Search results for: raw date palm sap

Authors: K. Żak, S. Przetocka, R. Kitel, K. Guzik, B. Musielak, S. Malicki, G. Dubin, T. A. Holak

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Studies on tumor genesis revealed a number of factors that may potentially serve as molecular targets for immunotherapies. One of such promising targets are PD1 and PDL1 proteins. PD1 (Programmed cell death protein 1) is expressed by activated T cells and plays a critical role in modulation of the host's immune response. One of the PD1 ligands -PDL1- is expressed by macrophages, monocytes and cancer cells which exploit it to avoid immune attack. The notion of the mechanisms used by cancer cells to block the immune system response was utilized in the development of therapies blocking PD1-PDL1 interaction. Up to date, human PD1-PDL1 complex has not been crystallized and structure of the mouse-human complex does not provide a complete view of the molecular basis of PD1-PDL1 interactions. The purpose of this study is to obtain crystal structure of the human PD1-PDL1 complex which shall allow rational design of small molecule inhibitors of the interaction. In addition, the study presents results of binding small-molecules to PD1 and fragment docking towards PD1 protein which will facilitate the design and development of small–molecule inhibitors of PD1-PDL1 interaction.

Keywords: PD1, PDL1, cancer, small molecule, drug discovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Ahmed Hariri

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E-Learning has become a necessity in the advanced education. It is easier for the student and teacher communication also it speed up the process with less time and less effort. With the progress and the enormous development of distance education must keep up with this age of making a website that allows students and teachers to take all the advantages of advanced education. In this regards, we developed University Short courses web application which is specially designed for Faculty of computing and information technology, Rabigh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After an elaborate review of the current state-of-the-art methods of teaching and learning, we found that instructors deliver extra short courses and workshop to students to enhance the knowledge of students. Moreover, this process is completely manual. The prevailing methods of teaching and learning consume a lot of time; therefore in this context, University Short courses web application will help to make process easy and user friendly. The site allows for students can view and register short courses online conducted by instructor also they can see courses starting dates, finishing date and locations. It also allows the instructor to put things on his courses on the site and see the students enrolled in the study material. Finally, student can print the certificate after finished the course online. ASP.NET, SQLSERVER, JavaScript SQL SERVER Database will use to develop the University Short Courses web application.

Keywords: e-learning, short courses, ASP.NET, SQL SERVER

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Jeonghun Lee

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In this study, we investigated the relationship between stress and thyroid dysfunction in such patients who underwent thyroidectomy. This study included 101 patients who underwent thyroidectomy from January 2015 to June 2020 and experienced hypothyroidism. The included patients had good drug compliance with the same dosage of levothyroxine (LT4). The male-to-female ratio was 1:4.6, and the mean age was 45.4 years at surgery and 50.2 years at stressful events. Eighteen patients underwent lobectomies and, of these, 12 did not take LT4. The mean follow-up period was 49(8-93) months. Statistical analyses were performed using the paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and McNemer test using PROC MIXED with SAS 9.4. Forty-five patients (44.6%) had hypothyroidism with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) >10 μIU/mL. There was distress in 81 patients and eustress in 10 patients. TSH levels increased during a mean 5.8 months (min 1, max 12) in 24 patients who specified the date of their life events. Even though each patient took the same dose of LT4, when the patients were under stress, both the free T4 and T3 decreased and TSH increased, regardless of whether the patient experienced distress or eustress (P <0.001). While adjusting for the effect of the free T4 and T3, TSH increased significantly in the patients after stress (P <0.001). For patients with thyroid cancer who are simultaneously experiencing life events, TSH may be used as a stress biomarker to enable the implementation of appropriate treatment and counseling strategies.

Keywords: endocrine, thyroid, thyroid function, biomarker, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Amira Racha Ben Yakoub, Ali Ferchichi

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In order to investigate the impact of sowing time on growth parameters, the length of the development cycle and yield of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.), a field experiment was conducted from March to May 2011 at the Laboratoire d’Aridoculture et Cultures Oasiennes, ‘Institut des Régions Arides de Médénine’, Tunisia. Results of the experiment revealed that the early sowing (the middle of March, the beginning of April) induced a cycle of more than 100 days to reach the stage maturity and generates a marked drop in production. This period of plantation affects plant development and leads to a sharp drop in performance marked primarily by a reduction in growth, number and size of leaves, number of flowers and pods and weight of different parts of plant. Sowing from the end of April seems appropriate for shortening the development cycle and better profitability than the first two dates. Seeding of C. olitorius during May enhance the development of plants more dense, which explains the superiority of production marked by the increase of seed yield and leaf fresh and dry weight of this leafy vegetables.

Keywords: tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L), sowing date, growth, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Aysha Zahidie, Meesha Iqbal

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This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of strategies adopted by national health systems across the globe in different ‘geographical regions’ in the Northern Hemisphere to combat COVID-19 pandemic. Data is included from the first case reported in November 2019 till mid-April 2020. Sources of information are COVID-19 case repositories, official country websites, university research teams’ perspectives, official briefings, and available published research articles to date. We triangulated all data to formulate a comprehensive illustration of COVID-19 situation in each country included. It has been found that the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak experienced in China, Taiwan, and South Korea saw better strategies adopted by leadership to combat COVID-19 pandemic containment as compared to Iran, Italy, and the United States of America. Saudi Arabia has so far been successful in the implementation of containment strategies as there have been no large outbreaks in major cities or confined areas such as prisons. The situation has yet to unfold in India and Pakistan, which exhibit their own weaknesses in policy formulation or implementation in response to health crises.

Keywords: national health systems, COVID-19, prevention, response

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Abdel-Aziz M. Mohamed, Nermeen Coutry

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Lead time is an important measure of supply chain performance. It impacts both customer satisfactions as well as the total cost of inventory. This paper presents the result of a study on the analysis of the customer order lead-time for a multinational company. In the study, the lead time was divided into three stages: order entry, order fulfillment, and order delivery. A sample of size 2,425 order lines from the company records were considered for this study. The sample data includes information regarding customer orders from the time of order entry until order delivery. Data regarding the lead time of each sage for different orders were also provided. Summary statistics on lead time data reveals that about 30% of the orders were delivered after the scheduled due date. The result of the multiple linear regression analysis technique revealed that component type, logistics parameter, order size and the customer type have significant impact on lead time. Data analysis on the stages of lead time indicates that stage 2 consumes over 50% of the lead time. Pareto analysis was made to study the reasons for the customer order delay in each of the 3 stages. Recommendation was given to resolve the problem.

Keywords: lead time reduction, customer satisfaction, service quality, statistical analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 729

Authors: Daniel Suárez, Jesús Tomas, Sandra Sendra, Sandra Viciano-Tudela, Luis Felipe Calle, Javier Urios, Jaime Lloret

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Our study is to develop a tool for the mobile phone to an assessment of body damage or determination of the degree of disability. This is a field of action of legal medicine and insurance with obvious economic implications. Those people who have suffered an accident or bodily harm demand a quantification of it. The assessment of bodily harm or disability by the expert medical professional is not exempt from complexity. Sometimes it is difficult to quantify pain; other times, the doctor faces simulators or exaggerators, and on many occasions, it is difficult to remember the extensive tables of scales whose details are complex to remember and apply. We present a tool, as a mobile application, that allows entering the sociodemographic date of the patient as well as the characteristics of the accident suffered by the person. With these preliminary data and introducing bodily damage, an approximate calculation of the compensation that the injured party should receive can be made. One of the results of this study is that it allows calculating joint mobility angles without the need to use a goniometer.

Keywords: mobile tool, body damage, personal injury and disability, telemedicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: A. Ghasemipanah, R. Ziaie Moayed, H. Niroumand

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Improving the geotechnical properties of soil has always been one of the issues in geotechnical engineering. Traditional materials have been used to improve and stabilize soils to date, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Although the soil stabilization by adding materials such as cement, lime, bitumen, etc. is one of the effective methods to improve the geotechnical properties of soil, but nanoparticles are one of the newest additives which can improve the loose soils. This research is intended to study the effect of adding nanobentonite on soil engineering properties, especially the unconfined compression strength and maximum dry unit weight, using clayey soil with low liquid limit (CL) from Kerman (Iran). Nanobentonite was mixed with soil in three different percentages (i.e. 3, 5, 7% by weight of the parent soil) with different curing time (1, 7 and 28 days). The unconfined compression strength, liquid and plastic limits and plasticity index of treated specimens were measured by unconfined compression and Atterberg limits test. It was found that increase in nanobentonite content resulted in increase in the unconfined compression strength, liquid and plastic limits of the clayey soil and reduce in plasticity index.

Keywords: nanobentonite particles, clayey soil, unconfined compression stress, soil improvement.

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Abdulaziz Alnajem, Amit Sharma

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Business Case: Project delivery and enhancing activities' completion in the shortest possible time is critical during execution to proceed with the subsequent phases of Procurement, C & C phases of Contracts to have the required Production facilities/Infrastructure in place to achieve the Company strategic objective of 4.0 MBOPD oil production. SOR (Statement of requirement): Design and Engineering phase of Projects execution takes a long time. It is observed that, in most of the cases, company has crossed the Project Design Submittals review time as per the Contract/Company Standards, resulting into delays in projects completion, and cost impact to the company. Study Scope: Scope of the study covers the process from date of first submission of D & E documents by the contractor to final approval by the controlling team to proceed with the procurement of materials. This scope covers projects handled by the company’s project management teams and includes only the internal review process by the company.

Keywords: business management system, project management, oil and gas, analysis, improvement, design, delays

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Maira Farooq Maneka

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Death has increasingly caused humans to investigate its reality and what lies after it, if something at all, with personal conviction and concern. Till date it remains a matter of speculation. We do not encounter arguments other than ‘faith’ from major world religions when justifying claims about life after death (LAD) as it is an unseen phenomenon. This paper attempts to analyse the Islamic idea of resurrection (after death) and its justification that is distinct from faith but instead contemplative in nature. To do this a legal lens was adopted which allowed the categorisation of selected Quranic arguments under the heading of direct evidence, indirect evidence and intuitive reasoning. Results: Four kinds of direct evidences are discussed under the themes of sleep, droughts, predictions and Quranic challenge. The section of indirect evidences narrows its scope only to two, out of many, broad possible signs that pointed towards the reality of resurrection. These include the signs found in nature such as sun and water as well as signs one finds within the human body such as the creation and function of human fingertips. Finally the last section tries to amalgamate Quran’s appeal to human rationality that facilitates the reader in accepting the possibility of resurrection and hence a final Day of Judgement. These include the notion of accountability, pleasure, pain and human agency.

Keywords: Islam, life after death, Quran, resurrection

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Ryan Tao

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This paper analyzes the local context and effects of tourism on Placencia in Belize to identify key environmental and social impacts. Placencia was a small sleepy coastal fishing village at risk of losing its local identity to tourism. In the last decade, tourism has driven an economic shift from fishing to tourism. The consequence of this shift has eroded local environmental resources and diluted local cultural heritage. A key example is Harvest Caye, an island converted from a natural manatee breeding ground to a stereotypical sandy beach and palm tree resort complex. The incoming cruise ship-geared development of Harvest Caye reflects the urban tourist vision of Placencia’s local landscape, which indicates a “neo-colonial” rule. Consequently, this vision causes environmental destruction, replacing local memories of abundant manatee-filled waters. The paper will explore environmental and cultural damage from uncontrolled development by focusing on how Placencia has been affected by unmanaged tourism. It will then propose solutions to create a medium between tourism and the local community. New developments in other Belizean cities, such as Belmopan and Belize City, are planned at the time of approval to be sensitive to their setting. While Placencia is fully built out, there are opportunities to plan in advance for the future while preserving local integrity. As a consequence of time, shepherding tourist development, defining tourist areas, and planning these areas with an eye towards natural disasters (such as hurricanes) can act as a tool to craft a future vision that helps preserve the local identity of Placencia. This research will consist of personal observations, case studies, and synthesis of other source materials. These sources provide guidance for creating a framework to understand the local environment and culture and plan around it to ultimately protect Placencia from becoming “Your Private Paradise” for the rich.

Keywords: Placencia, coastal development, coastal protection, tourism, zoning, coastal zoning, Caribbean, Belize, small island developing states

Procedia PDF Downloads 13

Authors: Nawaf Alotaibi, Andy Evans, Alison Heppenstall, Nick Malleson

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Throughout the last two decades, motor vehicle theft (MVT) has accounted for the largest proportion of property crime incidents in Saudi Arabia (SA). However, to date, few studies have investigated SA’s MVT problem. Those that have are primarily focused on the characteristics of car thieves, and most have overlooked any spatial-temporal distribution of MVT incidents and the characteristics of victims. This paper represents the first step in understanding this problem by reviewing the existing MVT studies contextualised within the theoretical frameworks developed in environmental criminology theories – originating in the West – and exploring to what extent they are relevant to the SA context. To achieve this, the paper has identified a range of key features in SA that are different from typical Western contexts, that could limit the appropriateness and capability of applying existing environmental criminology theories. Furthermore, despite these Western studies reviewed so far having introduced a number of explanatory variables for MVT rates, a range of significant elements are apparently absent in the current literature and this requires further analysis. For example, almost no attempts have been made to quantify the associations between the locations of vehicle theft, recovery of stolen vehicles, joyriding and traffic volume.

Keywords: environmental criminology theories, motor vehicle theft, Saudi Arabia, spatial analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 298

Authors: D. Castillo T., Luis F. Jimenez

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The compressed earth blocks (CEBs) constitute an alternative as a constructive element for building homes in regions with high levels of poverty and marginalization. Such is the case of Southeastern Mexico, where the population, predominantly indigene, build their houses with feeble materials like wood and palm, vulnerable to extreme weather in the area, because they do not have the financial resources to acquire concrete blocks. There are several advantages that can provide BTCs compared to traditional vibro-compressed concrete blocks, such as the availability of materials, low manufacturing cost and reduced CO2 emissions to the atmosphere for not be subjected to a burning process. However, to improve its mechanical properties and resistance to adverse weather conditions in terms of humidity and temperature of the sub-humid climate zones, it requires the use of a chemical stabilizer; in this case we chose Ca(OH)2. The stabilization method Eades-Grim was employed, according to ASTM C977-03. This method measures the optimum amount of lime required to stabilize the soil, increasing the pH to 12.4 or higher. The minimum amount of lime required in this experiment was 1% and the maximum was 10%. The employed material was clay unconsolidated low to medium plasticity (CL type according to the Unified Soil Classification System). Based on these results, the CEBs manufacturing process was determined. The obtained blocks were from 10x15x30 cm using a mixture of soil, water and lime in different proportions. Later these blocks were put to dry outdoors and subjected to several physical and mechanical tests, such as compressive strength, absorption and drying shrinkage. The results were compared with the limits established by the Mexican Standard NMX-C-404-ONNCCE-2005 for the construction of housing walls. In this manner an alternative and sustainable material was obtained for the construction of rural households in the region, with better security conditions, comfort and cost.

Keywords: calcium hydroxide, chemical stabilization, compressed earth blocks, sub-humid warm weather

Procedia PDF Downloads 401

Authors: Siriporn Sikkaphun

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Food is essential for living, and receiving correct, suitable, and adequate food is advantageous to the body, especially for patients because it can enable good recovery. Feeding through a gastrostomy tube is one useful way that is widely used because it is easy, convenient, and economical.To compare the effectiveness of using the clinical guidelines for feeding through a gastrostomy tube in critically ill surgical patients.This is a pre-post quasi-experimental study on 15 critically ill surgical or accident patients who needed intubation and the gastrostomy tube from August 2011 to November 2012. The data were collected using the guidelines, and an evaluation form for effectiveness of guidelines for feeding through a gastrostomy tube in critically ill surgical patients. After using the guidelines for feeding through a gastrostomy tube in critically ill surgical patients, it was found that The average number of days from the admission date to the day the patients received food through the G-tube significantly reduced at the level .05. The number of personnel who practiced nursing activities correctly and suitably for patients with complications during feeding significantly increased at the level .05.The number of patients receiving energy to the target level significantly increased at the level .05. The results of this study indicated that the use of the guidelines for feeding through a gastrostomy tube in critically ill surgical patients was feasible in practice, and the outcomes were beneficial to the patients.

Keywords: clinical guidelines, feeding, gastrostomy tube, critically ill, surgical patients

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: Pierre Mintom, William Djeukeu Asongni, Michelle Moni, William Dakam, Christine Fernande Nyangono Biyegue.

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Background: In order to prevent congestive heart failure, control of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia is necessary because those risk factors frequently occur in combination. Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and double burden HTA-Hypercholesterolemia in patients with congestive heart failure. Methodology: A database of 98 patients suffering from congestive heart failure was used. The latter were recruited from August 15, 2017, to March 5, 2018, in the Cardiology department of Deido District Hospital of Douala. This database provides information on sociodemographic parameters, biochemical examinations, characteristics of heart failure and food consumption. ESC/ESH and NCEP-ATPIII definitions were used to define Hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol ≥200mg/dl), Hypertension (SBP≥140mmHg and/or DBP≥90mmHg). Double burden hypertension-hypercholesterolemia was defined as follows: total cholesterol (CT)≥200mg/dl, SBP≥140mmHg and DBP≥90mmHg. Results: The prevalence of hypertension (HTA), hypercholesterolemia (hyperchol) and double burden HTA-Hyperchol were 61.2%, 66.3% and 45.9%, respectively. No sociodemographic factor was associated with hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and double burden, but Male gender was significantly associated (p<0.05) with hypercholesterolemia. HypoHDLemia significantly increased hypercholesterolemia and the double burden by 19.664 times (p=0.001) and 14.968 times (p=0.021), respectively. Regarding dietary habits, the consumption of rice, peanuts and derivatives and cottonseed oil respectively significantly (p<0.05) exposed to the occurrence of hypertension. The consumption of tomatoes, green bananas, corn and derivatives, peanuts and derivatives and cottonseed oil significantly exposed (p<0.05) to the occurrence of hypercholesterolemia. The consumption of palm oil and cottonseed oil exposed the occurrence of the double burden of hypertension-hypercholesterolemia. Consumption of eggs protects against hypercholesterolemia, and consumption of peanuts and tomatoes protects against the double burden. Conclusion: hypercholesterolemia associated with hypertension appears as a complicating factor of congestive heart failure. Key risk factors are mainly diet-based, suggesting the importance of nutritional education for patients. New management protocols emphasizing diet should be considered.

Keywords: risk factors, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, congestive heart failure

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Virgina Claudia Latengke, Muhaammad Nur Arifin, Vanny Septia Sundari

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Kedulan Temple is located in Dusun Kedulan, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia at coordinates S 07o 44’ 57’, E 110o 28’ 17’. Kedulan Temple is a trace of the relics of life in the 3 century AD. The Kedulan Temple including exhumed landforms, which the primordial landform is first surface topography, then buried under cover mass and exposed or re-inscribed. Recognized by the existence of ancient soil (paleosoil) and ancient objects. Seen from the type of soil that closes the temple, there are 13 layers of lava type, so it is estimated that the lava that buried the temple came from 13 times the eruption of Mount Merapi. The material that buries the base of this temple is the pyroclastic surge deposits in 3 layers, each of which is limited by a thin layer of paleosol, the sediments are 1445+/-50 yBP, 1175+/-50 yBP, and 1060+/-40 yBP. This temple is buried and dug again at 940+/-100 yBP. Furthermore, the temple affected by earthquake, so the floor and foundation becomes bumpy and most of the temple stone are thrown. The temple is left alone, until exposed to hot clouds at 1285 M (740+/-50yBP). Next, repeatedly buried lava in 4 periods, in 1587 M (360+/-50 yBP, 240+/-50 yBP, 200+/-50 yBP and unknown date). From studying this temple, can be known paleogeomorphology process that occurred in Yogyakarta, especially related to the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi. Until now, the water is still flowing around the temple so there is a fluvial process that began to take a role in the temple.

Keywords: Kedulan temple, paleogeomorphology, buried, mount Merapi, Yogyakarta

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Mohsen S. Sajadieha, Danyar Molavia

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In this paper, a truck scheduling problem is investigated at a two-touch cross-docking center with due dates for outbound trucks as a hard constraint. The objective is to minimize the total cost comprising penalty and delivery cost of delayed shipments. The sequence of unloading shipments is considered and is assumed that shipments are sent to shipping dock doors immediately after unloading and a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) policy is considered for loading the shipments. A mixed integer programming model is developed for the proposed model. Two meta-heuristic algorithms including genetic algorithm (GA) and variable neighborhood search (VNS) are developed to solve the problem in medium and large sized scales. The numerical results show that increase in due dates for outbound trucks has a crucial impact on the reduction of penalty costs of delayed shipments. In addition, by increase the due dates, the improvement in the objective function arises on average in comparison with the situation that the cross-dock is multi-touch and shipments are sent to shipping dock doors only after unloading the whole inbound truck.

Keywords: cross-docking, truck scheduling, fixed due date, door assignment

Procedia PDF Downloads 404

Authors: Sheraz Ahmad Choudhary

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Health plays a vital role in the growth. The study examined the effect of health indicator on the growth of Pakistan. ARDL model is used to check the growth rate which is affected by the health by using the time series date of Pakistan from 1990 to 2017. Health indicator, fertility rate, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, and infant mortality rate are variables Where the unit root is applied to check the stationarity of the model. consequences find a significant relationship between GDP, foreign direct investment, fertility rate, and life expectancy in the short run, whereas mortality rate effected negatively to economic growth but have significant values. In the long run, foreign direct investment (FDI) and fertility rate(FR) have significantly influenced the GDP. The results show thateconomic growth is positively stimulated by most of the health indicators. The study accomplishes that nations can achieve a high level of economic growth by increasing wellbeing human capital.

Keywords: economic growth, health expenditures, fertility rate, human capital, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, and infant mortality rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Aditi Chauhan, Neethu S. Mohan

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In the modern era, the advancement and digitalization in technology have taken place during an investigation of crime scene. The rapid enhancement and investigative techniques have changed the mean of identification of suspect. Identification of the person is one of the significant aspects, and personal authentication is the key of security and reliability in society. Since early 90 s, people have relied on comparing handwriting through its class and individual characteristics. But in today’s 21st century we need more reliable means to identify individual through handwriting. An approach employing computer modalities have lately proved itself auspicious enough in exploration of hieroglyphics substantial in investigating the case. Various software’s such as FISH, WRITEON, and PIKASO, CEDAR-FOX SYSTEM identify and verify the associated quantitative measure of the similarity between two samples. The research till date has been confined to identify the authorship of the concerned samples. But prospects associated with the use of computational modalities might help to identify disguised writing, forged handwriting or say altered or modified writing. Considering the applications of such modal, similar work is sure to attract plethora of research in immediate future. It has a promising role in national security too. Documents exchanged among terrorist can also be brought under the radar of surveillance, bringing forth their source of existence.

Keywords: documents, identity, computational system, suspect

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Abdul Mufid

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This study aims to integrate hadith, astronomy, and sociology studies in studying the accelerated implementation of the unification of the Hijri calendar through a multidisciplinary approach. The Hijri calendar is compiled based on the astronomical phenomena of regular movements of the earth, moon, and sun. Meanwhile, for the implementation of worship, the Hijri calendar must refer to the provisions of Islamic law or fiqh. To set the Hijri calendar, agreement on the criteria for the visibility of the new moon (first crescent), date limits, and absolute authority is required. Agreement on visibility criteria requires a valid basis for astronomical studies. Agreement on territorial boundaries is necessary because our earth is round, and the new moon cannot be observed simultaneously. And the agreement of the authorities is also needed to resolve unavoidable differences, especially differences in the appearance of the new moon and differences in schools of thought. The research is based on astronomical data, the experiences of Indonesia and Islamic countries regarding the Hijri calendar, in-depth and focused interviews with various sources, as well as a review of hadith literature. The results of the study show that the implementation of the unification of the Hijri calendar through the three approaches above can be carried out and can be accelerated.

Keywords: calendar unification, new moon (hilal) visibility, multidisciplinary approach, the unity of the Muslims

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Andrés Calvillo Téllez, Marianne Martínez Zanzarric, José Cruz Núñez Pérez

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A modular system that performs basic monitoring of both water and air quality is presented. Monitoring is essential for environmental, aquaculture, and agricultural disciplines, where this type of instrumentation is necessary for data collection. The system uses low-cost components, which allows readings close to those with high-cost probes. The probe collects readings such as the coordinates of the geographical position, as well as the time it records the target parameters of the monitored. The modules or subsystems that make up the probe are the global positioning (GPS), which shows the altitude, latitude, and longitude data of the point where the reading will be recorded, a real-time clock stage, the date marking the time, the module SD memory continuously stores data, data acquisition system, central processing unit, and energy. The system acquires parameters to measure water quality, conductivity, pressure, and temperature, and for air, three types of ammonia, dioxide, and carbon monoxide gases were censored. The information obtained allowed us to identify the schedule of modification of the parameters and the identification of the ideal conditions for the growth of microorganisms in the water.

Keywords: calibration, conductivity, datalogger, monitoring, real time clock, water quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Allison Futter

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Lifetime use of electronic cigarettes (EC) in college students has been estimated at around 50%; recent research shows Mobile Health (mHealth) technology is a promising tool to help address this public health issue, yet the majority of EC cessation mHealth tools found on smartphone app stores lack empirical support of their effectiveness. The Smiling Instead of Smoking (SiS) app is a positive psychology-based smartphone app for nondaily smokers. Due to previous success with brief, self-administered positive psychology exercises for cigarette cessation, this study examined the SiS App’s feasibility and effectiveness for EC cessation. Sixteen undergraduates used the SiS app for 3 weeks: one week before their quit date and 2 weeks after. As hypothesized, participants had significant declines in their craving and maintained pre-cessation levels of positive affect. There were no significant changes in dependency or self-efficacy. In the one-month follow-up survey, 38% of participants reported being abstinent. The app had an almost 4-star rating for its features (e.g., functionality, aesthetics, information, etc.) and participants reported moderate satisfaction with its use. Participants used the app, on average, 10 out of the 21 days of the prescribed app use. This study highlights the promise of mHealth support and positive psychology for EC cessation, adding to the understanding of possible ways to support EC quit attempts.

Keywords: e-cigarette cessation, mHealth, positive psychology, smartphone app

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Nura Lawal, Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, Rabiu Aliyu Umar, Anas A. Sabir

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Metabolic syndrome (MS) a high-risk condition involving obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus is prevalent in Nigeria. The study aims to formulate an antioxidant-rich nutraceutical from locally available foodstuff (onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, lemon, palm oil, watermelon seeds) and investigate their effects on blood pressure, body weight, serum glucose, lipid profile, insulin and oxidative stress markers in salt-induced rats. The rats were placed on 8% salt diet for 6 weeks and then supplementation and treatment with nutraceutical and nifedipine in the presence of salt diet for additional 4 weeks. Feeding rats with salt diet for 6 weeks increased blood pressure and body weight of the salt-loaded rats relative to control. Significant (P < 0.001) increase in serum blood glucose and lipid profile, and the decrease in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) was observed in salt-loaded rats as compared with control. Both supplementation and treatment (nifedipine) lowered the blood pressure but the only supplementation lowered the body weight. Supplementation with nutraceutical resulted in significant (P < 0.001) decrease in the serum blood glucose, lipid profile, malonyldialdehyde (MDA), insulin levels, insulin resistance, and increased HDL-C and antioxidant indices. The percentage protection against atherogenesis was 76.5±2.13%. There is strong positive correlation between blood pressure, body weight and serum blood glucose, lipid profile, markers of oxidative stress and strong negative correlation with HDL-C and antioxidant status. The results suggest that the nutraceuticals are useful in reversing most of the component of metabolic syndrome and might be beneficial in the treatment of patients with metabolic syndrome.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes mallitus, obesity

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Tarek Duzan, Walid Eddib

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The marine shallow carbonate reservoir (G- Eocene) is one of the biggest mature water drive reservoir of Waha Oil Company. The cumulative oil produced up to date is about to eighty percent of the booked original oil in place at ninety five percent of Water cut. However, the company believes that there is a good amount of remaining oil left need to be recovered. Many laboratory studies have been conducted to see the possibility drain the commercial oil left behind using two types of gases, namely, carbone dioxide and enriched hydrocarbon gas injection. The conclusions of those cases were inconclusive Technically and Economically. Therefore, the company has decided to verify another Tertiary Recovery (EOR) technique that may be applied to the interested reservoir. A global screening criteria and quick Laboratory chemical tests have been conducted by using many types of chemical injection into real rock samples. The outcomes were unique economically and provide a significant increase in the commercial oil left. Finally, the company has started conducting a sector pilot plan before proceeding with a full plan. There are many wellbores available to use in a potential field Enhanced Oil Recovery.

Keywords: chemical lab. test, ASP, rock types, oil samples, and global screening criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Jigg Pelayo, Ricardo Villar

Abstract:

The Philippines is long considered as a valuable producer of high value crops globally. The country’s employment and economy have been dependent on agriculture, thus increasing its demand for the efficient agricultural mechanism. Remote sensing and geographic information technology have proven to effectively provide applications for precision agriculture through image-processing technique considering the development of the aerial scanning technology in the country. Accurate information concerning the spatial correlation within the field is very important for precision farming of high value crops, especially. The availability of height information and high spatial resolution images obtained from aerial scanning together with the development of new image analysis methods are offering relevant influence to precision agriculture techniques and applications. In this study, an algorithm was developed and implemented to detect and count high value crops simultaneously through adaptive scaling of support vector machine (SVM) algorithm subjected to object-oriented approach combining watershed transformation and local maxima filter in enhancing tree counting and detection. The methodology is compared to cutting-edge template matching algorithm procedures to demonstrate its effectiveness on a demanding tree is counting recognition and delineation problem. Since common data and image processing techniques are utilized, thus can be easily implemented in production processes to cover large agricultural areas. The algorithm is tested on high value crops like Palm, Mango and Coconut located in Misamis Oriental, Philippines - showing a good performance in particular for young adult and adult trees, significantly 90% above. The s inventories or database updating, allowing for the reduction of field work and manual interpretation tasks.

Keywords: high value crop, LiDAR, OBIA, precision agriculture

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Authors: Abrar Al-Enzi

Abstract:

This study investigates the role of the popular utilization of Wasta within Arab societies. Wasta, by definition, is a set of personal networks based on family or kinship ties in which power and influence are utilized to get things done. As Wasta evolved, it became intensely rooted in Arab cultures, which is considered as an intrinsic tool of the culture, a method of doing business transactions and as a family obligation. However, the consequences related to Wasta in business are substantial as it impacts organizational performance, employee’s perception of the organization and the atmosphere between employees. To date, there has been little in-depth organizational research on the impact of Wasta. Hence, the question that will be addressed is: Does Wasta influence human resource management, knowledge sharing and innovation in Kuwait, which in turn affects employees’ commitment within organizations? As a result, a mixed method sequential exploratory research design will be used to examine the mentioned subject, which consists of three phases: (1) Doing some initial exploratory interviews; (2) Developing a paper-based and online survey (Quantitative method) based on the findings; (3) Lastly, following up with semi-structured interviews (Qualitative method). The rationale behind this approach is that both qualitative and quantitative methods complement each other by providing a more complete picture of the subject matter.

Keywords: commitment, HRM practices, social capital, Wasta

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Authors: Ma. Rosario Concepcion O. Ang, Luis Caezar Ian K. Panganiban, Charmyne B. Mamador, Oliver Dan G. De Luna, Michael D. Bausas, Joselito P. Cruz

Abstract:

PhilSHORE is a multi-site, multi-device and multi-criteria decision support tool designed to support the development of tidal current energy in the Philippines. Its platform is based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which allows for the collection, storage, processing, analyses and display of geospatial data. Combining GIS tools with open source web development applications, PhilSHORE becomes a webGIS-based marine spatial planning tool. To date, PhilSHORE displays output maps and graphs of power and energy density, site suitability and site-device analysis. It enables stakeholders and the public easy access to the results of tidal current energy resource assessments and site suitability analyses. Results of the initial development shows PhilSHORE is a promising decision support tool for ORE project developments.

Keywords: gis, site suitability analysis, tidal current energy resource assessment, webgis

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Authors: Ravinder Singh, C Rajesh, Saroj Badhan, Shailendra Mishra, Ranjit Singh Kataria

Abstract:

Heat shock protein 60 and 70 are crucial chaperones that guide appropriate folding of denatured proteins under heat stress conditions. HSP60 and HSP70 provide assistance in correct folding of a multitude of denatured proteins. The heat shock factors are the family of some transcription factors which controls the regulation of gene expression of proteins involved in folding of damaged or improper folded proteins during stress conditions. Under normal condition heat shock proteins bind with HSF-1 and act as its repressor as well as aids in maintaining the HSF-1’s nonactive and monomeric confirmation. The experimental protein structure for all these proteins in Bubalus bubalis is not known till date. Therefore computational approach was explored to identify three-dimensional structure analysis of all these proteins. In this study, an extensive in silico analysis has been performed including sequence comparison among species to comparative modeling of Bubalus bubalis HSP60, HSP70 and HSF-1 protein. The stereochemical properties of proteins were assessed by utilizing several scrutiny bioinformatics tools to ensure model accuracy. Further docking approach was used to study interactions between Heat shock proteins and HSF-1.

Keywords: Bubalus bubalis, comparative modelling, docking, heat shock protein

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Authors: Katie Strong, Brian P. O'Connor, Jacqueline M. Kanippayoor

Abstract:

To date, self-report measures of psychopathy have largely been conceptualized with a male-focused understanding of the disorder, with the presumption that psychopathy expression is uniform across genders. However, generalizing this understanding to the female population may be misleading. The objective of this research was to explore gender differences in the expression of psychopathy and to assess current self-report psychopathy measures for gender bias. It was hypothesized that some items in commonly used measures of psychopathy may show gender bias and that existing measures may not contain enough items that are relevant to the manifestation of psychopathy in women. An exploratory investigation was conducted on statistical bias in common measures of psychopathy, and novel, relevant, but previously neglected items and measures were included in a new data collection. The participant pool included a sample of 403 university students and 354 participants recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Item Response Theory methods - including Differential Item Functioning - were used to assess for the item- and test- level bias across several common self-report measures of psychopathy. Analyses indicated occasional and modest levels of item-level bias, and that some additional female-relevant items merit consideration for inclusion in measures of psychopathy. These findings suggest that current self-report measures of psychopathy may be demonstrating gender-bias and warrant further examination.

Keywords: gender, measurement bias, personality, psychopathy

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Authors: Evagelos Korobilis-Magas, Adekunle Oke

Abstract:

The constantly increasing tendency towards a global economy and the subsequent increase in exporting, as a result, has inevitably led to a growing interest in the topic of export success as well. Numerous studies, particularly in the past three decades, have examined a plethora of determinants to export performance. However, to the authors' best knowledge, no study up to date has ever considered decision quality as a potential antecedent to export success by attempting to test the relationship between decision quality and export performance. This is a surprising deficiency given that the export marketing literature has long ago suggested that quality decisions are regarded as the crucial intervening variable between sound decision–making and export performance. This study integrates the different definitions of decision quality proposed in the literature and the key themes incorporated therein and adapts it to an export context. Apart from laying the conceptual foundations for the delineation of this elusive but very important construct, this study is the first ever to test the relationship between decision quality and export performance. Based on survey data from a sample of 189 British export decision-makers and within a contingency theory framework, the results reveal that there is a direct, positive link between decision quality and export performance. This finding opens significant future research avenues and has very important implications for both theory and practice.

Keywords: export performance, decision quality, mixed methods, contingency theory

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