Search results for: robust back-‎stepping control

Authors: Mubarak Alhajri

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This paper addresses certain inherent limitations of local priority hysteresis switching logic. Our main result establishes that under persistent excitation assumption, it is possible to relax constraints requiring strict positivity of local priority and hysteresis switching constants. Relaxing these constraints allows the adaptive system to reach optimality which implies the performance improvement. The unconstrained local priority hysteresis switching logic is examined and conditions for global convergence are derived.

Keywords: adaptive control, convergence, hysteresis constant, hysteresis switching

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Authors: Mina Sadat Orooje, Mohammad Mehdi Latifi, Behnam Fereydooni Eftekhari

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The integration of cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) technologies with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems is revolutionizing healthcare facility management. However, the current landscape of hospital building maintenance suffers from slow, repetitive, and disjointed processes, leading to significant financial, resource, and time losses. Additionally, the potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in facility maintenance is hindered by a lack of data within digital models of built environments, necessitating a more streamlined data collection process. This paper presents a robust framework that harmonizes AI with BIM-IoT technology to elevate healthcare Facility Maintenance Management (FMM) and address these pressing challenges. The methodology begins with a thorough literature review and requirements analysis, providing insights into existing technological landscapes and associated obstacles. Extensive data collection and analysis efforts follow to deepen understanding of hospital infrastructure and maintenance records. Critical AI algorithms are identified to address predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and optimization needs alongside integration strategies for BIM and IoT technologies, enabling real-time data collection and analysis. The framework outlines protocols for data processing, analysis, and decision-making. A prototype implementation is executed to showcase the framework's functionality, followed by a rigorous validation process to evaluate its efficacy and gather user feedback. Refinement and optimization steps are then undertaken based on evaluation outcomes. Emphasis is placed on the scalability of the framework in real-world scenarios and its potential applications across diverse healthcare facility contexts. Finally, the findings are meticulously documented and shared within the healthcare and facility management communities. This framework aims to significantly boost maintenance efficiency, cut costs, provide decision support, enable real-time monitoring, offer data-driven insights, and ultimately enhance patient safety and satisfaction. By tackling current challenges in healthcare facility maintenance management it paves the way for the adoption of smarter and more efficient maintenance practices in healthcare facilities.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, building information modeling, healthcare facility maintenance, internet of things integration, maintenance efficiency

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Authors: Enhui Wang, Qingzhu Ou, Yan Tang, Xiaodong Guo

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As one of most popular polyanionic compounds in lithium-ion cathode materials, Li3V2(PO4)3 has always suffered from the low rate capability especially during 3~4.8V, which is considered to be related with the ion diffusion resistance and structural transformation during the Li+ de/intercalation. Here, as the change of cut-off voltages, cycling numbers and current densities, the process of SEI interfacial film’s formation-growing- destruction-repair on the surface of the cathode, the structural transformation during the charge and discharge, the de/intercalation kinetics reflected by the electrochemical impedance and the diffusion coefficient, have been investigated in detail. Current density, cycle numbers and cut-off voltage impacting on interfacial film and structure was studied specifically. Firstly, the matching between electrolyte and material was investigated, it turned out that the batteries with high voltage electrolyte showed the best electrochemical performance and high voltage electrolyte would be the best electrolyte. Secondly, AC impedance technology was used to study the changes of interface impedance and lithium ion diffusion coefficient, the results showed that current density, cycle numbers and cut-off voltage influenced the interfacial film together and the one who changed the interfacial properties most was the key factor. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed that the attenuation of discharge specific capacity was associated with the destruction and repair process of the SEI film. Thirdly, the X-ray diffraction was used to study the changes of structure, which was also impacted by current density, cycle numbers and cut-off voltage. The results indicated that the cell volume of Li3V2 (PO4 )3 increased as the current density increased; cycle numbers merely influenced the structure of material; the cell volume decreased first and moved back gradually after two Li-ion had been deintercalated as the charging cut-off voltage increased, and increased as the intercalation number of Li-ion increased during the discharging process. Then, the results which studied the changes of interface impedance and lithium ion diffusion coefficient turned out that the interface impedance and lithium ion diffusion coefficient increased when the cut-off voltage passed the voltage platforms and decreased when the cut-off voltage was between voltage platforms. Finally, three-electrode system was first adopted to test the activation energy of the system, the results indicated that the activation energy of the three-electrode system (22.385 KJ /mol) was much smaller than that of two-electrode system (40.064 KJ /mol).

Keywords: cut-off voltage, de/intercalation kinetics, solid electrolyte interphase film, structural transformation

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Authors: K. Nikilsha, Lakshmi Manohar, Debayan Chatterjee

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Landscape is a setting that informs the way of life of a set of people, and the repository of intangible values and human meanings that nurture our very existence. Along with the linkage that it forms with our lives, it can be argued that landscape and memory cannot be separated, as landscape is the nucleus of our memories. In this context, this paper studies landscape evolution of a region with unique geographic setting, where the dependency of the inhabitants on its resources, led to the formation of certain peculiar beliefs and taboos that formed the basis of a set of unwritten rules and guidelines which they still follow as a part of their lifestyle. One such example is Kuttanad, a low lying region in Kerala which is a complex mosaic of fragmented agricultural landscape incorporating coastal backwaters, rivers, marshes, paddy fields and water channels. The more the physical involvement with the resources, the more was the inhabitants attachment towards it. This attachment of the inhabitants to the place is very strong because the creation of this land was the result of the toil of the low caste labourers who strived day and night to create Kuttanad, which was reclaimed from water with the help of the finance supplied by their landlords. However, the greatest challenge faced by them is posed by the forces of water in the form of floods. As this land is fed by five rivers, even the slight variation in rainfall in its watershed area can cause a large imbalance in the water level causing the reclaimed land to be inundated. The effects of climate change including increase in rainfall, rise in sea level and change of seasons can act as a catalyst to this damage. Hasty urbanization has led to the conversion of paddy fields to housing plots and coconut/plantain fields giving no regard to the traditional systems which had once respected nature and combated floods and draughts through the various cultural practices and taboos practiced by the people. Thus it is essential to look back at the landscape evolution of Kuttanad and to recognise methods used traditionally in the region to establish a cultural landscape, and to understand how climate change and urbanisation shall pose a challenge to the existing landscape and lifestyle. This research also explores the possibilities of alternative and sustainable approaches for resilient urban development learned from Kuttanad as a case study.

Keywords: ecological conservation, landscape and ecological engineering, landscape evolution, man-made landscapes

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Authors: Sandra Pietri, Helene Dubout, Sabrina Ena, Candice Hoste, Enrico Bastianelli

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Bone Therapeutics is a bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in the field of bone fracture repair, more specifically in non-union and delayed-union fractures where the bone repair process is impaired. The company has developed a unique allogeneic osteoblastic cell product (ALLOB®) derived from bone marrow which is currently tested in humans in the indication of delayed-union fractures. The purpose of our study was to directly compare ALLOB® vs. non-differentiated mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for their in vitro osteogenic characteristics and their in vivo osteogenic potential in order to determine which cellular type would be the most adapted for bone fracture repair. Methods: Healthy volunteers’ bone marrow aspirates (n=6) were expended (i) into BM-MSCs using a complete MSC culture medium or (ii) into ALLOB® cells according to its manufacturing process. Cells were characterized in vitro by morphology, immunophenotype, gene expression and differentiation potential. Additionally, their osteogenic potential was assessed in vivo in the subperiosteal calvaria bone formation model in nude mice. Results: The in vitro side-by-side comparison studies showed that although ALLOB® and BM-MSC shared some common general characteristics such as the 3 minimal MSC criteria, ALLOB® expressed significantly higher levels of chondro/osteoblastic genes such as BMP2 (fold change (FC) > 100), ALPL (FC > 12), CBFA1 (FC > 3) and differentiated significantly earlier than BM-MSC toward the osteogenic lineage. Moreover the bone formation model in nude mice demonstrated that used at the same cellular concentration, ALLOB® was able to induce significantly more (160% vs.107% for control animals) bone formation than BM-MSC (118% vs. 107 % for control animals) two weeks after administration. Conclusion: Our side-by-side comparison studies demonstrated that in vitro and in vivo, ALLOB® displays superior osteogenic capacity to BM-MScs and is therefore a better candidate for the treatment of bone fractures.

Keywords: gene expression, histomorphometry, mesenchymal stem cells, osteogenic differentiation potential, preclinical

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Authors: Thyagi Ponnamperuma

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Background: Comorbidity between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological problems is common. Recent studies focused to investigate the underlying relationship between PTSD and comorbid psychopathologies. Among adolescents, higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems (EBP) have been reported following trauma, often coexisted with PTSD. The current study, thus, examined the relationship of posttraumatic stress symptoms to EBP in adolescents exposed to a variety of traumatic events. Further, the study investigated the relationship of trauma and comorbid PTSS to the self-perceived negative impact of EBP on daily functioning. Methods: Participants were 729 Sri Lankan adolescents (age 12 to 16 years; 54.9% female) living in areas impacted in varying degrees by the 2004 tsunami. In 2008, school-based screening was conducted and completed measures of, trauma exposure, PTSS, EBP, and related functional impairment. Results: Participants reported a high prevalence of trauma exposure (n = 438), including interpersonal violence (n = 155). DSM-IV criteria for full or partial PTSD were met by 23.7% of the trauma-exposed sample. Across all participants, 13.4% and 16.7% displayed clinically relevant levels of EBP and functional impairment, respectively. Among the trauma-exposed, 7% met criteria for both EBP and PTSD. EBP total scores and caseness were significantly higher in trauma-exposed adolescents with PTSD than in either those without PTSD or the non-traumatized control group. In subscale analysis, higher prevalence of serious emotional, conduct, and hyperactivity problems were reported in the PTSD positive group; the PTSD negative group did not differ significantly from the control group on any of the problem scales. In regression analyses, PTSS (β = .28, p < .001) and interpersonal violence (β = .13, p = .033) were significant predictors of EBP, cumulative trauma (β = .11, p = .076) showed no significant effect. Further, PTSS exacerbated the impact of EBP on daily functioning (β = 0.29, p = .023). Conclusion: PTSS were closely linked to EBP in adolescents, even years after the traumatic experience. PTSD and emotional and behavioral problems together pose a heightened risk for impaired daily functioning. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the causal pathway.

Keywords: adolescents, comorbidity, emotional and behavioral problems, functional impairment, posttraumatic stress, traumatic events

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Authors: Lebeza Alemu Tenaw, Fei Wan Ngai

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Background: Postpartum depression is the most common mental health disorder that occurs after childbirth, and it is more prevalent among teenage mothers compared to adults. Although there is emerging evidence suggesting psychosocial interventions can decrease postpartum depression, there are no consistent findings regarding the effectiveness of these interventions, especially for teenage mothers. The current review aimed to investigate the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in preventing postpartum depression among teenage mothers. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) manual was implemented to select articles from online databases. The articles were searched using the Population, Intervention, Control, and Outcome (PICO) model. The quality of the articles was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias assessment tool. The statistical analyses were performed using Stata 17, and the effect size was estimated using the standard mean difference score of depression between the intervention and control groups. Heterogeneity between the studies was assessed through the I2 statistic and Q statistic, while the publication bias was evaluated using the asymmetry of the funnel plot and Egger's test. Results: In this systematic review, a total of nine articles were included. While psychosocial interventions demonstrated in reducing the risk of postpartum depression compared to usual maternal care, it is important to note that the mean difference score of depression was significant in only three of the included studies. The overall meta-analysis finding revealed that psychosocial interventions were effective in preventing postpartum depression, with a pooled effect size of -0.5 (95% CI: -0.95, -0.06) during the final time postpartum depression assessment. The heterogeneity level was found to be substantial, with an I2 value of 82.3%. However, no publication bias was observed. Conclusion: The review findings suggest that psychosocial interventions initiated during the late antenatal and early postnatal periods effectively prevent postpartum depression. The interventions were found to be more beneficial during the first three months of the postpartum period. However, this review also highlighted that there is a scarcity of interventional studies conducted in low-income countries, indicating the need for further studies in diverse communities.

Keywords: teenage pregnancy, postpartum depression, review

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Authors: Sulemana Ibrahim

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Food security remains a paramount global challenge, with vulnerable regions grappling with issues of hunger and malnutrition. This study embarks on a comprehensive exploration of data-driven strategies aimed at ameliorating food security in such regions. Our research employs a multifaceted approach, integrating data analytics to predict crop yields, optimizing supply chains, and enhancing food distribution networks. The study unfolds as a multi-dimensional analysis, commencing with the development of robust machine learning models harnessing remote sensing data, historical crop yield records, and meteorological data to foresee crop yields. These predictive models, underpinned by convolutional and recurrent neural networks, furnish critical insights into anticipated harvests, empowering proactive measures to confront food insecurity. Subsequently, the research scrutinizes supply chain optimization to address food security challenges, capitalizing on linear programming and network optimization techniques. These strategies intend to mitigate loss and wastage while streamlining the distribution of agricultural produce from field to fork. In conjunction, the study investigates food distribution networks with a particular focus on network efficiency, accessibility, and equitable food resource allocation. Network analysis tools, complemented by data-driven simulation methodologies, unveil opportunities for augmenting the efficacy of these critical lifelines. This study also considers the ethical implications and privacy concerns associated with the extensive use of data in the realm of food security. The proposed methodology outlines guidelines for responsible data acquisition, storage, and usage. The ultimate aspiration of this research is to forge a nexus between data science and food security policy, bestowing actionable insights to mitigate the ordeal of food insecurity. The holistic approach converging data-driven crop yield forecasts, optimized supply chains, and improved distribution networks aspire to revitalize food security in the most vulnerable regions, elevating the quality of life for millions worldwide.

Keywords: data-driven strategies, crop yield prediction, supply chain optimization, food distribution networks

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Authors: Alireza Barari, Saeed Shirali, Ahmad Abdi

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Abstract: Introduction: Physical activity may be related to male reproductive function by affecting on thehypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal(HPG) axis. Our aim was to determine the effects of 6 weeks resistance exercise on reproductive hormones, HPG axis. The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis refers tothe effects of endocrine glands in three-level including (i) the hypothalamic releasing hormone GnRH, which is synthesized in in a small heterogenous neuronal population and released in a pulsatile fashion, (ii) the anterior pituitary hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone(FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) and (iii) the gonadal hormones, which include both steroid such as testosterone (T), estradiol and progesterone and peptide hormones (such as inhibin). Hormonal changes that create a more anabolic environment have been suggested to contribute to the adaptation to strength exercise. Physical activity has an extensive impact on male reproductive function depending upon the intensity and duration of the exercise and the fitness level of the individual. However, strenuous exercise represents a physical stress and inflammation changed that challenges homeostasis. Materials and methods: Sixteen male volunteered were included in a 6-week control period followed by 6 weeks of resistance training (leg press, lat pull, chest press, squat, seatedrow, abdominal crunch, shoulder press, biceps curl and triceps press down) four times per week. intensity of training loading was 60%-75% of one maximum repetition. Participants performed 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Rest periods were two min between exercises and sets. Start with warm up exercises include: The muscles relax and stretch the body, which was for 10 minutes. Body composition, VO2max and the circulating level of free testosterone (fT), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and inhibin B measured prior and post 6-week intervention. The hormonal levels of each serum sample were measured using commercially available ELISA kits. Analysis of anthropometrical data and hormonal level were compared using the independent samples t- test in both groups and using SPSS (version 19). P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: For muscle strength, both lower- and upper-body strength were increased significantly. Aerobic fitness level improved in trained participant from 39.4 ± 5.6 to 41.9 ± 5.3 (P = 0.002). fT concentration rise progressively in the trained group and was significantly greater than those in the control group (P = 0.000). By the end of the 6-week resistance training, serum SHBG significantly increased in the trained group compared with the control group (P = 0.013). In response to resistance training, LH, FSH and inhibin B were not significantly changed. Discussion: According to our finfings, 6 weeks of resistance training induce fat loss without any changes in body weight and BMI. A decline of 25.3% in percentage of body fat with statiscally same weight was due to increase in muscle mass that happened during resistance exercise periods . Six weeks of resistance training resulted in significant improvement in BF%, VO2max and increasing strength and the level of fT and SHBG.

Keywords: resistance, hypothalamic, pituitary, gonadal axis

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Authors: Racim Rifaat Ferdjani, Zineddine Chetoui

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The goal of our work is to provide a tool that helps control and ensures a global view of the means of firefighting (MLCI) in a food production plant (for example Hamoud Boualem plant). We divided the site into 4 zones, then we identified the firefighting means (MLCI) present in each zone, taking into account their type, weight, location, and fire class as well as their compliance with respect to the regulations in force while assigning them an alphanumeric reference which makes it possible to deduce everything. Thus, the use of a tool in the form of an Excel table was made concrete, and an average compliance rate of 45% was therefore obtained.

Keywords: MLCI, firefighting means, Hamoud, Boualem

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Authors: Maha A. Al-Hsayni

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Title of the Study: The Effect of Using Augmented Reality Technique in a Computer Course Unit on the Academic Achievement and Attitudes of High School Female Students. This study aimed at identifying the effect of using the Augmented Reality technique on the academic achievement of computer course at the cognitive domains (Knowledge, comprehension and analysis) with third high school female students in Holy Makkah. The researcher used: The quasi-experimental approach. The sample of the study was comprised of (55) female students in the third high school level in Holy Makkah in the second semester of the academic year 1434/1435 H. These students were assigned to two groups: The experimental group of (28) students who were taught by using the Augmented Reality technology, and the control group of (27) students, who were taught by using the traditional method. The researcher prepared a set of tools and materials, which are represented in achievement test consisted of (30) clauses, direction instrument consisted of (25) clauses and the design of augmented reality for computer study unit. The study used the following statistical methods for data analysis: Cronbach's alpha coefficient, Pearson correlation coefficient, means, standard deviations, t-test and analysis of covariance test ANCOVA. The study reached the following results: 1- There are statistically significance difference at ( 0.05) among the adjusted means of the experimental and control groups in the posttest at the domains of (Knowledge, comprehension and analysis) of third high school graders after adjusting the pretest 2- There are statistically significance difference at ( 0.05) among the means of pre and post-test for female students of the experimental group in the scale of attitude towards using Augmented Reality Technique. In the light of the study results, the researcher recommends the followings: The necessity of using Augmented Reality Technique in teaching computer courses for high school students. Furthermore, emphasizing the need to provide schools with educational halls equipped with instruments and screens that enable teachers to use the Augmented Reality in teaching the other courses. Also, the researcher suggested conducting more studies in order to improve the process of teaching and learning.

Keywords: augmented reality technique, computer course unit, academic achievement, attitudes, high school female students

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Authors: Christopher Baiyegunhi, Kuiwu Liu, Oswald Gwavava

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Petrography of the sandstones of Ecca Group, Karoo Supergroup in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa have been investigated on composition, provenance and influence of weathering conditions. Petrographic studies based on quantitative analysis of the detrital minerals revealed that the sandstones are composed mostly of quartz, feldspar and lithic fragments of metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The sandstones have an average framework composition of 24.3% quartz, 19.3% feldspar, 26.1% rock fragments, and 81.33% of the quartz grains are monocrystalline. These sandstones are generally very fine to fine grained, moderate to well sorted, and subangular to subrounded in shape. In addition, they are compositionally immature and can be classified as feldspathic wacke and lithic wacke. The absence of major petrographically distinctive compositional variations in the sandstones perhaps indicate homogeneity of their source. As a result of this, it is inferred that the transportation distance from the source area was quite short and the main mechanism of transportation was by river systems to the basin. The QFL ternary diagrams revealed dissected and transitional arc provenance pointing to an active margin and uplifted basement preserving the signature of a recycled provenance. This is an indication that the sandstones were derived from a magmatic arc provenance. Since magmatic provenance includes transitional arc and dissected arc, it also shows that the source area of the Ecca sediments had a secondary sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks from a marginal belt that developed as a result of rifting. The weathering diagrams and semi-quantitative weathering index indicate that the Ecca sandstones are mostly from a plutonic source area, with climatic conditions ranging from arid to humid. The compositional immaturity of the sandstones is suggested to be due to weathering or recycling and low relief or short transport from the source area. The detrital modal compositions of these sandstones are related to back arc to island and continental margin arc. The origin and deposition of the Ecca sandstones are due to low-moderate weathering, recycling of pre-existing rocks, erosion and transportation of debris from the orogeny of the Cape Fold Belt.

Keywords: petrography, tectonic setting, provenance, Ecca Group, Karoo Basin

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Authors: Minna-Maari Harmaala, Hanna Harilainen

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Estimates of the economic value of transitioning to circular economy models vary but it has been estimated to represent $1 trillion worth of new business into the global economy. In Europe alone, estimates claim that adopting circular-economy principles could not only have environmental and social benefits but also generate a net economic benefit of €1.8 trillion by 2030. Proponents of a circular economy argue that it offers a major opportunity to increase resource productivity, decrease resource dependence and waste, and increase employment and growth. A circular system could improve competitiveness and unleash innovation. Yet, most companies are not capturing these opportunities and thus the even abundant circular opportunities remain uncaptured even though they would seem inherently profitable. Service design in broad terms relates to developing an existing or a new service or service concept with emphasis and focus on the customer experience from the onset of the development process. Service design may even mean starting from scratch and co-creating the service concept entirely with the help of customer involvement. Service design methodologies provide a structured way of incorporating customer understanding and involvement in the process of designing better services with better resonance to customer needs. A business model is a depiction of how the company creates, delivers, and captures value; i.e. how it organizes its business. The process of business model development and adjustment or modification is also called business model innovation. Innovating business models has become a part of business strategy. Our hypothesis is that in addition to linear models still being easier to adopt and often with lower threshold costs, companies lack an understanding of how circular models can be adopted into their business and how customers will be willing and ready to adopt the new circular business models. In our research, we use robust service design methodology to develop circular economy solutions with two case study companies. The aim of the process is to not only develop the service concepts and portfolio, but to demonstrate the willingness to adopt circular solutions exists in the customer base. In addition to service design, we employ business model innovation methods to develop, test, and validate the new circular business models further. The results clearly indicate that amongst the customer groups there are specific customer personas that are willing to adopt and in fact are expecting the companies to take a leading role in the transition towards a circular economy. At the same time, there is a group of indifferents, to whom the idea of circularity provides no added value. In addition, the case studies clearly show what changes adoption of circular economy principles brings to the existing business model and how they can be integrated.

Keywords: business model innovation, circular economy, circular economy business models, service design

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Authors: Rogaleva Liudmila, Malkin Valery

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Physical culture lessons are considered not only to be a means of physical development of students, but a matter of their personal development. Physical culture lessons can enable to develop such qualities of students as activity and initiation, readiness to cooperate, self-confidence, ability to define and reach targets, readiness to overcome difficulties and assess their abilities (and disadvantages) properly in any precise situation as well to be responsible for their own decision. The solution of this problem is possible under the circumstance if the students aware themselves as the subject of the activity that are able to develop their possibilities. The research was aimed to learn the matters that enable female teenagers of senior forms to become strong personalities attending physical culture lessons. There were two stages of the research. At the first stage we define the interests and demands of the girls. According the results of research we changed the programme of physical culture lessons. We took into consideration values of youth subculture: youth music, preferences to sport-dancing physical activities, demand of self-determination, revealing their individualities, needs of cooperative work. At the second stage we worked out motivating technology of course. This technology was aimed to create sush conditions under which students could show themselves as the subjects of activity and self-development. The active participation sport-dance festivals during 2-3 years creates the conditions for their self-realization. 78% students of the experimental groups considered their main motives to were: the interest, developing of their abilities, the satisfaction of the achievements of targets. Control groups 67% of the students claimed the success school good marks. The girls said that due to festivals they became self-confident (94%), responsible (86%), ability to cooperate (73%), aspiration for reaching the target (68%), self-exactingness (57 %). The main factors that provide successful performance were called: efforts to reach the target (87%), mutual support and mutual understanding (77%). The research on values showed that in the experimental groups we can find increase of importance of such values as: social initiative (active life) 83%, friends (75%), self-control (73%), effectiveness in deeds (58%).

Keywords: physical culture, subject, personal development, self-determination

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Authors: Omojokun Gabriel Aju

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Communication network is a process of exchanging data between two or more devices via some forms of transmission medium using communication protocols. The data could be in form of text, images, audio, video or numbers which can be grouped into FTP, Email, HTTP, VOIP or Video applications. The effectiveness of such data exchange will be proved if they are accurately delivered within specified time. While some senders will not really mind when the data is actually received by the receiving device, inasmuch as it is acknowledged to have been received by the receiver. The time a data takes to get to a receiver could be very important to another sender, as any delay could cause serious problem or even in some cases rendered the data useless. The validity or invalidity of a data after delay will therefore definitely depend on the type of data (information). It is therefore imperative for the network device (such as router) to be able to differentiate among the packets which are time sensitive and those that are not, when they are passing through the same network. So, here is where the queuing disciplines comes to play, to handle network resources when such network is designed to service widely varying types of traffics and manage the available resources according to the configured policies. Therefore, as part of the resources allocation mechanisms, a router within the network must implement some queuing discipline that governs how packets (data) are buffered while waiting to be transmitted. The implementation of the queuing discipline will regulate how the packets are buffered while waiting to be transmitted. In achieving this, various queuing disciplines are being used to control the transmission of these packets, by determining which of the packets get the highest priority, less priority and which packets are dropped. The queuing discipline will therefore control the packets latency by determining how long a packet can wait to be transmitted or dropped. The common queuing disciplines are first-in-first-out queuing, Priority queuing and Weighted-fair queuing (FIFO, PQ and WFQ). This paper critically evaluates and analyse through the use of Optimized Network Evaluation Tool (OPNET) Modeller, Version 14.5 the effects of three queuing disciplines (FIFO, PQ and WFQ) on the performance of 5 different applications (FTP, HTTP, E-Mail, Voice and Video) within specified parameters using packets sent, packets received and transmission delay as performance metrics. The paper finally suggests some ways in which networks can be designed to provide better transmission performance while using these queuing disciplines.

Keywords: applications, first-in-first-out queuing (FIFO), optimised network evaluation tool (OPNET), packets, priority queuing (PQ), queuing discipline, weighted-fair queuing (WFQ)

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Authors: Johannes Gantner, Michael Held, Matthias Fischer

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The refurbishment of the building stock in terms of energy supply and efficiency is one of the major challenges of the German turnaround in energy policy. As the building sector accounts for 40% of Germany’s total energy demand, additional insulation is key for energy efficient refurbished buildings. Nevertheless the energetic benefits often the environmental and economic performances of insulation materials are questioned. The methods Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as well as Life Cycle Costing (LCC) can form the standardized basis for answering this doubts and more and more become important for material producers due efforts such as Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) or Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). Due to increasing use of LCA and LCC information for decision support the robustness and resilience of the results become crucial especially for support of decision and policy makers. LCA and LCC results are based on respective models which depend on technical parameters like efficiencies, material and energy demand, product output, etc.. Nevertheless, the influence of parameter uncertainties on lifecycle results are usually not considered or just studied superficially. Anyhow the effect of parameter uncertainties cannot be neglected. Based on the example of an exterior wall the overall lifecycle results are varying by a magnitude of more than three. As a result simple best case worst case analyses used in practice are not sufficient. These analyses allow for a first rude view on the results but are not taking effects into account such as error propagation. Thereby LCA practitioners cannot provide further guidance for decision makers. Probabilistic analyses enable LCA practitioners to gain deeper understanding of the LCA and LCC results and provide a better decision support. Within this study, the environmental and economic impacts of an exterior wall system over its whole lifecycle are illustrated, and the effect of different uncertainty analysis on the interpretation in terms of resilience and robustness are shown. Hereby the approaches of error propagation and Monte Carlo Simulations are applied and combined with statistical methods in order to allow for a deeper understanding and interpretation. All in all this study emphasis the need for a deeper and more detailed probabilistic evaluation based on statistical methods. Just by this, misleading interpretations can be avoided, and the results can be used for resilient and robust decisions.

Keywords: uncertainty, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Malihe Aliasgari, Yousef Nejatbakhsh

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The era of Big Data and the immensity of real-life datasets compels computation tasks to be performed in a distributed fashion, where the data is dispersed among many servers that operate in parallel. However, massive parallelization leads to computational bottlenecks due to faulty servers and stragglers. Stragglers refer to a few slow or delay-prone processors that can bottleneck the entire computation because one has to wait for all the parallel nodes to finish. The problem of straggling processors, has been well studied in the context of distributed computing. Recently, it has been pointed out that, for the important case of linear functions, it is possible to improve over repetition strategies in terms of the tradeoff between performance and latency by carrying out linear precoding of the data prior to processing. The key idea is that, by employing suitable linear codes operating over fractions of the original data, a function may be completed as soon as enough number of processors, depending on the minimum distance of the code, have completed their operations. The problem of matrix-matrix multiplication in the presence of practically big sized of data sets faced with computational and memory related difficulties, which makes such operations are carried out using distributed computing platforms. In this work, we study the problem of distributed matrix-matrix multiplication W = XY under storage constraints, i.e., when each server is allowed to store a fixed fraction of each of the matrices X and Y, which is a fundamental building of many science and engineering fields such as machine learning, image and signal processing, wireless communication, optimization. Non-secure and secure matrix multiplication are studied. We want to study the setup, in which the identity of the matrix of interest should be kept private from the workers and then obtain the recovery threshold of the colluding model, that is, the number of workers that need to complete their task before the master server can recover the product W. The problem of secure and private distributed matrix multiplication W = XY which the matrix X is confidential, while matrix Y is selected in a private manner from a library of public matrices. We present the best currently known trade-off between communication load and recovery threshold. On the other words, we design an achievable PSGPD scheme for any arbitrary privacy level by trivially concatenating a robust PIR scheme for arbitrary colluding workers and private databases and the proposed SGPD code that provides a smaller computational complexity at the workers.

Keywords: coded distributed computation, private information retrieval, secret sharing, stragglers

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Authors: Mesbah Tarek, Kelaiaia Samia, Chiheb Sofien, Kelaiaia Mounia Samira, Labar Hocine

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As every power systems short circuit failure can occur for HVDC at the DC link. So, the power devices should be protected against over heath produced by this over-current. This can be achieved through the power switchers or fast breaker. After short circuit the system is unable to restart, only after a time delay, because of the potential distribution along the DC link line. An appropriate fast and safety control is proposed and tested successfully. The detailed development and discussion of these faults is presented in this paper.

Keywords: HVDC, DC link, switchers, short circuit, faults

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Authors: Masimuddin Mohd Khaled

Abstract:

This paper subsidizes to the discussion of Six Sigma in the Aerospace Industry. The main aim of this report is to study the literature review of Six Sigma emphasizing on the aerospace industry. The implementation of Six Sigma stages are studied and how the improvement cycle ‘Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control cycle’ (DMAIC) and the design process is ‘Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify Cycle’ (DMADV) is used. The focus is also done by studying how the implementation of Six Sigma on an aerospace company has brought a positive effect to the company.

Keywords: six sigma, DMAIC, DMADV, aerospace

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Authors: Michely Vargas Delpupo, José Geraldo Romanello Bueno

Abstract:

The right to basic sanitation, was elevated to the category of fundamental right by the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 to protect the ecologically balanced environment, ensuring social rights to health and adequate housing warranting dignity of the human person as a principle of the Brazilian Democratic State. Because of their essentiality to the Brazilian population, this article seeks to understand why universal access to basic sanitation is a goal so difficult to achieve in Brazil. Therefore, this research uses the deductive and analytical method. Given the nature of the research literature, research techniques were centered in specialized books on the subject, journals, theses and dissertations, laws, relevant law case and raising social indicators relating to the theme. The relevance of the topic stems, among other things, the fact that sanitation services are essential for a dignified life, i.e. everyone is entitled to the maintenance of the necessary existence conditions are satisfied. However, the effectiveness of this right is undermined in society, since Brazil has huge deficit in sanitation services, denying thus a worthy life to most of the population. Thus, it can be seen that the provision of water and sewage services in Brazil is still characterized by a large imbalance, since the municipalities with lower population index have greater disability in the sanitation service. The truth is that the precariousness of water and sewage services in Brazil is still very concentrated in the North and Northeast regions, limiting the effective implementation of the Law 11.445/2007 in the country. Therefore, there is urgent need for a positive service by the State in the provision of sanitation services in order to prevent and control disease, improve quality of life and productivity of individuals, besides preventing contamination of water resources. More than just social and economic necessity, there is even a an obligation of the government to implement such services. In this sense, given the current scenario, to achieve universal access to basic sanitation imposes many hurdles. These are mainly in the field of properly formulated and implemented public policies, i.e. it requires an excellent institutional organization, management services, strategic planning, social control, in order to provide answers to complex challenges.

Keywords: fundamental rights, health, sanitation, universal access

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Authors: Zhen Ye, Maryam Zaroudi, Elizabeth Aisenbrey, Nicolynn E. Davis, Peng Gao

Abstract:

Nanoparticles have been used as drug delivery systems in the treatment of life-threatening diseases for decades, but traditional formulation development methods are time consuming and labor intensive. Millipore Sigma has developed a platform¬¬– NanoFabTxTM¬¬– for rapid and reproducible formulation development and screening to ensure consistentnanoparticle characteristics. Reproducible and precise control of the development process for a range of nanoparticle formulations accelerates the introduction of novel formulations to the clinic.

Keywords: Bio platform, Formulation development, NanoFabTxTM, Drug delivery

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Authors: Lito M. Amit, Venecio U. Ultra, Young-Woong Song

Abstract:

The business process outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines is expanding rapidly attracting more than 2% of total employment. Currently, the BPO industry is confronted with several issues pertaining to sustainable productivity such as meeting the staffing gap, high rate of employees’ turnover and workforce retention, and the occupational health and safety (OHS) of call center agents. We conducted a survey of OHS programs and health concerns among call center agents in the Philippines and determined the sociocultural factors that affect the vulnerability of call center agents to occupational health risks and hazards. The majority of the agents affirmed that OHS are implemented and OHS orientation and emergency procedures were conducted at employment initiations, perceived favorable and convenient working environment except for occasional noise disturbances and acoustic shock, visual, and voice fatigues. Male agents can easily adjust to the demands and changes in their work environment and flexible work schedules than female agents. Female agents have a higher tendency to be pressured and humiliated by low work performance, experience a higher incidence of emotional abuse, psychological abuse, and experience more physical stress than male agents. The majority of the call center agents had a night-shift schedule and regardless of other factors, night shift work brings higher stress to agents. While working in a call center, higher incidence of headaches and insomnia, burnout, suppressed anger, anxiety, and depressions were experienced by female, younger (21-25 years old) and those at night shift than their counterpart. Most common musculoskeletal disorders include body pain in the neck, shoulders and back; and hand and wrist disorders and these are commonly experienced by female and younger workers. About 30% experienced symptoms of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disorders and weakened immune systems. Overall, these findings have shown the variable vulnerability by a different subpopulation of call center agents and are important in the occupational health risk prevention and management towards a sustainable human resource for BPO industry in the Philippines.

Keywords: business process outsourcing industry, health risk of call center agents, socio-cultural determinants, Philippines

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Authors: Muhammad Tanveer Altaf, Mehmet Bedir, Waqas Liaqat, Gönül Cömertpay, Volkan Çatalkaya, Celaluddin Barutçular, Nergiz Çoban, Ibrahim Cerit, Muhammad Azhar Nadeem, Tolga Karaköy, Faheem Shehzad Baloch

Abstract:

Food production needs to be almost double by 2050 in order to feed around 9 billion people around the Globe. Plant production mostly relies on fertilizers, which also have one of the main roles in environmental pollution. In addition to this, climatic conditions are unpredictable, and the earth is expected to face severe drought conditions in the future. Therefore, water and fertilizers, especially nitrogen are considered as main constraints for future food security. To face these challenges, developing integrative approaches for germplasm characterization and selecting the resilient genotypes performing under limiting conditions is very crucial for effective breeding to meet the food requirement under climatic change scenarios. This study is part of the European Research Area Network (ERANET) project for the characterization of the diversity panel of 172 sorghum accessions and six hybrids as control cultivars under limiting (+N/-H2O, -N/+H2O) and non-limiting conditions (+N+H2O). This study was planned to characterize the sorghum diversity in relation to resource Use Efficiency (RUE), with special attention on harnessing the interaction between genotype and environment (GxE) from a physiological and agronomic perspective. Experiments were conducted at Adana, a Mediterranean climate, with augmented design, and data on various agronomic and physiological parameters were recorded. Plentiful diversity was observed in the sorghum diversity panel and significant variations were seen among the limiting water and nitrogen conditions in comparison with the control experiment. Potential genotypes with the best performance are identified under limiting conditions. Whole genome resequencing was performed for whole germplasm under investigation for diversity analysis. GWAS analysis will be performed using genotypic and phenotypic data and linked markers will be identified. The results of this study will show the adaptation and improvement of sorghum under climate change conditions for future food security.

Keywords: germplasm, sorghum, drought, nitrogen, resources use efficiency, sequencing

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Authors: Najmeh Hoseini

Abstract:

Strokerecovery happens through neuroplasticity, which is highly influenced by the environment, including neuro-rehabilitation. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance recovery by modulating neuroplasticity. With tDCS, weak direct currents are applied noninvasively to modify excitability in the cortical areas under its electrodes. Combined with functional activities, this may facilitate motor recovery in neurologic disorders such as stroke. The purpose of this case study was to examine the effect of tDCS combined with 30 minutes of traditional physical therapy (PT)on arm function following a stroke. A 29-year-old male with chronic stroke involving the left middle cerebral artery territory went through the treatment protocol. Design The design included 5 weeks of treatment: 1 week of traditional PT, 2 weeks of sham tDCS combined with traditional PT, and 2 weeks of tDCS combined with traditional PT. PT included functional electrical stimulation (FES) of wrist extensors followed by task-specific functional training. Dual hemispheric tDCS with 1 mA intensity was applied on the sensorimotor cortices for the first 20 min of the treatment combined with FES. Assessments before and after each treatment block included Modified Ashworth Scale, ChedokeMcmaster Arm and Hand inventory, Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), and the Box and Blocks Test. Results showed reduced spasticity in elbow and wrist flexors only after tDCS combination weeks (+1 to 0). The patient demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in gross motor and fine motor control over the duration of the study; however, components of the ARAT that require fine motor control improved the greatest during the experimental block. Average time improvement compared to baseline was26.29 s for tDCS combination weeks, 18.48 s for sham tDCS, and 6.83 for PT standard of care weeks. Combining dual hemispheric tDCS with the standard of care PT demonstrated improvements in hand dexterity greater than PT alone in this patient case.

Keywords: tDCS, stroke, case study, physical therapy

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Authors: M. Saba, A. Iaaly, E. Carlier, N. Georges

Abstract:

This research focuses on assessing the ground water quality of Northern Lebanon affected by saline water intrusion. The chemical, physical and microbiological parameters were collected in various seasons spanning over the period of two years. Results were assessed using Geographic Information System (GIS) due to its visual capabilities in presenting the pollution extent in the studied region. Future projections of the excessive pumping were also simulated using GIS in order to assess the extent of the problem of saline intrusion in the near future.

Keywords: GIS, saline water, quality control, drinkable water quality standards, pumping

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Authors: Mohaammad Ahmadpanah, Amineh Akhondi, Mohammad Haghighi, Ali Ghaleiha, Leila Jahangard, Elham Salari

Abstract:

Background: Working memory includes the capability to keep and manipulate information in a short period of time. This capability is the basis of complicated judgments and has been attended to as the specific and constant character of individuals. Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity are among the people suffering from deficiency in the active memory, and this deficiency has been attributed to the problem of frontal lobe. This study utilizes a new approach with suitable tasks and methods for training active memory and assessment of the effects of the trainings. Participants: The children participating in this study were of 7-15 year age, who were diagnosed by the psychiatrist and psychologist as hyperactive and attention deficit based on DSM-IV criteria. The intervention group was consisted of 8 boys and 6 girls with the average age of 11 years and standard deviation of 2, and the control group was consisted of 2 girls and 5 boys with an average age of 11.4 and standard deviation of 3. Three children in the test group and two in the control group were under medicinal therapy. Results: Working memory training meaningfully improved the performance in not-trained areas as visual-spatial working memory as well as the performance in Raven progressive tests which are a perfect example of non-verbal, complicated reasoning tasks. In addition, motional activities – measured based on the number of head movements during computerized measuring program – was meaningfully reduced in the medication group. The results of the second test showed that training similar exercise to teenagers and adults results in the improvement of cognition functions, as in hyperactive people. Discussion: The results of this study showed that the performance of working memory is improved through training, and these trainings are extended and generalized in other areas of cognition functions not receiving any training. Trainings resulted in the improvement of performance in the tasks related to prefrontal. They had also a positive and meaningful impact on the moving activities of hyperactive children.

Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, working memory, non-medical treatment, children

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Authors: Azzaya Enkhjargal

Abstract:

Context: The mining industry has a long history of human rights abuses, including forced labor, environmental pollution, and displacement of communities. In recent years, there has been growing international pressure to hold mining companies accountable for these abuses. Research Aim: This study explores the legal liabilities of mining companies for human rights abuses. The study specifically examines the case of Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC), a large mining company in Mongolia that has been accused of human rights abuses. Methodology: The study used a mixed-methods approach, which included a review of legal literature, interviews with community members and NGOs, and a case study of EMC. Findings: The study found that mining companies can be held liable for human rights abuses under a variety of regulatory frameworks, including soft law and self-regulatory instruments in the mining industry, international law, national law, and corporate law. The study also found that there are a number of challenges to holding mining companies accountable for human rights abuses, including the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms and the difficulty of proving causation. Theoretical Importance: The study contributes to the growing body of literature on the legal liabilities of mining companies for human rights abuses. The study also provides insights into the challenges of holding mining companies accountable for human rights abuses. Data Collection: The data for the study was collected through a variety of methods, including a review of legal literature, interviews with community members and NGOs, and a case study of EMC. Analysis Procedures: The data was analyzed using a variety of methods, including content analysis, thematic analysis, and case study analysis. Conclusion: The study concludes that mining companies can be held liable for human rights abuses under a variety of legal and regulatory frameworks. There are positive developments in ensuring greater accountability and protection of affected communities and the environment in countries with a strong economy. Regrettably, access to avenues of redress is reasonably low in less developed countries, where the governments have not implemented a robust mechanism to enforce liability requirements in the mining industry. The study recommends that governments and mining companies take more ambitious steps to enhance corporate accountability.

Keywords: human rights, human rights abuses, ESG, litigation, Erdenet Mining Corporation, corporate social responsibility, soft law, self-regulation, mining industry, parent company liability, sustainability, environment, UN

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Authors: Leila Maleki, Ezatollah Ahmadi

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of memory training exercise on cognitive flexibility. The method of this study was experimental. The statistical population selected 40 students 14 years old, samples were chosen by available sampling method and then they were replaced in experimental (training program) group and control group randomly and answered to Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; covariance test results indicated that there were a significant in post-test scores of experimental group (p<0.005).

Keywords: cognitive flexibility, working memory exercises, problem solving, reaction time

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Authors: Mohammad Hadi Khorashadi Zadeh, Amin Karkon, Seyd Mohammad Reza Mashhoori ‎

Abstract:

the technology of Computer audit played a major role in the progress and ‎prospects of a proper application to improve the quality and efficiency of audit ‎work. But due to the technical complexity and the specific risks of computer ‎audit, it should be shown effective in audit and preventive action. Mainly through ‎research in this paper, we proposes the causes of audit risk in a computer ‎environment and the risk of further proposals for measures to control, to some ‎extent reduce the risk of computer audit and improve the audit quality.‎

Keywords: computer auditing, risk, measures to prevent, information technology

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Authors: Mohammad Nasb, Muhammad Rehan, Chen Hong

Abstract:

Background Meniscus defects critically alter knee function and lead to degenerative changes. Regenerative medicine applications including stem cell transplantation have showed a promising efficacy in finding alternatives to overcome traditional treatment limitations. However, stem cell therapy remains limited due to the substantially reduced viability and inhibitory microenvironment. Since tissue growth and repair are under the control of biochemical and mechanical signals, several approaches have recently been investigated (e.g., low intensity pulsed ultrasound [LIPUS]) to promote the regeneration process. This study employed LIPUS to improve growth and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human embryonic stem cells to improve the regeneration of meniscus tissue. Methodology: The Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) were transplanted into the epicenter of the injured meniscus in rabbits, which were randomized into two main groups: a treatment group (n=32 New Zealand rabbits) including 4 subgroups of 8 rabbits in each subgroup (LIPUS treatment, MSC treatment, LIPUS with MSC and control), and a second group (n=9) to track implanted cells and their progeny using green fluorescence protein (GFP). GFP consists of the MSC and LIPUS-MSC combination subgroups. Rabbits were then subjected to histological, immunohistochemistry, and MRI assessment. Results: The quantity of the newly regenerated tissue in the combination treatment group that had Ultrasound irradiation after mesenchymal stem cells were better at all end points. Likewise, Tissue quality scores were also greater in knees treated with both approaches compared with controls and single treatment at all end points, achieving significance at twelve and twenty-four weeks [p < 0.05], and [p = 0.008] at twelve weeks. Differentiation into type-I and II collagen-expressing cells were higher in the combination group at up to twenty-four weeks. Conclusions: the combination of mesenchymal stem cells and LIPUS showed greater adhering to the sites of meniscus injury, differentiate into cells resembling meniscal fibrochondrocytes, and improve both quality and quantity of meniscal regeneration.

Keywords: stem cells, regenerative medicine, osteoarthritis, knee

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