Search results for: frequency and voltage regulation

Authors: Jiajia Peng, Yijun Dong, Jianjun Ren, Yu Zhao

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Objectives: Understanding the association between sleep traits and tinnitus could help prevent and provide appropriate interventions against tinnitus. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the relationship between different sleep patterns and tinnitus. Design: A cross-sectional analysis using baseline data (2006–2010, n=168,064) by logistic regressions was conducted to evaluate the association between sleep traits (including the overall health sleep score and five sleep behaviors), and the occurrence (yes/no), frequency (constant/transient), and severity (upsetting/not upsetting) of tinnitus. Further, a prospective analysis of participants without tinnitus at baseline (n=9,581) was performed, who had been followed up for seven years (2012–2019) to assess the association between new-onset tinnitus and sleep characteristics. Moreover, a subgroup analysis was also carried out to estimate the differences in sex by dividing the participants into male and female groups. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted by excluding ear-related diseases to avoid their confounding effects on tinnitus (n=102,159). Results: In the cross-sectional analysis, participants with “current tinnitus” (OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.04–1.22, p=0.004) had a higher risk of having a poor overall healthy sleep score and unhealthy sleep behaviors such as short sleep durations (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04–1.14, p<0.001), late chronotypes (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05–1.13, p<0.001), and sleeplessness (OR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.11–1.22, p<0.001) than those participants who “did not have current tinnitus.” However, this trend was not obvious between “constant tinnitus” and “transient tinnitus.” When considering the severity of tinnitus, the risk of “upsetting tinnitus” was obviously higher if participants had lower overall healthy sleep scores (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.13–1.53, p<0.001). Additionally, short sleep duration (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.12–1.33, p<0.001), late chronotypes (OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.04–1.22, p=0.003), and sleeplessness (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.29–1.59, p<0.001) showed positive correlations with “upsetting tinnitus.” In the prospective analysis, sleeplessness presented a consistently significant association with “upsetting tinnitus” (RR: 2.28, P=0.001). Consistent results were observed in the sex subgroup analysis, where a much more pronounced trend was identified in females compared with males. The results of the sensitivity analysis were consistent with those of the cross-sectional and prospective analyses. Conclusions: Different types of sleep disturbance may be associated with the occurrence and severity of tinnitus; therefore, precise interventions for different types of sleep disturbance, particularly sleeplessness, may help in the prevention and treatment of tinnitus.

Keywords: tinnitus, sleep, sleep behaviors, sleep disturbance

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: M. S. Nandana, K. Udaya Bhat, C. M. Manjunatha

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In this study aluminum alloy 7010 was subjected to three different ageing treatments i.e., peak ageing (T6), over-ageing (T7451) and retrogression and re ageing (RRA) to study the influence of precipitate microstructure on the fatigue crack growth rate behavior. The microstructural modification was studied by using transmission electron microscope (TEM) to examine the change in the size and morphology of precipitates in the matrix and on the grain boundaries. The standard compact tension (CT) specimens were fabricated and tested under constant amplitude fatigue crack growth tests to evaluate the influence of heat treatment on the fatigue crack growth rate properties. The tests were performed in a computer-controlled servo-hydraulic test machine applying a load ratio, R = 0.1 at a loading frequency of 10 Hz as per ASTM E647. The fatigue crack growth was measured by adopting compliance technique using a CMOD gauge attached to the CT specimen. The average size of the matrix precipitates were found to be of 16-20 nm in T7451, 5-6 nm in RRA and 2-3 nm in T6 conditions respectively. The grain boundary precipitate which was continuous in T6, was disintegrated in RRA and T7451 condition. The PFZ width was lower in RRA compared to T7451 condition. The crack growth rate was higher in T7451 and lowest in RRA treated alloy. The RRA treated alloy also exhibits an increase in threshold stress intensity factor range (∆Kₜₕ). The ∆Kₜₕ measured was 11.1, 10.3 and 5.7 MPam¹/² in RRA, T6 and T7451 alloys respectively. The fatigue crack growth rate in RRA treated alloy was nearly 2-3 times lower than that in T6 and was one order lower than that observed in T7451 condition. The surface roughness of RRA treated alloy was more pronounced when compared to the other conditions. The reduction in fatigue crack growth rate in RRA alloy was majorly due to the increase in roughness and partially due to increase in spacing between the matrix precipitates. The reduction in crack growth rate and increase in threshold stress intensity range is expected to benefit the damage tolerant capability of aircraft structural components under service loads.

Keywords: damage tolerance, fatigue, heat treatment, PFZ, RRA

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Prabesh Karki, Shyam Thapa Chettri, Bajarang Prasad Sah, Manoj Bhattarai, Sudeep Mishra

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Introduction: Frontal sinus is frequently described as the most difficult sinus to access surgically due to its proximity to the cribriform plate, orbit, and anterior ethmoid artery. Frontal sinus surgery requires a detailed understanding of the cellular structure and FSDP unique to each patient, making high-resolution CT scans an indispensable tool to assess the difficulty of planned sinus surgery. International Frontal Sinus Anatomy Classification (IFAC) was developed to provide a more precise nomenclature for cells in the frontal recess, classifying cells based on their anatomic origin. Objectives: To assess the proportion of frontal cell variants defined by IFAC, variation with respect to age and gender. Methods: 54 cases were enrolled after a detailed clinical history, thorough general and physical examinations, and CT a report ordered in a film. Assessment and tabulation of the presence of frontal cells according to the IFAC analyzed. The prevalence of each cell type was calculated, and data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics and frequencies were defined for categorical and numerical variables. Frequency, percentage, the mean and standard deviation were calculated. Result: Among 54 patients, 30 (55.6%) were male and 24 (44.4%) were female. The patient enrolled ranged from 18 to 78 years. Majority33.3% (n=18) were in age group of >50 years.According to IFAC, Agger nasi cells (92.6%) were most common, whereas supraorbital ethmoidal cells were least common 16 (29.6%). Prevalence of other frontoethmoidal cells was SAC- 57.4%, SAFC- 38.9%, SBC- 74.1%, SBFC- 33.3%, FSC- 38.9% of 54 cases. Conclusion: IFAC is an international consensus document that describes an anatomically precise nomenclature for classifying frontoethmoidal cells' anatomy. This study has defined the prevalence, symmetry and reliability of frontoethmoidal cells as established by the IFAC system as in other parts of the world.

Keywords: frontal sinus, frontoethmoidal cells, international frontal sinus anatomy classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Michael Picard

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This proposal offers to shed light on the changing legal geography of the global waste economy. Global waste recycling has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. NASDAQ predicts the emergence of a worldwide 1,296G$ waste management market between 2017 and 2022. Underlining this evolution, a new generation of preferential waste-trade agreements has emerged in the Pacific. In the last decade, Japan has concluded a series of bilateral treaties with Asian countries, and most recently with China. An agreement between Tokyo and Beijing was formalized on 7 May 2008, which forged an economic partnership on waste transfer and mining. The agreement set up International Recycling Zones, where certified recycling plants in China process industrial waste imported from Japan. Under the joint venture, Chinese companies salvage the embedded value from Japanese industrial discards, reprocess them and send them back to Japanese manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi and Panasonic. This circular economy is designed to convert surplus garbage into surplus value. Ever since the opening of Sino-Japanese eco-parks, millions of tons of plastic and e-waste have been exported from Japan to China every year. Yet, quite unexpectedly, China has recently closed its waste market to imports, jeopardizing Japan’s billion-dollar exports to China. China notified the WTO that, by the end of 2017, it would no longer accept imports of plastics and certain metals. Given China’s share of Japanese waste exports, a complete closure of China’s market would require Japan to find new uses for its recyclable industrial trash generated domestically every year. It remains to be seen how China will effectively implement its ban on waste imports, considering the economic interests at stake. At this stage, what remains to be clarified is whether China's ban on waste imports will negatively affect the recycling trade between Japan and China. What is clear, though, is the rapid transformation in the legal geography of waste mining in East-Asia. For decades, East-Asian waste trade had been tied up in an ‘ecologically unequal exchange’ between the Japanese core and the Chinese periphery. This global unequal waste distribution could be measured by the Environmental Stringency Index, which revealed that waste regulation was 39% weaker in the Global South than in Japan. This explains why Japan could legally export its hazardous plastic and electronic discards to China. The asymmetric flow of hazardous waste between Japan and China carried the colonial heritage of international law. The legal geography of waste distribution was closely associated to the imperial construction of an ecological trade imbalance between the Japanese source and the Chinese sink. Thus, China’s recent decision to ban hazardous waste imports is a sign of a broader ecological shift. As a global economic superpower, China announced to the world it would no longer be the planet’s junkyard. The policy change will have profound consequences on the global circulation of waste, re-routing global waste towards countries south of China, such as Vietnam and Malaysia. By the time the Berlin Conference takes place in May 2018, the presentation will be able to assess more accurately the effect of the Chinese ban on the transboundary movement of waste in Asia.

Keywords: Asia, ecological unequal exchange, global waste trade, legal geography

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Authors: Hülya Torun, Ondřej Novák, Jaromír Mikulík, Miroslav Strnad, Faik A. Ayaz

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World climate is changing. Millions of people in the world still face chronic undernourishment for conducting a healthy life and the world’s population is growing steadily. To meet this growing demand, agriculture and food systems must adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and become more resilient, productive and sustainable. From this perspective, to determine tolerant cultivars for undesirable environmental conditions will be necessary food production for sustainable development. Among abiotic stresses, soil salinity is one of the most detrimental global fact restricting plant sources. Development of salt-tolerant lines is required in order to increase the crop productivity and quality in salt-treated lands. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the morphological and physiological responses of barley cultivars accessions to salinity stress by NaCl. For this purpose, it was aimed to determine the crosstalk between some endogenous phytohormones and exogenous salicylic acid (SA) in two different vegetative parts (leaves and roots) of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.; Poaceae; 2n=14; Ince-04) which is detected salt-tolerant. The effects of SA on growth parameters, leaf relative water content (RWC), endogenous phytohormones; including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), cytokinins (CKs), abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene were investigated in barley cultivars under salinity stress. SA was applied to 17-day-old seedlings of barley in two different ways including before (pre-treated for 24 h) and simultaneously with NaCl stress treatment. NaCl (0, 150, 300 mM) exposure in the hydrophonic system was associated with a rapid decrease in growth parameters and RWC, which is an indicator of plant water status, resulted in a strong up-regulation of ABA as a stress indicator. Roots were more dramatically affected than leaves. Water conservation in 150 mM NaCl treated-barley plants did not change, but decreased in 300 mM NaCl treated plants. Pre- and simultaneously treatment of SA did not significantly alter growth parameters and RWC. ABA, JA and ethylene are known to be related with stress. In the present work, ethylene also increased, similarly to ABA, but not with the same intensity. While ABA and ethylene increased by the increment of salt concentrations, JA levels rapidly decreased especially in roots. Both pre- and simultaneously SA applications alleviated salt-induced decreases in 300 mM NaCl resulted in the increment of ABA levels. CKs and IAA are related to cell growth and development. At high salinity (300 mM NaCl), CKs (cZ+cZR) contents increased in both vegetative organs while IAA levels stayed at the same level with control groups. However, IAA increased and cZ+cZR rapidly decreased in leaves of barley plants with SA treatments before salt applications (in pre- SA treated groups). Simultaneously application of SA decreased CKs levels in both leaves and roots of the cultivar. Due to increasing concentrations of NaCl in association with decreasing ABA, JA and ethylene content and increments in CKs and IAA were recorded with SA treatments. As results of the study, in view of all the phytohormones that we tested, exogenous SA induced greater tolerance to salinity particularly when applied before salinity stress.

Keywords: Barley, Hordeum vulgare, phytohormones, salicylic acid, salinity

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Abbas Ali Husseini, Ali Mohammad Yazdani, Fatemeh Ghadiri, Alper Şişman

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We developed a microchip device that uses surface acoustic waves for rapid lysis of low level of cell samples. The device incorporates sharp-edge glass microparticles for improved performance. We optimized the lysis conditions for high efficiency and evaluated the device's feasibility for point-of-care applications. The microchip contains a 13-finger pair interdigital transducer with a 30-degree focused angle. It generates high-intensity acoustic beams that converge 6 mm away. The microchip operates at a frequency of 16 MHz, exciting Rayleigh waves with a 250 µm wavelength on the LiNbO3 substrate. Cell lysis occurs when Candida albicans cells and glass particles are placed within the focal area. The high-intensity surface acoustic waves induce centrifugal forces on the cells and glass particles, resulting in cell lysis through lateral forces from the sharp-edge glass particles. We conducted 42 pilot cell lysis experiments to optimize the surface acoustic wave-induced streaming. We varied electrical power, droplet volume, glass particle size, concentration, and lysis time. A regression machine-learning model determined the impact of each parameter on lysis efficiency. Based on these findings, we predicted optimal conditions: electrical signal of 2.5 W, sample volume of 20 µl, glass particle size below 10 µm, concentration of 0.2 µg, and a 5-minute lysis period. Downstream analysis successfully amplified a DNA target fragment directly from the lysate. The study presents an efficient microchip-based cell lysis method employing acoustic streaming and microparticle collisions within microdroplets. Integration of a surface acoustic wave-based lysis chip with an isothermal amplification method enables swift point-of-care applications.

Keywords: cell lysis, surface acoustic wave, micro-glass particle, droplet

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Faheema Khan

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To investigate the ability of sensitive and tolerant genotype of Glycine max to adapt to a saline environment in a field, we examined the growth performance, water relation and activities of antioxidant enzymes in relation to photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll a fluorescence, photosynthetic pigment concentration, protein and proline in plants exposed to salt stress. Ten soybean genotypes (Pusa-20, Pusa-40, Pusa-37, Pusa-16, Pusa-24, Pusa-22, BRAGG, PK-416, PK-1042, and DS-9712) were selected and grown hydroponically. After 3 days of proper germination, the seedlings were transferred to Hoagland’s solution (Hoagland and Arnon 1950). The growth chamber was maintained at a photosynthetic photon flux density of 430 μmol m−2 s−1, 14 h of light, 10 h of dark and a relative humidity of 60%. The nutrient solution was bubbled with sterile air and changed on alternate days. Ten-day-old seedlings were given seven levels of salt in the form of NaCl viz., T1 = 0 mM NaCl, T2=25 mM NaCl, T3=50 mM NaCl, T4=75 mM NaCl, T5=100 mM NaCl, T6=125 mM NaCl, T7=150 mM NaCl. The investigation showed that genotype Pusa-24, PK-416 and Pusa-20 appeared to be the most salt-sensitive. genotypes as inferred from their significantly reduced length, fresh weight and dry weight in response to the NaCl exposure. Pusa-37 appeared to be the most tolerant genotype since no significant effect of NaCl treatment on growth was found. We observed a greater decline in the photosynthetic variables like photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content, in salt-sensitive (Pusa-24) genotype than in salt-tolerant Pusa-37 under high salinity. Numerous primers were verified on ten soybean genotypes obtained from Operon technologies among which 30 RAPD primers shown high polymorphism and genetic variation. The Jaccard’s similarity coefficient values for each pairwise comparison between cultivars were calculated and similarity coefficient matrix was constructed. The closer varieties in the cluster behaved similar in their response to salinity tolerance. Intra-clustering within the two clusters precisely grouped the 10 genotypes in sub-cluster as expected from their physiological findings.Salt tolerant genotype Pusa-37, was further analysed by 2-Dimensional gel electrophoresis to analyse the differential expression of proteins at high salt stress. In the Present study, 173 protein spots were identified. Of these, 40 proteins responsive to salinity were either up- or down-regulated in Pusa-37. Proteomic analysis in salt-tolerant genotype (Pusa-37) led to the detection of proteins involved in a variety of biological processes, such as protein synthesis (12 %), redox regulation (19 %), primary and secondary metabolism (25 %), or disease- and defence-related processes (32 %). In conclusion, the soybean plants in our study responded to salt stress by changing their protein expression pattern. The photosynthetic, biochemical and molecular study showed that there is variability in salt tolerance behaviour in soybean genotypes. Pusa-24 is the salt-sensitive and Pusa-37 is the salt-tolerant genotype. Moreover this study gives new insights into the salt-stress response in soybean and demonstrates the power of genomic and proteomic approach in plant biology studies which finally could help us in identifying the possible regulatory switches (gene/s) controlling the salt tolerant genotype of the crop plants and their possible role in defence mechanism.

Keywords: glycine max, salt stress, RAPD, genomic and proteomic variability

Procedia PDF Downloads 426

Authors: Changhan Ouyang, Zhonglin Xie

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In response to proatherosclerotic factors such as oxidized lipids, or to therapeutic interventions such as angioplasty, stents, or bypass surgery, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) migrate from the media to the intima, resulting in intimal hyperplasia, restenosis, graft failure, or atherosclerosis. These proatherosclerotic factors also activate autophagy in VSMCs. However, the functional role of autophagy in vascular health and disease remains poorly understood. In the present study, we determined the role of autophagy in the regulation of VSMC migration. Autophagy activity in cultured human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) and mouse carotid arteries was measured by Western blot analysis of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 B (LC3B) and P62. The VSMC migration was determined by scratch wound assay and transwell migration assay. Ex vivo smooth muscle cell migration was determined using aortic ring assay. The in vivo SMC migration was examined by staining the carotid artery sections with smooth muscle alpha actin (alpha SMA) after carotid artery ligation. To examine the relationship between autophagy and neointimal hyperplasia, C57BL/6J mice were subjected to carotid artery ligation. Seven days after injury, protein levels of Atg5, Atg7, Beclin1, and LC3B drastically increased and remained higher in the injured arteries three weeks after the injury. In parallel with the activation of autophagy, vascular injury-induced neointimal hyperplasia as estimated by increased intima/media ratio. The en face staining of carotid artery showed that vascular injury enhanced alpha SMA staining in the intimal cells as compared with the sham operation. Treatment of HASMCs with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), one of the major factors for vascular remodeling in response to vascular injury, increased Atg7 and LC3 II protein levels and enhanced autophagosome formation. In addition, aortic ring assay demonstrated that PDGF treated aortic rings displayed an increase in neovessel formation compared with control rings. Whole mount staining for CD31 and alpha SMA in PDGF treated neovessels revealed that the neovessel structures were stained by alpha SMA but not CD31. In contrast, pharmacological and genetic suppression of autophagy inhibits VSMC migration. Especially, gene silencing of Atg7 inhibited VSMC migration induced by PDGF. Furthermore, three weeks after ligation, markedly decreased neointimal formation was found in mice treated with chloroquine, an inhibitor of autophagy. Quantitative morphometric analysis of the injured vessels revealed a marked reduction in the intima/media ratio in the mice treated with chloroquine. Conclusion: Autophagy activation increases VSMC migration while autophagy suppression inhibits VSMC migration. These findings suggest that autophagy suppression may be an important therapeutic strategy for atherosclerosis and intimal hyperplasia.

Keywords: autophagy, vascular smooth muscle cell, migration, neointimal formation

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: Sony Hartono, Azka Decana, Vilia Yohana, Annisa Luthfianihuda, Yuni Faizah, Tati Andriani, Dewi Kania, Fachri Zulfiqar, Sugiar Yusup, Arman Nugraha

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Landslide is a geological hazard that is quite common in some areas in Indonesia and have disadvantages impact for public around. Due to the high frequency of landslides in Indonesia, and extensive damage, landslides should be specifically noted. Landslides caused by a soil or rock unit that has been in a state of unstable slopes and not in ideal state again, so the value of ground resistance or the rock been passed by the value of the forces acting on the slope. Based on this fact, authors held a geological engineering mapping at Muria Mountain, Kudus, Central Java province which is known as an agriculture and religion tourism area. This geological engineering mapping is performed to determine landslides potential at Muria Mountain. Slopes stability will be illustrated by a number called the “factor of safety” where the number can describe how much potential a slope to fall. Slopes stability can be different depending on the physical and mechanical characteristics of the soil and slope conditions. Testing of physical and mechanical characteristics of the soil conducted in the geotechnical laboratory. The characteristics of the soil must be same when sampled as well as in the test laboratory. To meet that requirement, authors used "undisturb sample" method that will be guarantee sample will not be distracted by environtment influences. From laboratory tests on soil physical and mechanical properties obtained characteristics of the soil on a slope, and then inserted into a Geological Information Software that would generate a value of factor of safety and give a visualization slope form area of research. Then, as a result of the study, obtained a map of the ground movement distribution map and i is implications for landslides potential areas.

Keywords: factor of safety, geological engineering mapping, landslides, slope stability, soil

Procedia PDF Downloads 422

Authors: Alvaro Armenta-Ramade, Arturo Serrano-Santoyo, Veronica Rojas-Mendizabal, Roberto Conte-Galvan

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The availability and affordability of commercial off-the-shell products have brought a major impetus in the development of university projects related to the design, construction and launching of small satellites on a global scale. Universities in emerging economies as well as in least developed countries have been able to develop prototypes of small satellites (cubesats and cansats) with limited budgets. The experience gained in the development of small satellites gives rise to capacity building for designing more complex aerospace systems. This trend has significantly increased the pace and number of aerospace university projects around the world. In the case of Mexico, projects funded by different agencies have been very effective in accelerating the capacity building and technology transfer initiatives in the aerospace ecosystem. However, many of this initiatives have centered their efforts in technology development matters with minimum or no considerations of key regulatory issues related to frequency assignment, management and licensing, as well as launching requirements and measures of mitigation of space debris. These regulatory concerns are fundamental to accomplish successful missions that take into account the complete value chain of an aerospace project. The purpose of this paper is to develop a regulatory framework to support the efforts of educational institutions working on the development of small satellites in Mexico. We base our framework on recommendations from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and other major actors of the Mexican regulatory ecosystem. In order to develop an integrated and cohesive framework, we draw on complexity science to identify the agents, their role and interactions. Our goal is to create a guiding instrument available both in print and online that can also be used in other regions of the world

Keywords: capacity building, complexity science, cubesats, space regulations, small satellites

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: L. Kiefer, C. Richter, G. Reinhart

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The uprising complexity in production systems due to an increasing amount of variants up to customer innovated products leads to requirements that hierarchical control systems are not able to fulfil. Therefore, factory planners can install autonomous manufacturing systems. The fundamental requirement for an autonomous control is the identification of objects within production systems. In this approach an attribute-based identification is focused for avoiding dose-dependent identification costs. Instead of using an identification mark (ID) like a radio frequency identification (RFID)-Tag, an object type is directly identified by its attributes. To facilitate that it’s recommended to include the identification and the corresponding sensors within handling processes, which connect all manufacturing processes and therefore ensure a high identification rate and reduce blind spots. The presented methodology reduces the individual effort to integrate identification processes in handling systems. First, suitable object attributes and sensor systems for object identification in a production environment are defined. By categorising these sensor systems as well as handling systems, it is possible to match them universal within a compatibility matrix. Based on that compatibility further requirements like identification time are analysed, which decide whether the combination of handling and sensor system is well suited for parallel handling and identification within an autonomous control. By analysing a list of more than thousand possible attributes, first investigations have shown, that five main characteristics (weight, form, colour, amount, and position of subattributes as drillings) are sufficient for an integrable identification. This knowledge limits the variety of identification systems and leads to a manageable complexity within the selection process. Besides the procedure, several tools, as an example a sensor pool are presented. These tools include the generated specific expert knowledge and simplify the selection. The primary tool is a pool of preconfigured identification processes depending on the chosen combination of sensor and handling device. By following the defined procedure and using the created tools, even laypeople out of other scientific fields can choose an appropriate combination of handling devices and sensors which enable parallel handling and identification.

Keywords: agent systems, autonomous control, handling systems, identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Chang-Hui Shen, Michelle Esposito, Andrew J. Shen, Michael Adejokun, Diana Laterman

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The packaging of DNA into nucleosomes is critical to genomic compaction, yet it can leave gene promoters inaccessible to activator proteins or transcription machinery and thus prevents transcriptional initiation. Both chromatin remodelers and histone acetylases (HATs) are the two main transcription co-activators that can reconfigure chromatin structure for transcriptional activation. Ino80p is the core component of the INO80 remodeling complex. Recently, it was shown that Ino80p dissociates from the yeast INO1 promoter after induction. However, when certain HATs were deleted or mutated, Ino80p accumulated at the promoters during gene activation. This suggests a link between HATs’ presence and Ino80p’s dissociation. However, it has yet to be demonstrated that Ino80p can be acetylated. To determine if Ino80p can be acetylated, wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells carrying Ino80p engineered with a double FLAG tag (MATa INO80-FLAG his3∆200 leu2∆0 met15∆0 trp1∆63 ura3∆0) were grown to mid log phase, as were non-tagged wild type (WT) (MATa his3∆200 leu2∆0 met15∆0 trp1∆63 ura3∆0) and ino80∆ (MATa ino80∆::TRP1 his3∆200 leu2∆0 met15∆0 trp1∆63 ura3∆0) cells as controls. Cells were harvested, and the cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation (IP) with α-FLAG resin to isolate Ino80p. These eluted IP samples were subjected to SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Subsequently, the blots were probed with the α-FLAG and α-acetyl lysine antibodies, respectively. For the blot probed with α-FLAG, one prominent band was shown in the INO80-FLAG cells, but no band was detected in the IP samples from the WT and ino80∆ cells. For the blot probed with the α-acetyl lysine antibody, we detected acetylated Ino80p in the INO80-FLAG strain while no bands were observed in the control strains. As such, our results showed that Ino80p can be acetylated. This acetylation can explain the co-activator’s recruitment patterns observed in current gene activation models. In yeast INO1, it has been shown that Ino80p is recruited to the promoter during repression, and then dissociates from the promoter once de-repression begins. Histone acetylases, on the other hand, have the opposite pattern of recruitment, as they have an increased presence at the promoter as INO1 de-repression commences. This Ino80p recruitment pattern significantly changes when HAT mutant strains are studied. It was observed that instead of dissociating, Ino80p accumulates at the promoter in the absence of functional HATs, such as Gcn5p or Esa1p, under de-repressing processes. As such, Ino80p acetylation may be required for its proper dissociation from the promoters. The remodelers’ dissociation mechanism may also have a wide range of implications with respect to transcriptional initiation, elongation, or even repression as it allows for increased spatial access to the promoter for the various transcription factors and regulators that need to bind in that region. Our findings here suggest a previously uncharacterized interaction between Ino80p and other co-activators recruited to promoters. As such, further analysis of Ino80p acetylation not only will provide insight into the role of epigenetic modifications in transcriptional activation, but also gives insight into the interactions occurring between co-activators at gene promoters during gene regulation.

Keywords: acetylation, chromatin remodeler, epigenetic modification, Ino80p

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Razan Salem

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This study aims to investigate the investment behavior of Arab women (in regards to their herding behavior, risk tolerance, confidence and investment literacy levels). This study aims to investigate the relationship between three demographic factors (age, income, education) and the investment behavior of Arab women. On average, women in the Arab region face several obstacles that limit them from fully participating in stocks investments. In the context, this study focuses on extending the existing literature to include Arab women individuals and their investment behaviors. To achieve the study’s objective, the researcher distributed 600 close-ended online questionnaires to a sample of Arab male and female individual investors in both Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The researcher used quantitative statistical methods (frequency distribution along with the Kruskal-Wallis H Test and the Mann-Whitney U Test) to analyze the 550 questionnaire respondents. The findings indicated that only age, educational level, and annual income level are associated with the investment behavior of Arab women, where age is only negatively associated with their financial risk tolerance levels. Additionally, income level is positively associated with Arab women‘s confidence and investment literacy levels, while educational level is only associated positively with their investment confidence levels. According to annual income, Arab women with lower incomes have lower confidence and investment literacy levels. The limited income level might prevent the sample Arab women from investing in the financial information and advisors that may help in improving their investment literacy levels. Furthermore, Arab women with lower educational levels have lower investment literacy levels and thus, this may limit their stock investments. Overall, the study contributes to the existing literature by focusing directly on examining the investment behavior of Arab women and its association with age, annual income, and education. Generally, there are scarce existing studies that investigate the association of demographic factors with the investment behavior of women only in regards to their herding behavior, risk tolerance, investment confidence, and investment literacy levels (combined), especially Arab women investors.

Keywords: Arab region, demographic factors, investment behavior, women investors

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Dacheng Li, Bo Huang, Qinjin Han, Ming Li

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Remotely sensed imagery with the high spatial and temporal characteristics, which it is hard to acquire under the current land observation satellites, has been considered as a key factor for monitoring environmental changes over both global and local scales. On a basis of the limited high spatial-resolution observations, challenged studies called spatiotemporal fusion have been developed for generating high spatiotemporal images through employing other auxiliary low spatial-resolution data while with high-frequency observations. However, a majority of spatiotemporal fusion approaches yield to satisfactory assumption, empirical but unstable parameters, low accuracy or inefficient performance. Although the spatiotemporal fusion methodology via sparse representation theory has advantage in capturing reflectance changes, stability and execution efficiency (even more efficient when overcomplete dictionaries have been pre-trained), the retrieval of high-accuracy dictionary and its response to fusion results are still pending issues. In this paper, we employ additional image pairs (here each image-pair includes a Landsat Operational Land Imager and a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer acquisitions covering the partial area of Baotou, China) only into the coupled dictionary training process based on K-SVD (K-means Singular Value Decomposition) algorithm, and attempt to improve the fusion results of two existing sparse representation based fusion models (respectively utilizing one and two available image-pair). The results show that more eligible image pairs are probably related to a more accurate overcomplete dictionary, which generally indicates a better image representation, and is then contribute to an effective fusion performance in case that the added image-pair has similar seasonal aspects and image spatial structure features to the original image-pair. It is, therefore, reasonable to construct multi-dictionary training pattern for generating a series of high spatial resolution images based on limited acquisitions.

Keywords: spatiotemporal fusion, sparse representation, K-SVD algorithm, dictionary learning

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Authors: Gift Chidi-Onwuta, Iwe Nkem Nkechinyere, Chikamadu Christabelle Chinyere

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The teaching of English is a resource-driven activity that requires rich resource-classroom settings for the delivery of effective lessons and the acquisition of interpersonal skills for integration in a target-language environment. However, throughout the world, English is often taught in low-resource classrooms. This paper is aimed to reveal the common problems associated with teaching English in low-resource environments and the prospects for teachers who found themselves in such undefined teaching settings. Self-structured and validated questionnaire in a closed-ended format, open question format and scaling format was administered to teachers across five countries: Nigeria, Cameroun, Iraq, Turkey, and Sudan. The study adopts situational language teaching theory (SLTT), which emphasizes a performance improvement imperative. This study inclines to this model because it maintains that learning must be fun and enjoyable like playing a favorite sport, just as in real life. Since teaching resources make learning engaging, we found this model apt for the current study. The perceptions of teachers about accessibility and functionality of teaching material resources, the nature of teaching outcomes in resource-less environments, their levels of involvement in improvisation and the prospects associated with resource limitations were sourced. Data were analysed using percentages and presented in frequency tables. Results: showed that a greater number of teachers across these nations do not have access to sufficient productive resource materials that can aid effective English language teaching. Teaching outcomes, from the findings, are affected by low material resources; however, results show certain advantages to teaching English with limited resources: flexibility and autonomy with students and creativity and innovation amongst teachers. Results further revealed group work, story, critical thinking strategy, flex, cardboards and flashcards, dictation and dramatization as common teaching strategies, as well as materials adopted by teachers to overcome low resource-related challenges in classrooms.

Keywords: teaching materials, low-resource environments, English language teaching, situational language theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Melissa Hachem, Maxime Loizeau, Nadine Saleh, Isabelle Momas, Lynda Bensefa-Colas

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Professional drivers are exposed inside their vehicles to high levels of air pollutants due to the considerable time they spend close to motor vehicle emissions. Little is known about ultrafine particles (UFP) or black carbon (BC) adverse respiratory health effects compared to the regulated pollutants. We aimed to study the short-term associations between UFP and BC concentrations inside vehicles and (1) the onset of mucosal irritation and (2) the acute changes in lung function of Parisian taxi drivers during a working day. An epidemiological study was carried out on 50 taxi drivers in Paris. UFP and BC were measured inside their vehicles with DiSCmini® and microAeth®, respectively. On the same day, the frequency and the severity of nose, eye, and throat irritations were self-reported by each participant and a spirometry test was performed before and after the work shift. Multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the associations between in-taxis UFP and BC concentrations and mucosal irritation and lung function, after adjustment for potential confounders. In-taxis UFP concentrations ranged from 17.9 to 37.9 × 103 particles/cm³ and BC concentrations from 2.2 to 3.9 μg/m³, during a mean of 9 ± 2 working hours. Significant dose-response relationships were observed between in-taxis UFP concentrations and both nasal irritation and lung function. The increase of in-taxis UFP (for an interquartile range of 20 × 103 particles/cm3) was associated to an increase in nasal irritation (adjusted OR = 6.27 [95% CI: 1.02 to 38.62]) and to a reduction in forced expiratory flow at 25–75% by −7.44% [95% CI: −12.63 to −2.24], forced expiratory volume in one second by −4.46% [95% CI: −6.99 to −1.93] and forced vital capacity by −3.31% [95% CI: −5.82 to −0.80]. Such associations were not found with BC. Incident throat and eye irritations were not related to in-vehicle particles exposure; however, they were associated with outdoor air quality (estimated by the Atmo index) and in-vehicle humidity, respectively. This study is the first to show a significant association, within a short-period of time, between in-vehicle UFP exposure and acute respiratory effects in professional drivers.

Keywords: black carbon, lung function, mucosal irritation, taxi drivers, ultrafine particles

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Luis Alvarado, Victor Poblete, Isaac Gonzalez, Yetzabeth Gonzalez

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In MIREX 2016 (http://www.music-ir.org/mirex), the deep neural network (DNN)-Deep Chroma Extractor, proposed by Korzeniowski and Wiedmer, reached the highest score in an audio chord recognition task. In the present paper, this tool is assessed under acoustic reverberant environments and distinct source-microphone distances. The evaluation dataset comprises The Beatles and Queen datasets. These datasets are sequentially re-recorded with a single microphone in a real reverberant chamber at four reverberation times (0 -anechoic-, 1, 2, and 3 s, approximately), as well as four source-microphone distances (32, 64, 128, and 256 cm). It is expected that the performance of the trained DNN will dramatically decrease under these acoustic conditions with signals degraded by room reverberation and distance to the source. Recently, the effect of the bio-inspired Locally-Normalized Cepstral Coefficients (LNCC), has been assessed in a text independent speaker verification task using speech signals degraded by additive noise at different signal-to-noise ratios with variations of recording distance, and it has also been assessed under reverberant conditions with variations of recording distance. LNCC showed a performance so high as the state-of-the-art Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient filters. Based on these results, this paper proposes a variation of locally-normalized triangular filters called Locally-Normalized Quarter Tone (LNQT) filters. By using the LNQT spectrogram, robustness improvements of the trained Deep Chroma Extractor are expected, compared with classical triangular filters, and thus compensating the music signal degradation improving the accuracy of the chord recognition system.

Keywords: chord recognition, deep neural networks, feature extraction, music information retrieval

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Authors: Sinan Bilgen, Bekir Ozer Ay, Nilay Sezer Uzol

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After decades of conventional shapes, irregular forms with complex geometries are getting more popular for form generation of tall buildings all over the world. This trend has recently brought out diverse building forms such as twisting tall buildings. This study investigates both the aerodynamic and design features of twisting tall buildings through comparative analyses. Since twisting a tall building give rise to additional complexities related with the form and structural system, lateral load effects become of greater importance on these buildings. The aim of this study is to analyze the inherent characteristics of these iconic forms by comparing the wind loads on twisting tall buildings with those on their prismatic twins. Through a case study research, aerodynamic analyses of an existing twisting tall building and its prismatic counterpart were performed and the results have been compared. The prismatic twin of the original building were generated by removing the progressive rotation of its floors with the same plan area and story height. Performance-based measures under investigation have been evaluated in conjunction with the architectural design. Aerodynamic effects have been analyzed by both wind tunnel tests and computational methods. High frequency base balance tests and pressure measurements on 3D models were performed to evaluate wind load effects on a global and local scale. Comparisons of flat and real surface models were conducted to further evaluate the effects of the twisting form without façade texture contribution. Comparisons highlighted that, the twisting form under investigation shows better aerodynamic behavior both for along wind but particularly for across wind direction. Compared to the prismatic counterpart; twisting model is superior on reducing vortex-shedding dynamic response by disorganizing the wind vortices. Consequently, despite the difficulties arisen from inherent complexity of twisted forms, they could still be feasible and viable with their attractive images in the realm of tall buildings.

Keywords: aerodynamic tests, motivation for twisting, tall buildings, twisted forms, wind excitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Bello Theodora O., Animola Odunayo V., Owoade Johnson T.

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With the advent of Covid-19, online classroom instruction became a very important mode of instruction delivery during which learners were engaged in both collaborative and online interactive learning process, but along with it are challenges as well as its deliverables. This study therefore investigated the various online platform used by the students for learning among fresh undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun Sate. It also assessed the student’s perception towards online learning in the university and examined the influence of collaborative learning among the students. Lastly, it examined the problems that are associated with collaborative online learning instruction in the university. These were with a view to providing empirical information on problems and prospects of online classroom instruction among fresh undergraduate physical science students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The study employed a descriptive survey research technique. The population comprised all the fresh undergraduates in physical science departments of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The sample consisted two hundred freshmen in physical science departments of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, who were selected using simple random techniques. During the selection, a questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The data were analyzed using appropriate descriptive of frequency, simple percentage, and mean. Results showed that Google Meet 149(74.5%), Telegram 120(60.0%), and Google Classroom 143(71.5%), are the prominent online classroom instruction used by the students in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The results also showed that the freshmen’s perception towards online classroom instruction in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife is low with cluster mean of 2.97. It further revealed that collaborative learning enhances the learning ability of below average learners more than that of the above average and average students (73.6%). Finally, the result showed that they are affirmative of the problems associated with online classroom instruction in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with cluster mean of 3.01. The result concluded that most Online platform used by the fresher’s students in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife are Google Meet, Telegram and Google Classroom. The students have negatives perception towards online classroom instruction and the students are affirmative of the problems associated with online classroom instruction among physical science freshmen in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Keywords: online, instruction, freshmen, physical science, collaborative

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Authors: M. F. Slim, A. Alhussein, F. Sanchette, M. François

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Thin films are widely used in various applications to enhance the surface properties and characteristics of materials. They are used in many domains such as: biomedical, automotive, aeronautics, military, electronics and energy. Depending on the elaboration technique, the elastic behavior of thin films may be different from this of bulk materials. This dependence on the elaboration techniques and their parameters makes the control of the elasticity constants of coated components necessary. Our work is focused on the characterization of the elasticity constants of isotropic thin films by means of Impulse Excitation Techniques. The tests rely on the measurement of the sample resonance frequency before and after deposition. In this work, a finite element model was performed with ABAQUS software. This model was then compared with the analytical approaches used to determine the Young’s and shear moduli. The best model to determine the film Young’s modulus was identified and a relation allowing the determination of the shear modulus of thin films of any thickness was developed. In order to confirm the model experimentally, Tungsten films were deposited on glass substrates by DC magnetron sputtering of a 99.99% purity tungsten target. The choice of tungsten was done because it is well known that its elastic behavior at crystal scale is ideally isotropic. The macroscopic elasticity constants, Young’s and shear moduli and Poisson’s ratio of the deposited film were determined by means of Impulse Excitation Technique. The Young’s modulus obtained from IET was compared with measurements by the nano-indentation technique. We did not observe any significant difference and the value is in accordance with the one reported in the literature. This work presents a new methodology on the determination of the elasticity constants of thin films using Impulse Excitation Technique. A formulation allowing the determination of the shear modulus of a coating, whatever the thickness, was developed and used to determine the macroscopic elasticity constants of tungsten films. The developed model was validated numerically and experimentally.

Keywords: characterization, coating, dynamical resonant method, Poisson's ratio, PVD, shear modulus, Young's modulus

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Authors: Sobhan Sobhani

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This study examined the behavioral patterns of student and their determinants according to the "symbolic interaction" sociological perspective in the form of 7 hypotheses. Behavioral patterns of students were classified in 8 categories: religious, scientific, political, artistic, sporting, national, parents and teachers. They were evaluated by student opinions by a five-point Likert rating scale. The statistical population included all male and female students of Islamic Azad University, Behabahan branch, among which 600 patients (268 females and 332 males) were selected randomly. The following statistical methods were used: frequency and percentage, mean, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and multi-way analysis of variance. The results obtained from statistical analysis showed that: 1-There is a significant difference between male and female students in terms of disposition to religious figures, artists, teachers and parents. 2-There is a significant difference between students of urban and rural areas in terms of assuming behavioral patterns of religious, political, scientific, artistic, national figures and teachers. 3-The most important criterion for selecting behavioral patterns of students is intellectual understanding with the pattern. 4-The most important factor influencing the behavioral patterns of male and female students is parents followed by friends. 5-Boys are affected by teachers, the Internet and satellite programs more than girls. Girls assume behavioral patterns from books more than boys. 6-There is a significant difference between students in human sciences, technical, medical and engineering disciplines in terms of selecting religious and political figures as behavioral patterns. 7-There is a significant difference between students belonging to different subcultures in terms of assuming behavioral patterns of religious, scientific and cultural figures. 8-Between the first and fourth year students in terms of selecting behavioral patterns, there is a significant difference only in selecting religious figures. 9-There is a significant negative correlation between the education level of parents and the selection of religious and political figures and teachers. 10-There is a significant negative correlation between family income and the selection of political and religious figures.

Keywords: behavioral patterns, behavioral patterns, male and female students, Islamic Azad University

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Bharati Mehta, Manish Parakh, Bharti Bhandari, Sneha Ambwani

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Speech and language delay (SLD) is seen commonly as a co-morbidity in children having severe resistant focal and generalized, syndromic and symptomatic epilepsies. It is however not clear whether epilepsy contributes to or is a mere association in the pathogenesis of SLD. Also, it is acknowledged that Auditory Brainstem Evoked Responses (ABER), besides used for evaluating hearing threshold, also aid in prognostication of neurological disorders and abnormalities in the hearing pathway in the brainstem. There is no circumscribed or surrogate neurophysiologic laboratory marker to adjudge the extent of SLD. The current study was designed to evaluate the abnormalities in Electroencephalography (EEG) and ABER in children with SLD who do not have an overt hearing deficit or autism. 94 children of age group 2-8 years with predominant SLD and without any gross motor developmental delay, head injury, gross hearing disorder, cleft lip/palate and autism were selected. Standard video Electroencephalography using the 10:20 international system and ABER after click stimulus with intensities 110 db until 40 db was performed in all children. EEG was abnormal in 47.9% (n= 45; 36 boys and 9 girls) children. In the children with abnormal EEG, 64.5% (n=29) had an abnormal background, 57.8% (n=27) had presence of generalized interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), 20% (n=9) had focal epileptiform discharges exclusively from left side and 33.3% (n=15) had multifocal IEDs occurring both in isolation or associated with generalised abnormalities. In ABER, surprisingly, the peak latencies for waves I, III & V, inter-peak latencies I-III & I-V, III-V and wave amplitude ratio V/I, were found within normal limits in both ears of all the children. Thus in the current study it is certain that presence of generalized IEDs in EEG are seen in higher frequency with SLD and focal IEDs are seen exclusively in left hemisphere in these children. It may be possible that even with generalized EEG abnormalities present in these children, left hemispheric abnormalities as a part of this generalized dysfunction may be responsible for the speech and language dysfunction. The current study also emphasizes that ABER may not be routinely recommended as diagnostic or prognostic tool in children with SLD without frank hearing deficit or autism, thus reducing the burden on electro physiologists, laboratories and saving time and financial resources.

Keywords: ABER, EEG, speech, language delay

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Authors: İlkay Özer Erselcan, Abdi Kükner, Gökhan Ceylan

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The power generated by eight point absorber type wave energy converters each having a different buoy are calculated in order to investigate the performances of buoys in this study. The calculations are carried out by modeling three different sea states observed in two different locations in the Black Sea. The floats analyzed in this study have two basic geometries and four different draft/radius (d/r) ratios. The buoys possess the shapes of a semi-ellipsoid and a semi-elliptic paraboloid. Additionally, the draft/radius ratios range from 0.25 to 1 by an increment of 0.25. The radiation forces acting on the buoys due to the oscillatory motions of these bodies are evaluated by employing a 3D panel method along with a distribution of 3D pulsating sources in frequency domain. On the other hand, the wave forces acting on the buoys which are taken as the sum of Froude-Krylov forces and diffraction forces are calculated by using linear wave theory. Furthermore, the wave energy converters are assumed to be taut-moored to the seabed so that the secondary body which houses a power take-off system oscillates with much smaller amplitudes compared to the buoy. As a result, it is assumed that there is not any significant contribution to the power generation from the motions of the housing body and the only contribution to power generation comes from the buoy. The power take-off systems of the wave energy converters are high pressure oil hydraulic systems which are identical in terms of their characteristic parameters. The results show that the power generated by wave energy converters which have semi-ellipsoid floats is higher than that of those which have semi elliptic paraboloid floats in both locations and in all sea states. It is also determined that the power generated by the wave energy converters follow an unsteady pattern such that they do not decrease or increase with changing draft/radius ratios of the floats. Although the highest power level is obtained with a semi-ellipsoid float which has a draft/radius ratio equal to 1, other floats of which the draft/radius ratio is 0.25 delivered higher power that the floats with a draft/radius ratio equal to 1 in some cases.

Keywords: Black Sea, buoys, hydraulic power take-off system, wave energy converters

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Authors: Mohammed Alasel, Michael Keusgen

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Gold is a noble metal; in its nano-scale level (e.g. spherical nanoparticles), the conduction electrons are triggered to collectively oscillate with a resonant frequency when certain wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation interact with its surface; this phenomenon is known as surface plasmon resonance (SPR). SPR is responsible for giving the gold nanoparticles its intense red color depending mainly on its size, shape and distance between nanoparticles. A decreased distance between gold nanoparticles results in aggregation of them causing a change in color from red to blue. This aggregation enables gold nanoparticles to serve as a sensitive biosensoric indicator. In the proposed work, gold nanoparticles were modified with two proteins: i) Borrelia antigen, variable lipoprotein surface-exposed protein (VlsE), and ii) protein A. VlsE antigen induces a strong antibody response against Lyme disease and can be detected from early to late phase during the disease in humans infected with Borrelia. In addition, it shows low cross-reaction with the other non-pathogenic Borrelia strains. The high specificity of VlsE antigen to anti-Borrelia antibodies, combined simultaneously with the high specificity of protein A to the Fc region of all IgG human antibodies, was utilized to develop a rapid test for serological point of care diagnosis of borreliosis in human serum. Only in the presence of anti-Borrelia antibodies in the serum probe, an aggregation of gold nanoparticles can be observed, which is visible by a concentration-dependent colour shift from red (low IgG) to blue (high IgG). Experiments showed it is clearly possible to distinguish between positive and negative sera samples using a simple suspension of the two-protein modified gold nanoparticles in a very short time (30 minutes). The proposed work showed the potential of using such modified gold nanoparticles generally for serological diagnosis. Improved specificity and reduced assay time can be archived in applying increased salt concentrations combined with decreased pH values (pH 5).

Keywords: gold nanoparticles, gold aggregation, serological diagnosis, protein A, lyme borreliosis

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Authors: Siva Teja Golla, B. Venkatesham

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The recent technologies in hybrid and high-end cars have subsided the noise from major sources like engines and transmission systems. This resulted in the unmasking of the previously subdued noises. These noises are becoming noticeable to the passengers, causing annoyance to them and affecting the perceived quality of the vehicle. Sloshing in the fuel tank is one such source of noise. Sloshing occurs due to the excitations undergone by the fuel tank due to the vehicle's movement. Sloshing noise occurs due to the interaction of the fluid with the surrounding tank walls or with the fluid itself. The noise resulting from the interaction of the fluid with the structure is ‘Hit noise’, and the noise due to fluid-fluid interaction is ‘Splash noise’. The type of interactions the fluid undergoes inside the tank, and the type of noise generated depends on a variety of factors like the fill level of the tank, type of fluid, presence of objects like baffles inside the tank, type and strength of the excitation, etc. There have been studies done to understand the effect of each of these parameters on the generation of different types of sloshing noises. But little work is done in the psychoacoustic aspect of these sounds. The psychoacoustic study of the sloshing noises gives an understanding of the level of annoyance it can cause to the passengers and helps in taking necessary measures to address it. In view of this, the current paper focuses on the calculation of the psychoacoustic parameters like loudness, sharpness, roughness and fluctuation strength for the sloshing noise. As the noise generation mechanisms for the hit and splash noises are different, these parameters are calculated separately for them. For this, the fluid flow regimes that predominantly cause the hit-and-splash noises are to be separately emulated inside the tank. This is done through a reciprocating test rig, which imposes reciprocating excitation to a rectangular tank filled with the fluid. By varying the frequency of excitation, the fluid flow regimes with the predominant generation of hit-and-splash noises can be separately created inside the tank. These tests are done in a quiet room and the noise generated is captured using microphones and is used for the calculation of psychoacoustic parameters of the sloshing noise. This study also includes the effect of fill level and the presence of baffles inside the tank on these parameters.

Keywords: sloshing, hit noise, splash noise, sound quality

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Authors: Qudsiya Baig

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Empathy yields an unparalleled therapeutic value within patient physician interactions. Medical research is inundated with evidence to support that a physician’s ability to empathise with patients leads to a greater willingness to report symptoms, an improvement in diagnostic accuracy and safety, and a better adherence and satisfaction with treatment plans. Furthermore, the Institute of Medicine states that empathy leads to a more patient-centred care, which is one of the six main goals of a 21st century health system. However, there is a paradox between the theoretical significance of empathy and its presence, or lack thereof, in clinical practice. Recent studies have reported that empathy declines amongst students and physicians over time. The three most impactful contributors to this decline are: (1) disagreements over the definitions of empathy making it difficult to implement it into practice (2) poor consideration or regulation of empathy leading to burnout and thus, abandonment altogether, and (3) the lack of diversity in the curriculum and the influence of medical culture, which prioritises science over patient experience, limiting some physicians from using ‘too much’ empathy in the fear of losing clinical objectivity. These issues were investigated by conducting a fully inductive thematic narrative analysis of patient narratives in the UK to evaluate the behaviours and attitudes that patients associate with empathy. The principal enquiries underpinning this study included uncovering the factors that affected experience of empathy within provider-patient interactions and to analyse their effects on patient care. This research contributes uniquely to this discourse by examining the phenomenon of empathy directly from patients’ experiences, which were systematically extracted from a repository of online patient narratives of care titled ‘CareOpinion UK’. Narrative analysis was specifically chosen as the methodology to examine narratives from a phenomenological lens to focus on the particularity and context of each story. By enquiring beyond the superficial who-whatwhere, the study of narratives prescribed meaning to illness by highlighting the everyday reality of patients who face the exigent life circumstances created by suffering, disability, and the threat of life. The following six themes were found to be the most impactful in influencing the experience of empathy: dismissive behaviours, judgmental attitudes, undermining patients’ pain or concerns, holistic care and failures and successes of communication or language. For each theme there were overarching themes relating to either a failure to understand the patient’s perspective or a success in taking a person-centred approach. An in-depth analysis revealed that a lack of empathy was greatly associated with an emotive-cognitive imbalance, which disengaged physicians with their patients’ emotions. This study hereby concludes that competent providers require a combination of knowledge, skills, and more importantly empathic attitudes to help create a context for effective care. The crucial elements of that context involve (a) identifying empathy clues within interactions to engage with patients’ situations, (b) attributing a perspective to the patient through perspective-taking and (c) adapting behaviour and communication according to patient’s individual needs. Empathy underpins that context, as does an appreciation of narrative, and the two are interrelated.

Keywords: empathy, narratives, person-centred, perspective, perspective-taking

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: A. G. Back

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Urban planning is a relevant tool to address, in a systemic way, several sectoral policies capable of linking the urban agenda with the reduction of socio-environmental risks. The Sao Paulo’s master plan (2014) presents innovations capable of promoting the transition to sustainability in the urban space, with a view to its regulatory instruments related to i) promotion of density in the axes of mass transport involving the mixture of commercial, residential, services, and leisure uses (principles related to the compact city); ii) vulnerabilities reduction based on housing policies including regular sources of funds for social housing and land reservation in urbanized areas; iii) reserve of green areas in the city to create parks and environmental regulations for new buildings focused on reducing the effects of heat island and improving urban drainage. However, its long-term implementation involves distributive conflicts and can undergo changes in different political, economic, and social contexts over time. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to identify and analyze the dynamics of conflicts of interest between social groups in the implementation of Sao Paulo’s urban development policy, particularly in relation to recent attempts at a (re) interpretation of the Master Plan guidelines, in view of the proposals for revision of the urban zoning law. In this sense, we seek to identify the demands, narratives of urban actors, including the real estate market, middle-class neighborhood associations ('not in my backyard' movements), and social housing rights movements. And we seek to analyze the power resources that these actors mobilize to influence the decision-making process, involving five categories: social capital, political access; discursive resource; media, juridical resource. The major findings of this research suggest that the interests and demands of the real estate market do not always prevail in urban regulation. After all, other actors also press for the definition of urban law with interests opposite to those of the real estate market. This is the case of associations of middle-class neighborhoods, which work to protect the characteristics of the locality, acting, in general, to prevent constructive and population densification in neighborhoods well located near the center, in São Paulo. One of the main demands of these “not in my backyard” movements is the delimitation of exclusively residential areas in the central region of the city, which is not only contrary to the interests of the real state market but also contrary to the principles of the compact city. On the other hand, social housing rights movements have also made progress in delimiting special areas of social interest in well-located and valued areas in the city dedicated to building social housing, also contrary to the interests of the real estate market. An urban development that follows the principles of the compact city must take into account the insertion of low-income populations in well-located regions; otherwise, such a development model may continue to push the less favored to the peripheries towards the preservation areas and/or risk areas.

Keywords: interest groups, Sao Paulo, sustainable urban development, urban policies implementation

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Authors: Martin Adlington, Boris Ceranic, Sally Shazhad

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In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, changes in UK regulations, such as Part L Conservation of heat and power, dictates improved thermal insulation and enhanced air tightness. These changes were a direct response to the UK Government being fully committed to achieving its carbon targets under the Climate Change Act 2008. The goal is to reduce emissions by at least 80% by 2050. Factors such as climate change are likely to exacerbate the problem of overheating, as this phenomenon expects to increase the frequency of extreme heat events exemplified by stagnant air masses and successive high minimum overnight temperatures. However, climate change is not the only concern relevant to overheating, as research signifies, location, design, and occupation; construction type and layout can also play a part. Because of this growing problem, research shows the possibility of health effects on occupants of buildings could be an issue. Increases in temperature can perhaps have a direct impact on the human body’s ability to retain thermoregulation and therefore the effects of heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat syncope and even death can be imminent. This review paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of the current literature on the causes and health effects of overheating in buildings and has examined the differing applied assessment approaches used to measure the concept. Firstly, an overview of the topic was presented followed by an examination of overheating research work from the last decade. These papers form the body of the article and are grouped into a framework matrix summarizing the source material identifying the differing methods of analysis of overheating. Cross case evaluation has identified systematic relationships between different variables within the matrix. Key areas focused on include, building types and country, occupants behavior, health effects, simulation tools, computational methods.

Keywords: overheating, climate change, thermal comfort, health

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Authors: Prajna Paramita Naik, Sujit Kumar Bhutia

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Background: Regardless of the development multimodal treatment strategies, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is often associated with a high rate of recurrence, metastasis and chemo- and radio- resistance. The present study inspected the relevance of CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 expression as a putative stem cell compartment in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and deciphered the role of autophagy in regulating the expression of aforementioned proteins, stemness and chemoresistance. Methods: A retrospective analysis of CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 expression with respect to the various clinicopathological factors of sixty OSCC patients were determined via immunohistochemistry. The correlation among CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 expression was established. Sphere formation assay, flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy were conducted to elucidate the stemness and chemoresistance nature of established cisplatin-resistant oral cancer cells (FaDu). The pattern of expression of CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 in parental (FaDu-P) and resistant FaDu cells (FaDu-CDDP-R) were investigated through fluorescence microscopy. Western blot analysis of autophagy marker proteins was performed to compare the status of autophagy in parental and resistant FaDu cell. To investigate the role of autophagy in chemoresistance and stemness, sphere formation assay, immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis was performed post transfection with siATG14 and the level of expression of autophagic proteins, mitochondrial protein and stemness-associated proteins were analyzed. The statistical analysis was performed by GraphPad Prism 4.0 software. p-value was defined as follows: not significant (n.s.): p > 0.05;*: p ≤ 0.05; **: p ≤ 0.01; ***: p ≤ 0.001; ****: p ≤ 0.0001 were considered statistically significant. Results: In OSCC, high CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 expression were significantly correlated with higher tumor grades and poor differentiation. However, the expression of these proteins was not related to the age and sex of OSCC patients. Moreover, the expression of CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 were positively correlated with each other. In vitro and OSCC tissue double labeling experiment data showed that CD44+ cells were highly associated with ABCB1 and ADAM17 expression. Further, FaDu-CDDP-R cells showed higher sphere forming capacity along with increased fraction of the CD44+ population and β-catenin expression FaDu-CDDP-R cells also showed accelerated expression of CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17. A comparatively higher autophagic flux was observed in FaDu-CDDP-R against FaDu-P cells. The expression of mitochondrial proteins was noticeably reduced in resistant cells as compared to parental cells indicating the occurrence of autophagy-mediated mitochondrial degradation in oral cancer. Moreover, inhibition of autophagy was coupled with the decreased formation of orospheres suggesting autophagy-mediated stemness in oral cancer. Blockade of autophagy was also found to induce the restoration of mitochondrial proteins in FaDu-CDDP-R cells indicating the involvement of mitophagy in chemoresistance. Furthermore, a reduced expression of CD44, ABCB1 and ADAM17 was also observed in ATG14 deficient cells FaDu-P and FaDu-CDDP-R cells. Conclusion: The CD44+ ⁄ABCB1+ ⁄ADAM17+ expression in OSCC might be associated with chemoresistance and a putative CSC compartment. Further, the present study highlights the contribution of mitophagy in chemoresistance and confirms the potential involvement of autophagic regulation in acquisition of stem-like characteristics in OSCC.

Keywords: ABCB1, ADAM17, autophagy, CD44, chemoresistance, mitophagy, OSCC, stemness

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Authors: Pitsanu Poonpetpun

Abstract:

This research aimed to study opinions of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University administrative personnel towards performance of the university council committee by addressing (1) personal characteristics of the committees; (2) duties designated by the university council; and (3) relationship between university council and university administrative personnel. The population of this study including the president, vice presidents, faculty deans, deputy deans, office heads, director of office of president, directors, deputy directors, division directors, made a total of 118 respondents. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were utilized in analyzing the data. The finding on opinions of the administrative personnel towards personal characteristics of the university council committees was averagely at a high level. The characteristic items were rated and revealed that the item gaining the highest mean score was the item stating that the university council committees obtained overall appropriate qualification. The items stating that the president of the teachers’ council acting as the university council committee had impartiality and good governance reported the lowest mean score. The opinions of the administrative personnel towards duty performance of the university council committees was averagely in a high level, in which the item gaining the highest mean score was the item stating that formulating rules and regulations or assigning governmental offices to do so was practiced with governance or fairness to all stakeholders, and the item stating that the president of the teachers’ council acting as the university council committee had impartiality good governance reported the lowest mean score. Moreover, the study found that the rating of opinions of the administrative personnel towards relationship between university council and university administrative personnel was averagely high. Relationship items were rated and revealed that the highest mean score was rated for the fact that the university president was empowered by the university council to manage the university with no violation of the policies. The fact that there was the integrity of policy between the university council and the university administrative personnel was rated the lowest score.

Keywords: performance, university council, education, university administrative personnel

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