Search results for: damage index

Authors: Jeongwoo Lee

Abstract:

Children are the most vulnerable travelers and they are at risk for pedestrian injury. Creating a safe route to school is important because walking to school is one of the main opportunities for promotion of needed physical exercise among children. This study examined how the built environmental attributes near an elementary school influence traffic accidents among school-aged children. The study used two complementary data sources including the locations of police-reported pedestrian crashes and the built environmental characteristics of school areas. The environmental attributes of road segments were collected through GIS measurements of local data and actual site audits using the inventory developed for measuring pedestrian-crash risk scores. The inventory data collected at 840 road segments near 32 elementary schools in the city of Ulsan. We observed all segments in a 300-meter-radius area from the entrance of an elementary school. Segments are street block faces. The inventory included 50 items, organized into four domains: accessibility (17items), pleasurability (11items), perceived safety from traffic (9items), and traffic and land-use measures (13items). Elementary schools were categorized into two groups based on the distribution of the pedestrian-crash hazard index scores. A high pedestrian-crash zone was defined as an school area within the eighth, ninth, and tenth deciles, while no pedestrian-crash zone was defined as a school zone with no pedestrian-crash accident among school-aged children between 2013 and 2016. No- and high pedestrian-crash zones were compared to determine whether different settings of the built environment near the school lead to a different rate of pedestrian-crash incidents. The results showed that a crash risk can be influenced by several environmental factors such as a shape of school-route, number of intersections, visibility and land-use in a street, and a type of sidewalk. The findings inform policy for creating safe routes to school to reduce the pedestrian-crash risk among children by focusing on school zones.

Keywords: active school travel, school zone, pedestrian crash, safety route to school

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Authors: Nayeli Camacho, Fernanda Lara-Perez, Carolina Ortega-Portilla, Diego G. Espinosa-Arbelaez, Juan M. Alvarado-Orozco, Guillermo C. Mondragon-Rodriguez

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Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been the gold standard material for total knee replacements for almost five decades. Wear damage to UHMWPE articulating surface is inevitable due to the natural sliding and rolling movements of the knee. This generates a considerable amount of wear debris, which results in mechanical instability of the joint, reduces joint mobility, increases pain with detrimental biologic responses, and causes component loosening. The presence of wear particles has been closely related to adverse reactions in the knee joint surrounding tissue, especially for particles in the range of 0.3 to 2 μm. Carbon-based materials possess excellent mechanical properties and have shown great promise in tribological applications. In this study, diamond-like carbon coatings (DLC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used to decrease the wear rate of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. A titanium doped DLC (Ti-DLC) was deposited by magnetron sputtering on stainless steel precision spheres while CNTs were used as a second phase reinforcement in UHMWPE at a concentration of 1.25 wt.%. A comparative tribological analysis of the wear of UHMWPE and UHMWPE-CNTs with a stainless steel counterpart with and without Ti-DLC coating is presented. The experimental wear testing was performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer under dry conditions, using a reciprocating movement with a load of 1 N at a frequency of 2 Hz for 100,000 and 200,000 cycles. The wear tracks were analyzed with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy to determine wear modes and observe the size and shape of the wear debris. Furthermore, profilometry was used to study the depth of the wear tracks and to map the wear of the articulating surface. The wear tracks at 100,000 and 200,000 cycles on all samples were relatively shallow, and they were in the range of average roughness. It was observed that the Ti-DLC coating decreases the mass loss in the UHMWPE and the depth of the wear track. The combination of both carbon-based materials decreased the material loss compared to the system of stainless steel and UHMWPE. Burnishing of the surface was the predominant wear mode observed with all the systems, more subtle for the systems with Ti-DLC coatings. Meanwhile, in the system composed of stainless steel-UHMWPE, the intrinsic surface roughness of the material was completely replaced by the wear tracks.

Keywords: CNT reinforcement, self-lubricating materials, Ti-DLC, UHMWPE tribological performance

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Authors: Sarah Gounden, Mukesh Dheda, Boikhutso Tlou, Elizabeth Ojewole, Frasia Oosthuizen

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Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been effective in the reduction of mortality and resulted in an improvement in the prognosis of HIV-infected patients. However, treatment with antiretrovirals (ARVs) has led to the development of many adverse drug reactions (ADRs). It is, therefore, necessary to determine the safety profile of these medicines in a South African population in order to ensure safe and optimal medicine use. Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify ADRs experienced with the different ARVs currently used in South Africa, to determine the safety profile of ARV medicine in South Africa based on reported ADRs, and to determine the ARVs with the lowest risk profile based on specific patient populations. Methodology: This was a quantitative study. Individual case safety reports for the period January 2010 – December 2013 were obtained from the National Pharmacovigilance Center; these reports contained information on ADRs, ARV medicine, and patient demographics. Data was analysed to find associations that may exist between ADRs experienced, ARV medicines used and patient demographics. Results: A total of 1916 patient reports were received of which 1534 met the inclusion criteria for the study. The ARV with the lowest risk of ADRs were found to be lamivudine (0.51%, n=12), followed by lopinavir/ritonavir combination (0.8%, n=19) and abacavir (0.64%, n=15). A higher incidence of ADRs was observed in females compared to males. The age group 31–50 years and the weight group 61–80 kg had the highest incidence of ADRs reported. Conclusion: This study found that the safest ARVs to be used in a South African population are lamivudine, abacavir, and the lopinavir/ritonavir combination. Gender differences play a significant role in the occurrence of ADRs and both anatomical and physiological differences account for this. An increased BMI (body mass index) in both men and women showed an increase in the incidence of ADRs associated with ARV therapy.

Keywords: adverse drug reaction, antiretrovirals, HIV/AIDS, pharmacovigilance, South Africa

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Authors: Amin Ajabi, Chinchu Cherian, Sumi Siddiqua

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Rammed earth (RE) is a traditional soil-based building material made by compressing a mixture of natural earth and binder ingredients such as chalk or lime, in temporary formworks. However, the modern RE uses 5 to 10% cement as a binder in order to meet the strength and durability requirements as per the standard specifications and guidelines. RE construction is considered to be an energy-efficient and environmental-friendly approach when compared to conventional concrete systems, which use 20 to 30% cement. The present study aimed to develop RE mix designs by utilizing non-hazardous wood-based fly ash generated by pulp and paper mills as a partial replacement for cement. The pulp mill fly ash (PPFA)-stabilized RE is considered to be a sustainable approach keeping in view of the massive carbon footprints associated with cement production as well as the adverse environmental impacts due to disposal of PPFA in landfills. For the experimental study, as-received PPFA, as well as PPFA-based geopolymer (synthesized by alkaline activation method), were incorporated as cement substitutes in the RE mixtures. Initially, local soil was collected and characterized by index and engineering properties. The PPFA was procured from a pulp manufacturing mill, and its physicochemical, mineralogical and morphological characterization, as well as environmental impact assessment, was conducted. Further, the various mix designs of RE material incorporating local soil and different proportions of cement, PPFA, and alkaline activator (a mixture of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide solutions) were developed. The compacted RE specimens were cured and tested for 7-day and 28-day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) variations. Based on UCS results, the optimum mix design was identified corresponding to maximum strength improvement. Further, the cured RE specimens were subjected to freeze-thaw cycle testing for evaluating its performance and durability as a sustainable construction technique under extreme climatic conditions.

Keywords: sustainability, rammed earth, stabilization, pulp mill fly ash, geopolymer, alkaline activation, strength, durability

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Authors: Hee-Young Song

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Background and objectives: In 2011, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) recommendations proposed a multidimensional assessment of patients’ conditions that included both functional parameters and patient-reported outcomes, with the aim to provide a comprehensive assessment of the disease, thus meeting both the needs of the patient and the role of the physician. However, few studies have evaluated patient-reported outcomes as well as objective functional assessments among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in clinical practice in Korea. This study was undertaken to explore the relationship between functional status assessed by the 6-minute walking distance (MWD) test and subjective health status reported by stable patients with COPD residing in community. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 118 stable COPD patients aged 69.4 years old and selected by a convenient sampling from an outpatient department of pulmonology in a tertiaryhospitals. The 6-MWD test was conducted according to standardized instructions. Participants also completed a constructed questionnaire including general characteristics, smoking history, dyspnea by modified medical research council (mMRC) scale, and health status by COPD assessment test (CAT). Anthropometric measurements were performed for body mass index (BMI). Medical records were reviewed to obtain disease-related characteristics including duration of the disease and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Data were analyzed using PASW statistics 20.0. Results: Mean FEV1% of participants was 63.51% and mean 6-MWD and CAT scores were 297.54m and 17.7, respectively. The 6-MWD and CAT showed significant negative correlations (r= -.280, p=.002); FEV1 and CAT did as well correlations (r= -.347, p < .001). Conclusions: Findings suggest that the better functional status an individual with COPD has, the better subjective health status is, and provide the support for using patient-reported outcomes along with functional parameters to facilitate comprehensive assessment of COPD patients in real clinical practices.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD assessment test, functional status, patient-reported outcomes

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Authors: Muhammad Dildar Gogi, Muhammad Jalal Arif, Muhammad Junaid Nisar, Mubashir Iqbal, Waleed Afzal Naveed, Muhammad Ahsan Khan, Ahmad Nawaz, Muhammad Sufian, Muhammad Arshad, Amna Jalal

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Fruit flies of Bactrocera genus cause heavy losses in fruits and vegetables globally and insecticide-application for their control creates issues of ecological backlash, environmental pollution, and food safety. There is need to explore alternatives and food-baits application is considered safe for the environment and effective for fruit fly management. Present experiment was carried out to assess the attractancy of five phagostimulant-Mixtures (PHS-Mix) prepared by mixing banana-squash, mulberry, protein-hydrolysate and molasses with some phagostimulant-lure sources including beef extract, fish extract, yeast, starch, rose oil, casein and cedar oil in five different ratios i.e., PHS-Mix-1 (1 part of all ingredients), PHS-Mix-2 (1 part of banana with 0.75 parts of all other ingredients), PHS-Mix-3 (1 part of banana with 0.5 parts of all other ingredients), PHS-Mix-4 (1 part of banana with 0.25 parts of all other ingredients) and PHS-Mix-5 (1 part of banana with 0.125 parts of all other ingredients). These were evaluated in comparison with a standard (GF-120). PHS-Mix-4 demonstrated 40.5±1.3-46.2±1.6% AI for satiated flies (class-II i.e., moderately attractive) and 59.5±2.0-68.6±3.0% AI for starved flies (class-III i.e., highly attractive) for both B. dorsalis and B. zonata in olfactometric study while the same exhibited 51.2±0.53% AI (class-III i.e., highly attractive) for B. zonata and 45.4±0.89% AI (class-II i.e., moderately attractive) for B. dorsalis in field study. PHS-Mix-1 proved non-attractive (class-I) and moderately attractive (class-II) phagostimulant in olfactometer and field studies, respectively. PHS-Mix-2 exhibited moderate attractiveness for starved lots in olfactometer and field-lot in field studies. PHS-Mix-5 proved non-attractive to starved and satiated lots of B. zonata and B. dorsalis females in olfactometer and field studies. Overall PHS-Mix-4 proved better phagostimulant-mixture followed by PHS-Mix-3 which was categorized as class-II (moderately attractive) phagostimulant for starved and satiated lots of female flies of both species in olfactometer and field studies; hence these can be exploited for fruit fly management.

Keywords: attractive index, field conditions, olfactometer, Tephritid flies

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Authors: Husam Abdulmuttaleb Hashim

Abstract:

The environmental pollution problems represent a great challenge to the world, threatening to destroy all the evolution that mankind has reached, the organizations and associations that cares about environment are trying to warn the world from the forthcoming danger resulted from excessive use of nature resources and consuming it without looking to the damage happened as a result of unfair use of it. Most of the urban centers suffers from the environmental pollution problems and health, economic, and social dangers resulted from this pollution, and while the land use planning is responsible for distributing different uses in urban centers and controlling the interactions between these uses to reach a homogeneous and perfect state for the different activities in cities, the occurrence of environmental problems in the shade of existing land use planning operation refers to the disorder or insufficiency in this operation which leads to presence of such problems, and this disorder lays in lack of sufficient importance to the environmental considerations during the land use planning operations and setting up the master plan, so the research start to study this problem and finding solutions for it, the research assumes that using accurate and scientific methods in early stages of land use planning operation will prevent occurring of environmental pollution problems in the future, the research aims to study and show the importance of the environmental impact assessment method (EIA) as an important planning tool to investigate and predict the pollution ranges of the land use that has a polluting pattern in land use planning operation. This research encompasses the concept of environmental assessment and its kinds and clarifies environmental impact assessment and its contents, the research also dealt with urban planning concept and land use planning, it also dealt with the current situation of the case study (Al-Garma district) and the land use planning in it and explain the most polluting use on the environment which is the industrial land use represented in the tannery industries and then there was a stating of current situation of this land use and explaining its contents and environmental impacts resulted from it, and then we analyzed the tests applied by the researcher for water and soil, and perform environmental evaluation through applying environmental impact assessment matrix using the direct method to reveal the pollution ranges on the ambient environment of industrial land use, and we also applied the environmental and site limits and standards by using (GIS) and (AUTOCAD) to select the site of the best alternative of the industrial region in Al-Garma district after the research approved the unsuitability of its current site location for the environmental and site limitations, the research conducted some conclusions and recommendations regard clarifying the concluded facts and to set the proper solutions.

Keywords: EIA, pollution, tannery industry, land use planning

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Authors: Hyuk Sung Yoon, In-Lee Choi, Mohammad Zahirul Islam, Jun Pill Baek, Ho-Min Kang

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The strawberry ‘Maehyang’ cultivated in South Korea has been increased to export to Southeast Asia. The degradation of quality often occurs in strawberries during short export period. Botrytis cinerea has been known to cause major damage to the export strawberries and the disease was caused during shipping and distribution. This study was conducted to find out the sterilized effect of chlorine dioxide(ClO2) gas and high concentration of CO2 gas injection for ‘Maehyang’ strawberry and it was packaged with oxygen transmission rate (OTR) films. The strawberry was harvested at 80% color changed stage and packaged with OTR film and perforated film (control). The treatments were a MAP used by with 20,000 cc·m-2·day·atm OTR film and gas injection in packages. The gas type of ClO2 and CO2 were injected into OTR film packages, and treatments were 6 mg/L ClO2, 15% CO2, and they were combined. The treated strawberries were stored at 3℃ for 30 days. Fresh weight loss rate was less than 1% in all OTR film packages but it was more than 15% in a perforated film treatment that showed severe deterioration of visual quality during storage. Carbon dioxide concentration within a package showed approximately 15% of the maximum CO2 concentration in all treatments except control until the 21st day, it was the tolerated range of maximum CO2 concentration of strawberry in recommended CA or MA conditions. But, it increased to almost 50% on the 30th day. Oxygen concentration showed a decrease down to approximately 0% in all treatments except control for 25 days. Ethylene concentration was shown to be steady until the 17th day, but it quickly increased on the 17th day and dropped down on the final storage day (30th day). All treatments did not show any significant differences in gas treatments. Firmness increased in CO2 (15%) and ClO2 (6mg/L) + CO2 (15%) treatments during storage. It might be the effect of high concentration CO2 known by reducing decay and cell wall degradation. The soluble solid decreased in all treatments during storage. These results were caused to use up the sugar by the increase of respiration during storage. The titratable acidity showed a similarity in all treatments. Incidence of fungi was 0% in CO2 (15%) and ClO2 (6mg/L)+ CO2 (15%), but was more than 20% in a perforated film treatment. Consequently, The result indicates that Chloride Dioxide(ClO2) and high concentration of CO2 inhibited fungi growth. Due to the fact that fresh weight loss rate and incidence of fungi were lower, the ClO2(6mg/L)+ CO2(15%) prove to be most efficient in sterilization. These results suggest that Chloride Dioxide (ClO2) and high concentration of CO2 gas injection treatments were an effective decontamination technique for improving the safety of strawberries.

Keywords: chloride dioxide, high concentration of CO2, modified atmosphere condition, oxygen transmission rate films

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Authors: Viviane P. Romani, Bradley D. Olsen, Vilásia G. Martins

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Biodegradable films for food packaging have gained growing attention due to environmental pollution caused by synthetic films and the interest in the better use of resources from nature. Important research advances were made in the development of materials from proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids. However, the commercial use of these new generation of sustainable materials for food packaging is still limited due to their low mechanical and barrier properties that could compromise the food quality and safety. Thus, strategies to improve the performance of these materials have been tested, such as chemical modifications, incorporation of reinforcing structures and others. Cold plasma is a versatile, fast and environmentally friendly technology. It consists of a partially ionized gas containing free electrons, ions, and radicals and neutral particles able to react with polymers and start different reactions, leading to the polymer degradation, functionalization, etching and/or cross-linking. In the present study, biodegradable films from fish protein prepared through the casting technique were plasma treated using an AC glow discharge equipment. The reactor was preliminary evacuated to ~7 Pa and the films were exposed to air plasma for 2, 5 and 8 min. The films were evaluated by their mechanical and water vapor permeability (WVP) properties and changes in the protein structure were observed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Potential cross-links and elimination of surface defects by etching might be the reason for the increase in tensile strength and decrease in the elongation at break observed. Among the times of plasma application tested, no differences were observed when higher times of exposure were used. The X-ray pattern showed a broad peak at 2θ = 19.51º that corresponds to the distance of 4.6Å by applying the Bragg’s law. This distance corresponds to the average backbone distance within the α-helix. Thus, the changes observed in the films might indicate that the helical configuration of fish protein was disturbed by plasma treatment. SEM images showed surface damage in the films with 5 and 8 min of plasma treatment, indicating that 2 min was the most adequate time of treatment. It was verified that plasma removes water from the films once weight loss of 4.45% was registered for films treated during 2 min. However, after 24 h in 50% of relative humidity, the water lost was recovered. WVP increased from 0.53 to 0.65 g.mm/h.m².kPa after plasma treatment during 2 min, that is desired for some foods applications which require water passage through the packaging. In general, the plasma technology affects the properties and structure of fish protein films. Since this technology changes the surface of polymers, these films might be used to develop multilayer materials, as well as to incorporate active substances in the surface to obtain active packaging.

Keywords: fish protein films, food packaging, improvement of properties, plasma treatment

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Authors: Ilaha Rzayeva, Emin Alasgarov, Orkhan Karim-Zada

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This study attempts to consider the linkage between management and computer sciences in order to develop the software named “IntelSymb” as a demo application to prove data analysis of non-energy* fields’ diversification, which will positively influence on energy dependency mitigation of countries. Afterward, we analyzed 18 years of economic fields of development (5 sectors) of 13 countries by identifying which patterns mostly prevailed and which can be dominant in the near future. To make our analysis solid and plausible, as a future work, we suggest developing a gateway or interface, which will be connected to all available on-line data bases (WB, UN, OECD, U.S. EIA) for countries’ analysis by fields. Sample data consists of energy (TPES and energy import indicators) and non-energy industries’ (Main Science and Technology Indicator, Internet user index, and Sales and Production indicators) statistics from 13 OECD countries over 18 years (1995-2012). Our results show that the diversification of non-energy industries can have a positive effect on energy sector dependency (energy consumption and import dependence on crude oil) deceleration. These results can provide empirical and practical support for energy and non-energy industries diversification’ policies, such as the promoting of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), services and innovative technologies efficiency and management, in other OECD and non-OECD member states with similar energy utilization patterns and policies. Industries, including the ICT sector, generate around 4 percent of total GHG, but this is much higher — around 14 percent — if indirect energy use is included. The ICT sector itself (excluding the broadcasting sector) contributes approximately 2 percent of global GHG emissions, at just under 1 gigatonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2eq). Ergo, this can be a good example and lesson for countries which are dependent and independent on energy, and mainly emerging oil-based economies, as well as to motivate non-energy industries diversification in order to be ready to energy crisis and to be able to face any economic crisis as well.

Keywords: energy policy, energy diversification, “IntelSymb” software, renewable energy

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Authors: Oyewole Charles Iledun, Shuaib Harira, Ezeogueri-Oyewole Anne Nnenna

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Due to high population pressure/human activities competing for agricultural land, the need to maximize the productivity of available land has become necessary; this has not been achievable in the tropics with monoculture systems where a single harvest per season is the practice. Thus, this study evaluates intercropping combination and tillage practice on yield and yield components of groundnut in a mixture with maize. The trial was conducted in the rainy seasons of 2020 and 2021 at the Kogi State University Students’ Research and Demonstration Farm, Latitude 70 301 and Longitude 70 091 E in the Southern Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. Treatment consisted of three tillage practices [as main plot factor] and five intercropping combinations [subplot factor] assigned to a 3 x 5 Factorial experiment replicated four times. Data were collected for growth, development, yield components, and yield of groundnut. Data collected were subjected to Statistical Analysis in line with Factorial Experiments. Means found to be statistically significant at 5 % probability were separated using the LSD method. Regarding yield components and yield related parameters in groundnuts, better performance was observed in cole cropped groundnut plots compared to the intercropped plots. However, intercropping groundnut with maize was generally advantageous, with LER greater than unity. Among the intercrops, the highest LERs were observed when one row of maize was cropped with one row of groundnut, with the least LER recorded in intercropping two rows of maize with one row of groundnut. For the tillage operations, zero tillage gave the highest LERs in both seasons, while the least LERs were recorded when the groundnut was planted on ridges. Since the highest LERs were observed when one row of maize was intercropped with one row of groundnut, this level of crop combination is recommended for the study area, while ridging may not be necessary to get good groundnut yield, particularly under similar soil conditions as obtained in the experimental area, and with similar rainfall observed during the experimental period.

Keywords: canopy height, leaf number, haulm yield / ha, pod yield / ha, harvest index and shelling percentage

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Authors: Iraj Rezaei, Kamal Al Din Niknami

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Tapeh Zagheh is an important prehistoric site located in the central plateau of Iran, which has settlement layers of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. For this research, 38 soil samples were collected from different parts of the site, as well as two samples from its outside as witnesses. Then the samples were analyzed by XRF. The purpose of this research was to identify some places with special usage for human activities in Tapeh Zagheh by measuring the amount of some special elements in the soil. The result of XRF analysis shows a significant amount of P and K in samples No.3 (fourth floor) and No.4 (third floor), probably due to certain activities such as food preparation and consumption. Samples No.9 and No.10 can be considered suitable examples of the hearths of the prehistoric period in the central plateau of Iran. The color of these samples was completely darkened due to the presence of ash, charcoal, and burnt materials. According to the XRF results, the soil of these hearths has very high amounts of elements such as P, Ca, Mn, S, K, and significant amounts of Ti, Fe, and Na. In addition, the elemental composition of sample No. 14, which was taken from a home waster, also has very high amounts of P, Mn, Mg, Ti, and Fe and high amounts of K and Ca. Sample No. 11, which is related to soil containing large amounts of waster of the kiln, along with a very strong increase in Cl and Na, the amount of elements such as K, Mg, and S has also increased significantly. It seems that the reason for the increase of elements such as Ti and Fe in some Tapeh Zagheh floors (for example, samples number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) was the use of materials such as ocher mud or fire ash in the composition of these floors. Sample No. 13, which was taken from an oven located in the FIX trench, has very high amounts of Mn, Ti, and Fe and high amounts of P and Ca. Sample No. 15, which is related to House No. VII (probably related to a pen or a place where animals were kept) has much more phosphate compared to the control samples, which is probably due to the addition of animal excrement and urine to the soil. Sample No. 29 was taken from the north of the industrial area of Zagheh village (place of pottery kilns). The very low amount of index elements in sample No. 29 shows that the industrial activities did not extend to the mentioned point, and therefore, the range of this point can be considered as the boundary between the residential part of the Zagheh village and its industrial part.

Keywords: prehistory, multi-elemental analysis, Tapeh Zagheh, XRF

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Authors: Sathwik Sarvadevabhatla Kasyap, Kostas Senetakis

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The mechanical behavior of geological materials is very complex, and this complexity is related to the discrete nature of soils and rocks. Characteristics of a material at the grain scale such as particle size and shape, surface roughness and morphology, and particle contact interface are critical to evaluate and better understand the behavior of discrete materials. This study investigates experimentally the micro-mechanical behavior of quartz sand grains with emphasis on the influence of the presence of microparticles in their contact region. The outputs of the study provide some fundamental insights on the contact mechanics behavior of artificially coated grains and can provide useful input parameters in the discrete element modeling (DEM) of soils. In nature, the contact interfaces between real soil grains are commonly observed with microparticles. This is usually the case of sand-silt and sand-clay mixtures, where the finer particles may create a coating on the surface of the coarser grains, altering in this way the micro-, and thus the macro-scale response of geological materials. In this study, the micro-mechanical behavior of Leighton Buzzard Sand (LBS) quartz grains, with interference of different microparticles at their contact interfaces is studied in the laboratory using an advanced custom-built inter-particle loading apparatus. Special techniques were adopted to develop the coating on the surfaces of the quartz sand grains so that to establish repeatability of the coating technique. The characterization of the microstructure of coated particles on their surfaces was based on element composition analyses, microscopic images, surface roughness measurements, and single particle crushing strength tests. The mechanical responses such as normal and tangential load – displacement behavior, tangential stiffness behavior, and normal contact behavior under cyclic loading were studied. The behavior of coated LBS particles is compared among different classes of them and with pure LBS (i.e. surface cleaned to remove any microparticles). The damage on the surface of the particles was analyzed using microscopic images. Extended displacements in both normal and tangential directions were observed for coated LBS particles due to the plastic nature of the coating material and this varied with the variation of the amount of coating. The tangential displacement required to reach steady state was delayed due to the presence of microparticles in the contact region of grains under shearing. Increased tangential loads and coefficient of friction were observed for the coated grains in comparison to the uncoated quartz grains.

Keywords: contact interface, microparticles, micro-mechanical behavior, quartz sand

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Authors: N. W. I. A. Jayawardana, W. A. T. A. Jayalath, W. M. T. Madhujith, U. Ralapanawa, R. S. Jayasekera, S. A. S. B. Alagiyawanna, A. M. K. R. Bandara, N. S. Kalupahana

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There is mounting evidence to the effect that dietary and lifestyle changes affect the incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This study was conducted to investigate the association of diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and duration of sleep with overweight, obesity, hypertension and diabetes in a cohort of males from the Central Province of Sri Lanka. A total of 2694 individuals aged between 17 – 68 years (Mean = 31) were included in the study. Body Mass Index cutoff values for Asians were used to categorize the participants as normal, overweight and obese. The dietary data were collected using a food frequency questionnaire [FFQ] and data on the level of physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and sleeping hours were obtained using a self-administered validated questionnaire. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, random blood glucose levels were measured to determine the incidence of hypertension and diabetes. Among the individuals, the prevalence of overweight and obesity were 34% and 16.4% respectively. Approximately 37% of the participants suffered from hypertension. Overweight and obesity were associated with older age men (P<0.0001), frequency of smoking (P=0.0434), alcohol consumption level (P=0.0287) and the quantity of lipid intake (P=0.0081). Consumption of fish (P=0.6983) and salty snacks (P=0.8327), sleeping hours (P=0.6847) and the level of physical activity were not significantly (P=0.3301) associated with the incidence of overweight and obesity. Based on the fitted model, only age was significantly associated with hypertension (P < 0.001). Further, age (P < 0.0001), sleeping hours (P=0.0953) and consumption of fatty foods (P=0.0930) were significantly associated with diabetes. Age was associated with higher odds of pre diabetes (OR:1.089;95% CI:1.053,1.127) and diabetes (OR:1.077;95% CI:1.055,1.1) whereas 7-8 hrs. of sleep per day was associated with lesser odds of diabetes (OR:0.403;95% CI:0.184,0.884). High prevalence of overweight, obesity and hypertension in working-age males is a threatening sign for this area. As this population ages in the future and urbanization continues, the prevalence of above risk factors will likely to escalate.

Keywords: age, males, non-communicable diseases, obesity

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Authors: Muhammad Saleem

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Background: Inattentive food choices and engagement in excessive physical activities by male athletes can potentially lead to adverse health consequences. Objective: The aim was to ascertain the occurrence of risk factors associated with the Male Athlete Triad among young elite athletes in Pakistan. Methodology: In 2018, a cross-sectional study based on questionnaires was conducted at the Pakistan Sports Board. The study aimed to explore the risk factors related to the Male Athlete Triad in young elite athletes who were part of national training camps in major metropolitan areas. The study included proficient male elite athletes aged 18 to 25 years, capable of understanding the English questionnaire. The athletes completed a survey encompassing aspects like demographic information, educational background, Body Mass Index (BMI), sports involvement, and hours of participation. Additionally, they filled out the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) and questionnaires assessing risks of amenorrhea and low bone mineral density. The prevalence of risk factors for each of the three components was individually evaluated. The collected data underwent analysis using SPSS-20, with descriptive statistics being applied. Results: The study comprised a sample of 90 elite athletes (mean age: 23.57 ± 2.37 years, mean BMI: 21.97 ± 1.90) engaged in various sports. The EAT-26 results indicated that 50% of athletes were at risk of developing an eating disorder. Moreover, 83.3% exhibited disordered eating behaviors that necessitated referral. Risks for amenorrhea were observed in 15% of the participants, and regarding low bone mineral density, notable risks were absent except for the consumption of caffeinated beverages, which was noted in 51.7% of participants. Conclusion: The study identified a significant prevalence of disordered eating risk among male elite athletes in Pakistan. However, the risks associated with amenorrhea and low bone mineral density were not a major concern in this particular group.

Keywords: 1. health and physical education risk factors male athlete associated with the male athlete traid in young elite athlete from pakistan., 2. sports sciences pakistan, 3. risk factors sports sciences pakistan, 4. triad and young elite athlete from pakistan

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Authors: Zhaopeng Zhu, Xianzhi Song, Gensheng Li

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Transports of solid particles through the drill pipe, drill string-hole annulus and hydraulically generated fractures are important dynamic processes encountered in oil and gas well drilling and completion operations. Different from particle transport in infinite space, the transports of cuttings, proppants and formation sand are hindered by a finite boundary. Therefore, an accurate description of the particle transport behavior under the bounded wall conditions encountered in drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations is needed to improve drilling safety and efficiency. In this study, the particle settling experiments were carried out to investigate the particle settling behavior in the pipe, annulus and between the parallel plates filled with power-law fluids. Experimental conditions simulated the particle Reynolds number ranges of 0.01-123.87, the dimensionless diameter ranges of 0.20-0.80 and the fluid flow behavior index ranges of 0.48-0.69. Firstly, the wall effect of the annulus is revealed by analyzing the settling process of the particles in the annular geometry with variable inner pipe diameter. Then, the geometric continuity among the pipe, annulus and parallel plates was determined by introducing the ratio of inner diameter to an outer diameter of the annulus. Further, a unified dimensionless diameter was defined to confirm the relationship between the three different geometry in terms of the wall effect. In addition, a dimensionless term independent from the settling velocity was introduced to establish a unified explicit settling velocity model applicable to pipes, annulus and fractures with a mean relative error of 8.71%. An example case study was provided to demonstrate the application of the unified model for predicting particle settling velocity. This paper is the first study of annulus wall effects based on the geometric continuity concept and the unified model presented here will provide theoretical guidance for improved hydraulic design of cuttings transport, proppant placement and sand management operations.

Keywords: wall effect, particle settling velocity, cuttings transport, proppant transport in fracture

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Heeba A. Gurku

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Introduction: Cone Beam CT(CBCT) images play an integral part in proper patient positioning in cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy treatment. But these images are low in quality. The purpose of this study is to generate high-quality synthetic CT images from CBCT using generative models. Material and Methods: This study utilized two datasets from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) 1) Lung cancer dataset of 20 patients (with full view CBCT images) and 2) Pancreatic cancer dataset of 40 patients (only 27 patients having limited view images were included in the study). Cycle Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) and its variant Attention Guided Generative Adversarial Networks (AGGAN) models were used to generate the synthetic CTs. Models were evaluated by visual evaluation and on four metrics, Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM), Peak Signal Noise Ratio (PSNR) Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), to compare the synthetic CT and original CT images. Results: For pancreatic dataset with limited view CBCT images, our study showed that in Cycle GAN model, MAE, RMSE, PSNR improved from 12.57to 8.49, 20.94 to 15.29 and 21.85 to 24.63, respectively but structural similarity only marginally increased from 0.78 to 0.79. Similar, results were achieved with AGGAN with no improvement over Cycle GAN. However, for lung dataset with full view CBCT images Cycle GAN was able to reduce MAE significantly from 89.44 to 15.11 and AGGAN was able to reduce it to 19.77. Similarly, RMSE was also decreased from 92.68 to 23.50 in Cycle GAN and to 29.02 in AGGAN. SSIM and PSNR also improved significantly from 0.17 to 0.59 and from 8.81 to 21.06 in Cycle GAN respectively while in AGGAN SSIM increased to 0.52 and PSNR increased to 19.31. In both datasets, GAN models were able to reduce artifacts, reduce noise, have better resolution, and better contrast enhancement. Conclusion and Recommendation: Both Cycle GAN and AGGAN were significantly able to reduce MAE, RMSE and PSNR in both datasets. However, full view lung dataset showed more improvement in SSIM and image quality than limited view pancreatic dataset.

Keywords: CT images, CBCT images, cycle GAN, AGGAN

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Authors: Mohammad Mahdi Namdari, Hosein Torki

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Security as an abstract concept, has involved human being from the beginning of creation to the present, and certainly to the future. Accordingly, battles, conflicts, challenges, legal proceedings, crimes and all issues related to human kind are associated with this concept. Today by interviewing people about their life, the security of societies and Social crimes are interviewed too. Along with the security as an infrastructure and vital concept, the economy and related issues e.g. welfare, per capita income, total government revenue, export, import and etc. is considered another infrastructure and vital concept. These two vital concepts (Security and Economic) have linked together complexly and significantly. The present study employs analytical-descriptive research method using documents and Statistics of official sources. Discovery and explanation of this mutual connection are comprising a profound and extensive research; so management, development and reform in system and relationships of the scope of this two concepts are complex and difficult. Tourism and its position in today's economy is one of the main pillars of the economy of the 21st century that maybe associate with the security and social crimes more than other pillars. Like all human activities, economy of societies and partially tourism dependent on security especially in the public and social security. On the other hand, the true economic development (generally) and the growth of the tourism industry (dedicated) are a security generating and supporting for it, because a dynamic economic infrastructure prevents the formation of centers of crime and illegal activities by providing a context for socio-economic development for all segments of society in a fair and humane. This relationship is a formula of the complexity between the two concept of economy and security. Police as a revealed or people-oriented organization in the field of security directly has linked with the economy of a community and is very effective In the face of the tourism industry. The relationship between security and national crime index, and economic indicators especially ones related to tourism is confirming above discussion that is notable. According to understanding processes about security and economic as two key and vital concepts are necessary and significant for sovereignty of governments.

Keywords: economic, police, tourism, social security

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Authors: Sundus Mona, Atif Adnan, Babar Ali, Fareeha Arshad, Allah Rakha

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Molecular diversity is the variation in the abundance of species. Forensic entomology is a neglected field in Pakistan. Insects collected from the crime scene should be handled by forensic entomologists who are currently virtually non-existent in Pakistan. Correct identification of insect specimen along with knowledge of their biodiversity can aid in solving many problems related to complicated forensic cases. Inadequate morphological identification and insufficient thermal biological studies limit the entomological utility in Forensic Medicine. Recently molecular identification of entomological evidence has gained attention globally. DNA barcoding is the latest and established method for species identification. Only proper identification can provide a precise estimation of postmortem intervals. Arthropods are known to be the first tourists scavenging on decomposing dead matter. The objective of the proposed study was to identify species by molecular techniques and analyze their phylogenetic importance with barcoded necrophagous insect species of early succession on human cadavers. Based upon this identification, the study outcomes will be the utilization of established DNA bar codes to identify carrion feeding insect species for concordant estimation of post mortem interval. A molecular identification method involving sequencing of a 658bp ‘barcode’ fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene from collected specimens of unknown dipteral species from cadavers of Lahore was evaluated. Nucleotide sequence divergences were calculated using MEGA 7 and Arlequin, and a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree was generated. Three species were identified, Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya saffranea, and Chrysomya rufifacies with low genetic diversity. The fixation index was 0.83992 that suggests a need for further studies to identify and classify forensically relevant insects in Pakistan. There is an exigency demand for further research especially when immature forms of arthropods are recovered from the crime scene.

Keywords: molecular diversity, DNA barcoding, species identification, forensically relevant

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Authors: Cristian Păuna

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In the first decades of the 21st century, in the electronic trading environment, algorithmic capital investments became the primary tool to make a profit by speculations in financial markets. A significant number of traders, private or institutional investors are participating in the capital markets every day using automated algorithms. The autonomous trading software is today a considerable part in the business intelligence system of any modern financial activity. The trading decisions and orders are made automatically by computers using different mathematical models. This paper will present one of these models called Price Prediction Line. A mathematical algorithm will be revealed to build a reliable trend line, which is the base for limit conditions and automated investment signals, the core for a computerized investment system. The paper will guide how to apply these tools to generate entry and exit investment signals, limit conditions to build a mathematical filter for the investment opportunities, and the methodology to integrate all of these in automated investment software. The paper will also present trading results obtained for the leading German financial market index with the presented methods to analyze and to compare different automated investment algorithms. It was found that a specific mathematical algorithm can be optimized and integrated into an automated trading system with good and sustained results for the leading German Market. Investment results will be compared in order to qualify the presented model. In conclusion, a 1:6.12 risk was obtained to reward ratio applying the trigonometric method to the DAX Deutscher Aktienindex on 24 months investment. These results are superior to those obtained with other similar models as this paper reveal. The general idea sustained by this paper is that the Price Prediction Line model presented is a reliable capital investment methodology that can be successfully applied to build an automated investment system with excellent results.

Keywords: algorithmic trading, automated trading systems, high-frequency trading, DAX Deutscher Aktienindex

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Authors: Yu Fang Chen, Jeng Fung Hung

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This study aimed to develop a circular economy scale to assess the level of recognition among high-level executives in businesses regarding the circular economy. The circular economy is crucial for global ESG sustainable development and poses a challenge for corporate social responsibility. The aim of promoting the circular economy is to reduce resource consumption, move towards sustainable development, reduce environmental impact, maintain ecological balance, increase economic value, and promote employment. This study developed a 23-item Circular Economy Scale, which includes three subscales: "Understanding of Circular Economy by Enterprises" (8 items), "Attitudes" (9 items), and "Behaviors" (6 items). The Likert 5-point scale was used to measure responses, with higher scores indicating higher levels of agreement among senior executives with regard to the circular economy. The study tested 105 senior executives and used a structural equation model (SEM) as a measurement indicator to determine the extent to which potential variables were measured. The standard factor loading of the measurement indicator needs to be higher than 0.7, and the average variance explained (AVE) represents the index of convergent validity, which should be greater than 0.5 or at least 0.45 to be acceptable. Out of the 23 items, 12 did not meet the standard, so they were removed, leaving 5 items, 3 items, and 3 items for each of the three subscales, respectively, all with a factor loading greater than 0.7. The AVE for all three subscales was greater than 0.45, indicating good construct validity. The Cronbach's α reliability values for the three subscales were 0.887, 0.787, and 0.734, respectively, and the total scale was 0.860, all of which were higher than 0.7, indicating good reliability. The Circular Economy Scale developed in this study measures three conceptual components that align with the theoretical framework of the literature review and demonstrate good reliability and validity. It can serve as a measurement tool for evaluating the degree of acceptance of the circular economy among senior executives in enterprises. In the future, this scale can be used by senior executives in enterprises as an evaluation tool to further explore its impact on sustainable development and to promote circular economy and sustainable development based on the reference provided.

Keywords: circular economy, corporate social responsibility, scale development, structural equation model

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Authors: Lydia Foucan, Laurent Larifla, Emmanuelle Durand, Christine Rambhojan, Veronique Dhennin, Jean-Marc Lacorte, Philippe Froguel, Amelie Bonnefond

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In the population of Guadeloupe Island (472,124 inhabitants and 80% of subjects of African descent), overweight and obesity were estimated at 23% and 9% respectively among children. High prevalence of diabetes has been reported (~10%) in the adult population. Nevertheless, no study has investigated the contribution of gene mutations to childhood obesity in this population. We aimed to investigate rare genetic mutations in genes involved in monogenic obesity or diabetes in obese Afro-Caribbean children from Guadeloupe Island using next-generation sequencing. The present investigation included unrelated obese children, from a previous study on overweight conducted in Guadeloupe Island in 2013. We sequenced coding regions of 59 genes involved in monogenic obesity or diabetes. A total of 25 obese schoolchildren (with Z-score of body mass index [BMI]: 2.0 to 2.8) were screened for rare mutations (non-synonymous, splice-site, or insertion/deletion) in 59 genes. Mean age of the study population was 12.4 ± 1.1 years. Seventeen children (68%) had insulin-resistance (HOMA-IR > 3.16). A family history of obesity (mother or father) was observed in eight children and three of the accompanying parent presented with type 2 diabetes. None of the children had gonadotrophic abnormality or mental retardation. We detected five rare heterozygous mutations, in four genes involved in monogenic obesity, in five different obese children: MC4R p.Ile301Thr and SIM1 p.Val326Thrfs*43 mutations which were pathogenic; SIM1 p.Ser343Pro and SH2B1 p.Pro90His mutations which were likely pathogenic; and NTRK2 p.Leu140Phe that was of uncertain significance. In parallel, we identified seven carriers of mutation in ABCC8 or KCNJ11 (involved in monogenic diabetes), which were of uncertain significance (KCNJ11 p.Val13Met, KCNJ11 p.Val151Met, ABCC8 p.Lys1521Asn and ABCC8 p.Ala625Val). Rare pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutations, linked to severe obesity were detected in more than 15% of this Afro-Caribbean population at high risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: childhood obesity, MC4R, monogenic obesity, SIM1

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Authors: Faraj M. Elkhatri

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The spatial and temporal distribution of diagenetic alterations related impact on the reservoir quality of the Sarir Formation. ( present day burial depth of about 9000 feet) Depositional facies and diagenetic alterations are the main controls on reservoir quality of Sarir Formation Sirt Basin Libya; these based on lithology and grain size as well as authigenic clay mineral types and their distributions. However, petrology investigation obtained on study area with five sandstone wells concentrated on main rock components and the parameters that may have impacts on reservoirs. the main authigenic clay minerals are kaolinite and dickite, these investigations have confirmed by X.R.D analysis and clay fraction. mainly Kaolinite and Dickite were extensively presented on all of wells with high amounts. As well as trace of detrital smectite and less amounts of illitized mud-matrix are possibly find by SEM image. Thin layers of clay presented as clay-grain coatings in local depth interpreted as remains of dissolved clay matrix is partly transformed into kaolinite adjacent and towards pore throat. This also may have impacts on most of the pore throats of this sandstone which are open and relatively clean with some fine martial have been formed on occluded pores. This material is identified by EDS analysis to be collections of not only kaolinite booklets but also small disaggregated kaolinite platelets derived from the disaggregation of larger kaolinite booklets. These patches of kaolinite not only fill this pore but also coat some of the surrounding framework grains. Quartz grains often enlarged by authigenic quartz overgrowths partially occlude and reduce porosity. Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM) was conducted on the post-test samples to examine any mud filtrate particles that may be in the pore throats. Semi-qualitative elemental data on selected minerals observed during the SEM study were obtained through the use of an Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) unit. The samples showed mostly clean open pore throats with limited occlusion by kaolinite. very fine-grained elemental combinations (Si/Al/Na/Cl, Si/Al Ca/Cl/Ti, and Qtz/Ti) have been identified and conformed by EDS analysis. However, the identification of the fine grained disaggregated material as mainly kaolinite though study area.

Keywords: pore throat, fine migration, formation damage, solids plugging, porosity loss

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Authors: Semra Sirin Kiris

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Nonlinear dynamic analysis is permitted to be used for structures without any restrictions. The important issue is the selection of the design earthquake to conduct the analyses since quite different response may be obtained using ground motion records at the same general area even resulting from the same earthquake. In seismic design codes, the method requires scaling earthquake records based on site response spectrum to a specified hazard level. Many researches have indicated that this limitation about selection can cause a large scatter in response and other charecteristics of ground motion obtained in different manner may demonstrate better correlation with peak seismic response. For this reason influence of eleven different ground motion parameters on the peak displacement of reinforced concrete systems is examined in this paper. From conducting 7020 nonlinear time history analyses for single degree of freedom systems, the most effective earthquake parameters are given for the range of the initial periods and strength ratios of the structures. In this study, a hysteresis model for reinforced concrete called Q-hyst is used not taken into account strength and stiffness degradation. The post-yielding to elastic stiffness ratio is considered as 0.15. The range of initial period, T is from 0.1s to 0.9s with 0.1s time interval and three different strength ratios for structures are used. The magnitude of 260 earthquake records selected is higher than earthquake magnitude, M=6. The earthquake parameters related to the energy content, duration or peak values of ground motion records are PGA(Peak Ground Acceleration), PGV (Peak Ground Velocity), PGD (Peak Ground Displacement), MIV (Maximum Increamental Velocity), EPA(Effective Peak Acceleration), EPV (Effective Peak Velocity), teff (Effective Duration), A95 (Arias Intensity-based Parameter), SPGA (Significant Peak Ground Acceleration), ID (Damage Factor) and Sa (Spectral Response Spectrum).Observing the correlation coefficients between the ground motion parameters and the peak displacement of structures, different earthquake parameters play role in peak displacement demand related to the ranges formed by the different periods and the strength ratio of a reinforced concrete systems. The influence of the Sa tends to decrease for the high values of strength ratio and T=0.3s-0.6s. The ID and PGD is not evaluated as a measure of earthquake effect since high correlation with displacement demand is not observed. The influence of the A95 is high for T=0.1 but low related to the higher values of T and strength ratio. The correlation of PGA, EPA and SPGA shows the highest correlation for T=0.1s but their effectiveness decreases with high T. Considering all range of structural parameters, the MIV is the most effective parameter.

Keywords: earthquake parameters, earthquake resistant design, nonlinear analysis, reinforced concrete

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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

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Authors: Lubna M. Al-Otaibi

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Mucocele is a common benign neoplasm of the oral cavity and the most common after fibroma. The lesion develops as a result of retention or extravasation of mucous material from minor salivary glands. Extravasation type of mucocele results from trauma and mostly occurs in the lower lip of young patients. The various treatment options available for the treatment of mucocele are associated with a relatively high incidence of recurrence making surgical intervention necessary for a permanent cure. The conventional surgical procedure, however, arouses apprehension in the patient and is associated with bleeding and postoperative pain. Recently, treatment of mucocele with lasers has become a viable treatment option. Various types of lasers are being used and are preferable over the conventional surgical procedure as they provide good hemostasis, reduced postoperative swelling and pain, reduced bacterial population, lesser need for suturing, faster healing and low recurrence rates. Er,Cr:YSGG is a solid-state laser with great affinity to water molecule. Its hydrokinetic cutting action allows it to work effectively on hydrated tissues without any thermal damage. However, up to date, only a few studies have reported its use in the removal of lip mucocele, especially in children. In this case, a 6 year old female patient with history of trauma to the lower lip presented with a soft, sessile, whitish-bluish 4 mm papule. The lesion was present for approximately four months and was fluctuant in size. The child developed a habit of biting the lesion causing injury, bleeding and discomfort. Surgical excision under local anaesthesia was performed using 2780 nm Er,Cr:YSGG Laser (WaterLase iPlus, Irvine, CA) with a Gold handpiece and MZ6 tip (3.5w, 50 Hz, 20% H2O, 20% Air, S mode). The tip was first applied in contact mode with focused beam using the Circumferential Incision Technique (CIT) to excise the tissue followed by the removal of the underlying causative minor salivary gland. Bleeding was stopped using Laser Dry Bandage setting (0.5w, 50 Hz, 1% H2O, 20% Air, S mode) and no suturing was needed. Safety goggles were worn and high-speed suction was used for smoke evacuation. Mucocele excision using 2780 nm Er,Cr:YSGG laser was rapid, easy to perform with excellent precision and allowed for histopathological examination of the excised tissue. The patient was comfortable and there were minimum bleeding and no sutures, postoperative pain, scarring or recurrence. Laser assisted mucocele excision appears to have efficient and reliable benefits in young patients and should be considered as an alternative to conventional surgical and non-surgical techniques.

Keywords: Erbium, excision, laser, lip, mucocele

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Authors: Vijaya Subramaniam, Loh Soh Kheang, Astimar Abdul Aziz

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Water footprint (WFP) has gained importance due to the increase in water scarcity in the world. This study analyses the WFP for an agriculture sector, i.e., the oil palm supply chain, which produces oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB), crude palm oil, palm kernel, and crude palm kernel oil. The water accounting and vulnerability evaluation (WAVE) method was used. This method analyses the water depletion index (WDI) based on the local blue water scarcity. The main contribution towards the WFP at the plantation was the production of FFB from the crop itself at 0.23m³/tonne FFB. At the mill, the burden shifts to the water added during the process, which consists of the boiler and process water, which accounted for 6.91m³/tonne crude palm oil. There was a 33% reduction in the WFP when there was no dilution or water addition after the screw press at the mill. When allocation was performed, the WFP reduced by 42% as the burden was shared with the palm kernel and palm kernel shell. At the kernel crushing plant (KCP), the main contributor towards the WFP 4.96 m³/tonne crude palm kernel oil which came from the palm kernel which carried the burden from upstream followed by electricity, 0.33 m³/tonne crude palm kernel oil used for the process and 0.08 m³/tonne crude palm kernel oil for transportation of the palm kernel. A comparison was carried out for mills with biogas capture versus no biogas capture, and the WFP had no difference for both scenarios. The comparison when the KCPs operate in the proximity of mills as compared to those operating in the proximity of ports only gave a reduction of 6% for the WFP. Both these scenarios showed no difference and insignificant difference, which differed from previous life cycle assessment studies on the carbon footprint, which showed significant differences. This shows that findings change when only certain impact categories are focused on. It can be concluded that the impact from the water used by the oil palm tree is low due to the practice of no irrigation at the plantations and the high availability of water from rainfall in Malaysia. This reiterates the importance of planting oil palm trees in regions with high rainfall all year long, like the tropics. The milling stage had the most significant impact on the WFP. Mills should avoid dilution to reduce this impact.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, water footprint, crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, WAVE method

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Authors: Emmanuel Dele Balogun

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This paper analyzes, using descriptive statistics and econometrics data which span the period 1981 to 2014 to gauge the effects of trade policy incentives on economic growth in Nigeria. It argues that the provided incentives penalize economic growth during pre-trade liberalization eras, but stimulated a rapid increase in total factor productivity during the post-liberalization period of 2000 to 2014. The trend analysis shows that Nigeria maintained high tariff walls in economic regulation eras which became low in post liberalization era. The protections were in favor of infant industries, which were mainly appendages of multinationals but against imports of competing food and finished consumer products. The trade openness index confirms the undue exposure of Nigeria’s economy to the vagaries of international market shocks; while banking sector recapitalization and new listing of telecommunications companies deepened the financial markets in post-liberalization era. The structure of economic incentives was biased in favor of construction, trade and services, but against the real sector despite protectionist policies. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) estimates show that the Nigerian economy suffered stagnation in pre-liberalization eras, but experienced rapid growth rates in post-liberalization eras. The regression results relating trade policy incentives to TFP growth rate yielded a significant but negative intercept suggesting that a non-interventionist policy could be detrimental to economic progress, while protective tariff which limits imports of competing products could spur productivity gains in domestic import substitutes beyond factor growth with market liberalization. The main constraint to the effectiveness of trade policy incentives is the failure of benefiting industries to leverage on the domestic factor endowments of the nation. This paper concludes that there is the need to review the current economic transformation strategies urgently with a view to provide policymakers with a better understanding of the most viable options that could make for rapid success.

Keywords: economic growth, macroeconomic incentives, total factor productivity, trade policies

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Authors: Amadou Wurry Jallow, Adama N. S. Bah, Karamo Bah, Shih-Ye Wang, Kuo-Chung Chu, Chien-Yeh Hsu

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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health challenge with high prevalence, rising incidence, and serious adverse consequences. Developing effective risk prediction models is a cost-effective approach to predicting and preventing complications of chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aimed to develop an accurate machine learning model that can dynamically identify individuals at risk of CKD using various kinds of diagnostic data, with or without laboratory data, at different follow-up points. Creatinine is a key component used to predict CKD. These models will enable affordable and effective screening for CKD even with incomplete patient data, such as the absence of creatinine testing. This retrospective cohort study included data on 19,429 adults provided by a private research institute and screening laboratory in Taiwan, gathered between 2001 and 2015. Univariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to determine the variables with high prognostic values for predicting CKD. We then identified interacting variables and grouped them according to diagnostic data categories. Our models used three types of data gathered at three points in time: non-laboratory, laboratory, and metabolic indices data. Next, we used subgroups of variables within each category to train two machine learning models (Random Forest and XGBoost). Our machine learning models can dynamically discriminate individuals at risk for developing CKD. All the models performed well using all three kinds of data, with or without laboratory data. Using only non-laboratory-based data (such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference), both models predict chronic kidney disease as accurately as models using laboratory and metabolic indices data. Our machine learning models have demonstrated the use of different categories of diagnostic data for CKD prediction, with or without laboratory data. The machine learning models are simple to use and flexible because they work even with incomplete data and can be applied in any clinical setting, including settings where laboratory data is difficult to obtain.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease, glomerular filtration rate, creatinine, novel metabolic indices, machine learning, risk prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Leyla Sattarzadeh, Maghsoud Peeri, Mohammadali Azarbaijani, Hasan Matin Homaee

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Inflammation by various mechanisms may cause atherosclerosis. Systemic circulating inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and adhesion molecules like Intracellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1) are the predictors of cardiovascular diseases. Regarding the conflicting results about the effect of resistance exercise training on these inflammatory markers, the present study aimed to examine the effect of eight week different patterns of resistance exercise training on CRP, IL-6 and ICAM-1 levels in healthy untrained women. 40 volunteered and healthy untrained female university students (aged: 21+ 3 yr., Body Mass Index: 21.5+ 3.5 kg/m2) were selected purposefully and divided into three groups. At the end of training protocol and after subjects drop during the protocol in upper body exercise training (n=11), lower body (n=12) completed the eight week of training period although the control group (n=7) did anything. Blood samples gathered pre and post experimental period and CRP, IL-6 and ICAM-1 levels were evaluated using special laboratory kits, then the difference of pre and post values of each indices analyzed using one way Analysis of Variance (α < 0.05). The results of one way ANOVA for difference of pre and post values of CRP and ICAM-1 showed no significant changes due to the exercise training. But there were significant differences between groups about IL-6. Tukey post- hoc test indicated that there is significant difference between the differences of pre and post values of IL-6 between lower body exercise training group and control group, and eight weeks of lower body exercise training lead to significant changes in IL-6 values. There were no changes in anthropometric indices. The findings show that the different patterns of upper and lower body exercise training by involving the different amount of muscles altered the IL-6 values in lower body exercise training group probably because of engaging the bigger amount of muscles, but showed any significant changes about CRP and ICAM-1 probably due to intensity and duration of exercise or the lower levels of these markers at baseline of healthy people.

Keywords: C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, resistance training

Procedia PDF Downloads 255