Search results for: multi stage flash distillation

Authors: Edward Ridyard, Vinary Varadarajan

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Background and Aims: The first year as a doctor in any country represents a major career transition in any physician's life. During this period, many physicians concentrate on obtaining clinical skills but may not obtain the important skills necessary to cope with stress. In this study we elucidate stress levels amongst FY1 doctors regarding the transitioning into specialty career choices, working in the NHS and anxiety about future career success. Methods: A prospective single blinded analysis of Foundation Year one (FY1) trainees using a non-mandatory online questionnaire was distributed. No exclusion criteria were applied. The only inclusion criteria was the doctor was in a full-time FY1 post and this was their first job in the UK. A total of n= 22 doctors were included in the study. After data collection, statistical analysis using chi-squared testing was applied. Results: The large majority of FY1 doctors (72.7%) already knew what specialty they wished to pursue (p=0.0001). With regards to their future careers 45.5% of FY1 doctors stated "above average" stress levels. The majority of FY1 doctors (64.3%) stated their stress levels working in the NHS were either "above average" or "high". Finally, 81.8% of respondents know colleagues who have been put off from pursuing specialties due to the stress of competition. Conclusions: A large majority of FY1 doctors already know at this early stage what area they would like to specialise in. With this in mind, a large proportion have above "average" levels of stress with regards to securing this future career path. The most worrying finding is that 64.3% of FY1s stated they had "above average" or "high" stress levels working in the NHS. We therefore recommend formal stress management education to be incorporated into the foundation programme curriculum.

Keywords: stress, anxiety, junior doctor, education

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Authors: Siu-Siu Guo, Qingxuan Shi

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In this paper, single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems to white noise and colored noise excitations are investigated. By expressing colored noise excitation as a second-order filtered white noise process and introducing colored noise as an additional state variable, the equation of motion for SDOF system under colored noise is then transferred artificially to multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system under white noise excitations. As a consequence, corresponding Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov (FPK) equation governing the joint probabilistic density function (PDF) of state variables increases to 4-dimension (4-D). Solution procedure and computer programme become much more sophisticated. The exponential-polynomial closure (EPC) method, widely applied for cases of SDOF systems under white noise excitations, is developed and improved for cases of systems under colored noise excitations and for solving the complex 4-D FPK equation. On the other hand, Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method is performed to test the approximate EPC solutions. Two examples associated with Gaussian and non-Gaussian colored noise excitations are considered. Corresponding band-limited power spectral densities (PSDs) for colored noise excitations are separately given. Numerical studies show that the developed EPC method provides relatively accurate estimates of the stationary probabilistic solutions. Moreover, statistical parameter of mean-up crossing rate (MCR) is taken into account, which is important for reliability and failure analysis.

Keywords: filtered noise, narrow-banded noise, nonlinear dynamic, random vibration

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Authors: Elisabeth Eder

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Memorizing music plays an important role for instrumentalists and has been researched very little so far. Almost every musician is confronted with memorizing music in the course of their musical career. For numerous competitions, examinations (e.g., at universities, music schools), solo performances, and the like, memorization is a requirement. Learners are often required to learn a piece by heart but are rarely given guidance on how to proceed. This was also confirmed by Eder's preliminary study to examine the topicality and relevance of the topic, in which 111 instrumentalists took part. The preliminary study revealed a great desire for more knowledge or information about learning strategies as well as a greater sense of security when performing by heart on stage through the use of learning strategies by those musicians who use learning strategies. Eder’s research focuses on learning strategies for memorizing music. As part of a large-scale empirical study – an online questionnaire translated into 10 languages was used to conduct the study – 1091 musicians from 64 different countries described how they memorize. The participants in the study also evaluated their learning strategies and justified their choice in terms of their degree of effectiveness. Based on the study and pedagogical literature, 100 learning strategies were identified and categorized; the strategies were examined with regard to their effectiveness, and instrument-specific, age-specific, country-specific, gender-specific, and education-related differences and similarities concerning the choice of learning strategies were investigated. Her research also deals with forms and models of memory and how music-related information can be stored and retrieved and also forgotten again. A further part is devoted to the possibilities that teachers and learners have to support the process of memorization independently of learning strategies. The findings resulting from Elisabeth Eder's research should enable musicians and instrumental students to memorize faster and more confidently.

Keywords: memorizing music, learning strategies, empirical study, effectiveness of strategies

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Authors: W. T. A. Mohammed, M. Eltaeb, R. Kashani

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The first bending modes of tall asymmetric structures in the two lateral X and Y-directions have two different natural frequencies. To add tuned damping to these bending modes, one needs to either a) use two pendulum-tuned mass dampers (PTMDs) with one tuning frequency, each PTMD targeting one of the bending modes, or b) use one PTMD with two tuning frequencies (one in each lateral directions). Option (a), being more massive, requiring more space, and being more expensive, is less attractive than option (b). Considering that the tuning frequency of a pendulum depends mainly on the pendulum length, one way of realizing option (b) is by constraining the swinging length of the pendulum in one direction but not in the other; such PTMD is dubbed passive Bi-PTMD. Alternatively, option (b) can be realized by actively setting the tuning frequencies of the PTMD in the two directions. In this work, accurate physical models of passive Bi-PTMD and active PTMD are developed and incorporated into the numerical model of a tall asymmetric structure. The model of PTMDs plus structure is used for a)synthesizing such PTMDs for particular applications and b)evaluating their damping effectiveness in mitigating the dynamic lateral responses of their target asymmetric structures, perturbed by wind load in X and Y-directions. Depending on how elaborate the control scheme is, the active PTMD can either be made to yield the same damping effectiveness as the passive Bi-PTMD of the same size or the passive Bi-TMD twice as massive as the active PTMD.

Keywords: active tuned mass damper, high-rise building, multi-frequency tuning, vibration control

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Authors: Bassim Shaheen Bachy, Jörg Franke

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In this study, a three dimensional numerical heat transfer model has been used to simulate the laser structuring of polymer substrate material in the Three-Dimensional Molded Interconnect Device (3D MID) which is used in the advanced multi-functional applications. A finite element method (FEM) transient thermal analysis is performed using APDL (ANSYS Parametric Design Language) provided by ANSYS. In this model, the effect of surface heat source was modeled with Gaussian distribution, also the effect of the mixed boundary conditions which consist of convection and radiation heat transfers have been considered in this analysis. The model provides a full description of the temperature distribution, as well as calculates the depth and the width of the groove upon material removal at different set of laser parameters such as laser power and laser speed. This study also includes the experimental procedure to study the effect of laser parameters on the depth and width of the removal groove metal as verification to the modeled results. Good agreement between the experimental and the model results is achieved for a wide range of laser powers. It is found that the quality of the laser structure process is affected by the laser scan speed and laser power. For a high laser structured quality, it is suggested to use laser with high speed and moderate to high laser power.

Keywords: laser structuring, simulation, finite element analysis, thermal modeling

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Authors: Hassen Hamouda, Mohamed Ouwais Kabaou, Med Salim Bouhlel

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The growth of wireless technology made opportunistic scheduling a widespread theme in recent research. Providing high system throughput without reducing fairness allocation is becoming a very challenging task. A suitable policy for resource allocation among users is of crucial importance. This study focuses on scheduling multiple streaming flows on the downlink of a WiMAX system based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). In this paper, we take the first step in formulating and analyzing this problem scrupulously. As a result, we proposed a new scheduling scheme based on Round Robin (RR) Algorithm. Because of its non-opportunistic process, RR does not take in account radio conditions and consequently it affect both system throughput and multi-users diversity. Our contribution called MORRA (Modified Round Robin Opportunistic Algorithm) consists to propose a solution to this issue. MORRA not only exploits the concept of opportunistic scheduler but also takes into account other parameters in the allocation process. The first parameter is called courtesy coefficient (CC) and the second is called Buffer Occupancy (BO). Performance evaluation shows that this well-balanced scheme outperforms both RR and MaxSNR schedulers and demonstrate that choosing between system throughput and fairness is not required.

Keywords: OFDMA, opportunistic scheduling, fairness hierarchy, courtesy coefficient, buffer occupancy

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Authors: Firdaous Zair, Zoubir Elfelsoufi, Mohammed Fourka

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The allocation of resources is an issue that is needed on the tactical and operational strategic plan. This work considers the allocation of resources in the case of pure players, manufacturers and Click & Mortars that have launched online sales. The aim is to improve the level of customer satisfaction and maintaining the benefits of e-retailer and of its cooperators and reducing costs and risks. Our contribution is a decision support system and tool for improving the allocation of resources in logistics chains e-commerce B2C context. We first modeled the B2C chain with all operations that integrates and possible scenarios since online retailers offer a wide selection of personalized service. The personalized services that online shopping companies offer to the clients can be embodied in many aspects, such as the customizations of payment, the distribution methods, and after-sales service choices. In addition, every aspect of customized service has several modes. At that time, we analyzed the optimization problems of supply chain resource allocation in customized online shopping service mode, which is different from the supply chain resource allocation under traditional manufacturing or service circumstances. Then we realized an optimization model and algorithm for the development based on the analysis of the allocation of the B2C supply chain resources. It is a multi-objective optimization that considers the collaboration of resources in operations, time and costs but also the risks and the quality of services as well as dynamic and uncertain characters related to the request.

Keywords: e-commerce, supply chain, B2C, optimisation, resource allocation

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Authors: Bingchun Liu, Pei-Chann Chang, Natasha Huang, Dun Li

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Machine Learning and Data Mining are the two important tools for extracting useful information and knowledge from large datasets. In machine learning, classification is a wildly used technique to predict qualitative variables and is generally preferred over regression from an operational point of view. Due to the enormous increase in air pollution in various countries especially China, Air Quality Classification has become one of the most important topics in air quality research and modelling. This study aims at introducing a hybrid classification model based on information theory and Support Vector Machine (SVM) using the air quality data of four cities in China namely Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin from Jan 1, 2014 to April 30, 2016. China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has classified the daily air quality into 6 levels namely Serious Pollution, Severe Pollution, Moderate Pollution, Light Pollution, Good and Excellent based on their respective Air Quality Index (AQI) values. Using the information theory, information gain (IG) is calculated and feature selection is done for both categorical features and continuous numeric features. Then SVM Machine Learning algorithm is implemented on the selected features with cross-validation. The final evaluation reveals that the IG and SVM hybrid model performs better than SVM (alone), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) models in terms of accuracy as well as complexity.

Keywords: machine learning, air quality classification, air quality index, information gain, support vector machine, cross-validation

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Jiajia Yao, Guanlin Wu, Fang Liu, Junshuai Xue, Yue Hao

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This study reports on the epitaxial growth of a GaN-based resonant tunneling diode (RTD) structure with stable and repeatable double negative differential resistance (NDR) characteristics at room temperature on a c-plane GaN-on-sapphire template using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) technology. In this structure, two independent AlN/GaN RTDs are epitaxially connected in series in the vertical growth direction through a silicon-doped GaN layer. As the collector electrode bias voltage increases, the two RTDs respectively align the ground state energy level in the quantum well with the 2DEG energy level in the emitter accumulation well to achieve quantum resonant tunneling and then reach the negative differential resistance (NDR) region. The two NDR regions exhibit similar peak current densities and peak-to-valley current ratios, which are 230 kA/cm² and 249 kA/cm², 1.33 and 1.38, respectively, for a device with a collector electrode mesa diameter of 1 µm. The consistency of the NDR is much higher than the results of on-chip discrete RTD device interconnection, resulting from the smaller chip area, fewer interconnect parasitic parameters, and less process complexity. The methods and results presented in this paper show the brilliant prospects of GaN RTDs in the development of multi-value logic digital circuits.

Keywords: MBE, AlN/GaN, RTDs, double NDR

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Authors: Tohid Rahimi, Yahya Naderi, Babak Yousefi, Seyed Hossein Hoseini

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Today’s modern interconnected power system is highly complex in nature. In this, one of the most important requirements during the operation of the electric power system is the reliability and security. Power and frequency oscillation damping mechanism improve the reliability. Because of power system stabilizer (PSS) low speed response against of major fault such as three phase short circuit, FACTs devise that can control the network condition in very fast time, are becoming popular. However, FACTs capability can be seen in a major fault present when nonlinear models of FACTs devise and power system equipment are applied. To realize this aim, the model of multi-machine power system with FACTs controller is developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK using Sim Power System (SPS) blockiest. Among the FACTs device, Static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) due to high speed changes its reactance characteristic inductive to capacitive, is effective power flow controller. Tuning process of controller parameter can be performed using different method. However, Genetic Algorithm (GA) ability tends to use it in controller parameter tuning process. In this paper, firstly POD controller is used to power oscillation damping. But in this station, frequency oscillation dos not has proper damping situation. Therefore, FOD controller that is tuned using GA is using that cause to damp out frequency oscillation properly and power oscillation damping has suitable situation.

Keywords: power oscillation damping (POD), frequency oscillation damping (FOD), Static synchronous series compensator (SSSC), Genetic Algorithm (GA)

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Authors: Rebeca V. Tholen, Elaine Bundy

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Background: Liver transplantation (LT) is considered the only curative treatment for end-stage liver disease Background: Liver transplantation (LT) is considered the only curative treatment for end-stage liver disease (ESLD). The effects of alcoholism can cause irreversible liver damage, cirrhosis and subsequent liver failure. Alcohol relapse after transplant occurs in 20-50% of patients and increases the risk for recurrent cirrhosis, organ rejection, and graft failure. Alcohol relapse after transplant has been identified as a problem among liver transplant recipients at a large urban academic transplant center in the United States. Transplantation will reverse the complications of ESLD, but it does not treat underlying alcoholism or reduce the risk of relapse after transplant. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a High-Risk Alcoholism Relapse (HRAR) Scale to screen and identify patients at high-risk for alcohol relapse after receiving an LT. Methods: The HRAR Scale is a predictive tool designed to determine the severity of alcoholism and risk of relapse after transplant. The scale consists of three variables identified as having the highest predictive power for early relapse including, daily number of drinks, history of previous inpatient treatment for alcoholism, and the number of years of heavy drinking. All adult liver transplant recipients at a large urban transplant center were screened with the HRAR Scale prior to hospital discharge. A zero to two ordinal score is ranked for each variable, and the total score ranges from zero to six. High-risk scores are between three to six. Results: Descriptive statistics revealed 25 patients were newly transplanted and discharged from the hospital during an 8-week period. 40% of patients (n=10) were identified as being high-risk for relapse and 60% low-risk (n=15). The daily number of drinks were determined by alcohol content (1 drink = 15g of ethanol) and number of drinks per day. 60% of patients reported drinking 9-17 drinks per day, and 40% reported ≤ 9 drinks. 50% of high-risk patients reported drinking ≥ 25 years, 40% for 11-25 years, and 10% ≤ 11 years. For number of inpatient treatments for alcoholism, 50% received inpatient treatment one time, 20% ≥ 1, and 30% reported never receiving inpatient treatment. Findings reveal the importance and value of a validated screening tool as a more efficient method than other screening methods alone. Integration of a structured clinical tool will help guide the drinking history portion of the psychosocial assessment. Targeted interventions can be implemented for all high-risk patients. Conclusions: Our findings validate the effectiveness of utilizing the HRAR scale to screen and identify patients who are a high-risk for alcohol relapse post-LT. Recommendations to help maintain post-transplant sobriety include starting a transplant support group within the organization for all high-risk patients. (ESLD). The effects of alcoholism can cause irreversible liver damage, cirrhosis and subsequent liver failure. Alcohol relapse after transplant occurs in 20-50% of patients, and increases the risk for recurrent cirrhosis, organ rejection, and graft failure. Alcohol relapse after transplant has been identified as a problem among liver transplant recipients at a large urban academic transplant center in the United States. Transplantation will reverse the complications of ESLD, but it does not treat underlying alcoholism or reduce the risk of relapse after transplant. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a High-Risk Alcoholism Relapse (HRAR) Scale to screen and identify patients at high-risk for alcohol relapse after receiving a LT. Methods: The HRAR Scale is a predictive tool designed to determine severity of alcoholism and risk of relapse after transplant. The scale consists of three variables identified as having the highest predictive power for early relapse including, daily number of drinks, history of previous inpatient treatment for alcoholism, and the number of years of heavy drinking. All adult liver transplant recipients at a large urban transplant center were screened with the HRAR Scale prior to hospital discharge. A zero to two ordinal score is ranked for each variable, and the total score ranges from zero to six. High-risk scores are between three to six. Results: Descriptive statistics revealed 25 patients were newly transplanted and discharged from the hospital during an 8-week period. 40% of patients (n=10) were identified as being high-risk for relapse and 60% low-risk (n=15). The daily number of drinks were determined by alcohol content (1 drink = 15g of ethanol) and number of drinks per day. 60% of patients reported drinking 9-17 drinks per day, and 40% reported ≤ 9 drinks. 50% of high-risk patients reported drinking ≥ 25 years, 40% for 11-25 years, and 10% ≤ 11 years. For number of inpatient treatments for alcoholism, 50% received inpatient treatment one time, 20% ≥ 1, and 30% reported never receiving inpatient treatment. Findings reveal the importance and value of a validated screening tool as a more efficient method than other screening methods alone. Integration of a structured clinical tool will help guide the drinking history portion of the psychosocial assessment. Targeted interventions can be implemented for all high-risk patients. Conclusions: Our findings validate the effectiveness of utilizing the HRAR scale to screen and identify patients who are a high-risk for alcohol relapse post-LT. Recommendations to help maintain post-transplant sobriety include starting a transplant support group within the organization for all high-risk patients.

Keywords: alcoholism, liver transplant, quality improvement, substance abuse

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Rueyhung Weng, Chia-En Huang, Jung-Chi-Liao

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The transition zone (TZ) serves as a diffusion barrier to regulate the ins and outs of the proteins recruited to the primary cilia. TCTN2 is one of the TZ proteins and its mutation causes Joubert syndrome, a serious multi-organ disease. Despite its important medical relevance, the functions of TCTN2 remain elusive. Here we created a TCTN2 gene deleted retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE1) using CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing technique and used this knockout line to reveal roles of TCTN2. TCTN2 knockout RPE1 cells displayed a significantly reduced ciliogenesis or a shortened primary cilium length in the cilium-remaining population. Intraflagellar transport protein IFT88 aberrantly accumulated at the tip of TCTN2 deficient cells. Guanine nucleotide exchange factor Arl13B was mostly absent from the ciliary compartment, with a small population localizing at the ciliary tip. The deficient TZ was corroborated with the mislocalization of two other TZ proteins TMEM67 and MKS1. In addition, TCTN2 deficiency induced TZ impairment led to the suppression of Sonic hedgehog signaling in response to Smoothened (Smo) agonist. Together, depletion of TCTN2 destabilizes other TZ proteins and considerably alters the localization of key transport and signaling-associated proteins, including IFT88, Arl13B, and Smo.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9, primary cilia, Sonic hedgehog signaling, transition zone

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Authors: Michael Williams

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The ability to control a flowing well is of the utmost important. During the kill phase, heavy weight kill mud is circulated around the well. While increasing bottom hole pressure near wellbore formation, the damage is increased. The addition of high density spherical objects has the potential to minimise this near wellbore damage, increase bottom hole pressure and reduce operational time to kill the well. This operational time saving is seen in the rapid deployment of high density spherical objects instead of building high density drilling fluid. The research aims to model the well kill process using a Computational Fluid Dynamics software. A model has been created as a proof of concept to analyse the flow of micron sized spherical objects in the drilling fluid. Initial results show that this new methodology of spherical objects in drilling fluid agrees with traditional stream lines seen in non-particle flow. Additional models have been created to demonstrate that areas of higher flow rate around the bit can lead to increased probability of wash out of formations but do not affect the flow of micron sized spherical objects. Interestingly, areas that experience dimensional changes such as tool joints and various BHA components do not appear at this initial stage to experience increased velocity or create areas of turbulent flow, which could lead to further borehole stability. In conclusion, the initial models of this novel well control methodology have not demonstrated any adverse flow patterns, which would conclude that this model may be viable under field conditions.

Keywords: well control, fluid mechanics, safety, environment

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Authors: Zohreh Moghaddas, Morteza Yazdani, Farhad Hosseinzadeh

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Nowadays, data envelopment analysis (DEA) models featuring network structures have gained widespread usage for evaluating the performance of production systems and activities (Decision-Making Units (DMUs)) across diverse fields. By examining the relationships between the internal stages of the network, these models offer valuable insights to managers and decision-makers regarding the performance of each stage and its impact on the overall network. To further empower system decision-makers, the inverse data envelopment analysis (IDEA) model has been introduced. This model allows the estimation of crucial information for estimating parameters while keeping the efficiency score unchanged or improved, enabling analysis of the sensitivity of system inputs or outputs according to managers' preferences. This empowers managers to apply their preferences and policies on resources, such as inputs and outputs, and analyze various aspects like production, resource allocation processes, and resource efficiency enhancement within the system. The results obtained can be instrumental in making informed decisions in the future. The top result of this study is an analysis of infeasibility and incorrect estimation that may arise in the theory and application of the inverse model of data envelopment analysis with network structures. By addressing these pitfalls, novel protocols are proposed to circumvent these shortcomings effectively. Subsequently, several theoretical and applied problems are examined and resolved through insightful case studies.

Keywords: inverse models of data envelopment analysis, series network, estimation of inputs and outputs, efficiency, resource allocation, sensitivity analysis, infeasibility

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Authors: Gia Sirbiladze

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Route planning problems are among the activities that have the highest impact on logistical planning, transportation, and distribution because of their effects on efficiency in resource management, service levels, and client satisfaction. In extreme conditions, the difficulty of vehicle movement between different customers causes the imprecision of time of movement and the uncertainty of the feasibility of movement. A feasibility level of vehicle movement on the closed route of the disaster-streaking zone is defined for the construction of an objective function. Experts’ evaluations of the uncertain parameters in q-rung ortho-pair fuzzy numbers (q-ROFNs) are presented. A fuzzy bi-objective combinatorial optimization problem of fuzzy vehicle routine problem (FVRP) is constructed based on the technique of possibility theory. The FVRP is reduced to the bi-criteria partitioning problem for the so-called “promising” routes which were selected from the all-admissible closed routes. The convenient selection of the “promising” routes allows us to solve the reduced problem in real-time computing. For the numerical solution of the bi-criteria partitioning problem, the -constraint approach is used. The main results' support software is designed. The constructed model is illustrated with a numerical example.

Keywords: q-rung ortho-pair fuzzy sets, facility location selection problem, multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem, partitioning problem

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Authors: Kyu Jin Kim, Byung Kwan Oh, Hyo Seon Park

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The seismic responses-based structural health monitoring system has been performed to reduce seismic damage. The inter-story drift ratio which is the major index of the seismic capacity assessment is employed for estimating the seismic damage of buildings. Meanwhile, seismic response analysis to estimate the structural responses of building demands significantly high computational cost due to increasing number of high-rise and large buildings. To estimate the inter-story drift ratio of buildings from the earthquake efficiently, this paper suggests the estimation method of inter-story drift for buildings using an artificial neural network (ANN). In the method, the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is integrated with optimization algorithm to optimize the variable through evolutionary learning that refers to evolutionary radial basis function neural network (ERBFNN). The estimation method estimates the inter-story drift without seismic response analysis when the new earthquakes are subjected to buildings. The effectiveness of the estimation method is verified through a simulation using multi-degree of freedom system.

Keywords: structural health monitoring, inter-story drift ratio, artificial neural network, radial basis function neural network, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Bernard L. Middleton, Susan P. Cosgrove

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There is an immediate need for alternative anti-herpetic treatment options effective for both primary infections and reoccurring reactivations of herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2). Alternatives currently approved for the purposes of clinical administration includes antivirals and a reduced set of nucleoside analogues. The present article tests a treatment based on a systemic understanding of how the herpes virus affects cell inhibition and breakdown and targets different phases of the viral cycle, including the entry stage, reproductive cross mutation, and cell-to-cell infection. The treatment consisted of five immunotherapeutic core compounds (5CC), which were hypothesized to be capable of neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies. The tested 5CC were noted as being functional in the application of eliminating the DNA synthesis of herpes viral interferon (IFN) - induced cellular antiviral response. They were here found to neutralize antiviral reproduction by blocking cell-to-cell infection. The activity of the 5CC was tested on RC-37 in vitro using an assay plaque reduction and in vivo against HSV-1 and HSV-2. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 5CC was 0.0009% for HSV-1 plaque formation and 0.0008% for HSV-2 plaque formation. Further tests were performed to evaluate the susceptibility of HSV-1 and HSV-2 to anti-herpetic drugs in Vero cells after virus entry. There were high-level markers of the 5CC virucidal activity in the viral suspension of HSV-1 and HSV-2. These concentrations of the 5CC are nontoxic and reduced plaque formation by 98.2% for HSV-1 and 93.0% for HSV-2. Virus HSV-1 and HSV-2 titers were reduced significantly by 5CC to the point of being negative, ranging 0.01–0.09 in 72%. The results concluded the 5CC as being an effective treatment option for the herpes simplex virus.

Keywords: synergy pharmaceuticals, herpes treatment, herpes cure, synergy pharmaceuticals treatment

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Authors: Pragya Paneru

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This paper explores ten primary teachers’ views on gender representation in primary-level textbooks altogether. Data was collected from the teachers who taught in private schools in Kailali and Kathmandu District. This research uses a semi-structured interview method to obtain information regarding teachers’ attitudes toward gender representations in textbook content. The interview data were analysed by using critical skills of qualitative research analysis methods, as suggested by Saldana and Omasta (2018). The findings revealed that most of the teachers were unaware and regarded gender issues as insignificant to discuss in primary-level classes. Most of them responded to the questions personally and claimed that there were no gender issues in their classrooms. Some of the teachers connected gender issues with contexts other than textbook representations, such as school discrimination in the distribution of salary among male and female teachers, school practices of awarding girls rather than boys as the most disciplined students, following girls’ first rule in the assembly marching, encouraging only girls in the stage shows, and involving students in gender-specific activities such as decorating works for girls and physical tasks for boys. The interview also revealed teachers’ covert gendered attitudes in their remarks. Nevertheless, most of the teachers accepted that gender-biased contents have an impact on learners, and this problem can be solved with more gender-centred research in the education field, discussions, and training to increase awareness regarding gender issues. Agreeing with the suggestion of teachers, this paper recommends proper training and awareness regarding how to confront gender issues in textbooks.

Keywords: content analysis, gender equality, school education, critical awareness

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Authors: Oluwafemi Akinlawon Atoyebi

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This paper examines alienation and fixation as critical issues of/around mental health -crisis, sickness, and healing- through ‘Bode Ojoniyi’s dramaturgy. Two of his dramatic memoirs, arguably written to address such a life-threatening crisis between him and his employer, where he externalizes perhaps his psychological crisis, are critically analysed. This is done through a reading of the three theatrical phenomena of the actor, the character, and the audience against how he plays around the concepts of alienation and fixation within the totality of his dramaturgy beyond what could be seen as a mere academic exercise. The paper situates his apt understanding of their representations as a reflective force of a consciousness that defies psychosomatic existential conflicts. It does so by adopting a qualitative method of analysis through a critical reading of the two dramatic memoirs. It also carries out a survey on the audience that experienced the performances of the memoirs and an interview with Ojoniyi. Using Jean-Paul Sartre’s Theory of Existential Consciousness, the study discovers that there is a way the three phenomena of the actor, the character, and the audience do find expression in Ojoniyi as an existential omniscient playwright-actor-character-audience who is able to transcend the parochialism of an alienated and a fixated self; that beyond the limiting artistic purview, the theatre as a stage is a phenomenon that is capable of capturing the totality of the experiences of a man in his world and that, often time, the depressed are victims of the myopic syndrome as they probably could not see or reflect on/about their realities beyond the self and the play of a casual order. The study concludes that the therapeutic effect of Ojoniyi’s dramatic memoirs, in their reading or performance, is needed by all and should be explored in proffering cures for psychosomatic patients, for it promises to be essentially useful beyond its confine –the Arts.

Keywords: alienation, fixation, the healing theatre, theatrical personalities

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Authors: Zheng Yi

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Among the attempts made worldwide to foster urban and transport sustainability, transit-oriented development certainly is one of the most successful. Residents' travel behavior is a concern in the researches about the impacts of transit-oriented development. The study takes 620 English journal papers in the core collection database of Web of Science as the study objects; the paper tries to map out the scientific knowledge mapping in the field and draw the basic conditions by co-citation analysis, co-word analysis, a total of citation network analysis and visualization techniques. This study teases out the research hotspots and evolution of the relationship between urban rail transit and resident's travel behavior from 1999 to 2019. According to the results of the analysis of the time-zone view and burst-detection, the paper discusses the trend of the next stage of international study. The results show that in the past 20 years, the research focuses on these keywords: land use, behavior, model, built environment, impact, travel behavior, walking, physical activity, smart card, big data, simulation, perception. According to different research contents, the key literature is further divided into these topics: the attributes of the built environment, land use, transportation network, transportation policies. The results of this paper can help to understand the related researches and achievements systematically. These results can also provide a reference for identifying the main challenges that relevant researches need to address in the future.

Keywords: urban rail transit, travel behavior, knowledge map, evolution of researches

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Authors: Hazrat Salman Sidique, Muhammad Tahir Khan, Haq Aman Ullah, Muhammad Mobashar, Muhammad Ishtiaq Sohail Mehmood

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The poor quality conventional feed for the livestock production in Pakistan are wheat straw, tops of sugar cane and tree leaves. To enhance the nutritive value of feed, this study focused on investigating the effects of fibrolytic enzyme (Fibrozyme®, Alltech Inc. Company, USA) at different levels i.e. 0, 5, 10, and 15g/kg of total mix ration on feed intake, digestibility, milk yield and composition, and economics of the ration in Holstein Friesians cows. Twelve Holstein Friesians cows of almost the same age, and lactation stage were randomly allocated into 4 equal groups i.e. A, B, C, and D. Four experimental rations supplemented with Fibrozyme® 0g, 5g, 10g, and 15g/Kg of total mix ration were assigned to these sets correspondingly. The dry matter intake was linearly and significantly (P<0.05) improved. A significant effect of Fibrozyme® was observed for organic matter digestibility, ether extract digestibility, crude fiber digestibility, nitrogen free extract digestibility, and acid detergent fiber digestibility while the results were statistically non-significant for crude protein digestibility, neutral detergent fiber digestibility, and ash digestibility. Milk yield and composition except fat were significantly (P<0.05) increased in all Fibrozyme® treated groups. This study concludes that supplementation of Fibrozyme® at the rate of 15g/Kg total mix ration improved the dry matter intake, nutrients digestibility, and milk production and constituents like protein, lactose, and solid not fat. Therefore, treatment of total mix ration with Fibrozyme® was desirably reasonable and profitable.

Keywords: digestibility, fibrozyme, TMR, digestibility, lactating cow

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Authors: Rozeena Shaikh, Syed M Shahid, Jamil Ahmad, Qaisar Mansoor, Muhammad Ismail, Abid Azhar

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Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a prevalent non-communicable disease worldwide. In most high-income countries as well as middle-income and low- income countries. DM is among the top causes of deaths. DM may lead to many vascular complications like hypertension, nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, and foot. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) characterized by persistent albuminuria is a leading cause of end stage renal failure (ESRF). Pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy is implicated by the polymorphisms in genes encoding the components of reninangiotensin- aldosteron system (RAAS) which include angiotensinogen (AGT), angiotensin-II receptor and particularly angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene. Method: Study subjects include 110 control, 110 patients with DM without hypertension, 110 patients with DM with hypertension and 110 patients with DN. Blood samples were collected for Biochemical analysis and PCR and sequencing for the specific region of both genes. Results: The frequency of DD genotype and D allele of ACE (I/D) was significantly (p<0.05) high in DM normotensive, DM hypertensive and DN patients when compared to control. The ACE G2350A genotypes and allele frequencies were significantly different (p<0.05) in DM hypertensive patients as compared to control and DN, while no difference was observed between DM normotensive and DN when compared to control. The genotypes and alleles of AGT (M268T) polymorphism were significantly different (p<0.05) in DM normotensive, DM hypertensive and DN when compared to control. Conclusion: The DD genotype and D allele of ACE (I/D), GG genotype and G allele of ACE (G2350A) and the TT genotype and T allele of AGT (M268T) polymorphism have shown a significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies between controls and patients.

Keywords: genetic variations, ACE, AGT, diabetes mellitus, diabetic nephropathy, Pakistan

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Authors: Kasi Jockeil-Ojike

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The study of signage and wayfinding design guidelines is to provide consistent, coherent, and comprehensive guidelines for all type of signage design that may be applied to guide persons from the freeway into campus, and to specific building. As the world becomes more complex and the population increases, people increasingly rely on signage and wayfinding systems to navigate their way in built environment such as university campus. This paper will demonstrate and discuss signage and wayfinding, and the importance of visual literacy in university campuses. It discusses the process of wayfinding and signage, how poor signage and wayfinding systems affect people when navigating, and why wayfinding is more than just signage. Hence, this paper tries to examine the design guideline that primarily addresses the signage and wayfinding system that improves visual literacy within University of Port Harcourt multi-campuses. In doing this, the paper explore the environmental graphic design senori-emotional values and communicative information theories that takes the subjectivity of the observer in account. By making these connections, the paper will also determine what University of Port Harcourt need to focus on to be counted in the global trends, using developed visual communication guidelines based on previous studies or concept from professional. In conclusion, information about why physical structures (buildings and waypaths) on University of Port Harcourt multiple campuses need to be branded in self-communicative manner using signage and wayfinding design as integral part of its physical planning policy is recommended.

Keywords: campus-signage, movement, visual-literacy, wayfinding-guidelines

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Authors: Girma Y. Iyassu Menelik

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“The world is now like a global village!” so goes the saying that shows that due to development and technology the countries of the world are now closely linked. In the field of Human rights there is a close relationship in the way that rights are recognised and enforced. This paper will show that human rights have evolved from ancient times through important landmarks such as the Magna Carta, the French Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the American Bill of Rights. The formation of the United Nations after the Second World War resulted in the need to codify and protect human rights. There are some rights which are so fundamental that they are found in international and continental instruments, national constitutions and domestic legislation. In the civil and political sphere they include the right to vote, to freedom of association, speech and assembly, right to life, privacy and fair trial. In the economic and social sphere you have the right to work, protection of the family, social security and rights to education, health and shelter. In some instance some rights can be suspended in times of public emergency but such derogations shall be circumscribed by the law and in most constitutions such limitations are subject to judicial review. However, some rights are so crucial that they cannot be derogated from under any circumstances and these include the right to life, recognition before the law, freedom from torture and slavery and of thought, conscience and religion. International jurisprudence has been developed to protect fundamental rights and avoid discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language or social origin. The elaborate protection system go to show that these rights have become part of the international order and they have universal application. We have now got to a stage where UDHR, ICCPR and ICESCR and have come to be regarded as part of an international bill of rights with horizontal and vertical enforcement mechanisms involving state parties, NGO’s , international bodies and other organs.

Keywords: rights, international, constitutional, state, judiciary

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Authors: G. Ramya

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Value engineering is a systematic approach, widely used to optimize the design or process or product in the designing stage. It used to achieve the client's obligation by increasing the functionality and attain the targeted cost in the cost planning. Value engineering effectiveness and benefits decrease along with the progress of the project since the change in the scope of the work and design will account for more cost all along the lifecycle of the project. Integrating the value engineering with other project management activities will promote cost minimization, client satisfaction, and ensure early completion of the project in time. Previous research studies suggested that value engineering can integrate with other project delivery activities, but research studies unable to frame a model that collaborates the project management activities with the job plan of value engineering approach. I analyzed various project management activities and their synergy between each other. The project management activities and processes like a)risk analysis b)lifecycle cost analysis c)lean construction d)facility management e)Building information modelling f)Contract administration, collaborated, and project delivery model planned along with the RIBA plan of work. The key outcome of the research is a value-driven project delivery model, which will succeed in dealing with the economic impact, constraints and conflicts arise due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian construction sector. Benefits associated with the structured framework is construction project delivery that ensures early contractor involvement, mutual risk sharing, and reviving the project with a cost overrun and delay back on track ,are discussed. Keywords: Value-driven project delivery model, Integration, RIBA plan of work Themes: Design Economics

Keywords: value-driven project delivery model, Integration, RIBA

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Authors: Krishang Surapaneni

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The goal of this project is to determine how to predict important aspects of options, including the ask price. We want to compare different machine learning models to learn the best model and the best hyperparameters for that model for this purpose and data set. Option pricing is a relatively new field, and it can be very complicated and intimidating, especially to inexperienced people, so we want to create a machine learning model that can predict important aspects of an option stock, which can aid in future research. We tested multiple different models and experimented with hyperparameter tuning, trying to find some of the best parameters for a machine-learning model. We tested three different models: a Random Forest Regressor, a linear regressor, and an MLP (multi-layer perceptron) regressor. The most important feature in this experiment is the ask price; this is what we were trying to predict. In the field of stock pricing prediction, there is a large potential for error, so we are unable to determine the accuracy of the models based on if they predict the pricing perfectly. Due to this factor, we determined the accuracy of the model by finding the average percentage difference between the predicted and actual values. We tested the accuracy of the machine learning models by comparing the actual results in the testing data and the predictions made by the models. The linear regression model performed worst, with an average percentage error of 17.46%. The MLP regressor had an average percentage error of 11.45%, and the random forest regressor had an average percentage error of 7.42%

Keywords: finance, linear regression model, machine learning model, neural network, stock price

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Authors: Bliss Singhal

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Machine learning (ML) is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) where computers analyze data and find patterns in the data. The study focuses on the detection of metastatic cancer using ML. Metastatic cancer is the stage where cancer has spread to other parts of the body and is the cause of approximately 90% of cancer-related deaths. Normally, pathologists spend hours each day to manually classifying whether tumors are benign or malignant. This tedious task contributes to mislabeling metastasis being over 60% of the time and emphasizes the importance of being aware of human error and other inefficiencies. ML is a good candidate to improve the correct identification of metastatic cancer, saving thousands of lives and can also improve the speed and efficiency of the process, thereby taking fewer resources and time. So far, the deep learning methodology of AI has been used in research to detect cancer. This study is a novel approach to determining the potential of using preprocessing algorithms combined with classification algorithms in detecting metastatic cancer. The study used two preprocessing algorithms: principal component analysis (PCA) and the genetic algorithm, to reduce the dimensionality of the dataset and then used three classification algorithms: logistic regression, decision tree classifier, and k-nearest neighbors to detect metastatic cancer in the pathology scans. The highest accuracy of 71.14% was produced by the ML pipeline comprising of PCA, the genetic algorithm, and the k-nearest neighbor algorithm, suggesting that preprocessing and classification algorithms have great potential for detecting metastatic cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, principal component analysis, genetic algorithm, k-nearest neighbors, decision tree classifier, logistic regression

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Authors: Kimiyo Shimomai, Mihoko Harada

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This study is a literature review of the psychological reactions that occur in end-of-life cancer patients who are nearing death. It searched electronic databases and selected literature related to psychological studies of end-of-life patients. There was no limit on the search period, and the search was conducted until the second week of December 2021. The keywords were specified as “death and dying”, “terminal illness”, “end-of-life”, “palliative care”, “psycho-oncology” and “research”. These literatures referred to Holly (2017): Comprehensive Systematic Review for Advanced Practice Nursing, P268 Figure 10.3 to ensure quality. These literatures were selected with a dissertation score of 4 or 5. The review was conducted in two stages with reference to the procedure of George (2002). First, these references were searched for keywords in the database, and then relevant references were selected from the psychology and nursing studies of end-of-life patients. The number of literatures analyzed was 76 for overseas and 17 for domestic. As for the independent variables, "physical variable" was the most common in 36 literatures (66.7%), followed by "psychological variable" in 35 literatures (64.8%), "spiritual variable" in 21 literatures (38%), and "social variable" in 17 literatures. (31.5%), "Variables related to medical care / treatment" were 16 literatures (29.6%). To summarize the relationship between these independent variables and the dependent variable, when the dependent variable is "psychological variable", the independent variables are "psychological variable", "social variable", and "physical variable". Among the independent variables, the physical variables were the most common. The psychological responses that occur in end-stage cancer patients who are nearing death are mutually influenced by psychological, social, and physical variables. Therefore, it supported the "total pain" advocated by Cicely Saunders.

Keywords: cancer patient, end-of-life, literature review, psychological process

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Authors: Sheng Huang, Xin Zhao, Xiaofeng Gao, Tao Zhou, Shijin Dai, Youcai Zhao

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Adsorption of heavy metal pollutants (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu) and organic pesticide (phorate, dithiophosphate diethyl, triethyl phosphorothioate), along with their multi-contamination on the surface of industrial construction & demolition waste (C&D waste) was investigated. Brick powder was selected as the appropriate waste while its maximum equilibrium adsorption amount of heavy metal under single controlled contamination matrix reached 5.41, 0.81, 0.45, 1.13 and 0.97 mg/g, respectively. Effects of pH and spiking dose of ICDW was also investigated. Equilibrium adsorption amount of organic pesticide varied from 0.02 to 0.97 mg/g, which was negatively correlated to the size distribution and hydrophilism. Existence of organic pesticide on surface of ICDW caused various effects on the heavy metal adsorption, mainly due to combination of metal ions and the floccule formation along with wrapping behaviors by pesticide pollutants. Adsorption of Zn was sharply decreased from 7.1 to 0.15 mg/g compared with clean ICDW and phorate contaminated ICDW, while that of Pb, Cr and Cd experienced an increase- then decrease procedure. On the other hand, runoff of pesticide contaminants was investigated under 25 mm/h simulated rainfall. Results showed that the cumulative runoff amount fitted well with curve obtained from a power function, of which r2=0.95 and 0.91 for 1DAA (1 day between contamination and runoff) and 7DAA, respectively. This study helps provide evaluation of industrial construction and demolition waste contamination into aquatic systems.

Keywords: adsorption mechanism, industrial construction waste, metals, pesticide, runoff

Procedia PDF Downloads 478

Authors: Azadeh Yaraghchi, Reza Bagherian Sararoodi, Niknaz Salehi Moghadam, Mohammad Hossein Mandegar, Adis Kraskian Mujembari, Omid Rezaei

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Background: Quality of life is one of the most important consequences of disease in psychosomatic disorders. Many psychological factors are considered in predicting quality of life in patients with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). The present study was aimed to determine the relationship between perceived social support and quality of life in patients with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Methods: The population included 82 patients who had undergone CABG from October 2014 to May 2015 in four different hospitals in Tehran. The patients were evaluated with Multi-dimension scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) and after three months follow up were evaluated by Short-Form quality of life questionnaire (SF-36). The obtained data were analyzed through Pearson correlation test and multiple variable regression models. Findings: A relationship between perceived social support and quality of life in patients with CABG was observed (r=0.374, p<0.01). The results showed that 22.4% of variation in quality of life is predicted by perceived social support components (p<0.01, R2 =0.224). Conclusion: Based on the results, perceived social support is one of the predictors of quality of life in patients with coronary artery bypass graft. Accordingly, these results can be useful in conceiving proactive policies, detecting high risk patients and planning for psychological interventions.

Keywords: coronary artery bypass graft, perceived social support, psychological factors, quality of life

Procedia PDF Downloads 374