Search results for: normal inverse gaussian distribution

Authors: Behrooz Movahedi

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Fe-based amorphous feedstock powders are used as the matrix into which various ratios of hard B4C nanoparticles (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 vol.%) as reinforcing agents were prepared using a planetary high-energy mechanical milling. The ball-milled nanocomposite feedstock powders were also sprayed by means of high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) technique. The characteristics of the powder particles and the prepared coating depending on their microstructures and nanohardness were examined in detail using nanoindentation tester. The results showed that the formation of the Fe-based amorphous phase was noticed over the course of high-energy ball milling. It is interesting to note that the nanocomposite coating is divided into two regions, namely, a full amorphous phase region and homogeneous dispersion of B4C nanoparticles with a scale of 10–50 nm in a residual amorphous matrix. As the B4C content increases, the nanohardness of the composite coatings increases, but the fracture toughness begins to decrease at the B4C content higher than 20 vol.%. The optimal mechanical properties are obtained with 15 vol.% B4C due to the suitable content and uniform distribution of nanoparticles. Consequently, the changes in mechanical properties of the coatings were attributed to the changes in the brittle to ductile transition by adding B4C nanoparticles.

Keywords: Fe-based amorphous, B₄C nanoparticles, nanocomposite coating, HVOF

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Authors: O. Afshar

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A solar receiver is designed for operation under extremely uneven heat flux distribution, cyclic weather, and cloud transient cycle conditions, which can include large thermal stress and even receiver failure. In this study, the effect of different oil velocity on convection coefficient factor and impact of wind velocity on local Nusselt number by Finite Volume Method will be analyzed. This study is organized to give an overview of the numerical modeling using a MATLAB software, as an accurate, time efficient and economical way of analyzing the heat transfer trends over stationary receiver tube for different Reynolds number. The results reveal when oil velocity is below 0.33m/s, the value of convection coefficient is negligible at low temperature. The numerical graphs indicate that when oil velocity increases up to 1.2 m/s, heat convection coefficient increases significantly. In fact, a reduction in oil velocity causes a reduction in heat conduction through the glass envelope. In addition, the different local Nusselt number is reduced when the wind blows toward the concave side of the collector and it has a significant effect on heat losses reduction through the glass envelope.

Keywords: receiver tube, heat convection, heat conduction, Nusselt number

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Authors: E. A. Alaswad, H. M. Choudhry, F. Z. Filimban

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Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA) is one type of blood diseases related to autosomal disorder. The sickle shaped red blood cells are the main cause of many problems in the blood vessels and capillaries. Aerva Javanica (J) and Ficus Palmata (P) are medicinal plants that have many popular uses and have been proved their efficacy. The aim of this study was to assess the antioxidants activity and the antisickling effect of J and P extractions. The period of this study, air-dried leaves of J, and P plants were ground and the active components were extracted by maceration in water (W) and methanol (M) as solvents. The antioxidants activity of JW, PW, JM, and PM were assessed by way of the radical scavenging method using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). To determine the antisickling effect of J and P extracts. 20 samples were collected from sickle cell anemia patients. Different concentrations of J and P extracts (200 and 110 μg/mL) were added on the sample and incubated. A drop of each sample was examined with light microscope. Normal and sickled RBCs were calculated and expressed as the percent of sickling. The stabilization effect of the extracts was measured by the osmotic fragility test for erythrocytes. The finding suggests as estimated by DPPH method, all the extracts showed an antioxidant activity with a significant inhibition of the DPPH radicals. PM has the least IC50% with 71.49 μg/ml while JM was the most with 408.49 μg/ml. Sickle cells treated with extracts at different concentrations significantly reduced the percentage of sickling compering to control samples. However, JM 200 μg/mL give the highest anti-sickling affect with 17.4% of sickling compared to control 67.5 of sickling while PM at 200 μg/mL showed the highest membrane cell stability. In a conclusion, the results showed that J and P extracts have antisickling effects. Therefore, the Aerva javanica and Ficus palmata may have a role in SCA management and a good impact on the patient's lives.

Keywords: Aerva javanica, antioxidant, antisickling, Ficus palmata, sickle cell anemia

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Authors: Fangyuan Shao, Wei Liu, Deli Gao

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Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits have occupied a large market of unconventional oil and gas drilling. The application of PDC bits benefits from the efficient rock breaking of PDC cutters. In response to increasingly complex formations, many shaped cutters have been invited, but many of them have not been solved by the mechanism of rock breaking. In this paper, two kinds of PDC cutters: a new axe-shaped (NAS) cutter and cylindrical cutter (benchmark) were studied by laboratory experiments. NAS cutter is obtained by optimizing two sides of axe-shaped cutter with curved surfaces. All the cutters were put on a vertical turret lathe (VTL) in the laboratory for cutting tests. According to the cutting distance, the VTL tests can be divided into two modes: single-turn rotary cutting and continuous cutting. The cutting depth of cutting (DOC) was set at 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm in the former mode. The later mode includes a dry VTL test for thermal stability and a wet VTL test for wear resistance. Load cell and 3D optical profiler were used to obtain the value of cutting forces and wear area, respectively. Based on the findings of the single-turn rotary cutting VTL tests, the performance of A NAS cutter was better than the benchmark cutter on elastoplastic material cutting. The cutting forces (normal forces, tangential force, and radial force) and special mechanical energy (MSE) of a NAS cutter were lower than that of the benchmark cutter under the same condition. It meant that a NAS cutter was more efficient on elastoplastic material breaking. However, the wear resistance of a new axe-shaped cutter was higher than that of a benchmark cutter. The results of the dry VTL test showed that the thermal stability of a NAS cutter was higher than that of a benchmark cutter. The cutting efficiency can be improved by optimizing the geometric structure of the PDC cutter. The change of thermal stability may be caused by the decrease of the contact area between cutter and rock at given DOC. The conclusions of this paper can be used as an important reference for PDC cutters designers.

Keywords: axe-shaped cutter, PDC cutter, rotary cutting test, vertical turret lathe

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Authors: Nkechinyere Joy Olawuyi, Babajide Samuel Afolabi, Bola Ibitoye

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This study collected a preprocessed dataset of chest radiographs and formulated a deep neural network model for detecting abnormalities. It also evaluated the performance of the formulated model and implemented a prototype of the formulated model. This was with the view to developing a deep neural network model to automatically classify abnormalities in chest radiographs. In order to achieve the overall purpose of this research, a large set of chest x-ray images were sourced for and collected from the CheXpert dataset, which is an online repository of annotated chest radiographs compiled by the Machine Learning Research Group, Stanford University. The chest radiographs were preprocessed into a format that can be fed into a deep neural network. The preprocessing techniques used were standardization and normalization. The classification problem was formulated as a multi-label binary classification model, which used convolutional neural network architecture to make a decision on whether an abnormality was present or not in the chest radiographs. The classification model was evaluated using specificity, sensitivity, and Area Under Curve (AUC) score as the parameter. A prototype of the classification model was implemented using Keras Open source deep learning framework in Python Programming Language. The AUC ROC curve of the model was able to classify Atelestasis, Support devices, Pleural effusion, Pneumonia, A normal CXR (no finding), Pneumothorax, and Consolidation. However, Lung opacity and Cardiomegaly had a probability of less than 0.5 and thus were classified as absent. Precision, recall, and F1 score values were 0.78; this implies that the number of False Positive and False Negative is the same, revealing some measure of label imbalance in the dataset. The study concluded that the developed model is sufficient to classify abnormalities present in chest radiographs into present or absent.

Keywords: transfer learning, convolutional neural network, radiograph, classification, multi-label

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Shi-Yu Xu

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The top three risk factors that have contributed to building collapses during past earthquake events in Taiwan are: "irregular floor plans or elevations," "insufficient columns in single-bay buildings," and the "weak-story problem." Fortunately, these unsound structural characteristics can be directly identified from the floor plans. However, due to the vast number of old buildings, conducting manual inspections to identify these compromised structural features in all existing structures would be time-consuming and prone to human errors. This study aims to develop an algorithm that utilizes artificial intelligence techniques to automatically pinpoint the structural components within a building's floor plans. The obtained spatial information will be utilized to construct a digital structural model of the building. This information, particularly regarding the distribution of columns in the floor plan, can then be used to conduct preliminary seismic assessments of the building. The study employs various image processing and pattern recognition techniques to enhance detection efficiency and accuracy. The study enables a large-scale evaluation of structural vulnerability for numerous old buildings, providing ample time to arrange for structural retrofitting in those buildings that are at risk of significant damage or collapse during earthquakes.

Keywords: structural vulnerability detection, object recognition, seismic capacity assessment, old buildings, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Shonak Bansal, Prince Jain, Arun Kumar Singh, Neena Gupta

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Recently nature–inspired algorithms have widespread use throughout the tough and time consuming multi–objective scientific and engineering design optimization problems. In this paper, we present extended forms of firefly algorithm to find optimal Golomb ruler (OGR) sequences. The OGRs have their one of the major application as unequally spaced channel–allocation algorithm in optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems in order to minimize the adverse four–wave mixing (FWM) crosstalk effect. The simulation results conclude that the proposed optimization algorithm has superior performance compared to the existing conventional computing and nature–inspired optimization algorithms to find OGRs in terms of ruler length, total optical channel bandwidth and computation time.

Keywords: channel allocation, conventional computing, four–wave mixing, nature–inspired algorithm, optimal Golomb ruler, lévy flight distribution, optimization, improved multi–objective firefly algorithms, Pareto optimal

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Authors: Pawthawala Nancy Manish, Syed Alay Hashim

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A hybrid rocket is a rocket engine which uses propellants in two different states of matter- one is in solid and the other either gas or liquid. A hybrid rocket exhibit advantages over both liquid rockets and solid rockets especially in terms of simplicity, stop-start-restart capabilities, safety and cost. This paper deals the design and development of a hybrid rocket having paraffin wax as solid fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. Due to variation of pressure in combustion chamber there is significantly change in mass flow rate, burning rate and uneven regression along the length of the grain. This project describes the working model of a hybrid propellant rocket motor. We have designed a hybrid rocket thrust chamber based on the predetermined combustion chamber pressure and the properties of hybrid propellant. This project is all ready in working condition with normal oxygen injector. Now we have planned to modify the injector design to improve the combustion property. We will use spray type injector for injecting the oxidizer. This idea will increase the performance followed by the regression rate of the solid fuel. By employing mass conservation law, oxygen mass flux, oxidizer/fuel ratio and regression rate the thrust coefficient can be obtained for our current design. CATIA V5 R20 is our design software for the complete setup. This project is fully based on experimental evaluation and the collection of combustion and flow parameters. The thrust chamber is made of stainless steel and the duration of test is around 15-20 seconds (Maximum). These experiments indicates that paraffin based fuel provides the opportunity to satisfy a broad range of mission requirements for the next generation of the hybrid rocket system.

Keywords: burning rate, liquid oxygen, mass flow rate, paraffin wax and sugar

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Atif Zafar Khan, Swarnendra Singh, Imrana Naseem

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Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies in women worldwide and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women. Therefore, there is a need to identify new chemotherapeutic strategies for cancer treatment. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells contain elevated copper levels which play an integral role in angiogenesis. Copper is an important metal ion associated with the chromatin DNA, particularly with guanine. Thus, targeting copper via copper-specific chelators in cancer cells can serve as effective anticancer strategy. Keeping in view these facts, we evaluated the anticancer activity and copper-dependent cytotoxic effect of coumestrol (phytoestrogen in soybean products) in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Coumestrol inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, which was prevented by copper chelator neocuproine and ROS scavengers. Coumestrol treatment induced ROS generation coupled to DNA fragmentation, up-regulation of p53/p21, cell cycle arrest at G1/S phase, mitochondrial membrane depolarization and caspases 9/3 activation. All these effects were suppressed by ROS scavengers and neocuproine. These results suggest that coumestrol targets elevated copper for redox cycling to generate ROS leading to DNA fragmentation. DNA damage leads to p53 up-regulation which directs the cell cycle arrest at G1/S phase and promotes caspase-dependent apoptosis of MCF-7 cells. In conclusion, coumestrol induces pro-oxidant cell death by chelating cellular copper to produce copper-coumestrol complexes that engages in redox cycling in breast cancer cells. Thus, targeting elevated copper levels might be a potential therapeutic strategy for selective cytotoxic action against malignant cells.

Keywords: apoptosis, breast cancer, copper chelation, coumestrol, reactive oxygens species, redox cycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Tofigh Hamidavi, Sepehr Abrishami, Pasquale Ponterosso, David Begg

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Structural design and analysis is an important and time-consuming process, particularly at the conceptual design stage. Decisions made at this stage can have an enormous effect on the entire project, as it becomes ever costlier and more difficult to alter the choices made early on in the construction process. Hence, optimisation of the early stages of structural design can provide important efficiencies in terms of cost and time. This paper suggests a structural design optimisation (SDO) framework in which Genetic Algorithms (GAs) may be used to semi-automate the production and optimisation of early structural design alternatives. This framework has the potential to leverage conceptual structural design innovation in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. Moreover, this framework improves the collaboration between the architectural stage and the structural stage. It will be shown that this SDO framework can make this achievable by generating the structural model based on the extracted data from the architectural model. At the moment, the proposed SDO framework is in the process of validation, involving the distribution of an online questionnaire among structural engineers in the UK.

Keywords: building information, modelling, BIM, genetic algorithm, GA, architecture-engineering-construction, AEC, optimisation, structure, design, population, generation, selection, mutation, crossover, offspring

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: Ya'u Muhammad, Umar Umar A. Mallammadori, Dahiru Mansur

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Effect of kaempferol on haematological parameters in two weeks old broiler chickens with experimental Eimeria tenella infection was evaluated in this study. Sixty-day old broilers were randomly allotted into six groups (I-VI) of ten broilers each and brooded for two weeks with commercial broiler feed (vital feed®) and provided water ad libitum. At two weeks of age broilers in group 1 were neither infected nor treated. Broilers in groups II-VI were infected with Eimeria tenella sporulated oocyst (104/ml) via oral inoculation. After infection was established, broilers in groups II-IV were treated orally with 1 mg/kg, 1.5 mg/kg, and 2 mg/kg of kaempferol, respectively. Broilers in group V were treated for five days with amprolium, 1.25 g/L in drinking water. Broilers in group VI were administered normal saline, 5 ml/kg per os for five days. Five days post infection; all broilers were sacrificed by severing their jugular veins. Blood sample from each bird was collected in EDTA container for haematology. Caecal contents were harvested and used to determine the lesion score and caecal Oocyst count respectively. Data obtained was analyzed using pad prism version 5.0. Mean Packed Cell Volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hb) concentration, and Red Blood Cell (RBC) count significantly (P < 0.05) increased in groups II, III, and IV in a dose dependent manner. Similarly, PCV, Hb concentration, and RBC count significantly (P < 0.05) increased in groups II, III, and IV when compared to VI. No significant (P > 0.05) difference in the mean values of PCV, Hb and RBC count were recorded between groups treated with kaempferol and group V. Caecal Oocyst counts and lesion scores reduced significantly (P < 0.05) in groups II, III, and IV in a dose dependent manner. It was therefore observed in this study that kaempferol improved haematological parameters and reduced Oocyst count as well as the lesion scores in broilers infected with Eimeria tenella.

Keywords: broilers, Eimeria tenella, kaempferol, lesion scores, oocyst count,

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Authors: Folajinmi Oluwasina, Greg Abiaziem, Moses Luke, Mobolaji Kolawole, Nancy Yibowei, Anne Taiwo

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Background: Occurrence of HIV infection has an adverse effect on the natural causes of Hepatitis B Viral (HBV) infection, faster progression of hepatic fibrosis demonstrated in patients with co-infection. This study was carried out to determine the incidence of HBV infection among HIV-positive patients, and to retrospectively evaluate laboratory characteristics of patients with HIV/HBV co-infection. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patient files for all HIV-infected cases followed-up and treated at 52 health facilities. Among HIV-infected cases, those with HBsAg positivity and HIV/Hepatitis B co-infection were determined. Socio demographic, alcohol or substance use, ART, CD4, Viral Load levels and treatment durations were retrospectively evaluated. Results: Of the 125 HIV-infected patients evaluated retrospectively, 17 (13.6%) had HBsAg positivity. Of these 17 cases were 11(64.7%) male and 6 (35.3%) female, with a mean age of 48.7 years. No patients had a history of alcohol or substance use. The mean duration of follow up was 28 months. 9 (52.9%) patients had negative HBV DNA at presentation while 8(47%) had positive HBV DNA, with normal ALT levels in all subjects. Among the 9 cases with negative HBV DNA who had no indication for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. In five cases, treatment was commenced since HBV DNA was elevated in conjunction with low CD4. One patient in whom treatment was not indicated based on HBV DNA and CD4 levels in conjunction with the absence of AIDS defining clinical picture was currently being followed-up without treatment. Of the patients receiving HAART therapy, the average CD4 count at presentation was 278 cells/mm3 vs. 466 cells/mm3 at the end of 12 months. In three subjects with positive HBV DNA, a decrease in HBV DNA was noted after initiation of treatment. In four patients with negative DNA who received treatment, the HBV DNA negative status was found to remain, while one patient who did not receive treatment had elevated HBV DNA and decreased CD4 levels. Conclusion: It was shown that this group of patients with HIV/HBV co-infection, HAART was found to be associated with a decrease in HBV DNA in HBV DNA positive cases, absence of transition to positivity among those with negative HBV DNA, and with increased CD4 in all subjects.

Keywords: Hepatitis B, DNA, anti retroviral therapy, co-infection

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Lubna M. Zakaryia Mahmoud, Mohammed A. Dawood, Doaa A. Heiba

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A prospective double-blind placebo controlled trial carried out on 60 children known to be asthmatic who presented to the emergency department at Alexandria University of Children’s Hospital at El-Shatby with acute asthma exacerbations to assess the efficacy of adding inhaled magnesium sulfate to β-agonist, compared with β-agonist in saline, in the management of acute asthma exacerbations in children. The participants in the study were divided in two groups; Group A (study group) received inhaled salbutamol solution (0.15 ml/kg) plus isotonic magnesium sulfate 2 ml in a nebulizer chamber. Group B (control group): received nebulized salbutamol solution (0.15 ml/kg) diluted with placebo (2 ml normal saline). Both groups received inhaled solution every 20 minutes that was repeated for three doses. They were evaluated using the Pediatric Asthma Severity Score (PASS), oxygen saturation using portable pulse oximetry and peak expiratory flow rate using a portable peak expiratory flow meter at initially recorded as zero-minute assessment and every 20 minutes from the end of each nebulization (nebulization lasts 5-10 minutes) recorded as 20, 40 and 60-minute assessments. Regarding PASS, comparison showed non-significant difference with p-value 0.463, 0.472, 0.0766 at 20, 40 and 60 minutes. Regarding oxygen saturation, improvement was more significant towards group A starting from 40 min with significant p-value=0.000. At 60 min p-value=0.000. Although mean PEFR significantly improved from zero-min in both groups; however, improvement was more significant in group A with significant p-value = 0.015, 0.001, 0.001 at 20 min, 40 min and 60 min, respectively. The conclusion this study suggests is that inhaled magnesium sulfate is an efficient add on drug to standard β- agonist inhalation used in the treatment of moderate to severe asthma exacerbations.

Keywords: nebulized, magnesium sulfate, acute asthma , pediatric

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: Amal A. Hassan, Faten H. Fahmy, Abd El-Shafy A. Nafeh, Hosam K. M. Youssef

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Due to the growing penetration of wind energy into the power grid, it is very important to study its interactions with the power system and to provide good control technique in order to deliver high quality power. In this paper, an intelligent control methodology is proposed for optimizing the controllers’ parameters of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbine generation system (WTGS). The genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are employed and compared for the parameters adaptive tuning of the proposed proportional integral (PI) multiple controllers of the back to back converters of the DFIG based WTGS. For this purpose, the dynamic model of WTGS with DFIG and its associated controllers is presented. Furthermore, the simulation of the system is performed using MATLAB/SIMULINK and SIMPOWERSYSTEM toolbox to illustrate the performance of the optimized controllers. Finally, this work is validated to 33-bus test radial system to show the interaction between wind distributed generation (DG) systems and the distribution network.

Keywords: DFIG wind turine, intelligent control, distributed generation, particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm

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Authors: M. Bouhoun Ali, A. Y. Badjah Hadj Ahmed, M. Attou, A. Elias, M. A. Didi

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The extraction of uranium(VI) from aqueous solutions has been investigated using 1-hydroxyhexadecylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HHDPA) and 1-hydroxydodecylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HDDPA), which were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 31P NMR spectroscopy. In this paper, we propose a tentative assignment for the shifts of those two ligands and their specific complexes with uranium(VI). We carried out the extraction of uranium(VI) by HHDPA and HDDPA from [carbon tetrachloride + 2-octanol (v/v: 90%/10%)] solutions. Various factors such as contact time, pH, organic/aqueous phase ratio and extractant concentration were considered. The optimum conditions obtained were: contact time= 20 min, organic/aqueous phase ratio = 1, pH value = 3.0 and extractant concentration = 0.3M. The extraction yields are more significant in the case of the HHDPA which is equipped with a hydrocarbon chain, longer than that of the HDDPA. Logarithmic plots of the uranium(VI) distribution ratio vs. pHeq and the extractant concentration showed that the ratio of extractant to extracted uranium(VI) (ligand/metal) is 2:1. The formula of the complex of uranium(VI) with the HHDPA and the DHDPA is UO2(H3L)2 (HHDPA and DHDPA are denoted as H4L). A spectroscopic analysis has showed that coordination of uranium(VI) takes place via oxygen atoms.

Keywords: liquid-liquid extraction, uranium(vi), 1-hydroxyalkylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acids, hhdpa, hddpa, aqueous solution

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Authors: Mouad Ouafi, Lahoucine Atourki, Larbi Laanab, Erika Vega, Miguel Mollar, Bernabe Marib, Boujemaa Jaber

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Despite the astonishing emergence of the methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite as a promising light harvester for solar cells, their physical properties in solution-processed MAPbI₃ are still crucial and need to be improved. The objective of this work is to investigate the hot airflow effect during the growth of MAPbI₃ films using the spin-coating process on their structural, optical and morphological proprieties. The experimental results show that many physical proprieties of the perovskite strongly depend on the air flow temperature and the optimization which has a beneficial effect on the perovskite quality. In fact, a clear improvement of the crystallinity and the crystallite size of MAPbI₃ perovskite is demonstrated by the XRD analyses, when the airflow temperature is increased up to 100°C. Alternatively, as far as the surface morphology is concerned, SEM micrographs show that significant homogenous nucleation, uniform surface distribution and pin holes free with highest surface coverture of 98% are achieved when the airflow temperature reaches 100°C. At this temperature, the improvement is also observed when considering the optical properties of the films. By contrast, a remarkable degradation of the MAPbI₃ perovskites associated to the PbI₂ phase formation is noticed, when the hot airflow temperature is higher than 100°C, especially 300°C.

Keywords: hot air flow, crystallinity, surface coverage, perovskite morphology

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Authors: Amir Amiri, Naghmeh Morakabati

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During the recent years the six-fold growth of cancer in Iran has led the production of healthy products to become a challenge in the food industry. Due to the young population in the country, the consumption of fast foods is growing. The chemical cancer-causing preservatives are used to produce these products more than the standard; so using an appropriate alternative seems to be important. On the one hand, the plant essential oils show the high antimicrobial potential against pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and on the other hand they are highly volatile and decomposed under the processing conditions. The study aims to produce the loaded chitosan nanoparticles with different concentrations of savory essential oil to improve the anti-microbial property and increase the resistance of essential oil to oxygen and heat. The encapsulation efficiency was obtained in the range of 32.07% to 39.93% and the particle size distribution of the samples was observed in the range of 159 to 210 nm. The range of Zeta potential was obtained between -11.9 to -23.1 mV. The essential oil loaded in chitosan showed stronger antifungal activity against Rhizopus stolonifer. The results showed that the antioxidant property is directly related to the concentration of loaded essential oil so that the antioxidant property increases by increasing the concentration of essential oil. In general, it seems that the savory essential oil loaded in chitosan particles can be used as a food processor.

Keywords: chitosan, encapsulation, essential oil, nanogel

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Chimuanya Osuji, Kido Uyamasi, Morgan Bradley

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Introduction: Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases, with higher rates occurring among certain populations. Even though disparities in obesity rates exist for those with disabilities, few studies have assessed the association between disability and obesity status. This study aims to examine the association between type of disability and obesity status among US adults during the Covid-19 pandemic (2019-2021). Methods: Data for this cross-sectional study was obtained from the 2019, 2020 and 2021 NHIS. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to assess the relationship between each type of disability and obesity status (reference= normal/underweight). Each model adjusted for demographic, health status and health-related quality of life variables. Statistical analyses were conducted using SAS version 9.4. Results: Of the 82,632 US adults who completed the NHIS in 2019, 2020, and 2021. 8.9% (n= 7,354) reported at least 1 disability-related condition. Respondents reported having a disability across vision (1.5%), hearing (1.5%), mobility (5.3%), communication (0.8%), cognition (2.4%) and self-care (1.1%) domains. After adjusting for covariates, adults with at least 1 disability-related condition were about 30% more likely to have moderate-severe obesity (AOR=1.3; 95% CI=1.11, 1.53). Mobility was the only disability category positively associated with mild obesity (AOR=1.16; 95% CI=1.01, 1.35) and moderate/severe obesity (AOR=1.6; 95% CI=1.35, 1.89). Individuals with vision disability were about 35% less likely to have mild obesity (AOR=0.66; 95% CI=0.51, 0.86) and moderate-severe obesity (AOR=0.66; 95% CI= 0.48, 0.9). Individuals with hearing disability were 28% less likely to have mild obesity (AOR=0.72; 95% CI= 0.56, 0.94). Individuals with communication disability were about 30% less likely to be overweight (AOR=0.66; 95% CI=0.47, 0.93) and 50% less likely to have mild obesity (AOR=0.45; 95% CI= 0.29, 0.71). Individuals with cognitive disability were about 25% less likely to have mild obesity and about 35% less likely to have moderate-severe obesity. Individuals with self-care disability were about 30% less likely to be overweight. Conclusion: Mobility-related disabilities are significantly associated with obesity status among adults residing in the United States. Researchers and policy makers should implement obesity intervention methods that can address the gap in obesity prevalence rates among those with and without disabilities.

Keywords: cognition, disability, mobility, obesity

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Authors: A. Yakub AbdurRaheem

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Urban violence in the form of ethnic and religious conflicts have been on the increase in many African cities in the recent years of which most of them are the result of intense and bitter competition for political power, the control of limited economic, social and environmental resources. In Nigeria, the emergence of the Boko Haram insurgency in most parts of the northeastern parts have ignited violence, bloodshed, refugee exodus and internal migration. Not only do the persistent attacks of the sect create widespread insecurity and fear, but it has also stifled normal processes of trade and investments most especially real property investment which is acclaimed to accelerate the economic cycle, thus the need to evolve strategies for an improved property market in such areas. This paper, therefore, examines the impact of this social crisis on effective and efficient utilization of real properties as a resource towards the development of the economy, using a descriptive analysis approach where particular emphasis was based on trends in residential housing values; volume of estimated property transactions and real estate investment decisions by affected individuals. Findings indicate that social crisis in the affected areas have been a clog on the wheels of property development and investment as properties worth hundreds of millions have been destroyed thereby having great impact on property values. Based on these findings, recommendations were made to include the need to strategically continue investing in property during such times, the need for Nigerian government to establish an active conflict monitoring and management unit for the prompt response, encourage community and neighborhood policing to ameliorate security challenges in Nigeria.

Keywords: social crisis, economy, resources, property market

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Madeleine Gadd, Rose How, Edward Mathews, John Buchanan, Vicky Cottrell, Andre Coetzee, Karuna Katti

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Introduction: Triphallia, a congenital anomaly describing the presence of three distinct penile shafts, has been reported only once in the literature. This case report describes the serendipitous discovery of the first reported human case of partial orthotopic triphallia during cadaveric dissection. Case Summary: Despite the normal appearance of external genitalia on examination, the dissection of a 78-year-old male revealed a remarkable anatomical variation: two small supernumerary penises situated in a transverse orientation postero inferiorly to the primary penis. The main and the larger supernumerary penile shafts displayed their own corpora cavernosa and glans penis, sharing a single urethra, which coursed through the secondary penis prior to its passage through the primary penis. The smallest of the supernumerary penises was similar in dimension to the secondary penis, at 3.7cm long and 1.2cm wide (compared to the secondary penis at 3.8cm long and 1.3cm wide). However, it lacked a urethra and a typical arrangement of the corpora cavernosa and spongiosum, making this a case of partial triphallia rather than true triphallia. Conclusion: This case report provides a comprehensive anatomical description of partial triphallia in a cadaver, shedding light on the morphology, embryology, and clinical implications of this anomaly. This case report underscores the importance of meticulous anatomical dissections, particularly since, without dissection, this anatomical variation would have remained undiscovered. Although we can only speculate the functional implications of this condition, understanding such anatomical variations contributes to both knowledge of human anatomy and clinical management, should the condition be encountered in living individuals.

Keywords: triphallia, diphallia, congenital abnormalities, genitourinary abnormalities, urology

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Authors: Marref C., Marref S., Melakhssou M. A.

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The halophytic vegetation of Chott Gamra (Gadaïne Eco-complex, High Plateaus of Eastern Algeria) is characterized by a very rich cover. It is structured according to the variation in soil salinity and moisture. The objective of this study is to understand the biodiversity, distribution, and classification of halophytic vegetation. This wetland is characterized by a Mediterranean climate in the semi-arid to cool winter stage. The wetland area of the High Plateaus of Eastern Algeria constitutes a biodiversity reservoir. It is considered exceptional, although it remains little explored and documented to date. The study was conducted over consecutive spring seasons (2020/2021). Indeed, the inventory we established includes forty plant species belonging to fourteen different families, the majority of which are resistant to salinity and drought. These halophytic species that thrive there establish themselves in bands according to their tolerance threshold to salinity and their affinity to the hygroscopic level of the soil. Thus, other edaphic factors may come into play in the zonation of halophytes in saline environments. Species belonging to the Juncaceae and Poaceae families dominate by far the non-flooded vegetation cover of this site. These plants are perfectly adapted to saline environments.

Keywords: halophytes, biodiversity, salinity, wetland

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Authors: Mohamed Elghorab, Vendra C. Madhav Rao, Jennifer X. Wen

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Turbulence modelling is still evolving, and efforts are on to improve and develop numerical methods to simulate the real turbulence structures by using the empirical and experimental information. The monotonically integrated large eddy simulation (MILES) is an attractive approach for modelling turbulence in high Re flows, which is based on the solving of the unfiltered flow equations with no explicit sub-grid scale (SGS) model. In the current work, this approach has been used, and the action of the SGS model has been included implicitly by intrinsic nonlinear high-frequency filters built into the convection discretization schemes. The MILES solver is developed using the opensource CFD OpenFOAM libraries. The role of flux limiters schemes namely, Gamma, superBee, van-Albada and van-Leer, is studied in predicting turbulent statistical quantities for a fully developed channel flow with a friction Reynolds number, Re_T = 180, and compared the numerical predictions with the well-established Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) results for studying the wall generated turbulence. It is inferred from the numerical predictions that Gamma, van-Leer and van-Albada limiters produced more diffusion and overpredicted the velocity profiles, while superBee scheme reproduced velocity profiles and turbulence statistical quantities in good agreement with the reference DNS data in the streamwise direction although it deviated slightly in the spanwise and normal to the wall directions. The simulation results are further discussed in terms of the turbulence intensities and Reynolds stresses averaged in time and space to draw conclusion on the flux limiter schemes performance in OpenFOAM context.

Keywords: flux limiters, implicit SGS, MILES, OpenFOAM, turbulence statistics

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Authors: Yu Song, Yuefei Jin

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Urban public transportation can be integrated when there is an efficient connection between urban rail lines, however, there are currently no effective or quick solutions being investigated for this connection. This paper analyzes the space-time distribution and travel demand of passenger connection travel based on taxi track data and data from the road network, excavates potential bus connection stations based on potential connection demand data, and introduces the link growth probability model in the complex network to solve the basic connection bus lines in order to ascertain the direction of the bus lines that are the most connected given the demand characteristics. Then, a tree view exhaustive approach based on constraints is suggested based on graph theory, which can hasten the convergence of findings while doing chain calculations. This study uses WEI QU NAN Station, the Xi'an Metro Line 2 terminal station in Shaanxi Province, as an illustration, to evaluate the model's and the solution method's efficacy. According to the findings, 153 prospective stations have been dug up in total, the feeder bus network for the entire line has been laid out, and the best route adjustment strategy has been found.

Keywords: feeder bus, route optimization, link growth probability, the graph theory

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Authors: Auliya Adzillatin Uzhma, Ismu Rini Dwi Ari, I. Nyoman Suluh Wijaya

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme in Pantai Harapan Jaya village is cultivation of mangrove and fishery capital distribution, to achieve the goal the CSR programme needed participation from the society in it. Moeliono in Fahrudin (2011) mentioned that participation from society is based by intrinsic reason from inside people it self and extrinsic reason from the other who related to him or from connection with other people. The fundamental connection who caused more boundaries from action which the organization can do called the social structure. The purpose of this research is to know the form of public participation and the density of the villager and people who is participated in CSR programme. This research use Social Network Analysis method by knew the Rate of Participation and Density. The result of the research is people who is involved in the programme is lived in Dusun Pondok Dua and they work in fisheries field. Rate of Participation is 11,61 and that means people involved in 11 or 12 activites of CSR Programme. The rate of participation of CSR Programme is categorized as high rate participation. The density value from the participant is 0.516 it’s mean that 51.6% of the people that participated is involved in the same step of CSR programme.

Keywords: community participation, social network analysis, corporate social responsibility, urban and regional studies

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Authors: Amit Kumar Jain, Surbhi Jain

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The urban freight in a city constitutes 10 to 18 per cent of all city road traffic, and 40 per cent of air pollution and noise emissions, are directly related to commercial transport. The policy measures implemented by urban planners have sought to restrict rather than assist goods-vehicle operations. This approach has temporarily controlled the urban transport demand during peak hours of traffic but has not effectively solved transport congestion. The solution discussed in the paper envisages the development of a comprehensive network of Urban Freight Stations (UFS) connected through underground conveyor belts in the city in line with baggage segregation and distribution in any of the major airports. The transportation of freight shall be done in standard size containers/cars through rail borne carts. The freight can be despatched or received from any of the UFS. Once freight is booked for a destination from any of the UFS, it would be stuffed in the container and digitally tagged for the destination. The container would reach the destination UFS through a network of rail borne carts. The container would be de-stuffed at the destination UFS and sent for further delivery, or the consignee may be asked to collect the consignment from urban freight station. The obvious benefits would be decongestion of roads, reduction in air and noise pollution, saving in manpower used for freight transportation.

Keywords: congestion, urban freight, intelligent transport system, pollution

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Authors: Osama Amer, Yaser Abdel-Aty, Mohamed Abd El Hady

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The present paper illustrates an experimental approach to provide understanding of the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of different typologies of unreinforced three-leaf masonry walls of historical Islamic architectural heritage in Egypt. The main objective of this study is to investigate the propagation of possible cracking, ultimate load, deformations and failure mechanisms. Experimental data on interface-shear and compression tests on large scale three-leaf masonry wallets are provided. The wallets were built basically of Egyptian limestone and modified lime mortar. External wallets were built of stone blocks while the inner leaf was built of rubble limestone. Different loading conditions and dimensions of core layer for two types of collar joints (with and without shear keys) are considered in the tests. Mechanical properties of the constituent materials of masonry were tested and a database of characteristic properties was created. The results of the experiments will highlight the properties, force-displacement curves, stress distribution of multiple-leaf masonry walls contributing to the derivation of rational design rules and validation of numerical models.

Keywords: masonry, three-leaf walls, mechanical behavior, testing, architectural heritage

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Authors: D. Songpol, K. Taweesak, T. Sookyuen

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A social enterprise is an organization that operates commercial business as a source of income with the aim of addressing social and environmental issues. Though it is clear that this kind of organization will benefit society and environment but in practice, it is found that most of social enterprises’ goals cannot be achieved. The most success factors of social enterprises usually rely on individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, especially in educational business. This study aims to find out the magnitude of influence from the components of entrepreneur competencies to social enterprises in education. There are developmental models of research demonstrating that knowledge, skills and attributes affect the success of social enterprises in term of sustainability, social opportunities and innovation leadership. The 5-scale questionnaire was used to collect data from the social entrepreneurs in education who operates in the South East Asian region of 135 samples and then processed by the methods of structural equation models. The results show that the competency of entrepreneurs in attributes has the greatest impact on the success of social enterprises while the skills and knowledge have respectively impact on the social enterprises’ success as well. The reason why attributes of entrepreneurs have the greatest impact on social enterprise success is because, social enterprise is an organization that does not motivate or provide attractive financial incentives to the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, who succeed in developing their organizations, therefore need attribute factor higher than normal entrepreneurs, especially those in education sector that have somewhat few human resources to operate their businesses. More importantly, attribute’s traits such as entrepreneurial passion, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial identity and, innovativeness and perseverance will significantly affect the ideology and tolerance of the entrepreneurs once facing the problem in doing business. In conclusion, the education social enterprise would be successful depending on the performance of the entrepreneurs which derives from higher attributes competency.

Keywords: education, entrepreneur competencies, social enterprise, South East Asia

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Authors: Akwu A. Nneka, Naidoo, Yougasphree

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A significantly high number of microbes exist in higher plants; these microbes include bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes. There are reports on the benefits of endophytic fungi and their products of metabolism to the host plant and man, consequently, it is expedient to explore the changes that could arise as a result of manipulating their growth media. Grewia lasiocarpa E. Mey. ex Harv. (Malvaceae) is an indigenous Southern African plant, that belongs to a genus with known medicinal properties. Three media were used to culture the endophytic fungi viz., Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Malt Extract Agar (MEA), and Bacteriological Agar (BA) were used singly, and supplemented with three dilutions of the leaves and stem bark extracts. The manipulated growth media composition had a significant effect on the diversity of the isolated fungal populations. Several endophytic fungi were isolated; their distribution and diversity revealed a significant relatedness with the manipulated media. The media supplemented with the plant extracts was observed to give a significant increase in the growth rate and yield of the endophytes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing the endophytic fungi present in the leaves and stem bark of G. lasiocarpa E. Mey. ex Harv.

Keywords: Grewia lasiocarpa, plant-based extracts, endophytic fungi, Malvaceae

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Authors: María José Benitez Jimenez

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This research is based on the hypothesis that, despite being found that the problem of violence against the female partner occurs in all social classes, the criminal intervention falls, above all, on victims and aggressors with sociodemographic characteristics of the most excluded social groups. The methodology used in this study has been a collection of information through Spanish official statistics from 2004 to 2016: population, police, judicial and penitentiary data from Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and statistics National Institute. The data provided show that women victims and aggressors who come into contact with criminal intervention bodies for filing a complaint or having been reported, respectively, show a very high percentage, usually well above 50%, only primary studies or even that. Their employment situation is also precarious, in a percentage that could also be around 70%. The percentage distribution of these two variables is clearly above that which occurs in the whole of the Spanish population, in a particularly marked way as regards the employment situation. Immigrants triple, as victims or as aggressors of gender violence, the percentages of the Spanish population in terms of their contact with the organs of criminal intervention. Also the rate of foreign inmates in prisons for violence against the female couple doubles that of Spanish inmates.

Keywords: inmigrants, intimate partner violence, Spain, sociodemographic characteristics

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Authors: Jawaher A. Alsultan, Allen Feldman

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With the rapid switch to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, science teachers were suddenly required to teach their classes online. This breakneck shift to eLearning raised the question of how teacher educators could support science teachers who wanted to use reform-based methods of instruction while using virtual technologies. In this retrospective self-study, we, two science teacher educators, examined our practice as we worked with science teachers to implement inquiry, discussion, and argumentation [IDA] through eLearning. Ten high school science teachers from a large school district in the southeastern US participated virtually in the COVID-19 Community of Practice [COVID-19 CoP]. The CoP met six times from the end of April through May 2020 via Zoom. Its structure was based on a model of action research called enhanced normal practice [ENP], which includes exchanging stories, trying out ideas, and systematic inquiry. Data sources included teacher educators' meeting notes and reflective conversations, audio recordings of the CoP meetings, teachers' products, and post-interviews of the teachers. Findings included a new understanding of the role of existing relationships, shared goals, and similarities in the participants' situations, which helped build trust in the CoP, and the effects of our paying attention to the science teachers’ needs led to a well-functioning CoP. In addition, we became aware of the gaps in our knowledge of how the teachers already used apps in their practice, which they then shared with all of us about how they could be used for online teaching using IDA. We also identified the need to pay attention to feelings about tensions between the teachers and us around the expectations for final products and the project's primary goals. We found that if we are to establish relationships between us as facilitators and teachers that are honest, fair, and kind, we must express those feelings within the collective, dialogical processes that can lead to learning by all members of the CoP, whether virtual or face-to-face.

Keywords: community of practice, facilitators, self-study, action research

Procedia PDF Downloads 132