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Authors: Piret Pernik

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Based on strategic, operational, and technical analysis of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine, this paper will examine the opportunities and risks of using small commercial drones (dual-use unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV) for military purposes. The paper discusses the opportunities and risks in the information domain, encompassing both cyber and electromagnetic interference and attacks. The paper will draw conclusions on a possible strategic impact to the battlefield outcomes in the modern armed conflicts by the widespread use of dual-use UAVs. This article will contribute to filling the gap in the literature by examining based on empirical data cyberattacks and electromagnetic interference. Today, more than one hundred states and non-state actors possess UAVs ranging from low cost commodity models, widely are dual-use, available and affordable to anyone, to high-cost combat UAVs (UCAV) with lethal kinetic strike capabilities, which can be enhanced with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Dual-use UAVs have been used by various actors for intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, situational awareness, geolocation, and kinetic targeting. Thus they function as force multipliers enabling kinetic and electronic warfare attacks and provide comparative and asymmetric operational and tactical advances. Some go as far as argue that automated (or semi-automated) systems can change the character of warfare, while others observe that the use of small drones has not changed the balance of power or battlefield outcomes. UAVs give considerable opportunities for commanders, for example, because they can be operated without GPS navigation, makes them less vulnerable and dependent on satellite communications. They can and have been used to conduct cyberattacks, electromagnetic interference, and kinetic attacks. However, they are highly vulnerable to those attacks themselves. So far, strategic studies, literature, and expert commentary have overlooked cybersecurity and electronic interference dimension of the use of dual use UAVs. The studies that link technical analysis of opportunities and risks with strategic battlefield outcomes is missing. It is expected that dual use commercial UAV proliferation in armed and hybrid conflicts will continue and accelerate in the future. Therefore, it is important to understand specific opportunities and risks related to the crowdsourced use of dual-use UAVs, which can have kinetic effects. Technical countermeasures to protect UAVs differ depending on a type of UAV (small, midsize, large, stealth combat), and this paper will offer a unique analysis of small UAVs both from the view of opportunities and risks for commanders and other actors in armed conflict.

Keywords: dual-use technology, cyber attacks, electromagnetic warfare, case studies of cyberattacks in armed conflicts

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Vincent Andrew Cappellano

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In the early phases of critical infrastructure system design, translating distributed computing requirements to an architecture has risk given the multitude of approaches (e.g., cloud, edge, fog). In many systems, a single requirement for system uptime / availability is used to encompass the system’s intended operations. However, when architected systems may perform to those availability requirements only during normal operations and not during component failure, or during outages caused by adversary attacks on critical infrastructure (e.g., physical, cyber). System designers lack a structured method to evaluate availability requirements against candidate system architectures through deep degradation scenarios (i.e., normal ops all the way down to significant damage of communications or physical nodes). This increases risk of poor selection of a candidate architecture due to the absence of insight into true performance for systems that must operate as a piece of critical infrastructure. This research effort proposes a process to analyze critical infrastructure system availability requirements and a candidate set of systems architectures, producing a metric assessing these architectures over a spectrum of degradations to aid in selecting appropriate resilient architectures. To accomplish this effort, a set of simulation and evaluation efforts are undertaken that will process, in an automated way, a set of sample requirements into a set of potential architectures where system functions and capabilities are distributed across nodes. Nodes and links will have specific characteristics and based on sampled requirements, contribute to the overall system functionality, such that as they are impacted/degraded, the impacted functional availability of a system can be determined. A machine learning reinforcement-based agent will structurally impact the nodes, links, and characteristics (e.g., bandwidth, latency) of a given architecture to provide an assessment of system functional uptime/availability under these scenarios. By varying the intensity of the attack and related aspects, we can create a structured method of evaluating the performance of candidate architectures against each other to create a metric rating its resilience to these attack types/strategies. Through multiple simulation iterations, sufficient data will exist to compare this availability metric, and an architectural recommendation against the baseline requirements, in comparison to existing multi-factor computing architectural selection processes. It is intended that this additional data will create an improvement in the matching of resilient critical infrastructure system requirements to the correct architectures and implementations that will support improved operation during times of system degradation due to failures and infrastructure attacks.

Keywords: architecture, resiliency, availability, cyber-attack

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Xiangtuo Chen, Paul-Henry Cournéde

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Crop yield prediction is a paramount issue in agriculture. The main idea of this paper is to find out efficient way to predict the yield of corn based meteorological records. The prediction models used in this paper can be classified into model-driven approaches and data-driven approaches, according to the different modeling methodologies. The model-driven approaches are based on crop mechanistic modeling. They describe crop growth in interaction with their environment as dynamical systems. But the calibration process of the dynamic system comes up with much difficulty, because it turns out to be a multidimensional non-convex optimization problem. An original contribution of this paper is to propose a statistical methodology, Multi-Scenarios Parameters Estimation (MSPE), for the parametrization of potentially complex mechanistic models from a new type of datasets (climatic data, final yield in many situations). It is tested with CORNFLO, a crop model for maize growth. On the other hand, the data-driven approach for yield prediction is free of the complex biophysical process. But it has some strict requirements about the dataset. A second contribution of the paper is the comparison of these model-driven methods with classical data-driven methods. For this purpose, we consider two classes of regression methods, methods derived from linear regression (Ridge and Lasso Regression, Principal Components Regression or Partial Least Squares Regression) and machine learning methods (Random Forest, k-Nearest Neighbor, Artificial Neural Network and SVM regression). The dataset consists of 720 records of corn yield at county scale provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the associated climatic data. A 5-folds cross-validation process and two accuracy metrics: root mean square error of prediction(RMSEP), mean absolute error of prediction(MAEP) were used to evaluate the crop prediction capacity. The results show that among the data-driven approaches, Random Forest is the most robust and generally achieves the best prediction error (MAEP 4.27%). It also outperforms our model-driven approach (MAEP 6.11%). However, the method to calibrate the mechanistic model from dataset easy to access offers several side-perspectives. The mechanistic model can potentially help to underline the stresses suffered by the crop or to identify the biological parameters of interest for breeding purposes. For this reason, an interesting perspective is to combine these two types of approaches.

Keywords: crop yield prediction, crop model, sensitivity analysis, paramater estimation, particle swarm optimization, random forest

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Authors: Rangrong Yoksan, Amporn Sane, Nattaporn Khanoonkon, Chanakorn Yokesahachart, Narumol Noivoil, Khanh Minh Dang

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Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most commercially available bio-based and biodegradable plastic at present. PLA has been used in plastic related industries including single-used containers, disposable and environmentally friendly packaging owing to its renewability, compostability, biodegradability, and safety. Although PLA demonstrates reasonably good optical, physical, mechanical, and barrier properties comparable to the existing petroleum-based plastics, its brittleness and mold shrinkage as well as its price are the points to be concerned for the production of rigid and semi-rigid packaging. Blending PLA with other bio-based polymers including thermoplastic starch (TPS) is an alternative not only to achieve a complete bio-based plastic, but also to reduce the brittleness, shrinkage during molding and production cost of the PLA-based products. TPS is a material produced mainly from starch which is cheap, renewable, biodegradable, compostable, and non-toxic. It is commonly prepared by a plasticization of starch under applying heat and shear force. Although glycerol has been reported as one of the most plasticizers used for preparing TPS, its migration caused the surface stickiness of the TPS products. In some cases, mixed plasticizers or natural fibers have been applied to impede the retrogradation of starch or reduce the migration of glycerol. The introduction of fibers into TPS-based materials could reinforce the polymer matrix as well. Therefore, the objective of the present research is to study the effect of starch type (i.e. native starch and phosphate starch), plasticizer type (i.e. glycerol and xylitol with a weight ratio of glycerol to xylitol of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100), and fiber content (i.e. in the range of 1-25 % wt) on properties of PLA/TPS blend and composite. PLA/TPS blends and composites were prepared using a twin-screw extruder and then converted into dumbbell-shaped specimens using an injection molding machine. The PLA/TPS blends prepared by using phosphate starch showed higher tensile strength and stiffness than the blends prepared by using the native one. In contrast, the blends from native starch exhibited higher extensibility and heat distortion temperature (HDT) than those from the modified starch. Increasing xylitol content resulted in enhanced tensile strength, stiffness, and water resistance, but decreased extensibility and HDT of the PLA/TPS blend. Tensile properties and hydrophobicity of the blend could be improved by incorporating silane treated-jute fibers.

Keywords: polylactic acid, thermoplastic starch, Jute fiber, composite, blend

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Authors: Ebenezer Joseph

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Chess is a useful tool to enhance general and specific cognitive functioning in children. The present study aims to assess the impact of chess on cognitive in children and to measure the differential impact of socio-demographic factors like age and gender of the child on the effectiveness of the chess intervention.This research study used an experimental design to study the impact of the Training in Chess on the intelligence of children. The Pre-test Post-test Control Group Design was utilized. The research design involved two groups of children: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group consisted of children who participated in the one-year Chess Training Intervention, while the control group participated in extra-curricular activities in school. The main independent variable was training in chess. Other independent variables were gender and age of the child. The dependent variable was the cognitive functioning of the child (as measured by IQ, working memory index, processing speed index, perceptual reasoning index, verbal comprehension index, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, social intelligence, language, conceptual thinking, memory, visual motor and creativity). The sample consisted of 200 children studying in Government and Private schools. Random sampling was utilized. The sample included both boys and girls falling in the age range 6 to 16 years. The experimental group consisted of 100 children (50 from Government schools and 50 from Private schools) with an equal representation of boys and girls. The control group similarly consisted of 100 children. The dependent variables were assessed using Binet-Kamat Test of Intelligence, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - IV (India) and Wallach Kogan Creativity Test. The training methodology comprised Winning Moves Chess Learning Program - Episodes 1–22, lectures with the demonstration board, on-the-board playing and training, chess exercise through workbooks (Chess school 1A, Chess school 2, and tactics) and working with chess software. Further students games were mapped using chess software and the brain patterns of the child were understood. They were taught the ideas behind chess openings and exposure to classical games were also given. The children participated in mock as well as regular tournaments. Preliminary analysis carried out using independent t tests with 50 children indicates that chess training has led to significant increases in the intelligent quotient. Children in the experimental group have shown significant increases in composite scores like working memory and perceptual reasoning. Chess training has significantly enhanced the total creativity scores, line drawing and pattern meaning subscale scores. Systematically learning chess as part of school activities appears to have a broad spectrum of positive outcomes.

Keywords: chess, intelligence, creativity, children

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Authors: Kamal Ray, Tapati Bhattacharya

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Private use of public office for private gain could be a tentative definition of corruption and most distasteful event of corruption is that it is not there, nor that it is pervasive, but it is socially acknowledged in the global economy, especially in the developing nations. We attempted to assess the interrelationship between the Corruption perception index (CPI) and the principal components of governance indicators as per World Bank like Control of Corruption (CC), rule of law (RL), regulatory quality (RQ) and government effectiveness (GE). Our empirical investigation concentrates upon the degree of reflection of governance indicators upon the CPI in order to single out the most powerful corruption-generating indicator in the selected countries. We have collected time series data on above governance indicators such as CC, RL, RQ and GE of the selected eleven countries from the year of 1996 to 2012 from World Bank data set. The countries are USA, UK, France, Germany, Greece, China, India, Japan, Thailand, Brazil, and South Africa. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of the countries mentioned above for the period of 1996 to 2012is also collected. Graphical method of simple line diagram against the time series data on CPI is applied for quick view for the relative positions of different trend lines of different nations. The correlation coefficient is enough to assess primarily the degree and direction of association between the variables as we get the numerical data on governance indicators of the selected countries. The tool of Granger Causality Test (1969) is taken into account for investigating causal relationships between the variables, cause and effect to speak of. We do not need to verify stationary test as length of time series is short. Linear regression is taken as a tool for quantification of a change in explained variables due to change in explanatory variable in respect of governance vis a vis corruption. A bilateral positive causal link between CPI and CC is noticed in UK, index-value of CC increases by 1.59 units as CPI increases by one unit and CPI rises by 0.39 units as CC rises by one unit, and hence it has a multiplier effect so far as reduction in corruption is concerned in UK. GE causes strongly to the reduction of corruption in UK. In France, RQ is observed to be a most powerful indicator in reducing corruption whereas it is second most powerful indicator after GE in reducing of corruption in Japan. Governance-indicator like GE plays an important role to push down the corruption in Japan. In China and India, GE is proactive as well as influencing indicator to curb corruption. The inverse relationship between RL and CPI in Thailand indicates that ongoing machineries related to RL is not complementary to the reduction of corruption. The state machineries of CC in S. Africa are highly relevant to reduce the volume of corruption. In Greece, the variations of CPI positively influence the variations of CC and the indicator like GE is effective in controlling corruption as reflected by CPI. All the governance-indicators selected so far have failed to arrest their state level corruptions in USA, Germany and Brazil.

Keywords: corruption perception index, governance indicators, granger causality test, regression

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Authors: Darko Prebežac, Josip Mikulić, Maja Šerić, Damir Krešić

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Camping tourism is recognized as a growing segment of the broader tourism industry, currently evolving from an inexpensive, temporary sojourn in a rural environment into a highly fragmented niche tourism sector. The trends among public-managed campgrounds seem to be moving away from rustic campgrounds that provide only a tent pad and a fire ring to more developed facilities that offer a range of different amenities, where campers still search for unique experiences that go above the opportunity to experience nature and social interaction. In addition, while camping styles and options changed significantly over the last years, coastal camping in particular became valorized as is it regarded with a heightened sense of nostalgia. Alongside this growing interest in the camping tourism, a demand for quality servicing infrastructure emerged in order to satisfy the wide variety of needs, wants, and expectations of an increasingly demanding traveling public. However, camping activity in general and quality of camping experience and campers’ satisfaction in particular remain an under-researched area of the tourism and consumption behavior literature. In this line, very few studies addressed the issue of quality product/service provision in satisfying nature based tourists and in driving their future behavior with respect to potential re-visitation and recommendation intention. The present study thus aims to investigate the drivers of positive and negative campsite experience using the case of Croatia. Due to the well-preserved nature and indented coastline, camping tourism has a long tradition in Croatia and represents one of the most important and most developed tourism products. During the last decade the number of tourist overnights in Croatian camps has increased by 26% amounting to 16.5 million in 2014. Moreover, according to Eurostat the market share of campsites in the EU is around 14%, indicating that the market share of Croatian campsites is almost double large compared to the EU average. Currently, there are a total of 250 camps in Croatia with approximately 75.8 thousands accommodation units. It is further noteworthy that Croatian camps have higher average occupancy rates and a higher average length of stay as compared to the national average of all types of accommodation. In order to explore the main drivers of positive and negative campsite experiences, this study uses principal components analysis (PCA) and an impact-asymmetry analysis (IAA). Using the PCA, first the main dimensions of the campsite experience are extracted in an exploratory manner. Using the IAA, the extracted factors are investigated for their potentials to create customer delight and/or frustration. The results provide valuable insight to both researchers and practitioners regarding the understanding of campsite satisfaction.

Keywords: Camping tourism, campsite, impact-asymmetry analysis, satisfaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Yuki Matsumoto, Yuma Ishimoto

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Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with children has shown effective application to various problems such as anxiety and depression. Although there are barriers to access to mental health services including lack of professional services in communities and parental concerns about stigma, school has a significant role to address children’s health problems. Schools are regarded as a suitable arena for prevention and early intervention of mental health problems. In this line, CBT can be adaptable to school education and useful to enhance students’ social and emotional skills. However, Japanese school curriculum is rigorous so as to limit available time for implementation of CBT in schools. This paper describes Brief Cognitive Behavior Therapy (BCBT) with children in a Japanese school setting. The program has been developed in order to facilitate acceptability of CBT in schools and aimed to enhance students’ skills to manage anxiety and difficult behaviors. The present research used a single arm design in which 30 students aged 9-10 years old participated. The authors provided teachers a CBT training workshop (two hours) at two primary schools in Tokyo metropolitan area and recruited participants in the research. A homeroom teacher voluntarily delivered a 6-session BCBT program (15 minutes each) in classroom periods which is called as Kaerinokai, a meeting before leaving school. Students completed a questionnaire sheet at pre- and post-periods under the supervision of the teacher. The sheet included the Spence Child Anxiety Scale (SCAS), the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRS), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The teacher was asked for feedback after the completion. Significant positive changes were found in the total and five of six sub-scales of the SCAS and the total difficulty scale of the SDQ. However, no significant changes were seen in Physical Injury Fear sub-scale of the SCAS, in the DSRS or the Prosocial sub-scale of the SDQ. The effect sizes are mostly between small and medium. The teacher commented that the program was easy to use and found positive changes in classroom activities and personal relationships. This preliminary research showed the feasibility of the BCBT in a school setting. The results suggest that the BCBT offers effective treatment for reduction in anxiety and in difficult behaviors. There is a good prospect of the BCBT suggesting that BCBT may be easier to be delivered than CBT by Japanese teachers to promote child mental health. The study has limitations including no control group, small sample size, or a short teacher training. Future research should address these limitations.

Keywords: brief cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, mental health services in schools, teacher training workshop

Procedia PDF Downloads 310

Authors: Chetra Mang, Ahmadali Tahmasebimoradi, Xavier Lorang

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Lattice structures are widely used in various applications, especially in aeronautic, aerospace, and medical applications because of their high performance properties. Thanks to advancement of the additive manufacturing technology, the lattice structures can be manufactured by different methods such as laser beam melting technology. However, the presence of geometric defects in the lattice structures is inevitable due to the manufacturing process. The geometric defects may have high impact on the mechanical strength of the structures. This work analyzes the correlation between the manufacturing parameters and the mechanical strengths of the lattice structures. To do that, two types of the lattice structures; body-centered cubic with z-struts (BCCZ) structures made of Inconel718, and body-centered cubic (BCC) structures made of Scalmalloy, are manufactured by laser melting beam machine using Taguchi design of experiment. Each structure is placed on the substrate with a specific position and orientation regarding the roller direction of deposed metal powder. The position and orientation are considered as the manufacturing parameters. The geometric defects of each beam in the lattice are characterized and used to build the geometric model in order to perform simulations. Then, the mechanical strengths are defined by the homogeneous response as Young's modulus and yield strength. The distribution of mechanical strengths is observed as a function of manufacturing parameters. The mechanical response of the BCCZ structure is stretch-dominated, i.e., the mechanical strengths are directly dependent on the strengths of the vertical beams. As the geometric defects of vertical beams are slightly changed based on their position/orientation on the manufacturing substrate, the mechanical strengths are less dispersed. The manufacturing parameters are less influenced on the mechanical strengths of the structure BCCZ. The mechanical response of the BCC structure is bending-dominated. The geometric defects of inclined beam are highly dispersed within a structure and also based on their position/orientation on the manufacturing substrate. For different position/orientation on the substrate, the mechanical responses are highly dispersed as well. This shows that the mechanical strengths are directly impacted by manufacturing parameters. In addition, this work is carried out to study the uncertainty propagation of the geometric defects on the mechanical strength of the BCC lattice structure made of Scalmalloy. To do that, we observe the distribution of mechanical strengths of the lattice according to the distribution of the geometric defects. A probability density law is determined based on a statistical hypothesis corresponding to the geometric defects of the inclined beams. The samples of inclined beams are then randomly drawn from the density law to build the lattice structure samples. The lattice samples are then used for simulation to characterize the mechanical strengths. The results reveal that the distribution of mechanical strengths of the structures with the same manufacturing parameters is less dispersed than one of the structures with different manufacturing parameters. Nevertheless, the dispersion of mechanical strengths due to the structures with the same manufacturing parameters are unneglectable.

Keywords: geometric defects, lattice structure, mechanical strength, uncertainty propagation

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Tadele Tesfaw, Ajit Pal Singh, Abebaw Mekonnen Gezahegn

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Welding is a basic manufacturing process for making components or assemblies. Recent welding economics research has focused on developing the reliable machinery database to ensure optimum production. Research on welding of materials like steel is still critical and ongoing. Welding input parameters play a very significant role in determining the quality of a weld joint. The metal active gas (MAG) welding parameters are the most important factors affecting the quality, productivity and cost of welding in many industrial operations. The aim of this study is to investigate the optimization process parameters for metal active gas welding for 60x60x5mm dead mild steel plate work-piece using Taguchi method to formulate the statistical experimental design using semi-automatic welding machine. An experimental study was conducted at Bishoftu Automotive Industry, Bishoftu, Ethiopia. This study presents the influence of four welding parameters (control factors) like welding voltage (volt), welding current (ampere), wire speed (m/min.), and gas (CO2) flow rate (lit./min.) with three different levels for variability in the welding hardness. The objective functions have been chosen in relation to parameters of MAG welding i.e., welding hardness in final products. Nine experimental runs based on an L9 orthogonal array Taguchi method were performed. An orthogonal array, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to investigate the welding characteristics of dead mild steel plate and used in order to obtain optimum levels for every input parameter at 95% confidence level. The optimal parameters setting was found is welding voltage at 22 volts, welding current at 125 ampere, wire speed at 2.15 m/min and gas flow rate at 19 l/min by using the Taguchi experimental design method within the constraints of the production process. Finally, six conformations welding have been carried out to compare the existing values; the predicated values with the experimental values confirm its effectiveness in the analysis of welding hardness (quality) in final products. It is found that welding current has a major influence on the quality of welded joints. Experimental result for optimum setting gave a better hardness of welding condition than initial setting. This study is valuable for different material and thickness variation of welding plate for Ethiopian industries.

Keywords: Weld quality, metal active gas welding, dead mild steel plate, orthogonal array, analysis of variance, Taguchi method

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Authors: Roberta Martino, Viviana Ventre

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Intertemporal choices are choices under conditions of uncertainty in which the consequences are distributed over time. The Discounted Utility Model is the essential reference for describing the individual in the context of intertemporal choice. The model is based on the idea that the individual selects the alternative with the highest utility, which is calculated by multiplying the cardinal utility of the outcome, as if the reception were instantaneous, by the discount function that determines a decrease in the utility value according to how the actual reception of the outcome is far away from the moment the choice is made. Initially, the discount function was assumed to have an exponential trend, whose decrease over time is constant, in line with a profile of a rational investor described by classical economics. Instead, empirical evidence called for the formulation of alternative, hyperbolic models that better represented the actual actions of the investor. Attitudes that do not comply with the principles of classical rationality are termed anomalous, i.e., difficult to rationalize and describe through normative models. The development of behavioral finance, which describes investor behavior through cognitive psychology, has shown that deviations from rationality are due to the limited rationality condition of human beings. What this means is that when a choice is made in a very difficult and information-rich environment, the brain does a compromise job between the cognitive effort required and the selection of an alternative. Moreover, the evaluation and selection phase of the alternative, the collection and processing of information, are dynamics conditioned by systematic distortions of the decision-making process that are the behavioral biases involving the individual's emotional and cognitive system. In this paper we present an original decomposition of the discount function to investigate the psychological principles of hyperbolic discounting. It is possible to decompose the curve into two components: the first component is responsible for the smaller decrease in the outcome as time increases and is related to the individual's impatience; the second component relates to the change in the direction of the tangent vector to the curve and indicates how much the individual perceives the indeterminacy of the future indicating his or her aversion to uncertainty. This decomposition allows interesting conclusions to be drawn with respect to the concept of impatience and the emotional drives involved in decision-making. The contribution that neuroscience can make to decision theory and inter-temporal choice theory is vast as it would allow the description of the decision-making process as the relationship between the individual's emotional and cognitive factors. Neurofinance is a discipline that uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigate how the brain influences decision-making. Indeed, considering that the decision-making process is linked to the activity of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, neurofinance can help determine the extent to which abnormal attitudes respect the principles of rationality.

Keywords: impatience, intertemporal choice, neurofinance, rationality, uncertainty

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Authors: Isabelle Gobatto

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Based on an anthropological approach, this paper explores the medical profession and the construction of medical practices by considering the multiform articulations between structural poverty and the production of care from a low-resource francophone West African country, Burkina Faso. This country is considered in its exemplary dimension of culturally differentiated countries of the African continent that share the same situation of structural poverty. The objective is to expose the effects of structural poverty on the ways of constructing professional knowledge and thinking about the sense of the medical profession. If doctors are trained to have the same capacities in South and West countries, which are to treat and save lives whatever the cultural contexts of the practice of medicine, the ways of investing their role and of dealing with this context of action fracture the homogenization of the medical profession. In the line of anthropology of biomedicine, this paper outlines the complex effects of structural poverty on health care, care relations, and the moral economy of doctors. The materials analyzed are based on an ethnography including two temporalities located thirty years apart (1990-1994 and 2020-2021), based on long-term observations of care practices conducted in healthcare institutions, interviews coupled with the life histories of physicians. The findings reveal that disabilities faced by doctors to deliver care are interpreted as policy gaps, but they are also considered by physicians as constitutive of the social and cultural characteristics of patients, making their capacities and incapacities in terms of accompanying caregivers in the production of care. These perceptions have effects on know-how, structured around the need to act even when diagnoses are not made so as not to see patients desert health structures if the costs of care are too high for them. But these interpretations of highly individualizing dimensions of these difficulties place part of the blame on patients for the difficulties in using learned knowledge and delivering effective care. These situations challenge the ethics of caregivers but also of ethnologists. Firstly because the interpretations of disabilities prevent caregivers from considering vulnerabilities of care as constituting a common condition shared with their patients in these health systems, affecting them in an identical way although in different places in the production of care. Correlatively, these results underline that these professional conceptions prevent the emergence of a figure of victim, which could be shared between patients and caregivers who, together, undergo working and care conditions at the limit of the acceptable. This dimension directly involves politics. Secondly, structural poverty and its effects on care challenge the ethics of the anthropologist who observes caregivers producing, without intent to arm, experiences of care marked by an ordinary violence, by not giving them the care they need. It is worth asking how anthropologists could get doctors to think in this light in west-African societies.

Keywords: Africa, care, ethics, poverty

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Authors: África Vicario, Fernando J. Álvarez, Felipe Parralejo, Fernando Aranda

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The irrigation systems of traditional agriculture, such as gravity-fed irrigation, produce a great waste of water because, generally, there is no control over the amount of water supplied in relation to the water needed. The AIRON Project tries to solve this problem by implementing an IoT-based system to sensor the irrigation plots so that the state of the crops and the amount of water used for irrigation can be known remotely. The IoT system consists of a sensor network that measures the humidity of the soil, the weather conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind and solar radiation) and the irrigation water flow. The communication between this network and a central gateway is conducted by means of long-range wireless communication that depends on the characteristics of the irrigation plot. The main objective of the AIRON project is to deploy an IoT sensor network in two different plots of the irrigation community of Aranjuez in the Spanish region of Madrid. The first plot is 2 km away from the central gateway, so LoRa has been used as the base communication technology. The problem with this plot is the absence of mains electric power, so devices with energy-saving modes have had to be used to maximize the external batteries' use time. An ESP32 SOC board with a LoRa module is employed in this case to gather data from the sensor network and send them to a gateway consisting of a Raspberry Pi with a LoRa hat. The second plot is located 18 km away from the gateway, a range that hampers the use of LoRa technology. In order to establish reliable communication in this case, the long-term evolution (LTE) standard is used, which makes it possible to reach much greater distances by using the cellular network. As mains electric power is available in this plot, a Raspberry Pi has been used instead of the ESP32 board to collect sensor data. All data received from the two plots are stored on a proprietary server located at the irrigation management company's headquarters. The analysis of these data by means of machine learning algorithms that are currently under development should allow a short-term prediction of the irrigation water demand that would significantly reduce the waste of this increasingly valuable natural resource. The major finding of this work is the real possibility of deploying a remote sensing system for irrigated plots by using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) devices, easily scalable and adaptable to design requirements such as the distance to the control center or the availability of mains electrical power at the site.

Keywords: internet of things, irrigation water control, LoRa, LTE, smart farming

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Authors: Maria Reznakova, Michala Strnadova, Lukas Reznak

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Successful achievement of strategic goals requires an effective performance management system, i.e. determining the appropriate indicators measuring the rate of goal achievement. Assuming that the goal of the owners is to grow the assets they invested in, it is vital to identify the key performance indicators, which contribute to value creation. These indicators are known as value drivers. Based on the undertaken literature search, a value driver is defined as any factor that affects the value of an enterprise. The important factors are then monitored by both financial and non-financial indicators. Financial performance indicators are most useful in strategic management, since they indicate whether a company's strategy implementation and execution are contributing to bottom line improvement. Non-financial indicators are mainly used for short-term decisions. The identification of value drivers, however, is problematic for companies which are not publicly traded. Therefore financial ratios continue to be used to measure the performance of companies, despite their considerable criticism. The main drawback of such indicators is the fact that they are calculated based on accounting data, while accounting rules may differ considerably across different environments. For successful enterprise performance management it is vital to avoid factors that may reduce (or even destroy) its value. Among the known factors reducing the enterprise value are the lack of capital, lack of strategic management system and poor quality of production. In order to gain further insight into the topic, the paper presents results of the research identifying factors that adversely affect the performance of mechanical engineering enterprises in the Czech Republic. The research methodology focuses on both the qualitative and the quantitative aspect of the topic. The qualitative data were obtained from a questionnaire survey of the enterprises senior management, while the quantitative financial data were obtained from the Analysis Major Database for European Sources (AMADEUS). The questionnaire prompted managers to list factors which negatively affect business performance of their enterprises. The range of potential factors was based on a secondary research – analysis of previously undertaken questionnaire surveys and research of studies published in the scientific literature. The results of the survey were evaluated both in general, by average scores, and by detailed sub-analyses of additional criteria. These include the company specific characteristics, such as its size and ownership structure. The evaluation also included a comparison of the managers’ opinions and the performance of their enterprises – measured by return on equity and return on assets ratios. The comparisons were tested by a series of non-parametric tests of statistical significance. The results of the analyses show that the factors most detrimental to the enterprise performance include the incompetence of responsible employees and the disregard to the customers‘ requirements.

Keywords: business value, financial ratios, performance measurement, value drivers

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Authors: Zainab Atia, Hongwei He, Panagiotis Sarantopoulos

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Over the past few years, firms have witnessed a massive increase in sophisticated algorithmic deployment, which has become quite pervasive in today’s modern society. With the wide availability of data for retailers, the ability to track consumers using algorithmic pricing has become an integral option in online platforms. As more companies are transforming their businesses and relying more on massive technological advancement, pricing algorithmic systems have brought attention and given rise to its wide adoption, with many accompanying benefits and challenges to be found within its usage. With the overall aim of increasing profits by organizations, algorithmic pricing is becoming a sound option by enabling suppliers to cut costs, allowing better services, improving efficiency and product availability, and enhancing overall consumer experiences. The adoption of algorithms in retail has been pioneered and widely used in literature across varied fields, including marketing, computer science, engineering, economics, and public policy. However, what is more, alarming today is the comprehensive understanding and focus of this technology and its associated ethical influence on consumers’ perceptions and behaviours. Indeed, due to algorithmic ethical concerns, consumers are found to be reluctant in some instances to share their personal data with retailers, which reduces their retention and leads to negative consumer outcomes in some instances. This, in its turn, raises the question of whether firms can still manifest the acceptance of such technologies by consumers while minimizing the ethical transgressions accompanied by their deployment. As recent modest research within the area of marketing and consumer behavior, the current research advances the literature on algorithmic pricing, pricing ethics, consumers’ perceptions, and price fairness literature. With its empirical focus, this paper aims to contribute to the literature by applying the distinction of the two common types of algorithmic pricing, dynamic and personalized, while measuring their relative effect on consumers’ behavioural outcomes. From a managerial perspective, this research offers significant implications that pertain to providing a better human-machine interactive environment (whether online or offline) to improve both businesses’ overall performance and consumers’ wellbeing. Therefore, by allowing more transparent pricing systems, businesses can harness their generated ethical strategies, which fosters consumers’ loyalty and extend their post-purchase behaviour. Thus, by defining the correct balance of pricing and right measures, whether using dynamic or personalized (or both), managers can hence approach consumers more ethically while taking their expectations and responses at a critical stance.

Keywords: algorithmic pricing, dynamic pricing, personalized pricing, price ethicality

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Anna Drabczyk, Sonia Kudlacik-Kramarczyk, Dagmara Malina, Bozena Tyliszczak, Agnieszka Sobczak-Kupiec

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Nowadays, nano-size materials are very popular group of materials among scientists. What is more, these materials find an application in a wide range of various areas. Therefore constantly increasing demand for nanomaterials including metallic nanoparticles such as silver of gold ones is observed. Therefore, new routes of their preparation are sought. Considering potential application of nanoparticles, it is important to select an adequate methodology of their preparation because it determines their size and shape. Among the most commonly applied methods of preparation of nanoparticles chemical and electrochemical techniques are leading. However, currently growing attention is directed into the biological or biochemical aspects of syntheses of metallic nanoparticles. This is associated with a trend of developing of new routes of preparation of given compounds according to the principles of green chemistry. These principles involve e.g. the reduction of the use of toxic compounds in the synthesis as well as the reduction of the energy demand or minimization of the generated waste. As a result, a growing popularity of the use of such components as natural plant extracts, infusions or essential oils is observed. Such natural substances may be used both as a reducing agent of metal ions and as a stabilizing agent of formed nanoparticles therefore they can replace synthetic compounds previously used for the reduction of metal ions or for the stabilization of obtained nanoparticles suspension. Methods that proceed in the presence of previously mentioned natural compounds are environmentally friendly and proceed without the application of any toxic reagents. Methodology: Presented research involves preparation of silver nanoparticles using selected plant extracts, e.g. artichoke extract. Extracts of natural origin were used as reducing and stabilizing agents at the same time. Furthermore, syntheses were carried out in the presence of additional polymeric stabilizing agent. Next, such features of obtained suspensions of nanoparticles as total antioxidant activity as well as content of phenolic compounds have been characterized. First of the mentioned studies involved the reaction with DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical. The content of phenolic compounds was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu technique. Furthermore, an essential issue was also the determining of the stability of formed suspensions of nanoparticles. Conclusions: In the research it was demonstrated that metallic nanoparticles may be obtained using plant extracts or infusions as stabilizing or reducing agent. The methodology applied, i.e. a type of plant extract used during the synthesis, had an impact on the content of phenolic compounds as well as on the size and polydispersity of obtained nanoparticles. What is more, it is possible to prepare nano-size particles that will be characterized by properties desirable from the viewpoint of their potential application and such an effect may be achieved with the use of non-toxic reagents of natural origin. Furthermore, proposed methodology stays in line with the principles of green chemistry.

Keywords: green chemistry principles, metallic nanoparticles, plant extracts, stabilization of nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Douglas N. Simoes, Michele Pittol, Vanda F. Ribeiro, Daiane Tomacheski, Ruth M. C. Santana

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Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) compounds are used in a wide range of applications, like home appliances, automotive components, medical devices, footwear, and others. These materials are susceptible to microbial attack, causing a crack in polymer chains compounds based on SEBS copolymers, poly (styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene, are a class of TPE, largely used in domestic appliances like refrigerator seals (gaskets), bath mats and sink squeegee. Moisture present in some areas (such as shower area and sink) in addition to organic matter provides favorable conditions for microbial survival and proliferation, contributing to the spread of diseases besides the reduction of product life cycle due the biodegradation process. Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been studied as an alternative antibacterial additive due its biocidal effect. It is important to know the influence of these additives in the properties of the compounds, both at the beginning and during the life cycle. In that sense, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of accelerated aging in oven on antibacterial and mechanical properties of ZnO loaded SEBS based TPE compounds. Two different comercial zinc oxide, named as WR and Pe were used in proportion of 1%. A compound with no antimicrobial additive (standard) was also tested. The compounds were prepared using a co-rotating double screw extruder (L/D ratio of 40/1 and 16 mm screw diameter). The extrusion parameters were kept constant for all materials, screw rotation rate was set at 226 rpm, with a temperature profile from 150 to 190 ºC. Test specimens were prepared using the injection molding machine at 190 ºC. The Standard Test Method for Rubber Property—Effect of Liquids was applied in order to simulate the exposition of TPE samples to detergent ingredients during service. For this purpose, ZnO loaded TPE samples were immersed in a 3.0% w/v detergent (neutral) and accelerated aging in oven at 70°C for 7 days. Compounds were characterized by changes in mechanical (hardness and tension properties) and mass. The Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) Z 2801:2010 was applied to evaluate antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The microbiological tests showed a reduction up to 42% in E. coli and up to 49% in S. aureus population in non-aged samples. There were observed variations in elongation and hardness values with the addition of zinc The changes in tensile at rupture and mass were not significant between non-aged and aged samples.

Keywords: antimicrobial, domestic appliance, sebs, zinc oxide

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Amir Nazemi, Milad Ramezankhani, Marian Kӧrber, Abbas S. Milani

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The excellent strength to weight ratio of woven fabric composites, along with their high formability, is one of the primary design parameters defining their increased use in modern manufacturing processes, including those in aerospace and automotive. However, for emerging automated preform processes under the smart manufacturing paradigm, complex geometries of finished components continue to bring several challenges to the designers to cope with manufacturing defects on site. Wrinklinge. g. is a common defectoccurring during the forming process and handling of semi-finished textile composites. One of the main reasons for this defect is the weak bending stiffness of fibers in unconsolidated state, causing excessive relative motion between them. Further challenges are represented by the automated handling of large-area fiber blanks with specialized gripper systems. For fabric composites forming simulations, the finite element (FE)method is a longstanding tool usedfor prediction and mitigation of manufacturing defects. Such simulations are predominately meant, not only to predict the onset, growth, and shape of wrinkles but also to determine the best processing condition that can yield optimized positioning of the fibers upon forming (or robot handling in the automated processes case). However, the need for use of small-time steps via explicit FE codes, facing numerical instabilities, as well as large computational time, are among notable drawbacks of the current FEtools, hindering their extensive use as fast and yet efficient digital twins in industry. This paper presents a novel woven fabric simulation technique through the application of the material point method (MPM), which enables the use of much larger time steps, facing less numerical instabilities, hence the ability to run significantly faster and efficient simulationsfor fabric materials handling and forming processes. Therefore, this method has the ability to enhance the development of automated fiber handling and preform processes by calculating the physical interactions with the MPM fiber models and rigid tool components. This enables the designers to virtually develop, test, and optimize their processes based on either algorithmicor Machine Learning applications. As a preliminary case study, forming of a hemispherical plain weave is shown, and the results are compared to theFE simulations, as well as experiments.

Keywords: material point method, woven fabric composites, forming, material handling

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Lee Yan Nian

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Safety investigation is different from an administrative investigation in that the former is conducted by an independent agency and the purpose of such investigation is to prevent accidents in the future and not to apportion blame or determine liability. Before October 2018, Taiwan railway occurrences were investigated by local supervisory authority. Characteristics of this kind of investigation are that enforcement actions, such as administrative penalty, are usually imposed on those persons or units involved in occurrence. On October 21, 2018, due to a Taiwan Railway accident, which caused 18 fatalities and injured another 267, establishing an agency to independently investigate this catastrophic railway accident was quickly decided. The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) was then established on August 1, 2019 to take charge of investigating major aviation, marine, railway and highway occurrences. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of safety investigations conducted by the TTSB. In this study, the major railway occurrence investigation reports published by the TTSB are used for modeling and analysis. According to the classification of railway occurrences investigated by the TTSB, accident types of Taiwan railway occurrences can be categorized into: derailment, fire, Signal Passed at Danger and others. A Causal Factor Analysis System (CFAS) developed by the TTSB is used to identify the influencing causal factors and their causal relationships in the investigation reports. All terminologies used in the CFAS are equivalent to the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) terminologies, except for “Technical Events” which was added to classify causal factors resulting from mechanical failure. Accordingly, the Bayesian network structure of each occurrence category is established based on the identified causal factors in the CFAS. In the Bayesian networks, the prior probabilities of identified causal factors are obtained from the number of times in the investigation reports. Conditional Probability Table of each parent node is determined from domain experts’ experience and judgement. The resulting networks are quantitatively assessed under different scenarios to evaluate their forward predictions and backward diagnostic capabilities. Finally, the established Bayesian network of derailment is assessed using investigation reports of the same accident which was investigated by the TTSB and the local supervisory authority respectively. Based on the assessment results, findings of the administrative investigation is more closely tied to errors of front line personnel than to organizational related factors. Safety investigation can identify not only unsafe acts of individual but also in-depth causal factors of organizational influences. The results show that the proposed methodology can identify differences between safety investigation and administrative investigation. Therefore, effective intervention strategies in associated areas can be better addressed for safety improvement and future accident prevention through safety investigation.

Keywords: administrative investigation, bayesian network, causal factor analysis system, safety investigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Bahar Salavati Vie Le Sage, Ismaïl Ben Hariz, Flavien Viguier, Sirine Noura Kahil, Audrey Jacquin, Maxime Convert

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The ballast layer plays a key role in railroad maintenance and the geometry of the track structure. Ballast also holds the track in place as the trains roll over it. Track ballast is packed between the sleepers and on the sides of railway tracks. An imbalance in ballast volume on the tracks can lead to safety issues as well as a quick degradation of the overall quality of the railway segment. If there is a lack of ballast in the track bed during the summer, there is a risk that the rails will expand and buckle slightly due to the high temperatures. Furthermore, the knowledge of the ballast quantities that will be excavated during renewal works is important for efficient ballast management. The volume of excavated ballast per meter of track can be calculated based on excavation depth, excavation width, volume of track skeleton (sleeper and rail) and sleeper spacing. Since 2012, SNCF has been collecting 3D points cloud data covering its entire railway network by using 3D laser scanning technology (LiDAR). This vast amount of data represents a modelization of the entire railway infrastructure, allowing to conduct various simulations for maintenance purposes. This paper aims to present an automated method for ballast volume estimation based on the processing of LiDAR data. The estimation of abnormal volumes in ballast on the tracks is performed by analyzing the cross-section of the track. Further, since the amount of ballast required varies depending on the track configuration, the knowledge of the ballast profile is required. Prior to track rehabilitation, excess ballast is often present in the ballast shoulders. Based on 3D laser scans, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) was generated and automatic extraction of the ballast profiles from this data is carried out. The surplus in ballast is then estimated by performing a comparison between this ballast profile obtained empirically, and a geometric modelization of the theoretical ballast profile thresholds as dictated by maintenance standards. Ideally, this excess should be removed prior to renewal works and recycled to optimize the output of the ballast renewal machine. Based on these parameters, an application has been developed to allow the automatic measurement of ballast profiles. We evaluated the method on a 108 kilometers segment of railroad LiDAR scans, and the results show that the proposed algorithm detects ballast surplus that amounts to values close to the total quantities of spoil ballast excavated.

Keywords: ballast, railroad, LiDAR , cloud point, track ballast, 3D point

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Leonard Tiong, Sonit Singh, Kevin Ho Shon, Sarah Lewis

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Investigation into the use of artificial intelligence in radiology continues to develop at a rapid rate. During the coronavirus pandemic, the combination of an exponential increase in chest x-rays and unpredictable staff shortages resulted in a huge strain on the department's workload. There is a World Health Organisation estimate that two-thirds of the global population does not have access to diagnostic radiology. Therefore, there could be demand for a program that could detect acute changes in imaging compatible with infection to assist with screening. We generated a conventional neural network and tested its efficacy in recognizing changes compatible with coronavirus infection. Following ethics approval, a deidentified set of 77 normal and 77 abnormal chest x-rays in patients with confirmed coronavirus infection were used to generate an algorithm that could train, validate and then test itself. DICOM and PNG image formats were selected due to their lossless file format. The model was trained with 100 images (50 positive, 50 negative), validated against 28 samples (14 positive, 14 negative), and tested against 26 samples (13 positive, 13 negative). The initial training of the model involved training a conventional neural network in what constituted a normal study and changes on the x-rays compatible with coronavirus infection. The weightings were then modified, and the model was executed again. The training samples were in batch sizes of 8 and underwent 25 epochs of training. The results trended towards an 85.71% true positive/true negative detection rate and an area under the curve trending towards 0.95, indicating approximately 95% accuracy in detecting changes on chest X-rays compatible with coronavirus infection. Study limitations include access to only a small dataset and no specificity in the diagnosis. Following a discussion with our programmer, there are areas where modifications in the weighting of the algorithm can be made in order to improve the detection rates. Given the high detection rate of the program, and the potential ease of implementation, this would be effective in assisting staff that is not trained in radiology in detecting otherwise subtle changes that might not be appreciated on imaging. Limitations include the lack of a differential diagnosis and application of the appropriate clinical history, although this may be less of a problem in day-to-day clinical practice. It is nonetheless our belief that implementing this program and widening its scope to detecting multiple pathologies such as lung masses will greatly assist both the radiology department and our colleagues in increasing workflow and detection rate.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, COVID, neural network, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Eun-Seop Kim, Eun-Ha Jang, Rana R. Kim, Sae-Byul Jang

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Objective: Preterm labor is the most common antecedent of preterm birth(PTB), which is characterized by regular uterine contraction before 37 weeks of pregnancy and cervical change. In acute preterm labor, tocolytics are administered as the first-line medication to suppress uterine contractions but rarely delay pregnancy to 37 weeks of gestation. On the other hand, according to the Korean Traditional Medicine, PTB is caused by the deficiency of Qi and unnecessary energy in the body of the mother. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the benefit of Traditional Korean Medicine as an adjuvant therapy in management of early uterine contractions and the prevention of PTB. Methods: It is a case report of a 38-year-old woman (0-0-6-0) hospitalized for irregular uterine contractions and cervical change at 33+3/7 weeks of gestation. Past history includes chemical pregnancies achieved by Artificial Rroductive Technology(ART), one stillbirth (at 7 weeks) and a laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis. After seven trials of IVF and articificial insemination, she had succeeded in conception via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with help of Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) treatments. Due to irregular uterine contractions and cervical changes, 2 TKM were prescribed: Gami-Dangguisan, and Antae-eum, known to nourish blood and clear away heat. 120ml of Gami-Dangguisan was given twice a day monring and evening along with same amount of Antae-eum once a day from 31 August 2013 to 28 November 2013. Tocolytics (Ritodrine) was administered as a first aid for maintenance of pregnancy. Information regarding progress until the delivery was collected during the patient’s visit. Results: On admission, the cervix of 15mm in length and cervical os with 0.5cm-dilated were observed via ultrasonography. 50% cervical effacement was also detected in physical examination. Tocolysis had been temporarily maintained. As a supportive therapy, TKM herbal preparations(gami-dangguisan and Antae-eum) were concomitantly given. As of 34+2/7 weeks of gestation, however intermittent uterine contractions appeared (5-12min) on cardiotocography and vaginal bleeding was also smeared at 34+3/7 weeks. However, enhanced tocolytics and continuous administration of herbal medicine sustained the pregnancy to term. At 37+2/7 weeks, no sign of labor with restored cervical length was confirmed. The woman gave a term birth to a healthy infant via vaginal delivery at 39+3/7 gestational weeks. Conclusions: This is the first successful case report about a preter labor patient administered with conventional tocolytic agents as well as TKM herbal decoctions, delaying delivery to term. This case deserves attention considering it is rare to maintain gestation to term only with tocolytic intervention. Our report implies the potential of herbal medicine as an adjuvant therapy for preterm labor treatment. Further studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of TKM herbal medicine as a therapeutic alternative for curing preterm birth.

Keywords: preterm labor, traditional Korean medicine, herbal medicine, integrative treatment, complementary and alternative medicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 345

Authors: Mohammad Moezzibadi, Isabelle Charpentier, Adrien Wanko, Robert Mosé

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The calibration of hydrodynamic parameters for subsurface constructed wetlands (CWs) is a sensitive process since highly non-linear equations are involved in unsaturated flow modeling. CW systems are engineered systems designed to favour natural treatment processes involving wetland vegetation, soil, and their microbial flora. Their significant efficiency at reducing the ecological impact of urban runoff has been recently proved in the field. Numerical flow modeling in a vertical variably saturated CW is here carried out by implementing the Richards model by means of a mixed hybrid finite element method (MHFEM), particularly well adapted to the simulation of heterogeneous media, and the van Genuchten-Mualem parametrization. For validation purposes, MHFEM results were compared to those of HYDRUS (a software based on a finite element discretization). As van Genuchten-Mualem soil hydrodynamic parameters depend on water content, their estimation is subject to considerable experimental and numerical studies. In particular, the sensitivity analysis performed with respect to the van Genuchten-Mualem parameters reveals a predominant influence of the shape parameters α, n and the saturated conductivity of the filter on the piezometric heads, during saturation and desaturation. Modeling issues arise when the soil reaches oven-dry conditions. A particular attention should also be brought to boundary condition modeling (surface ponding or evaporation) to be able to tackle different sequences of rainfall-runoff events. For proper parameter identification, large field datasets would be needed. As these are usually not available, notably due to the randomness of the storm events, we thus propose a simple, robust and low-cost numerical method for the inverse modeling of the soil hydrodynamic properties. Among the methods, the variational data assimilation technique introduced by Le Dimet and Talagrand is applied. To that end, a variational data assimilation technique is implemented by applying automatic differentiation (AD) to augment computer codes with derivative computations. Note that very little effort is needed to obtain the differentiated code using the on-line Tapenade AD engine. Field data are collected for a three-layered CW located in Strasbourg (Alsace, France) at the water edge of the urban water stream Ostwaldergraben, during several months. Identification experiments are conducted by comparing measured and computed piezometric head by means of the least square objective function. The temporal variability of hydrodynamic parameter is then assessed and analyzed.

Keywords: automatic differentiation, constructed wetland, inverse method, mixed hybrid FEM, sensitivity analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: M. Marín-Ferrer, M. A. Hernández, T. Tollefsen, S. Vanzo, E. Nweke, P. V. Tognoli, M. De Cort

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Under the terms of Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty, European Union Member States (MSs) shall periodically communicate to the European Commission (EC) information on environmental radioactivity levels. Compilations of the information received have been published by the EC as a series of reports beginning in the early 1960s. The environmental radioactivity results received from the MSs have been introduced into the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring database (REMdb) of the Institute for Transuranium Elements of the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) sited in Ispra (Italy) as part of its Directorate General for Energy (DG ENER) support programme. The REMdb brings to the scientific community dealing with environmental radioactivity topics endless of research opportunities to exploit the near 200 millions of records received from MSs containing information of radioactivity levels in milk, water, air and mixed diet. The REM action was created shortly after Chernobyl crisis to support the EC in its responsibilities in providing qualified information to the European Parliament and the MSs on the levels of radioactive contamination of the various compartments of the environment (air, water, soil). Hence, the main line of REM’s activities concerns the improvement of procedures for the collection of environmental radioactivity concentrations for routine and emergency conditions, as well as making this information available to the general public. In this way, REM ensures the availability of tools for the inter-communication and access of users from the Member States and the other European countries to this information. Specific attention is given to further integrate the new MSs with the existing information exchange systems and to assist Candidate Countries in fulfilling these obligations in view of their membership of the EU. Article 36 of the EURATOM treaty requires the competent authorities of each MS to provide regularly the environmental radioactivity monitoring data resulting from their Article 35 obligations to the EC in order to keep EC informed on the levels of radioactivity in the environment (air, water, milk and mixed diet) which could affect population. The REMdb has mainly two objectives: to keep a historical record of the radiological accidents for further scientific study, and to collect the environmental radioactivity data gathered through the national environmental monitoring programs of the MSs to prepare the comprehensive annual monitoring reports (MR). The JRC continues his activity of collecting, assembling, analyzing and providing this information to public and MSs even during emergency situations. In addition, there is a growing concern with the general public about the radioactivity levels in the terrestrial and marine environment, as well about the potential risk of future nuclear accidents. To this context, a clear and transparent communication with the public is needed. EURDEP (European Radiological Data Exchange Platform) is both a standard format for radiological data and a network for the exchange of automatic monitoring data. The latest release of the format is version 2.0, which is in use since the beginning of 2002.

Keywords: environmental radioactivity, Euratom, monitoring report, REMdb

Procedia PDF Downloads 401

Authors: Saman Ahani, Aboozar Dehghan, Roham Vali, Hamid Salehian, Amin Ebrahimi

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Pulsed-wave (PW) doppler ultrasonography is a non-invasive, relatively accurate imaging technique that can measure blood speed. The imaging could be obtained via the common carotid artery, as one of the main vessels supplying the blood of vital organs. In horses, factors such as susceptibility to depression of the cardiovascular system and their large muscular mass have rendered them vulnerable to changes in blood speed. One of the most important factors causing blood velocity changes is the administration of anesthetic drugs, including Ketamine and Acepromazine. Thus, in this study, the Pulsed-wave doppler technique was performed to assess the highest blood velocity in the common carotid artery following administration of Ketamine and Acepromazine. Six male and six female healthy Kurdish horses weighing 351 ± 46 kg (mean ± SD) and aged 9.2 ± 1.7 years (mean ± SD) were housed under animal welfare guidelines. After fasting for six hours, the normal blood flow velocity in the common carotid artery was measured using a Pulsed-wave doppler ultrasonography machine (BK Medical, Denmark), and a high-frequency linear transducer (12 MHz) without applying any sedative drugs as a control group. The same procedure was repeated after each individual received the following medications: 1.1, 2.2 mg/kg Ketamine (Pfizer, USA), and 0.5, 1 mg/kg Acepromizine (RACEHORSE MEDS, Ukraine), with an interval of 21 days between the administration of each dose and/or drug. The ultrasonographic study was done five (T5) and fifteen (T15) minutes after injecting each dose intravenously. Lastly, the statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 22 for Windows and a P value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Five minutes after administration of Ketamine (1.1, 2.2 mg/kg) in both male and female horses, the blood velocity decreased to 38.44, 34.53 cm/s in males, and 39.06, 34.10 cm/s in females in comparison to the control group (39.59 and 40.39 cm/s in males and females respectively) while administration of 0.5 mg/kg Acepromazine led to a significant rise (73.15 and 55.80 cm/s in males and females respectively) (p<0.05). It means that the most drastic change in blood velocity, regardless of gender, refers to the latter dose/drug. In both medications and both genders, the increase in doses led to a decrease in blood velocity compared to the lower dose of the same drug. In all experiments in this study, the blood velocity approached its normal value at T15. In another study comparing the blood velocity changes affected by Ketamine and Acepromazine through femoral arteries, the most drastic changes were attributed to Ketamine; however, in this experiment, the maximum blood velocity was observed following administration of Acepromazine via the common carotid artery. Therefore, further experiments using the same medications are suggested using Pulsed-wave doppler measuring the blood velocity changes in both femoral and common carotid arteries simultaneously.

Keywords: Acepromazine, common carotid artery, horse, ketamine, pulsed-wave doppler ultrasonography

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Anne C. Richer-De-Forges, Dominique Arrouays, Songchao Chen, Mercedes Roman Dobarco

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Most of the digital soil mapping (DSM) products rely on machine learning (ML) prediction models and/or the use or pedotransfer functions (PTF) in which calibration data come from soil analyses performed in labs. However, many other observations (often qualitative, nominal, or ordinal) could be used as proxies of lab measurements or as input data for ML of PTF predictions. DSM and ML are briefly described with some examples taken from the literature. Then, we explore the potential of an ordinal qualitative variable, i.e., the hand-feel soil texture (HFST) estimating the mineral particle distribution (PSD): % of clay (0-2µm), silt (2-50µm) and sand (50-2000µm) in 15 classes. The PSD can also be measured by lab measurements (LAST) to determine the exact proportion of these particle-sizes. However, due to cost constraints, HFST are much more numerous and spatially dense than LAST. Soil texture (ST) is a very important soil parameter to map as it is controlling many of the soil properties and functions. Therefore, comes an essential question: is it possible to use HFST as a proxy of LAST for calibration and/or validation of DSM predictions of ST? To answer this question, the first step is to compare HFST with LAST on a representative set where both information are available. This comparison was made on ca 17,400 samples representative of a French region (34,000 km2). The accuracy of HFST was assessed, and each HFST class was characterized by a probability distribution function (PDF) of its LAST values. This enables to randomly replace HFST observations by LAST values while respecting the PDF previously calculated and results in a very large increase of observations available for the calibration or validation of PTF and ML predictions. Some preliminary results are shown. First, the comparison between HFST classes and LAST analyses showed that accuracies could be considered very good when compared to other studies. The causes of some inconsistencies were explored and most of them were well explained by other soil characteristics. Then we show some examples applying these relationships and the increase of data to several issues related to DSM. The first issue is: do the PDF functions that were established enable to use HSFT class observations to improve the LAST soil texture prediction? For this objective, we replaced all HFST for topsoil by values from the PDF 100 time replicates). Results were promising for the PTF we tested (a PTF predicting soil water holding capacity). For the question related to the ML prediction of LAST soil texture on the region, we did the same kind of replacement, but we implemented a 10-fold cross-validation using points where we had LAST values. We obtained only preliminary results but they were rather promising. Then we show another example illustrating the potential of using HFST as validation data. As in numerous countries, the HFST observations are very numerous; these promising results pave the way to an important improvement of DSM products in all the countries of the world.

Keywords: digital soil mapping, improvement of digital soil mapping predictions, potential of using hand-feel soil texture, soil texture prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Junior Akunzi

Abstract:

In the matter of patient treatment planning quality assurance in 3D conformational therapy (3D-CRT) and volumetric arc therapy (VMAT or RapidArc), the independent monitor unit verification calculation (MUVC) is an indispensable part of the process. Concerning 3D-CRT treatment planning, the MUVC can be performed manually applying the standard ESTRO formalism. However, due to the complex shape and the amount of beams in advanced treatment planning technic such as RapidArc, the manual independent MUVC is inadequate. Therefore, commercially available software such as RadCalc can be used to perform the MUVC in complex treatment planning been. Indeed, RadCalc (version 6.3 LifeLine Inc.) uses a simplified Clarkson algorithm to compute the dose contribution for individual RapidArc fields to the isocenter. The purpose of this project is the validation of RadCalc in 3D-CRT and RapidArc for treatment planning dosimetry quality assurance at Antoine Lacassagne center (Nice, France). Firstly, the interfaces between RadCalc and our treatment planning systems (TPS) Isogray (version 4.2) and Eclipse (version13.6) were checked for data transfer accuracy. Secondly, we created test plans in both Isogray and Eclipse featuring open fields, wedges fields, and irregular MLC fields. These test plans were transferred from TPSs according to the radiotherapy protocol of DICOM RT to RadCalc and the linac via Mosaiq (version 2.5). Measurements were performed in water phantom using a PTW cylindrical semiflex ionisation chamber (0.3 cm³, 31010) and compared with the TPSs and RadCalc calculation. Finally, 30 3D-CRT plans and 40 RapidArc plans created with patients CT scan were recalculated using the CT scan of a solid PMMA water equivalent phantom for 3D-CRT and the Octavius II phantom (PTW) CT scan for RapidArc. Next, we measure the doses delivered into these phantoms for each plan with a 0.3 cm³ PTW 31010 cylindrical semiflex ionisation chamber (3D-CRT) and 0.015 cm³ PTW PinPoint ionisation chamber (Rapidarc). For our test plans, good agreements were found between calculation (RadCalc and TPSs) and measurement (mean: 1.3%; standard deviation: ± 0.8%). Regarding the patient plans, the measured doses were compared to the calculation in RadCalc and in our TPSs. Moreover, RadCalc calculations were compared to Isogray and Eclispse ones. Agreements better than (2.8%; ± 1.2%) were found between RadCalc and TPSs. As for the comparison between calculation and measurement the agreement for all of our plans was better than (2.3%; ± 1.1%). The independent MU verification calculation software RadCal has been validated for clinical use and for both 3D-CRT and RapidArc techniques. The perspective of this project includes the validation of RadCal for the Tomotherapy machine installed at centre Antoine Lacassagne.

Keywords: 3D conformational radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy, monitor unit calculation, dosimetry quality assurance

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Victor Pena Ribeiro, Caroline Arruda, Jennyfer Andrea Aldana Mejia, Jairo Kenupp Bastos

Abstract:

Leishmaniasis is a serious health problem around the world. The treatment of infected individuals with pentavalent antimonial drugs is the main therapeutic strategy. However, they present high toxicity and persistence side effects. Therefore, the discovery of new and safe natural-derived therapeutic agents against leishmaniasis is important. Propolis is a resin of viscous consistency produced by Apis mellifera bees from parts of plants. The main types of Brazilian propolis are green, red, yellow and brown. Thus, the aim of this work was to investigate the chemical composition and leishmanicidal properties of a brown propolis (BP). For this purpose, the hydroalcoholic crude extract of BP was obtained and was fractionated by liquid-liquid chromatography. The chemical profile of the extract and its fractions were obtained by HPLC-UV-DAD. The fractions were submitted to preparative HPLC chromatography for isolation of the major compounds of each fraction. They were analyzed by NMR for structural determination. The volatile compounds were obtained by hydrodistillation and identified by GC/MS. Promastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis were cultivated in M199 medium and then 2×106 parasites.mL-1 were incubated in 96-well microtiter plates with the samples. The BP was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and diluted into the medium, to give final concentrations of 1.56, 3.12, 6.25, 12.5, 25 and 50 µg.mL⁻¹. The plates were incubated at 25ºC for 24 h, and the lysis percentage was determined by using a Neubauer chamber. The bioassays were performed in triplicate, using a medium with 0.5% DMSO as a negative control and amphotericin B as a positive control. The leishimnicidal effect against promastigote forms was also evaluated at the same concentrations. Cytotoxicity experiments also were performed in 96-well plates against normal (CHO-k1) and tumor cell lines (AGP01 and HeLa) using XTT colorimetric method. Phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and terpenoids were identified in brown propolis. The major compounds were identified as follows: p-coumaric acid (24.6%) for a methanolic fraction, Artepelin-C (29.2%) for ethyl acetate fraction and the compounds of hexane fraction are in the process of structural elucidation. The major volatile compounds identified were β-caryophyllene (10.9%), germacrene D (9.7%), nerolidol (10.8%) and spathulenol (8.5%). The propolis did not show cytotoxicity against normal cell lines (CHO) with IC₅₀ > 100 μg.mL⁻¹, whereas the IC₅₀ < 10 μg.mL⁻¹ showed a potential against the AGP01 cell line, propolis did not demonstrate cytotoxicity against HeLa cell lines IC₅₀ > 100 μg.mL⁻¹. In the determination of the leishmanicidal activity, the highest (50 μg.mL⁻¹) and lowest (1.56 μg.mL⁻¹) concentrations of the crude extract caused the lysis of 76% and 45% of promastigote forms of L. amazonensis, respectively. To the amastigote form, the highest (50 μg.mL⁻¹) and lowest (1.56 μg.mL⁻¹) concentrations caused the mortality of 89% and 75% of L. amazonensis, respectively. The IC₅₀ was 2.8 μg.mL⁻¹ to amastigote form and 3.9 μg.mL⁻¹ to promastigote form, showing a promising activity against Leishmania amazonensis.

Keywords: amastigote, brown propolis, cytotoxicity, promastigote

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Authors: Charmaine B. Distor

Abstract:

Collaboration has long been recognized in different fields, but there’s been little research on operationalizing it especially on a multi-sectoral setting as per the author’s best knowledge. Also, communication is one of the factors that is usually overlooked when studying it. Specifically, this study aimed to describe the organizational profile and tasks of collaborators in the visitor management program of Make It Makiling (MIM). It also identified the factors that motivated collaborators to collaborate in MIM while determining the communication dimensions in the collaborative process. It also determined the communication channels used by collaborators in MIM while identifying the outcomes of collaboration in MIM. This study also found out if a relationship exists between collaborators’ motivations for collaboration and their perceived outcomes of collaboration, and collaborators' communication dimensions and their perceived outcomes of collaboration. Lastly, it also provided recommendations to improve the communication in MIM. Data were gathered using a self-administered survey that was patterned after Mattessich and Monsey’s (1992) collaboration experience questionnaire. Interviews and secondary sources mainly provided by the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems (MCME) were also used. From the seven MIM collaborating organizations that were selected through purposive sampling, 86 respondents were chosen. Then, data were analyzed through frequency counts, percentages, measures of central tendencies, and Pearson’s and Spearman rho correlations. Collaborators’ length of collaboration ranged from seven to twenty years. Furthermore, six out of seven of the collaborators were involved in the task of 'emergency, rescue, and communication'. For the other aspect of the antecedents, the history of previous collaboration efforts ranked as the highest rated motivation for collaboration. In line with this, the top communication dimension is the governance while perceived effectiveness garnered the highest overall average among the perceived outcomes of collaboration. Results also showed that the collaborators highly rely on formal communication channels. Meetings and memos were the most commonly used communication channels throughout all tasks under the four phases of MIM. Additionally, although collaborators have a high view towards their co-collaborators, they still rely on MCME to act as their manager in coordinating with one another indirectly. Based on the correlation analysis, antecedent (motivations)-outcome relationship generally had positive relationships. However, for the process (communication dimensions)-outcome relationship, both positive and negative relationships were observed. In conclusion, this study exhibited the same trend with existing literature which also used the same framework. For the antecedent-outcome relationship, it can be deduced that MCME, as the main organizer of MIM, can focus on these variables to achieve their desired outcomes because of the positive relationships. For the process-outcome relationship, MCME should also take note that there were negative relationships where an increase in the said communication dimension may result in a decrease in the desired outcome. Recommendations for further study include a methodology that contains: complete enumeration or any parametric sampling, a researcher-administered survey, and direct observations. These might require additional funding, but all may yield to richer data.

Keywords: antecedent-outcome relationship, carrying capacity, organizational communication, process-outcome relationship

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: A. Almurshedi, M. Atherton, C. Mares, T. Stolarski, M. Miyatake

Abstract:

Transportation and handling of delicate and lightweight objects is currently a significant issue in some industries. Two common contactless movement prototype designs, ultrasonic transducer design and vibrating plate design, are compared. Both designs are based on the method of squeeze-film levitation, and this study aims to identify the limitations, and challenges of each. The designs are evaluated in terms of levitation capabilities, and characteristics. To this end, theoretical and experimental explorations are made. It is demonstrated that the ultrasonic transducer prototype design is better suited to the terms of levitation capabilities. However, the design has some operating and mechanical designing difficulties. For making accurate industrial products in micro-fabrication and nanotechnology contexts, such as semiconductor silicon wafers, micro-components and integrated circuits, non-contact oil-free, ultra-precision and low wear transport along the production line is crucial for enabling. One of the designs (design A) is called the ultrasonic chuck, for which an ultrasonic transducer (Langevin, FBI 28452 HS) comprises the main part. Whereas the other (design B), is a vibrating plate design, which consists of a plain rectangular plate made of Aluminium firmly fastened at both ends. The size of the rectangular plate is 200x100x2 mm. In addition, four rounded piezoelectric actuators of size 28 mm diameter with 0.5 mm thickness are glued to the underside of the plate. The vibrating plate is clamped at both ends in the horizontal plane through a steel supporting structure. In addition, the dynamic of levitation using the designs (A and B) has been investigated based on the squeeze film levitation (SFL). The input apparatus that is used with designs consist of a sine wave signal generator connected to an amplifier type ENP-1-1U (Echo Electronics). The latter has to be utilised to magnify the sine wave voltage that is produced by the signal generator. The measurements of the maximum levitation for three different semiconductor wafers of weights 52, 70 and 88 [g] for design A are 240, 205 and 187 [um], respectively. Whereas the physical results show that the average separation distance for a disk of 5 [g] weight for design B reaches 70 [um]. By using the methodology of squeeze film levitation, it is possible to hold an object in a non-contact manner. The analyses of the investigation outcomes signify that the non-contact levitation of design A provides more improvement than design B. However, design A is more complicated than design B in terms of its manufacturing. In order to identify an adequate non-contact SFL design, a comparison between two common such designs has been adopted for the current investigation. Specifically, the study will involve making comparisons in terms of the following issues: floating component geometries and material type constraints; final created pressure distributions; dangerous interactions with the surrounding space; working environment constraints; and complication and compactness of the mechanical design. Considering all these matters is essential for proficiently distinguish the better SFL design.

Keywords: ANSYS, floating, piezoelectric, squeeze-film

Procedia PDF Downloads 125