Search results for: functions of English language

Authors: Sahithi Yarlagadda

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The design of antenna is constrained by mathematical and geometrical parameters. Though there are diverse antenna structures with wide range of feeds yet, there are many geometries to be tried, which cannot be customized into predefined computational methods. The antenna design and optimization qualify to apply evolutionary algorithmic approach since the antenna parameters weights dependent on geometric characteristics directly. The evolutionary algorithm can be explained simply for a given quality function to be maximized. We can randomly create a set of candidate solutions, elements of the function's domain, and apply the quality function as an abstract fitness measure. Based on this fitness, some of the better candidates are chosen to seed the next generation by applying recombination and permutation to them. In conventional approach, the quality function is unaltered for any iteration. But the antenna parameters and geometries are wide to fit into single function. So, the weight coefficients are obtained for all possible antenna electrical parameters and geometries; the variation is learnt by mining the data obtained for an optimized algorithm. The weight and covariant coefficients of corresponding parameters are logged for learning and future use as datasets. This paper drafts an approach to obtain the requirements to study and methodize the evolutionary approach to automated antenna design for our past work on Vivaldi antenna as test candidate. The antenna parameters like gain, directivity, etc. are directly caged by geometries, materials, and dimensions. The design equations are to be noted here and valuated for all possible conditions to get maxima and minima for given frequency band. The boundary conditions are thus obtained prior to implementation, easing the optimization. The implementation mainly aimed to study the practical computational, processing, and design complexities that incur while simulations. HFSS is chosen for simulations and results. MATLAB is used to generate the computations, combinations, and data logging. MATLAB is also used to apply machine learning algorithms and plotting the data to design the algorithm. The number of combinations is to be tested manually, so HFSS API is used to call HFSS functions from MATLAB itself. MATLAB parallel processing tool box is used to run multiple simulations in parallel. The aim is to develop an add-in to antenna design software like HFSS, CSTor, a standalone application to optimize pre-identified common parameters of wide range of antennas available. In this paper, we have used MATLAB to calculate Vivaldi antenna parameters like slot line characteristic impedance, impedance of stripline, slot line width, flare aperture size, dielectric and K means, and Hamming window are applied to obtain the best test parameters. HFSS API is used to calculate the radiation, bandwidth, directivity, and efficiency, and data is logged for applying the Evolutionary genetic algorithm in MATLAB. The paper demonstrates the computational weights and Machine Learning approach for automated antenna optimizing for Vivaldi antenna.

Keywords: machine learning, Vivaldi, evolutionary algorithm, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Mohammad Karimi Moridani, Mohammad Abdi Zadeh, Zahra Shahiazar Mazraeh

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In recent years, the use of intelligent systems in biomedical engineering has increased dramatically, especially in the diagnosis of various diseases. Also, due to the relatively simple recording of the electrocardiogram signal (ECG), this signal is a good tool to show the function of the heart and diseases associated with it. The aim of this paper is to design an intelligent system for automatically detecting a normal electrocardiogram signal from abnormal one. Using this diagnostic system, it is possible to identify a person's heart condition in a very short time and with high accuracy. The data used in this article are from the Physionet database, available in 2016 for use by researchers to provide the best method for detecting normal signals from abnormalities. Data is of both genders and the data recording time varies between several seconds to several minutes. All data is also labeled normal or abnormal. Due to the low positional accuracy and ECG signal time limit and the similarity of the signal in some diseases with the normal signal, the heart rate variability (HRV) signal was used. Measuring and analyzing the heart rate variability with time to evaluate the activity of the heart and differentiating different types of heart failure from one another is of interest to the experts. In the preprocessing stage, after noise cancelation by the adaptive Kalman filter and extracting the R wave by the Pan and Tampkinz algorithm, R-R intervals were extracted and the HRV signal was generated. In the process of processing this paper, a new idea was presented that, in addition to using the statistical characteristics of the signal to create a return map and extraction of nonlinear characteristics of the HRV signal due to the nonlinear nature of the signal. Finally, the artificial neural networks widely used in the field of ECG signal processing as well as distinctive features were used to classify the normal signals from abnormal ones. To evaluate the efficiency of proposed classifiers in this paper, the area under curve ROC was used. The results of the simulation in the MATLAB environment showed that the AUC of the MLP and SVM neural network was 0.893 and 0.947, respectively. As well as, the results of the proposed algorithm in this paper indicated that the more use of nonlinear characteristics in normal signal classification of the patient showed better performance. Today, research is aimed at quantitatively analyzing the linear and non-linear or descriptive and random nature of the heart rate variability signal, because it has been shown that the amount of these properties can be used to indicate the health status of the individual's heart. The study of nonlinear behavior and dynamics of the heart's neural control system in the short and long-term provides new information on how the cardiovascular system functions, and has led to the development of research in this field. Given that the ECG signal contains important information and is one of the common tools used by physicians to diagnose heart disease, but due to the limited accuracy of time and the fact that some information about this signal is hidden from the viewpoint of physicians, the design of the intelligent system proposed in this paper can help physicians with greater speed and accuracy in the diagnosis of normal and patient individuals and can be used as a complementary system in the treatment centers.

Keywords: neart rate variability, signal processing, linear and non-linear features, classification methods, ROC Curve

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Authors: Afshin Gharib

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Often, instructors prefer to bring into class a guest lecturer who can provide an “experiential” perspective on a particular topic. The assumption is that the personal experience brought into the classroom makes the material resonate more with students and that students would have a preference for material being taught from an experiential perspective. The question we asked in the present study was whether a guest lecture from an “experiential” expert with a disability (e.g. a guest suffering from cone-rod dystrophy lecturing on vision, or a dyslexic lecturing on the psychology of reading) would be more effective than the course instructor in capturing students attention and conveying information in an Introduction to Psychology class. Students in two sections of Introduction to Psychology (N = 25 in each section) listened to guest lecturers with disabilities lecturing on a topic related to their disability, one in the area of Sensation and Perception (the guest lecturer is vision impaired) and one in the area of Language Development (the guest lecturer is dyslexic). The Guest lecturers lectured on the same topic in both sections, however, each lecturer used their own experiences to highlight the topics they cover in one section but not the other (counterbalanced between sections), providing students in one section with experiential testimony. Following each of the 4 lectures (two experiential, two non-experiential) students rated the lecture on several dimensions including overall quality, level of engagement, and performance. In addition, students in both sections were tested on the same test items from the lecture material to ascertain degree of learning, and given identical “pop” quizzes two weeks after the exam to measure retention. It was hypothesized that students would find the experiential lectures from lecturers talking about their disabilities more engaging, learn more from them, and retain the material for longer. We found that students in fact preferred the course instructor to the guests, regardless of whether the guests included a discussion of their own disability in their lectures. Performance on the exam questions and the pop quiz items were not different between “experiential” and “non-experiential” lectures, suggesting that guest lecturers who discuss their own disabilities in lecture are not more effective in conveying material and students are not more likely to retain material delivered by “experiential” guests. In future research we hope to explore the reasons for students preference for their regular instructor over guest lecturers.

Keywords: guest lecturer, student perception, retention, experiential

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Authors: Insaf Ajili, Malik Mallem, Jean-Yves Didier

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Human motion recognition has been extensively increased in recent years due to its importance in a wide range of applications, such as human-computer interaction, intelligent surveillance, augmented reality, content-based video compression and retrieval, etc. However, it is still regarded as a challenging task especially in realistic scenarios. It can be seen as a general machine learning problem which requires an effective human motion representation and an efficient learning method. In this work, we introduce a descriptor based on Laban Movement Analysis technique, a formal and universal language for human movement, to capture both quantitative and qualitative aspects of movement. We use Discrete Hidden Markov Model (DHMM) for training and classification motions. We improve the classification algorithm by proposing two DHMMs for each motion class to process the motion sequence in two different directions, forward and backward. Such modification allows avoiding the misclassification that can happen when recognizing similar motions. Two experiments are conducted. In the first one, we evaluate our method on a public dataset, the Microsoft Research Cambridge-12 Kinect gesture data set (MSRC-12) which is a widely used dataset for evaluating action/gesture recognition methods. In the second experiment, we build a dataset composed of 10 gestures(Introduce yourself, waving, Dance, move, turn left, turn right, stop, sit down, increase velocity, decrease velocity) performed by 20 persons. The evaluation of the system includes testing the efficiency of our descriptor vector based on LMA with basic DHMM method and comparing the recognition results of the modified DHMM with the original one. Experiment results demonstrate that our method outperforms most of existing methods that used the MSRC-12 dataset, and a near perfect classification rate in our dataset.

Keywords: human motion recognition, motion representation, Laban Movement Analysis, Discrete Hidden Markov Model

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Authors: Maryam Tabrizi, Shahrzad Aarup

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Objectives- Understanding the close association between oral health and overall health for older adults at the right time and right place, a person, focus treatment through Project ECHO telementoring. Methodology- Data from monthly ECHO telementoring sessions were provided for three years. Sessions including case presentations, overall health conditions, considering medications, organ functions limitations, including the level of cognition. Contributions- Providing the specialist level of providing care to all elderly regardless of their location and other health conditions and decreasing oral health inequity by increasing workforce via Project ECHO telementoring program worldwide. By 2030, the number of adults in the USA over the age of 65 will increase more than 60% (approx.46 million) and over 22 million (30%) of 74 million older Americans will need specialized geriatrician care. In 2025, a national shortage of medical geriatricians will be close to 27,000. Most individuals 65 and older do not receive oral health care due to lack of access, availability, or affordability. One of the main reasons is a significant shortage of Oral Health (OH) education and resources for the elderly, particularly in rural areas. Poor OH is a social stigma, a thread to quality and safety of overall health of the elderly with physical and cognitive decline. Poor OH conditions may be costly and sometimes life-threatening. Non-traumatic dental-related emergency department use in Texas alone was over $250 M in 2016. Most elderly over the age of 65 present with at least one or multiple chronic diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, heart diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at higher risk to develop gum (periodontal) disease, yet they are less likely to get dental care. In addition, most older adults take both prescription and over-the-counter drugs; according to scientific studies, many of these medications cause dry mouth. Reduced saliva flow due to aging and medications may increase the risk of cavities and other oral conditions. Most dental schools have already increased geriatrics OH in their educational curriculums, but the aging population growth worldwide is faster than growing geriatrics dentists. However, without the use of advanced technology and creating a network between specialists and primary care providers, it is impossible to increase the workforce, provide equitable oral health to the elderly. Project ECHO is a guided practice model that revolutionizes health education and increases the workforce to provide best-practice specialty care and reduce health disparities. Training oral health providers for utilizing the Project ECHO model is a logical response to the shortage and increases oral health access to the elderly. Project ECHO trains general dentists & hygienists to provide specialty care services. This means more elderly can get the care they need, in the right place, at the right time, with better treatment outcomes and reduces costs.

Keywords: geriatric, oral health, project echo, chronic disease, oral health

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Authors: Dejana Bouillet, Vlatka Domović

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Both policymakers and researchers recognize that participating in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is useful for all children, especially for those who are exposed to the high risk of social exclusion. Social exclusion of children is understood as a multidimensional construct including economic, social, cultural, health, and other aspects of disadvantage and deprivation, which individually or combined can have an unfavorable effect on the current life and development of a child, as well as on the child’s development and on disadvantaged life chances in adult life. ECEC institutions should be able to promote educational approaches that portray developmental, cultural, language, and other diversity amongst children. However, little is known about the ways in which Croatian ECEC institutions recognize and respect the diversity of children and their families and how they respond to their educational needs. That is why this paper is dedicated to the analysis of the capacities of ECEC professionals to respond to the demands of educational needs of this very diverse group of children and their families. The results obtained in the frame of the project “Models of response to educational needs of children at risk of social exclusion in ECEC institutions,” funded by the Croatian Science Foundation, will be presented. The research methodology arises from explanations of educational processes and risks of social exclusion as a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon. The preliminary results of the qualitative data analysis of educational practices regarding capacities to identify and appropriately respond to the requirements of children at risk of social exclusion will be presented. The data have been collected by interviewing educational staff in 10 Croatian ECEC institutions (n = 10). The questions in the interviews were related to various aspects of inclusive institutional policy, culture, and practices. According to the analysis, it is possible to conclude that Croatian ECEC professionals are still faced with great challenges in the process of implementation of inclusive policies, culture, and practices. There are several baselines of this conclusion. The interviewed educational professionals are not familiar enough with the whole complexity and diversity of needs of children at risk of social exclusion, and the ECEC institutions do not have enough resources to provide all interventions that these children and their families need.

Keywords: children at risk of social exclusion, ECEC professionals, inclusive policies, culture and practices, quallitative analysis

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Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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This paper introduces Luhmann’s autopoietic social systems starting with the original concept of autopoiesis by biologists and scientists, including the modification of general systems based on socialized medicine. A specific type of autopoietic system is explained in the three existing groups of the ecological phenomena: interaction, social and medical sciences. This hypothesis model, nevertheless, has a nonlinear interaction with its natural environment ‘interactional cycle’ for the exchange of photon energy with molecular without any changes in topology. The external forces in the systems environment might be concomitant with the natural fluctuations’ influence (e.g. radioactive radiation, electromagnetic waves). The cantilever sensor deploys insights to the future chip processor for prevention of social metabolic systems. Thus, the circuits with resonant electric and optical properties are prototyped on board as an intra–chip inter–chip transmission for producing electromagnetic energy approximately ranges from 1.7 mA at 3.3 V to service the detection in locomotion with the least significant power losses. Nowadays, therapeutic systems are assimilated materials from embryonic stem cells to aggregate multiple functions of the vessels nature de-cellular structure for replenishment. While, the interior actuators deploy base-pair complementarity of nucleotides for the symmetric arrangement in particular bacterial nanonetworks of the sequence cycle creating double-stranded DNA strings. The DNA strands must be sequenced, assembled, and decoded in order to reconstruct the original source reliably. The design of exterior actuators have the ability in sensing different variations in the corresponding patterns regarding beat-to-beat heart rate variability (HRV) for spatial autocorrelation of molecular communication, which consists of human electromagnetic, piezoelectric, electrostatic and electrothermal energy to monitor and transfer the dynamic changes of all the cantilevers simultaneously in real-time workspace with high precision. A prototype-enabled dynamic energy sensor has been investigated in the laboratory for inclusion of nanoscale devices in the architecture with a fuzzy logic control for detection of thermal and electrostatic changes with optoelectronic devices to interpret uncertainty associated with signal interference. Ultimately, the controversial aspect of molecular frictional properties is adjusted to each other and forms its unique spatial structure modules for providing the environment mutual contribution in the investigation of mass temperature changes due to pathogenic archival architecture of clusters.

Keywords: autopoiesis, nanoparticles, quantum photonics, portable energy, photonic structure, photodynamic therapeutic system

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Authors: Andrea Parisi, Samantha Vilkins, Luis Furuya-Kanamori, John A. Crump, Benjamin P. Howden, Darren Gray, Kathryn Glass, Martyn Kirk

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Objectives: Salmonella is a leading cause of foodborne enterocolitis worldwide. Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) infections that are Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) (non-susceptible to ≥1 agent in ≥3 antimicrobial categories) may result in more severe outcomes, although these effects have not been systematically examined. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine impacts of MDR NTS on health in high-income settings. Methods: We systematically reviewed the literature from scientific databases, including PubMed, Scopus and grey literature sources, using PRISMA guidelines. We searched for data from case-control studies, cohorts, outbreaks, reports and theses, imposing no language restriction. We included only publications from January 1990 to September 2016 from high income countries as classified by World Bank. We extracted data from papers on duration of illness, hospitalisation rates, morbidity and mortality for MDR and non-MDR NTS strains. Results: After removing duplicates, the initial search revealed 4258 articles. After further screening, we identified 16 eligible studies for the systematic review, and 9 of these were included in meta-analysis. NTS serotypes differed among the reported studies but serotype Typhimurium, Enteritidis, Newport and Heidelberg were among the most often reported as MDR pathogens. Salmonella infections that were MDR were associated with excess bloodstream infections (OR 1.63; 95%CI 1.18-2.26), excess hospitalisations (OR 2.77; 95%CI 1.47-5.21) and higher mortality (OR 3.54; 95%CI 1.10-11.40). Conclusions: MDR NTS infections are a serious public health concern. With the emergence of MDR Salmonella strains in the high-income countries, it is crucial to restrict the use of antimicrobials both in animals and humans, and intervene to prevent foodborne infections.

Keywords: Antimicrobial Resistance, Bloodstream Infection, Health Outcomes, Hospitalisation, Invasive Disease, Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR), Mortality, Nontyphoidal Salmonella

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Authors: Mehmet Uysal, Yavuz Arat, Uğur Tuztaşı

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As man constructed the spaces that he lived in he also designed spaces where their dead will stay according to their belief systems. These spaces are sometimes monumentalized by the means of a stone on the top of a mountain, sometimes signed by totems and sometimes became structures to protect graves and symbolize the person or make him unforgettable. Various grave monuments have been constructed from the earliest primitive societies to developed societies. Every belief system built structures for itself; Pyramids for pharaohs, grave monuments for kings and emperors, temples and tombs for important men of religion. These spaces are also architectural works like a school or a dwelling and have importance in history of architecture. After Turks embraced Islamism, examples of very beautiful tombs are built in Middle Asia during the Seljuk Period. By the time Seljuks came to Anatolia they built important tombs having peerless architectural characteristics firstly around Ahlat. After Anatolia Seljuks made Konya the capital city and Konya became administrative, cultural and scientific center, very important tombs were built in Konya. Different from the local tomb architecture, the architecture of tombs with half-open “eyvan/Iwan” is significant. Although iwan buildings is vastly used in Anatolian civil architecture and monumental buildings its best exmaples are observed in 13th century Medrese buildings. The iwan tomb tradition which was observed during the time period when this building typology was shaped and departed from the resident tradition in the form of iwan tombs are rarely represented. However, similar tombs were build in resemblance to this tradition. This study provides information on samples of iwan tombs (Gömeç Hatun Tomb, Emir Yavaştagel Tomb, and Beşparmak Tomb) and evaluates the departures from iwan building complexes in view of architectural language. This paper also gives information about iwan tombs among tombs having importance in Islamic Architectural Heritage.

Keywords: Seljuk Building Complex, Eyvan/Iwan, Anatolia, Islamic Architectural Heritage, tomb

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Authors: Kiran Datta, Daniella Holland-Hart, Anthony Byrne

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Introduction: Oesophago-gastric (OG) cancers are the fifth commonest in the UK, accounting for over 12,000 deaths each year. Most patients will present at later stages of the disease, with only 21% of patients with stage 4 disease surviving longer than a year. As a result, many patients are unsuitable for curative surgery and instead receive palliative treatment to improve prognosis and symptom burden. However, palliative chemotherapy can result in significant toxicity: almost half of the patients are unable to complete their chemotherapy regimen, with this proportion rising significantly in older and frailer patients. In addition, clinical trials often exclude older and frailer patients due to strict inclusion criteria, meaning there is limited evidence to guide which patients are most likely to benefit from palliative chemotherapy. Inappropriate chemotherapy administration is at odds with the goals of palliative treatment and care, which are to improve quality of life, and this also represents a significant resource expenditure. This literature review aimed to examine and appraise evidence regarding treatment resilience in order to guide clinicians in identifying the most suitable candidates for palliative chemotherapy. Factors influencing treatment resilience were assessed, as measured by completion rates, dose reductions, and toxicities. Methods: This literature review was conducted using rapid review methodology, utilising modified systematic methods. A literature search was performed across the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases, with results limited to papers within the last 15 years and available in English. Key inclusion criteria included: 1) participants with either oesophageal, gastro-oesophageal junction, or gastric cancers; 2) patients treated with palliative chemotherapy; 3) available data evaluating the association between baseline participant characteristics and treatment resilience. Results: Of the 2326 papers returned, 11 reports of 10 studies were included in this review after excluding duplicates and irrelevant papers. Treatment resilience factors that were assessed included: age, performance status, frailty, inflammatory markers, and sarcopenia. Age was generally a poor predictor for how well patients would tolerate chemotherapy, while poor performance status was a better indicator of the need for dose reduction and treatment non-completion. Frailty was assessed across one cohort using multiple screening tools and was an effective marker of the risk of toxicity and the requirement for dose reduction. Inflammatory markers included lymphopenia and the Glasgow Prognostic Score, which assessed inflammation and hypoalbuminaemia. Although quick to obtain and interpret, these findings appeared less reliable due to the inclusion of patients treated with palliative radiotherapy. Sarcopenia and body composition were often associated with chemotherapy toxicity but not the rate of regimen completion. Conclusion: This review demonstrates that there are numerous measures that can estimate the ability of patients with oesophago-gastric cancer to tolerate palliative chemotherapy, and these should be incorporated into clinical assessments to promote personalised decision-making around treatment. Age should not be a barrier to receiving chemotherapy and older and frailer patients should be included in future clinical trials to better represent typical patients with oesophago-gastric cancers. Decisions regarding palliative treatment should be guided by these factors identified as well as patient preference.

Keywords: frailty, oesophago-gastric cancer, palliative chemotherapy, treatment resilience

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Authors: Cinzia Russi, Chiyo Nishida

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Using data from online corpora (Spanish CREA, Italian CORIS), this paper examines the relatively understudied use of Spanish se and Italian si exemplified in (1) and (2), respectively. (1) El rojo es … el que se come a los demás. ‘The red (bottle) is the one that outshines/*eats the rest.’(2) … ebbe anche la saggezza di mangiarsi tutto il suo patrimonio. ‘… he even had the wisdom to squander/*eat all his estate.’ In these sentences, se/si accompanies the consumption verb comer/mangiare ‘to eat’, without which the sentences would not be interpreted appropriately. This se/si cannot readily be attributed to any of the multiple functions so far identified in the literature: reflexive, ergative, middle/passive, inherent, benefactive, and complete consumptive. In particular, this paper argues against the feasibility of a recent construction-based analysis of sentences like (1) and (2), which situates se/si within a prototype-based network of meanings all deriving from the central meaning of 'COMPLETE CONSUMPTION' (e.g., Alice se comió toda la torta/Alicesi è mangiata tutta la torta ‘John ate the whole cake’). Clearly, the empirical adequacy of such an account is undermined by the fact that the events depicted in the se/si-sentences at issue do not always entail complete consumption because they may lack an INCREMENTAL THEME, the distinguishing property of complete consumption. Alternatively, it is proposed that the sentences under analysis represent instances of verbal METAPHORICAL EXTENSION: se/si represents an explicit marker of this cognitive process, which has independently developed from the complete consumptive se/si, and the meaning extension is captured by the general tenets of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Two conceptual domains, Source (DS) and target (DT), are related by similarity, assigning an appropriate metaphorical interpretation to DT. The domains paired here are comer/mangiare (DS) and comerse/mangiarsi (DT). The eating event (DS) involves (a) the physical process of xEATER grinding yFOOD-STUFF into pieces and swallowing it; and (b) the aspect of xEATER savoring yFOOD-STUFF and being nurtured by it. In the physical act of eating, xEATER has dominance and exercises his force over yFOOD-STUFF. This general sense of dominance and force is mapped onto DT and is manifested in the ways exemplified in (1) and (2), and many others. According to CMT, two other properties are observed in each pair of DS & DT. First, DS tends to be more physical and concrete and DT more abstract, and systematic mappings are established between constituent elements in DS and those in DT: xEATER corresponds to the element that destroys and yFOOD-STUFF to the element that is destroyed in DT, as exemplified in (1) and (2). Though the metaphorical extension marker se/si appears by far most frequently with comer/mangiare in the corpora, similar systematic mappings are observed in several other verb pairs, for example, jugar/giocare ‘to play (games)’ and jugarse/giocarsi ‘to jeopardize/risk (life, reputation, etc.)’, perder/perdere ‘to lose (an object)’ and perderse/perdersi ‘to miss out on (an event)’, etc. Thus, this study provides evidence that languages may indeed formally mark metaphor using means available to them.

Keywords: complete consumption value, conceptual metaphor, Italian si/Spanish se, metaphorical extension.

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Authors: Karim Hrratha, Khaled Essalahb, Christophe Morellc, Henry Chermettec, Salima Boughdiria

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Among the carbon-carbon bond formation types, allylation of active methylene compounds with cyclic Baylis-Hillman (BH) alcohols is a reliable and widely used method. This reaction is a very attractive tool in organic synthesis of biological and biodiesel compounds. Thus, in view of an insistent and peremptory request for an efficient and straightly method for synthesizing the desired product, a thorough analysis of various aspects of the reaction processes is an important task. The product afforded by the reaction of active methylene with BH alcohols depends largely on the experimental conditions, notably on the catalyst properties. All experiments reported that catalysis is needed for this reaction type because of the poor ability of alcohol hydroxyl group to be as a suitable leaving group. Within the catalysts, several transition- metal based have been used such as palladium in the presence of acid or base and have been considered as reliable methods. Furthemore, acid catalysts such as BF3.OEt2, BiX3 (X= Cl, Br, I, (OTf)3), InCl3, Yb(OTf)3, FeCl3, p-TsOH and H-montmorillonite have been employed to activate the C-C bond formation through the alkylation of active methylene compounds. Interestingly a report of a smoothly process for the ability of 4-imethyaminopyridine(DMAP) to catalyze the allylation reaction of active methylene compounds with cyclic Baylis-Hillman (BH) alcohol appeared recently. However, the reaction mechanism remains ambiguous, since the C- allylation process leads to an unexpected product (noted P1), corresponding to a direct allylation instead of conjugate allylation, which involves the most electrophilic center according to the electron withdrawing group CO effect. The main objective of the present theoretical study is to better understand the role of the DMAP catalytic activity as well as the process leading to the end- product (P1) for the catalytic reaction of a cyclic BH alcohol with active methylene compounds. For that purpose, we have carried out computations of a set of active methylene compounds varying by R1 and R2 toward the same alcohol, and we have attempted to rationalize the mechanisms thanks to the acid–base approach, and conceptual DFT tools such as chemical potential, hardness, Fukui functions, electrophilicity index and dual descriptor, as these approaches have shown a good prediction of reactions products.The present work is then organized as follows: In a first part some computational details will be given, introducing the reactivity indexes used in the present work, then Section 3 is dedicated to the discussion of the prediction of the selectivity and regioselectivity. The paper ends with some concluding remarks. In this work, we have shown, through DFT method at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory that: The allylation of active methylene compounds with cyclic BH alcohol is governed by orbital control character. Hence the end- product denoted P1 is generated by direct allylation.

Keywords: DFT calculation, gas phase pKa, theoretical mechanism, orbital control, charge control, Fukui function, transition state

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Authors: Monkiz Khasreen

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In the context of the global trend towards reducing new buildings carbon footprint, the design team is required to make early decisions that have a major influence on embodied and operational carbon. Sustainability strategies should be clear during early stages of building design process, as changes made later can be extremely costly. Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) could be used as the vehicle to carry other tools and processes towards achieving the requested improvement. Although LCA is the ‘golden standard’ to evaluate buildings from 'cradle to grave', lack of details available on the concept design makes LCA very difficult, if not impossible, to be used as an estimation tool at early stages. Issues related to transparency and accessibility of information in the building industry are affecting the credibility of LCA studies. A verified database derived from LCA case studies is required to be accessible to researchers, design professionals, and decision makers in order to offer guidance on specific areas of significant impact. This database could be the build-up of data from multiple sources within a pool of research held in this context. One of the most important factors that affects the reliability of such data is the temporal factor as building materials, components, and systems are rapidly changing with the advancement of technology making production more efficient and less environmentally harmful. Recent LCA studies on different building functions, types, and structures are always needed to update databases derived from research and to form case bases for comparison studies. There is also a need to make these studies transparent and accessible to designers. The work in this paper sets out to address this need. This paper also presents life-cycle case study of a new-build educational building in England. The building utilised very current construction methods and technologies and is rated as BREEAM excellent. Carbon emissions of different life-cycle stages and different building materials and components were modelled. Scenario and sensitivity analyses were used to estimate the future of new educational buildings in England. The study attempts to form an indicator during the early design stages of similar buildings. Carbon dioxide emissions of this case study building, when normalised according to floor area, lie towards the lower end of the range of worldwide data reported in the literature. Sensitivity analysis shows that life cycle assessment results are highly sensitive to future assumptions made at the design stage, such as future changes in electricity generation structure over time, refurbishment processes and recycling. The analyses also prove that large savings in carbon dioxide emissions can result from very small changes at the design stage.

Keywords: architecture, building, carbon dioxide, construction, educational buildings, England, environmental impact, life-cycle assessment

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Authors: Abdul Rahman Chamseddine

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Tawfiq al-Hakim remains one of the most prominent playwrights in his native in Egypt, and in the broader Arab world. His works, at the time of their release, drew international attention and acclaim. His first 1933 masterpiece Ahl al-Kahf (The People of the Cave) especially, garnered fame and recognition in both Europe and the Arab world. Borrowing its title from the Qur’anic Sura, al-Hakim’s play relays the untold story of the life of those 'three saints' after they wake up from their prolonged sleep. The playwright’s selection of topics upon which to base his works displays a deep appreciation of Arabic and Islamic heritage. Al-Hakim was clearly influenced by Islam, to such a degree that he wrote the biography of the Prophet Muhammad in 1936 very early in his career. Knowing that Al-Hakim was preceded by many poets and creative writers in writing the Prophet Muhammad’s biography. Notably like Al-Barudi, Ahmad Shawqi, Haykal, Al-‘Aqqad, and Taha Husayn who have had their own ways in expressing their views of the Prophet Muhammad. The attempt to understand the concern of all those renaissance men and others in the person of the Prophet would be indispensable in this study. This project will examine the reasons behind al-Hakim’s choice to draw upon these particular texts, embedded as they are in the context of Arabic and Islamic heritage, and how the use of traditional texts serves his contemporary goals. The project will also analyze the image of Islam in al-Hakim’s imagination. Elsewhere, he envisions letters or conversations between God and himself, which offers a window into understanding the powerful impact of the Divine on Tawfiq al-Hakim, one that informs his literature and merits further scholarly attention. His works occupying a major rank in Arabic literature, does not reveal Al-Hakim solely but the unquestioned assumptions operative in the life of his community, its mental make-up and its attitudes. Furthermore, studying the reception of works that touch on sensitive issues, like writing a letter to God, in Al-Hakim’s historical context would be of a great significance in the process of comprehending the mentality of the Muslim community at that time.

Keywords: Arabic language, Arabic literature, Arabic theology, modern Arabic literature

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Authors: Vivian Polak, Lena Verdeli, Wendy Lou, Caroline Lovett

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Postnatal depression (PND) is a common complication of childbirth that increases the risk of future depressive episodes in women, postpartum depression in partners, as well as social, emotional, behavioural, language, and cognitive problems in offspring. Although psychotherapy, and in particular Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT-G), has been proven effective in treating PND, it remains largely inaccessible. However, research has indicated that online synchronous group therapy can be equally as effective as in-person therapy and is a more affordable and accessible modality of treatment. This study aimed to ascertain whether delivering IPT-G virtually when compared to treatment as usual, could more effectively reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms, enhance mother-infant attachment, improve the couple relationship, augment social support, improve overall functioning, and enhance the quality of life for women in rural and northern Ontario who are suffering from PND. By bridging the gap in access to mental health services during the postpartum period, this study seeks to improve the well-being of mothers and their families in rural and northern Ontario, Canada. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine whether virtual IPT-G plus treatment as usual would be more effective than treatment as usual alone in treating women with PND in Ontario, Canada. Preliminary results indicate that women who received virtual IPT-G had a clinically and statistically significant decrease in overall depressive symptoms compared to their counterparts who received only the treatment as usual. As such, providing online synchronous IPT-G in the perinatal period not only has the potential to improve women's outcomes in the present but also to decrease future health costs, reduce the burden on the educational and justice systems, and decrease the number of disability life years lost to postnatal depression.

Keywords: family wellbeing, group psychotherapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, postnatal depression, virtual psychotherapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 63

Authors: Mehran Asadi, Afrand Agah

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In data mining, partitioning is used as a fundamental tool for classification. With the help of partitioning, we study the structure of data, which allows us to envision decision rules, which can be applied to classification trees. In this research, we used online social network dataset and all of its attributes (e.g., Node features, labels, etc.) to determine what constitutes an above average chance of being a divergent node. We used the R statistical computing language to conduct the analyses in this report. The data were found on the UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository. This research introduces the basic concepts of classification in online social networks. In this work, we utilize overfitting and describe different approaches for evaluation and performance comparison of different classification methods. In classification, the main objective is to categorize different items and assign them into different groups based on their properties and similarities. In data mining, recursive partitioning is being utilized to probe the structure of a data set, which allow us to envision decision rules and apply them to classify data into several groups. Estimating densities is hard, especially in high dimensions, with limited data. Of course, we do not know the densities, but we could estimate them using classical techniques. First, we calculated the correlation matrix of the dataset to see if any predictors are highly correlated with one another. By calculating the correlation coefficients for the predictor variables, we see that density is strongly correlated with transitivity. We initialized a data frame to easily compare the quality of the result classification methods and utilized decision trees (with k-fold cross validation to prune the tree). The method performed on this dataset is decision trees. Decision tree is a non-parametric classification method, which uses a set of rules to predict that each observation belongs to the most commonly occurring class label of the training data. Our method aggregates many decision trees to create an optimized model that is not susceptible to overfitting. When using a decision tree, however, it is important to use cross-validation to prune the tree in order to narrow it down to the most important variables.

Keywords: online social networks, data mining, social cloud computing, interaction and collaboration

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Ben Otange, Wolfgang Parak, Florian Schulz, Michael Alexander Rubhausen

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The feasibility of extending the usage of molecular imprinting technique in complex biomolecules is demonstrated in this research. This technique is promising in diverse applications in areas such as drug delivery, diagnosis of diseases, catalysts, and impurities detection as well as treatment of various complications. While molecularly imprinted polymers MIP remain robust in the synthesis of molecules with remarkable binding sites that have high affinities to specific molecules of interest, extending the usage to complex biomolecules remains futile. This work reports on the successful synthesis of MIP from complex proteins: BSA, Transferrin, and MUC1. We show in this research that despite the heterogeneous binding sites and higher conformational flexibility of the chosen proteins, relying on their respective epitopes and motifs rather than the whole template produces highly sensitive and selective MIPs for specific molecular binding. Introduction: Proteins are vital in most biological processes, ranging from cell structure and structural integrity to complex functions such as transport and immunity in biological systems. Unlike other imprinting templates, proteins have heterogeneous binding sites in their complex long-chain structure, which makes their imprinting to be marred by challenges. In addressing this challenge, our attention is inclined toward the targeted delivery, which will use molecular imprinting on the particle surface so that these particles may recognize overexpressed proteins on the target cells. Our goal is thus to make surfaces of nanoparticles that specifically bind to the target cells. Results and Discussions: Using epitopes of BSA and MUC1 proteins and motifs with conserved receptors of transferrin as the respective templates for MIPs, significant improvement in the MIP sensitivity to the binding of complex protein templates was noted. Through the Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy FCS measurements on the size of protein corona after incubation of the synthesized nanoparticles with proteins, we noted a high affinity of MIPs to the binding of their respective complex proteins. In addition, quantitative analysis of hard corona using SDS-PAGE showed that only a specific protein was strongly bound on the respective MIPs when incubated with similar concentrations of the protein mixture. Conclusion: Our findings have shown that the merits of MIPs can be extended to complex molecules of higher biomolecular mass. As such, the unique merits of the technique, including high sensitivity and selectivity, relative ease of synthesis, production of materials with higher physical robustness, and higher stability, can be extended to more templates that were previously not suitable candidates despite their abundance and usage within the body.

Keywords: molecularly imprinted polymers, specific binding, drug delivery, high biomolecular mass-templates

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Jawaher Bakheet Almudarra

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An Educational Supervisor assists teachers to develop their competence and skills in teaching, solving educational problems, and to improve the teaching methods to suit the educational process. They evaluate their teachers and write reports based on their assessments. In 1957, the Saudi Ministry of Education instituted Educational Supervision to facilitate effective management of schools, however, there have been concerns that the Educational Supervision has not been effective in executing its mandate. Studies depicted that Educational supervision has not been effective because it has been marred by poor and autocratic leadership practices such as stringent inspection, commanding and judging. Therefore, there is need to consider some of the ways in which school outcomes can be enhanced through the improvement of Educational supervision practices. Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept that can be integrated into the Saudi education system that is yet to be examined in-depth and embraced particularly in the realm of educational leadership. Its recognition and adoption may improve leadership practices among Educational supervisors. This study employed a qualitative interpretive approach that will focus on decoding, describing and interpreting the connection between emotional intelligence and leadership. The study also took into account the social constructions that include consciousness, language and shared meanings. The data collection took place in the Office of Educational Supervisors in Riyadh and involved 4 Educational supervisors and 20 teachers from both genders- male and female. The data collection process encompasses three methods namely; qualitative emotional intelligence self-assessment questionnaires, reflective semi-structured interviews, and open workshops. The questionnaires would explore whether the Educational supervisors understand the meaning of emotional intelligence and its significance in enhancing the quality of education system in Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, reflective semi-structured interviews were carried out with the Educational supervisors to explore the connection between their leadership styles and the way they conceptualise their emotionality. The open workshops will include discussions on emotional aspects of Educational supervisors’ practices and how Educational supervisors make use of the emotional intelligence discourse in their leadership and supervisory relationships.

Keywords: directors of educational supervision, emotional intelligence, educational leadership, education management

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Authors: Gayani Ranawake, Kate Wilson

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Underrepresentation of women in academia, particularly in science, has been discussed by many scholars for decades. The causes of this underrepresentation are debated to this day. Publication is an important aspect of success in academia, and publication and citation rates are significant metrics in performance review, promotion, and employment. It has been established that men’s and women’s language use in general, both spoken and written, is different. However, no one, to our knowledge, has looked at whether men’s and women’s writing in science is different. If there are significant differences in the writing of men and women, then these differences may affect women’s ability to succeed in science. This study is part of a larger project to explore whether differences can be recognized in the academic science writing of men and women. Mono authored articles from high ranking physics, biology and psychology journals by men and women authors were compared in terms of readability statistics. In particular, the abstract and introduction sections were compared, as these are the first sections encountered by a reviewer, and so may have an important effect on their impression of the work. The Flesch Reading Ease, the percentage of passive sentences and the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level were calculated for each section of each article, along with counts of numbers of sentences, words per sentence and sentences per paragraph. Significance of differences was tested using the Behrens statistic. It was found that for both physics and biology papers there were no significant differences in the complexity or verbosity of the writing of men and women authors. However, there was a significant difference between the two disciplines, with physics articles being generally more readable (higher readability score) while also more passive (higher number of passive sentences). In contrast, the psychology articles showed a difference between men and women authors which may be significant. The average readability for introductions in women’s articles was 28 which was higher than for men’s articles, which was 19 (higher values indicate more readable). Women’s articles in psychology also had a greater proportion of passive sentences. It can be concluded that, at least in the more traditional sciences, men and women have adopted similar ways of writing, and that disciplinary differences are greater than gender differences. This may not be the case in psychology, which many consider to be more closely aligned with the humanities. Whether the lack of differences is because women have adapted to a masculine way of writing, or whether the genre itself is gender neutral needs further investigation.

Keywords: academic writing, gender differences, readability, science

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Abdul Wohab

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Context: The role of religion in the transformation of Bangladesh society has been significant since 1975. There has been a rise in religious presence, particularly Islam, in both private and public spheres supported by the state apparatuses. In 2009, a 'secular' political party came into power for the second time since independence and initiated the modernization of religious education systems. This research focuses on the transformation observed among the educated middle class who now prefer their children to attend modern, English medium madrasas that offer both religion-based and secular education. Research Aim: This research aims to investigate two main questions: a) what motivates the educated middle class to send their children to madrasa education? b) To what extent can it be argued that Bangladeshi society is transforming from its secular nature to being more religious?Methodology: The research applies a combination of primary and secondary methods. Case studies serve as the primary method, allowing for an in-depth exploration of the motivations of the educated middle class. The secondary method involves analyzing published news articles, op-eds, and websites related to madrasa education, as well as studying the reading syllabus of Aliya and Qwami madrasas in Bangladesh. Findings: Preliminary findings indicate that the educated middle class chooses madrasa education for reasons such as remembering and praying for their departed relatives, keeping their children away from substance abuse, fostering moral and ethical values, and instilling respect for seniors and relatives. The research also reveals that religious education is believed to help children remain morally correct according to the Quran and Hadith. Additionally, the establishment of madrasas in Bangladesh is attributed to economic factors, with demand and supply mechanisms playing a significant role. Furthermore, the findings suggest that government-run primary education institutions in rural areas face more challenges in enrollment compared to religious educational institutions like madrasas. Theoretical Importance: This research contributes to the understanding of societal transformation and the role of religion in this process. By examining the case of Bangladesh, it provides insights into how religion influences education choices and societal values. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Data for this research is collected through case studies, including interviews and observations of educated middle-class families who send their children to madrasas. In addition, analysis is conducted on relevant published materials such as news articles, op-eds, and websites. The reading syllabus of Aliya and Qwami madrasas is also analyzed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the education system. Questions Addressed: The research addresses two questions: a) what motivates the educated middle class to choose madrasa education for their children? b) To what extent can it be argued that Bangladeshi society is transforming from its secular nature to being more religious?Conclusion: The preliminary findings of this research highlight the motivations of the educated middle class in opting for madrasa education, including the desire to maintain religious traditions, promote moral values, and provide a strong foundation for their children. It also suggests that Bangladeshi society is experiencing a transformation towards a more religious orientation. This research contributes to the understanding of societal changes and the role of religion within Bangladesh, shedding light on the complex dynamics between religion and education.

Keywords: madrasa education, transformation, Bangladesh, religion and society, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 62

Authors: Bashar Dahiru Bashar

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Growing research reveals an unprecedented increase in African applicants for PhD positions across European universities. Meanwhile, a very small percentage is accepted as qualified candidates to marginalize, perpetuate stereotypes, and institute racial discrimination. Candidates of color very often encounter barriers and prejudices that not only diminish their sense of belonging but also hinder their academic progress. Although this issue has existed for quite some time, it attracts little attention, even from the academic community in higher education. Moreover, the focus is mostly on the applicants. In this contribution, concern has been raised that the African applicants for PhD positions in European Universities are the victims rather than the perpetrators. The Universities designed a recruitment process that is in all respects exclusive, biased, and European. The recruitment exercise is a hocus-post in order to cover language and racial and ethnic rejection. Just in the same way legacy admission is practiced in the US. The paper further expressed that the logic is to systematically maintain racial hierarchy and social dominance within the education sector. And because those at an advantage are also the ones that have the media and are predominant in academia, issues like this are not receiving deserved attention. Many people were victims of this recruitment process, while others survived severely wounded as a result of mental, social, and economic trauma. It is not the aim of this paper to provide an armchair solution to this issue but only to showcase the process with the hope of providing something that is needed to improve the present day's literacy and situation. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on diversity, equity, and inclusiveness within European Universities, emphasizing, amongst others, the need for cultivating an atmosphere where individuals are valued for their contributions rather than assessed based on race and ethnicity is essential for creating a vibrant and equitable global academic community, forging a path towards a just and harmonious educational landscape where everyone irrespective of race or ethnicity can thrive and contribute to the collective pursuit of knowledge.

Keywords: admission and recruitment for PhD position, globalization of education, systemic rejection, European university

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Authors: Büşra Durmaz, Füsun Curaoğlu

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While technology-oriented developments in the modern world change our perceptions of time and speed, they also force our food consumption patterns, such as getting pleasure from what we eat and eating slowly. The habit of eating quickly and hastily causes not only the feeling of not understanding the taste of the food eaten but also the inability to postpone the feeling of satiety and, therefore, many health problems. In this context, especially in the last ten years, in the field of industrial design, food manufacturers for healthy living and consumption have been collaborating with industrial designers on food design. The consumers of the new century, who are in an uncontrolled time intensity, receive support from small snacks as a source of happiness and pleasure in the little time intervals they can spare. At this point, especially chocolate has been a source of happiness for its consumers as a source of both happiness and pleasure for hundreds of years. However, when the portions have eaten cannot be controlled, a pleasure food such as chocolate can cause both health problems and many emotional problems, especially the feeling of guilt. Fast food, which is called food that is prepared and consumed quickly, has been increasing rapidly around the world in recent years. This study covers the process and results of a chocolate design based on the user experience of a university-industry cooperation project carried out within the scope of Eskişehir Technical University graduation projects. The aim of the project is a creative product design that will enable the user to experience chocolate consumption with a healthy eating approach. For this, while concepts such as pleasure, satiety, and taste are discussed; A survey with 151 people and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 7 people during the experience design process within the scope of the user-oriented design approach, mainly literature review, within the scope of main topics such as mouth anatomy, tongue structure, taste, the functions of the eating action in the brain, hormones and chocolate, video A case study based on the research paradigm of Qualitative Research was structured within the scope of different research processes such as analysis and project diaries. As a result of the research, it has been reached that the melting in the mouth is the preferred experience of the users in order to spread the experience of eating chocolate for a long time based on pleasure while eating chocolate with healthy portions. In this context, researches about the production of sketches, mock-ups and prototypes of the product are included in the study. As a result, a product packaging design has been made that supports the active role of the senses such as sight, smell and hearing, where consumption begins, in order to consume chocolate by melting and to actively secrete the most important stimulus salivary glands in order to provide a healthy and long-term pleasure-based consumption.

Keywords: chocolate, eating habit, pleasure, saturation, sense of taste

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Sachin, Shantanu Arya, Gunjan Mehta, Md. Shamim Ansari

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The cross-modal influence of visual information on speech perception can be illustrated by the McGurk effect which is an illusion of hearing of syllable /ta/ when a listener listens one syllable, e.g.: /pa/ while watching a synchronized video recording of syllable, /ka/. The McGurk effect is an excellent tool to investigate multisensory integration in speech perception in both normal hearing and hearing impaired populations. As the visual cue is unaffected by noise, individuals with hearing impairment rely more than normal listeners on the visual cues.However, when non congruent visual and auditory cues are processed together, audiovisual interaction seems to occur differently in normal and persons with hearing impairment. Therefore, this study aims to observe the audiovisual interaction in speech perception in Cochlear Implant users compares the same with normal hearing children. Auditory stimuli was routed through calibrated Clinical audiometer in sound field condition, and visual stimuli were presented on laptop screen placed at a distance of 1m at 0 degree azimuth. Out of 4 presentations, if 3 responses were a fusion, then McGurk effect was considered to be present. The congruent audiovisual stimuli /pa/ /pa/ and /ka/ /ka/ were perceived correctly as ‘‘pa’’ and ‘‘ka,’’ respectively by both the groups. For the non- congruent stimuli /da/ /pa/, 23 children out of 35 with normal hearing and 9 children out of 35 with cochlear implant had a fusion of sounds i.e. McGurk effect was present. For the non-congruent stimulus /pa/ /ka/, 25 children out of 35 with normal hearing and 8 children out of 35 with cochlear implant had fusion of sounds.The children who used cochlear implants for less than three years did not exhibit fusion of sound i.e. McGurk effect was absent in this group of children. To conclude, the results demonstrate that consistent fusion of visual with auditory information for speech perception is shaped by experience with bimodal spoken language during early life. When auditory experience with speech is mediated by cochlear implant, the likelihood of acquiring bimodal fusion is increased and it greatly depends on the age of implantation. All the above results strongly support the need for screening children for hearing capabilities and providing cochlear implants and aural rehabilitation as early as possible.

Keywords: cochlear implant, congruent stimuli, mcgurk effect, non-congruent stimuli

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Yenny Paola Morales Cortés, Fabián Rico Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Serrato Bermúdez, Carlos Arturo Martínez Riascos

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Numerous benefits of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) as prebiotics have motivated the study of enzymatic processes for their production. These processes have special complexities due to several factors that make difficult high productivity, such as enzyme type, reaction medium pH, substrate concentrations and presence of inhibitors, among others. In the present work the production of galactooligosaccharides (with different degrees of polymerization: two, three and four) from lactose was studied. The study considers the formulation of a mathematical model that predicts the production of GOS from lactose using the enzyme β-galactosidase. The effect of pH in the reaction was studied. For that, phosphate buffer was used and with this was evaluated three pH values (6.0.6.5 and 7.0). Thus it was observed that at pH 6.0 the enzymatic activity insignificant. On the other hand, at pH 7.0 the enzymatic activity was approximately 27 times greater than at 6.5. The last result differs from previously reported results. Therefore, pH 7.0 was chosen as working pH. Additionally, the enzyme concentration was analyzed, which allowed observing that the effect of the concentration depends on the pH and the concentration was set for the following studies in 0.272 mM. Afterwards, experiments were performed varying the lactose concentration to evaluate its effects on the process and to generate the data for the adjustment of the mathematical model parameters. The mathematical model considers the reactions of lactose hydrolysis and transgalactosylation for the production of disaccharides and trisaccharides, with their inverse reactions. The production of tetrasaccharides was negligible and, because of that, it was not included in the model. The reaction was monitored by HPLC and for the quantitative analysis of the experimental data the Matlab programming language was used, including solvers for differential equations systems integration (ode15s) and nonlinear problems optimization (fminunc). The results confirm that the transgalactosylation and hydrolysis reactions are reversible, additionally inhibition by glucose and galactose is observed on the production of GOS. In relation to the production process of galactooligosaccharides, the results show that it is necessary to have high initial concentrations of lactose considering that favors the transgalactosylation reaction, while low concentrations favor hydrolysis reactions.

Keywords: β-galactosidase, galactooligosaccharides, inhibition, lactose, Matlab, modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 351

Authors: Daniel Tscharnuter, Eliza Truszkiewicz, Gerald Pinter

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High-quality surfaces of plastic parts can be achieved in a very cost-effective manner using in-mold processes, where e.g. scratch resistant or high gloss polymer films are pre-formed and subsequently receive their support structure by injection molding. The pre-forming may be done by high-pressure forming. In this process, a polymer sheet is heated and subsequently formed into the mold by pressurized air. Due to the heat transfer to the cooled mold the polymer temperature drops below its glass transition temperature. This ensures that the deformed microstructure is retained after depressurizing, giving the sheet its final formed shape. The development of a forming process relies heavily on the experience of engineers and trial-and-error procedures. Repeated mold design and testing cycles are however both time- and cost-intensive. It is, therefore, desirable to study the process using reliable computer simulations. Through simulations, the construction of the mold and the effect of various process parameters, e.g. temperature levels, non-uniform heating or timing and magnitude of pressure, on the deformation of the polymer sheet can be analyzed. Detailed knowledge of the deformation is particularly important in the forming of polymer films with integrated electro-optical functions. Care must be taken in the placement of devices, sensors and electrical and optical paths, which are far more sensitive to deformation than the polymers. Reliable numerical prediction of the deformation of the polymer sheets requires sophisticated material models. Polymer films are often either transversely isotropic or orthotropic due to molecular orientations induced during manufacturing. The anisotropic behavior affects the resulting strain field in the deformed film. For example, parts of the same shape but different strain fields may be created by varying the orientation of the film with respect to the mold. The numerical simulation of the high-pressure forming of such films thus requires material models that can capture the nonlinear anisotropic mechanical behavior. There are numerous commercial polymer grades for the engineers to choose from when developing a new part. The effort required for comprehensive material characterization may be prohibitive, especially when several materials are candidates for a specific application. We, therefore, propose a class of models for compressible hyperelasticity, which may be determined from basic experimental data and which can capture key features of the mechanical response. Invariant-based hyperelastic models with a reduced number of invariants are formulated in a semi-numerical way, such that the models are determined from a single uniaxial tensile tests for isotropic materials, or two tensile tests in the principal directions for transversely isotropic or orthotropic materials. The simulation of the high pressure forming of an orthotropic polymer film is finally done using an orthotropic formulation of the hyperelastic model.

Keywords: hyperelastic, anisotropic, polymer film, thermoforming

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Authors: T. Weber, D. MacKenzie

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The script in this paper describes the use of advanced simulation environment using electronic systems (microcontroller, operational amplifiers, and FPGA). The simulation was used for non-linear dynamic systems behaviour with required observer structure working with parallel real-time simulation based on state-space representation. The proposed deposited model was used for electrodynamic effects including ionising effects and eddy current distribution also. With the script and proposed method, it is possible to calculate the spatial distribution of the electromagnetic fields in real-time and such systems. For further purpose, the spatial temperature distribution may also be used. With upon system, the uncertainties and disturbances may be determined. This provides the estimation of the more precise system states for the required system and additionally the estimation of the ionising disturbances that arise due to radiation effects in space systems. The results have also shown that a system can be developed specifically with the real-time calculation (estimation) of the radiation effects only. Electronic systems can take damage caused by impacts with charged particle flux in space or radiation environment. TID (Total Ionising Dose) of 1 Gy and Single Effect Transient (SET) free operation up to 50 MeVcm²/mg may assure certain functions. Single-Event Latch-up (SEL) results on the placement of several transistors in the shared substrate of an integrated circuit; ionising radiation can activate an additional parasitic thyristor. This short circuit between semiconductor-elements can destroy the device without protection and measurements. Single-Event Burnout (SEB) on the other hand, increases current between drain and source of a MOSFET and destroys the component in a short time. A Single-Event Gate Rupture (SEGR) can destroy a dielectric of semiconductor also. In order to be able to react to these processes, it must be calculated within a shorter time that ionizing radiation and dose is present. For this purpose, sensors may be used for the realistic evaluation of the diffusion and ionizing effects of the test system. For this purpose, the Peltier element is used for the evaluation of the dynamic temperature increases (dT/dt), from which a measure of the ionization processes and thus radiation will be detected. In addition, the piezo element may be used to record highly dynamic vibrations and oscillations to absorb impacts of charged particle flux. All available sensors shall be used to calibrate the spatial distributions also. By measured value of size and known location of the sensors, the entire distribution in space can be calculated retroactively or more accurately. With the formation, the type of ionisation and the direct effect to the systems and thus possible prevent processes can be activated up to the shutdown. The results show possibilities to perform more qualitative and faster simulations independent of space-systems and radiation environment also. The paper gives additionally an overview of the diffusion effects and their mechanisms.

Keywords: cattle, biochar, manure, microbial activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Paul Moses Ndegwa, Teresia Kabucho, Lucy Wanjiru, Esther Wanjiru, Brian Githaiga, Jecinta Wambui

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Health outcome has improved in the country since 2013 following the adoption of the new constitution in Kenya with devolved governance with administration and health planning functions transferred to county governments. 2018-2022 development agenda prioritized universal healthcare coverage, food security, and nutrition, however, the emergence of Covid-19 and the increase of non-communicable diseases pose a challenge and constrain in an already overwhelmed health system. A study was conducted July-November 2021 to establish key challenges in achieving universal healthcare coverage within the county and best practices for improved non-communicable disease control. 14 health workers ranging from nurses, doctors, public health officers, clinical officers, and pharmaceutical technologists were purposely engaged to provide critical information through questionnaires by a trained duo observing ethical procedures on confidentiality. Data analysis. Communicable diseases are major causes of morbidity and mortality. Non-communicable diseases contribute to approximately 39% of deaths. More than 45% of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. Study noted geographic inequality with respect to distribution and use of health resources including competing non-health priorities. 56% of health workers are nurses, 13% clinical officers, 7% doctors, 9%public health workers, 2% are pharmaceutical technologists. Poor-quality data limits the validity of disease-burdened estimates and research activities. Risk factors include unsafe water, sanitation, hand washing, unsafe sex, and malnutrition. Key challenge in achieving universal healthcare coverage is the rise in the relative contribution of non-communicable diseases. Improve targeted disease control with effective and equitable resource allocation. Develop high infectious disease control mechanisms. Improvement of quality data for decision making. Strengthen electronic data-capture systems. Increase investments in the health workforce to improve health service provision and achievement of universal health coverage. Create a favorable environment to retain health workers. Fill in staffing gaps resulting in shortages of doctors (7%). Develop a multi-sectional approach to health workforce planning and management. Need to invest in mechanisms that generate contextual evidence on current and future health workforce needs. Ensure retention of qualified, skilled, and motivated health workforce. Deliver integrated people-centered health services.

Keywords: multi-sectional approach, equity, people-centered, health workforce retention

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Asma Rebaya, Kaouther Gasmi, Imen Amari, Salem Hasnaoui

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Over these last years, applications such as telecommunications, signal processing, digital communication with advanced features (Multi-antenna, equalization..) witness a rapid evaluation accompanied with an increase of user exigencies in terms of latency, the power of computation… To satisfy these requirements, the use of hardware/software systems is a common solution; where hardware is composed of multi-cores and software is represented by models of computation, synchronous data flow (SDF) graph for instance. Otherwise, the most of the embedded system designers utilize Simulink for modeling. The issue is how to simplify the c code generation, for a multi-cores platform, of an application modeled by Simulink. To overcome this problem, we propose a workflow allowing an automatic transformation from the Simulink model to the SDF graph and providing an efficient schedule permitting to optimize the number of cores and to minimize latency. This workflow goes from a Simulink application and a hardware architecture described by IP.XACT language. Based on the synchronous and hierarchical behavior of both models, the Simulink block diagram is automatically transformed into an SDF graph. Once this process is successfully achieved, the scheduler calculates the optimal cores’ number needful by minimizing the maximum density of the whole application. Then, a core is chosen to execute a specific graph task in a specific order and, subsequently, a compatible C code is generated. In order to perform this proposal, we extend Preesm, a rapid prototyping tool, to take the Simulink model as entry input and to support the optimal schedule. Afterward, we compared our results to this tool results, using a simple illustrative application. The comparison shows that our results strictly dominate the Preesm results in terms of number of cores and latency. In fact, if Preesm needs m processors and latency L, our workflow need processors and latency L'< L.

Keywords: hardware/software system, latency, modeling, multi-cores platform, scheduler, SDF graph, Simulink model, workflow

Procedia PDF Downloads 263

Authors: L. Raczynski, P. Moskal, P. Kowalski, W. Wislicki, T. Bednarski, P. Bialas, E. Czerwinski, A. Gajos, L. Kaplon, A. Kochanowski, G. Korcyl, J. Kowal, T. Kozik, W. Krzemien, E. Kubicz, Sz. Niedzwiecki, M. Palka, Z. Rudy, O. Rundel, P. Salabura, N.G. Sharma, M. Silarski, A. Slomski, J. Smyrski, A. Strzelecki, A. Wieczorek, M. Zielinski, N. Zon

Abstract:

The J-PET scanner, which allows for single bed imaging of the whole human body, is currently under development at the Jagiellonian University. The J-PET detector improves the TOF resolution due to the use of fast plastic scintillators. Since registration of the waveform of signals with duration times of few nanoseconds is not feasible, a novel front-end electronics allowing for sampling in a voltage domain at four thresholds was developed. To take fully advantage of these fast signals a novel scheme of recovery of the waveform of the signal, based on ideas from the Tikhonov regularization (TR) and Compressive Sensing methods, is presented. The prior distribution of sparse representation is evaluated based on the linear transformation of the training set of waveform of the signals by using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) decomposition. Beside the advantage of including the additional information from training signals, a further benefit of the TR approach is that the problem of signal recovery has an optimal solution which can be determined explicitly. Moreover, from the Bayes theory the properties of regularized solution, especially its covariance matrix, may be easily derived. This step is crucial to introduce and prove the formula for calculations of the signal recovery error. It has been proven that an average recovery error is approximately inversely proportional to the number of samples at voltage levels. The method is tested using signals registered by means of the single detection module of the J-PET detector built out from the 30 cm long BC-420 plastic scintillator strip. It is demonstrated that the experimental and theoretical functions describing the recovery errors in the J-PET scenario are largely consistent. The specificity and limitations of the signal recovery method in this application are discussed. It is shown that the PCA basis offers high level of information compression and an accurate recovery with just eight samples, from four voltage levels, for each signal waveform. Moreover, it is demonstrated that using the recovered waveform of the signals, instead of samples at four voltage levels alone, improves the spatial resolution of the hit position reconstruction. The experiment shows that spatial resolution evaluated based on information from four voltage levels, without a recovery of the waveform of the signal, is equal to 1.05 cm. After the application of an information from four voltage levels to the recovery of the signal waveform, the spatial resolution is improved to 0.94 cm. Moreover, the obtained result is only slightly worse than the one evaluated using the original raw-signal. The spatial resolution calculated under these conditions is equal to 0.93 cm. It is very important information since, limiting the number of threshold levels in the electronic devices to four, leads to significant reduction of the overall cost of the scanner. The developed recovery scheme is general and may be incorporated in any other investigation where a prior knowledge about the signals of interest may be utilized.

Keywords: plastic scintillators, positron emission tomography, statistical analysis, tikhonov regularization

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