Search results for: on-line analytical processing

Authors: B. Schofield, F. Gul, S. McClean, R. Hoskins, R. Terry, U. Rolfe, A. Gibson, S. Voss, J. Benger

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Aim: The aim of this study is to determine whether and how health promotion activities are undertaken by paramedics and emergency department nurses and investigate ways of overcoming potential barriers. Background: Paramedics and emergency department nurses are uniquely placed to reach millions of people and could use these contacts as positive opportunities to help people improve their health by identifying people with risk factors and provide information, brief interventions, and signposting to locally provided services. These interventions can be carried out when the opportunity arises, typically take no more than a few minutes, have a low financial cost and can be a highly efficient method of health promotion. Methodology: Three NHS Emergency Departments and four Ambulance Trusts in England were recruited to the study. A link to an online survey was distributed to paramedics and emergency department nurses at participating sites. Staff were invited to participate in virtual semi-structured interviews. Patients seen, treated, and discharged at the participating sites were invited to virtual semistructured interviews. Findings: A total of 331 survey responses were received, 21 virtual semi-structured staff interviews and 11 patient interviews were completed. Staff reported lack of time to prioritise, lack of knowledge, resources, and confidence as barriers. Receptiveness of patients guided their decision to undertake health promotion activities. They reported a desire to learn how to undertake health promotion conversations. Emergency department nurses felt more supported than paramedics by their organisations to undertake health promotion activities. Patients were not aware of health promotion activities and reported fear and lack of privacy as barriers. Conclusions: These results will guide the development of an intervention to support the provision of health promotion by staff in urgent and emergency care settings. The components of the intervention will be mapped to a framework which will consider the needs of staff working within these settings, patients they treat, and organisational issues and practices related to the implementation of such an intervention.

Keywords: emergency service, hospital, nursing, allied health personnel, emergency medical services, health promotion

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Authors: Kumaran Narayanan, Pei-Sheng Liew

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This paper adapts the bacteriophage N15 protelomerase enzyme to assemble linear chromosomes as vectors for gene expression in human cells. Phage N15 has the unique ability to replicate as a linear plasmid with telomeres in E. coli during its prophage stage of life-cycle. The virus-encoded protelomerase enzyme cuts its circular genome and caps its ends to form hairpin telomeres, resulting in a linear human-chromosome-like structure in E. coli. In mammalian cells, however, no enzyme with TelN-like activities has been found. In this work, we show for the first-time transfer of the protelomerase from phage into human and mouse cells and demonstrate recapitulation of its activity in these hosts. The function of this enzyme is assayed by demonstrating cleavage of its target DNA, followed by detecting telomere formation based on its resistance to recBCD enzyme digestion. We show protelomerase expression persists for at least 60 days, which indicates limited silencing of its expression. Next, we show that an intact human β-globin gene delivered on this linear chromosome accurately retains its expression in the human cellular environment for at least 60 hours, demonstrating its stability and potential as a vector. These results demonstrate that the N15 protelomerse is able to function in mammalian cells to cut and heal DNA to create telomeres, which provides a new tool for creating novel structures by DNA resolution in these hosts.

Keywords: chromosome, beta-globin, DNA, gene expression, linear vector

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Authors: S. Petrovska, D. Jonkus, D. Smiltiņa

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κ-casein is one of milk proteins which are very important for milk processing. Genotypes of κ-casein affect milk yield, fat, and protein content. The main factors which affect local Latvian dairy breed milk yield and composition are analyzed in research. Data were collected from 88 Latvian brown and 82 Latvian blue cows in 2015. AA genotype was 0.557 in Latvian brown and 0.232 in Latvian blue breed. BB genotype was 0.034 in Latvian brown and 0.207 in Latvian blue breed. Highest milk yield was observed in Latvian brown (5131.2 ± 172.01 kg), significantly high fat content and fat yield also was in Latvian brown (p < 0.05). Significant differences between κ-casein genotypes were not found in Latvian brown, but highest milk yield (5057 ± 130.23 kg), protein content (3.42 ± 0.03%), and protein yield (171.9 ± 4.34 kg) were with AB genotype. Significantly high fat content was observed in Latvian blue breed with BB genotype (4.29 ± 0.17%) compared with AA genotypes (3.42 ± 0.19). Similar tendency was found in protein content – 3.27 ± 0.16% with BB genotype and 2.59 ± 0.16% with AA genotype (p < 0.05). Milk yield increases by increasing parity. We did not obtain major tendency of changes of milk fat and protein content according parity.

Keywords: dairy cows, κ-casein, milk productivity, polymorphism

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Authors: Shadrack Mambo, Karim Djouani, Yskandar Hamam, Barend van Wyk, Patrick Siarry

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This paper discusses the current trends in medical image registration techniques and addresses the need to provide a solid theoretical foundation for research endeavours. Methodological analysis and synthesis of quality literature was done, providing a platform for developing a good foundation for research study in this field which is crucial in understanding the existing levels of knowledge. Research on medical image registration techniques assists clinical and medical practitioners in diagnosis of tumours and lesion in anatomical organs, thereby enhancing fast and accurate curative treatment of patients. Literature review aims to provide a solid theoretical foundation for research endeavours in image registration techniques. Developing a solid foundation for a research study is possible through a methodological analysis and synthesis of existing contributions. Out of these considerations, the aim of this paper is to enhance the scientific community’s understanding of the current status of research in medical image registration techniques and also communicate to them, the contribution of this research in the field of image processing. The gaps identified in current techniques can be closed by use of artificial neural networks that form learning systems designed to minimise error function. The paper also suggests several areas of future research in the image registration.

Keywords: image registration techniques, medical images, neural networks, optimisaztion, transformation

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Authors: Arkadiusz Urzędowski, Dorota Wójcicka-Migasiuk, Andrzej Sachajdak, Magdalena Paśnikowska-Łukaszuk

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Due to the impact of climate changes and inevitability to reduce greenhouse gases, the need to use low-carbon and sustainable construction has increased. In this work, it is investigated how texture of the surface building materials and radiative heat transfer phenomenon in flat multilayer can be correlated. Attempts to test the surface emissivity are taken however, the trustworthiness of measurement results remains a concern since sensor size and thickness are common problems. This paper presents an experimental method to studies surface emissivity with use self constructed thermal sensors and thermal imaging technique. The surface of building materials was modified by mechanical and chemical treatment affecting the reduction of the emissivity. For testing the shaping surface of materials and mapping its three-dimensional structure, scanning profilometry were used in a laboratory. By comparing the results of laboratory tests and performed analysis of 3D computer fluid dynamics software, it can be shown that a change in the surface coverage of materials affects the heat transport by radiation between layers. Motivated by recent advancements in variational inference, this publication evaluates the potential use a dedicated data processing approach, and properly constructed temperature sensors, the influence of the surface emissivity on the phenomenon of radiation and heat transport in the entire partition can be determined.

Keywords: heat transfer, surface roughness, surface emissivity, radiation

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Authors: Bar Shapira-Youngster, Sima Amram-Vaknin, Yuliya Lipshits-Braziler

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The study examined how 811 Israelis experienced and coped with the COVID-19 lockdown. Stress, uncertainty, and loss of control were reported as common emotional experiences. Two main difficulties were reported: Loneliness and health and emotional concerns. Frequent explanations for the virus's emergence were: scientific or faith reasoning. The most prevalent coping strategies were distraction activities and acceptance. Reducing the use of maladaptive coping strategies has important implications for mental health outcomes. Objectives: COVID-19 has been recognized as a collective, continuous traumatic stressor. The present study examined how individuals experienced, perceived, and coped with this traumatic event during the lockdown in Israel in April 2020. Method: 811 Israelis (71.3% were women; mean age 43.7, SD=13.3)completed an online semi-structured questionnaire consisting two sections: In the first section, participants were asked to report background information. In the second section, they were asked to answer 8 open-ended questions about their experience, perception, and coping with the covid-19 lockdown. Participation was voluntary, and anonymity was assured, they were not offered compensation of any kind. The data were subjected to qualitative content analysis that seeks to classify the participants` answers into an effective number of categories that represent similar meanings. Our content analysis of participants’ answers extended far beyond simple word counts; our objective was to try to identify recurrent categories that characterized participants’ responses to each question. We sought to ensure that the categories regarding the different questions are as mutually exclusive and exhaustive as possible. To ensure robust analysis, the data were initially analyzed by the first author, and a second opinion was then sought from research colleagues. Contribution: The present research expands our knowledge of individuals' experiences, perceptions, and coping mechanisms with continuous traumatic events. Reducing the use of maladaptive coping strategies has important implications for mental health outcomes.

Keywords: Covid-19, emotional distress, coping, continuous traumatic event

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Authors: Joane Adeclas, Yoonyoung Kim, Taekyun Hur

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This study investigates individual’s intrinsic motivation to practice their leisure activities, as well as, how the cultural environment may influence their motivation to practice their activities. Focused on the positive psychology, the present study proposed redefinition of leisure activities considering two factors. First, leisure activities could be as any activities that provide pleasure or meaning to individuals. Second, they can be practiced alone or in groups. In fact, based on this definition, a four-dimensional model of leisure activities was developed, to measure individual’s perception of their leisure experience, based on four factors that are: personal pleasure, social pleasure, personal meaning and social meaning. Furthermore, recent studies have argued that leisure activities can be interpreted and understood differently across cultures. Therefore, the present study proposed to examine the possible role of the cultural context of individual’s leisure practices. To do so, two cultural groups (Koreans vs. French) were compared in terms of the four-dimensional model of leisure activities. Three hundred Koreans and three hundred French participants were asked to answer an online survey about their leisure activities. Participants had to respond to questions related to several aspects of leisure practices as followed: the reason why their practice their leisure activities, the reason why they fail to practice their leisure, and their obsession relate to their leisure activities. Factor analyses based on participant’s responses proposed a moderate fit of the four-dimensional model of leisure activities. Furthermore, significant cultural differences were also found. As a result, the cultural context seems to influence the reason why individuals practice their leisure activities based on our model. In fact, Koreans explained more than French, the practice of their leisure activities with social-pleasurable reasons. At a contrary, French explained more than Koreans, the practice of their leisure activities with social-meaningful reasons. The two cultural groups also significantly differ on their perception of failure. The results showed that French participants used more meaningful social factors to explain why they failed to practice their leisure activities than did Koreans participants. Finally, Koreans and French significantly differed regarding their obsession on their leisure activities. In general, French tend to have more obsession than Koreans about their leisure activities. Those results validated the four-dimensional model of leisure, as well as, the cultural differences in leisure practices. However, further studies are needed to validate this model at an individual and cultural level.

Keywords: culture, leisure, meaning, pleasure

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Authors: Bharti Jain, Rajeev Jain, Abuzar Kabir, Torki Zughaibi, Shweta Sharma

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Drug-facilitated crimes (DFCs) entail the use of a single drug or a mixture of drugs to render a victim unable. Traditionally, biological samples have been gathered from victims and conducted analysis to establish evidence of drug administration. Nevertheless, the rapid metabolism of various drugs and delays in analysis can impede the identification of such substances. For this, the present article describes a rapid, sustainable, highly efficient and miniaturized protocol for the identification and quantification of three sedative-hypnotic drugs, namely diazepam, chlordiazepoxide and ketamine in alcoholic beverages and complex food samples (cream of biscuit, flavored milk, juice, cake, tea, sweets and chocolate). The methodology involves utilizing fabric phase sorptive extraction (FPSE) to extract diazepam (DZ), chlordiazepoxide (CDP), and ketamine (KET). Subsequently, the extracted samples are subjected to analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Several parameters, including the type of membrane, pH, agitation time and speed, ionic strength, sample volume, elution volume and time, and type of elution solvent, were screened and thoroughly optimized. Sol-gel Carbowax 20M (CW-20M) has demonstrated the most effective extraction efficiency for the target analytes among all evaluated membranes. Under optimal conditions, the method displayed linearity within the range of 0.3–10 µg mL–¹ (or µg g–¹), exhibiting a coefficient of determination (R2) ranging from 0.996–0.999. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) for liquid samples range between 0.020-0.069 µg mL-¹ and 0.066-0.22 µg mL-¹, respectively. Correspondingly, the LODs for solid samples ranged from 0.056-0.090 µg g-¹, while the LOQs ranged from 0.18-0.29 µg g-¹. Notably, the method showcased better precision, with repeatability and reproducibility both below 5% and 10%, respectively. Furthermore, the FPSE-GC-MS method proved effective in determining diazepam (DZ) in forensic food samples connected to drug-facilitated crimes (DFCs). Additionally, the proposed method underwent evaluation for its whiteness using the RGB12 algorithm.

Keywords: drug facilitated crime, fabric phase sorptive extraction, food forensics, white analytical chemistry

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Authors: Karan Vishavjit, Aakash Lakra, Shafaq Khan

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The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed healthcare professionals to use big data analytics as a vital tool for tracking and evaluating the effects of contagious viruses. To effectively analyze huge datasets, efficient NoSQL databases are needed. The analysis of post-COVID-19 health and well-being outcomes and the evaluation of the effectiveness of government efforts during the pandemic is made possible by this research’s integration of several datasets, which cuts down on query processing time and creates predictive visual artifacts. We recommend applying sharding and indexing technologies to improve query effectiveness and scalability as the dataset expands. Effective data retrieval and analysis are made possible by spreading the datasets into a sharded database and doing indexing on individual shards. Analysis of connections between governmental activities, poverty levels, and post-pandemic well being is the key goal. We want to evaluate the effectiveness of governmental initiatives to improve health and lower poverty levels. We will do this by utilising advanced data analysis and visualisations. The findings provide relevant data that supports the advancement of UN sustainable objectives, future pandemic preparation, and evidence-based decision-making. This study shows how Big Data and NoSQL databases may be used to address problems with global health.

Keywords: big data, COVID-19, health, indexing, NoSQL, sharding, scalability, well being

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Authors: Saeed Farivar, Mohsen Kahrom

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The purpose of this work is to develop a physical simulation model for the purpose of studying the effect of various design parameters on the performance of packaged-liquid chillers. This paper presents a steady-state model for predicting the performance of package-Liquid chiller over a wide range of operation condition. The model inputs are inlet conditions; geometry and output of model include system performance variable such as power consumption, coefficient of performance (COP) and states of refrigerant through the refrigeration cycle. A computer model that simulates the steady-state cyclic performance of a vapor compression chiller is developed for the purpose of performing detailed physical design analysis of actual industrial chillers. The model can be used for optimizing design and for detailed energy efficiency analysis of packaged liquid chillers. The simulation model takes into account presence of all chiller components such as compressor, shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers, thermostatic expansion valve and connection pipes and tubing’s by thermo-hydraulic modeling of heat transfer, fluids flow and thermodynamics processes in each one of the mentioned components. To verify the validity of the developed model, a 7.5 USRT packaged-liquid chiller is used and a laboratory test stand for bringing the chiller to its standard steady-state performance condition is build. Experimental results obtained from testing the chiller in various load and temperature conditions is shown to be in good agreement with those obtained from simulating the performance of the chiller using the computer prediction model. An entropy-minimization-based optimization analysis is performed based on the developed analytical performance model of the chiller. The variation of design parameters in construction of shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers are studied using the developed performance and optimization analysis and simulation model and a best-match condition between the physical design and construction of chiller heat exchangers and its compressor is found to exist. It is expected that manufacturers of chillers and research organizations interested in developing energy-efficient design and analysis of compression chillers can take advantage of the presented study and its results.

Keywords: optimization, packaged liquid chiller, performance, simulation

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Authors: Ekaterina Tikhonova

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This research is aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of T&D (Training and Development) on the example of two T&D programs for the Executive TOP Management run in 2012, 2015-2016 in Komos Group. This study is commissioned to research the effectiveness of two similar corporate T&D programs (within one company) in two periods of time (2012, 2015-2016) through evaluating the programs’ effectiveness using the four-level Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluating T&D programs and calculating ROI as an instrument for T&D program measuring by Phillips’ formula. The research investigates the correlation of two figures: the ROI calculated and the rating percentage scale per the ROI implementation (Wagle’s scale). The study includes an assessment of feedback 360 (Kirkpatrick's model) and Phillips’ ROI Methodology that provides a step-by-step process for collecting data, summarizing and processing the collected information. The data is collected from the company accounting data, the HR budgets, MCFO and the company annual reports for the research periods. All analyzed data and reports are organized and presented in forms of tables, charts, and graphs. The paper also gives a brief description of some constrains of the research considered. After ROI calculation, the study reveals that ROI ranges between the average implementation (65% to 75%) by Wagle’s scale that can be considered as a positive outcome. The paper also gives some recommendations how to use ROI in practice and describes main benefits of ROI implementation.

Keywords: ROI, organizational performance, efficacy of T&D program, employee performance

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Authors: Ghazal Faraj, Andras Micsik

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The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) is an extensible ontology that provides integrated access to heterogeneous and digital datasets. The CIDOC-CRM offers a “semantic glue” intended to promote accessibility to several diverse and dispersed sources of cultural heritage data. That is achieved by providing a formal structure for the implicit and explicit concepts and their relationships in the cultural heritage field. The COURAGE (“Cultural Opposition – Understanding the CultuRal HeritAGE of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries”) project aimed to explore methods about socialist-era cultural resistance during 1950-1990 and planned to serve as a basis for further narratives and digital humanities (DH) research. This project highlights the diversity of flourished alternative cultural scenes in Eastern Europe before 1989. Moreover, the dataset of COURAGE is an online RDF-based registry that consists of historical people, organizations, collections, and featured items. For increasing the inter-links between different datasets and retrieving more relevant data from various data silos, a shared federated ontology for reconciled data is needed. As a first step towards these goals, a full understanding of the CIDOC CRM ontology (target ontology), as well as the COURAGE dataset, was required to start the work. Subsequently, the queries toward the ontology were determined, and a table of equivalent properties from COURAGE and CIDOC CRM was created. The structural diagrams that clarify the mapping process and construct queries are on progress to map person, organization, and collection entities to the ontology. Through mapping the COURAGE dataset to CIDOC-CRM ontology, the dataset will have a common ontological foundation with several other datasets. Therefore, the expected results are: 1) retrieving more detailed data about existing entities, 2) retrieving new entities’ data, 3) aligning COURAGE dataset to a standard vocabulary, 4) running distributed SPARQL queries over several CIDOC-CRM datasets and testing the potentials of distributed query answering using SPARQL. The next plan is to map CIDOC-CRM to other upper-level ontologies or large datasets (e.g., DBpedia, Wikidata), and address similar questions on a wide variety of knowledge bases.

Keywords: CIDOC CRM, cultural heritage data, COURAGE dataset, ontology alignment

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Authors: L. N. P. Wedikandage, Mohamed Razmi Zahir

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Technology is a global imperative because of its contributions to human existence and because it has improved global socioeconomic relations. As a result, the mobile phone has become the most important mode of communication today. Smartphones, Internet-enabled devices with built-in computer software and applications, are one of the most significant inventions of the twenty-first century. Technology is advantageous to many people, especially those involved in education. It is an important learning tool for today's schoolchildren. It enables students to access online learning platforms and course resources and interact digitally. Senior secondary students, in particular, have some of the most expensive and sophisticated mobile phones, tablets, and iPads capable of connecting to the internet and various social media platforms, other websites, and so on. At present, the use of mobile phones' potential for effective teaching and learning is growing. This is due to the benefits of mobile learning, including the ability to share knowledge without any limits in space or Time and the capacity to facilitate the development of critical thinking, participatory learning, problem-solving, and the development of lifelong communication skills. However, it is yet unclear how mobile devices may affect education and how they may affect opportunities for learning. As a result, the purpose of this research was to ascertain the relationship between mobile phone usage and the academic Performance of secondary-level students at an international school in Sri Lanka. The study's sample consisted of 523 secondary-level students from an international school, ranging from Form 1 to Upper 6. For the study, a survey research design and questionnaires were used. Google Forms was used to create the students' survey. There were three hypotheses tested to find out the relationship between mobile phone usage and academic preference. The findings show that there is a positive relationship between mobile phone usage and academic performance among secondary school students (the number of students obtaining simple passes is significantly higher when mobile phones are being used for more than 7 hours), no relationship between mobile phone usage and academic performance among secondary school students of different parents' occupations, and a relationship between the frequency of mobile phone usage and academic performance among secondary school students.

Keywords: mobile phone, academic performance, secondary level, international schools

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Authors: Mohammad H. Yarmohamadian, Reza Safdari, Nahid Tavakoli

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In recent years, many countries have suffered various natural disasters. Disaster response continues to face the challenges in health care sector in all countries. Information and communication management is a significant challenge in disaster scene. During the last decades, rapid advances in information technology have led to manage information effectively and improve communication in health care setting. Information technology is a vital solution for effective response to disasters and emergencies so that if an efficient ICT-based health information system is available, it will be highly valuable in such situation. Of that, mobile technology represents a nearly computing technology infrastructure that is accessible, convenient, inexpensive and easy to use. Most projects have not yet reached the deployment stage, but evaluation exercises show that mHealth should allow faster processing and transport of patients, improved accuracy of triage and better monitoring of unattended patients at a disaster scene. Since there is a high prevalence of cell phones among world population, it is expected the health care providers and managers to take measures for applying this technology for improvement patient safety and public health in disasters. At present there are challenges in the utilization of mhealth in disasters such as lack of structural and financial issues in our country. In this paper we will discuss about benefits and challenges of mhealth technology in disaster setting considering connectivity, usability, intelligibility, communication and teaching for implementing this technology for disaster response.

Keywords: information technology, mhealth, disaster, effective response

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Authors: Cristian Andrei Nica

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The state of flow relies on cognitive elements that sustain openness for information processing in order to promote goal attainment. However, the need for closure may create mental constraints, which can impact affectivity levels. This study aims to observe the extent in which need for closure moderates the interaction between flow and affectivity, taking into account the mediating role of the mood repair motivation in the interaction process between need for closure and affectivity. Using a non-experimental, correlational design, n=73 participants n=18 men and n=55 women, ages between 19-64 years (m= 28.02) (SD=9.22), completed the Positive Affectivity-Negative Affectivity Schedule, the need for closure scale-revised, the mood repair items and an adapted version of the flow state scale 2, in order to assess the trait aspects of flow. Results show that need for closure significantly moderates the flow-affectivity process, while the tolerance of ambiguity sub-scale is positively associated with negative affectivity and negatively to positive affectivity. At the same time, mood repair motivation significantly mediates the interaction between need for closure and positive affectivity, whereas the mediation process for negative affectivity is insignificant. Need for closure needs to be considered when promoting the development of positive emotions. It has been found that the motivation to repair one’s mood mediates the interaction between need for closure and positive affectivity. According to this study, flow can trigger positive emotions when the person is willing to engage in mood regulation strategies and approach meaningful experiences with an open mind.

Keywords: flow, mood regulation, mood repair motivation, need for closure, negative affectivity, positive affectivity

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Authors: Federico Pittino, Thomas Arnold

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The shredding of waste materials is a key step in the recycling process towards the circular economy. Industrial shredders for waste processing operate in very harsh operating conditions, leading to the need for frequent maintenance of critical components. Maintenance optimization is particularly important also to increase the machine’s efficiency, thereby reducing the operational costs. In this work, a monitoring system has been developed and deployed on an industrial shredder located at a waste recycling plant in Austria. The machine has been monitored for one year, and methods for predictive maintenance have been developed for two key components: the cutting knives and the drive belt. The large amount of collected data is leveraged by statistical machine learning techniques, thereby not requiring very detailed knowledge of the machine or its live operating conditions. The results show that, despite the wide range of operating conditions, a reliable estimate of the optimal time for maintenance can be derived. Moreover, the trade-off between the cost of maintenance and the increase in power consumption due to the wear state of the monitored components of the machine is investigated. This work proves the benefits of real-time monitoring system for the efficient operation of industrial shredders.

Keywords: predictive maintenance, circular economy, industrial shredder, cost optimization, statistical machine learning

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Authors: Yudia Mailani Putri, Martalena Purba, B. J. Istiti Kandarina

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Background: Obesity has been recognized as a global health problem. Individuals classified as overweight and obese are increasing at an alarming rate. This condition is associated with psychological and physiological problems. as a person reaches adulthood, somatic growth ceases. At this stage, the human body has developed fully, to a stable state. As the capital of Riau Province in Indonesia, Pekanbaru is dominated by Malay ethnic population habitually consuming cholesterol-rich fatty foods as a daily menu, a trigger to the onset of obesity resulting in high prevalence of degenerative diseases. Research objectives: The aim of this study is elaborating the relationship between high-fat consumption pattern, stress level, physical activity and the incidence of obesity in adult women in Pekanbaru city. Research Methods: Among the combined research methods applied in this study, the first stage is quantitative observational, analytical cross-sectional research design with adult women aged 20-40 living in Pekanbaru city. The sample consists of 200 women with BMI≥25. Sample data is processed with univariate, bivariate (correlation and simple linear regression) and multivariate (multiple linear regression) analysis. The second phase is qualitative descriptive study purposive sampling by in-depth interviews. six participants withdrew from the study. Results: According to the results of the bivariate analysis, there are relationships between the incidence of obesity and the pattern of high fat foods consumption (energy intake (p≤0.000; r = 0.536), protein intake (p≤0.000; r=0.307), fat intake (p≤0.000; r=0.416), carbohydrate intake (p≤0.000; r=0.430), frequency of fatty food consumption (p≤0.000; r=0.506) and frequency of viscera foods consumption (p≤0.000; r=0.535). There is a relationship between physical activity and incidence of obesity (p≤0.000; r=-0.631). However, there is no relationship between the level of stress (p=0.741; r=0.019-) and the incidence of obesity. Physical activity is a predominant factor in the incidence of obesity in adult women in Pekanbaru city. Conclusion: There are relationships between high-fat food consumption pattern, physical activity and the incidence of obesity in Pekanbaru city whereas physical activity is a predominant factor in the occurrence of obesity, supported by the unchangeable pattern of high-fat foods consumption.

Keywords: obesity, adult, high in fat, stress, physical activity, consumption pattern

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Authors: Youn Young Shim, Martin J. T. Reaney

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Flaxseed meal is rich in water-soluble gums and, as such, can improve texture in gluten-free products. Flaxseed bioactive-antioxidant peptides, linusorbs (LOs, a.k.a. cyclolinopeptides), are a class of molecules that may contribute health-promoting effects. The effects of dough preparation, baking, and storage on flaxseed-derived LOs stability in doughs and baked products are un-known. Gluten-free (GF) bread dough and bread were prepared with flaxseed meal and the LO content was determined in the flaxseed meal, bread flour containing the flaxseed meal, bread dough, and bread. The LO contents during storage (0, 1, 2, and 4 weeks) at different temperatures (−18 °C, 4 °C, and 22−23 °C) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatog-raphy-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The content of oxidized LOs like [1–9-NαC],[1(Rs, Ss)-MetO]-linusorb B2 (LO14) were substantially constant in flaxseed meal and flour produced from flaxseed meal under all conditions for up to 4 weeks. However, during GF-bread production LOs decreased. Due to microbial contamination dough could not be stored at either 4 or 21°C, and bread could only be stored for one week at 21°C. Up to 4 weeks storage was possible for bread and dough at −18 °C and bread at 4 °C without the loss of LOs. The LOs change mostly from processing and less so from storage. The concentration of reduced LOs in flour and meal were much higher than measured in dough and bread. There was not a corre-sponding increase in oxidized LOs. The LOs in flaxseed meal-fortified bread were stable for products stored at low temperatures. This study is the first of the impact of baking conditions on LO content and quality.

Keywords: flaxseed, stability, gluten-free, antioxidant

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Authors: Mike R. Bambach

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Increasing awareness of environmental concerns is leading a drive towards more sustainable structural products for the built environment. Natural fibres such as flax, jute and hemp have recently been considered for fibre-resin composites, with a major motivation for their implementation being their notable sustainability attributes. While recent decades have seen substantial interest in the use of such natural fibres in composite materials, much of this research has focused on the materials aspects, including fibre processing techniques, composite fabrication methodologies, matrix materials and their effects on the mechanical properties. The present study experimentally investigates the compression strength of structural channel sections of flax, jute and hemp, with a particular focus on their suitability for residential stud wall applications. The section geometry is optimised for maximum strength via the introduction of complex stiffeners in the webs and flanges. Experimental results on both natural fibre composite channel sections and typical steel and timber residential wall studs are compared. The geometrically optimised natural fibre composite channels are shown to have compression capacities suitable for residential wall stud applications, identifying them as a potentially viable alternative to traditional building materials in such application, and potentially other light structural applications.

Keywords: channel sections, natural fibre composites, residential stud walls, structural composites

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Authors: Rezala Houria, Valverde Jose Luis, Romero Amaya, Molinari Alessandra, Maldotti Andrea

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The escalation of oil prices in 1973 confronted the oil industry with the problem of how to maximize the processing of crude oil, especially the heavy fractions, to give gasoline components. Strong impetus was thus given to the development of catalysts with relatively large pore sizes, which were able to deal with larger molecules than the existing molecular sieves, and with good thermal and hydrothermal stability. The oil embargo in 1973 therefore acted as a stimulus for the investigation and development of pillared clays. Iron doped titania-pillared montmorillonite clays was prepared using bentonite from deposits of Maghnia in western-Algeria. The preparation method consists of differents steps (purification of the raw bentonite, preparation of a pillaring agent solution and exchange of the cations located between the clay layers with the previously formed iron/titanium solution). The characterization of this material was carried out by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, textural measures by BET method, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV visible spectroscopy, temperature- programmed desorption of ammonia and atomic absorption.This new material was investigated as photocatalyst for selective oxygenation of the liquid alkylaromatics such as: toluene, paraxylene and orthoxylene and the photocatalytic properties of it were compared with those of the titanium-pillared clays.

Keywords: iron doping, montmorillonite clays, pillared clays, oil industry

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Authors: Pawamana Ramachandra, Jitesh Gupta, Saranga P. Pogula

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In verification of high volume and complex packet processing IPs, finer control of flow management aspects (for example, rate, bits/sec etc.) per flow class (or a virtual channel or a software thread) is needed. When any Software/Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) thread arbitration is left to the simulator (e.g., Verilog Compiler Simulator (VCS) or Incisive Enterprise Simulator core simulation engine (NCSIM)), it is hard to predict its pattern of resulting distribution of bandwidth by the simulator thread arbitration. In many cases, the patterns desired in a test scenario may not be accomplished as the simulator might give a different distribution than what was required. This can lead to missing multiple traffic scenarios, specifically deadlock and starvation related. We invented a component (namely Flow Manager Verification IP) to be intervening between the application (test case) and the protocol VIP (with UVM sequencer) to control the bandwidth per thread/virtual channel/flow. The Flow Manager has knobs visible to the UVM sequence/test to configure the required distribution of rate per thread/virtual channel/flow. This works seamlessly and produces rate stimuli to further harness the Design Under Test (DUT) with asymmetric inputs compared to the programmed bandwidth/Quality of Service (QoS) distributions in the Design Under Test.

Keywords: flow manager, UVM sequencer, rated traffic generation, quality of service

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Authors: Trevor R. Higgins, Ben Lopez

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Australian football fans have a tendency to indulge in foreign football clubs, often assigning a greater value to foreign clubs, in preference to the Australian National football competition; the A-League. There currently exists a gap in the knowledge available in relation to football fans in Australia, their engagement with foreign football teams and the impact that this may have with their engagement with A-League. The purpose of this study was to compare the engagement of the members of the Manchester United Supporters Club - Australia (MUSC-Aus) with Manchester United and the A-League. An online survey was implemented to gather the relevant data from members of the MUSC-Aus. Results from completed surveys were collected, and analyzed in relation to engagement levels with Manchester United and the A-League. Members of MUSC-Aus who responded to the survey were predominantly male (94%) and born in Australia (46%), England (25%), Ireland (7%), were greatly influenced in their choice of Manchester United by family (43%) and team history (16%), whereas location was the overwhelming influence in supporting the A-League (88%). Importantly, there was a reduced level of engagement in the A-League on two accounts. Firstly, only 64% of MUSC-Aus engaged with the A-League, reporting perceptions of low standard as the major reason (50%). Secondly, MUSC-Aus members who engaged in the A-League reported reduced engagement in the A-League, identified through spending patterns. MUSC-Aus members’ expenditure on Manchester United engagement was 400% greater than expenditure on A-League engagement. Furthermore, additional survey responses indicated that the level of commitment towards the A-League overall was less than Manchester United. The greatest impact on fan engagement in the A-League by MUSC-Aus can be attributed to several primary factors; family support, team history and perceptions to on-field performance and quality of players. Currently, there is little that can be done in regards to enhancing family and history as the A-League is still in its infancy. Therefore, perceptions of on-field performances and player quality should be addressed. Introducing short-term international marquee contracts to A-League rosters, across the entire competition, may provide the platform to raise the perception of the A-League player quality with minimal impact on local player development. In addition, a national marketing campaign promoting the success of A-League clubs in the ACL, as well as promoting the skill on display in the A-League may address the negative association with the standard of the A-League competition.

Keywords: engagement, football, perceptions of performance, team

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Authors: Rajesh Karki, Safal Bhattarai, Saket Adhikari

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Reliable and economic operation of power systems are becoming extremely challenging with large scale integration of renewable energy sources due to the intermittency and uncertainty associated with renewable power generation. It is, therefore, important to make a quantitative risk assessment and explore the potential resources to mitigate such risks. Probabilistic models for different energy storage systems (ESS), such as the flywheel energy storage system (FESS) and the compressed air energy storage (CAES) incorporating specific charge/discharge performance and failure characteristics suitable for probabilistic risk assessment in power system operation and planning are presented in this paper. The proposed methodology used in FESS modelling offers flexibility to accommodate different configurations of plant topology. It is perceived that CAES has a high potential for grid-scale application, and a hybrid approach is proposed, which embeds a Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) method in an analytical technique to develop a suitable reliability model of the CAES. The proposed ESS models are applied to a test system to investigate the economic and reliability benefits of the energy storage technologies in system operation and planning, as well as to assess their contributions in facilitating wind integration during different operating scenarios. A comparative study considering various storage system topologies are also presented. The impacts of failure rates of the critical components of ESS on the expected state of charge (SOC) and the performance of the different types of ESS during operation are illustrated with selected studies on the test system. The paper also applies the proposed models on the test system to investigate the economic and reliability benefits of the different ESS technologies and to evaluate their contributions in facilitating wind integration during different operating scenarios and system configurations. The conclusions drawn from the study results provide valuable information to help policymakers, system planners, and operators in arriving at effective and efficient policies, investment decisions, and operating strategies for planning and operation of power systems with large penetrations of renewable energy sources.

Keywords: flywheel energy storage, compressed air energy storage, power system reliability, renewable energy, system planning, system operation

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Xhaklina Cani, Ilirjan Malollari, Ismet Beqiraj, Lorina Lici

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Oil characterization is an essential step in the design, simulation, and optimization of refining facilities. To achieve optimal crude selection and processing decisions, a refiner must have exact information refer to crude oil quality. This includes crude oil TBP-curve as the main data for correct operation of refinery crude oil atmospheric distillation plants. Crude oil is typically characterized based on a distillation assay. This procedure is reasonably well-defined and is based on the representation of the mixture of actual components that boil within a boiling point interval by hypothetical components that boil at the average boiling temperature of the interval. The crude oil assay typically includes TBP distillation according to ASTM D-2892, which can characterize this part of oil that boils up to 400 C atmospheric equivalent boiling point. To model the yield curves obtained by physical distillation is necessary to compare the differences between the modelling and the experimental data. Most commercial use a different number of components and pseudo-components to represent crude oil. Laboratory tests include distillations, vapor pressures, flash points, pour points, cetane numbers, octane numbers, densities, and viscosities. The aim of the study is the drawing of true boiling curves for different crude oil resources in Albania and to compare the differences between the modeling and the experimental data for optimal characterization of crude oil.

Keywords: TBP distillation curves, crude oil, optimization, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Dwipa Rizki Utama, Hanief Ibrahim

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The development of industry retail in Indonesia is very fast, various strategy was undertaken to boost the customer satisfaction and the productivity purchases to boost the profit, one of which is implementing strategies layout. The purpose of this study is to determine the layout of Qita supermarket, a retail industry in Indonesia, in order to improve customer satisfaction and to maximize the rate of products’ sale as a whole, so as the infrequently purchased products will be purchased. This research uses a literature study method, and one of the data mining methods is association rule which applied in market basket analysis. Data were tested amounted 100 from 160 after pre-processing data, so then the distribution department and 26 departments corresponding to the data previous layout will be obtained. From those data, by the association rule method, customer behavior when purchasing items simultaneously can be studied, so then the layout of the supermarket based on customer behavior can be determined. Using the rapid miner software by the minimal support 25% and minimal confidence 30% showed that the 14th department purchased at the same time with department 10, 21st department purchased at the same time with department 13, 15th department purchased at the same time with department 12, 14th department purchased at the same time with department 12, and 10th department purchased at the same time with department 14. From those results, a better supermarket layout can be arranged than the previous layout.

Keywords: industry retail, strategy, association rule, supermarket

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Wei Hu, Wenguang Chen, Chong Dong

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In order to improve the efficiency and safety of photovoltaic power generation devices, this photovoltaic power generation system combines Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to control the chasing photovoltaic power generation device to track the sun to improve power generation efficiency and then convert energy management. The system uses artificial intelligence as the control terminal, the power generation device executive end uses the Linux system, and Exynos4412 is the CPU. The power generating device collects the sun image information through Sony CCD. After several power generating devices feedback the data to the CPU for processing, several CPUs send the data to the artificial intelligence control terminal through the Internet. The control terminal integrates the executive terminal information, time information, and environmental information to decide whether to generate electricity normally and then whether to convert the converted electrical energy into the grid or store it in the battery pack. When the power generation environment is abnormal, the control terminal authorizes the protection strategy, the power generation device executive terminal stops power generation and enters a self-protection posture, and at the same time, the control terminal synchronizes the data with the cloud. At the same time, the system is more intelligent, more adaptive, and longer life.

Keywords: photo-voltaic power generation, the pursuit of light, artificial intelligence, internet of things, photovoltaic array, power management

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Qisheng Hu, Jianglei Han, Yue Yang, My Hoa Ha

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When a company is considering purchasing software for commercial use, contract risk assessment is critical to identify risks to mitigate the potential adverse business impact, e.g., security, financial and regulatory risks. Contract risk assessment requires reviewers with specialized knowledge and time to evaluate the legal documents manually. Specifically, validating contracts for a software vendor requires the following steps: manual screening, interpreting legal documents, and extracting risk-prone segments. To automate the process, we proposed a framework to assist legal contract document risk identification, leveraging pre-trained deep learning models and natural language processing techniques. Given a set of pre-defined risk evaluation problems, our framework utilizes the pre-trained transformer-based models for question-answering to identify risk-prone sections in a contract. Furthermore, the question-answering model encodes the concatenated question-contract text and predicts the start and end position for clause extraction. Due to the limited labelled dataset for training, we leveraged transfer learning by fine-tuning the models with the CUAD dataset to enhance the model. On a dataset comprising 287 contract documents and 2000 labelled samples, our best model achieved an F1 score of 0.687.

Keywords: contract risk assessment, NLP, transfer learning, question answering

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Haniyeh Sameie

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In the process of globalization, geographical boundaries gradually lose their importance, and ethnic, local, and regional cultures are integrated with each other and even marginalized. Globalization has many manifestations and aspects, including economic, political, social, etc., but this paper has focused on the cultural aspect of globalization. From this point of view, one of the important issues that have always been raised is the assimilation of diverse and plural cultures, which are gradually disappearing and destroyed in the onslaught of global culture and are dissolved in global culture. In the postmodern paradigm, the tools of the globalized world can be used to preserve and strengthen cultural diversity. For example, the Internet, as a globalization tool, can play an important role in preserving and recognizing local cultures. In today's world, the world nations and ethnic groups are trying to revive their specific and native cultures in different ways in opposition to the rising cultural assimilation and challenge the globalization of culture. One of the manifestations of these actions is addressing the issue of tourism and, specifically, eco-tourism, which is being developed in Iran as well as in other parts of the world, relying on the powerful tool of globalization, the Internet. Considering the significant growth of the ecotourism industry in Iran in recent years, this paper focuses on the role of the Internet in the development of ecotourism in Iran as one of the manifestations of tourism in recent decades and how to preserve and survive diverse local cultures and strengthen local communities against global culture through it. One of the major challenges in the development of communication technology in Iran in the last decade has been the debate over the necessity or non-necessity of access to high-speed Internet in the villages of Iran. Some believe that accessing the broadband internet in the villages may lead to the disappearance of local cultures and can facilitate the spread of western culture among villagers. On the other hand, the speed of expansion of ecotourism in Iran in the last ten years is owed to the development of the Internet in villages. In this regard, we pay attention to the dual role of the Internet in cultural assimilation and, at the same time, the platform that the online space has created for the growth and development of ecotourism accommodations as a source of stable income for local communities, focusing on the Iranian experience in the recent decade.

Keywords: tourism, globalization, internet, ecotourism in Iran, cultural assimilation

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Nanjiang Chen

Abstract:

In the backdrop of expanding urban landscapes, accurately assessing spatial openness is critical. Traditional visibility analysis methods grapple with discretization errors and inefficiencies, creating a gap in truly capturing the human experi-ence of space. Addressing these gaps, this paper introduces a distinct continuous visibility algorithm, a leap in measuring urban spaces from a human-centric per-spective. This study presents a methodological breakthrough by applying this algorithm to urban visibility analysis. Unlike conventional approaches, this tech-nique allows for a continuous range of visibility assessment, closely mirroring hu-man visual perception. By eliminating the need for predefined subdivisions in ray casting, it offers a more accurate and efficient tool for urban planners and architects. The proposed algorithm not only reduces computational errors but also demonstrates faster processing capabilities, validated through a case study in Bei-jing's urban setting. Its key distinction lies in its potential to benefit a broad spec-trum of stakeholders, ranging from urban developers to public policymakers, aid-ing in the creation of urban spaces that prioritize visual openness and quality of life. This advancement in urban analysis methods could lead to more inclusive, comfortable, and well-integrated urban environments, enhancing the spatial experience for communities worldwide.

Keywords: visual openness, spatial continuity, ray-tracing algorithms, urban computation

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Authors: S. Mani, M. Kafil, E. Asadi

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Condition Monitoring (CM) of electrical equipment has gained remarkable importance during the recent years; due to huge production losses, substantial imposed costs and increases in vulnerability, risk and uncertainty levels. Power cables feed numerous electrical equipment such as transformers, motors, and electric furnaces; thus their condition assessment is of a very great importance. This paper investigates electrical, structural and environmental failure sources, all of which influence cables' performances and limit their uptimes; and provides a comprehensive framework entailing practical CM guidelines for maintenance of cables in industries. The multilevel CM framework presented in this study covers performance indicative features of power cables; with a focus on both online and offline diagnosis and test scenarios, and covers short-term and long-term threats to the operation and longevity of power cables. The study, after concisely overviewing the concept of CM, thoroughly investigates five major areas of power quality, Insulation Quality features of partial discharges, tan delta and voltage withstand capabilities, together with sheath faults, shield currents and environmental features of temperature and humidity; and elaborates interconnections and mutual impacts between those areas; using mathematical formulation and practical guidelines. Detection, location, and severity identification methods for every threat or fault source are also elaborated. Finally, the comprehensive, practical guidelines presented in the study are presented for the specific case of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) feeder MV power cables in Mobarakeh Steel Company (MSC), the largest steel company in MENA region, in Iran. Specific technical and industrial characteristics and limitations of a harsh industrial environment like MSC EAF feeder cable tunnels are imposed on the presented framework; making the suggested package more practical and tangible.

Keywords: condition monitoring, diagnostics, insulation, maintenance, partial discharge, power cables, power quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 202