Search results for: number of bolts

Authors: Mihai Caramihai, Dan Vasilescu

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The main research objective of the experimental bioprocess analyzed in this paper was to obtain large biomass quantities. The bioprocess is performed in 100 L Bioengineering bioreactor with 42 L cultivation medium made of peptone, meat extract and sodium chloride. The reactor was equipped with pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and agitation controllers. The operating parameters were 37 oC, 1.2 atm, 250 rpm and air flow rate of 15 L/min. The main objective of this paper is to present a case study to demonstrate that intelligent control, describing the complexity of the biological process in a qualitative and subjective manner as perceived by human operator, is an efficient control strategy for this kind of bioprocesses. In order to simulate the bioprocess evolution, an intelligent control structure, based on fuzzy logic has been designed. The specific objective is to present a fuzzy control approach, based on human expert’ rules vs. a modeling approach of the cells growth based on bioprocess experimental data. The kinetic modeling may represent only a small number of bioprocesses for overall biosystem behavior while fuzzy control system (FCS) can manipulate incomplete and uncertain information about the process assuring high control performance and provides an alternative solution to non-linear control as it is closer to the real world. Due to the high degree of non-linearity and time variance of bioprocesses, the need of control mechanism arises. BIOSIM, an original developed software package, implements such a control structure. The simulation study has showed that the fuzzy technique is quite appropriate for this non-linear, time-varying system vs. the classical control method based on a priori model.

Keywords: intelligent, control, fuzzy model, bioprocess optimization

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Authors: B. Kurbanova, M. Karibayev, N. Almas, K. Ospanov, K. Aimaganbetov, T. Kuanyshbekov, K. Akatan, S. Kabdrakhmanova

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Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) operating at high temperatures above 100 °C with the excellent mechanical, chemical and thermochemical stability have been received much attention, because of their practical application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Nowadays, a huge number of polymers and polymer-mixed various membranes have been investigated for this application, all of which offer both pros and cons. However, PEMFCs are still lack of ideal membranes with unique properties. In this work, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) based membranes with dispersive graphene oxide (GO) sheets were fabricated and investigated for PEMFCs application. These membranes and pristine GO were studied by a combination of XRD, XPS, Raman, Brillouin, FTIR, thermo-mechanical analysis (TGA and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis) and SEM microscopy, while substantial studies on the proton transport properties were provided by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. It was revealed that the addition of CMC to the GO boosts proton conductivity of the whole membrane, while GO provides good mechanical and thermomechanical stability to the membrane. Further, the continuous and ordered nanochannels with well-tailored chemical structures were obtained by irradiation of heavy ions Kr⁺¹⁷ with an energy of 1.75 MeV/nucleon on the heavy ion accelerator. The formation of these nanochannels led to the significant increase of proton conductivity at 50% Relative Humidity. Also, FTIR and XPS measurement results show that ion irradiation eliminated the GO’s surface oxygen chemical bonds (C=O, C-O), and led to the formation of C = C, C – C bonds, whereas these changes connected with an increase in conductivity.

Keywords: proton exchange membranes, graphene oxide, fuel cells, carboxymethylcellulose, ion irradiation

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Authors: Flavio Gazzani

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Nitrogen is an important agricultural input that is critical for the production. However, the introduction of large amounts of nitrogen into the environment has a number of undesirable impacts such as: the loss of biodiversity, eutrophication of waters and soils, drinking water pollution, acidification, greenhouse gas emissions, human health risks. It is a challenge to sustain or increase food production and at the same time reduce losses of reactive nitrogen to the environment, but there are many potential benefits associated with improving nitrogen use efficiency. Reducing nutrient losses from agriculture is crucial to the successful implementation of agricultural policy. Traditional regulatory instruments applied to implement environmental policies to reduce environmental impacts from nitrogen fertilizers, despite some successes, failed to address many environmental challenges and imposed high costs on the society to achieve environmental quality objectives. As a result, economic instruments started to be recognized for their flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The objective of the research project is to analyze the potential for increased use of market-based instruments in nitrogen control policy. The report reviews existing knowledge, bringing different studies together to assess the global nitrogen situation and the most relevant environmental management policy that aims to reduce pollution in a sustainable way without affect negatively agriculture production and food price. This analysis provides some guidance on how different market based instruments might be orchestrated in an overall policy framework to the development and assessment of sustainable nitrogen management from the economics, environmental and food security point of view.

Keywords: nitrogen emissions, chemical fertilizers, eutrophication, non-point of source pollution, dairy farm

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Authors: Rahim Sarvar, Bahram Azadbakht, Samira Safaee

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The leading goal of all planning is to attain sustainable development, regional balance, suitable distribution of activities, and maximum use of environmental capabilities in the process of development of regions. Intensive concentration of population and activities in one or some limited geographical locality is of main characteristics of most developing countries, especially Iran. Not considering the long-term programs and relying on temporary and superficial plans by people in charge of decision-making to attain their own objectives causes obstacles, resulting in unbalance development. The basic reason for these problems is to establish the development planning while economic aspects are merely considered and any attentions are not paid to social and regional feedbacks, what have been ending up to social and economic inequality, unbalanced distribution of development among the regions as well. In addition to study of special planning and structure of the county of Malekan, this research tries to achieve some other aims, i.e. recognition and introduction of approaches in order to utilize resources optimally, to distribute the population, activities, and facilities in optimum fashion, and to investigate and identify the spatial development potentials of the County. Based on documentary, descriptive, analytical, and field studies, this research employs maps to analyze the data, investigates the variables, and applies SPSS, Auto CAD, and Arc View software. The results show that the natural factors have a significant influence on spatial layout of settlements; distribution of facilities and functions are not equal among the rural districts of the county; and there is a spatial equivalence in the region area between population and number of settlements.

Keywords: development, entropy index, Malekan City, planning, regional equilibrium

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Authors: Gyula I. Tóth, Shaho Abdalla

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Even though numerical simulations indeed have a significant precursory/supportive role in exploring the disordered phase displaying no long-range order in pattern formation models, studying the stability properties of this phase and determining the order of the ordered-disordered phase transition in these models necessitate an analytical description of the disordered phase. First, we will present the results of a comprehensive statistical analysis of a large number (1,000-10,000) of numerical simulations in the Swift-Hohenberg model, where the bulk disordered (or amorphous) phase is stable. We will show that the average free energy density (over configurations) converges, while the variance of the energy density vanishes with increasing system size in numerical simulations, which suggest that the disordered phase is a thermodynamic phase (i.e., its properties are independent of the configuration in the macroscopic limit). Furthermore, the structural analysis of this phase in the Fourier space suggests that the phase can be modeled by a colored isotropic Gaussian noise, where any instant of the noise describes a possible configuration. Based on these results, we developed the general mathematical framework of finding a pool of solutions to partial differential equations in the sense of continuous probability measure, which we will present briefly. Applying the general idea to the Swift-Hohenberg model we show, that the amorphous phase can be found, and its properties can be determined analytically. As the general mathematical framework is not restricted to continuum theories, we hope that the proposed methodology will open a new chapter in studying disordered phases.

Keywords: fundamental theory, mathematical physics, continuum models, analytical description

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Authors: Dachuan Shi, M. Hecht, Y. Ye

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With the trend of digitalization in railway freight transport, a large number of freight wagons in Germany have been equipped with telematics devices, commonly placed on the wagon body. A telematics device contains a GPS module for tracking and a 3-axis accelerometer for shock detection. Besides these basic functions, it is desired to use the integrated accelerometer for condition monitoring without any additional sensors. Wheel flats as a common type of failure on wheel tread cause large impacts on wagons and infrastructure as well as impulsive noise. A large wheel flat may even cause safety issues such as derailments. In this sense, this paper proposes a machine learning approach for wheel flat detection by using car body accelerations. Due to suspension systems, impulsive signals caused by wheel flats are damped significantly and thus could be buried in signal noise and disturbances. Therefore, it is very challenging to detect wheel flats using car body accelerations. The proposed algorithm considers the envelope spectrum of car body accelerations to eliminate the effect of noise and disturbances. Subsequently, a 1-D convolutional neural network (CNN), which is well known as a deep learning method, is constructed to automatically extract features in the envelope-frequency domain and conduct classification. The constructed CNN is trained and tested on field test data, which are measured on the underframe of a tank wagon with a wheel flat of 20 mm length in the operational condition. The test results demonstrate the good performance of the proposed algorithm for real-time fault detection.

Keywords: fault detection, wheel flat, convolutional neural network, machine learning

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Authors: S. S. Adamu, H. S. Muhammad, D. S. Shuaibu

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Poor power quality in electrical power systems can lead to medical equipment at healthcare centres to malfunction and present wrong medical diagnosis. Equipment such as X-rays, computerized axial tomography, etc. can pollute the system due to their high level of harmonics production, which may cause a number of undesirable effects like heating, equipment damages and electromagnetic interferences. The conventional approach of mitigation uses passive inductor/capacitor (LC) filters, which has some drawbacks such as, large sizes, resonance problems and fixed compensation behaviours. The current trends of solutions generally employ active power filters using suitable control algorithms. This work focuses on assessing the level of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) on medical facilities and various ways of mitigation, using radiology unit of an existing hospital as a case study. The measurement of the harmonics is conducted with a power quality analyzer at the point of common coupling (PCC). The levels of measured THD are found to be higher than the IEEE 519-1992 standard limits. The system is then modelled as a harmonic current source using MATLAB/SIMULINK. To mitigate the unwanted harmonic currents a shunt active filter is developed using synchronous detection algorithm to extract the fundamental component of the source currents. Fuzzy logic controller is then developed to control the filter. The THD without the active power filter are validated using the measured values. The THD with the developed filter show that the harmonics are now within the recommended limits.

Keywords: power quality, total harmonics distortion, shunt active filters, fuzzy logic

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Authors: Fabiana Souza Orlandi, Juliana Gomes Duarte, Gabriela Dutra Gesualdo

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Chronic renal disease (CKD), accompanied by hemodialysis, causes chronic renal failure in a number of situations that compromises not only physical, personal and environmental aspects, but also psychological, social and family aspects. Objective: To verify the level of cognitive impairment of chronic renal patients on hemodialysis. Methodology: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The present study was performed in a Dialysis Center of a city in the interior of the State of São Paulo. The inclusion criteria were: being 18 years or older; have a medical diagnosis of CKD; being in hemodialysis treatment in this unit; and agree to participate in the research, with the signature of the Informed Consent (TCLE). A total of 115 participants were evaluated through the Participant Characterization Instrument and the Addenbrooke Cognitive Exam - Revised Version (ACE-R), being scored from 0 to 100, stipulating the cut-off note for the complete battery <78 and subdivided into five domains: attention and guidance; memory; fluency; language; (66.9%) and caucasian (54.7%), 53.7 (±14.8) years old. Most of the participants were retired (74.7%), with incomplete elementary schooling (36.5%) and the average time of treatment was 46 months. Most of the participants (61.3%) presented impairment in the area of attention and orientation, 80.4% in the spatial visual domain. Regarding the total ACE-R score, 75.7% of the participants presented scores below the established cut grade. Conclusion: There was a high percentage (75.7%) below the cut-off score established for ACE-R, suggesting that there may be some cognitive impairment among these participants, since the instrument only performs a screening on cognitive health. The results of the study are extremely important so that possible interventions can be traced in order to minimize impairment, thus improving the quality of life of chronic renal patients.

Keywords: cognition, chronic renal insufficiency, adult health, dialysis

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Authors: Yanhua Zhao, Chenli Rao, Dongdong Li, Chuanmin Tao

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The Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) issued a new laboratory-based algorithm for HIV diagnosis on April 2016, which initially screens with a combination HIV-1/HIV-2 antigen/antibody fourth-generation immunoassay (IA) followed, when reactive, an HIV-1/HIV-2 undifferentiated antibody IA in duplicate. Reactive specimens with concordant results undergo supplemental tests with western blots, or HIV-1 nucleic acid tests (NATs) and non-reactive specimens with discordant results receive HIV-1 NATs or p24 antigen tests or 2-4 weeks follow-up tests. However, little data evaluating the application of the new algorithm have been reported to date. The study was to evaluate the performance of new laboratory-based HIV diagnostic algorithm in an inpatient population of Southwest China over the initial 6 months by compared with the old algorithm. Plasma specimens collected from inpatients from May 1, 2016, to October 31, 2016, are submitted to the laboratory for screening HIV infection performed by both the new HIV testing algorithm and the old version. The sensitivity and specificity of the algorithms and the difference of the categorized numbers of plasmas were calculated. Under the new algorithm for HIV diagnosis, 170 of the total 52 749 plasma specimens were confirmed as positively HIV-infected (0.32%). The sensitivity and specificity of the new algorithm were 100% (170/170) and 100% (52 579/52 579), respectively; while 167 HIV-1 positive specimens were identified by the old algorithm with sensitivity 98.24% (167/170) and 100% (52 579/52 579), respectively. Three acute HIV-1 infections (AHIs) and two early HIV-1 infections (EHIs) were identified by the new algorithm; the former was missed by old procedure. Compared with the old version, the new algorithm produced fewer WB-indeterminate results (2 vs. 16, p = 0.001), which led to fewer follow-up tests. Therefore, the new HIV testing algorithm is more sensitive for detecting acute HIV-1 infections with maintaining the ability to verify the established HIV-1 infections and can dramatically decrease the greater number of WB-indeterminate specimens.

Keywords: algorithm, diagnosis, HIV, laboratory

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Authors: Romeo Botes, Imelda Smit

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In today’s modern age of technology vast amounts of data needs to be processed in real-time to keep users satisfied. This data comes from various sources and in many formats, including electronic and mobile devices such as GPRS modems and GPS devices. They make use of different protocols including TCP, UDP, and HTTP/s for data communication to web servers and eventually to users. The data obtained from these devices may provide valuable information to users, but are mostly in an unreadable format which needs to be processed to provide information and business intelligence. This data is not always current, it is mostly historical data. The data is not subject to implementation of consistency and redundancy measures as most other data usually is. Most important to the users is that the data are to be pre-processed in a readable format when it is entered into the database. To accomplish this, programmers build processing programs and scripts to decode and process the information stored in databases. Programmers make use of various techniques in such programs to accomplish this, but sometimes neglect the effect some of these techniques may have on database performance. One of the techniques generally used,is to pull data from the database server, process it and push it back to the database server in one single step. Since the processing of the data usually takes some time, it keeps the database busy and locked for the period of time that the processing takes place. Because of this, it decreases the overall performance of the database server and therefore the system’s performance. This paper follows on a paper discussing the performance increase that may be achieved by utilizing array lists along with a pull-process-push data processing technique split in three steps. The purpose of this paper is to expand the number of clients when comparing the two techniques to establish the impact it may have on performance of the CPU storage and processing time.

Keywords: performance measures, algorithm techniques, data processing, push data, process data, array list

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Authors: Samir Malhotra, Rajan K. Khandotra, Rakesh K. Dhiman, Neelam Chadha

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There is paucity of data about safety and efficacy of probiotic treatment on patient outcomes in cirrhosis. Specifically, it is important to know whether probiotics can improve mortality, hepatic encephalopathy (HE), number of hospitalizations, ammonia levels, quality of life, and adverse events. Probiotics may improve outcomes in patients with acute or chronic HE. However, it is also important to know whether probiotics can prevent development of HE, even in situations where patients do not have acute HE at the time of administration. It is also important to know if probiotics are useful as primary prophylaxis of HE. We aimed to conduct an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of probiotics in patients with cirrhosis. We searched PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, Scopus, SCI, Google Scholar, conference proceedings, and references of included studies till June 2017 to identify randomised clinical trials comparing probiotics with other treatments in cirrhotics. Data was analyzed using MedCalc. Probiotics had no effect on mortality but significantly reduced HE (14 trials, 1073 patients, OR 0.371; 95% CI 0.282 to 0.489). There was not enough data to conduct a meta-analysis on outcomes like hospitalizations and quality of life. The effect on plasma ammonia levels was not significant (SMD -0.429; 95%CI -1.034 – 0.177). There was no difference in adverse events. To conclude, although the included studies had a high risk of bias, the available evidence does suggest a beneficial effect on HE. Larger studies with longer periods of follow-up are needed to determine if probiotics can reduce all-cause mortality.

Keywords: cirrhosis, hepatic encephalopathy, meta-analysis, probiotic

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Authors: Andrey Kupriyanov

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In recent years, much attention has been paid to the problems of ionospheric disturbances and their influence on the signals of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) around the world. This is due to the increase in solar activity, the expansion of the scope of GNSS, the emergence of new satellite systems, the introduction of new frequencies and many others. The influence of the Earth's ionosphere on the propagation of radio signals is an important factor in many applied fields of science and technology. The paper considers the application of the method of transionospheric sounding using measurements from signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems to determine the TEC distribution and scintillations of the ionospheric layers. To calculate these parameters, the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model of the ionosphere, refined in the local area, is used. The organization of operational monitoring of ionospheric parameters is analyzed using several NovAtel GPStation6 base stations. It allows performing primary processing of GNSS measurement data, calculating TEC and fixing scintillation moments, modeling the ionosphere using the obtained data, storing data and performing ionospheric correction in measurements. As a result of the study, it was proved that the use of the transionospheric sounding method for reconstructing the altitude distribution of electron concentration in different altitude range and would provide operational information about the ionosphere, which is necessary for solving a number of practical problems in the field of many applications. Also, the use of multi-frequency multisystem GNSS equipment and special software will allow achieving the specified accuracy and volume of measurements.

Keywords: global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), GPstation6, international reference ionosphere (IRI), ionosphere, scintillations, total electron content (TEC)

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: P. Gil Del Álamo, J. García Pereda, A. Castañeda De La Paz, D. Arazola Lopez, M. D. Cubiles De La Vega, A. Enguíx González, J. M. Muñoz Pichardo

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In the last decades, obesity has more than doubled and is, with overweight, the second leading cause of preventable death. Despite multiple strategies against obesity, no country to date has reduced the number of obese people. To achieve World Health Organization’s target to reverse this tendency we need dramatic and different actions to engage the civil society in creating demand for a healthy style of life. The objective of this study is to demonstrate that a social media as the television can be used to convince the civil society that a healthy nutrition and physical activity are affordable, effective and necessary to prevent and to treat the obesity. Methodology: 61 individuals (34 women and 27 men) with obesity (mean BMI 45,51) were recruited to follow during 22 weeks an intensive lifestyle intervention in order to lose weight in a healthy manner. They were not isolated or moved from their usual environment. This program included endocrinological and nutritional assessment, promotion of physical activity and psychological support. BMI was measured every week. Time to leave obesity between men and women was analyzed with a survival analysis. Results: BMI decreased in all the cases. Analysing Time to leave obesity, around the week 30, 25% of men leave the obesity and around the week 39, 25% of women leave the obesity too. Conclusion: We demonstrate the audience that improving the quality of the diet and increasing the physical activity is a realistic way to lose weight. This evidence can encourage the people to act in their own self-interest changing their style of life in order to prevent or to reduce their overweight.

Keywords: obesity epidemic, obesity prevention, obesity strategies, social media

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Authors: Hiba El Assibi

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This study aims to weakly solve Kalah, a two-player board game, by developing a start-to-finish winning strategy using an optimized Minimax algorithm with Alpha-Beta Pruning. In weakly solving Kalah, our focus is on creating an optimal strategy from the game's beginning rather than analyzing every possible position. The project will explore additional enhancements like symmetry checking and code optimizations to speed up the decision-making process. This approach is expected to give insights into efficient strategy formulation in board games and potentially help create games with a fair distribution of outcomes. Furthermore, this research provides a unique perspective on human versus Artificial Intelligence decision-making in strategic games. By comparing the AI-generated optimal moves with human choices, we can explore how seemingly advantageous moves can, in the long run, be harmful, thereby offering a deeper understanding of strategic thinking and foresight in games. Moreover, this paper discusses the evaluation of our strategy against existing methods, providing insights on performance and computational efficiency. We also discuss the scalability of our approach to the game, considering different board sizes (number of pits and stones) and rules (different variations) and studying how that affects performance and complexity. The findings have potential implications for the development of AI applications in strategic game planning, enhancing our understanding of human cognitive processes in game settings, and offer insights into creating balanced and engaging game experiences.

Keywords: minimax, alpha beta pruning, transposition tables, weakly solving, game theory

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Authors: Fares Mahdi

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Background: Infection control is an important concern for all health care professionals, especially nurses. Nurses have a higher risk for both self-acquiring and transmitting infections to other patients. Aim of this study: to assess nurses' knowledge regarding infection control for wound care. Methodology: a descriptive research design was used in the study. The total number studied sample was 200 nurses, were conducting in Amran Public Hospitals in Amran City- Yemen. The study covered sample nurses in the hospital according to the study population; a standard closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results: The results showed less than half (37.5 %) of nurses were from 22 May Hospital, also followed by (62.5%) of them were from Maternal and Child Hospital. Also according to the department name. Most (22.5%) of nurses worked in an intensive care unit, followed by (20%) of them were working in the pediatric world, also about (19%) of them were working in the surgical department. While in finally, only about (8.5%) of them worked from another department. According to course training, The results showed about (21%) of nurses had course training in wound care management. At the same time, others (79%) of them have not had course training in wound care management. According to the total nurse's knowledge of infection control for wound care, that find more than two-thirds (68%) of nurses had fair knowledge according to total all of nurse's knowledge of infection control wound care. Conclusion:The results showed that more than two-thirds (68%) of nurses had fair knowledge according to total all of the nurse's knowledge of infection control for wound care. Recommendations: There should be providing training program about infection control masseurs and it's important for new employees of nurses. Providing continuing refreshment training courses about infection control programs and about evidence-based practice in infection control for all health care teams.

Keywords: assessment, knowledge, infection control, wound care, nurses, amran hospitals

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Authors: Kenan Morani, Esra Kaya Ayana

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This study aimed to develop a novel pipeline for COVID-19 detection using a large and rigorously annotated database of computed tomography (CT) images. The pipeline consists of UNet-based segmentation, lung extraction, and a classification part, with the addition of optional slice removal techniques following the segmentation part. In this work, a batch normalization was added to the original UNet model to produce lighter and better localization, which is then utilized to build a full pipeline for COVID-19 diagnosis. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed pipeline, various segmentation methods were compared in terms of their performance and complexity. The proposed segmentation method with batch normalization outperformed traditional methods and other alternatives, resulting in a higher dice score on a publicly available dataset. Moreover, at the slice level, the proposed pipeline demonstrated high validation accuracy, indicating the efficiency of predicting 2D slices. At the patient level, the full approach exhibited higher validation accuracy and macro F1 score compared to other alternatives, surpassing the baseline. The classification component of the proposed pipeline utilizes a convolutional neural network (CNN) to make final diagnosis decisions. The COV19-CT-DB dataset, which contains a large number of CT scans with various types of slices and rigorously annotated for COVID-19 detection, was utilized for classification. The proposed pipeline outperformed many other alternatives on the dataset.

Keywords: classification, computed tomography, lung extraction, macro F1 score, UNet segmentation

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Authors: Peyman Shadman Heidari, Hamid Bastani, Pouya Shadman Heidari

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Nowadays, using energy dampers in structures is highly considered for the dissipation and absorption of earthquake energy. The main advantage of using energy damper is absorbing the earthquake energy in some sections apart from the structure frame. Among different types of dampers, hysteresis dampers are of special place because of low cost, high reliability and the lack of mechanical parts. In this paper, a special kind of hysteresis damper is considered under the name of buckling brace, which is provided with the aim of the study and investigation of cross braces in boundary behaviour of steel frames using nonlinear static analysis. In this paper, ninety three models of steel frames with cross braces of buckling type are processed with different bays and heights and their plasticity index, behaviour coefficient, distribution type and the number of plastic hinges formed were calculated. Finally, the mean behaviour coefficient was compared with standard behaviour coefficient of 2800 and the suitable mode of braces placing in improving nonlinear behaviour and suitable distribution of plastic hinges were presented. In addition, it was determined that for some placing mode of braces the behaviour coefficient will increase to 15 times of recommended 2800 standard coefficient and in some placing modes, the braced bays will show considerable difference with suggested 2800 standard behaviour coefficient relative to each other.

Keywords: buckling restrained brace, plasticity index, behaviour coefficient, resistance coefficient, plastic joints

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Authors: Okpu Enoh Ndip Nkongho

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The type of political leadership in place impacts a state's economic development or underdevelopment directly and indirectly. One of the main challenges to Cameroon's economic development may be ineffective or misguided political leadership. The economy of the Cameroon state has declined significantly due to a number of factors, including a lack of effective and feasible economic policies, a reliance on crude oil that is excessive, tribal politics, the threat of insurgency, bribery, and corruption, violations of human rights, neglect of other sectors like science, technology, education, and transportation, and a careless attitude on the part of the administrators toward the general public. As a result, the standard of living has decreased, foreign exchange has decreased, and the value of the Cameroonian currency has depreciated. Therefore, from 2000 to 2023, this paper focused on the relationship between political leadership and economic development in Cameroon and offered suggestions for improving political leadership that will, in turn, lead to the country's economy getting back on track. The study employed a qualitative technique, with the framework for the investigation derived from the trait theory of leadership. According to the information provided above, the paper was able to conclude that there is a lack of cooperation between the three branches of government in Cameroon. This is shown in situations when one branch operates independently of the others and refuses to function as a backup when needed. The study recommended that the Executive collaborate closely with the National Assembly to speed action on some key legislation required to stimulate economic development. On the other hand, there is a need for more clarity and consistency in the government's policy orientation. There is no doubt that our current economic troubles are at least partially the result of a lack of economic policy leadership and confidence.

Keywords: politics, leadership, economic, development, Cameroon

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Authors: Kimiyo Shimomai, Mihoko Harada

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This study is a literature review of the psychological reactions that occur in end-of-life cancer patients who are nearing death. It searched electronic databases and selected literature related to psychological studies of end-of-life patients. There was no limit on the search period, and the search was conducted until the second week of December 2021. The keywords were specified as “death and dying”, “terminal illness”, “end-of-life”, “palliative care”, “psycho-oncology” and “research”. These literatures referred to Holly (2017): Comprehensive Systematic Review for Advanced Practice Nursing, P268 Figure 10.3 to ensure quality. These literatures were selected with a dissertation score of 4 or 5. The review was conducted in two stages with reference to the procedure of George (2002). First, these references were searched for keywords in the database, and then relevant references were selected from the psychology and nursing studies of end-of-life patients. The number of literatures analyzed was 76 for overseas and 17 for domestic. As for the independent variables, "physical variable" was the most common in 36 literatures (66.7%), followed by "psychological variable" in 35 literatures (64.8%), "spiritual variable" in 21 literatures (38%), and "social variable" in 17 literatures. (31.5%), "Variables related to medical care / treatment" were 16 literatures (29.6%). To summarize the relationship between these independent variables and the dependent variable, when the dependent variable is "psychological variable", the independent variables are "psychological variable", "social variable", and "physical variable". Among the independent variables, the physical variables were the most common. The psychological responses that occur in end-stage cancer patients who are nearing death are mutually influenced by psychological, social, and physical variables. Therefore, it supported the "total pain" advocated by Cicely Saunders.

Keywords: cancer patient, end-of-life, literature review, psychological process

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Authors: Onur Yaşar, Okan Bilge, Ortaç Onmuş

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The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the locomotion structures, especially the bone structures, of two different dolphin species, the Common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus and the Harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena, and to provide a more detailed and descriptive comparison. To compare the structures of bones of two study species; first, the Spinous Process (SP), Inferior Articular Process (IAP), Laminae Vertebrae (LA), Foramen Vertebrae (FV), Corpus Vertebrae (CV), Transverse Process (TP) were determined and then the length of the Spinous Process (LSP), length of the Foramen Vertebrae (LFV), area of the Corpus Vertebrae (ACV), and length of the Transverse Process (LTP) were measured from the caudal view. The spine consists of a total of 61 vertebrae (7 cervical, 13 thoracic, 14 lumbar, and 27 caudal vertebrae) in the Common bottlenose dolphin, while the Harbor Porpoise has 63 vertebrae (7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 14 lumbar, 30 caudal. In the Common bottlenose dolphin, epiphyseal ossification was between the 21st caudal vertebra and the 27th caudal vertebra, while in the Harbor porpoise, it was observed in all vertebrae. Ankylosing spondylitis was observed in the C1 and C2 vertebrae in the Common bottlenose dolphin and in all cervical vertebrae between C1 and C6 in the Harbor porpoise. We argue that this difference in fused cervical vertebrae between the two species may be due to the fact that the neck movements of the Harbor porpoise in the vertical and horizontal axes are more limited than those of the Common bottlenose dolphin. We also think that as the number of fused cervical vertebrae increases, underwater maneuvers are performed at a wider angle, but to test this idea, we think that different species of dolphins should be compared and the different age groups should be investigated.

Keywords: anatomy, morphometry, vertebrae, common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena

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Authors: Minna K. Miller, Chantel. E. Canessa, Suzanna V. McRae, Susan Shumay, Alissa Collingridge

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Primary care provides the first point of contact and access to health care services. For the pediatric population, the goal is to help healthy children stay healthy and to help those that are sick get better. Primary care facilitates regular well baby/child visits; health promotion and disease prevention; investigation, diagnosis and management of acute and chronic illnesses; health education; both consultation and collaboration with, and referral to other health care professionals. There is a protective association between regular well-child visit care and preventable hospitalization. Further, low adherence to well-child care and poor continuity of care are independently associated with increased risk of hospitalization. With a declining number of family physicians caring for children, and only a portion of pediatricians providing primary care services, it is becoming increasingly difficult for children and their families to access primary care. Nurse practitioners are in a unique position to improve access to primary care and improve health outcomes for children. Limited literature is available on the nurse practitioner role in primary care pediatrics. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation and evaluation of a Nurse Practitioner-led pediatric primary care clinic in a tertiary care setting. Utilizing the participatory, evidence-based, patient-focused process for advanced practice nursing (PEPPA framework), this paper highlights the results of the initial needs assessment/gap analysis, the new service delivery model, populations served, and outcome measures.

Keywords: access, health outcomes, nurse practitioner, pediatric primary care, PEPPA framework

Procedia PDF Downloads 494

Authors: Anja Kurz, Marc Flynn, Tobias Good, Marco Caversaccio, Martin Kompis

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Bone Anchored Hearing Implants (BAHI) are routinely used in patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss, e.g. if conventional air conduction hearing aids cannot be used. New sound processors and new fitting software now allow the adjustment of parameters such as loudness compression ratios or maximum power output separately. Today it is unclear, how the choice of these parameters influences aided speech understanding in BAHI users. In this prospective experimental study, the effect of varying the compression ratio and lowering the maximum power output in a BAHI were investigated. Twelve experienced adult subjects with a mixed hearing loss participated in this study. Four different compression ratios (1.0; 1.3; 1.6; 2.0) were tested along with two different maximum power output settings, resulting in a total of eight different programs. Each participant tested each program during two weeks. A blinded Latin square design was used to minimize bias. For each of the eight programs, speech understanding in quiet and in noise was assessed. For speech in quiet, the Freiburg number test and the Freiburg monosyllabic word test at 50, 65, and 80 dB SPL were used. For speech in noise, the Oldenburg sentence test was administered. Speech understanding in quiet and in noise was improved significantly in the aided condition in any program, when compared to the unaided condition. However, no significant differences were found between any of the eight programs. In contrast, on a subjective level there was a significant preference for medium compression ratios of 1.3 to 1.6 and higher maximum power output.

Keywords: Bone Anchored Hearing Implant, baha, compression, maximum power output, speech understanding

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Saheed Olakunle Sanusi, Israel Ajibade Adedeji

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The study analysed the effect of microfinance on the profit level of small and medium scale enterprises in Lagos. The data for the study were obtained by simple random sampling, and total of one hundred and fifty (150) small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) were sampled for the study. Seventy-five (75) each are microfinance users and non-users. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, logit model, t-test and ordinary least square (OLS) regression. The mean profit of the enterprises using microfinance is ₦16.8m, while for the non-users of microfinance is ₦5.9m. The mean profit of microfinance users is statistically different from the non-users. The result of the logit model specified for the determinant of access to microfinance showed that three of specified variables- educational status of the enterprise head, credit utilisation and volume of business investment are significant at P < 0.01. Enterprises with many years of experience, highly educated enterprise heads and high volume of business investment have more potential access to microfinance. The OLS regression model indicated that three parameters namely number of school years, the volume of business investment and (dummy) participation in microfinance were found to be significant at P < 0.05. These variables are therefore significant determinants of impacts of microfinance on profit level in the study area. The study, therefore, concludes and recommends that to improve the status of small and medium scale enterprises for an increase in profit, the full benefit of access to microfinance can be enhanced through investment in social infrastructure and human capital development. Also, concerted efforts should be made to encouraged non-users of microfinance among SMEs to use it in order to boost their profit.

Keywords: credit utilisation, logit model, microfinance, small and medium enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 205

Authors: Zhang Songning, Guan Zheng, Ci Yan, Ding Gangyi

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The application of physical simulation engines in collaborative editing systems has an important background and role. Firstly, physical simulation engines can provide real-world physical simulations, enabling users to interact and collaborate in real time in virtual environments. This provides a more intuitive and immersive experience for collaborative editing systems, allowing users to more accurately perceive and understand various elements and operations in collaborative editing. Secondly, through physical simulation engines, different users can share virtual space and perform real-time collaborative editing within it. This real-time sharing and collaborative editing method helps to synchronize information among team members and improve the efficiency of collaborative work. Through experiments, the average model transmission speed of a single person in the collaborative editing system has increased by 141.91%; the average model processing speed of a single person has increased by 134.2%; the average processing flow rate of a single person has increased by 175.19%; the overall efficiency improvement rate of a single person has increased by 150.43%. With the increase in the number of users, the overall efficiency remains stable, and the physical simulation engine running status collaborative editing system also has horizontal scalability. It is not difficult to see that the design and implementation of a collaborative editing system based on physical simulation engines not only enriches the user experience but also optimizes the effectiveness of team collaboration, providing new possibilities for collaborative work.

Keywords: physics engine, simulation technology, collaborative editing, system design, data transmission

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Yasin I. Tayem, Jamil Ahmed, Mahmood Bahzad, Abdullah Alnama, Fahad Al Asfoor, Mahmood A. Jalil, Mohammed Radhi, Ahmed Alenezi, Khalid A. J. Al-Khaja

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Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) represent a significant cause of patient’s morbidity and mortality. The rate of DDIs is rapidly increasing worldwide with the increasing proportion of ageing population and frequent requirement of polypharmacy-prescription of multiple drugs to treat comorbidities. Prescribing physicians are responsible for checking their prescriptions for the presence and severity of DDIs. However, since a large number of new drugs are approved and marketed every year, new interactions between medications are increasingly reported. Consequently, it is no longer practical for physicians to rely only upon their previous knowledge of medicine to avoid potential DDIs. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of physicians working at primary healthcare centers in Bahrain towards DDIs and how they manage them during their practice. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, physicians working at all governmental primary healthcare centers in Bahrain were invited to voluntarily, privately and anonymously respond to a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire aims to assess their self-reported knowledge of DDIs and how they check for them in their practice. The participants were requested to provide socio demographic data and information related to their attitudes towards DDIs including strategies they employ for detecting and managing them, and their awareness of drugs which commonly cause DDIs. At the end of the questionnaire, an open-ended item was added to allow participants to further add any comment. Findings and Conclusions: The study is going on currently, and the results and conclusions will be presented at the conference.

Keywords: awareness, drug interactions, health centres, physicians

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Mahsa Ghafouri, Guita Farivarsadri

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In urban open spaces, furniture plays a crucial role in meeting various needs of the users over time. Furniture consists of elements that not only can facilitate physical needs individually but also fulfill social, psychological, and cultural demands on an urban scale. Creating adjustable urban spaces and using flexible furniture can provide the possibility of using urban spaces for a wide range of uses and activities and allow the engagement of users with distinct abilities and limitations in these activities. Flexibility in urban furniture can be seen as designing a number of modular components that are movable, expandable, adjustable, and changeable to accommodate various functions. Although there is a great amount of research related to flexibility and its distinct insights into achieving spaces that can cope with changing demands, this fundamental issue is often neglected in the design of urban furniture. However, in the long term, to address changing public needs over time, it can be logical to bring this quality into the design process to make spaces that can be sustained for a long time. This study aims to first introduce diverse kinds of flexible furniture that can be designed for urban public spaces and then to realize how this flexible furniture can improve the quality of public open spaces and social interaction and make them more adaptable over time and, as a result, achieve social sustainability. This research is descriptive and is mainly based on an extensive literature review and the analysis and classification of existing examples around the world. This research tends to illustrate various kinds of approaches that can help designers create flexible furniture to enhance the sustainability and quality of urban open spaces and, in this way, act as a guide for urban designers in this respect.

Keywords: flexible furniture, flexible design, urban open spaces, adaptability, moveability, social sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Mohammad Saeri, Noor Rizkiyah, Kambang Vetrani Asie, Titin Apung Atikah

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The study aims to assess efficient specific-location soybean farming technology assembly by assisting the farmers in applying the suggested technology. Superimposed trial was conducted to know NPK fertilizer effect toward soybean growth and yield and soybean improved variety test for the dissemination of improved variety. The assessment was conducted at the farmers group of Sumber Rejeki, Kepulungan Village, Gempol Sub-district, Pasuruan Regency as the soybean central at Pasuruan area. The number of farmers involved in the study was 38 people with 25 ha soybean area. This study was held from July to October 2012.  The recommended technology package agreed at the socialization time and used in this research were: using Argomulyo variety seeds of 40 kg/ha, planting by drilling, planting by distance of 40x10 cm, deciding the seeds amount of 2-3 seeds per hole, and giving fertilization based on recommendation of East Java AIAT of 50 kg Urea, 100 kg SP-36 and 50 kg KCl.  Farmers around the research location were used as control group. Assessment on soybean farming system was considered effective because it could increase the production up to 38%. The farming analysis showed that the result collaborator farmers gained were positively higher than non-collaborator farmers with RC ratio of 2.03 and 1.54, respectively. Argomulyo variety has the prospect to be developed due to the high yield of about 2 tons/ha and the larger seeds. The NPK fertilization test at the soybean plants showed that the fertilization had minor effect on the yield.

Keywords: farming system, soybean, variety, location specific

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Jelena Filipović, Milenko Košutić, Vladimir Filipović

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In the last decades, the urban population has been characterized by sedentary lifestyles, low physical activity, and "fast food". These changes in diet and physical nonactivity have been associated with an increase in chronic diseases. Bread is one of the most popular wheat products consumed worldwide. Spelt wheat has shown potential in various food applications, including bread, pasta, breakfast cereal, and other products of altered nutritional characteristics compared to conventional wheat products. It has very high protein content and even 30 to 60% higher concentration of mineral elements Fe, Zn, Cu, Mg and P compared to Triticum Aestivum. Spelt wheat is growing without the use of pesticides in harsh ecological conditions and it is an old cultivar. So it can be used for organic and health-safe food. Changes in the formulation of bread with the aim of improving its nutritional and functional properties usually lead to changes in the dough's properties, which are related to the quality of the finished product. The aim of this paper is to research the impact of adding yeast extract to bread on sensory characteristics and consumer acceptance of a new product as a key factor for the successful marketing of a distinct product. The sensory analysis of bread with 5% yeast extract is as follows: the technological quality is very good (3.8), and the color of the product is excellent (4.85). Based on data, consumers' survey declared that they liked the taste of bread with 5% yeast extract (74%), consumers marked the product as likable (70%), and 75% of the total number of respondents would buy this new product. This paper is promoting a type of bread with 5% yeast extract (Z score 0.80) to improve diet and a product intended for consumers conscious about their health and diet.

Keywords: bread, yeast extract, sensory analysis, consumer survey, score analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Sadegh Lotfieblisofla, Arash Khodabakhshi

Abstract:

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) as a serine protease plays an important role in the fibrinolytic system and the dissolution of fibrin clots in human body. The production of this drug in plants such as tobacco could reduce its production costs. In this study, expression of tPA gene and protein targeting to different plant cell compartments, using various signal peptides has been investigated. For high level of expression, Kozak sequence was used after CaMV35S in the beginning of the gene. In order to design the final construction, Extensin, KDEL (amino acid sequence including Lys-Asp-Glu-Leu) and SP (γ-zein signal peptide coding sequence) were used as leader signals to conduct this protein into apoplast, endoplasmic reticulum and cytosol spaces, respectively. Cloned human tPA gene under the CaMV (Cauliflower mosaic virus) 35S promoter and NOS (Nopaline Synthase) terminator into pBI121 plasmid was transferred into tobacco explants by Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA₄₄₀₄. The presence and copy number of genes in transgenic tobacco was proved by Southern blotting. Enzymatic activity of the rt-PA protein in transgenic plants compared to non-transgenic plants was confirmed by Zymography assay. The presence and amount of rt-PA recombinant protein in plants was estimated by ELISA analysis on crude protein extract of transgenic tobacco using a specific antibody. The yield of recombinant tPA in transgenic tobacco for SP, KDEL, Extensin signals were counted 0.50, 0.68, 0.69 microgram per milligram of total soluble proteins.

Keywords: tPA, recombinant, transgenic, tobacco

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: S. P. Pradhan, Amulya Ratna Roul

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A number of landslides are occurring during the rainy season along Rayagada-Koraput Railway track for past three years. The track was constructed about 20 years ago. However, the protection measures are not able to control the recurring slope failures now. It leads to a loss to Indian Railway and its passengers ultimately leading to wastage of time and money. The slopes along Rayagada-Koraput track include both rock and soil slopes. The rock types include mainly Khondalite and Charnockite whereas soil slopes are mainly composed of laterite ranging from less weathered to highly weathered laterite. The field studies were carried out in one of the critical slope. Field study was followed by the kinematic analysis to assess the type of failure. Slake Durability test, Uniaxial Compression test, specific gravity test and triaxial test were done on rock samples to calculate and assess properties such as weathering index, unconfined compressive strength, density, cohesion, and friction angle. Following all the laboratory tests, rock mass rating was calculated. Further, from Kinematic analysis and Rock Mass Ratingbasic, Slope Mass Rating was proposed for each slope. The properties obtained were used to do the slope stability simulations using finite element method based modelling. After all the results, suitable protection measures, to prevent the loss due to slope failure, were suggested using the relation between Slope Mass Rating and protection measures.

Keywords: landslides, slope stability, rock mass rating, slope mass rating, numerical simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 184