Search results for: Mahmoudi Marwa

Authors: Alaa M. Badr Eldin, Mayar M. Shahen, Mohammed S. Sedeek, Marwa I. Ezzat, Sawsan M. ElSonbaty, Muhammed A. Saad, Manal S. Afifi, Omar M. Sabry

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Using HPLC-MS/MS technique, 133 polyphenolic compounds were identified in the methanol extract of pomegranate rind (Punica granatum L.). In-vitro cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cell line MCF-7 was investigated, with an IC50 of 54 ug/ml. In-silico molecular docking using ellagic acid, gallagic acid, and Punicalagin as model compounds identified in pomegranate rind extract confirmed the intriguing anti-estrogenic action of the key polyphenolic components in pomegranate rind extract. Surprisingly, taxol showed low activity compared to pomegranate compounds as ERα antagonist and ERβ agonist. Pomegranate rind extract enhanced apoptosis of breast cancer cells through upregulation of the caspase-3 expression and downregulation of NF-κB transcription factor.

Keywords: HPLC-MS/MS, pomegranate rind, cytotoxicity, MCF-7, ER, caspase-3, NF-kB

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Noha Mohamed Abdelhafez Dahy, Azza Abd El-Aziz, Eman Ahmed, Marwa El-Sayed

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Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease characterized by low bone mass, deterioration of bone tissue, and disruption of bone microarchitecture, which leads to compromised bone strength and an increased risk of fracture, commonly it occurs in women 10-15 years after menopause, the mean age of menopause is 51 years. Menopause is natural physiological changes primary because of decline of ovaries function with age which leads to decrease of estrogen hormone production which is the main hormone for bone continuous remodeling for bone density maintenance. Exercise increase stimulation of bone growth to keep bone mass by the effect of the mechanical stimulation, antigravity loading and stress exerted on musculoskeletal muscles. Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on estrogen hormone and bone mineral density (BMD) in osteoporotic women and the correlation between the estrogen and BMD.

Keywords: Osteoporosis, Postmenopause, Aerobic exercise, DEXA, Serum Estrogen

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Authors: Marwa Ben Abdessalem, Amin Zribi, Ammar Bouallègue

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In this paper, a Joint Source Channel coding scheme based on LDPC codes is investigated. We consider two concatenated LDPC codes, one allows to compress a correlated source and the second to protect it against channel degradations. The original information can be reconstructed at the receiver by a joint decoder, where the source decoder and the channel decoder run in parallel by transferring extrinsic information. We investigate the performance of the JSC LDPC code in terms of Bit-Error Rate (BER) in the case of transmission over an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel, and for different source and channel rate parameters. We emphasize how JSC LDPC presents a performance tradeoff depending on the channel state and on the source correlation. We show that, the JSC LDPC is an efficient solution for a relatively low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) channel, especially with highly correlated sources. Finally, a source-channel rate optimization has to be applied to guarantee the best JSC LDPC system performance for a given channel.

Keywords: AWGN channel, belief propagation, joint source channel coding, LDPC codes

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Authors: Erfan Ghasemi, Mohammadreza Khani, Hamidreza Mahmoudi, Mohammad Ali Nilforoushzadeh, Babak Shokri, Pouria Akbartehrani

Abstract:

Given the global significance of treating infectious wounds, the goal of this study is to use spark plasma as a new treatment for infectious wounds. To generate spark plasma, a high-voltage (7 kV) and high-frequency (75 kHz) source was used. Infectious wounds in the peritoneum of mice were divided into control and plasma-treated groups at random. The plasma-treated animals received plasma radiation every 4 days for 12 days, for 60 seconds each time. On the 15th day after the first session, the wound in the plasma-treated group had completely healed. The spectra of spark plasma emission and tissue properties were studied. The mechanical resistance of the wound healed in the plasma treatment group was considerably higher than in the control group (p<0.05), according to the findings. Furthermore, histological evidence suggests that wound re-epithelialization is faster in comparison to controls. Angiogenesis and fibrosis (collagen production) were also dramatically boosted in the plasma-treated group, whereas the stage of wound healing inflammation was significantly reduced. Plasma therapy accelerated wound healing by causing considerable wound constriction. The results of this investigation show that spark plasma has an influence on the treatment of infectious wounds.

Keywords: infectious wounds, mice, spark plasma, treatment

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Authors: Yousef Naserzadeh, Niloufar Mahmoudi

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Oxidation resistance is one of the important parameters in maintaining the quality of olive oil during its storage. Ensuring the stability of the quality of olive oil is one of the important concerns of the producers and consumers. Prooxidants such as iron and copper accelerate the oxidation reaction, and also anti-oxidants and chelating compounds delay it. In this study, chelating effect of tea extract which contains significant amounts of tannic acid is investigated in comparison with citric acid. To do it, 0.1 ppm copper was added to these four kinds of oil, sunflower, olive, canola, and tallow, and then chelating effect of citric acid (0.01%), tannic acid (0.01%) and tea extract (0.1%) were measured by adding to this composition. To this end, the resistance time of the oils against oxidation was measured at 120 °C and an air flow of 20 liters per hour. And the value of peroxide was measured by oven test in six periods of 24 hours at 105 °C. The results showed that citric acid, tannic acid and tea extract had chelating property and increased the resistance time of the studied oils. As a result, considering chelating property and increasing resistance of oil, tannic acid showed better effect than tea extract and tea extract had better effect than citric acid.

Keywords: tannic acid, chelate, edible oils, black tea extract, TBHQ

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Authors: Marwa Sahnoun, Chokri Abdennadher

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This article comes, very timely, to look at the effectiveness of active labor market policies (ALMP) in improving labor market outcomes. Using panel data estimates for 19 European countries during the period 2000-2012, this article showed the role of institutional factors, especially the role of employment policies implementation based on three variables: the allocation of resources for the implementation of policies, continuity and timing in the implementation of policies to capture their effectiveness on the labor market. Empirical results shows favor effect of training, employment incentives, sheltered employment and rehabilitation and direct job creation on the entire population employment growth. Results shows also that start-up incentives seems to be more effective in increasing employment than other types of policies. Importantly, two aspects are important in terms of implementation: public expenditure on program administration, e.g. (PES) watches the most favorable aspect and the continuity of policies implemented.

Keywords: active labor market policies, implementation, public expenditure on program administration, start-up incentives, training

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Authors: Aref Maalej, Marwa Fakhfakh, Wael Ben Amira

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We present in this work a numerical investigation of fluid-structure interaction to study the elastic behavior of flexible rotors. The principal aim is to provide the effect of the aero/hydrodynamic parameters on the bending deformation of flexible rotors. This study is accomplished using the strong two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) developed by the ANSYS Workbench software. This method is used for coupling the fluid solver to the transient structural solver to study the elastic behavior of flexible rotors in water. In this study, we use a moderately flexible rotor modeled by a single blade with simplified rectangular geometry. In this work, we focus on the effect of the rotational frequency on the flapwise bending deformation. It is demonstrated that the blade deforms in the downstream direction, and the amplitude of these deformations increases with the rotational frequencies. Also, from a critical frequency, the blade begins to deform in the upstream direction.

Keywords: numerical simulation, flexible blade, fluid-structure interaction, ANSYS workbench, flapwise deformation

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Authors: Said S. Aldhafri, Marwa N. Alrajhi

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This study examines gender differences in emotional intelligence levels in the Sultanate of Oman, an Arabic country in the Middle East. As a collective culture, the Omani culture rears children differently based on the Islamic beliefs and the Arabic culture. Gender differences across the different dimensions of emotional intelligence are possible within this collective culture. Emotional intelligences reflect the ability to understand and act upon one’s and others’ emotions. The sample of the study consisted of 338 (50.6% were females) adults from different regions in Oman. The participants completed a 25-item emotional intelligence scale, using 5-point Likert type responses. The results showed that the total scores of the scale as well as the scores from the five dimensions (self management, self motivation, social skills, empathy, and self-awareness) all have good reliability coefficients. Using independent sample t-tests, the findings show that female adults scored higher than male adults. The differences were all statistically significant across the five dimensions of emotional intelligence. The findings are discussed from a cultural perspective and applications for the development of emotional intelligence skills are outlined.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, gender, Arab, Oman

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Authors: Yousef Naserzadeh, Niloufar Mahmoudi

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The spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), a vinegar fly native to South East Asia, has recently invaded Europe, North- and South America and is spreading rapidly. Species distribution modeling has been widely employed to indicate probable areas of invasion and to guide management strategies. Drosophila sp. is native to Asia, but since 2015, it has invaded almost every country in the world, including Africa, Australia, India, and most recently, the Americas. The growth of this species of Drosophila suzukii has been rapidly multiplying and spreading in the last decade. In fact, we examine and model the potential geographical distribution of D. suzukii for both present and future scenarios. Finally, we determine the environmental variables that affect its distribution, as well as assess the risk of encroachment on protected areas. D.suzukii has the potential to expand its occurrence, especially on continents that have already been invaded. The predictive models obtained in this study indicate potential regions that could be at risk of invasion by D. suzukii, including protected areas. These results are important and can assist in the establishment of management plans to avoid the possible harm caused by biological invasions.

Keywords: climate change, Drosophila suzukii, environmental variables, host preference, host plant, nutrition

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Authors: Marwa A. Nasser

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This is an empirical study that provides an investigation of the most significant errors of Egyptian learners in producing English consonants and Arabic consonants, and advice on how these can be remedied. The study adopts a descriptive approach and the analysis is based on audio recordings of two groups of people. The first group includes six volunteers of Egyptian learners belonging to the English Department at Faculty of Women who learn English as a foreign language. The other group includes six Egyptian learners who are studying Tajweed (how to recite Quran correctly). The audio recordings were examined, and sounds were analyzed in an attempt to highlight the most common error done by the learners while reading English or reading (or reciting) Quran. Results show that the two groups of learners have problems with certain phonemic contrasts. Both groups share common errors although both languages are different and not related (e.g. pre-aspiration of fortis stops, incorrect articulation of consonants and velarization of certain sounds).

Keywords: consonant articulations, Egyptian learners of English, Egyptian learners of Quran, empirical study, error analysis, pronunciation problems

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Authors: Marwa Zein

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The long-term of the contract is one of the major features that distinguish international trade and investment contracts from other internal contracts. This is due to the nature of the contract and the huge works required to be performed from one hand or the desire of the parties to achieve stability in their transactions. However, long-term contracts might expose them to certain events and circumstances that impact the capability of the parties to execute their obligations pursuant to these contracts. During the year 2016, the Egyptian government has taken series of economic decisions which greatly impacted the economic and investment environment. Consequently, many contracts have encountered many problems in their execution due to such changes that greatly influence the performance of their obligation, a matter that necessitated the renegotiation of the conditions of these contracts on the basis of the unpredicted changes that could be listed under the Force Majeure Clause. The principle of fair and equitable treatment in investment placed on an obligation on the Egyptian government to consider the renegotiation of contract clauses based on the new conditions. This paper will discuss the idea of renegotiating international trade and investment contracts in Egypt with reference to the changes the economic environment has witnessed lately.

Keywords: change of circumstances, international contracts, investment contracts, renegotiation

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Marwa Hussein Mohamed, Mohamed Helmy Khafagy, Samah Ahmed Senbel

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Map Reduce is a programming model used to handle and support massive data sets. Rapidly increasing in data size and big data are the most important issue today to make an analysis of this data. map reduce is used to analyze data and get more helpful information by using two simple functions map and reduce it's only written by the programmer, and it includes load balancing , fault tolerance and high scalability. The most important operation in data analysis are join, but map reduce is not directly support join. This paper explains two-way map-reduce join algorithm, semi-join and per split semi-join, and proposes new algorithm hash semi-join that used hash table to increase performance by eliminating unused records as early as possible and apply join using hash table rather than using map function to match join key with other data table in the second phase but using hash tables isn't affecting on memory size because we only save matched records from the second table only. Our experimental result shows that using a hash table with hash semi-join algorithm has higher performance than two other algorithms while increasing the data size from 10 million records to 500 million and running time are increased according to the size of joined records between two tables.

Keywords: map reduce, hadoop, semi join, two way join

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Authors: Mahnoush Mahmoudi, Ali Chaeedeh

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In the architecture of Iranian traditional houses, the ornamentations available in the inscriptions of houses entrance portal express the identity of architects and personality of houses owners and are rooted in their religious and national beliefs and faiths. The main hypothesis of this research is changing the physique and application of religious contents in compliance with the thoughts and beliefs of people in Dezfoul historical city in the epigraphs of houses entrance portals. The objective of this study is reviewing the development trend of texts, concepts and physique of inscriptions as well as analyzing the factors effective on the quality and diversity of application of inscriptions. The present research is an applied study and descriptive-analytical method has been applied, and the data was collected by library and survey studies. The population of this research includes historical houses, houses damaged in war (Iran & Iraq) and renovated and new tissue and new-built houses of Dezfoul, from Qajar era so far. Random sampling method has been applied in this study and dispersal area includes the city. Data analysis method in this study is qualitative and quantitative. The results of this study indicate that today the inscriptions available in the entrance portal of houses in Dezfoul comparing to inscriptions in Qajar1 and Pahlavi2 era is very simple and has lower aesthetic value. One of the causes for such superficial and contextual gap between inscriptions seems to be the war and renovations during and after destruction.

Keywords: architecture, islamic architecture, reconstruction, epigraph, inscription, entrance portal, Dezfoul

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Authors: Nima Mahmoudi, Hamzeh Khazaei

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Serving machine learning inference workloads on the cloud is still a challenging task at the production level. The optimal configuration of the inference workload to meet SLA requirements while optimizing the infrastructure costs is highly complicated due to the complex interaction between batch configuration, resource configurations, and variable arrival process. Serverless computing has emerged in recent years to automate most infrastructure management tasks. Workload batching has revealed the potential to improve the response time and cost-effectiveness of machine learning serving workloads. However, it has not yet been supported out of the box by serverless computing platforms. Our experiments have shown that for various machine learning workloads, batching can hugely improve the system’s efficiency by reducing the processing overhead per request. In this work, we present MLProxy, an adaptive reverse proxy to support efficient machine learning serving workloads on serverless computing systems. MLProxy supports adaptive batching to ensure SLA compliance while optimizing serverless costs. We performed rigorous experiments on Knative to demonstrate the effectiveness of MLProxy. We showed that MLProxy could reduce the cost of serverless deployment by up to 92% while reducing SLA violations by up to 99% that can be generalized across state-of-the-art model serving frameworks.

Keywords: serverless computing, machine learning, inference serving, Knative, google cloud run, optimization

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Authors: Marwa Qaraqe, Muhammad Ismail, Erchin Serpedin

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This paper presents a novel architecture for a patient-specific epileptic seizure onset detector using scalp electroencephalography (EEG). The proposed architecture is based on the decision fusion calculated from energy and neural synchronization related features. Specifically, one level of the detector calculates the condition number (CN) of an EEG matrix to evaluate the amount of neural synchronization present within the EEG channels. On a parallel level, the detector evaluates the energy contained in four EEG frequency subbands. The information is then fed into two independent (parallel) classification units based on support vector machines to determine the onset of a seizure event. The decisions from the two classifiers are then combined together according to two fusion techniques to determine a global decision. Experimental results demonstrate that the detector based on the AND fusion technique outperforms existing detectors with a sensitivity of 100%, detection latency of 3 seconds, while it achieves a 2:76 false alarm rate per hour. The OR fusion technique achieves a sensitivity of 100%, and significantly improves delay latency (0:17 seconds), yet it achieves 12 false alarms per hour.

Keywords: epilepsy, EEG, seizure onset, electroencephalography, neuron, detection

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Authors: Mohamed A. Eid, Sobhy M. Aly, Marwa M. Ibrahim, Nadia L. Radwan

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To investigate the interaction effects of vitamin D supplementation combined with aerobic exercises (AE) and conventional physical therapy program (CPTP) on balance and physical performance in children with Down syndrome (DS).Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted for 38 children with DS, with ages ranging from 8 to 12 years. They were divided randomly to two groups. The control group (n=19) received the CPTP, while the study group (n=19) received the CPTP, AE, and vitamin D in the form of an oral daily dose of vitamin D3 400 IU (Cholecalciferol). Evaluation of balance by using the Biodex Stability System and physical performance by using the six-minute walk test (6MWT)was performed before and after 12 weeks of the treatment program. Findings: All groups showed a significant improvement in balance and physical performance after treatment (p < 0.05). The study group showed a significant improvement in balance and physical performancecompared with that of the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation combined with AE and CPTP could improve balance and physical performance in children with DS. Therefore, vitamin D and AEshould be considered as adjunctive to the rehabilitation program of these children.

Keywords: aerobic exercises, balance, down syndrome, physical performance, vitamin D

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Authors: Rouhallah Bagheri, Morteza Mahmoudi, Hadi Moheb-Alizadeh

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This paper aims at developing a multi-objective model for supplier selection and order allocation problem in stochastic environment, where purchasing cost, percentage of delivered items with delay and percentage of rejected items provided by each supplier are supposed to be stochastic parameters following any arbitrary probability distribution. In this regard, dependent chance programming is used which maximizes probability of the event that total purchasing cost, total delivered items with delay and total rejected items are less than or equal to pre-determined values given by decision maker. The abovementioned stochastic multi-objective programming problem is then transformed into a stochastic single objective programming problem using minimum deviation method. In the next step, the further problem is solved applying a genetic algorithm, which performs a simulation process in order to calculate the stochastic objective function as its fitness function. Finally, the impact of stochastic parameters on the given solution is examined via a sensitivity analysis exploiting coefficient of variation. The results show that whatever stochastic parameters have greater coefficients of variation, the value of the objective function in the stochastic single objective programming problem is deteriorated.

Keywords: supplier selection, order allocation, dependent chance programming, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Benslimane Marwa, Benabbas-Sahki Ilham

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Spiders play an important role in agroecosystems due to their great abundance. They are considered a valuable group of invertebrates in agricultural land. They are predators of insects harmful to crops, but their use in biological control requires in-depth research on their ecology. During our study, we counted a total of 768 spiders, which we were able to identify and classify into 14 families over a period between March 2021 and October of the same year. This study aims to compare a station subjected to agricultural practices, including the spreading of herbicides, with another station subjected to the same practices but without the use of phytosanitary products. The inventory shows a strong dominance of the Gnaphosidae family (75.8%). This result affirms that the proliferation of this family is very favorable to the knowledge of the fruits by limiting the populations of aphids infesting the plot, which can therefore be proposed for biological control. The comparative study of the populations of spiders in the stations studied shows the negative effect of agricultural practices on the species richness and abundance of these species; as for the diversity, this one is only slightly affected. Finally, we can note that the effects of herbicides did not cause a significant imbalance in this agroecosystem, unlike plowing, which showed harmful consequences on spiders.

Keywords: spiders, predator, species richness, herbicides, agricultural practices

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Authors: Seyyed Mohammad Amin Mousavi Sagharchi, Alireza Mahmoudi Nasab, Tim Bakker

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Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is the most intelligent bacterium that existed in the world to our best knowledge. This bacterium can cause tuberculosis (TB) which is responsible for its spread speed and murder of millions of people around the world. MTB has the practical function to escape from anti-tuberculosis drugs (AT), for this purpose, it handles some mutations in the main genes and creates new patterns for inhibited genes. Method and materials: Researchers have their best tries to safely isolate MTB from the sputum specimens of 35 patients in some hospitals in the Tehran province and detect MTB by culture on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium and microscopic examination. DNA was extracted from the established bacterial colony by enzymatic extraction method. It was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, reverse hybridization, and evaluation for detection of resistance genes; generally, researchers apply GenoType MTBDRplus assay. Results: Investigations of results declare us that 21 of the isolated specimens (about 60%) have mutation in rpoB gene, which resisted to rifampicin (most prevalence), and 8 of them (about 22.8%) have mutation in katG or inhA genes which resisted to isoniazid. Also, 4 of them (about 11.4%) don't have any mutation, and 2 of them (about 5.7%) have mutation in every three genes, which makes them resistant to the two drugs mentioned above. Conclusion: Rifampicin and isoniazid are two essential AT that using in the first line of treatment. Resistance in rpoB, and katG, and inhA genes related to mentioned drugs lead to ineffective treatment.

Keywords: mycobacterium tuberculosis, tuberculosis, drug resistance, isoniazid, rifampicin

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Authors: Ibrahim M. Labouta, Marwa H. El-Wakil, Hayam M. Ashour, Ahmed M. Hassan, Manal N. Saudi

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The receptor tyrosine kinase c-Met is an attractive target for therapeutic treatment of cancers nowadays. Among the wide variety of heterocycles that have been explored for developing c-Met kinase inhibitors, the 1,2,4-triazines have been rarely investigated, although they are well known in the literature to possess antitumor activities. Herein we describe the design and synthesis of a novel series of 1,2,4-triazine derivatives possessing N-acylarylhydrazone moiety and another series combining the 1,2,4-triazine scaffold to the well-known anticancer drug 6-MP in order to explore their “double-drug” effect. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antitumor activity against three c-Met addicted cancer cell lines (A549, HT-29 and MKN-45). Most compounds showed moderate to excellent antiproliferative activity and four compounds showed potent inhibitory activity more than the reference drug Foretinib against one or more cancer cell lines. The obtained results revealed that the potent compounds are highly selective to A549 (lung adenocarcinoma) cancer cell line. The c-Met kinase inhibitory activity of the potent derivatives is still under investigation. The present study clearly demonstrates that the 1,2,4-triazine core ring exhibits promising antitumor activity with potential c-Met kinase inhibitory activity.

Keywords: 1, 2, 4-triazine, antitumor, c-Met inhibitor, double-drug

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Authors: Zakaria Mowafy Emam Mowafy, Hamed Abd Allah Hamed, Marwa Mahmoud Abd-Elmotalb, Andrew Anis Fakhray Mosaad

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The purpose of this paper is to determine the efficacy of polarized light therapy for chemotherapy-treated cancer patients who have oral mucositis. Methods of evaluation are the measurement of the WHO oral mucositis scale and the common toxicity criteria scale. Methods: Thirty cancer patients receiving chemotherapy (males and females) who had oral mucositis and ulceration pain, and their ages ranged from 30 to 55 years, were divided into two groups. Group (A), composed of 15 patients, received the Bioptron light therapy (BLT) in addition to the routine medical care of oral mucositis. Group (B) received only the routine medical care of oral mucositis; the duration of the BLT application was 10 minutes applied daily for 30 days. Results and conclusion: Results showed that the application of the BLT had valuable healing effects on oral mucositis in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, as evidenced by the high decreases of the WHO oral mucositis scale and the common toxicity criteria scale.

Keywords: Bioptron light therapy, oral mucositis, WHO oral mucositis scale, common toxicity criteria scale

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Authors: Mahmoud Fouad, Mervat Badr, Marwa Ibrahim

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Micro-grid system is presently considered a reliable solution for the expected deficiency in the power required from future power systems. Renewable power sources such as wind, solar and hydro offer high potential of benign power for future micro-grid systems. Micro-Grid (MG) is basically a low voltage (LV) or medium voltage (MV) distribution network which consists of a number of called distributed generators (DG’s); micro-sources such as photovoltaic array, fuel cell, wind turbine etc. energy storage systems and loads; operating as a single controllable system, that could be operated in both grid-connected and islanded mode. The capacity of the DG’s is sufficient to support all; or most, of the load connected to the micro-grid. This paper presents a micro-grid system based on wind and solar power sources and addresses issues related to operation, control, and stability of the system. Using Matlab/Simulink, the system is modeled and simulated to identify the relevant technical issues involved in the operation of a micro-grid system based on renewable power generation units.

Keywords: micro-grid system, photovoltaic, wind turbine, energy storage, distributed generation, modeling

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Authors: Rouhallah Bagheri, Morteza Mahmoudi, Hadi Moheb-Alizadeh

Abstract:

In this paper, we develop a supplier selection and order allocation multi-objective model in stochastic environment in which purchasing cost, percentage of delivered items with delay and percentage of rejected items provided by each supplier are supposed to be stochastic parameters following any arbitrary probability distribution. To do so, we use dependent chance programming (DCP) that maximizes probability of the event that total purchasing cost, total delivered items with delay and total rejected items are less than or equal to pre-determined values given by decision maker. After transforming the above mentioned stochastic multi-objective programming problem into a stochastic single objective problem using minimum deviation method, we apply a genetic algorithm to get the later single objective problem solved. The employed genetic algorithm performs a simulation process in order to calculate the stochastic objective function as its fitness function. At the end, we explore the impact of stochastic parameters on the given solution via a sensitivity analysis exploiting coefficient of variation. The results show that as stochastic parameters have greater coefficients of variation, the value of objective function in the stochastic single objective programming problem is worsened.

Keywords: dependent chance programming, genetic algorithm, minimum deviation method, order allocation, supplier selection

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Authors: Yasser Mahmoudi, Nader Karimi

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The present work investigates numerically the effect of thermal radiation from the solid phase on the rate of heat transfer inside a porous medium. Forced convection heat transfer process within a pipe filled with a porous media is considered. The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model is utilized to represent the fluid transport within the porous medium. A local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE), two-equation model is used to represent the energy transport for the solid and fluid phases. The radiative heat transfer equation is solved by discrete ordinate method (DOM) to compute the radiative heat flux in the porous medium. Two primary approaches (models A and B) are used to represent the boundary conditions for constant wall heat flux. The effects of radiative heat transfer on the Nusselt numbers of the two phases are examined by comparing the results obtained by the application of models A and B. The fluid Nusselt numbers calculated by the application of models A and B show that the Nusselt number obtained by model A for the radiative case is higher than those predicted for the non-radiative case. However, for model B the fluid Nusselt numbers obtained for the radiative and non-radiative cases are similar.

Keywords: porous media, local thermal non-equilibrium, forced convection heat transfer, thermal radiation, Discrete Ordinate Method (DOM)

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Authors: Yasser Mahmoudi, Nader Karimi

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The present work examines analytically the effect internal heat generation on temperature fields in a channel partially-filled with a porous under local thermal non-equilibrium condition. The Darcy-Brinkman model is used to represent the fluid transport through the porous material. Two fundamental models (models A and B) represent the thermal boundary conditions at the interface between the porous medium and the clear region. The governing equations of the problem are manipulated, and for each interface model, exact solutions for the solid and fluid temperature fields are developed. These solutions incorporate the porous material thickness, Biot number, fluid to solid thermal conductivity ratio Darcy number, as the non-dimensional energy terms in fluid and solid as parameters. Results show that considering any of the two models and under zero or negative heat generation (heat sink) and for any Darcy number, an increase in the porous thickness increases the amount of heat flux transferred to the porous region. The obtained results are applicable to the analysis of complex porous media incorporating internal heat generation, such as heat transfer enhancement (THE), tumor ablation in biological tissues and porous radiant burners (PRBs).

Keywords: porous media, local thermal non-equilibrium, forced convection, heat transfer, exact solution, internal heat generation

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Authors: M. R. Noor El-Din, Marwa R. Mishrif, R. E. Morsi, E. A. El-Sharaky, M. E. Haseeb, Rania T. M. Ghanem

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This paper studies the physical and rheological behaviours of water/in/diesel fuel nanoemulsions prepared by modified low energy method. Twenty of water/in/diesel fuel nanoemulsions were prepared using mixed nonionic surfactants of sorbitan monooleate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate (MTS) at Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) value of 10 and a working temperature of 20°C. The influence of the prepared nanoemulsions on the physical properties such as kinematic viscosity, density, and calorific value was studied. Also, nanoemulsion systems were subjected to rheological evaluation. The effect of water loading percentage (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 wt.%) on rheology was assessed at temperatures range from 20 to 60°C with temperature interval of 10 for time lapse 0, 1, 2 and 3 months, respectively. Results show that all of the sets nanoemulsions exhibited a Newtonian flow character of low-shear viscosity in the range of 132 up to 191 1/s, and followed by a shear-thinning region with yield value (Non-Newtonian behaviour) at high shear rate for all water ratios (5 to 10 wt.%) and at all test temperatures (20 to 60°C) for time ageing up to 3 months. Also, the viscosity/temperature relationship of all nanoemulsions fitted well Arrhenius equation with high correlation coefficients that ascertain their Newtonian behavior.

Keywords: alternative fuel, nanoemulsion, surfactant, diesel fuel

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Authors: P. Charipoor, M. Khani, H. Mahmoudi, E. Ghasemi, P. Akbartehrani, B. Shokri

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Cold air plasma could have a variety of effects on cells and living organisms and also shows good results in medical and cosmetic cases. Herein, plasma floating electrode dielectric barrier discharge (FEDBD) plasma was designed for mouse skin rejuvenation purposes. It is safe and easy to use in clinics, laboratories, and homes. The effects of this device were investigated on mouse skin. Vitamin C ointment in combination with plasma was also used as a new method to improve FEDBD results. In this study, 20 Wistar rats were evaluated in four groups. The first group received high-dose plasma, the second group received moderate-dose plasma (with vitamin C cream), the third group received low-dose plasma (with vitamin C cream) for 6 minutes, and the fourth group received only vitamin C cream. This process was done 3 times a week for 4 weeks. Skin temperature was monitored to evaluate the thermal effect of plasma. The presence of reactive species was also demonstrated using optical spectroscopy. Mechanical assays were performed to evaluate the effect of plasma and vitamin C on the mechanical strength of the tissue, which showed a positive effect of plasma on the treated tissue compared to the control group. Using pathological and biometric skin tests, an increase in collagen levels, epidermal thickness, and an increase in fibroblasts was observed in rat skin, as well as increased skin elasticity. This study showed the positive effect of using the FEDBD plasma device on the effective parameters in skin rejuvenation.

Keywords: plasma, skin rejuvenation, collagen, epidermal thickness

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: Marwa M. Ibrahim

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to study the technical and economic performance of wind/diesel/battery (W/D/B) off-grid system supplying a small remote gathering of four families using the HOMER software package. The second objective is to study the effect of wind energy system on the cost of generated electricity considering the cost of reducing CO₂ emissions as external benefit of wind turbines, no pollutant emission through the operational phase. The system consists of a small wind turbine, battery storage, and diesel generator. The electrical energy is to cater to the basic needs for which the daily load pattern is estimated at 8 kW peak. Net Present Cost (NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE) are used as economic criteria, while the measure of performance is % of power shortage. Technical and economic parameters are defined to estimate the feasibility of the system under study. Optimum system configurations are estimated for the selected site in Egypt. Using HOMER software, the simulation results shows that W/D/B systems are economical for the assumed community site as the price of generated electricity is about 0.285 $/kWh, without taking external benefits into considerations and 0.221 if CO₂ emissions taken into consideration W/D/B systems are more economical than alone diesel system as the COE is 0.432 $/kWh for diesel alone.

Keywords: renewable energy, hybrid energy system, on-off grid system, simulation, optimization and environmental impacts

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Dalia M. Abouelfadl, Noha N. Yassen, Marwa E. Shabana

Abstract:

Background: The evolution of immune therapy motivated many to study the relation between immune response and progression of cancer. Little is known about expression of PD-L1 (a newly evolving immunotherapeutic drug) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) arising de-novo and PTC arising on top of autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's (HT) and lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT)). The aim of this work is to study the alteration of expression of PD-L1 in PTCs arising from de-novo or on top of HT OR LT using immunohistochemistry and image analyser system. Method: 100 paraffin blocks for PTC cases were collected retrospectively for staining using PD-L1 rabbit monoclonal antibody (BIOCARE-ACI 3171 A, C). The antibody expression is measured digitally using Image Analyzer Leica Qwin 3000, and the membranous and cytoplasmic expression of PD-L1 in tumor cells was considered positive. The results were correlated with tumor grade, size, and LN status. Results: The study samples consisted of 41 cases of PTC arising De novo, 36 cases on top of HT, and 23 on top of LT. Expression of PD-L1 was highest among the PTC-HL group (25 case-69%) followed by PTC-TL group (14 case-60.8%) then de-novo PTC (19 case-46%) with P Value < 0.05. PD-L1 expression correlated with nodal metastasis and was not relevant to tumor size or grade. Conclusion: The severity of the immune response in tumor microenvironment directly influences PTC prognosis. The anti PD-L1 Ab can be a very successful therapeutic agent for PTC arising on top of HT.

Keywords: carcinoma, Hashimoto's, lymphocytic, papillary, PD-L1, thyroiditis

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Marwa Ben Khalifa, Zeineb Ben Salem, Wissem Frikha

Abstract:

This paper presents a case study of “Radès la Goulette” bridge project using the technique of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) associated with step by step construction of preloading embankments with averaged height of about 6 m. These embankments are founded on a highly compressible layer of Tunis soft soil. The construction steps included extensive soil instrumentation such as piezometers and settlement plates for monitoring the dissipation of excess pore water pressures and settlement during the consolidation of Tunis soft soil. An axisymmetric numerical model using the 2D finite difference code FLAC was developed and calibrated using laboratory tests to predict the soil behavior and consolidation settlements. The constitutive model impact for simulating the soft soil behavior is investigated. The results of analyses show that numerical analysis provided satisfactory predictions for the field performance during the construction of Radès la Goulette embankment. The obtained results show the effectiveness of PVD in the acceleration of the consolidation time. A comparison of numerical results with theoretical analysis was presented.

Keywords: tunis soft soil, radès bridge project, prefabricated vertical drains, FLAC, acceleration of consolidation

Procedia PDF Downloads 119