Search results for: real time simulator

Authors: Matthew J. B. Wilson

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Disaster Risk Reduction relies heavily on the effective cooperation of both humanitarian and development actors, particularly in the wake of a disaster, implementing lasting recovery measures that better protect communities from disasters to come. This can be seen to fit within a broader discussion around integrating humanitarian and development work stretching back to the 1980s. Over time, a number of key concepts have been put forward, including Linking Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development (LRRD), Early Recovery (ER), ‘Build Back Better’ (BBB), and the most recent ‘Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus’ or ‘Triple Nexus’ (HDPN) to define these goals and relationship. While this discussion has evolved greatly over time, from a continuum to a more integrative synergistic relationship, there remains a lack of consensus around how to describe it, and as such, the reality of effectively closing this gap has yet to be seen. The objective of this research was twofold. First, to map these four identified concepts (LRRD, ER, BBB & HDPN) used in the literature since 1995 to understand the overall trends in how this relationship is discussed. Second, map articles reference a combination of these concepts to understand their interrelationship. A scoping review was conducted for each concept identified. Results were gathered from Google Scholar by firstly inputting specific boolean search phrases for each concept as they related specifically to disasters each year since 1995 to identify the total number of articles discussing each concept over time. A second search was then done by pairing concepts together within a boolean search phrase and inputting the results into a matrix to understand how many articles contained references to more than one of the concepts. This latter search was limited to articles published after 2017 to account for the more recent emergence of HDPN. It was found that ER and particularly BBB are referred to much more widely than LRRD and HDPN. ER increased particularly in the mid-2000’s coinciding with the formation of the ER cluster, and BBB, whilst emerging gradually in the mid-2000s due to its usage in the wake of the Boxing Day Tsunami, increased significantly from about 2015 after its prominent inclusion in Sendai Framework. HDPN has only just started to increase in the last 4-5 years. In regards to the relationship between concepts, it was found the vast majority of all concepts identified were referred to in isolation from each other. The strongest relationship was between LRRD and HDPN (8% of articles referring to both), whilst ER-BBB and ER-HDPN both were about 3%, LRRD-ER 2%, and BBB-HDPN 1% and BBB-LRRD 1%. This research identified a fundamental issue around the lack of consensus and even awareness of different approaches referred to within academic literature relating to integrating humanitarian and development work. More research into synthesizing and learning from a range of approaches could work towards better closing this gap.

Keywords: build back better, disaster risk reduction, early recovery, linking relief rehabilitation and development, humanitarian development integration, humanitarian-development (peace) nexus, recovery, triple nexus

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Authors: Marek Halenár, Eva Tvrdá, Tomáš Slanina, Ľubomír Ondruška, Eduard Kolesár, Peter Massányi, Adriana Kolesárová

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The present in vitro study was designed to reveal whether amygdalin (AMG) is able to cause changes to the motility, viability and mitochondrial activity of rabbit spermatozoa. New Zealand White rabbits (n = 10) aged four months were used in the study. Semen samples were collected from each animal and used for the in vitro incubation. The samples were divided into five equal parts and diluted with saline supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1, 2.5 and 5 mg/mL AMG. At times 0h, 3h and 5h spermatozoa motion parameters were assessed using the SpermVision™ computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA) system, cell viability was examined with the metabolic activity (MTT) assay, and the eosin-nigrosin staining technique was used to evaluate the viability of rabbit spermatozoa. All AMG concentrations exhibited stimulating effects on the spermatozoa activity, as shown by a significant preservation of the motility (P<0.05 with respect to 0.5 mg/mL and 1 mg/mL AMG; Time 5 h) and mitochondrial activity (P< 0.05 in case of 0.5 mg/mL AMG; P< 0.01 in case of 1 mg/mL AMG; P < 0.001 with respect to 2.5 mg/mL and 5 mg/mL AMG; Time 5 h). None of the AMG doses supplemented had any significant impact of the spermatozoa viability. In conclusion, the data revealed that short-term co-incubation of spermatozoa with AMG may result in a higher preservation of the sperm structural integrity and functional activity.

Keywords: amygdalin, CASA, mitochondrial activity, motility, rabbits, spermatozoa, viability

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Authors: Abanoub Rady Shaker Saleb

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Nowadays, design and architecture are being affected and underwent change with the rapid advancements in technology, economics, politics, society and culture. Architecture has been transforming with the latest developments after the inclusion of computers into design. Integration of design into the computational environment has revolutionized the architecture and new perspectives in architecture have been gained. The history of architecture shows the various technological developments and changes in which the architecture has transformed with time. Therefore, the analysis of integration between technology and the history of the architectural process makes it possible to build a consensus on the idea of how architecture is to proceed. In this study, each period that occurs with the integration of technology into architecture is addressed within historical process. At the same time, changes in architecture via technology are identified as important milestones and predictions with regards to the future of architecture have been determined. Developments and changes in technology and the use of technology in architecture within years are analyzed in charts and graphs comparatively. The historical process of architecture and its transformation via technology are supported with detailed literature review and they are consolidated with the examination of focal points of 20th-century architecture under the titles; parametric design, genetic architecture, simulation, and biomimicry. It is concluded that with the historical research between past and present; the developments in architecture cannot keep up with the advancements in technology and recent developments in technology overshadow the architecture, even the technology decides the direction of architecture. As a result, a scenario is presented with regards to the reach of technology in the future of architecture and the role of the architect.

Keywords: design and development the information technology architecture, enterprise architecture, enterprise architecture design result, TOGAF architecture development method (ADM)

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Authors: Surajit Chakrabarty, Piyush Chauhan, Subhasis Panda, Sujoy Bhattacharya

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A large proportion of roads in India are not well maintained as per the laid down public safety guidelines leading to loss of direction control and fatal accidents. We propose a technique to detect speed breakers and potholes using mobile sensor data captured from multiple vehicles and provide a profile of the road. This would, in turn, help in monitoring roads and revolutionize digital maps. Incorporating randomness in the model formulation for detection of speed breakers and potholes is crucial due to substantial heterogeneity observed in data obtained using a mobile application from multiple vehicles driven by different drivers. This is accomplished with Hidden Markov Models, whose hidden state sequence is found for each time step given the observables sequence, and are then fed as input to LSTM network with peephole connections. A precision score of 0.96 and 0.63 is obtained for classifying bumps and potholes, respectively, a significant improvement from the machine learning based models. Further visualization of bumps/potholes is done by converting time series to images using Markov Transition Fields where a significant demarcation among bump/potholes is observed.

Keywords: deep learning, hidden Markov model, pothole, speed breaker

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Authors: Edgar Gasafi, Robert Pardemann, Linus Perander

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For the production of lithium carbonate or hydroxide out of lithium bearing ores, a thermal activation (calcination/decrepitation) is required for the phase transition in the mineral to enable an acid respectively soda leaching in the downstream hydrometallurgical section. In this paper, traditional processing in Lithium industry is reviewed, and opportunities to reduce energy consumption and improve product quality and recovery rate will be discussed. The conventional process approach is still based on rotary kiln calcination, a technology in use since the early days of lithium ore processing, albeit not significantly further developed since. A new technology, at least for the Lithium industry, is fluidized bed calcination. Decrepitation of lithium ore was investigated at Outotec’s Frankfurt Research Centre. Focusing on fluidized bed technology, a study of major process parameters (temperature and residence time) was performed at laboratory and larger bench scale aiming for optimal product quality for subsequent processing. The technical feasibility was confirmed for optimal process conditions on pilot scale (400 kg/h feed input) providing the basis for industrial process design. Based on experimental results, a comprehensive Aspen Plus flow sheet simulation was developed to quantify mass and energy flow for the rotary kiln and fluidized bed system. Results show a significant reduction in energy consumption and improved process performance in terms of temperature profile, product quality and plant footprint. The major conclusion is that a substantial reduction of energy consumption can be achieved in processing Lithium bearing ores by using fluidized bed based systems. At the same time and different from rotary kiln process, an accurate temperature and residence time control is ensured in fluidized-bed systems leading to a homogenous temperature profile in the reactor which prevents overheating and sintering of the solids and results in uniform product quality.

Keywords: calcination, decrepitation, fluidized bed, lithium, spodumene

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Authors: Wisam Ismail, Sarah Hosgood, Michael Nicholson

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The research hypothesis is that early post-transplant allograft fibrosis will be linked to donor factors and that acute rejection and/or delayed graft function in the recipient will be independent risk factors for the development of fibrosis. This research hypothesis is to explore whether acute rejection/delay graft function has an effect on the renal transplant fibrosis within the first year post live donor kidney transplant between 1998 and 2009. Methods: The study has been designed to identify five time points of the renal transplant biopsies [0 (pre-transplant), 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months] for 300 live donor renal transplant patients over 12 years period between March 1997 – August 2009. Paraffin fixed slides were collected from Leicester General Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary. These were routinely sectioned at a thickness of 4 Micro millimetres for standardization. Conclusions: Fibrosis at 1 month after the transplant was found significantly associated with baseline fibrosis (p<0.001) and HTN in the transplant recipient (p<0.001). Dialysis after the transplant showed a weak association with fibrosis at 1 month (p=0.07). The negative coefficient for HTN (-0.05) suggests a reduction in fibrosis in the absence of HTN. Fibrosis at 1 month was significantly associated with fibrosis at baseline (p 0.01 and 95%CI 0.11 to 0.67). Fibrosis at 3, 6 or 12 months was not found to be associated with fibrosis at baseline (p=0.70. 0.65 and 0.50 respectively). The amount of fibrosis at 1 month is significantly associated with graft survival (p=0.01 and 95%CI 0.02 to 0.14). Rejection and severity of rejection were not found to be associated with fibrosis at 1 month. The amount of fibrosis at 1 month was significantly associated with graft survival (p=0.02) after adjusting for baseline fibrosis (p=0.01). Both baseline fibrosis and graft survival were significant predictive factors. The amount of fibrosis at 1 month was not found to be significantly associated with rejection (p=0.64) after adjusting for baseline fibrosis (p=0.01). The amount of fibrosis at 1 month was not found to be significantly associated with rejection severity (p=0.29) after adjusting for baseline fibrosis (p=0.04). Fibrosis at baseline and HTN in the recipient were found to be predictive factors of fibrosis at 1 month. (p 0.02, p <0.001 respectively). Age of the donor, their relation to the patient, the pre-op Creatinine, artery, kidney weight and warm time were not found to be significantly associated with fibrosis at 1 month. In this complex model baseline fibrosis, HTN in the recipient and cold time were found to be predictive factors of fibrosis at 1 month (p=0.01,<0.001 and 0.03 respectively). Donor age was found to be a predictive factor of fibrosis at 6 months. The above analysis was repeated for 3, 6 and 12 months. No associations were detected between fibrosis and any of the explanatory variables with the exception of the donor age which was found to be a predictive factor of fibrosis at 6 months.

Keywords: fibrosis, transplant, renal, rejection

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Authors: Zhaojun Wang, Zongdi Sun, Qinqin Cui, Xingwan Ren

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Based on multivariate statistical analysis theory, this paper uses the principal component analysis method, Mahalanobis distance analysis method and fitting method to establish the photovoltaic health model to evaluate the health of photovoltaic panels. First of all, according to weather conditions, the photovoltaic panel variable data are classified into five categories: sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy, overcast. The health of photovoltaic panels in these five types of weather is studied. Secondly, a scatterplot of the relationship between the amount of electricity produced by each kind of weather and other variables was plotted. It was found that the amount of electricity generated by photovoltaic panels has a significant nonlinear relationship with time. The fitting method was used to fit the relationship between the amount of weather generated and the time, and the nonlinear equation was obtained. Then, using the principal component analysis method to analyze the independent variables under five kinds of weather conditions, according to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, it was found that three types of weather such as overcast, foggy, and sunny meet the conditions for factor analysis, while cloudy and rainy weather do not satisfy the conditions for factor analysis. Therefore, through the principal component analysis method, the main components of overcast weather are temperature, AQI, and pm2.5. The main component of foggy weather is temperature, and the main components of sunny weather are temperature, AQI, and pm2.5. Cloudy and rainy weather require analysis of all of their variables, namely temperature, AQI, pm2.5, solar radiation intensity and time. Finally, taking the variable values in sunny weather as observed values, taking the main components of cloudy, foggy, overcast and rainy weather as sample data, the Mahalanobis distances between observed value and these sample values are obtained. A comparative analysis was carried out to compare the degree of deviation of the Mahalanobis distance to determine the health of the photovoltaic panels under different weather conditions. It was found that the weather conditions in which the Mahalanobis distance fluctuations ranged from small to large were: foggy, cloudy, overcast and rainy.

Keywords: fitting, principal component analysis, Mahalanobis distance, SPSS, MATLAB

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Authors: Golden J. Zhang, Dongbao Zhou

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Darcy’s law is the fundamental theory in fluid dynamics and engineering applications. Although Darcy linearity was found to be valid for slow, viscous flow, non-linear and non-Darcian flow has been well documented under both small and large velocity fluid flow. Various classical models were proposed and used widely to quantify non-Darcian flow, including the well-known Forchheimer, Izbash, and Swartzendruber models. Applications, however, revealed limitations of these models. Here we propose a general model built upon the Caputo fractional derivative to quantify non-Darcian flow for various flows (laminar to turbulence).Real-world applications and model comparisons showed that the new fractional-derivative model, which extends the fractional model proposed recently by Zhou and Yang (2018), can capture the non-Darcian flow in the relatively small velocity in low-permeability deposits and the relatively high velocity in high-permeability sand. A scale effect was also identified for non-Darcian flow in fractured rocks. Therefore, fractional calculus may provide an efficient tool to improve classical models to quantify fluid dynamics in aquatic environments.

Keywords: fractional derivative, darcy’s law, non-darcian flow, fluid dynamics

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Authors: Tae An Kim, Hyo Lim Kang, Hye Won Han, Seung Ho Han

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The drive shaft of passenger vehicle has its own function such as transmitting the engine torque from the gearbox and differential gears to the wheels. It must also compensate for all variations in angle or length resulting from manoeuvring and deflection for perfect synchronization between joints. Torsional fatigue failures occur frequently at the connection parts of the spline joints in the end of the drive shaft. In this study, the fatigue life of a drive shaft of passenger vehicle was estimated by using the finite element analysis. A commercial software of n-Code was applied under twisting load conditions, i.e. 0~134kgf•m and 0~188kgf•m, in which the shear strain range-fatigue life relationship considering Signed Shear method, Smith-Watson-Topper equation, Neuber-Hoffman Seeger method, size sensitivity factor and surface roughness effect was taken into account. The estimated fatigue life was verified by a twisting load test of the real drive shaft in a test rig. (Human Resource Training Project for Industry Matched R & D, KIAT, N036200004).

Keywords: drive shaft, fatigue life estimation, passenger vehicle, shear strain range-fatigue life relationship, torsional fatigue failure

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Authors: Ali Emre Öztürk, Ergun Ercelebi

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Autonomous robotic systems needs an equipment like a human eye for their movement. Robotic camera systems, distance sensors and 3D laser scanners have been used in the literature. In this study a 3D laser scanner has been produced for those autonomous robotic systems. In general 3D laser scanners are using 2 dimension laser range finders that are moving on one-axis (1D) to generate the model. In this study, the model has been obtained by a one-dimensional laser range finder that is moving in two –axis (2D) and because of this the laser scanner has been produced cheaper. Furthermore for the laser scanner a motor driver, an embedded system control board has been used and at the same time a user interface card has been used to make the communication between those cards and computer. Due to this laser scanner, the density of the objects, the distance between the objects and the necessary path ways for the robot can be calculated. The data collected by the laser scanner system is converted in to cartesian coordinates to be modeled in AutoCAD program. This study shows also the synchronization between the computer user interface, AutoCAD and the embedded systems. As a result it makes the solution cheaper for such systems. The scanning results are enough for an autonomous robot but the scan cycle time should be developed. This study makes also contribution for further studies between the hardware and software needs since it has a powerful performance and a low cost.

Keywords: 3D laser scanner, embedded system, 1D laser range finder, 3D model

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Authors: Rupas Kumar M., Saravana Kumar M., Amarendra Kumar S., Likhita Komal V., Sree Deepthi M.

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The demand for water is increasing at an alarming rate due to rapid urbanization and increase in population. Due to freshwater scarcity, Groundwater became the necessary source of potable water to major parts of the world. This problem of freshwater scarcity and groundwater dependency is very severe particularly in developing countries and overpopulated regions like India. The present study aimed at evaluating the Ground Water Quality Index (GWQI), which represents overall quality of water at certain location and time based on water quality parameters. To evaluate the GWQI, sixteen water quality parameters have been considered viz. colour, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, turbidity, total hardness, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, nitrate, sulphate, iron, manganese and fluorides. The groundwater samples are collected from Kadapa City in Andhra Pradesh, India and subjected to comprehensive physicochemical analysis. The high value of GWQI has been found to be mainly from higher values of total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, turbidity, alkalinity, hardness, and fluorides. in the present study, citrus limetta (sweet lemon) peel powder has used as a coagulant and GWQI values are recorded in different concentrations to improve GWQI. Sensitivity analysis is also carried out to determine the effect of coagulant dosage, mixing speed and stirring time on GWQI. The research found the maximum percentage improvement in GWQI values are obtained when the coagulant dosage is 100ppm, mixing speed is 100 rpm and stirring time is 10 mins. Alum is also used as a coagulant aid and the optimal ratio of citrus limetta and alum is identified as 3:2 which resulted in best GWQI value. The present study proposes Citrus limetta peel powder as a potential natural coagulant to treat Groundwater and to improve GWQI.

Keywords: alum, Citrus limetta, ground water quality index, physicochemical analysis

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Authors: Yongqi Dong, Zuo Zhang, Rui Fu, Li Li

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The records generated by taxicabs which are equipped with GPS devices is of vital importance for studying human mobility behavior, however, here we are focusing on taxi drivers' operation strategies between workdays and weekends temporally and spatially. We identify a group of valuable characteristics through large scale drivers' behavior in a complex metropolis environment. Based on the daily operations of 31,000 taxi drivers in New York City, we classify drivers into top, ordinary and low-income groups according to their monthly working load, daily income, daily ranking and the variance of the daily rank. Then, we apply big data analysis and visualization methods to compare the different characteristics among top, ordinary and low income drivers in selecting of working time, working area as well as strategies between workdays and weekends. The results verify that top drivers do have special operation tactics to help themselves serve more passengers, travel faster thus make more money per unit time. This research provides new possibilities for fully utilizing the information obtained from urban taxicab data for estimating human behavior, which is not only very useful for individual taxicab driver but also to those policy-makers in city authorities.

Keywords: big data, operation strategies, comparison, revenue, temporal, spatial

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Authors: Saba Ebrahimi, Saeed Ahmadian, Hedie Ashrafi

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Selecting appropriate patients for surgery is one of the main issues in thoracic surgery (TS). Both short-term and long-term risks and benefits of surgery must be considered in the patient selection criteria. There are some limitations in the existing datasets of TS patients because of missing values of attributes and imbalanced distribution of survival classes. In this study, a novel ensemble architecture of deep learning networks is proposed based on stacking different linear and non-linear layers to deal with imbalance datasets. The categorical and numerical features are split using different layers with ability to shrink the unnecessary features. Then, after extracting the insight from the raw features, a novel biased-kernel layer is applied to reinforce the gradient of the minority class and cause the network to be trained better comparing the current methods. Finally, the performance and advantages of our proposed model over the existing models are examined for predicting patient survival after thoracic surgery using a real-life clinical data for lung cancer patients.

Keywords: deep learning, ensemble models, imbalanced classification, lung cancer, TS patient selection

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Authors: N. Sabiyath Fatima, R. K. Shanmugasundaram

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In Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETS), every node performs both as transmitter and receiver. The existing backoff models do not exactly forecast the performance of the wireless network. Also, the existing models experience elevated packet collisions. Every time a collision happens, the station’s contention window (CW) is doubled till it arrives at the utmost value. The main objective of this paper is to diminish collision by means of contention window Multiplicative Increase Decrease Backoff (CWMIDB) scheme. The intention of rising CW is to shrink the collision possibility by distributing the traffic into an outsized point in time. Within wireless Ad hoc networks, the CWMIDB algorithm dynamically controls the contention window of the nodes experiencing collisions. During packet communication, the backoff counter is evenly selected from the given choice of [0, CW-1]. At this point, CW is recognized as contention window and its significance lies on the amount of unsuccessful transmission that had happened for the packet. On the initial transmission endeavour, CW is put to least amount value (C min), if transmission effort fails, subsequently the value gets doubled, and once more the value is set to least amount on victorious broadcast. CWMIDB is simulated inside NS2 environment and its performance is compared with Binary Exponential Backoff Algorithm. The simulation results show improvement in transmission probability compared to that of the existing backoff algorithm.

Keywords: backoff, contention window, CWMIDB, MANET

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Authors: Sima Cheraghi Dehdezi, Nasser Hamdami

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Air-drying is the most widely employed method for preserving fruits and vegetables. Most of the dried products must be rehydrated by immersion in water prior to their use, so the study of rehydration kinetics in order to optimize rehydration phenomenon has great importance. Rehydration typically composes of three simultaneous processes: the imbibition of water into dried material, the swelling of the rehydrated products and the leaching of soluble solids to rehydration medium. In this research, squash (Cucurbita pepo) fruits were cut into 0.4 cm thick and 4 cm diameter slices. Then, squash slices were blanched in a steam chamber for 4 min. After cooling to room temperature, squash slices were dehydrated in a hot air dryer, under air flow 1.5 m/s and air temperature of 60°C up to moisture content of 0.1065 kg H2O per kg d.m. Dehydrated samples were kept in polyethylene bags and stored at 4°C. Squash slices with specified weight were rehydrated by immersion in distilled water at different temperatures (25, 50, and 75°C), various dry matter-water ratios (1:25, 1:50, and 1:100), which was agitated at 100 rpm. At specified time intervals, up to 300 min, the squash samples were removed from the water, and the weight, moisture content and rehydration indices of the sample were determined.The texture characteristics were examined over a 180 min period. The results showed that rehydration time and temperature had significant effects on moisture content, water absorption capacity (WAC), dry matter holding capacity (DHC), rehydration ability (RA), maximum force and stress in dried squash slices. Dry matter-water ratio had significant effect (p˂0.01) on all squash slice properties except DHC. Moisture content, WAC and RA of squash slices increased, whereas DHC and texture firmness (maximum force and stress) decreased with rehydration time. The maximum moisture content, WAC and RA and the minimum DHC, force and stress, were observed in squash slices rehydrated into 75°C water. The lowest moisture content, WAC and RA and the highest DHC, force and stress, were observed in squash slices immersed in water at 1:100 dry matter-water ratio. In general, for all rehydration conditions of squash slices, the highest water absorption rate occurred during the first minutes of process. Then, this rate decreased. The highest rehydration rate and amount of water absorption occurred in 75°C.

Keywords: dry matter-water ratio, squash, maximum force, rehydration ability

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Authors: Nursel Koyuncu, Nihal Ata Tutkun

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Frailty model is a survival model that takes into account the unobserved heterogeneity for exploring the relationship between the survival of an individual and several covariates. In the recent years, proposed survival models become more complex and this feature causes convergence problems especially in large data sets. Therefore selection of sample from these big data sets is very important for estimation of parameters. In sampling literature, some authors have defined new sampling schemes to predict the parameters correctly. For this aim, we try to see the effect of sampling design in semi-parametric frailty model. We conducted a simulation study in R programme to estimate the parameters of semi-parametric frailty model for different sample sizes, censoring rates under classical simple random sampling and ranked set sampling schemes. In the simulation study, we used data set recording 17260 male Civil Servants aged 40–64 years with complete 10-year follow-up as population. Time to death from coronary heart disease is treated as a survival-time and age, systolic blood pressure are used as covariates. We select the 1000 samples from population using different sampling schemes and estimate the parameters. From the simulation study, we concluded that ranked set sampling design performs better than simple random sampling for each scenario.

Keywords: frailty model, ranked set sampling, efficiency, simple random sampling

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Authors: Abbas S. Alwan, Waleed K. Hussan

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In this paper, a general verification of possible heat treatment of steel has been done with the view of conditions of real abrasive wear of rotivater with soil texture. This technique is found promising to improve the quality of agriculture components working with the soil in dry condition. Abrasive wear resistance is very important in many applications and in most cases it is directly correlated with the hardness of materials surface. Responded of heat treatments were carried out in various media (Still air, Cottonseed oil, and Brine water 10 %) and follow by low-temperature tempering (250°C) was applied on steel type (AISI 1030). After heat treatment was applied wear with soil texture by using tillage process to determine the (actual wear rate) of the specimens depending on weight loss method. It was found; the wear resistance Increases with increase hardness with varying quenching media as follows; 30 HRC, 45 HRC, 52 HRC, and 60 HRC for nontreated (as received) cooling media as still air, cottonseed oil, and Brine water 10 %, respectively. Martensitic structure with retained austenite can be obtained depending on the quenching medium. Wear was presented on the worn surfaces of the steels which were used in this work.

Keywords: microstructures, hardness, abrasive wear, heat treatment, soil texture

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Authors: Farrah Putri Salmanida, Mei-Li Wu, Rika Wahyuningtyas, Wen-Bin Chung, Hso-Chi Chaung, Ko-Tung Chang

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Within the field of immunotherapy, oncolytic virotherapy (OVT) employs dual approaches that directly eliminate tumor cells while preserving healthy ones and indirectly reprogram the tumor microenvironment (TME) to elicit antitumor responses. Within the TME, tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) manifest characteristics akin to those of anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages, thus earning the designation of M2-like TAMs. In prior research, two antigens denoted as A1 (g6Ld10T) and A3 (ORF6L5), derived from a complete sequence of ORF5 with partial sequence of ORF6 in Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Genotype 2 (PRRSV-2), demonstrated the capacity to repolarize M2-type porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) into M1 phenotypes. In this study, we sought for utilizing OVT strategies by introducing A1 or A3 on TAMs to endow them with the anti-tumor traits of M1 macrophages while retaining their capacity to target cancer cells. Upon exposing human THP-1-derived M2 macrophages to a cross-species test with 2 µg/ml of either A1 or A3 for 24 hours, real time PCR revealed that A3, but not A1, treated cells exhibited upregulated gene expressions of M1 markers (CCR7, IL-1ß, CCL2, Cox2, CD80). These cells reacted to virus-derived antigen, as evidenced by increased expression of pattern-recognition receptors TLR3, TLR7, and TLR9, subsequently providing feedback in the form of type I interferon responses like IFNAR1, IFN-ß, IRF3, IRF7, OAS1, Mx1, and ISG15. Through an MTT assay, only after 15 µg/ml of A3 treatment could the cell viability decrease, with a predicted IC50 of 16.96 µg/ml. Interestingly, A3 caused dose-dependent toxicity to a rat C6 glial cancer cell line even at doses as low as 2.5 µg/ml and reached its IC50 at 9.419 µg/ml. Using Annexin V/7AAD staining and PCR test, we deduced that a significant proportion of C6 cells were undergoing the early apoptosis phase predominantly through the intrinsic apoptosis cascade involving Bcl-2 family proteins. Following this stage, we conducted a test on A3’s repolarization ability, which revealed a significant rise in M1 gene expression markers, such as TNF, CD80, and IL-1ß, in M2-like TAMs generated in vitro from murine RAW264.7 macrophages grown with conditioned medium of 4T1 breast cancer cells. This was corroborated by the results of transcriptome analysis, which revealed that the primary subset among the top 10 to top 30 significantly upregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) dominantly consisted of M1 macrophages profiles, including Ccl3, Ccl4, Csf3, TNF, Bcl6b, Stc1, and Dusp2. Our findings unveiled the remarkable potential of the PRRSV-derived antigen A3 to repolarize macrophages while also being capable of selectively inducing apoptosis in cancerous cells. While further in vivo study is needed for A3, it holds promise as an adjuvant by its dual effects in cancer therapy modalities.

Keywords: cancer cell apoptosis, interferon responses, macrophage repolarization, recombinant protein

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Authors: Thanh Noi Phan, Martin Kappas, Jan Degener

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The currently launched Sentinel 2 (S2) satellite (June, 2015) bring a great potential and opportunities for land use/cover map applications, due to its fine spatial resolution multispectral as well as high temporal resolutions. So far, there are handful studies using S2 real data for land cover classification. Especially in northern Vietnam, to our best knowledge, there exist no studies using S2 data for land cover map application. The aim of this study is to provide the preliminary result of land cover classification using Sentinel -2 data with a rising state – of – art classifier, Random Forest. A case study with heterogeneous land use/cover in the eastern of Hanoi Capital – Vietnam was chosen for this study. All 10 spectral bands of 10 and 20 m pixel size of S2 images were used, the 10 m bands were resampled to 20 m. Among several classified algorithms, supervised Random Forest classifier (RF) was applied because it was reported as one of the most accuracy methods of satellite image classification. The results showed that the red-edge and shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands play an important role in land cover classified results. A very high overall accuracy above 90% of classification results was achieved.

Keywords: classify algorithm, classification, land cover, random forest, sentinel 2, Vietnam

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Authors: Anchana Sooksomchitra

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This study aims to explore and compare the current condition of community radio stations in Phutthamonthon district, Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand, as well as the challenges they are facing. Qualitative research tools including in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, focus group interviews, and observation are used to examine the content, programming, and management structure of three community radio stations currently in operation within the district. Research findings indicate that the management and operational approaches adopted by the two non-profit stations included in the study, Salaya Pattana and Voice of Dhamma, are more structured and effective than that of the for-profit Tune Radio. Salaya Pattana, backed by the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University, and the charity-funded Voice of Dhamma are comparatively free from political and commercial influence, and able to provide more relevant and consistent community-oriented content to meet the real demand of the audience. Tune Radio, on the other hand, has to rely solely on financial support from political factions and business groups, which heavily influence its content.

Keywords: radio broadcasting, programming, management, community radio, Thailand

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Authors: Karkour Selma

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We conducted first principles full potential calculations using the Wien2k code to explore the structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of SiNi₂O₄, a cubic normal spinel oxide. Our calculations, based on the GGA-PBEsol of the generalized gradient approximation, revealed several key findings. The spinel oxides exhibited a stable cubic structure in the ferromagnetic phase and showed 100% spin polarization. We determined the equilibrium lattice constant and internal parameter values. In terms of the electronic properties, we observed a direct bandgap of 2.68 eV for the spin-up configuration, while the spin-down configuration exhibited an indirect bandgap of 0.82 eV. Additionally, we calculated the total density of states and partial densities for each atom, finding a magnetic moment spin density of states of 8.0 μB per formula unit. The optical properties have been calculated. The real, Ԑ₁(ω) and the imaginary, Ԑ₂(ω) parts of the complex dielectric constants, refractivity, reflection and energy loss when light scattered from the material. The absorption region spanned from 1.5 eV to 14 eV, with significant intensity. The calculated results confirm the suitability of this material for optical and spintronic devices application.

Keywords: DFT, spintronic, GGA, spinel

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Authors: Murat Sengoz, Mustafa Kemal Topcu

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This study aims to contribute to efforts of Turkey to increase research and development to overcome mid-income level trap by discussing regulations on patenting and licensing. Knowledge and technology transfer from universities to business world is attached great significance to increase innovation. Through literature survey, it is observed that the States accomplished to boost the economy and increase welfare by the Bayh-Dole Act enacted in 1980. Thus, this good practice is imitated by other nations to make technological developments. The Act allows universities to acquire patent right in research programs funded by government to increase technology transfer from universities whilst motivating real sector to use research pools in the universities. An act similar with Bayh-Dole could be beneficial to Turkey since efforts in Turkey are to promote research, development and innovation. Towards this end, the impact of Bayh-Dole Act on the patent system for universities in the Sates is deliberately examined, applicability in Turkey is discussed. However, it is conceded that success rate of applying Bayh-Dole Act in Turkey would be low once Turkey mainly differs from the States regarding social, economic and cultural traits.

Keywords: Bayh-Dole Act, knowledge transfer, license, patent, spin-off

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Authors: Eseldin Keleb

Abstract:

In the pharmaceutical industry particle size distribution is an important parameter for the characterization of pharmaceutical powders. The powder flowability, reactivity and compatibility, which have a decisive impact on the final product, are determined by particle size and size distribution. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of processing parameters on the particle size distribution measurements. Different Size fractions of α-lactose monohydrate and 5% polyvinylpyrrolidone were prepared by wet granulation and were used for the preparation of samples. The influence of sieve load (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 g), processing time (5, 10, and 15 min), sample size ratios (high percentage of small and large particles), type of disturbances (vibration and shaking) and process reproducibility have been investigated. Results obtained showed that a sieve load of 50 g produce the best separation, a further increase in sample weight resulted in incomplete separation even after the extension of the processing time for 15 min. Performing sieving using vibration was rapider and more efficient than shaking. Meanwhile between day reproducibility showed that particle size distribution measurements are reproducible. However, for samples containing 70% fines or 70% large particles, which processed at optimized parameters, the incomplete separation was always observed. These results indicated that sieving reliability is highly influenced by the particle size distribution of the sample and care must be taken for samples with particle size distribution skewness.

Keywords: sieving, reliability, particle size distribution, processing parameters

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Authors: Majede Modheji, Hamid Emadi, Hossein Vojoudi

Abstract:

An efficient magnetic mesoporous structure was designed and prepared for the facile pre-concentration of As(III) ions. To prepare the sorbent, a core-shell magnetic silica nanoparticle was covered by MCM-41 like structure, and then the surface was modified by guanidine via an amine linker. The prepared adsorbent was investigated as an effective and sensitive material for the adsorption of arsenic ions from the aqueous solution applying a normal batch method. The imperative variables of the adsorption were studied to increase efficiency. The dynamic and static processes were tested that matched a pseudo-second order of kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. The sorbent reusability was investigated, and it was confirmed that the designed product could be applied at best for six cycles successively without any significant efficiency loss. The synthesized product was tested to determine and pre-concentrate trace amounts of arsenic ions in rice and natural waters as a real sample. A desorption process applying 5 mL of hydrochloric acid (0.5 mol L⁻¹) as an eluent exhibited about 98% recovery of the As(III) ions adsorbed on the GA-MSMP sorbent.

Keywords: arsenic, adsorption, mesoporous, surface modification, MCM-41

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Yoonjung An, Yongtae Park

Abstract:

Knowledge flows are a critical source of faster technological progress and stouter economic growth. Knowledge flows have been accelerated dramatically with the establishment of a patent system in which each patent is required by law to disclose sufficient technical information for the invention to be recreated. Patent analysis, thus, has been widely used to help investigate technological knowledge flows. However, the existing research is limited in terms of both subject and approach. Particularly, in most of the previous studies, business method (BM) patents were not covered although they are important drivers of knowledge flows as other patents. In addition, these studies usually focus on the static analysis of knowledge flows. Some use approaches that incorporate the time dimension, yet they still fail to trace a true dynamic process of knowledge flows. Therefore, we investigate dynamic patterns of knowledge flows driven by BM patents using a Hidden Markov Model (HMM). An HMM is a popular statistical tool for modeling a wide range of time series data, with no general theoretical limit in regard to statistical pattern classification. Accordingly, it enables characterizing knowledge patterns that may differ by patent, sector, country and so on. We run the model in sets of backward citations and forward citations to compare the patterns of knowledge utilization and knowledge dissemination.

Keywords: business method patents, dynamic pattern, Hidden-Markov Model, knowledge flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Takashi Shimizu, Tomoaki Hashimoto

Abstract:

A class of implicit systems is known as a more generalized class of systems than a class of explicit systems. To establish a control method for such a generalized class of systems, we adopt model predictive control method which is a kind of optimal feedback control with a performance index that has a moving initial time and terminal time. However, model predictive control method is inapplicable to systems whose all state variables are not exactly known. In other words, model predictive control method is inapplicable to systems with limited measurable states. In fact, it is usual that the state variables of systems are measured through outputs, hence, only limited parts of them can be used directly. It is also usual that output signals are disturbed by process and sensor noises. Hence, it is important to establish a state estimation method for nonlinear implicit systems with taking the process noise and sensor noise into consideration. To this purpose, we apply the model predictive control method and unscented Kalman filter for solving the optimization and estimation problems of nonlinear implicit systems, respectively. The objective of this study is to establish a model predictive control with unscented Kalman filter for nonlinear implicit systems.

Keywords: optimal control, nonlinear systems, state estimation, Kalman filter

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: Samir K. Safi

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of two types of models, namely MIDAS and MIDAS-GARCH, in predicting the volatility of crude oil returns based on gold price returns and the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to identify which model would provide more accurate short-term and long-term predictions and which model would perform better in handling the increased volatility caused by the pandemic. The findings of the study revealed that the MIDAS model performed better in predicting short-term and long-term volatility before the pandemic, while the MIDAS-GARCH model performed significantly better in handling the increased volatility caused by the pandemic. The study highlights the importance of selecting appropriate models to handle the complexities of real-world data and shows that the choice of model can significantly impact the accuracy of predictions. The practical implications of model selection and exploring potential methodological adjustments for future research will be highlighted and discussed.

Keywords: GARCH-MIDAS, MIDAS, crude oil, gold, COVID-19, volatility

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Authors: M. Pomianek, M. Piszczek, M. Maciejewski

Abstract:

The binocular eye tracking technology is increasingly being used in industry, entertainment and marketing analysis. In the case of virtual reality, eye tracking systems are already the basis for user interaction with the environment. In such systems, the high accuracy of determining the user's eye fixation point is very important due to the specificity of the virtual reality head-mounted display (HMD). Often, however, there are unknown errors occurring in the used eye tracking technology, as well as those resulting from the positioning of the devices in relation to the user's eyes. However, can the virtual environment itself influence estimation errors? The paper presents mathematical analyses and empirical studies of the determination of the fixation point and errors resulting from the change in the size of the pupil in response to the intensity of the displayed scene. The article contains both static laboratory tests as well as on the real user. Based on the research results, optimization solutions were proposed that would reduce the errors of gaze estimation errors. Studies show that errors in estimating the fixation point of vision can be minimized both by improving the pupil positioning algorithm in the video image and by using more precise methods to calibrate the eye tracking system in three-dimensional space.

Keywords: eye tracking, fixation point, pupil size, virtual reality

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: G. V. Sai Soumya, Kalpesh Solanki, Sumit K. Choudhary

Abstract:

Necropsy is another term used for an autopsy, which is known as death examination in the case of animals. It is a complete standardized procedure involving dissection, observation, interpretation, and documentation. Government Bodies like National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) have given standard operating procedures for commencing the necropsies. Necropsies are rarely performed as compared to autopsies performed on human bodies. There are no databases which maintain the count of autopsies in wildlife, but the research in this area has shown a very small number of necropsies. Long back, wildlife forensics came into existence but is coming into light nowadays as there is an increase in wildlife crime cases, including the smuggling of trophies, pooching, and many more. Physical examination in cases of animals is not sufficient to yield fruitful information, and thus postmortem examination plays an important role. Postmortem examination helps in the determination of time since death, cause of death, manner of death, factors affecting the case under investigation, and thus decreases the amount of time required in solving cases. Increasing the rate of necropsies will help forensic veterinary pathologists to build standardized provision and confidence within them, which will ultimately yield a higher success rate in solving wildlife crime cases.

Keywords: necropsy, wildlife crime, postmortem examination, forensic application

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Saima Ijaz, Muhammad Mushtaq, Sufian Munawar

Abstract:

This article is devoted to studying the second law analysis of the Cattaneo-Christov heat flux for non-Newtonian fluid on a moving porous pipe intensification of the magnetic field and heat source/sink. The non-Newtonian fluid is considered to have Maxwell-fluid characteristics. The Cattaneo-Christov model takes into account the specific relaxation time for heat transfer. The main causes that are responsible for creating entropy generation are viscous dissipation, heat transfer, and joule heating. An analytical method, the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM), is utilized to solve the non-linear governing equations of the underlying model. Mathematical results are shown with graphs and tables. In this work, all those parameters are sorted out which are responsible for an increase or decrease in entropy generation. Namely, the porosity, magnetic field effects, and heat source/sink rate are in the former category, and Cattaneo-Christov relaxation time is in the latter one. These results are new contributions in the case of internal flow in the pipe and would be helpful for reducing the entropy generation strategies.

Keywords: Cattaneo-Christov heat flux, entropy generation analysis, heat source / sink, joule heating, non-newtonian fluid, porous pipe

Procedia PDF Downloads 17