Search results for: distributed disaster reduction

Authors: Naeim Akbari Shahkhosravi, Reza Kakavand, Helen M. S. Davies, Amin Komeili

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Equine locomotion and performance are significantly affected by hoof health. One of the most critical diseases of the hoof is laminitis, which can lead to horse lameness in a severe condition. This disease exhibits the mechanical properties degradation of the laminar junction tissue within the hoof. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the biomechanics of the hoof, focusing specifically on excessive and cumulatively accumulated stresses within the laminar junction tissue. For this aim, the current study generated a novel equine hoof Finite Element (FE) model under dynamic physiological loading conditions and employing a hyperelastic material model. Associated tissues of the equine hoof were segmented from computed tomography scans of an equine forelimb, including the navicular bone, third phalanx, sole, frog, laminar junction, digital cushion, and medial- dorsal- lateral wall areas. The inner tissues were connected based on the hoof anatomy, and the hoof was under a dynamic loading over cyclic strides at the trot. The strain distribution on the hoof wall of the model was compared with the published in vivo strain measurements to validate the model. Then the validated model was used to study the development of laminitis. The ultimate stress tolerated by the laminar junction before rupture was considered as a stress threshold. The tissue damage was simulated through iterative reduction of the tissue’s mechanical properties in the presence of excessive maximum principal stresses. The findings of this investigation revealed how damage initiates from the medial and lateral sides of the tissue and propagates through the hoof dorsal area.

Keywords: horse hoof, laminitis, finite element model, continuous damage

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Nickolay Nosik, Dmitry Nosik, Marina Bochkova, Nina Kondrashina, Olga Lobach

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The bactericidal effect of UV radiation is known for long time and widely used for inactivation of pathogens but for viruses it is not so uniform. Due to a wide variety of viruses their sensitivity to UV radiation is quite different and not quite predictable. The goal of the study was to determine the inactivation kinetics of UV radiation ( 254 nm) of the viruses of social importance (HIV), as well as test-viruses (poliovirus, adenovirus) used for the evaluation of the viral inactivation efficacy of germicides. Methods: DNA viruses- adenovirus, type 5; Herpes simplex virus (HSV), type 1, and RNA viruses–human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), type 1 and poliovirus, type 1 (Sabin strain) were obtained from State collection of viruses ( The D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology). The source of UV radiation was a 15-watt low-pressure mercury vapor lamp (over 60% 254nm). The samples of 5cm2 were placed direct under the UV lamp flow (h-0.3m). Log reduction value was used as a marker for the rate of virus inactivation. Results: The data obtained indicate that poliovirus (one of the viruses most resistant to chemical germicides) and HSV are rather sensitive to UV radiation ( D90 =250-311 J/m2). Adenovirus is much more resistant to UV radiation (750 J/m2 ). The kinetics of adenovirus inactivation : 0 min- 5.0 lg TCID50, 10 min - 5,0, 15 min -4,0, 30 min – 3.5, 60 min – 1,0, 75 min -0,5 lg TCID50, 90 min –virus not detectable. HIV is most resistant to UV radiation among the studied viruses. It takes more than 4 hrs to inactivate the virus on the surface. D90 = 2000 J/m2 Conclusion: The results of the study show that there is no direct dependence between sensitivity to UV light and the size of the virion or presence\absence of the envelope of the virus. Poliovirus and adenovirus are small viruses (20-30nm poliovirus and 70-90nm adenovirus) and both are non-enveloped viruses but adenovirus 3-fold more resistant to UV radiation than poliovirus. It can be expected that viruses with more complicate structure, like Herpes virus (200nm) or HIV (80-100 nm), would be more sensitive to UV light. However, the very high resistance of HIV to UV radiation needs further investigation. The diverse resistance of the different viruses to UV radiation should be taken into the account when UV light is used to inactivate infectious viruses in hospitals and other public environments.

Keywords: HIV, HSV, inhibition of viruses, UV radiation

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Authors: Jayden Levy, Garth M. K. Pearce

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An automated fibre placement method has been developed to build through-thickness reinforcement into carbon fibre reinforced plastic laminates during their production, with the goal of increasing delamination fracture toughness while circumventing the additional costs and defects imposed by post-layup stitching and z-pinning. Termed ‘inter-weaving’, the method uses custom placement sequences of thermoset prepreg tows to distribute regular fibre link regions in traditionally clean ply interfaces. Inter-weaving’s impact on mode I delamination fracture toughness was evaluated experimentally through double cantilever beam tests (ASTM standard D5528-13) on [±15°]9 laminates made from Park Electrochemical Corp. E-752-LT 1/4” carbon fibre prepreg tape. Unwoven and inter-woven automated fibre placement samples were compared to those of traditional laminates produced from standard uni-directional plies of the same material system. Unwoven automated fibre placement laminates were found to suffer a mostly constant 3.5% decrease in mode I delamination fracture toughness compared to flat uni-directional plies. Inter-weaving caused significant local fracture toughness increases (up to 50%), though these were offset by a matching overall reduction. These positive and negative behaviours of inter-woven laminates were respectively found to be caused by fibre breakage and matrix deformation at inter-weave sites, and the 3D layering of inter-woven ply interfaces providing numerous paths of least resistance for crack propagation.

Keywords: AFP, automated fibre placement, delamination, fracture toughness, inter-weaving

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Yi Li, Yinan Zheng, Ya Ke, Yungwing Ho

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Motor learning is a process that frequently happens among humans and rodents, which is defined as the changes in the capability to perform a skill that is conformed to have a relatively permanent improvement through practice or experience. There are many ways to learn a behavior, among which is observational learning. Observational learning is the process of learning by watching the behaviors of others, for example, a child imitating parents, learning a new sport by watching the training videos or solving puzzles by watching the solutions. Many research explores observational learning in humans and primates. However, the neuronal mechanism of which, especially observational motor learning, was uncertain. It’s well accepted that mirror neurons are essential in the observational learning process. These neurons fire when the primate performs a goal-directed action and sees someone else demonstrating the same action, which suggests they have high firing activity both completing and watching the behavior. The mirror neurons are assumed to mediate imitation or play a critical and fundamental role in action understanding. They are distributed in many brain areas of primates, i.e., posterior parietal cortex (PPC), premotor cortex (M2), and primary motor cortex (M1) of the macaque brain. However, few researchers report the existence of mirror neurons in rodents. To verify the existence of mirror neurons and the possible role in motor learning in rodents, we performed customised string-pulling behavior combined with multiple behavior analysis methods, photometry, electrophysiology recording, c-fos staining and optogenetics in healthy mice. After five days of training, the demonstrator (demo) mice showed a significantly quicker response and shorter time to reach the string; fast, steady and accurate performance to pull down the string; and more precisely grasping the beads. During three days of observation, the mice showed more facial motions when the demo mice performed behaviors. On the first training day, the observer reduced the number of trials to find and pull the string. However, the time to find beads and pull down string were unchanged in the successful attempts on the first day and other training days, which indicated successful action understanding but failed motor learning through observation in mice. After observation, the post-hoc staining revealed that the c-fos expression was increased in the cognitive-related brain areas (medial prefrontal cortex) and motor cortices (M1, M2). In conclusion, this project indicated that the observation led to a better understanding of behaviors and activated the cognitive and motor-related brain areas, which suggested the possible existence of mirror neurons in these brain areas.

Keywords: observation, motor learning, string-pulling behavior, prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, cognitive

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Authors: Mai Abdul Latif, Yuntian Feng

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Applied Element Method (AEM) is a method that was developed to aid in the analysis of the collapse of structures. Current available methods cannot deal with structural collapse accurately; however, AEM can simulate the behavior of a structure from an initial state of no loading until collapse of the structure. The elements in AEM are connected with sets of normal and shear springs along the edges of the elements, that represent the stresses and strains of the element in that region. The elements are rigid, and the material properties are introduced through the spring stiffness. Nonlinear dynamic analysis has been widely modelled using the finite element method for analysis of progressive collapse of structures; however, difficulties in the analysis were found at the presence of excessively deformed elements with cracking or crushing, as well as having a high computational cost, and difficulties on choosing the appropriate material models for analysis. The Applied Element method is developed and coded to significantly improve the accuracy and also reduce the computational costs of the method. The scheme works for both linear elastic, and nonlinear cases, including elasto-plastic materials. This paper will focus on elastic and elasto-plastic material behaviour, where the number of springs required for an accurate analysis is tested. A steel cantilever beam is used as the structural element for the analysis. The first modification of the method is based on the Gaussian Quadrature to distribute the springs. Usually, the springs are equally distributed along the face of the element, but it was found that using Gaussian springs, only up to 2 springs were required for perfectly elastic cases, while with equal springs at least 5 springs were required. The method runs on a Newton-Raphson iteration scheme, and quadratic convergence was obtained. The second modification is based on adapting the number of springs required depending on the elasticity of the material. After the first Newton Raphson iteration, Von Mises stress conditions were used to calculate the stresses in the springs, and the springs are classified as elastic or plastic. Then transition springs, springs located exactly between the elastic and plastic region, are interpolated between regions to strictly identify the elastic and plastic regions in the cross section. Since a rectangular cross-section was analyzed, there were two plastic regions (top and bottom), and one elastic region (middle). The results of the present study show that elasto-plastic cases require only 2 springs for the elastic region, and 2 springs for the plastic region. This showed to improve the computational cost, reducing the minimum number of springs in elasto-plastic cases to only 6 springs. All the work is done using MATLAB and the results will be compared to models of structural elements using the finite element method in ANSYS.

Keywords: applied element method, elasto-plastic, Gaussian springs, nonlinear

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Authors: Ryan Brisbin, Hassan Harb, Justin Debow, Hrant Hratchian, Ryan Baxter

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Donor-Acceptor (DA) frameworks are crucial parts of any technology requiring charge transport. This type of behavior is ubiquitous across technologies from semi conductors to solar panels. Currently, most DA systems involve metallic components, but progressive research is being pursued to design fully organic DA systems to be used as both organic semi-conductors and light emitting diodes. These systems are currently comprised of conductive polymers and salts. However, little is known about the effect of various physical aspects (size, torsional angle, electron density) have on the act of reversible charge transfer. Herein, the effect of torsional angle on reductive stability in bis(imino)pyridines is analyzed using a combination of single crystal analysis and electro-chemical peak current ratios from cyclic voltammetry. The computed free energies of reduction and electron attachment points were also investigated through density functional theory and natural ionization orbital theory to gain greater understanding of the global effect torsional angles have on electron transfer in bis(imino)pyridines. Findings indicated that torsional angles are a multi-variable parameter affected by both local steric constraints and resonant electronic contributions. Local steric impacted torsional angles demonstrated a negligible effect on electrochemical reversibility, while resonant affected torsional angles were observed to significantly alter the electrochemical reversibility.

Keywords: cyclic voltammetry, bis(imino)pyridines, structure-activity relationship, torsional angles

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Sila K. Sari, Betty J.L. Laglbauer, Muhammad G. Salim, Irianies C. Gozali, Iqbal Herwata, Fahmi Fahmi, Selvia Oktaviyani, Isabel Ender, Sarah Lewis, Abraham Sianipar, Mark Erdmann

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Taking strides towards the sustainable use of marine stocks requires science-based management of target fish populations and reduction of bycatch in non-selective fisheries. Among elasmobranchs, mobulid rays are faced with high extinction risk due to intrinsic vulnerability to fishing and their conservation has been recognized as a strong priority both in Indonesia and worldwide. Despite their common vulnerabilities to fishing pressure due to slow growth, late maturation and low fecundity, only manta rays, but not devil rays, are protected in Indonesian waters. However, both manta and devil rays are captured in non-selective fisheries, in particular drift gillnets, since their habitat overlaps with fishing grounds for primary target species (e.g. marlin, swordfish and bullet tuna off the coast of Muncar). For this reason, mobulid populations are being heavily impacted, and while national-level protections are crucial to help conservation, they may not suffice alone to insure populations sustainability. In order to assess the potential of applying live-release management measures to conserve mobulids captured as bycatch in drift gillnets, we deployed pop-up survival archival transmitters to assess post-release mortality in Indonesian mobulid rays. We also assessed which fishing practices, in particular, soak duration, affected post-release mortality in order to draw relevant conclusions for management.

Keywords: Mobulid, Devil ray, Manta ray, Bycatch

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Authors: Papitchaya Papangkorn

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Matching the expectations of teachers and learners is significant for successful language learning. Moreover, teachers should discover what their learners think and feel about what and how they want to learn. Therefore, this study investigates International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University students’ preferences toward error corrections in order to help SSRUIC teachers match their expectations and their learners because it is important for successful language learning. This study examined the learners’ attitude and preference toward error correction through 50 first year SSRUIC students both male (25) and female (25) in Bangkok, Thailand. The data were collected from a questionnaire and interviews to investigate the necessity and frequency, timing, type of errors, method of corrective feedback, and person who gives error correction in order to answer the overall research question and sub-questions. The findings indicate five suggestions regarding the overall research question. Firstly, errors should be treated, and always be treated. Secondly, treating errors after finish speaking is the most appropriate time. Thirdly, “errors that may cause problems in an understanding of listener” and “frequent spoken errors” should be treated. Fourthly, repetition and explicit feedback were the most popular types of feedback among males, whereas metalinguistic feedback was the most favoured types amongst females. Finally, teachers were the most preferred person to deliver corrective feedback for the learners. Although the results of the study are difficult to generalize to a larger population, which are Thai EFL learners because of the small sample, the findings provide useful information that may contribute to understanding of SSRUIC learners’ preferences toward error corrections and it might reduce the gap between what teachers employ and what students expect when receiving corrective feedback. The reduction of this gap may be useful for the learning process and could enhance the efforts of both teachers and learners in a Thai context.

Keywords: attitude, corrective feedback, error, preference

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Deepak Singh, Rail Kuliev

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The abstract highlights the critical importance of optimizing data integration and management strategies in the upstream oil and gas industry. With its complex and dynamic nature generating vast volumes of data, efficient data integration and management are essential for informed decision-making, cost reduction, and maximizing operational performance. Challenges such as data silos, heterogeneity, real-time data management, and data quality issues are addressed, prompting the proposal of several strategies. These strategies include implementing a centralized data repository, adopting industry-wide data standards, employing master data management (MDM), utilizing real-time data integration technologies, and ensuring data quality assurance. Training and developing the workforce, “reskilling and upskilling” the employees and establishing robust Data Management training programs play an essential role and integral part in this strategy. The article also emphasizes the significance of data governance and best practices, as well as the role of technological advancements such as big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). To illustrate the practicality of these strategies, real-world case studies are presented, showcasing successful implementations that improve operational efficiency and decision-making. In present study, by embracing the proposed optimization strategies, leveraging technological advancements, and adhering to best practices, upstream oil and gas companies can harness the full potential of data-driven decision-making, ultimately achieving increased profitability and a competitive edge in the ever-evolving industry.

Keywords: master data management, IoT, AI&ML, cloud Computing, data optimization

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Authors: Adepoju Abiola Lydia, Adeyanju James Abiodun, Abioye A. O.

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Spray drying, an innovative and sustainable preservation method, is increasingly gaining recognition for its potential to enhance food security by extending the shelf life of fruits. This technique involves the atomization of fruit pulp into fine droplets, followed by rapid drying with hot air, resulting in a powdered product that retains much of the original fruit's nutritional value, flavor, and color. By encapsulating sensitive bioactive compounds within a dry matrix, spray drying mitigates nutrient degradation and extends product usability. This technology aligns with sustainability goals by reducing post-harvest losses, minimizing the need for preservatives, and lowering energy consumption compared to conventional drying methods. Furthermore, spray drying enables the use of imperfect or surplus fruits, contributing to waste reduction and providing a continuous supply of nutritious fruit-based ingredients regardless of seasonal variations. The powdered form enhances versatility, allowing incorporation into various food products, thus broadening the scope of fruit utilization. Innovations in spray drying, such as the use of novel carrier agents and optimization of processing parameters, enhance the quality and functionality of the final product. Moreover, the scalability of spray drying makes it suitable for both industrial applications and smaller-scale operations, supporting local economies and food systems. In conclusion, spray drying stands out as a key technology in enhancing food security by ensuring a stable supply of high-quality, nutritious food ingredients while fostering sustainable agricultural practices.

Keywords: spray drying, sustainable, process parameters, carrier agents, fruits

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Authors: P. Larpsomboonchai

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Agro-industry is one of major industries that has strong impacts on national economic incomes, growth, stability, and sustainable development. Moreover, this industry also has strong influences on social, cultural and political issues. Furthermore, this industry, as producing primary and secondary products, is facing challenges from such diverse factors such as demand inconsistency, intense international competition, technological advancements and new competitors. In order to maintain and to improve industry’s competitiveness in both domestics and international markets, science and technology are key factors. Besides hard sciences and technologies, modern industrial engineering concepts such as Just in Time (JIT) Total Quality Management (TQM), Quick Response (QR), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Lean can be very effective to supportant to increase efficiency and effectiveness of these agricultural products on world stage. Onion is one of Thailand’s major export products which brings back national incomes. But, it also facing challenges in many ways. This paper focused its interests in onion packing process and its related activities such as storage and shipment from one of major packing plant and storage in Mae Wang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand, by applying Toyota Production System (TPS) or Lean concepts, to improve process capability throughout the entire packing and distribution process which will be profitable for the whole onion supply chain. And it will be beneficial to other related agricultural products in Thailand and other ASEAN countries.

Keywords: packing process, Toyota Production System (TPS), lean concepts, waste reduction, lean in agro-industries activities

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Authors: Young Nam Chun, Mun Sup Lim, Byeo Ri Jeong

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Sewage sludge is regarded as the residue produced by the waste water treatment process, during which liquids and solids are being separated. Thermal treatments are interesting techniques to stabilize the sewage sludge for disposal. Among the thermal treatments, pyrolysis and/or gasification has been being applied to the sewage sludge. The final goal of our NRF research is to develop a microwave In-line Drying-Pyrolysis-Gasification (IDPG) technology for the dewatered sewage sludge for the bio-waste to energy conversion. As a first step, the pyrolysis characteristics in a bench scale electric furnace was investigated at 800℃ for the dewatered sludge and dried sludge samples of which moisture contents are almost 80% and 0%, respectively. Main components of producer gas are hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Particularly, higher hydrogen for the dewatered sludge is shown as 75%. The hydrogen production for the dewatered sludge and dried sludge are 56% and 32%, respectively. However, the pyrolysis for the dried sludge produces higher carbon dioxide and other gases, while higher methane and carbon dioxide are given to 74% and 53%, respectively. Tar also generates during the pyrolysis process, showing lower value for case of the dewatered sludge. Gravimetric tar is 195 g/m3, and selected light tar like benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, pyrene are 9.4 g/m3, 2.1 g/m3, 0.5 g/m3, 0.3 g/m3, respectively. After the pyrolysis process, residual char for the dewatered sludge and dried sludge remain 1g and 1.3g, showing weight reduction rate of 93% and 57%, respectively. Through the results, this could be known that the dewatered sludge can be used to produce a clean hydrogen-rich gas fuel without the drying process. Therefore, the IDPG technology can be applied effectively to the energy conversion for dewater sludge waste without a drying pretreatment. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIP) (No. 2015R1A2A2A03003044).

Keywords: pyrolysis, gasification, sewage sludge, tar generation, producer gas, sludge char, biomass energy

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Authors: Rahul Kumar, Pavuluri Srinivasa Rao

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This study investigates the effect of ultrasound-assisted high pressure (HP) treatment on the soaking characteristic of soybeans and extracted soy milk quality. The soybean (variety) was subjected to sonication (US) at ambient temperature for 15 and 30 min followed by HP treatment in the range of 200-400 MPa for dwell times 5-10 min. The bean samples were also compared with HPP samples (200-400 MPa; 5-10 mins), overnight soaked samples(12-15 h) and thermal treated samples (100°C/30 min) followed by overnight soaking for 12-15 h soaking. Rapid soaking within 40 min was achieved by the combined US-HPP treatment, and it reduced the soaking time by about 25 times in comparison to overnight soaking or thermal treatment followed by soaking. Reducing the soaking time of soybeans is expected to suppress the development of undesirable beany flavor of soy milk developed during normal soaking milk extraction. The optimum moisture uptake by the sonicated-pressure treated soybeans was 60-62% (w.b) similar to that obtained after overnight soaking for 12-15 h or thermal treatment followed by overnight soaking. pH of soy milk was not much affected by the different US-HPP treatments and overnight soaking which centered around the range of 6.6-6.7 much like the normal cow milk. For milk extracted from thermally treated soy samples, pH reduced to 6.2. Total soluble solids were found to be maximum for the normal overnight soaked soy samples, and it was in the range of 10.3-10.6. For the HPP treated soy milk, the TSS reduced to 7.4 while sonication further reduced it to 6.2. TSS was found to be getting reduced with increasing time of ultrasonication. Further reduction in TSS to 2.3 was observed in soy milk produced from thermally treated samples following overnight soaking. Our results conclude that thermally treated beans' milk is less stable and more acidic, soaking is very rapid compared to overnight soaking hence milk productivity can be enhanced with less development of undesirable beany flavor.

Keywords: beany flavor, high pressure processing, high pressure, soybean, soaking, milk, ultrasound, wet basis

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Zelalem Markos Borko

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Work-related stress is a reaction that occurs when the work weight progress toward becoming excessive. Therefore, unless properly managed, stress leads to high employee turnover, decreased performance, illness and absenteeism. Yet, little has been addressed regarding work-related stress and its predictors in the study area. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess stress prevalence and its predictors in the study area. To that effect, a cross-sectional study design was conducted on 281 employees from the Ethiopian Federal Bureau of Investigation by using stratified random sampling techniques. Survey questionnaire scales were employed to collect data. Data were analyzed by percentage, Pearson correlation coefficients, simple linear regression, multiple linear regressions, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA statistical techniques. In the present study13.9% of participants faced high stress, whereas 13.5% of participants faced low stress and the rest 72.6% of officers experienced moderate stress. There is no significant group difference among workers due to age, gender, marital status, educational level, years of service and police rank. This study concludes that factors such as role conflict, performance over-utilization, role ambiguity, and qualitative and quantitative role overload together predict 39.6% of work-related stress. This indicates that 60.4% of the variation in stress is explained by other factors, so other additional research should be done to identify additional factors predicting stress. To prevent occupational stress among police, the Ethiopian Federal Bureau of Investigation should develop strategies based on factors that will help to develop stress reduction management.

Keywords: work-related stress, Ethiopian federal bureau of investigation, predictors, Addis Ababa

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Authors: Pablo Chico De Guzman, Cesar Sanchez

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Microservices are a software development methodology in which applications are built by composing a set of independently deploy-able, small, modular services. Each service runs a unique process and it gets instantiated and deployed in one or more machines (we assume that different microservices are deployed into different machines). Microservices are becoming the de facto standard for developing distributed cloud applications due to their reduced release cycles. In principle, the responsibility of a microservice can be as simple as implementing a single function, which can lead to the following issues: - Resource fragmentation due to the virtual machine boundary. - Poor communication performance between microservices. Two composition techniques can be used to optimize resource fragmentation and communication performance: aggregation and embedding of microservices. Aggregation allows the deployment of a set of microservices on the same machine using a proxy server. Aggregation helps to reduce resource fragmentation, and is particularly useful when the aggregated services have a similar scalability behavior. Embedding deals with communication performance by deploying on the same virtual machine those microservices that require a communication channel (localhost bandwidth is reported to be about 40 times faster than cloud vendor local networks and it offers better reliability). Embedding can also reduce dependencies on load balancer services since the communication takes place on a single virtual machine. For example, assume that microservice A has two instances, a1 and a2, and it communicates with microservice B, which also has two instances, b1 and b2. One embedding can deploy a1 and b1 on machine m1, and a2 and b2 are deployed on a different machine m2. This deployment configuration allows each pair (a1-b1), (a2-b2) to communicate using the localhost interface without the need of a load balancer between microservices A and B. Aggregation and embedding techniques are complex since different microservices might have incompatible runtime dependencies which forbid them from being installed on the same machine. There is also a security concern since the attack surface between microservices can be larger. Luckily, container technology allows to run several processes on the same machine in an isolated manner, solving the incompatibility of running dependencies and the previous security concern, thus greatly simplifying aggregation/embedding implementations by just deploying a microservice container on the same machine as the aggregated/embedded microservice container. Therefore, a wide variety of deployment configurations can be described by combining aggregation and embedding to create an efficient and robust microservice architecture. This paper presents a formal method that receives a declarative definition of a microservice architecture and proposes different optimized deployment configurations by aggregating/embedding microservices. The first prototype is based on i2kit, a deployment tool also submitted to ICWS 2018. The proposed prototype optimizes the following parameters: network/system performance, resource usage, resource costs and failure tolerance.

Keywords: aggregation, deployment, embedding, resource allocation

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: Yun-Hsiang Lee

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Cancer is the main cause of death worldwide. With advances in medical technology, immunotherapy, which is a newly developed advanced treatment, is currently a crucial cancer treatment option. For better quality cancer care, the ability to communicate and critical thinking plays a central role in clinical oncology settings. However, few studies have explored the impact of communication skills on immunotherapy-related issues and their related factors. This study was to (i) explore the current status of communication skill ability for immunotherapy-related issues, self-efficacy for immunotherapy-related care, and critical thinking ability; and (ii) identify factors related to communication skill ability. This is a cross-sectional study. Oncology nurses were recruited from the Taiwan Oncology Nursing Society, in which nurses came from different hospitals distributed across four major geographic regions (North, Center, South, East) of Taiwan. A total of 123 oncology nurses participated in this study. A set of questionnaires were used for collecting data. Communication skill ability for immunotherapy issues, self-efficacy for immunotherapy-related care, critical thinking ability, and background information were assessed in this survey. Independent T-test and one-way ANOVA were used to examine different levels of communication skill ability based on nurses having done oncology courses (yes vs. no) and education years (< 1 year, 1-3 years, and > 3 years), respectively. Spearman correlation was conducted to understand the relationships between communication skill ability and other variables. Among the 123 oncology nurses in the current study, the majority of them were female (98.4%), and most of them were employed at a hospital in the North (46.8%) of Taiwan. Most of them possessed a university degree (78.9%) and had at least 3 years of prior work experience (71.7%). Forty-three of the oncology nurses indicated in the survey that they had not received oncology nurses-related training. Those oncology nurses reported moderate to high levels of communication skill ability for immunotherapy issues (mean=4.24, SD=0.7, range 1-5). Nurses reported moderate levels of self-efficacy for immunotherapy-related care (mean=5.20, SD=1.98, range 0-10) and also had high levels of critical thinking ability (mean=4.76, SD=0.60, range 1-6). Oncology nurses who had received oncology training courses had significantly better communication skill ability than those who had not received oncology training. Oncology nurses who had higher work experience (1-3 years, or > 3 years) had significantly higher levels of communication skill ability for immunotherapy-related issues than those with lower work experience (<1 year). When those nurses reported better communication skill ability, they also had significantly better self-efficacy (r=.42, p<.01) and better critical thinking ability (r=.47, p<.01). Taken altogether, courses designed to improve communication skill ability for immunotherapy-related issues can make a significant impact in clinical settings. Communication skill ability for oncology nurses is the major factor associated with self-efficacy and critical thinking, especially for those with lower work experience (< 1 year).

Keywords: communication skills, critical thinking, immunotherapy, oncology nurses, self-efficacy

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Authors: S. Mishra, J. Monro, H. Edwards, J. Podd

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When a fruit such as kiwifruit is consumed its tissues are released from the physical /anatomical constraints existing in the fruit. During digestion they may expand several-fold to achieve a hydrated solids volume far greater than the original fruit, and occupy the available space in the gut, where they surround and interact with other food components. Within the cell wall dispersion, in vitro digestion of co-consumed carbohydrate, diffusion of digestion products, and mixing responsible for mass transfer of nutrients to the gut wall for absorption, were all retarded. All of the foregoing processes may be involved in the glycaemic response to carbohydrate foods consumed with kiwifruit, such as breakfast cereal. To examine their combined role in reducing the glycaemic response to wheat cereal consumed with kiwifruit we formulated diets containing equal amounts of breakfast cereal, with the addition of either kiwifruit, or sugars of the same composition and quantity as in kiwifruit. Therefore, the only difference between the diets was the presence of non-digestible fruit residues. The diet containing the entire disperse kiwifruit significantly reduced the glycaemic response amplitude and the area under the 0-120 min incremental blood glucose response curve (IAUC), compared with the equicarbohydrate diet containing the added kiwifruit sugars. It also slightly but significantly increased the 120-180 min IAUC by preventing a postprandial overcompensation, indicating improved homeostatic blood glucose control. In a subsequent study in which we used kiwifruit in a carbohydrate exchange format, in which the kiwifruit carbohydrate partially replaced breakfast cereal in equal carbohydrate meals, the blood glucose was further reduced without a loss of satiety, and with a reduction in insulin demand. The results show that kiwifruit may be a valuable component in low glycaemic impact diets.

Keywords: carbohydrate, digestion, glycaemic response, kiwifruit

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Authors: Hamid Abdulroof Saleh

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Background: Dioxins are one of the most widely distributed environmental pollutants. Dioxins consist of feedstock during the preparation of some industries, such as the paper industry as they can be produced in the atmosphere during the process of burning garbage and waste, especially medical waste. Dioxins can be found in the adipose tissues of animals in the food chain as well as in human breast milk. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-pdioxin (TCDD) is the most toxic component of a large group of dioxins. Humans are exposed to TCDD through contaminated food items like meat, fish, milk products, eggs etc. Recently, natural formulations relating to reducing or eliminating TCDD toxicity have been in focus. Ginger rhizome (Zingiber officinale R., family: Zingiberaceae), is used worldwide as a spice. Both antioxidative and androgenic activity of Z. officinale was reported in animal models. Researchers showed that ginger oil has dominative protective effect on DNA damage and might act as a scavenger of oxygen radical and might be used as an antioxidant. Aim of the work: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the toxic effect of TCDD on the structure and histoarchitecture of the testis and the protective role of co-administration of ginger root extract to prevent this toxicity. Materials & Methods: Male adult rats of Sprague-Dawley strain were assigned to four groups, eight rats in each; control group, dioxin treated group (given TCDD at the dose of 100 ng/kg Bwt/day by gavage), ginger treated group (given 50 mg/kg Bwt/day of ginger root extract by gavage), dioxin and ginger treated group (given TCDD at the dose of 100 ng/kg Bwt/day and 50 mg/kg Bwt/day of ginger root extract by gavages). After three weeks, rats were weighed and sacrificed where testis were removed and weighted. The testes were processed for routine paraffin embedding and staining. Tissue sections were examined for different morphometric and histopathological changes. Results: Dioxin administration showed a harmful effects in the body, testis weight and other morphometric parameters of the testis. In addition, it produced varying degrees of damage to the seminiferous tubules, which were shrunken and devoid of mature spermatids. The basement membrane was disorganized with vacuolization and loss of germinal cells. The co-administration of ginger root extract showed obvious improvement in the above changes and showed reversible morphometric and histopathological changes of the seminiferous tubules. Conclusion: Ginger root extract treatment in this study was successful in reversing all morphometric and histological changes of dioxin testicular damage. Therefore, it showed a protective effect on testis against dioxin toxicity.

Keywords: dioxin, ginger, rat, testis

Procedia PDF Downloads 418

Authors: Pornwipa Daoduong, Jairak Loysongkroa, Napaphan Viriyautsahakul, Wachira Pengjuntr

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Obesity is on of serious health problem in many countries including Thailand where the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased from 8.8 % in 2014 to 9.5 % in 2015 and 12.9 % in 2016. The Ministry of Public Health’s objective is to reduce prevalence of childhood Obesity to 10% or lower in 2017, by implementing the measure in relation to nutrition, physical activity (PA) and environment in 6,405 targeted school with proportion of school children with obesity is higher than 10 %. Smart Kids Coacher (SKC)” is a new innovative intervention created by Department of Health and consists of 252 regional and provincial officers. The SKC aims to train the super trainers about food and nutrition.PA and emotional control through implementing three learning activities including 1) Food for Fun is about Nutrition flag, Nutrition label, food portion and Nutrition surveillance; 2) Fun for Fit includes intermediated- and advanced level workouts within 60 minutes such as kangaroo dance, Chair stretching; and 3) Control emotional is about to prevent probability of access to unhealthy food, to ensure for having meal in appropriate time, and to recruit peers and family member to increase awareness among target groups. Apart from providing SKC lesson for 3,828 officers at district level, a number of students (2,176) as role model are selected through implementing “Smart Kids Leader: (SKL)”.Consequently. The SKC lowers proportion of childhood obesity from 17% in 2012 to 12.9% in 2016. Further, the SKC coverage should be expanded to other setting. Policy maker should be aware of the important of reduction of the prevalence of childhood obesity, and it’s related risk. Network and Collaboration between stakeholders are essential as well as an improvement of holistic intervention and knowledge “NuPETHS” for kids in the future.

Keywords: childhood obesity, model, obesity, smart kids coacher

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: N. Tumenbayeva

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At the present time in Kazakhstan, the area for saxaul growing is strongly depopulateddue to anthropogenic and other factors. To prevent further reduction of natural haloxylon forest area their artificial crops are offered. Seed germination and survival of young plants in such haloxylon crops are very low. Insects, as one of the most important nutrient factors have appreciable effect on seed germination and saxaul productivity at the all stages of its formation. Insects, feeding on leaves, flowers, seeds and developing inside the trunk, branches, twigs, roots have a change in its formation and influence on the lifespan of saxaul. Representatives of Lepidoptera troop (Lepidopteraare the most harmful pests forsaxaul. As a result of our research we have identified 15 species of Lepidoptera living on haloxylon which display very different cycles and different types of food relations. It allows them to inhabit a variety of habitats, and feeding on various parts of saxaul. Some of them cause significant and sometimes very heavy damage for saxaul. There are 17identified species of Lepidoptera from the Coleophoridaefamily - 1, Gelechidae - 5, Pyralidae - 4, Noctuidae - 4, Lymantridae- 1, Cossidae - 2 species. At the same time we found 8 species for the first time, which have not been mentioned in the literature before. According to food specialization they are divided into monophages (2 types), oligophages (6 species) and polyphages (3 species). By affinity to plant parts, leaves and seeds are fed by 8 species, shoots by 1 specie, scions by 5 species, flowers, scions, seeds by 1, and 2species damage the roots and trunks. In whole installed seasonal groups of Lepidoptera - saxaul pests in the desert area, confined to the certain parts of the year, as well as certain parts of the plant for feeding. Harmfulness, depending on their activity appear during the growing season is also different.

Keywords: saxaul, Lepidoptera, insecta, haloxylon

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Susan Mwai, Mary Muchane, Peter Wachira, Sheila Okoth, Muchai Muchane, Halima Saado

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Tropical forests harbor a wide range of biodiversity and rich macro-fungi diversity compared to the temperate regions in the World. However, biodiversity is facing the threat of extinction following the rate of forest loss taking place before proper study and documentation of macrofungi is achieved. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of converting indigenous habitat to plantation forest on macrofungi diversity. To achieve the objective of this study, an inventory focusing on macro-fungi diversity was conducted within Kereita block in Kikuyu Escarpment forest which is on the southern side of Aberdare mountain range. The macrofungi diversity was conducted in the indigenous forest and in more than 15 year old Patula plantation forest , during the wet (long rain season, December 2014) and dry (Short rain season, May, 2015). In each forest type, 15 permanent (20m x 20m) sampling plots distributed across three (3) forest blocks were used. Both field and laboratory methods involved recording abundance of fruiting bodies, taxonomic identity of species and analysis of diversity indices and measures in terms of species richness, density and diversity. R statistical program was used to analyze for species diversity and Canoco 4.5 software for species composition. A total number of 76 genera in 28 families and 224 species were encountered in both forest types. The most represented taxa belonged to the Agaricaceae (16%), Polyporaceae (12%), Marasmiaceae, Mycenaceae (7%) families respectively. Most of the recorded macro-fungi were saprophytic, mostly colonizing the litter 38% and wood 34% based substrates, which was followed by soil organic dwelling species (17%). Ecto-mycorrhiza fungi (5%) and parasitic fungi (2%) were the least encountered. The data established that indigenous forests (native ecosystems) hosts a wide range of macrofungi assemblage in terms of density (2.6 individual fruit bodies / m2), species richness (8.3 species / plot) and species diversity (1.49/ plot level) compared to the plantation forest. The Conversion of native forest to plantation forest also interfered with species composition though did not alter species diversity. Seasonality was also shown to significantly affect the diversity of macro-fungi and 61% of the total species being present during the wet season. Based on the present findings, forested ecosystems in Kenya hold diverse macro-fungi community which warrants conservation measures.

Keywords: diversity, Indigenous forest, macro-fungi, plantation forest, season

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Authors: F. M. Pisano, M. Ciminello

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Aerospace, mechanical, and civil engineering infrastructures can take advantages from damage detection and identification strategies in terms of maintenance cost reduction and operational life improvements, as well for safety scopes. The challenge is to detect so called “barely visible impact damage” (BVID), due to low/medium energy impacts, that can progressively compromise the structure integrity. The occurrence of any local change in material properties, that can degrade the structure performance, is to be monitored using so called Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems, in charge of comparing the structure states before and after damage occurs. SHM seeks for any "anomalous" response collected by means of sensor networks and then analyzed using appropriate algorithms. Independently of the specific analysis approach adopted for structural damage detection and localization, textual reports, tables and graphs describing possible outlier coordinates and damage severity are usually provided as artifacts to be elaborated for information extraction about the current health conditions of the structure under investigation. Visual Analytics can support the processing of monitored measurements offering data navigation and exploration tools leveraging the native human capabilities of understanding images faster than texts and tables. Herein, a SHM system enrichment by integration of a Visual Analytics component is investigated. Analytical dashboards have been created by combining worksheets, so that a useful Visual Analytics tool is provided to structural analysts for exploring the structure health conditions examined by a Principal Component Analysis based algorithm.

Keywords: interactive dashboards, optical fibers, structural health monitoring, visual analytics

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Authors: Ahmed M. Kabel, Maaly A. Abd Elmaaboud

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Scleroderma is one of the connective tissue disorders characterized by skin and systemic fibrosis. Its pathogenesis involves multiple interrelated processes of autoimmunity, vasculopathy, inflammation, and oxidative stress. This study was a trial to explore the possible ameliorative effects of sodium valproate on an experimental model of skin fibrosis induced by bleomycin. Forty male BALB/c mice were divided into four equal groups as follows: control group; bleomycin group; bleomycin + sodium valproate group, and sodium valproate group. Mice were assessed for their body weight every four days throughout the whole study. Skin tissues were used to evaluate the oxidative stress parameters, transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 15, and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Skin fibrosis was evaluated by measuring dermal thickness and staining the skin tissues with Masson trichrome stain. Also, the skin tissues were immunostained with alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). Administration of sodium valproate to bleomycin-treated mice resulted in the restoration of the body weight with a significant decrease in the dermal thickness, amelioration of oxidative stress, suppression of TGF-β1 and mTOR expression, and significant reduction of the percentage of α-SMA immunostaining and the proinflammatory cytokine levels compared to mice treated with bleomycin alone. In conclusion, sodium valproate has an antifibrotic effect on skin fibrosis which may represent a beneficial therapeutic modality for the management of scleroderma.

Keywords: scleroderma, bleomycin, sodium valproate, skin fibrosis

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Authors: Elizabeth Patricia Beck

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Stepping into various English as foreign language classrooms, one will see some fundamental similarities. There will likely be groups of students working collaboratively, possibly sitting at tables together. They will be using a set coursebook or photocopies of materials developed by publishers or the teacher. The teacher will be carefully monitoring students’ behaviour and progress. The teacher will also likely be insisting that the students only speak English together, possibly having implemented a complex penalty and award systems to encourage this. This is communicative language teaching and it is commonly how foreign languages are taught around the world. Recently, there has been much interest in the codeswitching behaviour of learners in foreign or second language classrooms. It is a significant topic as it relates to second language acquisition theory, language teaching training and policy, and student expectations and classroom practice. Generally in an English as a foreign language context, an ‘English Only’ policy is the norm. This is based on historical factors, socio-political influence and theories surrounding language learning. The trend, however, is shifting and, based on these same factors, a re-examination of language use in the foreign language classroom is taking place. This paper reports the findings of an examination into the codeswitching behaviour of learners with a shared native language in an English classroom. Specifically, it addresses the question of classroom code-switching by adult learners in the EFL classroom during student-to-student, spoken interaction. Three generic categories of code switching are proposed based on published research and classroom practice. Italian adult learners at three levels were observed and patterns of language use were identified, recorded and analysed using the proposed categories. After observations were completed, a questionnaire was distributed to the students focussing on attitudes and opinions around language choice in the EFL classroom, specifically, the usefulness of L1 for specific functions in the classroom. The paper then investigates the relationship between learners’ foreign language proficiency and the frequency and type of code-switching that they engaged in, and the relationship between learners’ attitudes to classroom code-switching and their behaviour. Results show that code switching patterns underwent changes as the students’ level of English language proficiency improved, and that students’ attitudes towards code-switching generally correlated with their behaviour with some exceptions, however. Finally, the discussion focusses on the details of the language produced in observation, possible influencing factors that may affect the frequency and type of code switching that took place, and additional influencing factors that may affect students’ attitudes towards code switching in the foreign language classroom. An evaluation of the limitations of this study is offered and some suggestions are made for future research in this field of study.

Keywords: code-switching, EFL, second language aquisition, adult learners

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Digby Wrede, Stephen Gray, Syed Hussainy

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Microalgae are extremely useful organisms but notoriously hard to harvest. The use of fungal pellets has been found to be an efficient way to flocculate numerous species of algae. However, only the flocculation of single species of algae has been investigated. Algae are generally found in complex communities in the environment comprising of numerous species of algae ranging from simple single cell algae such as Chlorella to more complex or communal algae such as Dictyosphaerium. This study investigated the flocculation capabilities of Aspergillus oryzae to flocculate four species of algae; Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus quadricauda, Scenedesmus acuminatus and Dictyosphaerium sp., and the algal communities in four different types of domestic effluent from a lagoon-based treatment plant; primary effluent, secondary effluent and the high rate algal pond effluent at a natural and at a lowered pH level. Spectrophotometry was used to measure the changes in algal population. C. vulgaris, S. acuminatus and S. quadricauda, had over 90% reduction of algal in suspension after 24 hours. Dictyosphaerium sp. showed a little to no removal after 24 hours. The primary, secondary, and natural pH level HRAP had roughly a 50% removal after 24 hours, the HRAP which was grown at a lower pH level had over a 90% removal after 24 hours. pH has been shown previously to affect fungal flocculation. Fungal and algae pellets have been shown to be able to treat wastewater and can be converted to biofuels in a very similar method to how algae are currently converted. The mixture of both fungi and algae has also been shown to provide a higher yield of oils then separately and are able to more efficiently treat wastewater then algae or fungi by themselves.

Keywords: algae harvesting, Aspergillus oryzae, fungal flocculation, wastewater treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Z. Jamalzadeh, A. Niaei, H. Erfannia

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Due to developing industries, the emission of pollutants such as NOx, SOx, and CO2 are rapidly increased. Generally, NOx is attributed to the mono nitrogen oxides of NO and NO2 that is one of the most important atmospheric contaminants. Hence, controlling the emission of nitrogen oxides is environmentally urgent. Selective catalytic reduction of NOx is one of the most common techniques for NOx removal in which zeolites have wide application due to their high performance. In zeolitic processes, the catalytic reaction occurs mostly in the pores. Therefore, investigation of the adsorption phenomena of the molecules in order to gain an insight and understand the catalytic cycle is of important. Hence, in current study, benefiting from molecular simulations, the adsorption phenomena in the nanocatalysts of SCR of NOx process was investigated in order to get a good insight of the catalysts’ behavior. The effect of cation addition to the support in the catalysts’ behavior through adsorption step was explored by Mont Carlo (MC) using Materials Studio Package. Simulation time of 1 Ns accompanying 1 fs time step, COMPASS27 Force Field and the cut off radios of 12.5 Ȧ was applied for performed runs. It was observed that the adsorption capacity increases in the presence of cations. The sorption isotherms demonstrated the behavior of type I isotherm categories and sorption capacity diminished with increase in temperature whereas an increase was observed at high pressures. Besides, NO sorption showed higher sorption capacity than NH3 in H–ZSM5. In this respect, the energy distributions signified that the molecules could adsorb in just one sorption site at the catalyst and the sorption energy of NO was stronger than the NH3 in H-ZSM5. Furthermore, the isosteric heat of sorption data showed nearly same values for the molecules; however, it indicated stronger interactions of NO molecules with H-ZSM5 zeolite compared to the isosteric heat of NH3 which was low in value.

Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, adsorption, NOx, ZSM5

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Samah Jawad Jabari

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Water is the most important and valuable resource not only for human life but also for all living things on the planet. The water supply utilities should fulfill the water requirement quantitatively and qualitatively. Drinking water systems are exposed to both natural (hurricanes and flood) and manmade hazards (risks) that are common in Palestine. Non-Revenue Water (NRW) is a manmade risk which remains a major concern in Palestine, as the NRW levels are estimated to be at a high level. In this research, Hebron city water distribution network was taken as a case study to estimate and audit the NRW levels. The research also investigated the state of the existing water distribution system in the study area by investigating the water losses and obtained more information on NRW prevention and management practices. Data and information have been collected from the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and Hebron Municipality (HM) archive. In addition to that, a questionnaire has been designed and administered by the researcher in order to collect the necessary data for water auditing. The questionnaire also assessed the views of stakeholder in PWA and HM (staff) on the current status of the NRW in the Hebron water distribution system. The important result obtained by this research shows that NRW in Hebron city was high and in excess of 30%. The main factors that contribute to NRW were the inaccuracies in billing volumes, unauthorized consumption, and the method of estimating consumptions through faulty meters. Policy for NRW reduction is available in Palestine; however, it is clear that the number of qualified staff available to carry out the activities related to leak detection is low, and that there is a lack of appropriate technologies to reduce water losses and undertake sufficient system maintenance, which needs to be improved to enhance the performance of the network and decrease the level of NRW losses.

Keywords: non-revenue water, water auditing, leak detection, water meters

Procedia PDF Downloads 298

Authors: Yuri A. Kalvachev, Totka D. Todorova

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Zeolite mordenite has been investigated as a transition metal support for the preparation of efficient catalysts in the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The highly crystalline mordenite samples were treated with hydrofluoric acid and ammonium fluoride to get hierarchical material with secondary porosity. The obtained supports by this method have a high active surface area, good diffusion properties and prevent the extraction of metal components during catalytic reactions. The active metal phases platinum and copper were loaded by impregnation on both mordenite materials (parent and acid treated counterparts). Monometalic Pt and Cu, and bimetallic Pt/Cu catalysts were obtained. The metal phases were fine dispersed as nanoparticles on the functional porous materials. The catalysts synthesized in this way were investigated in the reaction of complete oxidation of propane and benzene. Platinum, copper and platinum/copper were loaded and there catalytic activity was investigated and compared. All samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, nitrogen adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron measurements (XPS) and temperature programed reduction (TPR). The catalytic activity of the samples obtained is investigated in the reaction of complete oxidation of propane and benzene by using of Gas Chromatography (GC). The oxidation of three organic molecules was investigated—methane, propane and benzene. The activity of metal loaded mordenite catalysts for methane oxidation is almost the same for parent and treated mordenite as a support. For bigger molecules as propane and benzene, the activity of catalysts based on treated mordenite is higher than those based on parent zeolite.

Keywords: metal loaded catalysts, mordenite, VOCs oxidation, zeolites

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Abiodun Olayinka, Daniel Dzidzienyo, Pangirayi Tongoona, Samuel Offei, Edwige Gaby Nkouaya Mbanjo, Chiedozie Egesi, Ismail Yusuf Rabbi

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Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a major source of starch for various industrial applications. However, the traditional cultivation and harvesting methods of cassava are labour-intensive and inefficient, limiting the supply of fresh cassava roots for industrial starch production. To achieve improved productivity and quality of fresh cassava roots through mechanized cultivation, cassava cultivars with compact plant architecture and moderate plant height are needed. Plant architecture-related traits, such as plant height, harvest index, stem diameter, branching angle, and lodging tolerance, are critical for crop productivity and suitability for mechanized cultivation. However, the genetics of cassava plant architecture remain poorly understood. This study aimed to identify the genetic bases of the relationships between plant architecture traits and productivity-related traits, particularly starch content. A panel of 453 clones developed at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria, was genotyped and phenotyped for 18 plant architecture and productivity-related traits at four locations in Nigeria. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using the phenotypic data from a panel of 453 clones and 61,238 high-quality Diversity Arrays Technology sequencing (DArTseq) derived Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers that are evenly distributed across the cassava genome. Five significant associations between ten SNPs and three plant architecture component traits were identified through GWAS. We found five SNPs on chromosomes 6 and 16 that were significantly associated with shoot weight, harvest index, and total yield through genome-wide association mapping. We also discovered an essential candidate gene that is co-located with peak SNPs linked to these traits in M. esculenta. A review of the cassava reference genome v7.1 revealed that the SNP on chromosome 6 is in proximity to Manes.06G101600.1, a gene that regulates endodermal differentiation and root development in plants. The findings of this study provide insights into the genetic basis of plant architecture and yield in cassava. Cassava breeders could leverage this knowledge to optimize plant architecture and yield in cassava through marker-assisted selection and targeted manipulation of the candidate gene.

Keywords: Manihot esculenta Crantz, plant architecture, DArtseq, SNP markers, genome-wide association study

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Authors: Sina Modares Ahmadi, Mohamad Reza Ghazavi, Mandana Sheikhzad

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Squeeze film damper systems (SFD) are often used in machines with high rotational speed to reduce non-periodic behavior by creating external damping. These types of systems are frequently used in aircraft gas turbine engines. There are some structural parameters which are of great importance in designing these kinds of systems, such as oil film thickness, C, and outer race mass, mo. Moreover, there is a crucial parameter associated with manufacturing process, under the title of waviness. Geometric imperfections are often called waviness if its wavelength is much longer than Hertzian contact width which is a considerable source of vibration in ball bearings. In this paper, a system of a flexible rotor and two ball bearings with floating ring squeeze film dampers and consideration of waviness has been modeled and solved by a numerical integration method, namely Runge-Kutta method to investigate the dynamic response of the system. The results show that by increasing the number of wave lobes, which is due to inappropriate manufacturing, non- periodic and chaotic behavior increases. This result reveals the importance of manufacturing accuracy. Moreover, as long as C< 1.5×10-4 m, by increasing the oil film thickness, unwanted vibrations and non-periodic behavior of the system have been reduced, On the other hand, when C>1.5×10-4 m, increasing the outer oil film thickness results in the increasing chaotic and non-periodic responses. This result shows that although the presence of oil film results in reduction the non-periodic and chaotic behaviors, but the oil film has an optimal thickness. In addition, with increasing mo, the disc displacement amplitude increases. This result reveals the importance of utilizing light materials in manufacturing the squeeze film dampers.

Keywords: squeeze-film damper, waviness, ball bearing, bifurcation

Procedia PDF Downloads 383