presence of chorine residuals and chlorination by-products in the distributed tap-water impacts negatively on its organoleptic attributes, deterring the public from consuming it. As part of the PURILMA initiative, and with the aim of minimizing the impact of chlorine residual on the quality of the distributed water, UV-C, and hydrosonication, have been identified as cost- and energy-effective decontamination alternatives, paving the way for more sustainable water management. Bench-scale assessment of the decontamination efficiency of UV-C (254 nm), revealed 4.7-Log10 inactivation for both Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis at 36 mJ/cm2. At >200 mJ/cm2fluence rates, there was a systematic 2-Log10 difference in the reductions exhibited by E. coli and E. faecalis to suggest that UV-C disinfection was more effective against E. coli. Hybrid treatment schemes involving hydrosonication(at 9.5 and 12.5 dm3/min flow rates with 1-5 MPa maximum pressure) and UV-C showed at least 1.1-fold greater bactericidal activity relative to the individualized UV-C treatments. The observed inactivation appeared to have stemmed from additive effects of the combined treatments, with hydrosonication-generated reactive oxygen species enhancing the biocidal activity of UV-C.

Keywords: disinfection, groundwater, hydrosonication, UV-C

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Jose A. Diaz-Olivares, Nafise Mahdavian, Farhad Abtahi, Kaj Lindecrantz, Abdelakram Hafid, Fernando Seoane

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Despite new recommendations and guidelines for the evaluation of occupational risk assessments and their prevention, work-related musculoskeletal disorders are still one of the biggest causes of work activity disruption, productivity loss, sick leave and chronic work disability. It affects millions of workers throughout Europe, with a large-scale economic and social burden. These specific efforts have failed to produce significant results yet, probably due to the limited availability and high costs of occupational risk assessment at work, especially when the methods are complex, consume excessive resources or depend on self-evaluations and observations of poor accuracy. To overcome these limitations, a pervasive system of risk assessment tools in real time has been developed, which has the characteristics of a systematic approach, with good precision, usability and resource efficiency, essential to facilitate the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in the long term. The system allows the combination of different wearable sensors, placed on different limbs, to be used for data collection and evaluation by a software solution, according to the needs and requirements in each individual working environment. This is done in a non-disruptive manner for both the occupational health expert and the workers. The creation of this solution allows us to attend different research activities that require, as an essential starting point, the recording of data with ergonomic value of very diverse origin, especially in real work environments. The software platform is here presented with a complimentary smart clothing system for data acquisition, comprised of a T-shirt containing inertial measurement units (IMU), a vest sensorized with textile electronics, a wireless electrocardiogram (ECG) and thoracic electrical bio-impedance (TEB) recorder and a glove sensorized with variable resistors, dependent on the angular position of the wrist. The collected data is processed in real-time through a mobile application software solution, implemented in commercially available Android-based smartphones and tablet platforms. Based on the collection of this information and its analysis, real-time risk assessment and feedback about postural improvement is possible, adapted to different contexts. The result is a tool which provides added value to ergonomists and occupational health agents, as in situ analysis of postural behavior can assist in a quantitative manner in the evaluation of work techniques and the occupational environment.

Keywords: ergonomics, mobile technologies, risk assessment, smart textiles

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Thepnarintra Praphanphat

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The purposes of this study were to investigate garment industry’s condition, problems, and need for assistance. The population of the study was 504 managers or managing directors of garment establishments finished apparel industrial manager and permission of the Department of Industrial Works 28, Ministry of Industry until January 1, 2012. In determining the sample size with the opening of the Taro Yamane finished at 95% confidence level is ± 5% deviation was 224 managers. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. Percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and LSD were used to analyze the data. It was found that most establishments were of a large size, operated in a form of limited company for more than 15 years most of which produced garments for working women. All investment was made by Thai people. The products were made to order and distributed domestically and internationally. The total sale of the year 2010, 2011, and 2012 was almost the same. With respect to the problems of operating the business, the study indicated, as a whole, by- aspects, and by-items, that they were at a high level. The comparison of the level of problems of operating garment business as classified by general condition showed that problems occurring in business of different sizes were, as a whole, not different. In taking aspects into consideration, it was found that the level of problem in relation to production was different; medium establishments had more problems in production than those of small and large sizes. According to the by-items analysis, five problems were found different; namely, problems concerning employees, machine maintenance, number of designers, and price competition. Such problems in the medium establishments were at a higher level than those in the small and large establishments. Regarding business age, the examination yielded no differences as a whole, by-aspects, and by-items. The statistical significance level of this study was set at .05.

Keywords: garment industry, garment, fashion, competitive enhancement project

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Michael Wright, Tiago Costa

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The construction industry in SE Asia has been relying on S355 MPa “as rolled” H-beams for many years now. It is an easily sourced, metallurgically simple, reliable product that all designers, fabricators and constructors are familiar with. However, as the Global demand to better use our finite resources gets stronger, the need for an as-rolled S460 MPa H-Beam is becoming more apparent. The Financial benefits of an “as-rolled” S460 MPa H-beam are obvious. The S460 MPa beam which is currently available and used is fabricated from rolled strip. However, making H-beam from 3 x 460 MPa strips requires costly equipment, valuable welding skills & production time, all of which can be in short supply or better used for other purposes. The Metallurgical benefits of an “as-rolled” S460 MPa H-beam are consistency in the product. Fabricated H-beams have inhomogeneous areas where the strips have been welded together - parent metal, heat affected zone and weld metal all in the one body. They also rely heavily on the skill of the welder to guarantee a perfect, defect free weld. If this does not occur, the beam is intrinsically flawed and could lead to failure in service. An as-rolled beam is a relatively homogenous product, with the optimum strength and ductility produced by delivering steel with as fine as possible uniform cross sectional grain size. This is done by cost effective alloy design coupled with proper metallurgical process control implemented into an existing mill’s equipment capability and layout. This paper is designed to highlight the benefits of bring an “as-rolled” S460 MPa H-beam to the construction market place in SE Asia, and hopefully encourage the current “as-rolled” H-beam producers to rise to the challenge and produce an innovative high quality product for the local market.

Keywords: fine grained, As-rolled, long products, process control, metallurgy

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Kidane workelul, Li xu, Xiaoyang Pang, Jiaping Lv

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Dairy products are exceptionally ideal media for the growth of microorganisms because of their high nutritional content. There are several ways that milk might get contaminated throughout the milking process, including how the raw milk is transported and stored, as well as how long it is kept before being processed. Psychrotrophic bacteria are among the one which can deteriorate the quality of milk mainly their heat resistance proteas and lipase enzyme. For this research purpose 8 selected strains of Psychrotrophic bacteria (Entrococcus hirae, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas azotoformans, Pseudomonas putida, Exiguobacterium indicum, Pseudomonas paralactice, Acinetobacter indicum, Serratia liquefacients)are chosen and try to determine their characteristics based on the research methodology protocol. Thus, the 8 selected strains are cultured, plated incubate, extracted their genomic DNA and genome DNA was amplified, the purpose of the study was to identify their Psychrotrophic properties, lipase hydrolysis positive test, their optimal incubation temperature, designed primer using the noble strain P,flourescens conserved region area in target with lipA gene, optimized primer specificity as well as sensitivity and PCR detection for lipase positive strains using the design primers. Based on the findings both the selected 8 strains isolated from stored raw milk are Psychrotrophic bacteria, 6 of the selected strains except the 2 strains are positive for lipase hydrolysis, their optimal temperature is 20 to 30 OC, the designed primer specificity is very accurate and amplifies for those strains only with lipase positive but could not amplify for the others. Thus, the result is promising and could help in detecting the Psychrotrophic bacteria producing heat resistance enzymes (lipase) at early stage before the milk is processed and this will safe production loss for the dairy industry.

Keywords: dairy industry, heat-resistant, lipA, milk, primer and psychrotrophic

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Authors: N. G. Vepkhvadze, T. Enukidze

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Anthrax is a fatal disease caused by strains of Bacillus anthracis, a spore-forming gram-positive bacillus that causes the disease anthrax in animals and humans. Anthrax is a zoonotic disease that is also well-recognized as a potential agent of bioterrorism. Infection in humans is extremely rare in the developed world and is generally due to contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products. Testing of this zoonotic disease began in 1907 in Georgia and is still being tested routinely to provide accurate information and efficient testing results at the State Laboratory of Agriculture of Georgia. Each clinical sample is analyzed by RT-PCR and bacteriology methods; this study used Real-Time PCR assays for the detection of B. anthracis that rely on plasmid-encoded targets with a chromosomal marker to correctly differentiate pathogenic strains from non-anthracis Bacillus species. During the period of 2015-2022, the State Laboratory of Agriculture (SLA) tested 250 clinical and environmental (soil) samples from several different regions in Georgia. In total, 61 out of the 250 samples were positive during this period. Based on the results, Anthrax cases are mostly present in Eastern Georgia, with a high density of the population of livestock, specifically in the regions of Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli. All laboratory activities are being performed in accordance with International Quality standards, adhering to biosafety and biosecurity rules by qualified and experienced personnel handling pathogenic agents. Laboratory testing plays the largest role in diagnosing animals with anthrax, which helps pertinent institutions to quickly confirm a diagnosis of anthrax and evaluate the epidemiological situation that generates important data for further responses.

Keywords: animal disease, baccilus anthracis, edp, laboratory molecular diagnostics

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Authors: Koilpitchai Sivamuthuraman, Venkitasamy Kesavan

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3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindole skeleton bearing adjacent tetrasubstituted stereogenic centers is of great importance because of these heterocyclic motifs possess a wide range of pharmacological activity. The catalytic asymmetric construction of multi functionalised heterocyclic compound with adjacent tetrasubstituted stereocenters is one of the most difficult tasks in organic synthesis. To date, the most straightforward methodologies have been developed for synthesis of chiral 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles through the addition of carbon nucleophiles to isatin-derived ketimines. However, only a few successful examples have been described for the assembly of vicinal tetrasubstituted stereocenters using isatin derived ketimines as electrophiles. On the other hand, 2,2-Disubstituted benzofuran-3(2H)-ones and related frameworks are characteristic of a quaternary stereogenic center at C2 position present in quite a number of natural products and bioactive Molecules.Despite the intensive efforts devoted for the construction of 2,2-Disubstituted Benzofuran-3[2H]-one, there are only a few asymmetric methods such as organocatalytic Michael addition and enantioselective halogenations were reported till now. Due to the biological importance of oxindole and benzofuran-3-one, it is proposed here with the synthesis of hybrid molecule containing tetrasubstituted stereo centers through asymmetric organocatalysis. The addition of 2-substituted Benzofuran-3-one(1a) to isatin-derived ketimines(2a) using a bifunctional organocatalyst(catalyst IV or V), leading to chiral heterocyclic compounds containing both 3-amino 2-oxindole and benzofurn-3-one bearing vicinal quaternary stereocenters with good yields and excellent enantioselectivity. The present study extends the scope of the catalytic asymmetric Mannich reaction with isatin-derived ketimines, providing a new class of amino oxindole derivatives having benzofuran-3-one.

Keywords: asymmetric synthesis, benzofuran-3-one, isatin-derived ketimines, quaternary stereocenters

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Gulcin Yildiz

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Drying (dehydration) is the process of removing water from food in order to preserve the food and an alternative to reduce post-harvest loss of fruits. Different pre-treatment methods have been developed for fruit drying, such as ultrasound. If no pre-treatment is done, the fruits will continue to darken after they are dried. However, the effects of ultrasound as pre-treatment on drying of apples has not been well documented. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of ultrasound as pre-treatment before oven drying of red delicious and golden delicious apples. Red delicious and golden delicious apples were dried in different temperatures. Before performing drying experiments in an oven at 50, 75 and 100 °C, ultrasound as pretreatment was applied in 5, 10, and 15 minutes. Colors of the dried apples were measured with a Minolta Chroma Meter CR-300 (Minolta Camera Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan) by directly holding the device vertically to the surface of the samples. Content of total phenols was determined spectrophotometrically with the FolinCiocalteau assay, and the antioxidant capacity was evaluated by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The samples (both red delicious and golden delicious apples) with longer ultrasound treatment produced higher weight loss due to the changes in tissue structure. However less phenolic content and antioxidant capacity were observed for the samples with longer ultrasound pre-treatment. The highest total phenolic content (TPC) was determined in dried apples at 75 °C with 5 minutes pre-treatment ultrasound and the lowest TPC was determined in dried apples at 50 °C with 15 minutes pre-treatment ultrasound which was subjected to the longest ultrasound pre-treatment and drying. The combination of 5 min of ultrasound pre-treatment and 75 °C of oven-drying showed to be the best combination for an energy efficient process. This combination exhibited good antioxidant properties as well. The present study clearly demonstrated that applying ultrasound as pre-treatment for drying of apples is an effective process in terms of quality of dried products, time, and energy.

Keywords: golden delicious apples, red delicious apples, total phenolic content, Ultrasound

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Authors: A. Azizi, S. Laidoudi, G. Schmerber, A. Dinia

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Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a well-known oxide semiconductor with a band gap of 2.1 eV and a natural p-type conductivity, which is an attractive material for device applications because of its abundant availability, non toxicity, and low production cost. It has a higher absorption coefficient in the visible region and the minority carrier diffusion length is also suitable for use as a solar cell absorber layer and it has been explored in junction with n type ZnO for photovoltaic applications. Cu2O nanostructures have been made by a variety of techniques; the electrodeposition method has emerged as one of the most promising processing routes as it is particularly provides advantages such as a low-cost, low temperature and a high level of purity in the products. In this work, Cu2O nanostructures prepared by electrodeposition from aqueous cupric sulfate solution with citric acid at 65°C onto a fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates were investigated. The effects of deposition potential on the electrochemical, surface morphology, structural and optical properties of Cu2O thin films were investigated. During cyclic voltammetry experiences, the potential interval where the electrodeposition of Cu2O is carried out was established. The Mott–Schottky (M-S) plot demonstrates that all the films are p-type semiconductors, the flat-band potential and the acceptor density for the Cu2O thin films are determined. AFM images reveal that the applied potential has a very significant influence on the surface morphology and size of the crystallites of thin Cu2O. The XRD measurements indicated that all the obtained films display a Cu2O cubic structure with a strong preferential orientation of the (111) direction. The optical transmission spectra in the UV-Visible domains revealed the highest transmission (75 %), and their calculated gap values increased from 1.93 to 2.24 eV, with increasing potentials.

Keywords: Cu2O, electrodeposition, Mott–Schottky plot, nanostructure, optical properties, XRD

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Authors: Muhammad Izzam Bin Mohd Khazar, Nur Adibah Binti Zainudin

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Islamic banking as one of the financial institutions is highly required to maintain a prudent approach to ensure that any financing given is able to generate income to their respective shareholders. As the default payment of customers is probably occurred in the financing, having a prudent approach in the recovery process is a must to ensure that financing losses are within acceptable limits. The objective of this research is to provide the best practice of recovery which is anticipated to benefit both bank and customers. This study will address arising issue on the current practice of recovery process and followed by providing humanising recovery solutions in the light of the Maqasid Shariah. The study identified main issues pertaining to Islamic recovery process which can be categorized into knowledge crisis, process issues, specific treatment cases and system issues. Knowledge crisis is related to direct parties including judges, solicitors and salesperson, while the recovery process issues include the process of issuance of reminder, foreclosure and repossession of asset. Furthermore, special treatment for particular cases also should be observed since different contracts in Islamic banking products will need different treatment. Finally, issues in the system used in the recovery process are still unresolved since the existing technology is still young in this area to embraced Islamic finance requirements and nature of calculation. In order to humanize the financial services in Islamic banking recovery process, we have highlighted four main recommendation to be implemented by Islamic Financial Institutions namely; 1) early deterrent by improving the awareness, 2) improvement of the internal process, 3) reward mechanism, and 4) creative penalty to provide awareness to all stakeholders.

Keywords: humanizing financial services, Islamic Finance, Maqasid Syariah, recovery process

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Christian T. Lystbaek

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Background: The importance of innovation management has traditionally been ascribed to private production companies, however, there is an increasing interest in public services innovation management. One of the major theoretical challenges arising from this situation is to understand public values justifying public services innovation management. However, there is not single and stable definition of public value in the literature. The research question guiding this paper is: What is the supposed added value operating in the public sphere? Methodology: The study takes an action research strategy. This is highly contextualized methodology, which is enacted within a particular set of social relations into which on expects to integrate the results. As such, this research strategy is particularly well suited for its potential to generate results that can be applied by managers. The aim of action research is to produce proposals with a creative dimension capable of compelling actors to act in a new and pertinent way in relation to the situations they encounter. The context of the study is a workshop on public services innovation within elderly care. The workshop brought together different actors, such as managers, personnel and two groups of users-citizens (elderly clients and their relatives). The process was designed as an extension of the co-construction methods inherent in action research. Scenario methods and focus groups were applied to generate dialogue. The main strength of these techniques is to gather and exploit as much data as possible by exposing the discourse of justification used by the actors to explain or justify their points of view when interacting with others on a given subject. The approach does not directly interrogate the actors on their values, but allows their values to emerge through debate and dialogue. Findings: The public values related to public services innovation management in elderly care were identified in two steps. In the first step, identification of values, values were identified in the discussions. Through continuous analysis of the data, a network of interrelated values was developed. In the second step, tracking group consensus, we then ascertained the degree to which the meaning attributed to the value was common to the participants, classifying the degree of consensus as high, intermediate or low. High consensus corresponds to strong convergence in meaning, intermediate to generally shared meanings between participants, and low to divergences regarding the meaning between participants. Only values with high or intermediate degree of consensus were retained in the analysis. Conclusion: The study shows that the fundamental criterion for justifying public services innovation management is the capacity for actors to enact public values in their work. In the workshop, we identified two categories of public values, intrinsic value and behavioural values, and a list of more specific values.

Keywords: public services innovation management, public value, co-creation, action research

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Authors: Yara Mohamed Taha, Mohamed Ali El Desouky, Heba Kamal Abdel Hakim, Maha Hanafy Mahmoud

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Hepatotoxicity due to drugs and toxic chemicals constitutes a crucial health problem nowadays. Medicinal plants are widely used recently for protecting against many liver disorders and inflammatory conditions. This study aims to evaluate hepatoprotective impact of green tea extract (GTE), rosemary extract (RE) and rosmarinic acid (RA) against hepatotoxins; ferric nitrilotriacetate (Fe-NTA) and diethylnitrosamine (DEN) in rats. Five groups of male Wistar rats were included; one control negative, while the other groups were treated intraperitoneally with DEN as 160 mg.kg-1 b.w. on 15th day and Fe-NTA as 5 mg.kg-1 b.w. on 33rd day. One of them was control positive. The other three groups were pre-administered with daily protective oral doses of either 200 mg.kg-1 b.w. of RE or 1 g.kg- 1 b.w. of GTE or 50 mg.kg-1 b.w. of RA two weeks prior to DEN exposure and continued till the end of the experimental period. The obtained data revealed a highly significant increase of MDA, 8-OHdG, DNA damage percent, a significant depletion of GSH and elevated Gr-1 protein expression in hepatocytes with liver tissue histopathological changes of rats exposed to DEN+Fe-NTA. Pre-administration of protective doses of RE, GTE and RA to DEN+Fe-NTA treated rats could normalize the altered biochemical, histopathological and immunohistochemical parameters. In conclusion, RE, GTE and RA showed a hepatoprotective effect against liver toxicity induced by DEN+Fe-NTA, with the best antioxidant and anti-inflammatory impact were for RA and GTE. Therefore, the current study declared that rosemary, green tea and products enriched with rosmarinic acid should be involved daily in diet of people who are exposed to chemicals and environmental toxins to protect themselves from hepatotoxicity.

Keywords: hepatotoxicity, diethylnitrosamine and ferric nitrilotriacetate, rosemary extract (RE), green tea extract (GTE), rosmarinic acid (RA)

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Authors: Atiq U. Zaman, Juliet Arnott

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This paper analyses the various benefits and barriers of residential deconstruction in the context of environmental performance and circular economy based on a case study project in Christchurch, New Zealand. The case study project “Whole House Deconstruction” which aimed, firstly, to harvest materials from a residential house, secondly, to produce new products using the recovered materials, and thirdly, to organize an exhibition for the local public to promote awareness on resource conservation and sustainable deconstruction practices. Through a systematic deconstruction process, the project recovered around 12 tonnes of various construction materials, most of which would otherwise be disposed of to landfill in the traditional demolition approach. It is estimated that the deconstruction of a similar residential house could potentially prevent around 27,029 kg of carbon emission to the atmosphere by recovering and reusing the building materials. In addition, the project involved local designers to produce 400 artefacts using the recovered materials and to exhibit them to accelerate public awareness. The findings from this study suggest that the deconstruction project has significant environmental benefits, as well as social benefits by involving the local community and unemployed youth as a part of their professional skills development opportunities. However, the project faced a number of economic and institutional challenges. The study concludes that with proper economic models and appropriate institutional support a significant amount of construction and demolition waste can be reduced through a systematic deconstruction process. Traditionally, the greatest benefits from such projects are often ignored and remain unreported to wider audiences as most of the external and environmental costs have not been considered in the traditional linear economy.

Keywords: circular economy, construction and demolition waste, resource recovery, systematic deconstruction, sustainable waste management

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Authors: Abdullah N. Olimat, Ahmad S. Awad, Faisal M. AL-Ghathian

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Natural wood is used in many applications in Jordan such as furniture, partitions constructions, and cupboards. Experimental work for smoke produced by the combustion of certain wood samples was studied. Smoke generated from burning of natural wood, is considered as a major cause of death in furniture fires. The critical parameter for life safety in fires is the available time for escape, so the visual obscuration due to smoke release during fire is taken into consideration. The effect of smoke, produced by burning of wood, depends on the amount of smoke released in case of fire. The amount of smoke production, apparently, affects the time available for the occupants to escape. To achieve the protection of life of building occupants during fire growth, fire retardant painting products are tested. The tested samples of natural wood include Beech, Ash, Beech Pine, and white Beech Pine. A smoke density chamber manufactured by fire testing technology has been used to perform measurement of smoke properties. The procedure of test was carried out according to the ISO-5659. A nonflammable vertical radiant heat flux of 25 kW/m² is exposed to the wood samples in a horizontal orientation. The main objective of the current study is to carry out the experimental tests for samples of natural woods to evaluate the capability to escape in case of fire and the fire safety requirements. Specific optical density, transmittance, thermal conductivity, and mass loss are main measured parameters. Also, comparisons between samples with paint and with no paint are carried out between the selected samples of woods.

Keywords: extinction coefficient, optical density, transmittance, visibility

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Authors: Da Yoon Yu, Jeong A. Kim, In Sung Kim, Yeon Hee Hong, Jae Young Kim, Sang Suk Lee, Sung Chan Kim, So Hui Choe, In Soon Choi, Kwang Keun Cho

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The present study was conducted to identify the effects of synbiotics composed of lactic acid (LA) bacteria (LAB) and sea tangle on rat’s intestinal microorganisms and anti-obesity effects. The experiment was conducted for six weeks using an 8-week old male rat as experiment animals and the experimental design was to use six treatments groups of 4 repetitions using three mice per repetition. The treatment groups were organized into a normal fat diet control (NFC), a high fat (HF) diet control (HFC), a prebiotic 0% treatment (HF+LA+sea tangle 0%, ST0), a prebiotic 5% treatment (HF+LA+sea tangle 5%, ST5), a prebiotic 10% treatment (HF+LA+sea tangle 10%, ST10), and a prebiotic 15% treatment group (HF+LA+sea tangle 15%, ST15) to conduct experiments with various levels of prebiotics. According to the results of the experiment, the NFC group showed the highest daily weight gain (22.34g) and the ST0 group showed the lowest daily weight gain (19.41g). However, weight gains during the entire experimental period were the highest in the HFC group (475.73g) and the lowest in the ST0 group (454.23g). Feed efficiency was the highest in the HFC group (0.20). Treatment with synbiotics composed of LAB and sea tangle suppressed weight increases due to HF diet and reduced feed efficiency. Intestinal microorganisms were identified through pyrosequncing and according to the results, Firmicutes phylum (approximately 60%) and Bacteroidetes phylum (approximately 30%) accounted for approximately 90% or more of intestinal microorganisms in all of the treatment groups indicating these bacteria are dominating in the intestines. Firmicutes that is related to weight increases accounted for 64.96% of microorganisms in the NFC group, 75.32% in the HFC group, 59.51% in the ST0 group, 61.29% in the ST5 group, 49.91% in the ST10 group, and 39.65% in the ST15 group. Therefore, Firmicutes showed the highest share the HFC group that showed high weight gains and the lowest share in the group treated with mixed synbiotics composed of LAB and sea tangle. Bacteroidetes that is related to weight gain inhibition accounted for 32.12% of microorganisms in the NFC group, and HFC group 21.57%, ST0 group 37.66%, ST5 group 34.92%, ST10 group 44.46%, and ST15 group 53.22%. Therefore, the share of Bacteroidetes was the lowest in the HFC group with no addition of synbiotics and increased along with the level of treatment with synbiotics. Changes in blood components were not significantly different among the groups and SCFA yields were shown to be higher in groups treated with synbiotics than in groups not added with synbiotics. Through the present study, it was shown that the supply of synbiotics composed of LAB and sea tangle increased feed intake but led to weight losses and that the intake of synbiotics composed of LAB and sea tangle had anti-obesity effects due to decreases in Firmicutes which are microorganisms related to weight gains and increases in Bacteroidetes which are microorganisms related to weight losses. Therefore, synbiotics composed of LAB and sea tangle are considered to have the effect to prevent metabolic disorders in the rat.

Keywords: bacteroidetes, firmicutes, intestinal microbiota, lactic acid, sea tangle, synbiotics

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Authors: Javkhlan Nyamjav, Simona Fischer, Lauren Garner, Veronica McCracken

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Current whole building life cycle assessments (LCA) primarily focus on structural and major architectural elements to measure building embodied carbon. Most of the interior finishes and fixtures are available on digital tools (such as Tally); however, furniture is still left unaccounted for. Due to its repeated refreshments and its complexity, furniture embodied carbon can accumulate over time, becoming comparable to structure and envelope numbers. This paper presents a method to calculate the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of furniture elements in commercial buildings. The calculator uses the quantity takeoff method with GWP averages gathered from environmental product declarations (EPD). The data was collected from EPD databases and furniture manufacturers from North America to Europe. A total of 48 GWP numbers were collected, with 16 GWP coming from alternative EPD. The finalized calculator shows the average GWP of typical commercial furniture and helps the decision-making process to reduce embodied carbon. The calculator was tested on MSR Design projects and showed furniture can account for more than half of the interior embodied carbon. The calculator highlights the importance of adding furniture to the overall conversation. However, the data collection process showed a) acquiring furniture EPD is not straightforward as other building materials; b) there are very limited furniture EPD, which can be explained from many perspectives, including the EPD price; c) the EPD themselves vary in terms of units, LCA scopes, and timeframes, which makes it hard to compare the products. Even though there are current limitations, the emerging focus on interior embodied carbon will create more demand for furniture EPD. It will allow manufacturers to represent all their efforts on reducing embodied carbon. In addition, the study concludes with recommendations on how designers can reduce furniture-embodied carbon through reuse and closed-loop systems.

Keywords: furniture, embodied carbon, calculator, tenant improvement, interior design

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Authors: A. Monika, Manu Sharma, Hong Boo Lee, Richa Dhingra, Neelima Dhingra

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Nuclear factor-κappa B serve as a molecular lynchpin that links persistent infections and chronic inflammation to increased cancer risk. Inflammation has been recognized as a hallmark and cause of cancer. Natural products present a privileged source of inspiration for chemical probe and drug design. Herbal remedies were the first medicines used by humans due to the many pharmacologically active secondary metabolites produced by plants. Some of the metabolites like Lantadene (pentacyclic triterpenoids) from the weed Lantana camara has been known to inhibit cell division and showed anti-antitumor potential. The C-3 aromatic esters of lantadenes were synthesized, characterized and evaluated for cytotoxicity and inhibitory potential against Tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced activation of Nuclear factor-κappa B in lung cancer cell line A549. The 3-methoxybenzoyloxy substituted lead analogue inhibited kinase activity of the inhibitor of nuclear factor-kappa B kinase in a single-digit micromolar concentration. At the same time, the lead compound showed promising cytotoxicity against A549 lung cancer cells with IC50 ( half maximal inhibitory concentration) of 0.98l µM. Further, molecular docking of 3-methoxybenzoyloxy substituted analogue against Inhibitor of nuclear factor-kappa B kinase (Protein data bank ID: 3QA8) showed hydrogen bonding interaction involving oxygen atom of 3-methoxybenzoyloxy with the Arginine-31 and Glutamine-110. Encouraging results indicate the Lantadene’s potential to be developed as anticancer agents.

Keywords: anticancer, lantadenes, pentacyclic triterpenoids, weed

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Authors: Danuta Szwajca

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Reputation The exponential growth of the Internet and social media (SM) in the recent years has contributed to changing the communication environment, in which stakeholders: customers, investors, business partners, employees, like their users, may post and distribute their opinions about the company and its products. This generates a number of potential threats to the image and reputation of both people and organizations. Social media create new opportunities not only for rapid and interactive communication but also for organizing themselves into strong pressure groups which may effectively affect the decisions of various organized bodies. Companies cannot ignore this fact and should use SM not only as an additional communication marketing channel but in a broader context - as a tool to build and protect their reputation. This article aims to identify the extent, scope, and directions of the use of SM in the activities of companies operating in the Polish market, as well as to identify threats and opportunities generated by the media in the area of reputation management. The results of research presented in the article showed that Polish companies recognize the potential of SM and try to apply them in their marketing efforts. However, his activity is limited only to maintain communication with customers through two portals: Facebook and Twitter. In the approach to the SM as a communication channel, the traditional way of thinking dominates, in which they are treated as just another promotional tool used by two departments: marketing and PR. This approach is called "silo" and is not integrated. This way of using SM does not allow effective building and protecting reputation in the Internet environment. To achieve this goal, the following research methods were used: the critical analysis of literature, analysis of secondary sources in a form of the report from the research conducted by Harvard Business Review Poland together with Capgemini Poland and case study.

Keywords: corporate reputation, reputation management, social media, risk reputation

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Authors: Rahul R. Gurpude, Pallvita Yadav, Amrut Mulay

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In recent years, there has been a growing focus on advanced manufacturing processes, and one such emerging process is wire electric discharge machining (WEDM). WEDM is a precision machining process specifically designed for cutting electrically conductive materials with exceptional accuracy. It achieves material removal from the workpiece metal through spark erosion facilitated by electricity. Initially developed as a method for precision machining of hard materials, WEDM has witnessed significant advancements in recent times, with numerous studies and techniques based on electrical discharge phenomena being proposed. These research efforts and methods in the field of ED encompass a wide range of applications, including mirror-like finish machining, surface modification of mold dies, machining of insulating materials, and manufacturing of micro products. WEDM has particularly found extensive usage in the high-precision machining of complex workpieces that possess varying hardness and intricate shapes. During the cutting process, a wire with a diameter ranging from 0.18mm is employed. The evaluation of EDM performance typically revolves around two critical factors: material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR). To comprehensively assess the impact of machining parameters on the quality characteristics of EDM, an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted. This statistical analysis aimed to determine the significance of various machining parameters and their relative contributions in controlling the response of the EDM process. By undertaking this analysis, optimal levels of machining parameters were identified to achieve desirable material removal rates and surface roughness.

Keywords: WEDM, MRR, optimization, surface roughness

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Authors: I. Nitoi, P. Oancea, M. Raileanu, M. Crisan, L. Constantin, I. Cristea

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Hazardous organic compounds like nitroaromatics are frequently found in chemical and petroleum industries discharged effluents. Due to their bio-refractory character and high chemical stability cannot be efficiently removed by classical biological or physical-chemical treatment processes. In the past decades, semiconductor photocatalysis has been frequently applied for the advanced degradation of toxic pollutants. Among various semiconductors titania was a widely studied photocatalyst, due to its chemical inertness, low cost, photostability and nontoxicity. In order to improve optical absorption and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 many attempts have been made, one feasible approach consists of doping oxide semiconductor with metal. The degradation of dinitrobenzene (DNB) and dinitrotoluene (DNT) from aqueous solution under UVA-VIS irradiation using heavy metal (0.5% Fe, 1%Co, 1%Ni ) doped titania was investigated. The photodegradation experiments were carried out using a Heraeus laboratory scale UV-VIS reactor equipped with a medium-pressure mercury lamp which emits in the range: 320-500 nm. Solutions with (0.34-3.14) x 10-4 M pollutant content were photo-oxidized in the following working conditions: pH = 5-9; photocatalyst dose = 200 mg/L; irradiation time = 30 – 240 minutes. Prior to irradiation, the photocatalyst powder was added to the samples, and solutions were bubbled with air (50 L/hour), in the dark, for 30 min. Dopant type, pH, structure and initial pollutant concentration influence on the degradation efficiency were evaluated in order to set up the optimal working conditions which assure substrate advanced degradation. The kinetics of nitroaromatics degradation and organic nitrogen mineralization was assessed and pseudo-first order rate constants were calculated. Fe doped photocatalyst with lowest metal content (0.5 wt.%) showed a considerable better behaviour in respect to pollutant degradation than Co and Ni (1wt.%) doped titania catalysts. For the same working conditions, degradation efficiency was higher for DNT than DNB in accordance with their calculated adsobance constants (Kad), taking into account that degradation process occurs on catalyst surface following a Langmuir-Hinshalwood model. The presence of methyl group in the structure of DNT allows its degradation by oxidative and reductive pathways, while DNB is converted only by reductive route, which also explain the highest DNT degradation efficiency. For highest pollutant concentration tested (3 x 10-4 M), optimum working conditions (0.5 wt.% Fe doped –TiO2 loading of 200 mg/L, pH=7 and 240 min. irradiation time) assures advanced nitroaromatics degradation (ηDNB=89%, ηDNT=94%) and organic nitrogen mineralization (ηDNB=44%, ηDNT=47%).

Keywords: hazardous organic compounds, irradiation, nitroaromatics, photocatalysis

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Authors: Mei-Chun. Chang

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STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) represents a cross-disciplinary and learner-centered teaching model that cultivates students to link theory with the presentation of real situations, thereby improving their various abilities. This study explores students' learning performance after using the 6E model in STEAM teaching for a professional course in the digital media design department of technical colleges, as well as the difficulties and countermeasures faced by STEAM curriculum design and its implementation. In this study, through industry experts’ work experience, activity exchanges, course teaching, and experience, learners can think about the design and development value of virtual idol products that meet the needs of users and to employ AR/VR technology to innovate their product applications. Applying action research, the investigation has 35 junior students from the department of digital media design of the school where the researcher teaches as the research subjects. The teaching research was conducted over two stages spanning ten weeks and 30 sessions. This research collected the data and conducted quantitative and qualitative data sorting analyses through ‘design draft sheet’, ‘student interview record’, ‘STEAM Product Semantic Scale’, and ‘Creative Product Semantic Scale (CPSS)’. Research conclusions are presented, and relevant suggestions are proposed as a reference for teachers or follow-up researchers. The contribution of this study is to teach college students to develop original virtual idols and product designs, improve learning effectiveness through STEAM teaching activities, and effectively cultivate innovative and practical cross-disciplinary design talents.

Keywords: STEAM, 6E model, virtual idol, learning effectiveness, practical courses

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Pegah Ebrahimi, Farshad Oveissi, Iman Manavi-Tehrani, Sina Naficy, David F. Fletcher, Fariba Dehghani, David S. Winlaw

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Despite advances in modern surgery, congenital heart disease remains a medical challenge and a major cause of infant mortality. Cardiovascular prostheses are routinely used in surgical procedures to address congenital malformations, for example establishing a pathway from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries in pulmonary valvar atresia. Current off-the-shelf options including human and adult products have limited biocompatibility and durability, and their fixed size necessitates multiple subsequent operations to upsize the conduit to match with patients’ growth over their lifetime. Non-physiological blood flow is another major problem, reducing the longevity of these prostheses. These limitations call for better designs that take into account the hemodynamical and anatomical characteristics of different patients. We have integrated tissue engineering techniques with modern medical imaging and image processing tools along with mathematical modeling to optimize the design of cardiovascular grafts in a patient-specific manner. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is done according to models constructed from each individual patient’s data. This allows for improved geometrical design and achieving better hemodynamic performance. Tissue engineering strives to provide a material that grows with the patient and mimic the durability and elasticity of the native tissue. Simulations also give insight on the performance of the tissues produced in our lab and reduce the need for costly and time-consuming methods of evaluation of the grafts. We are also developing a methodology for the fabrication of the optimized designs.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, cardiovascular grafts, design optimization, tissue engineering

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Authors: Ali A. Karakhan

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Stakeholders in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry have been always searching for strategies to develop, design, and construct healthy and smart building projects. Healthy and smart building projects require that the building process including design and construction be altered and carefully implemented in order to bring about sustainable outcomes throughout the facility lifecycle. Healthy and smart building projects are expected to positively influence organizational success and facility performance across the project lifecycle leading to superior outcomes in terms of people, economy, and the environment. The present study aims to identify potential strategies that AEC organizations can implement to achieve healthy and smart building projects. Drivers and barriers for healthy and smart building features are also examined. The study findings indicate that there are three strategies to advance the development of healthy and smart building projects: (1) the incorporation of high-quality products and low chemical-emitting materials, (2) the integration of innovative designs, methods, and practices, and (3) the adoption of smart technology throughout the facility lifecycle. Satisfying external demands, achievement of a third-party certification, obtaining financial incentives, and a desire to fulfill professional duty are identified as the key drivers for developing healthy and smart building features; whereas, lack of knowledge and training, time/cost constrains, preference for/adherence to customary practices, and unclear business case for why healthy buildings are advantageous are recognized as the primary barriers toward a wider diffusion of healthy and smart building projects. The present study grounded in previous engineering, medical, and public health research provides valuable technical and practical recommendations for facility owners and industry professionals interested in pursuing sustainable, yet healthy and smart building projects.

Keywords: healthy buildings, smart construction, innovative designs, sustainable projects

Procedia PDF Downloads 133