Search results for: flexible thin structure

Authors: Siti Salbiah Samsudin, Hamzah Arof, Ainuddin Wahid Abdul Wahab, Mohd Yamani Idna Idris

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Standard X-ray spine images produced by conventional screen-film technique have a limited field of view. This limitation may obstruct a complete inspection of the spine unless images of different parts of the spine are placed next to each other contiguously to form a complete structure. Another solution to producing a whole spine image is by assembling the digitized x-ray images of its parts automatically using image stitching. This paper presents a new Medical Image Stitching (MIS) method that utilizes Minimum Average Correlation Energy (MACE) filters to identify and merge pairs of x-ray medical images. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated in two sets of experiments involving two databases which contain a total of 40 pairs of overlapping and non-overlapping spine images. The experimental results are compared to those produced by the Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC) and Phase Only Correlation (POC) methods for comparison. It is found that the proposed method outperforms those of the NCC and POC methods in identifying both the overlapping and non-overlapping medical images. The efficacy of the proposed method is further vindicated by its average execution time which is about two to five times shorter than those of the POC and NCC methods.

Keywords: image stitching, MACE filter, panorama image, scoliosis

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Authors: Wen-Bin Liau, Wan-Ting Wang, Chiang-Jen Hsiao, Sheng-Mao Tseng

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In this paper, an interesting and easy method to prepare one-dimensional nanostructured polyaniline/dendritic silver composites is reported. It is well known that the morphology of metal particle is a very important factor to influence the properties of polymer-metal composites. Usually, the dendritic silver is prepared by kinetic control in reduction reaction. It is not a thermodynamically stable structure. It is the goal to reduce silver ion to dendritic silver by polyaniline polymer via kinetic control and form one-dimensional nanostructured polyaniline/dendritic silver composites. The preparation is a two steps sequential reaction. First step, the polyaniline networks composed of nano fibrillar polyaniline are synthesized from aniline monomers aqueous with ammonium persulfate as the initiator at room temperature. In second step, the silver nitrate is added into polyaniline networks dispersed in deionized water. The dendritic silver is formed via reduction by polyaniline networks under the kinetic control. The formation of polyaniline is discussed via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nanosheets, nanotubes, nanospheres, nanosticks, and networks are observed via TEM. Then, the mechanism of formation of one-dimensional nanostructured polyaniline/dendritic silver composites is discussed. The formation of dendritic silver is observed by TEM and X-ray diffraction.

Keywords: 1D nanostructured polyaniline, dendritic silver, synthesis

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Authors: C. J. W. Habets, D. J. Peters, J. G. de Gijt, A. V. Metrikine, S. N. Jonkman

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Conventional seismic designs of quay walls in ports are mostly based on pseudo-static analysis. A more advanced alternative is the Performance-Based Design (PBD) method, which evaluates permanent deformations and amounts of (repairable) damage under seismic loading. The aim of this study is to investigate the suitability of this method for anchored sheet pile quay walls that were not purposely designed for seismic loads. A research methodology is developed in which pseudo-static, permanent-displacement and finite element analysis are employed, calibrated with an experimental reference case that considers a typical anchored sheet pile wall. A reduction factor that accounts for deformation behaviour is determined for pseudo-static analysis. A model to apply traditional permanent displacement analysis on anchored sheet pile walls is proposed. Dynamic analysis is successfully carried out. From the research it is concluded that PBD evaluation can effectively be used for seismic analysis and design of this type of structure.

Keywords: anchored sheet pile quay wall, simplified dynamic analysis, performance-based design, pseudo-static analysis

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Authors: M. C. A. Leite, B. Chen-Charpentier, F. Agusto

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A long-term goal of sustainable forest management is a relatively stable source of wood and a stable forest age-class structure has become the goal of many forest management practices. In the absence of disturbances, this forest management goal could easily be achieved. However, in the face of recurring insect outbreaks and other disruptive processes forest planning becomes more difficult, requiring knowledge of the effects on the forest of a wide variety of environmental factors (e.g., habitat heterogeneity, fire size and frequency, harvesting, insect outbreaks, and age distributions). The association between distinct forest disturbances and the potential effect on forest dynamics is a complex matter, particularly when evaluated over time and at large scale, and is not well understood. However, gaining knowledge in this area is crucial for a sustainable forest management. Mathematical modeling is a tool that can be used to broader the understanding in this area. In this talk we will introduce mathematical models formulation incorporating the effect of insect outbreaks either as a single disturbance in the forest population dynamics or coupled with other disturbances: either wildfire or harvesting. The results and ecological insights will be discussed.

Keywords: age-structured forest population, disturbances interaction, harvesting insects outbreak dynamics, mathematical modeling

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Authors: Raghvendra Singh Yadav, Ivo Kuřitka, Jarmila Vilcakova, Pavel Urbanek, Michal Machovsky, David Skoda

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In this report, the impact of Gd³⁺ substitution in ZnFe₂O₄ spinel ferrite nanoparticles on structural, optical and magnetic properties was investigated. ZnFe₂₋ₓGdₓO₄ (x=0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) nanoparticles were synthesized by honey-mediated sol-gel combustion method. X-ray diffraction, Raman Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy confirmed the formation of cubic spinel ferrite crystal structure. The morphology and elemental analysis were studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, respectively. UV-Visible reflectance spectroscopy revealed band gap variation with concentration of Gd³⁺ substitution in ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles. Magnetic property was studied using vibrating sample magnetometer at room temperature. The synthesized spinel ferrite nanoparticles showed ferromagnetic behaviour. The evaluated magnetic parameters such as saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanence showed variation with Gd³⁺ substitution in spinel ferrite nanoparticles. This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic – Program NPU I (LO1504).

Keywords: sol-gel combustion method, nanoparticles, magnetic property, optical property

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Authors: Linda Fellag, Arlene Caney

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E-learning has earned an essential place in academia because it promotes learner autonomy, student engagement, and technological aptitude, and allows for flexible learning. However, despite advantages, educators have been slower to embrace e-learning for ESL and other non-traditional students for fear that such students will not succeed without the direct faculty contact and academic support of face-to-face classrooms. This study aims to determine if a non-traditional student-friendly online course can produce student retention and performance rates that compare favorably with those of students in standard online sections of the same course aimed at traditional college-level students. One Music faculty member is currently collaborating with an English instructor to redesign an online college-level Music Appreciation course for non-traditional college students. At Community College of Philadelphia, Introduction to Music Appreciation was recently designated as one of the few college-level courses that advanced ESL, and developmental English students can take while completing their language studies. Beginning in Fall 2017, the course will be critical for international students who must maintain full-time student status under visa requirements. In its current online format, however, Music Appreciation is designed for traditional college students, and faculty who teach these sections have been reluctant to revise the course to address the needs of non-traditional students. Interestingly, presenters maintain that the online platform is the ideal place to develop language and college readiness skills in at-risk students while maintaining the course's curricular integrity. The two faculty presenters describe how curriculum rather than technology drives the redesign of the digitized music course, and self-study materials, guided assignments, and periodic assessments promote independent learning and comprehension of material. The 'scaffolded' modules allow ESL and developmental English students to build on prior knowledge, preview key vocabulary, discuss content, and complete graded tasks that demonstrate comprehension. Activities and assignments, in turn, enhance college success by allowing students to practice academic reading strategies, writing, speaking, and student-faculty and peer-peer communication and collaboration. The course components facilitate a comparison of student performance and retention in sections of the redesigned and existing online sections of Music Appreciation as well as in previous sections with at-risk students. Indirect, qualitative measures include student attitudinal surveys and evaluations. Direct, quantitative measures include withdrawal rates, tests of disciplinary knowledge, and final grades. The study will compare the outcomes of three cohorts in the two versions of the online course: ESL students, at-risk developmental students, and college-level students. These data will also be compared with retention and student outcomes data of the three cohorts in f2f Music Appreciation, which permitted non-traditional student enrollment from 1998-2005. During this eight-year period, the presenter addressed the problems of at-risk students by adding language and college success support, which resulted in strong retention and outcomes. The presenters contend that the redesigned course will produce favorable outcomes among all three cohorts because it contains components which proved successful with at-risk learners in f2f sections of the course. Results of their study will be published in 2019 after the redesigned online course has met for two semesters.

Keywords: college readiness, e-learning, music appreciation, online courses

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Authors: Muhammad Haris, Syed Kamran Ali, Mubeen Islam, Tariq Mehmood, Faisal Shah

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Jacobabad Khairpur High, part of a Sukkur rift zone, is the separating boundary between Central and Southern Indus Basin, formed as a result of Post-Jurassic uplift after the deposition of Middle Jurassic Chiltan Formation. Habib Rahi Formation of Middle to Late Eocene outcrops in the vicinity of Jacobabad Khairpur High, a section at Rohri near Sukkur is measured in detail for lithofacies, microfacies, diagenetic analysis and sequence stratigraphy. Habib Rahi Formation is richly fossiliferous and consists of mostly limestone with subordinate clays and marl. The total thickness of the formation in this section is 28.8m. The bottom of the formation is not exposed, while the upper contact with the Sirki Shale of the Middle Eocene age is unconformable in some places. A section is measured using Jacob’s Staff method, and traverses were made perpendicular to the strike. Four different lithofacies were identified based on outcrop geology which includes coarse-grained limestone facies (HR-1 to HR-5), massive bedded limestone facies (HR-6 HR-7), and micritic limestone facies (HR-8 to HR-13) and algal dolomitic limestone facie (HR-14). Total 14 rock samples were collected from outcrop for detailed petrographic studies, and thin sections of respective samples were prepared and analyzed under the microscope. On the basis of Dunham’s (1962) classification systems after studying textures, grain size, and fossil content and using Folk’s (1959) classification system after reviewing Allochems type, four microfacies were identified. These microfacies include HR-MF 1: Benthonic Foraminiferal Wackstone/Biomicrite Microfacies, HR-MF 2: Foramineral Nummulites Wackstone-Packstone/Biomicrite Microfacies HR-MF 3: Benthonic Foraminiferal Packstone/Biomicrite Microfacies, HR-MF 4: Bioclasts Carbonate Mudstone/Micrite Microfacies. The abundance of larger benthic Foraminifera’s (LBF), including Assilina sp., A. spiral abrade, A. granulosa, A. dandotica, A. laminosa, Nummulite sp., N. fabiani, N. stratus, N. globulus, Textularia, Bioclasts, and Red algae indicates shallow marine (Tidal Flat) environment of deposition. Based on variations in rock types, grain size, and marina fauna Habib Rahi Formation shows progradational stacking patterns, which indicates coarsening upward cycles. The second order of sea-level rise is identified (spanning from Y-Persian to Bartonian age) that represents the Transgressive System Tract (TST) and a third-order Regressive System Tract (RST) (spanning from Bartonian to Priabonian age). Diagenetic processes include fossils replacement by mud, dolomitization, pressure dissolution associated stylolites features and filling with dark organic matter. The presence of the microfossils includes Nummulite. striatus, N. fabiani, and Assilina. dandotica, signify Bartonian to Priabonian age of Habib Rahi Formation.

Keywords: Jacobabad Khairpur High, Habib Rahi Formation, lithofacies, microfacies, sequence stratigraphy, diagenetic history

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Authors: Dean Robinson, Miriam Gublebank, Ella Sklan, Tali Tavor Re'em

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Alginate, a natural linear polysaccharide polymer extracted from brown seaweed, is extensively applied due to its biocompatibility, all- aqueous ease of handling, and relatively low costs. Alginate easily forms a hydrogel when crosslinked with a divalent ion, such as calcium. However, Alginate hydrogel holds low mechanical properties and is cell-inert. To overcome these drawbacks and to improve alginate as a bio-ink for bioprinting, we produced a new alginate matrix combined with spider silk, one of the most resilient, elastic, strong materials known to men. Recombinant spider silk biopolymer has a sponge-like structure and is known to be biocompatible and non-immunogenic. Our results indicated that combining synthetic spider-silk into bio-printed cell-seeded alginate hydrogels resulted in improved properties compared to alginate: improved mechanical properties of the matrix, achieving a tunable gel viscosity and high printability, alongside prolonged and higher cell viability in culture, probably due to the improved cell-matrix interactions. The new bio-ink was then used for bilayer bioprinting of epithelial and stromal endometrial cells. Such a co-culture model will be used for the formation of the complex endometrial tissue for studying the embryo implantation process.

Keywords: cell culture, tissue engineering, spider silk, alginate, bioprinting

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Authors: Boonyalitpun P., Pruckpattranon P., Thonghom A., Rotpenpian N.

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Osteoarthritis is a musculoskeletal and neuromuscular abnormality, masticatory muscle, and other tissue that causes pain and breaks down the articular surface of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The aim of this study is to investigate the change in the mandibular condyle, in terms of thickness and porosity, and osteoclast marker in the mandibular condyle of TMJ induced osteoarthritis mice (TMJ-OA mice). We investigated the bony changes in the TMJ structure of a complete Freund adjuvant (CFA)-injected TMJ in a mice model over 28 days. On day 28, we observed any change in the TMJ by a micro computed tomography scan (micro-CT scan) in the parameters of trabecular microarchitecture. Then we studied the thickness of the condyles by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Moreover, we calculated the area around the TMJ’s condylar head containing the osteoclast expression by TRAP (Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase) immunohistochemistry staining. The result found that the parameter of a micro-CT scan was no different from microarchitecture in the TMJ compared with the control group; however, mandibular condyles of the TMJ-OA group was significantly thinner than the control groups, and the osteoclast expression significantly increased in the TMJ-OA group. Therefore, our findings suggest that CFA-induced TMJ-OA represents an expression of osteoclast mandibular condyle of the TMJ, which is the proposed mechanism for a TMJ-OA model.

Keywords: condyle, osteoarthritis, osteoclast, temporomandibular joint

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Authors: Y. Rae, A. Benaarbia, J. Hughes, Wei Sun

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This paper describes an elasto-visco-plastic computational modelling method which can be used to assess the cyclic plasticity responses of high temperature structures operating under thermo-mechanical loadings. The material constitutive equation used is an improved unified multi-axial Chaboche-Lemaitre model, which takes into account non-linear kinematic and isotropic hardening. The computational methodology is a three-dimensional framework following an implicit formulation and based on a radial return mapping algorithm. The associated user material (UMAT) code is developed and calibrated across isothermal hold-time low cycle fatigue tests for a typical turbine rotor steel for use in finite element (FE) implementation. The model is applied to a realistic industrial gas turbine rotor, where the study focuses its attention on the deformation heterogeneities and critical high stress areas within the rotor structure. The potential improvements of such FE visco-plastic approach are discussed. An integrated life assessment procedure based on R5 and visco-plasticity modelling, is also briefly addressed.

Keywords: unified visco-plasticity, thermo-mechanical, turbine rotor, finite element modelling

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Authors: Abdelrahim Hamadelnil

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Padeye design and analysis plays important roles during the lifting, load out and installation of heavy structures. This paper explains the disadvantages of limiting the effective thickness of the cheek plate to 75% of the main plate thickness. In addition, a sensitivity study about the impact of the out of plane force on the padeye design is discussed. This study also explains the fabrication requirements to ensure that the designed strength is achieved. The objective of this study is to elaborate and discuss the philosophy of padeye design and to propose the suitable effective cheek plate thickness to be considered in the analysis of padeye. A finite element analysis using London University Structure Analysis System (LUSAS), is conducted and compared with the hand calculation. The benefits and advantage of using FE analysis is addressed in this paper. At the end of this paper, a guideline elaborating the philosophy of the design of the padeye is developed and the suitable effective thickness of cheek plate to be considered in the design is recommended. In addition, a comparison between the finite element result and the hand calculation using beam theory is discussed as well.

Keywords: cheek plate, effective thickness, out of plane force, Padeye

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Authors: Daniella Kucsma

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The examination of the Privat Service Organization’s performance evaluation includes several steps that help Public organizations to develop a more efficient system. Public sector organizations have different characteristics than the competitive sector, so it can be stated that other/new elements become more important in their performance processes. The literature in this area is diverse, so highlighting an indicator system can be useful for introducing a system, but it is also worthwhile to measure the specific elements of the organization. In the case of a public service organization, due to the service obligation, it is usually possible to talk about a high number of users, so compliance is more difficult. For the organization, it is an important target to place great emphasis on the increase of service standards and the development of related processes. In this research, the health sector is given a prominent role, as it is a sensitive area where both organizational and individual performance is important for all participants. As a primary step, the content of the strategy is decisive, as this is important for the efficient structure of the process. When designing any system, it is important to review the expectations of the stakeholders, as this is primary when considering the design. The goal of this paper is to build the foundations of a performance management and indexing framework that can help a hospital to provide effective feedback and a direction that is important in assessing and developing a service and can become a management philosophy.

Keywords: health sector, public sector, performance management, strategy

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Authors: Kaine Gulozer

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Listening comprehension in a foreign language context has been a constant challenge for Turkish speakers of English. Syntactic priming (SP) of relative clauses might affect the perception of subsequent sentences of identical structure and this could have an impact on the listening comprehension of second or foreign language learners. There has been little attempt to investigate the syntactic priming of English subject relative clauses and object relative clauses in relation to perception for the learners of English in Turkish context. This study investigates SP effects on low-proficiency EFL learners’ production of English relative clauses. Both qualitative and quantitative method along with a pre-test and post-test tasks were adopted, recruiting 62 EFL learners to receive a six-week listening instruction on relative clauses. Testing instruments for language production included the two tasks: (1) the visual- cued presentation and recall and (2) the auditory-cued presentation and recall. Students’ listening comprehension in task 1 and 2 were recorded and transcribed. Fifteen of the participants were also interviewed. The results of the dependent samples t-test analyses revealed that SP had a significant effect on the overall perception of relative clauses.

Keywords: listening comprehension, relative clauses, structural priming, syntactic persistance, syntactic priming

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Authors: Mohammad Rostami, Mohammad Reza Forghani, Elahe Neshat, Fatemeh Yaghoobi

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An Ad Hoc network consists of wireless mobile equipment which connects to each other without any infrastructure, using connection equipment. The best way to form a hierarchical structure is clustering. Various methods of clustering can form more stable clusters according to nodes' mobility. In this research we propose an algorithm, which allocates some weight to nodes based on factors, i.e. link stability and power reduction rate. According to the allocated weight in the previous phase, the cellular learning automaton picks out in the second phase nodes which are candidates for being cluster head. In the third phase, learning automaton selects cluster head nodes, member nodes and forms the cluster. Thus, this automaton does the learning from the setting and can form optimized clusters in terms of power consumption and link stability. To simulate the proposed algorithm we have used omnet++4.2.2. Simulation results indicate that newly formed clusters have a longer lifetime than previous algorithms and decrease strongly network overload by reducing update rate.

Keywords: mobile Ad Hoc networks, clustering, learning automaton, cellular automaton, battery power

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Authors: He Yuhai, Ahmad Ziad Bin Sulaiman

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Tongkat Ali, or Eurycoma longifolia, is a traditional Malay and Orang Asli herb used as aphrodisiac, general tonic, anti-Malaria, and anti-Pyretic. It has been recognized as a cashcrop by Malaysia due to its high value for the pharmaceutical use. In Tongkat Ali, eurycomanone, a quassinoid is usually chosen as a marker phytochemical as it is the most abundant phytochemical. In this research, ultrasound and enzyme were used to enhance the extraction of Eurycomanone from Tongkat Ali. Ultrasonic assisted extraction (USE) enhances extraction by facilitating the swelling and hydration of the plant material, enlarging the plant pores, breaking the plant cell, reducing the plant particle size and creating cavitation bubbles that enhance mass transfer in both the washing and diffusion phase of extraction. Enzyme hydrolyses the cell wall of the plant, loosening the structure of the cell wall, releasing more phytochemicals from the plant cell, enhancing the productivity of the extraction. Possible effects of ultrasound on the activity of the enzyme during the hydrolysis of the cell wall is under the investigation by this research. The extracts was analysed by high performance liquid chromatography for the yields of Eurycomanone. In this whole process, the conventional water extraction was used as a control of comparing the performance of the ultrasound and enzyme assisted extraction.

Keywords: ultrasound, enzymatic, extraction, Eurycoma longifolia

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Authors: Laura Dembovska, Diana Bajare, Vitalijs Lusis, Genadijs Sahmenko, Aleksandrs Korjakins

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This study focused on the mechanical properties of the fibre reinforced High Performance Concrete. The most important benefits of addition of fibres to the concrete mix are the hindrance of the development of microcracks, the delay of the propagation of microcracks to macroscopic cracks and the better ductility after microcracks have been occurred. This work presents an extensive comparative experimental study on six different types of fibres (alkali resistant glass, polyvinyl alcohol fibres, polypropylene fibres and carbon fibres) with the same binding High Performance Concrete matrix. The purpose was to assess the influence of the type of fibre on the mechanical properties of Fibre Reinforced High Performance Concrete. Therefore, in this study three main objectives have been chosen: 1) analyze the structure of the bulk cementitious matrix, 2) determine the influence of fibres and distribution in the matrix on the mechanical properties of fibre reinforced High Performance Concrete and 3) characterize the microstructure of the fibre-matrix interface. Acknowledgement: This study was partially funded by European Regional Development Fund project Nr.1.1.1.1/16/A/007 “A New Concept for Sustainable and Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings” and COST Action TU1404 Conference grants project.

Keywords: high performance concrete, fibres, mechanical properties, microstructure

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Authors: S. Al-Enezi, J. Samuel, A. Al-Banna

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Polymer based membranes are one of the low-cost technologies available for the gas separation. Three major elements required for a commercial gas separating membrane are high permeability, high selectivity, and good mechanical strength. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a commercially available fluoropolymer and a widely used membrane material in gas separation devices since it possesses remarkable thermal, chemical stability, and excellent mechanical strength. The PVDF membrane was chemically modified by soaking in different ionic liquids and dried. The thermal behavior of modified membranes was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA), and the results clearly show the best affinity between the ionic liquid and the polymer support. The porous structure of the PVDF membranes was clearly seen in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The CO₂ permeability of blended membranes was explored in comparison with the unmodified matrix. The ionic liquid immobilized in the hydrophobic PVDF support exhibited good performance for separations of CO₂/N₂. The improved permeability of modified membrane (PVDF-IL) is attributed to the high concentration of nitrogen rich imidazolium moieties.

Keywords: PVDF, polymer membrane, gas permeability, CO₂ separation, nanotubes

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Authors: Deepshikha Shukla, C. H. Solanki, Mayank K. Desai

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Amongst all the natural hazards, earthquakes have the potential for causing the greatest damages. Since the earthquake forces are random in nature and unpredictable, the quantification of the hazards becomes important in order to assess the hazards. The time and place of a future earthquake are both uncertain. Since earthquakes can neither be prevented nor be predicted, engineers have to design and construct in such a way, that the damage to life and property are minimized. Seismic hazard analysis plays an important role in earthquake design structures by providing a rational value of input parameter. In this paper, both mathematical, as well as computational methods adopted by researchers globally in the past five years, will be discussed. Some mathematical approaches involving the concepts of Poisson’s ratio, Convex Set Theory, Empirical Green’s Function, Bayesian probability estimation applied for seismic hazard and FOSM (first-order second-moment) algorithm methods will be discussed. Computational approaches and numerical model SSIFiBo developed in MATLAB to study dynamic soil-structure interaction problem is discussed in this paper. The GIS-based tool will also be discussed which is predominantly used in the assessment of seismic hazards.

Keywords: computational methods, MATLAB, seismic hazard, seismic measurements

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Authors: Narges Sadat Myrmousavy, Maryam Eslampanah

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social capital and knowledge sharing is the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. They are descriptive correlation study. The study sample consisted of all the experts in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance helping professionals headquarters in Tehran in the summer period is 2012, the number is 650. Random sampling is targeted. The sample size is 400. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that was used for the preparation of a standard questionnaire. They also examine the assumptions of the regression coefficient for the relationship between variables in order to investigate the main hypothesis test is used. The findings suggest that the structural and knowledge-sharing between components, there is a direct relationship. The components of the relationship between Impression management and knowledge sharing, there is a direct relationship. There was no significant relationship between Individual pro-social motives and knowledge sharing. Both components of the cognitive aspects of open mindedness and competence are directly related with knowledge sharing. Finally, the comparison between the different dimensions of social capital, the largest of its structure, and its relationship with knowledge sharing is the least relation.

Keywords: social capital, knowledge sharing, ministry of culture and Islamic guidance (Iran), open mindedness, pro-social motives

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Authors: Seda Sahin, Emin Akata

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Obturator foramen is a specific structure in pelvic bone images and recognition of it is a new concept in medical image processing. Moreover, segmentation of bone structures such as obturator foramen plays an essential role for clinical research in orthopedics. In this paper, we present a novel method to analyze the similarity between the substructures of the imaged region and a hand drawn template, on hip radiographs to detect obturator foramen accurately with integrated usage of Marker-controlled Watershed segmentation and Zernike moment feature descriptor. Marker-controlled Watershed segmentation is applied to seperate obturator foramen from the background effectively. Zernike moment feature descriptor is used to provide matching between binary template image and the segmented binary image for obturator foramens for final extraction. The proposed method is tested on randomly selected 100 hip radiographs. The experimental results represent that our method is able to segment obturator foramens with % 96 accuracy.

Keywords: medical image analysis, segmentation of bone structures on hip radiographs, marker-controlled watershed segmentation, zernike moment feature descriptor

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Authors: hassan gheisari

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Ferro silicate calcium nano particles are prepared through the sol-gel method using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a chelating agent. The powder, as prepared, is annealed at three different temperatures (900 ºC, 1000 ºC, and 1100 ºC) for 3 h. The XRD patterns of the samples indicate broad peaks, and the full width at half maximum decreased with increasing annealing temperature. FTIR spectra of the samples confirm the presence of metal - oxygen complexes within the structure. The average particle size obtained from PSA curve demonstrates ultrafine particles. SEM micrographs indicate the particles synthesized have spherical morphology. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and remnant magnetization (Mr) of the samples show dependence on particle size and crystallinity of the samples. The highest saturation magnetization is achieved for the sample annealed at 1100 ºC having maximum average particle size. The high saturation magnetization of the samples suggests the present method is suitable for obtaining nano particles magnetic ferro bioceramic, which is desirable for practical applications such as hyperthermia bone cancer therapy.

Keywords: hyperthermia, bone cancer, bio ceramic; magnetic materials; sol– gel, silicate calcium

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Authors: Hassan Gheisari

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Ferro silicate calcium nano particles are prepared through the sol-gel method using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a chelating agent. The powder as prepared is annealed at three different temperatures (900 ºC, 1000 ºC and 1100 ºC) for 3 h. The XRD patterns of the samples indicate broad peaks and the full width at half maximum decreased with increasing annealing temperature. FTIR spectra of the samples confirm the presence of metal - oxygen complexes within the structure. The average particle size obtained from PSA curve demonstrates ultrafine particles. SEM micrographs indicate the particles synthesized have spherical morphology. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and remnant magnetization (Mr) of the samples show dependence on particle size and crystallinity of the samples. The highest saturation magnetization is achieved for the sample annealed at 1100 ºC having maximum average particle size. The high saturation magnetization of the samples suggests the present method is suitable for obtaining nano particles magnetic ferro bioceramic which is desirable for practical applications such as hyperthermia bone cancer therapy.

Keywords: hyperthermia, bone cancer, bio ceramic, magnetic materials, sol– gel, silicate calcium

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Authors: Kaouka Alaeddine, K. Benarous

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This study aims to obtain a surface of pure titanium and titanium alloy Ti-64Al with high performance by the diffusion process. Two agents metal alloy have been used in this treatment, niobium (Nb) and molybdenum (Mo), spread on elemental titanium and Ti-64Al alloy. Nb and Mo are used as powder form to increase the contact surface and to improve the distribution. Both Mo and Nb are distributed on samples of Ti and Ti-64Al at 1100 °C and 1200 °C for 3 h. They were performed to effect different experiments objectives. This work was achieved to improve some properties and microstructure of Ti and Ti-64Al surface, using optical microscopy and SEM and study some mechanical properties. The effects of temperature and the powder contents on the microstructure of Ti and Ti-64Al alloy, different phases and hardness value of Ti and Ti-64Al alloy were determined. Experimental results indicate that increasing the powder contents and/or the temperature, the α + β phases change to the equiaxed β lamellar structure. In particular, experiments in 1200 °C were created by diffusion α + β phases both equiaxed β phase laminar and α + β phase, thus meeting the objectives were established in the work. In addition, simulation results are used for comparison with the experimental results by DICTRA software.

Keywords: diffusion, powder metallurgy, titanium alloy, molybdenum, niobium

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Authors: Jiajun Wang, Xiaoge Li

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The purpose of the aspect-level sentiment analysis task is to identify the sentiment polarity of aspects in a sentence. Currently, most methods mainly focus on using neural networks and attention mechanisms to model the relationship between aspects and context, but they ignore the dependence of words in different ranges in the sentence, resulting in deviation when assigning relationship weight to other words other than aspect words. To solve these problems, we propose a new aspect-level sentiment analysis model that combines a multi-channel convolutional network and graph convolutional network (GCN). Firstly, the context and the degree of association between words are characterized by Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and self-attention mechanism. Besides, a multi-channel convolutional network is used to extract the features of words in different ranges. Finally, a convolutional graph network is used to associate the node information of the dependency tree structure. We conduct experiments on four benchmark datasets. The experimental results are compared with those of other models, which shows that our model is better and more effective.

Keywords: aspect-level sentiment analysis, attention, multi-channel convolution network, graph convolution network, dependency tree

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Authors: K. Nasir, S. Ahmad, A. Khan, H. Benkreira

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The topic of the research is to develop sustainable fire-resistant materials for vibration and acoustic damping of structure and airborne noises from sustainable recycled materials and biodegradable binders. The paper reports, methods and techniques of enhancing fire resistive, vibration and acoustic properties of building insulation materials made from natural resources like wood and recycled materials like rubber and textile waste. The structures are designed to optimize the number, size and stratification of closed (heat insulating) and open (noise insulating) pores. The samples produced are tested for their heat and noise insulating properties, including vibration damping and their structural properties (airflow resistivity, porosity, tortuosity and elastic modulus). The structural properties are then used in theoretical models to check the acoustic insulation measurements. Initial data indicate that one layer of such material can yield as much as 18 times more damping, increasing the loss factor by 18%.

Keywords: fire resistant, vibration damping, acoustic material, vibro-acoustic, thermal insulation, sustainable material, low cost materials, recycled materials, construction material

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Authors: Chia-Jui Yu, Chien-Ju Chen, Jyun-Hao Liao, Chia-Ching Wu, Meng-Chyi Wu

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In this letter, we demonstrate high-performance AlGaN/GaN planar Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) on the silicon substrate with field plate structure for increasing breakdown voltage V_B. A low turn-on resistance R_ON (3.55 mΩ-cm²), low reverse leakage current (< 0.1 µA) at -100 V, and high reverse breakdown voltage V_B (> 1.1 kV) SBD has been fabricated. A virgin SBD exhibited a breakdown voltage (measured at 1 mA/mm) of 615 V, and with the field plate technology device exhibited a breakdown voltage (measured at 1 mA/mm) of 1525 V (the anode–cathode distance was L_AC = 40 µm). Devices without the field plate design exhibit a Baliga’s figure of merit of V_B²/ R_ON = 60.2 MW/cm², whereas devices with the field plate design show a Baliga’s figure of merit of V_B²/ R_ON = 340.9 MW/cm² (the anode–cathode distance was L_AC = 20 µm).

Keywords: AlGaN/GaN heterostructure, silicon substrate, Schottky barrier diode (SBD), high breakdown voltage, Baliga’s figure-of-merit, field plate

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Authors: Qingqing Gai, Junxing Shen, Yu Luo

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Due to the hardware architecture characteristics, some operators tend to acquire better performance if the input/output tensor dimensions are aligned to a certain minimum granularity, such as convolution and deconvolution commonly used in deep learning. Furthermore, if the requirements are not met, the general strategy is to pad with 0 to satisfy the requirements, potentially leading to the under-utilization of the hardware resources. Therefore, for the convolution and deconvolution whose input and output channels do not meet the minimum granularity alignment, we propose to transfer the W-dimensional data to the C-dimension for computation (W2C) to enable the C-dimension to meet the hardware requirements. This scheme also reduces the number of computations in the W-dimension. Although this scheme substantially increases computation, the operator’s speed can improve significantly. It achieves remarkable speedups on multiple hardware accelerators, including Nvidia Tensor cores, Qualcomm digital signal processors (DSPs), and Huawei neural processing units (NPUs). All you need to do is modify the network structure and rearrange the operator weights offline without retraining. At the same time, for some operators, such as the Reducemax, we observe that transferring the Cdimensional data to the W-dimension(C2W) and replacing the Reducemax with the Maxpool can accomplish acceleration under certain circumstances.

Keywords: convolution, deconvolution, W2C, C2W, alignment, hardware accelerator

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Authors: Desta Gebretekle Shiferaw, Balakrishna Kalluraya

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Oxadiazoles and their derivatives with thioether functionalities represent a new and exciting class of physiologically active heterocyclic compounds. Several molecules with these moieties play a vital role in pharmaceuticals because of their diverse biological activities. This paper describes a new class of 1,3,4- oxadiazole-2-thioethers with acetophenone, coumarin, and N-phenyl acetamide residues (S-alkylation), with the hope that the addition of various biologically active molecules will have a synergistic effect on anticancer activity. The structure of the synthesized title compounds was determined by the combined methods of IR, proton-NMR, carbon-13-NMR, and mass spectrometry. Further, all the newly prepared molecules were assessed against their antioxidant activity. Furthermore, four compounds were assessed for their molecular docking interactions and cytotoxicity activity. The synthesized derivatives have shown moderate antioxidant activity compared to the standard BHA. The IC50 of the tilted molecules (11b, 11c, 13b, and 14b) observed for in vitro anti-cancer activities were 11.20, 15.73, 59.61, and 27.66 g/ml at 72-hour treatment time against the A549 cell lines, respectively. The tested compounds' biological evaluation showed that 11b is the most effective molecule in the series.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity activity, molecular docking, 1, 3, 4-Oxadiazole-2 thioether derivatives

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Authors: Badreddine Chemali, Boualem Tiliouine

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This article presents the main results of a numerical investigation on the uncertainty of dynamic response of structures with statistically correlated random damping Gamma distributed. A computational method based on a Linear Statistical Model (LSM) is implemented to predict second order statistics for the response of a typical industrial building structure. The significance of random damping with correlated parameters and its implications on the sensitivity of structural peak response in the neighborhood of a resonant frequency are discussed in light of considerable ranges of damping uncertainties and correlation coefficients. The results are compared to those generated using Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The numerical results obtained show the importance of damping uncertainty and statistical correlation of damping coefficients when obtaining accurate probabilistic estimates of dynamic response of structures. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the LSM model to efficiently predict uncertainty propagation for structural dynamic problems with correlated damping parameters is demonstrated.

Keywords: correlated random damping, linear statistical model, Monte Carlo simulation, uncertainty of dynamic response

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Authors: Weili Shao, Qian Wang, Jianxin He

Abstract:

Recently, the applications of graphene oxide in fabricating scaffolds for bone tissue engineering have been received extensive concern. In this work, poly l-lactic/graphene oxide composite nanofibers were successfully fabricated by electrospinning. The morphology structure, porosity and mechanical properties of the composite nanofibers were characterized using different techniques. And mouse mesenchymal stem cells were cultured on the composite nanofiber scaffolds to assess their suitability for bone tissue engineering. The results indicated that the composite nanofiber scaffolds had finer fiber diameter and higher porosity as compared with pure poly l-lactic nanofibers. Furthermore, incorporation of graphene oxide into the poly l-lactic nanofibers increased protein adsorptivity, boosted the Young’s modulus and tensile strength by nearly 4.2-fold and 3.5-fold, respectively, and significantly enhanced adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenesis in mouse mesenchymal stem cells. The results indicate that composite nanofibers could be excellent and versatile scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Keywords: poly l-lactic, graphene oxide, osteogenesis, bone tissue engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 306