Search results for: heart valve

Authors: Remzi Şahin, Sadık Ata, Kevser Dincer

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In this study, performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell was experimentally investigated. The efficiency of energy conversion in PEM fuel cells is dependent on the catalytic activities of the catalysts used in the cathode and anode of membrane electrode assemblies. Membrane is considered the heart of PEM fuel cells without which they cannot produce electricity. PEM fuel cell performance increased with coating carbon nanotube (CNT). CNT show a unique combination of stiffness, strength, and tenacity compared to other fiber materials which usually lack one or more of these properties. Two different experiments were performed and the membrane performance has been determined by repeating the two experiments that were done before coating. The purposes of these experiments are the observation of power change due to a temperature change in the same voltage value.

Keywords: carbon nanotube (CNT), proton exchange membrane (PEM), fuel cell, spin method

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Authors: Ronit Chakraborty

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Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of West Bengal state and the former capital of India (1722-1911) of British India. Located at the heart of Hugli river (one of the main channels of Ganges river), the city is the heart of the state, which forms a base for commerce, transport and manufacture. The large and vibrant city thrives amidst the economic, social and political issues arising from the pages of history to the contemporary times. The unique nature, grandeurs, public debates on tea-stalls and obviously the charismatic scenic beauty and heritage keep the city to be criticized in all horizons, across the world. Movies in India are a big source of knowledge, which can be used as a powerful tool for political mobilization and to indirectly communicate with voters since cinema can be used as a tool of propaganda as it has a wide range of public interests. History proves the fact that films produced in India have been apt enough in making public interests be deeply portrayed through their content in a versatile manner. Such is the portrayal of India’s first capital, Kolkata and its ultimate truth being organizingly laid over by the trilogy of two international fame directors-Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray, through their ‘magnum opus- the ‘Kolkata trilogy’. Mrinal Sen’s Interview(1971), Calcutta 71(1972), Padatik(The Guerilla Fighter)(1973) and Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi (The Adversary)(1970), Seemabaddha(Company Limited)(1971), Jana Aranya(1976). These films picturized the contemporary Kolkata trends, issues and crises arising amidst the political set-up both by the positive and negative variables attributing to the day-to-day happenings of the city. The movies have been set amidst the turmoil that the nation was going through during Indira Gandhi’s declaration of Emergency, resulting from the general sense of disillusionment that prevailed during that time. Ray wasn't affiliated to any political party and his films largely contributed towards the contemporary conditions prevailing in the society. Mrinal Sen, being a Marxist was in constant search of the bitter truth that the society had to offer through his lens under the prevailing darkness through his trilogy. The research paper attempts to widely view and draw a comparative study of the overall description of the city of Kolkata as portrayed by Sen and Ray in their respective trilogies. By the usage of the visual content analysis method, the researcher has explored the six movies; both the trilogies of Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray and tried to analyse the differences as well as the similarities pertaining to understand India’s first capital city Kolkata in various dimensions along with its circumference.

Keywords: Kolkata, trilogy, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, films, comparative study

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Authors: Saori Iwatsuka

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In The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers starts with the words, “It happened,” without telling the reader what happens to a twelve-year-old protagonist, Frankie Adams. The reader feels confused and incomprehensible. However, he or she later realizes that the confusing phrase is connected to the scene where Frankie feels “the thing happened” after listening to the melodic lines of jazz and blues. Yet, the reader cannot really comprehend what happens to Frankie and feels puzzled till the end. And the story ends with Frankie’s words, “I am simply mad about . . .” Implying her queer desire for her new friend Mary Littlejohn, McCullers never tells the reader whom Frankie is mad about. Despite McCullers’s ambiguous way of depicting Frankie’s sexuality, recent critics and reviewers have come to discuss her sexuality as anti-heterosexual because Frankie expresses her hatred for Barney, whom she has had some type of sexual encounter, and feels wrong with her brother Jarvis’s wedding. After giving up her sexual desire for Jarvis’s bride, Janice, Frankie changes her name to Frances, becomes engrossed with Michelangelo, and enjoys reading Tennyson’s poetry with Mary. Michelangelo and Tennyson are well-known homosexual artists, which suggests that Frankie has an anti-heterosexual orientation. As McCullers does not precisely describe Frankie’s sexuality, the reader can only assume it by connecting fragmentary descriptions. However, this discussion is more clarified to show Frankie’s sexuality because analyzing the musical references of jazz and blues and interpreting them from a musicological viewpoint will illuminate it. In her works, McCullers frequently uses musical references and descriptions, which have a significant and psychological impact on the protagonists and portrays their bodily reactions to the impact to reveal what the reader cannot see on the surface. Thus, in this story, too, Frankie’s bodily reaction to music is portrayed to cue her feelings. After seeing the chimney swifts, known as monogamous birds, Frankie feels “a jazz sadness,” quivers her nerves and stiffens her heart. After listening to Berenice’s “dark jazz voice,” Frankie feels dizzy and throws a knife because Berenice’s voice jazzes (excites) her heart that beats in her head. Calming herself, she fantasizes that Jarvis, Jarvis’s bride, Janice, and herself are members of “the we of me.” Then in the evening, listening to the blues and jazz being played by a black horn player somewhere in her neighborhood, Frankie realizes “the thing happened” and discovers “a new feeling.” Following the musical references “jazz” and “blues” and examining them from the viewpoint of musicology and terminology leads the reader to explore what “it” is in “it happened” and what her “new feeling” is when “the thing happened” with the blues tune breaking off. Those discussions will illuminate Frankie’s sexuality. As McCullers does not clearly name her sexuality, this paper uses the word queer to express Frankie’s anti-sexual orientation.

Keywords: jazz and blues, musical references, queer sexuality, “we of me”

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Authors: Farhad Aalizadeh, Ali Moosavi

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This paper presents a two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFDs) simulation for the steady, particle tracking. The purpose of this paper is applied magnetic field effect on Magnetic Nanoparticles velocities distribution. It is shown that the permeability of the particles determines the effect of the magnetic field on the deposition of the particles and the deposition of the particles is inversely proportional to the Reynolds number. Using MHD and its property it is possible to control the flow velocity, remove the fouling on the walls and return the system to its original form. we consider a channel 2D geometry and solve for the resulting spatial distribution of particles. According to obtained results when only magnetic fields are applied perpendicular to the flow, local particles velocity is decreased due to the direct effect of the magnetic field return the system to its original fom. In the method first, in order to avoid mixing with blood, the ferromagnetic particles are covered with a gel-like chemical composition and are injected into the blood vessels. Then, a magnetic field source with a specified distance from the vessel is used and the particles are guided to the affected area. This paper presents a two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFDs) simulation for the steady, laminar flow of an incompressible magnetorheological (MR) fluid between two fixed parallel plates in the presence of a uniform magnetic field. The purpose of this study is to develop a numerical tool that is able to simulate MR fluids flow in valve mode and determineB0, applied magnetic field effect on flow velocities and pressure distributions.

Keywords: MHD, channel clots, magnetic nanoparticles, simulations

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Authors: Yip-Mei Loh

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Jesus and Socrates shared a remarkable gift; a channel of inner spiritual communication, to afford them truthful guidance in their respective religious discourse. Jesus is part of the Trinity; he is the Son, the Son of God. In mortal life he is the son of a carpenter. He called on all peoples to repent of their sins but fell foul of the authorities and was crucified. Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher and the son of an artisan. His mission is to drive the Athenians to investigate truth, but he too incurs the displeasure of fellow citizens, to the extent of execution. The accusations made against them centre around, in Jesus’ case, proclaiming himself the Son of God, with the means to pardon, and in Socrates’, that a daimonion, an inner voice, speaks to him in his heart. Jesus talks with God directly through prayer, as the pneuma of God, i.e. to pneuma to hagion, or Holy Spirit, is with him. Socrates seems to enter what we would now think of as a trance-like condition, wherein he communicates with his inner daimonion, who directs him to take courage on the righteous path.

Keywords: daimonion, God, Holy Spirit, pneuma, truth

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Authors: Katarzyna Oberda

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The aim of this paper is to conceptual emotions in the process of mediation. Although human emotions have been approached from various disciplines and perspectives, e.g. philosophy, linguistics, psychology and neurology, this complex phenomenon still needs further investigation into its discursive character with the an open mind and heart. To attain this aim, the theoretical and practical considerations are taken into account both to contextualize the discursive psychology of emotions in mediation and show how cognitive and linguistic activity expressed in language may lead to the emotional turn in the process of mediation. The double directions of this research into the discursive psychology of emotions have been partially inspired by the evaluative components of mediation forms. In the conducted research, we apply the methodology of discursive psychology with the discourse analysis as a tool. The practical data come from the recorded mediations online. The major findings of the conducted research result in the reconstruction of the emotional transformation model in mediation.

Keywords: discourse analysis, discursive psychology, emotions, mediation

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Authors: F. Ait Ahsene-Aissat, Y. Kerchiche, Y. Moussaoui, M. Hachemi

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Environmental pollution is at the heart of the debate today, the pollutants released into the atmosphere must be measured and reduced to the norms of international releases. The industries pollution is caused by emissions of SO₂, CO and heavy metals in volatile form that must be quantified and monitored. This study presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis However, the collection of volatile heavy metals were performed by active sampling using an isokinetic. SO₂ gas for the maximum is reached for a value of 343 mg / m³, the SO₂ concentration far exceeds the standard releases SO₂ followed by incineration industries in Algeria. the concentration of Cr exceeds 8 times the standard, the Pb concentration in the excess of 6 times, the concentration of Fe has reached very high values exceeding the standard 30 times, the Zn concentration in the excess of 5 times, and the Ni the excess of 4 times and finally that of Cu is almost double of the standard.

Keywords: SO₂, CO, volatiles metals, active sampling isokinetic

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Authors: Lincoln Panjaitan, Antonius Sumarlin

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The development of property businesses in the metropolitan area is growing rapidly forcing big real estate developers to come up with various strategies in winning the heart of consumers. This empirical research is focusing on how the two schools of marketing thoughts; namely, Modern and postmodern marketing employed by the preceding developers to retain consumers’ commitment toward their prospective brands. The data was collected from three different properties of PT. Intiland Tbk using accidental sampling technique. The data of 600 respondents was then put into Structural Equation Model (SEM). The result of the study suggests that both schools of thought can equally produce commitment and loyalty of consumers; however, the difference lays where the loyalty belongs to. The first is more toward developer’s brand and the latter is more toward the co-creation value of the housing community.

Keywords: consumer loyalty, consumer commitment, knowledge sharing platform, marketing mix

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Authors: Ewa M. Laskowska, Jorn Vatn

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Industry 4.0 focuses on digital optimization of industrial processes. The idea is to use extracted data in order to build a decision support model enabling use of those data for real time decision making. In terms of predictive maintenance, the desired decision support tool would be a model enabling prognostics of system's health based on the current condition of considered equipment. Within area of system prognostics and health management, a commonly used health indicator is Remaining Useful Lifetime (RUL) of a system. Because the RUL is a random variable, it has to be estimated based on available health indicators. Health indicators can be of different types and come from different sources. They can be process variables, equipment performance variables, data related to number of experienced failures, etc. The aim of this study is the analysis of performance variables of emergency shutdown valves (ESV) used in oil and gas industry. ESV is inspected periodically, and at each inspection torque and time of valve operation are registered. The data will be analyzed by means of machine learning or statistical analysis. The purpose is to investigate whether the available data could be used as a health indicator for a prognostic purpose. The second objective is to examine what is the most efficient way to incorporate the data into predictive model. The idea is to check whether the data can be applied in form of explanatory variables in Markov process or whether other stochastic processes would be a more convenient to build an RUL model based on the information coming from registered data.

Keywords: emergency shutdown valves, health indicator, prognostics, remaining useful lifetime, RUL

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Authors: Ahmed H. Elkholy

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An elastic analysis is developed to obtain the distribution of stresses, strains, bending moment and deformation for a thin hollow, variable thickness cylindrical specimen when subjected to different biaxial loadings. The specimen was subjected to a combination of internal pressure, axial tensile loading and external pressure. Several axial to circumferential stress ratios were investigated in detail. The analytical model was then validated using experimental results obtained from a test rig using several biaxial loadings. Based on the preliminary results obtained, the specimen was then modified geometrically to ensure uniform strain distribution through its wall thickness and along its gauge length. The new design of the specimen has a higher buckling strength and a maximum value of equivalent stress according to the maximum distortion energy theory. A cyclic function generator of the standard servo-controlled, electro-hydraulic testing machine is used to generate a specific signal shape (sine, square,…) at a certain frequency. The two independent controllers of the electronic circuit cause an independent movement to each servo-valve piston. The movement of each piston pressurizes the upper and lower sides of the actuators alternately. So, the specimen will be subjected to axial and diametral loads independent of each other. The hydraulic system has two different pressures: one pressure will be responsible for axial stress produced in the specimen and the other will be responsible for the tangential stress. Changing the two pressure ratios will change the stress ratios accordingly. The only restriction on the maximum stress obtained is the capacity of the testing system and specimen instability due to buckling.

Keywords: biaxial, fatigue, stress, testing

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Authors: Deepa, Yashbir Singh, Shi Yi Wu, Michael Friebe, Joao Manuel R. S. Tavares, Hu Wei-Chih

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Cardiovascular disease can be detected by measuring the regional and global wall motion of the left ventricle (LV) of the heart; In this study, we designed a dynamic simulation tool using Computed Tomography (CT) images to assess the difference between actual and simulated left ventricular functions. Thirteen healthy subjects were involved in the study with actual and simulated left ventricular functions. In this research, we found the high correlation between actual left ventricular wall motion and simulated left ventricular wall motion. Our results confirm that our simulation tool is feasible for simulating left ventricular motion.

Keywords: cardiac imaging, left-ventricular remodeling, cardiac wall motion, myocardial functions

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Authors: Jerry Q. Cheng

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Currently, in analyzing large-scale recurrent event data, there are many challenges such as memory limitations, unscalable computing time, etc. In this research, a divide-and-conquer method is proposed using parametric frailty models. Specifically, the data is randomly divided into many subsets, and the maximum likelihood estimator from each individual data set is obtained. Then a weighted method is proposed to combine these individual estimators as the final estimator. It is shown that this divide-and-conquer estimator is asymptotically equivalent to the estimator based on the full data. Simulation studies are conducted to demonstrate the performance of this proposed method. This approach is applied to a large real dataset of repeated heart failure hospitalizations.

Keywords: big data analytics, divide-and-conquer, recurrent event data, statistical computing

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Authors: R. A. Qawasma, F. M. Haddad, H. O. Salhab

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Hemodialysis is a life-preserving treatment for a number of patients with kidney failure. The standard procedure of hemodialysis is three times a week during the hemodialysis procedure, the patient usually suffering from many inconvenient, exhausting feeling and effect on the heart and cardiovascular system are the most common signs. This paper provides a solution to reduce the previous problems by designing a wearable artificial kidney (WAK) taking in consideration a minimization the size of the dialysis machine. The WAK system consists of two circuits: blood circuit and dialysate circuit. The blood from the patient is filtered in the dialyzer before returning back to the patient. Several parameters using an advanced microcontroller and array of sensors. WAK equipped with visible and audible alarm system to aware the patients if there is any problem.

Keywords: artificial kidney, home dialysis, renal failure, wearable kidney

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Authors: Wei-Chih Huang, Pei-Lung Chung, Ching-Heng Lin, Hsuan-Chia Yang, Der-Ming Liou

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Background: In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (IHCA) threaten life of the inpatients, cause serious effect to patient safety, quality of inpatients care and hospital service. Health providers must identify the signs of IHCA early to avoid the occurrence of IHCA. This study will consider the potential association between early signs of IHCA and the essence of patient care provided by nurses and other professionals before an IHCA occurs. The aim of this study is to identify significant associations between nursing interventions and abnormal early evaluation results of IHCA that can assist health care providers in monitoring inpatients at risk of IHCA to increase opportunities of IHCA early detection and prevention. Materials and Methods: This study used one of the data mining techniques called association rules mining to compute associations between nursing interventions and abnormal early evaluation results of IHCA. The nursing interventions and abnormal early evaluation results of IHCA were considered to be co-occurring if nursing interventions were provided within 24 hours of last being observed in abnormal early evaluation results of IHCA. The rule based methods were utilized 23.6 million electronic medical records (EMR) from a medical center in Taipei, Taiwan. This dataset includes 733 concepts of nursing interventions that coded by clinical care classification (CCC) codes and 13 early evaluation results of IHCA with binary codes. The values of interestingness and lift were computed as Q values to measure the co-occurrence and associations’ strength between all in-hospital patient care measures and abnormal early evaluation results of IHCA. The associations were evaluated by comparing the results of Q values and verified by medical experts. Results and Conclusions: The results show that there are 4195 pairs of associations between nursing interventions and abnormal early evaluation results of IHCA with their Q values. The indication of positive association is 203 pairs with Q values greater than 5. Inpatients with high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) have positive association with having heart rate lower than 50 beats per minute or higher than 120 beats per minute, Q value is 6.636. Inpatients with temporary pacemaker (TPM) have significant association with high risk of IHCA, Q value is 47.403. There is significant positive correlation between inpatients with hypovolemia and happened abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), Q value is 127.49. The results of this study can help to prevent IHCA from occurring by making health care providers early recognition of inpatients at risk of IHCA, assist with monitoring patients for providing quality of care to patients, improve IHCA surveillance and quality of in-hospital care.

Keywords: in-hospital cardiac arrest, patient safety, nursing intervention, association rule mining

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Authors: Ng Liang Shen, Hau Yuan Wen

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Arrhythmia analysis of ECG signal plays a major role in diagnosing most of the cardiac diseases. Therefore, a single arrhythmia detection of an electrocardiographic (ECG) record can determine multiple pattern of various algorithms and match accordingly each ECG beats based on Machine Learning supervised learning. These researchers used different features and classification methods to classify different arrhythmia types. A major problem in these studies is the fact that the symptoms of the disease do not show all the time in the ECG record. Hence, a successful diagnosis might require the manual investigation of several hours of ECG records. The point of this paper presents investigations cardiovascular ailment in Electrocardiogram (ECG) Signals for Cardiac Arrhythmia utilizing examination of ECG irregular wave frames via heart beat as correspond arrhythmia which with Machine Learning Pattern Recognition.

Keywords: electrocardiogram, ECG, classification, machine learning, pattern recognition, detection, QRS

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Authors: Tarnai Tena, Strinić Dean

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Chronic non-communicable diseases are today the leading cause of mortality, morbidity and mortality disability at the world level and in Croatia. Among them are the most represented precisely cardiovascular diseases (CVD), so today we are talking about their global card epidemic. From 2018 to 2021, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death for both women and men in the Dubrovnik- Neretva County. With regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken over, without forgetting how much these patients are additionally affected, we are still talking about the primary cause of sickness and death in the population of this county and region. In this record, we present collected data processed according to gender and disease classification. We also bring a kind of overview because, for years, we have been following how the population of one of the origins of the Mediterranean diet has been struggling with cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease, burden, COVID-19, epidemiology, ishemic heart disease, cardiovascular medicine

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Authors: Nihan Nugay, Nur Cicek Kekec, Kalman Toth, Turgut Nugay, Joseph P. Kennedy

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In recent years, polyurethane structures are paving the way for elastomer usage in biology, human medicine, and biomedical application areas. Polyurethanes having a combination of high oxidative and hydrolytic stability and excellent mechanical properties are focused due to enhancing the usage of PUs especially for implantable medical device application such as cardiac-assist. Currently, unique polyurethanes consisting of polyisobutylenes as soft segments and conventional hard segments, named as PIB-based PUs, are developed with precise NCO/OH stoichiometry (∽1.05) for obtaining PIB-based PUs with enhanced properties (i.e., tensile stress increased from ∽11 to ∽26 MPa and elongation from ∽350 to ∽500%). Static and dynamic mechanical properties were optimized by examining stress-strain graphs, self-organization and crystallinity (XRD) traces, rheological (DMA, creep) profiles and thermal (TGA, DSC) responses. Annealing procedure was applied for PIB-based PUs. Annealed PIB-based PU shows ∽26 MPa tensile strength, ∽500% elongation, and ∽77 Microshore hardness with excellent hydrolytic and oxidative stability. The surface characters of them were examined with AFM and contact angle measurements. Annealed PIB-based PU exhibits the higher segregation of individual segments and surface hydrophobicity thus annealing significantly enhances hydrolytic and oxidative stability by shielding carbamate bonds by inert PIB chains. According to improved surface and microstructure characters, greater efforts are focused on analyzing protein adsorption and calcification profiles. In biomedical applications especially for cardiological implantations, protein adsorption inclination on polymeric heart valves is undesirable hence protein adsorption from blood serum is followed by platelet adhesion and subsequent thrombus formation. The protein adsorption character of PIB-based PU examines by applying Bradford assay in fibrinogen and bovine serum albumin solutions. Like protein adsorption, calcium deposition on heart valves is very harmful because vascular calcification has been proposed activation of osteogenic mechanism in the vascular wall, loss of inhibitory factors, enhance bone turnover and irregularities in mineral metabolism. The calcium deposition on films are characterized by incubating samples in simulated body fluid solution and examining SEM images and XPS profiles. PIB-based PUs are significantly more resistant to hydrolytic-oxidative degradation, protein adsorption and calcium deposition than ElastEonTM E2A, a commercially available PDMS-based PU, widely used for biomedical applications.

Keywords: biomedical application, calcification, polyisobutylene, polyurethane, protein adsorption

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Authors: Thibaut Lauwerier

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This presentation will cover the vision of international organizations on the link between development and education. This issue is very relevant to address the general topic of the conference. 'Educating for development' is indeed at the heart of their discourse. For most of international organizations involved in education, it is important to invest in this field since it is at the service of development. The idea of this presentation is to better understand the vision of development according to these international organizations and how education can contribute to this type of development. To address this issue, we conducted a comparative study of three major international organizations (OECD, UNESCO and World Bank) influencing education policy at the international level. The data come from the strategic reports of these organizations over the period 1990-2015. The results show that the visions of development refer mainly to the neoliberal agenda, despite evolutions, even contradictions. And so, education must increase productivity, improve economic growth, etc. UNESCO, which has a less narrow conception of the development and therefore the aims of education, does not have the same means as the two other organizations to advocate for an alternative vision.

Keywords: development, education, international organizations, poilcy

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Authors: Kelsi Hagerty, Ami Rosen, Aaliyah Heyward, Nadia Ali, Emily Brown, Erin Demo, Yue Guan, Modele Ogunniyi, Brianna McDaniels, Alanna Morris, Kunal Bhatt

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Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR) is a progressive, multi-systemic, and life-threatening disease caused by a disruption in the TTR protein that delivers thyroxine and retinol to the liver. This disruption causes the protein to misfold into amyloid fibrils, leading to the accumulation of the amyloid fibrils in the heart, nerves, and GI tract. Over 130 variants in the TTR gene are known to cause hATTR. The Val122Ile variant is the most common in the United States and is seen almost exclusively in people of African descent. TTR variants are inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion and have incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. Individuals with hATTR may exhibit symptoms from as early as 30 years to as late as 80 years of age. hATTR is characterized by a wide range of clinical symptoms such as cardiomyopathy, neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, and GI complications. Without treatment, hATTR leads to progressive disease and can ultimately lead to heart failure. hATTR disproportionately affects individuals of African descent; the estimated prevalence of hATTR among Black individuals in the US is 3.4%. Unfortunately, hATTR is often underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed because many symptoms of the disease overlap with other cardiac conditions. Due to the progressive nature of the disease, multi-systemic manifestations that can lead to a shortened lifespan, and the availability of free genetic testing and promising FDA-approved therapies that enhance treatability, early identification of individuals with a pathogenic hATTR variant is important, as this can significantly impact medical management for patients and their relatives. Furthermore, recent literature suggests that TTR genetic testing should be performed in all patients with suspicion of TTR-related cardiomyopathy, regardless of age, and that follow-up with genetic counseling services is recommended. Relatives of patients with hATTR benefit from genetic testing because testing can identify carriers early and allow relatives to receive regular screening and management. Despite the striking prevalence of hATTR among Black individuals, hATTR remains underdiagnosed in this patient population, and germline genetic testing for hATTR in Black individuals seems to be underrepresented, though the reasons for this have not yet been brought to light. Historically, Black patients experience a number of barriers to seeking healthcare that has been hypothesized to perpetuate the underdiagnosis of hATTR, such as lack of access and mistrust of healthcare professionals. Prior research has described a myriad of factors that shape an individual’s decision about whether to pursue presymptomatic genetic testing for a familial pathogenic variant, such as family closeness and communication, family dynamics, and a desire to inform other family members about potential health risks. This study explores these factors through 10 in-depth interviews with patients with hATTR about what factors may be contributing to the underdiagnosis of hATTR in the Black population. Participants were selected from the Emory University Amyloidosis clinic based on having a molecular diagnosis of hATTR. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, then coded using MAXQDA software. Thematic analysis was completed to draw commonalities between participants. Upon preliminary analysis, several themes have emerged. Barriers identified include i) Misdiagnosis and a prolonged diagnostic odyssey, ii) Family communication and dynamics surrounding health issues, iii) Perceptions of healthcare and one’s own health risks, and iv) The need for more intimate provider-patient relationships and communication. Overall, this study gleaned valuable insight from members of the Black community about possible factors contributing to the underdiagnosis of hATTR, as well as potential solutions to go about resolving this issue.

Keywords: cardiac amyloidosis, heart failure, TTR, genetic testing

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Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Riccardo Dossena, Marco Colorato, Simonetta Vernocchi

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By the term “limbic resonance,” we usually refer to a state of deep connection, both emotional and physiological, between people who, when in resonance, find their limbic systems in tune with one another. Limbic resonance is not only about sharing emotions but also physiological states. In fact, people in such resonance can influence each other’s heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. Limbic resonance is fundamental for human beings to connect and create deep bonds among a certain group. It is fundamental for our social skills. A relationship between gifted and resonant subjects is perceived as feeling safe, living the relation like an isle of serenity where it is possible to recharge, to communicate without words, to understand each others without giving explanations, to strengthen the balance of each member of the group. Within the circle, self-esteem is consolidated and makes it stronger to face what is outside, others, and reality. The idea that gifted people who are together may be unfit for the world does not correspond to the truth. The circle made up of people with high cognitive potential characterized by a limbic resonance is, in general, experienced as a solid platform from which you can safely move away and where you can return to recover strength. We studied 8 adults (between 21 and 47 years old). All of them with IQ higher than 130. We monitored their brain waves frequency (alpha, beta, theta, gamma, delta) by means of biosensing tracker along with their physiological states (heart beat frequency, blood pressure, breathing frequency, pO2, pCO2) and some blood works only (5-HT, dopamine, catecholamines, cortisol). The subjects of the study were asked to adhere to a protocol involving bonding activities (such as team building activities), role plays, meditation sessions, and group therapy. All these activities were carried out together. We observed that after about 4 months of activities, their brain waves frequencies tended to tune quicker and quicker. After 9 months, the bond among them was so important that they could “sense” each other inner states and sometimes also guess each others’ thoughts. According to our findings, it may be hypothesized that large synchronized outbursts of cortex neurons produces not only brain waves but also electromagnetic fields that may be able to influence the cortical neurons’ activity of other people’s brain by inducing action potentials in large groups of neurons and this is reasonably conceivable to be able to transmit information such as different emotions and cognition cues to the other’s brain. We also believe that upcoming research should focus on clarifying the role of brain magnetic particles in brain-to-brain communication. We also believe that further investigations should be carried out on the presence and role of cryptochromes to evaluate their potential roles in direct brain-to-brain communication.

Keywords: limbic resonance, psychotherapy, brain waves, emotion regulation, giftedness

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Authors: S. Botman, D. Borchevkin, V. Petrov, E. Bogdanov, M. Patrushev, N. Shusharina

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In this paper, we report the development of the device for diagnostics of cardiovascular system state and associated automated workstation for large-scale medical measurement data collection and analysis. It was shown that optimal design for the monitoring device is wristband as it represents engineering trade-off between accuracy and usability. The monitoring device is based on the infrared reflective photoplethysmographic sensor, which allows collecting multiple physiological parameters, such as heart rate and pulsing wave characteristics. Developed device use BLE interface for medical and supplementary data transmission to the coupled mobile phone, which process it and send it to the doctor's automated workstation. Results of this experimental model approbation confirmed the applicability of the proposed approach.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, health monitoring systems, photoplethysmography, pulse wave, remote diagnostics

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Authors: Abdelkadir Elhaouari

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The priciest thing in human life since his birth is his freedom, basing on this idea, the conflict exists till now, the fight against oppression, injustice, tyranny and slavery, searching for freedom and political resistances, and this makes the freedom is deeply related to the defense for its existence all over years. This project attempts using any way to preserve this freedom, and building and maintaining bases and rules to organize this life. Appeal is a one of the most important method that human uses to protect his freedom, and we will mention in this thesis our attempt to clarify this aspect to the individual. We can say that the law does not know just one color or one logic, and is not based on one rule to be taken by heart, but the law is neutrality, the diversity, abstraction and diligence diversity. The penal law is a valued law and it deserves to be studied and searched more… so that to attempt to master it. Our thesis is just a brief explanation of an important point in this law, where we attempt to clarify and simplify the image to the normal person, so that he can preserve his rights, and we hope that we had succeeded to choose the right topic for that.

Keywords: appeal, penalization, judgement, criminal

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Authors: Mme Hamani Née Guessas Ghaniya

Abstract:

The transport is the base of the development of the exchanges and the business, being both a recognized determiner of the economic and social development. The development of the transport is in the center of the big challenges of development of countries, but it is also at the heart of big contradictions, since we integrate the environmental issues which are bound to him, in particular through the questions of energy. Indeed, the energy consumption by the sector of transport is one of bigger concerns, because it is increasing and it has a big impact on our environment. The main consequences are, the atmospheric pollution causing an increase of the greenhouse effect which causes a global warming. These global warming risks to engender a partial cast iron of polar caps so raising the level of seas, flooding the low coastal zones, certain islands and the deltas. Thus, the purpose of this communication is to present the impact of the energy consumption by the sector of transport on the air quality, showing its effect on the health and on the global warming.

Keywords: energy consumption, sector of transport, air quality, atmospheric pollution

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Authors: Anis Eloud, Sayed Chehaibi

Abstract:

Compaction of agricultural soils as a result of the passage of heavy machinery on the fields is a problem that affects many agronomists and farmers since it results in a loss of yield of most crops. To remedy this, and raise the overall future of the food security challenge, we must study and understand the process of soil degradation. The present review is devoted to understanding the effect of repeated passages on agricultural land. The experiments were performed on a plot of the area of the ESIER, characterized by a clay texture in order to quantify the soil compaction caused by the wheels of the tractor during repeated passages on agricultural land. The test tractor CASE type puissance 110 hp and 5470 kg total mass of 3500 kg including the two rear axles and 1970 kg on the front axle. The state of soil compaction has been characterized by measuring its resistance to penetration by means of a penetrometer and direct manual reading, the density and permeability of the soil. Soil moisture was taken jointly. The measurements are made in the initial state before passing the tractor and after each pass varies from 1 to 7 on the track wheel inflated to 1.5 bar for the rear wheel and broke water to the level of valve and 4 bar for the front wheels. The passages are spaced to the average of one week. The results show that the passage of wheels on a farm tilled soil leads to compaction and the latter increases with the number of passages, especially for the upper 15 cm depth horizons. The first passage is characterized by the greatest effect. However, the effect of other passages do not follow a definite law for the complex behavior of granular media and the history of labor and the constraints it suffers from its formation.

Keywords: wheel traffic, tractor, soil compaction, wheel

Procedia PDF Downloads 469

Authors: H. J. Liu, Y. A. Chan, C. K. Pai, K. C. Tseng, Y. H. Chen, Y. L. Chan, T. C. Kuo

Abstract:

To satisfy the mission requirement of the FORMOSAT-7 project, NSPO has initialized a self-reliant development on satellite propulsion technology. A trade-off study on different types of on-board propulsion system has been done. A green propellant, high-concentration hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 hereafter), is chosen in this research because it is ITAR-free, nontoxic and easy to produce. As the components designed for either cold gas or hydrazine propulsion system are not suitable for H2O2 propulsion system, the primary objective of the research is to develop the components compatible with H2O2. By cooperating with domestic research institutes and manufacturing vendors, several prototype components, including a diaphragm-type tank, pressure transducer, ball latching valve, and one-Newton thruster with catalyst bed, were manufactured, and the functional tests were performed successfully according to the mission requirements. The requisite environmental tests, including hot firing test, thermal vaccum test, vibration test and compatibility test, are prepared and will be to completed in the near future. To demonstrate the subsystem function, an Air-Bearing Thrust Stand (ABTS) and a real-time Data Acquisition & Control System (DACS) were implemented to assess the performance of the proposed H2O2 propulsion system. By measuring the distance that the thrust stand has traveled in a given time, the thrust force can be derived from the kinematics equation. To validate the feasibility of the approach, it is scheduled to assess the performance of a cold gas (N2) propulsion system prior to the H2O2 propulsion system.

Keywords: FORMOSAT-7, green propellant, Hydrogen peroxide, thruster

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Authors: Abdesselam Babouri, Ahcène Lemzadmi, M Rahmane, B. Belhadi, N. Abouchi

Abstract:

Medical monitoring aims at monitoring and remotely controlling the vital physiological parameters of the patient. The physiological sensors provide repetitive measurements of these parameters in the form of electrical signals that vary continuously over time. Various measures allow informing us about the health of the person's physiological data (weight, blood pressure, heart rate or specific to a disease), environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, light, noise level) and displacement and movements (physical efforts and the completion of major daily living activities). The collected data will allow monitoring the patient’s condition and alerting in case of modification. They are also used in the diagnosis and decision making on medical treatment and the health of the patient. This work presents the implementation of a monitoring system to be used for the control of physiological parameters.

Keywords: clinical monitoring, physiological parameters, biomedical sensors, personal health

Procedia PDF Downloads 455

Authors: Daehyun Baek, Seungmin Lee, Minju Kim Jangik Park, Hyeong-Soon Moon

Abstract:

SPM (Single Point Mooring) is one of the mooring buoy facilities installed on a coast near oil and gas terminal which is not able to berth FPSO or large oil tankers under the condition of high draft due to geometrical limitation. Loading and unloading of crude oil and gas through a subsea pipeline can be carried out between the mooring buoy, ships and onshore facilities. SPM is an offshore-standalone system which has to withstand the harsh marine environment with harsh conditions such as high wind, current and so on. Therefore, SPM is required to have high stability, reliability and durability. Also, SPM is comprised to be integrated systems which consist of power management, high pressure valve control, sophisticated hardware/software and a long distance communication system. In order to secure required functions of SPM system, a simulation model for the integrated system of SPM using MATLAB Simulink and State flow tool has been developed. The developed model consists of configuration of hydraulic system for opening and closing of PLEM (Pipeline End Manifold) valves and control system logic. To verify functions of the model, an integrated simulation model for overall systems of SPM was also developed by considering handshaking variables between individual systems. In addition to the dynamic model, a self-diagnostic function to determine failure of the system was configured, which enables the SPM system itself to alert users about the failure once a failure signal comes to arise. Controlling and monitoring the SPM system is able to be done by a HMI system which is capable of managing the SPM system remotely, which was carried out by building a communication environment between the SPM system and the HMI system.

Keywords: HMI system, mooring buoy, simulink simulation model, single point mooring, stateflow

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Authors: A. Pallavi, N. Vijay Mohan

Abstract:

A nation can be economically progressive only when the citizens have sufficient capacity to work efficiently to increase the productivity. So, good health must be regarded as a primary need of the community. This helps the growth and development of the body and the mind, which in turn leads to progress and prosperity of the nation. An optimum growth is a necessity for an efficient existence in a biologically adverse and economically competitive world. It is also necessary for the execution of daily routine work. Yoga is a method or a system for the complete development of the personality in a human being. It can be further elaborated as an all-around and complete development of the body, mind, morality, intellect and soul of a being. Sri Aurobindo defines yoga as 'a methodical effort towards self-perfection by the development of the potentialities in the individual.' Aerobic exercise as any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, and is rhythmic I nature. It is a type of exercise that overloads the heart and lungs and causes them to work harder than at rest. The important idea behind aerobic exercise today, is to get up and get moving. There are more activities that ever to choose from, whether it is a new activity or an old one. Find something you enjoy doing that keeps our heart rate elevated for a continuous time period and get moving to a healthier life. Middle aged selected and served as the subjects for the purpose of this study. The selected subjects were in the age group of 30 to 40 years. By going through the literature and after consulting the experts in yoga and aerobic training, the investigator had chosen the variables which are specifically related to the middle-aged men. The selected physiological variables are pulse rate, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure; percent body fat and vital capacity. The selected psychological variables are job anxiety, occupational stress. The study was formulated as a random group design consisting of aerobic exercise and yogic exercises groups. The subjects (N=60) were at random divided into three equal groups of twenty middle-aged men each. The groups were assigned the names as follows: 1. Experimental group I- aerobic exercises group, 2. Experimental group II- yogic exercises, 3. Control group. All the groups were subjected to pre-test prior to the experimental treatment. The experimental groups participated in their respective duration of twenty-four weeks, six days in a week throughout the study. The various tests administered were: prior to training (pre-test), after twelfth week (second test) and twenty-fourth weeks (post-test) of the training schedule.

Keywords: pulse rate, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure; percent body fat and vital capacity, psychological variables, job anxiety, occupational stress, aerobic exercise, yogic exercise

Procedia PDF Downloads 435

Authors: Teng lin, Li Yuxing, Han Hui, Zhao Pengfei, Zhang Datong

Abstract:

With the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), the flow assurance of CO2 transportation becomes more important, particularly for supercritical CO2 pipelines. The relieving system using the choke valve is applied to control the pressure in CO2 pipeline. However, the temperature of fluid would drop rapidly because of Joule-Thomson cooling (JTC), which may cause solid CO2 form and block the pipe. In this paper, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model, using the modified Lagrangian method, Reynold's Stress Transport model (RSM) for turbulence and stochastic tracking model (STM) for particle trajectory, was developed to predict the deposition characteristic of solid carbon dioxide. The model predictions were in good agreement with the experiment data published in the literature. It can be observed that the particle distribution affected the deposition behavior. In the region of the sudden expansion, the smaller particles accumulated tightly on the wall were dominant for pipe blockage. On the contrary, the size of solid CO2 particles deposited near the outlet usually was bigger and the stacked structure was looser. According to the calculation results, the movement of the particles can be regarded as the main four types: turbulent motion close to the sudden expansion structure, balanced motion at sudden expansion-middle region, inertial motion near the outlet and the escape. Furthermore the particle deposits accumulated primarily in the sudden expansion region, reattachment region and outlet region because of the four type of motion. Also the Stokes number had an effect on the deposition ratio and it is recommended for Stokes number to avoid 3-8St.

Keywords: carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide pipeline, gas-particle flow, deposition

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Authors: David Simpson, Kyle Nash

Abstract:

There is considerable evidence linking slow, deliberative reasoning (system 2) with utilitarian judgments in dilemmas involving the sacrificing of another person for the greater good (other-sacrificial dilemmas). Joshua Greene has argued, based on this kind of evidence, that system 2 drives utilitarian judgments. However, the evidence on whether system 2 is associated with utilitarian judgments in self-sacrificial dilemmas is more mixed. We employed process dissociation to measure a self-sacrificial utilitarian (SU) parameter and an other-sacrificial (OU) utilitarian parameter. It was initially predicted that contra Greene, the cognitive reflection test (CRT) would only be positively correlated with the OU parameter and not the SU parameter. However, Greene’s hypothesis was corroborated: the CRT positively correlated with both the OU parameter and the SU parameter. By contrast, the CRT did not correlate with the other two moral parameters we extracted (altruism and deontology).

Keywords: dual-process model, utilitarianism, altruism, reason, emotion, process dissociation

Procedia PDF Downloads 140