Search results for: treatment function

Authors: Eun Jung Sohn, Hwan Tae Park

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Autophagy is a cellular response to stress or environment on cell survival. Here, we investigated the role of ectopic expression of miR 200c-3p in autophagy. Ectopic expression of miR 200c-3p increased the expression of IRE1alpha, ATF6 and CHOP by western blot and RT-qPCR. Furthermore, the level of microRNA 200c-3p was enhanced by treatment of TG or overexpression of GRP 78. Also, ectopic expression of miR200c-3p increased the LC3 II expression by western blot and RT-qPCR. Also, we found that western blot assay showed that miR200c-3p inhibitor was blocked the starvation–induced LC3II levels. Furthermore, starvation stress increased the level of miR200c-3p in different kinetics. Ectopic expression of miR200c-3p attenuated LC3II expression in IRE1 siRNA transfected PC3 cells. Here, we first demonstrate that miR200c-3p regulates autophagy via ER stress pathway.

Keywords: Autophagy, ER stress, LC3II, miR200c-3p

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Eun-Seop Kim, Eun-Ha Jang, Rana R. Kim, Sae-Byul Jang

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Objective: Preterm labor is the most common antecedent of preterm birth(PTB), which is characterized by regular uterine contraction before 37 weeks of pregnancy and cervical change. In acute preterm labor, tocolytics are administered as the first-line medication to suppress uterine contractions but rarely delay pregnancy to 37 weeks of gestation. On the other hand, according to the Korean Traditional Medicine, PTB is caused by the deficiency of Qi and unnecessary energy in the body of the mother. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the benefit of Traditional Korean Medicine as an adjuvant therapy in management of early uterine contractions and the prevention of PTB. Methods: It is a case report of a 38-year-old woman (0-0-6-0) hospitalized for irregular uterine contractions and cervical change at 33+3/7 weeks of gestation. Past history includes chemical pregnancies achieved by Artificial Rroductive Technology(ART), one stillbirth (at 7 weeks) and a laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis. After seven trials of IVF and articificial insemination, she had succeeded in conception via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with help of Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) treatments. Due to irregular uterine contractions and cervical changes, 2 TKM were prescribed: Gami-Dangguisan, and Antae-eum, known to nourish blood and clear away heat. 120ml of Gami-Dangguisan was given twice a day monring and evening along with same amount of Antae-eum once a day from 31 August 2013 to 28 November 2013. Tocolytics (Ritodrine) was administered as a first aid for maintenance of pregnancy. Information regarding progress until the delivery was collected during the patient’s visit. Results: On admission, the cervix of 15mm in length and cervical os with 0.5cm-dilated were observed via ultrasonography. 50% cervical effacement was also detected in physical examination. Tocolysis had been temporarily maintained. As a supportive therapy, TKM herbal preparations(gami-dangguisan and Antae-eum) were concomitantly given. As of 34+2/7 weeks of gestation, however intermittent uterine contractions appeared (5-12min) on cardiotocography and vaginal bleeding was also smeared at 34+3/7 weeks. However, enhanced tocolytics and continuous administration of herbal medicine sustained the pregnancy to term. At 37+2/7 weeks, no sign of labor with restored cervical length was confirmed. The woman gave a term birth to a healthy infant via vaginal delivery at 39+3/7 gestational weeks. Conclusions: This is the first successful case report about a preter labor patient administered with conventional tocolytic agents as well as TKM herbal decoctions, delaying delivery to term. This case deserves attention considering it is rare to maintain gestation to term only with tocolytic intervention. Our report implies the potential of herbal medicine as an adjuvant therapy for preterm labor treatment. Further studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of TKM herbal medicine as a therapeutic alternative for curing preterm birth.

Keywords: preterm labor, traditional Korean medicine, herbal medicine, integrative treatment, complementary and alternative medicine

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Authors: Mohamed M. A. Abumandour, Neveen E. R. El-Bakary

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The present work performed on the six tongues of African Beauty snake (Psammophis sibilans) that were obtained immediately after their catching, from agricultural fields, Desouk city, Kafrelsheikh Governorate, Egypt. These collected snakes should be from any oral abnormalities or injuries. The lingual surface of the Psammophis sibilans was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface of the bifurcated apex was smoother than the lingual body. The median lingual sulcus was deep and contained a number of the taste pores. By the high magnification of SEM of each part of a bifurcated area of the lingual apex have numerous taste buds and no lingual papillae were observed. A few numbers of papillae were observed in the lingual body. The microridges and microvilli distributed in the lingual body helped in spreading of mucus over the epithelial surface. Taste pores and papillae in the tongue indicate the presence of a direct chemo-sensory function for the tongue of these snakes as the chemicals dissolved in the mucus then transferred to Jacobson organ. To conclude, the bifurcation appearance of the snake lingual tip act as a chemical or edge detector help in the process named chemo-mechano-reception.

Keywords: African beauty snake, taste buds, taste pores, tongue, papillae

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Authors: Martin Doran, Roy Sterritt, George Wilkie

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The majority of today’s mobile robots are very dependent on battery power. Mobile robots can operate untethered for a number of hours but eventually they will need to recharge their batteries in-order to continue to function. While computer processing and sensors have become cheaper and more powerful each year, battery development has progress very little. They are slow to re-charge, inefficient and lagging behind in the general progression of robotic development we see today. However, batteries are relatively cheap and when fully charged, can supply high power output necessary for operating heavy mobile robots. As there are no cheap alternatives to batteries, we need to find efficient ways to manage the power that batteries provide during their operational lifetime. This paper proposes the use of autonomic principles of self-adaption to address the behavioral changes a battery experiences as it gets older. In life, as we get older, we cannot perform tasks in the same way as we did in our youth; these tasks generally take longer to perform and require more of our energy to complete. Batteries also suffer from a form of degradation. As a battery gets older, it loses the ability to retain the same charge capacity it would have when brand new. This paper investigates how we can adapt the current state of a battery charge and cycle count, to the requirements of a mobile robot to perform its tasks.

Keywords: autonomic, self-adaptive, self-optimising, degradation

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Authors: Rungpansa Noichan, Bart Julian Dewancker

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The conservation and regeneration of historical industrial building is one of the most important issues to be solved in today’s urban development in the world. There are growing numbers of industrial building in which promoting heritage conservation maybe a helpful tool for a sustainable city in social, urban restructuring, environmental and economic component. This paper identifies the key attributes of conservation and regeneration industrial building from the literature, were discussed by reviewing its development at home and abroad. The authors have investigated 93 industrial buildings, which were used as industrial building before and reused into buildings with another function afterward. The data to be discussed below were mainly collected from various publications but also from available internet sources. This study focuses on green transformation, historical culture heritage, transformation techniques, and urban regeneration based on the empirical researches on the historical industrial building and site. Moreover, we focus on social, urban environment and sustainable development. The implications of the study provide suggestions for future improvements in the conservation and regeneration of historical industrial building, and inspire new ways of use, so the building becomes flexible and can consequently be adaptable to changes in order to survive time. Therefore, the building does not take into account only its future impact in the environment and society. Instead, it focuses on its entire life cycle.

Keywords: industrial building, heritage conservation, green transformation, regeneration, sustainable development

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Authors: Tripatjot S. Panag, J. S. Dhillon

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The lifetime of a wireless sensor network can be effectively increased by using scheduling operations. Once the sensors are randomly deployed, the task at hand is to find the largest number of disjoint sets of sensors such that every sensor set provides complete coverage of the target area. At any instant, only one of these disjoint sets is switched on, while all other are switched off. This paper proposes a heuristic search method to find the maximum number of disjoint sets that completely cover the region. A population of randomly initialized members is made to explore the solution space. A set of heuristics has been applied to guide the members to a possible solution in their neighborhood. The heuristics escalate the convergence of the algorithm. The best solution explored by the population is recorded and is continuously updated. The proposed algorithm has been tested for applications which require sensing of multiple target points, referred to as point coverage applications. Results show that the proposed algorithm outclasses the existing algorithms. It always finds the optimum solution, and that too by making fewer number of fitness function evaluations than the existing approaches.

Keywords: coverage, disjoint sets, heuristic, lifetime, scheduling, Wireless sensor networks, WSN

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Authors: Feng Zhang, Li Chen, Desong Kong, Xiaoping Zhang, Xiaojing Zhu, Yin Lu, Shizhong Zheng

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Sinusoidal pathological angiogenesis is a novel therapeutic target for liver fibrosis. We demonstrated that curcumin ameliorated fibrotic injury and sinusoidal angiogenesis in rat liver with fibrosis caused by carbon tetrachloride. Curcumin reduced the expression of angiogenic markers in fibrotic liver. Experiments in vitro showed that the viability and vascularization of rat liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) were not impaired by curcumin. Further investigations showed that curcumin inhibited VEGF expression in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) by disrupting PDGF-βR/ERK and mTOR pathways. HSC motility and vascularization were also suppressed by curcumin via blocking PDGF-βR/FAK/RhoA cascade. Gain- or loss-of-function analyses revealed that activation of PPARγ was required for curcumin to inhibit angiogenic properties of HSCs. We concluded that curcumin attenuated sinusoidal angiogenesis in liver fibrosis possibly by targeting HSCs via a PPARγ activation-dependent mechanism. PPARγ could be a target molecule for reducing pathological angiogenesis during liver fibrosis.

Keywords: angiogenesis, hepatic stellate cell, curcumin, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ

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Authors: Saeed Ghali, Hoda El-Faramawy, Mamdouh Eissa, Michael Mishreky

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Scale-resistant austenitic stainless steel, X45CrNiW 18-9, has been developed, and modified steels produced through partial and total nickel replacement by nitrogen. These modified steels were produced in a 10 kg induction furnace under different nitrogen pressures and were cast into ingots. The produced modified stainless steels were forged, followed by air cooling. The phases of modified stainless steels have been investigated using the Schaeffler diagram, dilatometer, and microstructure observations. Both partial and total replacement of nickel using 0.33-0.50% nitrogen are effective in producing fully austenitic stainless steels. The nitrogen contents were determined and compared with those calculated using the Institute of Metal Science (IMS) equation. The results showed great deviations between the actual nitrogen contents and predicted values through IMS equation. So, an equation has been derived based on chemical composition, pressure, and temperature at 1600oC. [N%] = 0.0078 + 0.0406*X, where X is a function of chemical composition and nitrogen pressure. The derived equation has been used to calculate the nitrogen content of different steels using published data. The results reveal the difficulty of deriving a general equation for the prediction of nitrogen content covering different steel compositions. So, it is necessary to use a narrow composition range.

Keywords: solubility, nitrogen, stainless steel, Schaeffler

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Authors: Mohammad Ruhul Amin, Nusrat Jahan

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Natural gas is a cleaner fuel compared to the others. But it needs some treatment before it is in a state to be used. So natural gas purification is an integral part of any process where natural gas is used as raw material or fuel. There are several impurities in natural gas that have to be removed before use. CO2 is one of the major contaminants. In this project we have removed CO2 by amine process by using MEA solution. We have built up the whole amine process for removing CO2 in Aspen Hysys and simulated the process. At the end of simulation we have got very satisfactory results by using MEA solution for the removal of CO2. Simulation result shows that amine absorption process enables to reduce CO2 content from NG by 58%. HYSYS optimizer allowed us to get a perfect optimized plant. After optimization the profit of existing plant is increased by 2.34 %.Simulation and optimization by Aspen-HYSYS simulator makes available us to enormous information which will help us to further research in future.

Keywords: Aspen–Hysys, CO2 removal, flowsheet development, MEA solution, natural gas optimization

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Authors: Samy Madbouly

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The relaxation behavior of biorenewable castor oil-based polyurethane-lignin thin films synthesized in homogenous waterborne dispersions was investigated as a function of concentration at different temperatures and frequencies using broadband dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (BDRS). The molecular dynamics of the glass relaxation process and the local relaxation process of the PU-LS thin films were studied over a wide range of temperatures (-70 to 30 ℃) and frequencies (5 × 10−2 to 0.5 × 107 Hz) for different lignin concentration. Four relaxation processes have been observed namely; ?-, β-, γ-relaxations and ionic conductivity for pure castor oil-based PU and castor oil-lignin-based PU thin films at different temperatures and frequencies ranges. The Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann equation was found to be well described the temperature dependence of the characteristic relaxation times of the ?-relaxation process. However, on the other hand, the molecular dynamics of both β- and γ-relaxation processes were given by the Arrhenius equation. The incorporation of lignin into the castor oil-based PU significantly increased the glass transition temperature and primitivity of the thin films. In addition, the broadness, intensity, and molecular dynamics of the only observed ?-relaxation process were found to be strongly dependent on lignin concentration.

Keywords: castor oil, lignin, polyurethane, dielectric, dispersions

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Authors: M. S. Gadala, Khaled Ahmed, Elasadig Mahdi

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In this paper, we introduced a gradient-based inverse solver to obtain the missing boundary conditions based on the readings of internal thermocouples. The results show that the method is very sensitive to measurement errors, and becomes unstable when small time steps are used. The artificial neural networks are shown to be capable of capturing the whole thermal history on the run-out table, but are not very effective in restoring the detailed behavior of the boundary conditions. Also, they behave poorly in nonlinear cases and where the boundary condition profile is different. GA and PSO are more effective in finding a detailed representation of the time-varying boundary conditions, as well as in nonlinear cases. However, their convergence takes longer. A variation of the basic PSO, called CRPSO, showed the best performance among the three versions. Also, PSO proved to be effective in handling noisy data, especially when its performance parameters were tuned. An increase in the self-confidence parameter was also found to be effective, as it increased the global search capabilities of the algorithm. RPSO was the most effective variation in dealing with noise, closely followed by CRPSO. The latter variation is recommended for inverse heat conduction problems, as it combines the efficiency and effectiveness required by these problems.

Keywords: inverse analysis, function specification, neural net works, particle swarm, run-out table

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Authors: Chao Wu

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Thioredoxin reductase 2 is a mitochondrial enzyme that belongs to the cellular defense against oxidative stress. We deleted mitochondrial Txnrd2 in a KrasG12D-driven pancreatic tumor model. Despite an initial increase in precursor lesions, tumor incidence decreased significantly. We isolated cancer cell lines from these genetically engineered mice and observed an impaired proliferation and colony formation. Reactive Oxygen Species, as determined by DCF fluorescence, were increased. We detected a higher mitochondrial copy number in Txnrd2-deficient cells (KTP). However, measurement of mitochondrial bioenergetics showed no impairment of mitochondrial function and comparable O₂-consumption and extracellular acidification rates. In addition, the mitochondrial complex composition was affected in Txnrd2 deleted cell lines. To gain better insight into the role of Txnrd2, we deleted Txnrd2 in clones from parental KrasG12D cell lines using Crispr/Cas9 technology. The deletion was confirmed by western blot and activity assay. Interestingly, and in line with previous RNA expression analysis, we saw changes in EMT markers in Txnrd2 deleted cell lines and control cell lines. This might help us explain the reduced tumor incidence in KrasG12D; Txnrd2∆panc mice.

Keywords: PDAC, TXNRD2, epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition, ROS

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Authors: Sathyamangalam Rangasamy Guru Prasath

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Due to the increasing homogeneity in product offerings, the attendant services provided are emerging as a key differentiator in the mind of the consumers. Services marketing are a sub field of marketing which covers the marketing of both goods and services. Service marketing differs from product marketing due to the face that services are intangible and typically require personal interaction with the customer. Relationships are a key factor when it comes to the marketing of services. The role of interpersonal relationships distinguishes service and product marketing in strategic vision and organizational considerations. This paper explores some of the trends in service marketing as they relate to strategic vision, operational and organizational changes, and marketing tactics. The presence of the customer in the service facility means that capacity management becomes an important driver of the firm’s profitability service marketing is a process from the organization’s point of view, but an experience from the customer’s perspective. The quality of the experience is a function of the careful design of customer service processes, adoption of standardized procedures, rigorous management of service quality, high standards of training and automation. Services marketing helps to ensure that these processes are designed from the customer’s perspective. Services marketing includes customer loyalty, managing relationships, complaint handling, improving service quality and productivity of service operations, and how to become a service leader in your industry.

Keywords: customer perspective, product marketing, service marketing, rigorous management

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Sung Duk Kim, Kwan U. Kim, Jin Sim, Ryong Jin Jang

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The phenomenon of seasonal variations in the Earth’s rotation velocity was discovered in the 1930s when a crystal clock was developed and analyzed in a quantitative way for the first time between 1955 and 1968 when observation data of the seasonal variations was analyzed by an atomic clock. According to the previous investigation, atmospheric circulation is supposed to be a factor affecting the seasonal variations in the Earth’s rotation velocity in many cases, but the problem has not been solved yet. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to apply dynamics to consider the Earth’s spatial motion, rotation, and change of shape of the Earth (movement of materials in and out of the Earth and change of the Earth’s figure) at the same time and in interrelation to the accuracy of post-Newtonian approximation regarding the Earth body as a system of mass points because the stability of the Earth’s rotation angular velocity is in the range of 10⁻⁸~10⁻⁹. For it, the equation was derived, which can consider the 3 kinds of motion above mentioned at the same time by taking the effect of the resultant external force on the Earth’s rotation into account in a relativistic way to the accuracy of post-Newtonian approximation. Therefore, the equation has been solved to obtain the theoretical values of periodic change in the Earth’s rotation velocity, and they have been compared with the astronomical observation data so to reveal the cause for the periodic change in the Earth’s rotation velocity.

Keywords: Earth rotation, moment function, periodic change, seasonal variation, relativistic change

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Authors: Izzudin Busnaina

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An important question for marketers in the international arena is whether the consumer’s responses (i.e., sentiment and behavioral aspects) toward the global marketing programs in developing countries depend on culture. In a study representing a large sample of consumers and four different home appliances country-of-origin global operators in Libya, the author explores the potential role of culture on Arab consumers' responses toward foreign marketing programs. Results indicate that although the foreign companies have a tendency to adopted standardization perspective, this does not impact on consumers’ responses in a single cultural context toward marketing. The findings reveal that buying behavior was more a function of individual difference than of national cultural context. Further, the results suggest that for mainstream home appliances, segmenting on the basis of nationality is probably unnecessary and that a standardized approach would likely be successful across an increasingly relevant Arab world; and that continuing perceptions of Arab insularity are likely to be misplaced. Faced with the effectiveness of globally efficient marketing programs, local manufacturers would need to work hard to identify particular niche segments where a culturally-specific appeal might be more successful.

Keywords: arab world, buyer’s characteristics, consumer behavior, home appliances, marketing program

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Authors: Kernou Nassim

Abstract:

The current study presents a vulnerability and a reliability-mechanical approach that focuses on evaluating the seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures to determine the probability of failure. In this case, the performance function reflecting the non-linear behavior of the structure is modeled by a response surface to establish an analytical relationship between the random variables (strength of concrete and yield strength of steel) and mechanical responses of the structure (inter-floor displacement) obtained by the pushover results of finite element simulations. The push over-analysis is executed by software SAP2000. The results acquired prove that properly designed frames will perform well under seismic loads. It is a comparative study of the behavior of the existing structure before and after reinforcement using the pushover method. The coupling indirect mechanical reliability by response surface avoids prohibitive calculation times. Finally, the results of the proposed approach are compared with Monte Carlo Simulation. The comparative study shows that the structure is more reliable after the introduction of new shear walls.

Keywords: finite element method, surface response, reliability, reliability mechanical coupling, vulnerability

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Authors: Ketankumar Gandabhai Patel, Jalpit Balvantkumar Prajapati

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Plate type heat exchangers has many thin plates that are slightly apart and have very large surface areas and fluid flow passages that are good for heat transfer. This can be a more effective heat exchanger than the tube or shell heat exchanger due to advances in brazing and gasket technology that have made this plate exchanger more practical. Plate type heat exchangers are most widely used in food processing industries and dairy industries. Mostly fouling occurs in plate type heat exchanger due to deposits create an insulating layer over the surface of the heat exchanger, that decreases the heat transfer between fluids and increases the pressure drop. The pressure drop increases as a result of the narrowing of the flow area, which increases the gap velocity. Therefore, the thermal performance of the heat exchanger decreases with time, resulting in an undersized heat exchanger and causing the process efficiency to be reduced. Heat exchangers are often over sized by 70 to 80%, of which 30 % to 50% is assigned to fouling. The fouling can be reduced by varying some geometric parameters and flow parameters. Based on the study, a correlation will estimate for Nusselt number as a function of Reynolds number, Prandtl number and chevron angle.

Keywords: heat transfer coefficient, single phase flow, mass flow rate, pressure drop

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Authors: Oluwasanmi Teniola, Abraham Adeleke, Ademola Ibitoye, Moshood Shitu

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To establish an economical and efficient process for the recovery of gold metal from refractory gold ore obtained from Esperando axis of Osun state Nigeria, the adsorption of gold (III) from aqua reqia leached solution of the ore using bagasse nanoparticles has been studied under various experimental variables using batch technique. The extraction percentage of gold (III) on the prepared bagasse nanoparticles was determined from its distribution coefficients as a function of solution pH, contact time, adsorbent, adsorbate concentrations, and temperature. The rate of adsorption of gold (III) on the prepared bagasse nanoparticles is dependent on pH, metal concentration, amount of adsorbate, stirring rate, and temperature. The adsorption data obtained fit into the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. Three different temperatures were used to determine the thermodynamic parameters of the adsorption of gold (III) on bagasse nanoparticles. The heat of adsorption was measured to be a positive value ΔHo = +51.23kJ/mol, which serves as an indication that the adsorption of gold (III) on bagasse nanoparticles is endothermic. Also, the negative value of ΔGo = -0.6205 kJ/mol at 318K shows the spontaneity of the process. As the temperature was increased, the value of ΔGo becomes more negative, indicating that an increase in temperature favors the adsorption process. With the application of optimal adsorption variables, the adsorption capacity of gold was 0.78 mg/g of the adsorbent, out of which 0.70 mg of gold was desorbed with 0.1 % thiourea solution.

Keywords: adsorption, bagasse, extraction, nanoparticles, recovery

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Authors: Nader Al-Rashidi, David Greenhalgh

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Mathematical modelling techniques are now being used by health organizations worldwide to help understand the likely impact that intervention strategies treatment options and combinations of these have on the prevalence and incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the people who inject drugs (PWID) population. In this poster, we develop a deterministic, compartmental mathematical model to approximate the spread of the HCV in a PWID population that has been divided into two groups by time since onset of injection. The model assumes that after injection needles adopt the most infectious state of their previous state or that of the PWID who last injected with them. Using analytical techniques, we find that the model behaviour is determined by the basic reproductive number R₀, where R₀ = 1 is a critical threshold separating two different outcomes. The disease-free equilibrium is globally stable if R₀ ≤ 1 and unstable if R₀ > 1. Additionally, we make some simulations where have confirmed that the model tends to this endemic equilibrium value with realistic parameter values giving an HCV prevalence.

Keywords: hepatitis C, people who inject drugs, HCV, PWID

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Authors: Merouane Salhi, Toufik Zebbiche, Omar Abada

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When the stagnation pressure of perfect gas increases, the specific heat and their ratio do not remain constant anymore and start to vary with this pressure. The gas does not remain perfect. Its state equation change and it becomes a real gas. In this case, the effects of molecular size and inter molecular attraction forces intervene to correct the state equation. The aim of this work is to show and discuss the effect of stagnation pressure on supersonic thermo dynamical, physical and geometrical flow parameters, to find a general case for real gas. With the assumptions that Berthelot’s state equation accounts for molecular size and inter molecular force effects, expressions are developed for analyzing supersonic flow for thermally and calorically imperfect gas lower than the dissociation molecules threshold. The designs parameters for supersonic nozzle like thrust coefficient depend directly on stagnation parameters of the combustion chamber. The application is for air. A computation of error is made in this case to give a limit of perfect gas model compared to real gas model.

Keywords: supersonic flow, real gas model, Berthelot’s state equation, Simpson’s method, condensation function, stagnation pressure

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Authors: Sadia Basar, Naila Habib, Awais Adnan

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The paper presents the Technique for Image Segmentation Using K-Means Clustering Classification. The presented algorithms were specific, however, missed the neighboring information and required high-speed computerized machines to run the segmentation algorithms. Clustering is the process of partitioning a group of data points into a small number of clusters. The proposed method is content-aware and feature extraction method which is able to run on low-end computerized machines, simple algorithm, required low-quality streaming, efficient and used for security purpose. It has the capability to highlight the boundary and the object. At first, the user enters the data in the representation of the input. Then in the next step, the digital image is converted into groups clusters. Clusters are divided into many regions. The same categories with same features of clusters are assembled within a group and different clusters are placed in other groups. Finally, the clusters are combined with respect to similar features and then represented in the form of segments. The clustered image depicts the clear representation of the digital image in order to highlight the regions and boundaries of the image. At last, the final image is presented in the form of segments. All colors of the image are separated in clusters.

Keywords: clustering, image segmentation, K-means function, local and global minimum, region

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Authors: I. A Tijani, Y. F Wu, C.W. Lim

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Concrete Damaged Plasticity Model (CDPM) is capable of modeling the stress-strain behavior of confined concrete. Nevertheless, the accuracy of the model largely depends on its parameters. To date, most research works mainly focus on the identification and modification of the parameters for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete prior to damage. And, it has been established that the FRP-strengthened concrete behaves differently to FRP-repaired concrete. This paper presents a modified plastic damage model within the context of the CDPM in ABAQUS for modelling of a uniformly FRP-confined repaired concrete under monotonic loading. The proposed model includes infliction damage, elastic stiffness, yield criterion and strain hardening rule. The distinct feature of damaged concrete is elastic stiffness reduction; this is included in the model. Meanwhile, the test results were obtained from a physical testing of repaired concrete. The dilation model is expressed as a function of the lateral stiffness of the FRP-jacket. The finite element predictions are shown to be in close agreement with the obtained test results of the repaired concrete. It was observed from the study that with necessary modifications, finite element method is capable of modeling FRP-repaired concrete structures.

Keywords: Concrete, FRP, Damage, Repairing, Plasticity, and Finite element method

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Authors: Hyohun Kim, Dongwha Shin, Yeonseok Kim, Ji-Su Ahn, Kensuke Nakamura, Dongeun Choi, Byung-Woo Hong

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Artefacts are commonly encountered in the imaging process of clinical computed tomography (CT) where the artefact refers to any systematic discrepancy between the reconstructed observation and the true attenuation coefficient of the object. It is known that CT images are inherently more prone to artefacts due to its image formation process where a large number of independent detectors are involved, and they are assumed to yield consistent measurements. There are a number of different artefact types including noise, beam hardening, scatter, pseudo-enhancement, motion, helical, ring, and metal artefacts, which cause serious difficulties in reading images. Thus, it is desired to remove nuisance factors from the degraded image leaving the fundamental intrinsic information that can provide better interpretation of the anatomical and pathological characteristics. However, it is considered as a difficult task due to the high dimensionality and variability of data to be recovered, which naturally motivates the use of machine learning techniques. We propose an image restoration algorithm based on the deep neural network framework where the denoising auto-encoders are stacked building multiple layers. The denoising auto-encoder is a variant of a classical auto-encoder that takes an input data and maps it to a hidden representation through a deterministic mapping using a non-linear activation function. The latent representation is then mapped back into a reconstruction the size of which is the same as the size of the input data. The reconstruction error can be measured by the traditional squared error assuming the residual follows a normal distribution. In addition to the designed loss function, an effective regularization scheme using residual-driven dropout determined based on the gradient at each layer. The optimal weights are computed by the classical stochastic gradient descent algorithm combined with the back-propagation algorithm. In our algorithm, we initially decompose an input image into its intrinsic representation and the nuisance factors including artefacts based on the classical Total Variation problem that can be efficiently optimized by the convex optimization algorithm such as primal-dual method. The intrinsic forms of the input images are provided to the deep denosing auto-encoders with their original forms in the training phase. In the testing phase, a given image is first decomposed into the intrinsic form and then provided to the trained network to obtain its reconstruction. We apply our algorithm to the restoration of the corrupted CT images by the artefacts. It is shown that our algorithm improves the readability and enhances the anatomical and pathological properties of the object. The quantitative evaluation is performed in terms of the PSNR, and the qualitative evaluation provides significant improvement in reading images despite degrading artefacts. The experimental results indicate the potential of our algorithm as a prior solution to the image interpretation tasks in a variety of medical imaging applications. This work was supported by the MISP(Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the National Program for Excellence in SW (20170001000011001) supervised by the IITP(Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion).

Keywords: auto-encoder neural network, CT image artefact, deep learning, intrinsic image representation, noise reduction, total variation

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Authors: Maria Ahmadnezhad, Mohammad Reza Soltanpour

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Electrohydraulic servo systems have been used in industry in a wide number of applications. Its dynamics ‎are highly nonlinear and also have large extent of model uncertainties and external disturbances. In this ‎thesis, a robust back-stepping control (RBSC) scheme is proposed to overcome the problem of ‎disturbances and system uncertainties effectively and to improve the tracking performance of EHS ‎systems. In order to implement the proposed control scheme, the system uncertainties in EHS systems ‎are considered as total leakage coefficient and effective oil volume. In addition, in order to obtain the ‎virtual controls for stabilizing system, the update rule for the system uncertainty term is induced by the ‎Lyapunov control function (LCF). To verify the performance and robustness of the proposed control ‎system, computer simulation of the proposed control system using Matlab/Simulink Software is ‎executed. From the computer simulation, it was found that the RBSC system produces the desired ‎tracking performance and has robustness to the disturbances and system uncertainties of EHS systems.‎

Keywords: electro hydraulic servo system, back-stepping control, robust back-stepping control, Lyapunov redesign

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Authors: Belinda Crissman

Abstract:

Serious mental disorder is greatly overrepresented in prisoners compared to the general community, with consequences for prison management, recidivism and the prisoners themselves. Incarcerated individuals with psychotic disorders experience insufficient detection and treatment and higher rates of suicide in custody. However direct evidence to explain the overrepresentation of individuals with psychosis in prisons is sparse. The current study aimed to use a life course criminology perspective to answer two key questions: 1) What is the temporal relationship between psychosis and offending (does first mental health contact precede first recorded offence, or does the offending precede the mental health diagnosis)? 2) Are there key temporal points or system contacts prior to incarceration that could be identified as opportunities for early intervention? Data from the innovative Queensland Linkage project was used to link individuals with their corrections, health and relevant social service systems to answer these questions.

Keywords: mental disorder, crime, life course criminology, prevention

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Authors: Surapong Vongvatcharanon, Fardeela Binalee, Wandee Udomuksorn, Ekkasit Kumarnsit, Uraporn Vongvatcharanon

Abstract:

Hypogonadism is characterized by a decline in sex hormone levels, especially testosterone. It has been shown to be an important contributor to the decrease in muscle mass, muscle strength and performance, a condition known as sarcopenia. Preparations from Butea superba Roxb. (red Kwao Krua) have been reported to have androgenic properties. The active compounds are proposed to be flavonoids and flavonoid glycosides. Treatment with B. superba has been shown to improve erectile dysfunction in males. Parvalbumin (PV) is a relaxing factor and identified in fast twitch fibers. Alterations of the PV levels affects skeletal muscle functions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of orhchidectomy, testosterone replacement and different doses of Butea superba Roxb. on the structure, performance, levels of parvalbumin, parvalbumin and androgen receptor immunoreactivities in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and gastrocnemius muscles of orchidectomized rats. Twelve-week old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups; sham-operated (SHAM), orchidectomized (BS-0), orchidectomized group that was treated with testosterone replacement of 6 µg/kg (TP) or an orchidectomized group that was treated with various doses of an extract from Butea superba Roxb.; 5 mg/kg (BS-5), 50 mg/kg (BS-50) and 500 mg/kg (BS-500) all for 90 days. The testosterone level, epididymis, seminal vesicle, prostate gland, vas deference weight, muscle fiber size, strength and endurance in both the EDL and gastrocnemius muscle were decreased in the BS-0 group but increased in the testosterone replacement group. Treatment with the B. superba Roxb. extract replacement group improved muscle fiber size, strength and endurance, but not total testosterone levels, or the epididymis, seminal vesicle, prostate gland, vas deference weight. Furthermore, the parvalbumin level, parvalbumin and androgen receptor immunoreactivities were reduced in the BS-0 group but increased in the testosterone replacement group and the B. superba Roxb. extract groups for both the EDL and gastrocnemius muscle. This study indicated that the reduction of testosterone level led to a decrease of the androgen receptor density resulting in a decline in the muscle mass and parvalbumin levels. The decrease of parvalbumin levels affected muscle performance. Testosterone replacement increased the androgen receptor density and led to an increase of muscle mass and parvalbumin levels. The increase in the parvalbumin levels may result in an improvement of muscle performance. This may explain one mechanism of testosterone on muscle mass and strength in the testosterone dependent sarcopenia. The B. superba Roxb. extract groups also had improved muscle mass, strength and endurance, parvalbumin level, parvalbumin and androgen immunoreactivities compared to the BS-O group . Butea superba Roxb. Extracts contains a flavonoid (3, 7, 3'-Trihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavone), flavonoiglycoside (3, 3'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavone-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) and isoflavanolignans (butesuperins A and butesuperins B) all known to inhibit the cAMP phosphodiesterase enzyme. Therefore, cAMP signaling may have adaptive effects on skeletal muscle by increasing muscle mass, strength and endurance.

Keywords: Butea superba, parvalbumin, skeletal muscle, orchidectomy

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Authors: Aakanchha Jain, D. V. Kohli

Abstract:

Cubosomes are nanoparticles but instead of the solid particles, cubosomes are self-assembled liquid crystalline particles of certain surfactant with proper ratio of water with a microstructure that provides unique properties of practical interest. Cubosomes encapsulating Fluconazole were prepared by emulsification method and characterized for particle size, entrapment efficiency. The cubosomes prepared were 257.2±2.94 nm in size with drug entrapment efficiency of 66.2±2.69%. The optimized formulation characterized for shape and surface morphology by TEM and SEM analysis. SEM photograph showed the smooth surface of optimized cubosomes and TEM photograph revealed square somewhat circular intact shapes of cubosomes. MIC was determined by XTT based method and antifungal activity was determined in vitro. The cumulative percentage of Fnz from cubosomes permeated via dialysis membrane (MWCO 12-14 KD) showed a percent cumulative drug release of 76.86% while Fnz solution showed release up to 91.04% in 24 hours in PBS (pH 6.5)(p < 0.005).

Keywords: Candids albicans, cubosomes, fluconazole, topical delivery

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Authors: Jamal Fayazi, Farhad Anoosheh, Mohammad R. Ghorbani, Ali R. Paydar

Abstract:

In this study, to determine the best non-linear regression model describing the growth curve of native poultry, 9657 chicks of generations 18, 19, and 20 raised in Mazandaran breeding center were used. Fowls and roosters of this center distributed in south of Caspian Sea region. To estimate the genetic variability of none linear regression parameter of growth traits, a Gibbs sampling of Bayesian analysis was used. The average body weight traits in the first day (BW1), eighth week (BW8) and twelfth week (BW12) were respectively estimated as 36.05, 763.03, and 1194.98 grams. Based on the coefficient of determination, mean squares of error and Akaike information criteria, Gompertz model was selected as the best growth descriptive function. In Gompertz model, the estimated values for the parameters of maturity weight (A), integration constant (B) and maturity rate (K) were estimated to be 1734.4, 3.986, and 0.282, respectively. The direct heritability of BW1, BW8 and BW12 were respectively reported to be as 0.378, 0.3709, 0.316, 0.389, 0.43, 0.09 and 0.07. With regard to estimated parameters, the results of this study indicated that there is a possibility to improve some property of growth curve using appropriate selection programs.

Keywords: direct heritability, Gompertz, growth traits, maturity weight, native poultry

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Authors: Xiao-Jing Zhu, Liang Zhou, Shi-Zhong Zheng

Abstract:

Various studies have shown that diallyl trisulfide (DATS) can protect the liver injury, and DATS has a strong antioxidant property. The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vivo role of DATS in protecting the liver against injury and fibrogenesis and further explores the underlying mechanisms. Our results demonstrated that DATS protected the liver from CCl4-caused injury by suppressing the elevation of ALT and AST activities, and by improving the histological architecture of the liver. Treatment with DATS or colchicine improved the liver fibrosis by sirius red staining and immunofluorescence. In addition, immunohistochemistry, western blot, and RT-PCR analyses indicated that DATS inhibited HSC activation. Furthermore, DATS attenuated oxidative stress by increasing glutathione and reducing lipid peroxides and malondialdehyde. These findings suggest that the protective effect of DATS on CCl4-caused liver injury and liver fibrogenesis was, at least partially, attributed to its antioxidant activity.

Keywords: liver fibrogenesis, liver injury, oxidative stress, DATS

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Authors: A. Askerov, Y. Teterin, P. Yartcev, S. Novikov

Abstract:

Introduction: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a socially significant problem for public health and continues to be one of the most common causes of hospitalization of patients with pathology of the gastrointestinal tract. It is characterized by high mortality rates, which reaches 62-65% in infected pancreatic necrosis. Aims & Methods: The study group included 63 patients who underwent transluminal drainage (TLD) fluid collection (FC). All patients were performed transabdominal ultrasound, computer tomography of the abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal organs and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) of the pancreatobiliary zone. The EUS was used as a final diagnostic method to determine the characteristics of FC. The indications for TLD were: the distance between the wall of the hollow organ and the FC was not more than 1 cm, the absence of large vessels on the puncture trajectory (more than 3 mm), and the size of the formation was more than 5 cm. When a homogeneous cavity with clear, even contours was detected, a plastic stent with rounded ends (“double pig tail”) was installed. The indication for the installation of a fully covered self-expanding stent was the detection of nonhomogeneous anechoic FC with hyperechoic inclusions and cloudy purulent contents. In patients with necrotic forms after drainage of the purulent cavity, a cystonasal drainage with a diameter of 7Fr was installed in its lumen under X-ray control to sanitize the cavity with a 0.05% aqueous solution of chlorhexidine. Endoscopic necrectomy was performed every 24-48 hours. The plastic stent was removed in 6 month, the fully covered self-expanding stent - in 1 month after the patient was discharged from the hospital. Results: Endoscopic TLD was performed in 63 patients. The FC corresponding to interstitial edematous pancreatitis was detected in 39 (62%) patients who underwent TLD with the installation of a plastic stent with rounded ends. In 24 (38%) patients with necrotic forms of FC, a fully covered self-expanding stent was placed. Communication with the ductal system of the pancreas was found in 5 (7.9%) patients. They underwent pancreaticoduodenal stenting. A complicated postoperative period was noted in 4 (6.3%) cases and was manifested by bleeding from the zone of pancreatogenic destruction. In 2 (3.1%) cases, this required angiography and endovascular embolization a. gastroduodenalis, in 1 (1.6%) case, endoscopic hemostasis was performed by filling the cavity with 4 ml of Hemoblock hemostatic solution. The combination of both methods was used in 1 (1.6%) patient. There was no evidence of recurrent bleeding in these patients. Lethal outcome occurred in 4 patients (6.3%). In 3 (4.7%) patients, the cause of death was multiple organ failure, in 1 (1.6%) - severe nosocomial pneumonia that developed on the 32nd day after drainage. Conclusions: 1. EUS is not only the most important method for diagnosing FC in AP, but also allows you to determine further tactics for their intraluminal drainage.2. Endoscopic intraluminal drainage of fluid zones in 45.8% of cases is the final minimally invasive method of surgical treatment of large-focal pancreatic necrosis. Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Keywords: acute pancreatitis, fluid collection, endoscopy surgery, necrectomy, transluminal drainage

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