Search results for: frequency distributions instead of wave functions

Authors: Mads Kirk Larsen

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Strict air pollution control is today high on the agenda world-wide. By reducing the particular emission, not only the mg/Nm3 will be reduced – also parts of mercury and other hazardous matters attached to the particles will be reduced. Furthermore, it is possible to catch the fine particles (PM2.5). For particulate control, the precipitators are still the preferred choice and much efforts have been done to improve the efficiencies. Many ESP’s have seen electrical upgrading by changing the traditional 1 phase power system into either 3 phase or SMPS (High Frequency) units. However, there exist a 4th type of power supply – the pulse type. This is unfortunately widely unknown, but may be of great benefit to power plants. The FLSmidth type is called COROMAX® and it is a high voltage pulse generator for precipitators using a semiconductor switch operating at medium potential. The generated high voltage pulses have rated amplitude of 80 kV and duration of 75 μs and are superimposed on a variable base voltage of 60 kV rated voltage. Hereby, achieving a peak voltage of 140 kV. COROMAX® has the ability to increase the voltage beyond the natural spark limit inside the precipitator. Voltage levels may often be twice as high after installation of COROMAX®. Hereby also the migration velocity increases and thereby the efficiency. As the collection efficiency is proportional to the voltage peak and mean values, this also increases the collection efficiency of the fine particles where test has shown 80% removal of particles less than 0.07 micron. Another great advantage is the indifference to back-corona. Simultaneously with emission reduction, the power consumption will also be reduced. Another great advantage of the COROMAX® system is that the emission can be improved without the need to change the internal parts or enlarge the ESP. Recently, more than 150 units have been installed in China, where emissions have been reduced to ultra-low levels.

Keywords: eleectrostatic precipitator, high resistivity dust, micropulse energization, particulate removal

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Muhammad Naveed, Sohail Yousaf, Zahir Ahmad Zahir, Birgit Mitter, Angela Sessitsch

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Most bacterial endophytes originate from the soil and enter plants via the roots followed by further spread through the inner tissues. The mechanisms allowing bacteria to colonize plants endophytically are still poorly understood for most bacterial and plant species. Specific bacterial functions are required for plant colonization, but also the plant itself is a determining factor as bacterial ability to establish endophytic populations is very often dependent on the plant genotype (cultivar) and inoculums density. The effect of inoculum density (107, 108, 109 CFU mL-1) of Burkholderia phytofirmans strain PsJN was evaluated on growth and endophytic colonization of different maize and potato cultivars under axenic and natural soil conditions. PsJN inoculation significantly increased maize seedling growth and tuber yield of potato at all inoculum density compared to uninoculated control. Under axenic condition, PsJN inoculation (108 CFU mL-1) significantly improved the germination, root/shoot length and biomass up to 62, 115, 98 and 135% of maize seedling compared to uninoculated control. In case of potato, PsJN inoculation (109 CFU mL-1) showed maximum response and significantly increased root/shoot biomass and tuber yield under natural soil condition. We confirmed that PsJN is able to colonize the rhizosphere, roots and shoots of maize and potato cultivars. The endophytic colonization increased linearly with increasing inoculum density (within a range of 8 x 104 – 3 x 107 CFU mL-1) and were highest for maize (Morignon) and potato (Romina) as compared to other cultivars. Efficient colonization of cv. Morignon and Romina by strain PsJN indicates the specific cultivar colonizing capacity of the bacteria. The findings of the study indicate the non-significant relationship between colonization and plant growth promotion in maize under axenic conditions. However, the inoculum level (109 CFU mL-1) that promoted colonization of rhizosphere and plant interior (endophytic) also best promoted growth and tuber yield of potato under natural soil conditions.

Keywords: crop genotype, inoculum density, Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN, colonization, growth, potato

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Authors: Mohammed A. Alshehri

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Salvia officinalis is an aromatic plant member of the mint (Labiatae) family. It is popular kitchen herb. Not surprise to find that the name of this herb related to cure, in Latin language Salvia means to cure where officinalis means medicinal which answer why the sage has a top place in the list of medicinal plants. The aim of the present study was to assess the genetic damage and cytological changes caused by exposure of the test organism (Rattusrattus) to Salvia officinals. For this purpose, adult female rats, weighing 200–250 g, were used as donors. A total of 36 adult Wister male rats were randomly assigned to five groups: the experimental groups (rats were intraperitonealy injected with Salvia officinalis pure extract at (0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.1mg/kg body weight, the same dose was administered once a day. Control group (rats were injected intraperitonealy physiological saline. And positive control were injected with Cyclophosphamide. On the 21st days following Salvia officinalis pure extract exposure, rats were sacrificed, and samples of bone marrow were collected. Following that, we performed a micronuclei (MN) test using MNNCE (Micro-nucleated normocromatic erythrocytes) and MNPCE (Micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes), NDI (Nuclear division index), and cytological parameters using NDCI (nuclear division cytotoxicity index), necrotic, and apoptotic cells in rat's bone marrow samples. Results showed that there was a no significant increase in the frequency of micro-nucleatedas well as in cytological parameters in bone marrow cells. In light of these results, if Salvia officinalis pure extract may considered to be safe from the stand point of genotoxicity and cytotoxicity effects.

Keywords: Salvia officinalis, micronucleus, NDI, NDCI, toxicity, chromosomal aberrations

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Authors: Faiza Marrium, Masood Rabbani, Ali Ahmad Sheikh, Muhammad Yasin Tipu Javed Muhammad, Sohail Raza

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More than 75% diseases spreading in the past 10 years in human population globally are linked to veterinary sector. Veterinary diagnostic labs are the powerful ally for diagnosis, prevention and monitoring of animal diseases in any country. In order to avoid detrimental effects of errors in disease diagnostic and biorisk management, there is a dire need to establish quality control system. In current study, 3 private and 6 public sectors veterinary diagnostic labs were selected for survey. A questionnaire survey in biorisk management guidelines of CWA 15793 was designed to find quality control breaches in lab design, personal, equipment and consumable, quality control measures adopted in lab, waste management, environmental monitoring and customer care. The data was analyzed through frequency distribution statistically by using (SPSS) version 18.0. A non-significant difference was found in all parameters of lab design, personal, equipment and consumable, quality control measures adopted in lab, waste management, environmental monitoring and customer care with an average percentage of 46.6, 57.77, 52.7, 55.5, 54.44, 48.88 and 60, respectively. A non-significant difference among all nine labs were found, with highest average compliance percentage of all parameters are lab 2 (78.13), Lab 3 (70.56), Lab 5 (57.51), Lab 6 (56.37), Lab 4 (55.02), Lab 9 (49.58), Lab 7 (47.76), Lab 1 (41.01) and Lab 8 (36.09). This study shows that in Lahore district veterinary diagnostic labs are not giving proper attention to quality of their system and there is no significant difference between setups of private and public sector laboratories. These results show that most of parameters are between 50 and 80 percent, which needs some work and improvement as per WHO criteria.

Keywords: veterinary lab, quality management system, accreditation, regulatory body, disease identification

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Authors: Christodoulakis Georgios, Kiourti Elisavet

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The Covid-19 pandemic has affected millions of people on a global scale, while lockdowns and quarantine measures were adopted periodically by a vast number of countries. These peculiar socio-historical conditions have led to the growth of participation in online environments. At the same time, the official educational bodies of many countries have been forced, for the first time at least for Greece and Cyprus, to switch to distance learning methods throughout the educational levels. However, this has not been done without issues, both in the technological and functional level, concerning the tools and the processes. Video games are the finest example of simulations of distance learning problem-solving environments. They incorporate different semiotic modes (e.g., a combination of image, sound, texts, gesture) while all this takes place in social and cultural constructed contexts. Players interact in the game environment in terms of spaces, objects, and actions in order to accomplish their goals, solve its problems, and win the game. In addition, players are engaging in layering literacies, which include combinations of independent and collaborative, digital and nondigital practices and spaces acting jointly to support meaning making, including interaction among and across texts and modalities (Abrams, 2017). From this point of view, players are engaged in collaborative, self-directed, and interest-based experiences by going back and forth and around gameplay. Within this context, this paper investigates the way Einstown, a greek serious video game, functions as an effective distance learning environment for teaching Greek as a second|foreign language to adults. The research methodology adopted is the case study approach using mixed methods. The participants were two adult women who are immigrants in Greece and who had zero gaming experience. The results of this research reveal that the videogame Einstown is, in fact, a digital environment of literacy through which the participants achieve active learning, cooperation, and engage in digital and non-digital literacy practices that result in improving the learning of specialized vocabulary presented throughout the gameplay.

Keywords: second/foreign language, vocabulary acquisition, literacy, serious video games

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Authors: Szymon Szemik, Małgorzata Kowalska

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Objective: Medical students experience numerous demands during the education process, determining their quality of life (QoL) and health status. POLLEK (POLski LEKarz, eng. Polish Physician) study aims to identify and evaluate the quality of life, mental health status, and ever-recognized chronic diseases by simultaneously assessing their determinants in Polish medical students during long-term observation. Material and Methods: The POLLEK is the follow-up cohort study conducted among medical students at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice. Students were followed during two observation periods: in their first year of studies, the academic year 2021/2022 (T1), and in their second year, the academic year 2022/2023 (T2). Results: The total number of participants in the first year of observation (T1) was 427 while in the second year (T2) was 335. Obtained results confirmed that the QoL score significantly decreased in their second year of studies mainly in the somatic and psychological domains. Moreover, we observed a significant increase in self-declared scoring of somatic symptoms year by year (from M=4.75 at T1 to M=8.06 at T2, p<0.001) in the GHQ-28 questionnaire survey. The determinants of QoL domains common to T1 and T2 remained self-declared health status, frequency of physical activity, and current financial situation. In the first year of evaluation, 56 students (13.10%) were overweight or obese, and 52 (15.8%) in the second. Regardless of the academic year, the increased risk of being overweight or obese was significantly associated with dissatisfaction with personal health, financial deficiencies, and a diet abundant in meat consumption. Conclusions: The QoL in medical students and selected determinants of their health status deteriorated during the observation period. Our findings suggest that medical schools should actively promote the activity needed to achieve a balance between schoolwork and the personal life of medical students from the beginning of university study.

Keywords: quality of life, mental health, medical students, follow-up study

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Authors: Wayde Veldman, Ozlem T. Bishop, Igor Polikarpov

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In bacteria, mono and disaccharides are phosphorylated during uptake into the cell via the widely used phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent phosphotransferase transport system. As an initial step in the phosphorylated disaccharide metabolism pathway, certain glycoside hydrolase family 1 (GH1) enzymes play a crucial role in releasing phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated monosaccharides. However, structural determinants for the specificity of these enzymes still need to be clarified. GH1 enzymes are known to have a wide array of functions. According to the CAZy database, there are twenty-one different enzymatic activities in the GH1 family. Here, the structure and substrate specificity of a GH1 enzyme from Bacillus licheniformis, hereafter known as BlBglH, was investigated. The sequence of the enzyme BlBglH was compared to the sequences of other characterized GH1 enzymes using sequence alignment, sequence identity calculations, phylogenetic analysis, and motif discovery. Through these various analyses, BlBglH was found to have sequence features characteristic of the 6-phospho-β-glucosidase activity enzymes. Additionally, motif and structure comparisons of the three most commonly studied GH1 enzyme-activities revealed a shared loop amongst the different structures that consist of different sequence motifs – this loop is thought to guide specific substrates (depending on activity) towards the active-site. To further affirm BlBglH enzyme activity, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were performed. Docking was carried out using 6-phospho-β-glucosidase enzyme-activity positive (p-Nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucoside-6-phosphate) and negative (p-Nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactoside-6-phosphate) control ligands, followed by 400 ns molecular dynamics simulations. The positive-control ligand maintained favourable interactions within the active site until the end of the simulation. The negative-control ligand was observed exiting the enzyme at 287 ns. Binding free energy calculations showed that the positive-control complex had a substantially more favourable binding energy compared to the negative-control complex. Jointly, the findings of this study suggest that the BlBglH enzyme possesses 6-phospho-β-glucosidase enzymatic activity.

Keywords: 6-P-β-glucosidase, glycoside hydrolase 1, molecular dynamics, sequence analysis, substrate specificity

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Authors: Bhavani Veasuvalingam

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Case-based learning (CBL) is a popular instructional method aimed to bridge theory to clinical practice. This study aims to explore CBL mixed modality curriculum in influencing students’ learning styles and strategies that support learning. An explanatory sequential mixed method study was employed with initial phase, 44-itemed Felderman’s Index of Learning Style (ILS) questionnaire employed across year one medical students (n=142) using convenience sampling to describe the preferred learning styles. The qualitative phase utilised three focus group discussions (FGD) to explore in depth on the multimodal learning style exhibited by the students. Most students preferred combination of learning stylesthat is reflective, sensing, visual and sequential i.e.: RSVISeq style (24.64%) from the ILS analysis. The frequency of learning preference from processing to understanding were well balanced, with sequential-global domain (66.2%); sensing-intuitive (59.86%), active- reflective (57%), and visual-verbal (51.41%). The qualitative data reported three major themes, namely Theme 1: CBL mixed modalities navigates learners’ learning style; Theme 2: Multimodal learners active learning strategies supports learning. Theme 3: CBL modalities facilitating theory into clinical knowledge. Both quantitative and qualitative study strongly reports the multimodal learning style of the year one medical students. Medical students utilise multimodal learning styles to attain the clinical knowledge when learning with CBL mixed modalities. Educators’ awareness of the multimodal learning style is crucial in delivering the CBL mixed modalities effectively, considering strategic pedagogical support students to engage and learn CBL in bridging the theoretical knowledge into clinical practice.

Keywords: case-based learning, learnign style, medical students, learning

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Authors: Minjeong Kim, Seungchul Lee, Iman Janghorban Esfahani, Jeong Tai Kim, ChangKyoo Yoo

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A trajectory of set-point of ventilation control systems plays an important role for efficient ventilation inside subway stations since it affects the level of indoor air pollutants and ventilation energy consumption. To maintain indoor air quality (IAQ) at a comfortable range with lower ventilation energy consumption, the optimal trajectory of the ventilation control system needs to be determined. The concentration of air pollutants inside the station shows a diurnal variation in accordance with the variations in the number of passengers and subway frequency. To consider the diurnal variation of IAQ, an iterative dynamic programming (IDP) that searches for a piecewise control policy by separating whole duration into several stages is used. When outdoor air is contaminated by pollutants, it enters the subway station through the ventilation system, which results in the deteriorated IAQ and adverse effects on passenger health. In this study, to consider the influence of outdoor air quality (OAQ), a new performance index of the IDP with the passenger health risk and OAQ is proposed. This study was carried out for an underground subway station at Seoul Metro, Korea. The optimal set-points of the ventilation control system are determined every 3 hours, then, the ventilation controller adjusts the ventilation fan speed according to the optimal set-point changes. Compared to manual ventilation system which is operated irrespective of the OAQ, the IDP-based ventilation control system saves 3.7% of the energy consumption. Compared to the fixed set-point controller which is operated irrespective of the IAQ diurnal variation, the IDP-based controller shows better performance with a 2% decrease in energy consumption, maintaining the comfortable IAQ range inside the station.

Keywords: indoor air quality, iterative dynamic algorithm, outdoor air information, ventilation control system

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Authors: Stephen M. Magu

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The 9/11 and Christmas bombing attacks in the United States are mostly associated with the inability of intelligence agencies to connect dots based on intelligence that was already available. The 1998, 2002, 2013 and several 2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, on the other hand, are probably driven by a completely different dynamic: the invisible hand of corruption. The World Bank and Transparency International annually compute the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the Corruption Perception Index respectively. What perhaps is not adequately captured in the corruption metrics is the impact of corruption on terrorism. The World Bank data includes variables such as the control of corruption, (estimates of) government effectiveness, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, regulatory quality, rule of law and voice and accountability. TI's CPI does not include measures related to terrorism, but it is plausible that there is an expectation of some terrorism impact arising from corruption. This paper, by examining the incidence, frequency and total number of terrorist attacks that have occurred especially since 1990, and further examining the specific cases of Kenya and Nigeria, argues that in addition to having major effects on governance, corruption has an even more frightening impact: that of facilitating and/or violating security mechanisms to the extent that foreign nationals can easily obtain identification that enables them to perpetuate major events, targeting powerful countries' interests in countries with weak corruption-fighting mechanisms. The paper aims to model interactions that demonstrate the cost/benefit analysis and agents' rational calculations as being non-rational calculations, given the ultimate impact. It argues that eradication of corruption is not just a matter of a better business environment, but that it is implicit in national security, and that for anti-corruption crusaders, this is an argument more potent than the economic cost / cost of doing business argument.

Keywords: corruption, global south, identification, passports, terrorism

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Authors: B. Rusyidi

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Since 2009, the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs has been implementing Program Kesejahteraan Sosial Anak (PKSA) (Child Welfare Program) a conditional cash transfer program that targets neglected children, children with disabilities, street children, children in conflict with the law, and children in need of special protection, all from poor households. PKSA integrates three elements: Transfer of cash, care and social services through social workers, and institutional childcare assistance. This qualitative study analyzed the roles and the challenges of social workers in implementing PKSA and lays out recommendations to inform policy changes. Data were collected in late 2014 from national and local government and non-government child welfare agencies, social workers, and childcare institution representatives through interviews and Focused Group Discussions (FGDs). Field work took place in six districts in the provinces of Jakarta, Central Java and South Sulawesi. The study found that the social workers’ role was significant in facilitating cash transfer, providing education and guidance, and linking children and families to basic social services. This improved utilization of basic social services enhanced children and families’ behaviors and contributed to the well being of the children. However, only a small number of childcare institutions have social workers, leaving many children and families without care and social service linkages, depriving them of rehabilitative components to help them regain their social functions. Some social workers reported their struggles with heavy workloads, lack of professional competencies and training, limited job security, and inadequate professional acknowledgment from other professions. Parts of those challenges were due to the centralized nature of the program and the lack of shared vision and commitment about the child protection system among related government agencies both at the national and local levels. The study highlights the necessity to implement an integrated child protection system, decentralize the PKSA program, and increase the number, competence, case management, and management and monitoring of social workers. The most recent progress of the program and its impacts on social workers are also discussed.

Keywords: child protection, conditional cash transfer, program decentralization, social worker, working conditions

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: A van Onselen, C. M. Walsh, F. J. Veldman, C. Brand

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Objectives: To determine the nutritional status and risk factors associated with women practicing geophagia in QwaQwa, South Africa. Materials and Methods: An observational epidemiological study design was adopted which included an exposed (geophagia) and non-exposed (control) group. A food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and blood sampling were applied to determine nutritional status of participants. Logistic regression analysis was performed in order to identify factors that were likely to be associated with the practice of geophagia. Results: The mean total energy intake for the geophagia group (G) and control group(C) were 10324.31 ± 2755.00 kJ and 10763.94 ± 2556.30 kJ respectively. Both groups fell within the overweight category according to the mean body mass index (BMI) of each group (G= 25.59 kg/m2; C= 25.14 kg/m2). The mean serum iron levels of the geophagia group (6.929 μmol/l) were significantly lower than that of the control group (13.75 μmol/l) (p = 0.000). Serum transferrin (G=3.23g/l; C=2.7054g/l) and serum transferrin saturation (G=8.05%; C=18.74%) levels also differed significantly between groups (p=0.00). Factors that were associated with the practice of geophagia included haemoglobin (Odds ratio (OR):14.50), serum-iron (OR: 9.80), serum-ferritin (OR: 3.75), serum-transferrin (OR: 6.92) and transferrin saturation (OR: 14.50). A significant negative association (p=0.014) was found between women who were wage-earners and those who were not wage-earners and the practice of geophagia (OR: 0.143; CI: 0.027; 0.755). These findings seem to indicate that a permanent income may decrease the likelihood of practising geophagia. Key findings: Geophagia was confirmed to be a risk factor for iron deficiency in this community. The significantly strong association between geophagia and iron deficiency emphasizes the importance of identifying the practice of geophagia in women, especially during their child bearing years. Further research to establish whether the practice of geophagia is a cause of iron-deficiency, or whether it is the consequence thereof, would give a clearer view on how to recognise and treat the condition.

Keywords: geophagia, iron deficiency anaemia, dietary intake, anthropometry

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Authors: Abhay Asthana, Shally Toshkhani, Gyati Shilakari

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The present research was aimed to develop a biodegradable dermal patch formulation for wound healing in a novel, sustained and systematic manner. The goal is to reduce the frequency of dressings with improved drug delivery and thereby enhance therapeutic performance. In present study optimized formulation was designed using component polymers and excipients (e.g. Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, Ethylcellulose, and Gelatin) to impart significant folding endurance, elasticity and strength. Gelatin was used to get a mixture using ethylene glycol. Chitosan dissolved in suitable medium was mixed with stirring to gelatin mixture. With continued stirring to the mixture Curcumin was added in optimized ratio to get homogeneous dispersion. Polymers were dispersed with stirring in final formulation. The mixture was sonicated casted to get the film form. All steps were carried out under under strict aseptic conditions. The final formulation was a thin uniformly smooth textured film with dark brown-yellow color. The film was found to have folding endurance was around 20 to 21 times without a crack in an optimized formulation at RT (23C). The drug content was in range 96 to 102% and it passed the content uniform test. The final moisture content of the optimized formulation film was NMT 9.0%. The films passed stability study conducted at refrigerated conditions (4±0.2C) and at room temperature (23 ± 2C) for 30 days. Further, the drug content and texture remained undisturbed with stability study conducted at RT 23±2C for 45 and 90 days. Percentage cumulative drug release was found to be 80% in 12 h and matched the biodegradation rate as drug release with correlation factor R2 > 0.9. The film based formulation developed shows promising results in terms of stability and release profiles.

Keywords: biodegradable, patch, bioactive, polymer

Procedia PDF Downloads 516

Authors: Chenxi Liao, Mizuho Akimoto, Mariya Bivolarova, Sekhar Chandra, Xiaojun Fan, Li Lan, Jelle Laverge, Pawel Wargocki

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The bedroom environment plays an important role in maintaining good sleep quality, which is vital for humans health and next-day performance. A survey of the sleep-disturbed bedroom environmental factors and the occupants’ bedroom windows (BW) or bedroom door (BD) opening behaviors was launched in the capital region of Denmark in 2020 by an online questionnaire. People were asked if they were disturbed by too warm temperature, too cool temperature, noise, or stuffy air during sleep. Also, they reported their BW or the BD opening behaviors in the morning, afternoon, evening, and during sleep. A total of 512 responses were received. Too warm temperature was reported the most among the four sleep-disturbed factors, following too cool temperature, noise, and stuffy air. Whether or not opening BW or the BD was commonly used to improve or change the bedroom environment. The respondents who were disturbed by too warm temperature during sleep opened BW for a longer time in the morning compared to those who were never disturbed by it (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.01-1.62). Those who were disturbed by too cool temperatures tended to open BW less frequently in the morning (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.97-1.57). They preferred keeping BW open in the whole day if they realized stuffy air disturbing their sleep, although only a few of them still opened BW during sleep. Those who were disturbed by too cool temperature (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.63-0.92) and noise (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66-0.96) were more likely to sleep with the BD open in a lesser frequency. Opening BW, increasing ventilation rates, could relieve disturbing by stuffy air during sleep, but induced other sleep-disturbed factors such as too cool in winter and noise. Also, opening BW only when people were not sleep was not sufficient to exempt disturbing by stuffy air during sleep. Using mechanical ventilation in bedrooms is necessary to ensure good air quality and meanwhile to avoid thermal discomfort and noise during sleep. Future studies are required to figure out the required flow rate of fresh air of mechanical ventilation during sleep.

Keywords: bedroom environmental, survey, occupants behaviors, windows, door

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Authors: Dalma Dojcsák, Csaba Váradi, Flóra Farkas, Tamás Farkas, János Papp, Béla Viskolcz

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Background: Appendicitis is a common acute inflammatory condition in both children and adults, but current laboratory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and red blood cell count (RNC) lack specificity in detecting appendicitis-related inflammation. N-glycosylation, an asparagine-linked glycosylation process, plays a vital role in cellular interactions, angiogenesis, immune response, and effector functions. Altered N-glycosylation impacts tumor growth and both acute and chronic inflammatory processes. IgG, the second most abundant glycoprotein in serum, shows altered glycosylation patterns during inflammation, suggesting that IgG glycan modifications may serve as potential biomarkers for appendicitis. Specifically, increased levels of agalactosylated IgG glycans are a known feature of various inflammatory conditions, potentially including appendicitis. Identifying pediatric appendicitis remains challenging due to the absence of specific biomarkers, which makes diagnosis reliant on clinical symptoms, imaging such as ultrasound, and nonspecific lab indicators (e.g., CRP, WBC, ANC). In this study, we analyzed the IgG derived N-glycome in pediatric patients with appendicitis compared with healthy controls. Methodology: The N-glycome was analyzed by high-performance liquid-chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. IgG was isolated from serum samples by Protein G column. The IgG derived glycans were released by enzymatic deglycosylation and fluorescent tags were attached to each glycan moiety, which made necessitates the sample clean-up for further reliable quantitation. Overall, 38 controls and 40 serum samples diagnosed with pediatric appendicitis were analyzed by HILIC-MS methods. Multivariate statistical tests were performed with area percentage under the peak data derived from the integrated peaks, which were obtained from the chromatograms. Conclusions: Our results represented the altered N-glycome of IgG in pediatric appendicitis is similar with other observations. The glycosylation pattern reported so far for IgG is characterized by decreased galactosylation and sialylation, and an increase in fucosylation.

Keywords: N-glycosylation, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, inflammation, appendicitis, immunoglobulin G

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Authors: Yusuf Yilmaz, Gamze Gediz Ilis

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Gas Nitrogen where has a boiling point of -189.52oC at atmospheric pressure widely used in the industry. Nitrogen that used in the industry should be transported in liquid form to the plant area. Ambient air vaporizer (AAV) generally used for vaporization of cryogenic gases such as liquid nitrogen (LN2), liquid oxygen (LOX), liquid natural gas (LNG), and liquid argon (LAR) etc. AAV is a group of star-shaped fin vaporizer. The design and the effect of the shape of fins of the vaporizer is one of the most important criteria for the performance of the vaporizer. In this study, the performance of AAV working with liquid nitrogen was analyzed numerically in a star-shaped aluminum finned pipe. The numerical analysis is performed in order to investigate the heat capacity of the vaporizer per meter pipe length. By this way, the vaporizer capacity can be predicted for the industrial applications. In order to achieve the validation of the numerical solution, the experimental setup is constructed. The setup includes a liquid nitrogen tank with a pressure of 9 bar. The star-shaped aluminum finned tube vaporizer is connected to the LN2 tank. The inlet and the outlet pressure and temperatures of the LN2 of the vaporizer are measured. The mass flow rate of the LN2 is also measured and collected. The comparison of the numerical solution is performed by these measured data. The ambient conditions of the experiment are given as boundary conditions to the numerical model. The surface tension and contact angle have a significant effect on the boiling of liquid nitrogen. Average heat transfer coefficient including convective and nucleated boiling components should be obtained for liquid nitrogen saturated flow boiling in the finned tube. Fluent CFD module is used to simulate the numerical solution. The turbulent k-ε model is taken to simulate the liquid nitrogen flow. The phase change is simulated by using the evaporation-condensation approach used with user-defined functions (UDF). The comparison of the numerical and experimental results will be shared in this study. Besides, the performance capacity of the star-shaped finned pipe vaporizer will be calculated in this study. Based on this numerical analysis, the performance of the vaporizer per unit length can be predicted for the industrial applications and the suitable pipe length of the vaporizer can be found for the special cases.

Keywords: liquid nitrogen, numerical modeling, two-phase flow, cryogenics

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: V. N. Chebotkevich, E. E. Schetinkina, V. V. Burylev, E. I. Kaytandzhan, N. P. Stizhak

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Objective: Blood stream infections (BSI) are severe, life-threatening illness for immuno compromised patients with hematological malignancies. We report the trend in blood-stream infections in this group of patients in the period 1991-2013. Methods: A total of 4742 blood samples investigated. All blood cultures were incubated in a continuous monitoring system for 7 days before discarding negative. On signaled positive, organism was identified by conventional methods. The Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for the indication of human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6), Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Results: Between 1991 and 2001 the incidence of Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus) being the most common germs isolated (70,9%) were as Gram-negative rods (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas spp.) – 29,1%. In next decade 2002-2012 the number of Gram-negative bacteria was increased up to 40.2%. It is shown that the incidence of bacteremia was significantly more frequent at the background of detectable Cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus-specific DNA in blood. Over recent years, an increased frequency of micro mycetes was registered in blood of the patients with hematological malignancies (Candida spp. was predominant). Conclusion: Accurate and timely detection of BSI is important in determining appropriate treatment of infectious complications in patients with hematological malignancies. The isolation of Staphylococcus epidermidis from blood cultures remains a clinical dilemma for physicians and microbiologists. But in many cases this agent is of the clinical significance in immunocompromised patients with hematological malignancies. The role of CMV and EBV in development of bacteremia was demonstrated.

Keywords: infectious complications, blood stream infections, bacteremia, hemoblastosis

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Authors: Faris Tarlochan, Siva Mahesh Tangutooru

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Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) is the relay center in the visual pathway as it receives most of the input information from retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and sends to visual cortex. Low threshold calcium currents (IT) at the membrane are the unique indicator to characterize this firing functionality of the LGN neurons gained by the RGC input. According to the LGN functional requirements such as functional mapping of RGC to LGN, the morphologies of the LGN neurons were developed. During the neurological disorders like glaucoma, the mapping between RGC and LGN is disconnected and hence stimulating LGN electrically using deep brain electrodes can restore the functionalities of LGN. A computational model was developed for simulating the LGN neurons with three predominant morphologies, each representing different functional mapping of RGC to LGN. The firings of action potentials at LGN neuron due to IT were characterized by varying the stimulation parameters, morphological parameters and orientation. A wide range of stimulation parameters (stimulus amplitude, duration and frequency) represents the various strengths of the electrical stimulation with different morphological parameters (soma size, dendrites size and structure). The orientation (0-1800) of LGN neuron with respect to the stimulating electrode represents the angle at which the extracellular deep brain stimulation towards LGN neuron is performed. A reduced dendrite structure was used in the model using Bush–Sejnowski algorithm to decrease the computational time while conserving its input resistance and total surface area. The major finding is that an input potential of 0.4 V is required to produce the action potential in the LGN neuron which is placed at 100 µm distance from the electrode. From this study, it can be concluded that the neuroprostheses under design would need to consider the capability of inducing at least 0.4V to produce action potentials in LGN.

Keywords: Lateral Geniculate Nucleus, visual cortex, finite element, glaucoma, neuroprostheses

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Authors: Ahmed Ismail, Mustafa Baysal

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Although the energy source in the world is mainly based on fossil fuels today, there is a need for alternative energy generation systems, which are more economic and environmentally friendly, due to continuously increasing demand of electric energy and lacking power resources and networks. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as fuel cells, wind and solar power have recently become widespread as alternative generation. In order to solve several problems that might be encountered when integrating DERs to power system, the microgrid concept has been proposed. A microgrid can operate both grid connected and island mode to benefit both utility and customers. For most distributed energy resources (DER) which are connected in parallel in LV-grid like micro-turbines, wind plants, fuel cells and PV cells electrical power is generated as a direct current (DC) and converted to an alternative currents (AC) by inverters. So the inverters are assumed to be primary components in a microgrid. There are many control techniques of parallel inverters to manage active and reactive sharing of the loads. Some of them are based on droop method. In literature, the studies are usually focused on improving the transient performance of inverters. In this study, the performance of two different controllers based on droop control method is compared for the inverters operated in parallel without any communication feedback. For this aim, a microgrid in which inverters are controlled by conventional droop controller and modified droop controller is designed. Modified controller is obtained by adding PID into conventional droop control. Active and reactive power sharing performance, voltage and frequency responses of those control methods are measured in several operational cases. Study cases have been simulated by MATLAB-SIMULINK.

Keywords: active and reactive power sharing, distributed generation, droop control, microgrid

Procedia PDF Downloads 592

Authors: Swarnapriya Thiyagarajan, Modesto Antonio Sosa Aquino, Miguel Vallejo Hernandez, Senthilkumar Kalaiselvan Dhivyaraj, Jayaramakrishnan Velusamy

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In this paper the lithium tetra borate (Li2B4O7) was prepared by used water/solution assisted synthesis method. Once finished the synthesization, Copper (Cu) were used to doping material with Li2B4O7 in order to enhance its thermo luminescent properties. The heating temperature parameters were 750°C for 2 hr and 150°C for 2hr. The samples produced by water assisted method were doped at different doping percentage (0.02%, 0.04%, 0.06%, 0.08%, 0.12%, 0.5%, 0.1%, and 1%) of Cu.The characteristics and identification of Li2B4O7 (undoped and doped) were determined in four tests. They are X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Photoluminescence (PL), Ultra violet visible spectroscopy (UV Vis). As it is evidence from the XRD and SEM results the obtained Li2B4O7 and Li2B4O7 doping with Cu was confirmed and also confirmed the chemical compositition and their morphologies. The obtained lithium tetraborate XRD pattern result was verified with the reference data of lithium tetraborate with tetragonal structure from JCPDS. The glow curves of Li2B4O7 and Li2B4O7 : Cu were obtained by thermo luminescence (TLD) reader (Harshaw 3500). The pellets were irradiated with different kind of dose (58mGy, 100mGy, 500mGy, and 945mGy) by using an X-ray source. Finally this energy response was also compared with TLD100. The order of kinetics (b), frequency factor (S) and activation energy (E) or the trapping parameters were calculated using peak shape method. Especially Li2B4O7: Cu (0.1%) presents good glow curve in all kind of doses. The experimental results showed that this Li2B4O7: Cu could have good potential applications in radiation dosimetry. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of synthesis on the TL properties of doped lithium tetra borate Li2B4O7.

Keywords: dosimetry, irradiation, lithium tetraborate, thermoluminescence

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Pedro B. Antunes, Paulo J. Ramísio

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Road runoff is a linear source of diffuse pollution that can cause significant environmental impacts. During rainfall events, pollutants from both stationary and mobile sources, which have accumulated on the road surface, are dragged through the superficial runoff. Road runoff in coastal zones may present high levels of salinity and chlorides due to the proximity of the sea and transported marine aerosols. Appearing to be correlated to this process, organic matter concentration may also be significant. This study assesses this phenomenon with the purpose of identifying the relationships between monitored water quality parameters and intrinsic site variables. To achieve this objective, an extensive monitoring program was conducted on a Portuguese coastal highway. The study included thirty rainfall events, in different weather, traffic and salt deposition conditions in a three years period. The evaluations of various water quality parameters were carried out in over 200 samples. In addition, the meteorological, hydrological and traffic parameters were continuously measured. The salt deposition rates (SDR) were determined by means of a wet candle device, which is an innovative feature of the monitoring program. The SDR, variable throughout the year, appears to show a high correlation with wind speed and direction, but mostly with wave propagation, so that it is lower in the summer, in spite of the favorable wind direction in the case study. The distance to the sea, topography, ground obstacles and the platform altitude seems to be also relevant. It was confirmed the high salinity in the runoff, increasing the concentration of the water quality parameters analyzed, with significant amounts of seawater features. In order to estimate the correlations and patterns of different water quality parameters and variables related to weather, road section and salt deposition, the study included exploratory data analysis using different techniques (e.g. Pearson correlation coefficients, Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis), confirming some specific features of the investigated road runoff. Significant correlations among pollutants were observed. Organic matter was highlighted as very dependent of salinity. Indeed, data analysis showed that some important water quality parameters could be divided into two major clusters based on their correlations to salinity (including organic matter associated parameters) and total suspended solids (including some heavy metals). Furthermore, the concentrations of the most relevant pollutants seemed to be very dependent on some meteorological variables, particularly the duration of the antecedent dry period prior to each rainfall event and the average wind speed. Based on the results of a monitoring case study, in a coastal zone, it was proven that SDR, associated with the hydrological characteristics of road runoff, can contribute for a better knowledge of the runoff characteristics, and help to estimate the specific nature of the runoff and related water quality parameters.

Keywords: coastal zones, monitoring, road runoff pollution, salt deposition

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Adeyinka Adeniran, Omowunmi Bakare, Esther Oluwole, Florence Chieme, Temitope Durojaiye, Modupe Akinyinka, Omobola Ojo, Babatunde Olujobi, Marcus Ilesanmi, Akintunde Ogunsakin

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Introduction: Globally, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the human race physically, socially, mentally, and economically. However, healthcare workers seemed to bear the greatest impact. The study, therefore, sought to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the primary healthcare workers in Ekiti, South-west Nigeria. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study using a quantitative data collection method of 716 primary healthcare workers in Ekiti state. Respondents were selected using an online convenience sampling method via their social media platforms. Data was collected, collated, and analyzed using SPSS version 25 software and presented as frequency tables, mean and standard deviation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using a t-test, and the level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Less than half (47.1%) of respondents were between 41-50 age group and a mean age of 44.4+6.4SD. A majority (89.4%) were female, and almost all (96.2%) were married. More than (90%) had ever heard of Coronavirus, and (85.8%) had to spend more money on activities of daily living such as transportation (90.1%), groceries (80.6%), assisting relations (95.8%) and sanitary measures (disinfection) at home (95.0%). COVID-19 had a huge negative impact on about (89.7%) of healthcare workers, with a mean score of 22+4.8. Conclusion: COVID-19 negatively impacted the daily living and professional duties of primary healthcare workers, which reflected their psychological, physical, social, and economic well-being. Disease outbreaks are unlikely to disappear in the near future. Hence, global proactive interventions and homegrown measures should be adopted to protect healthcare workers and save lives.

Keywords: Covid-19, health workforce, primary health care, health systems, depression

Procedia PDF Downloads 83

Authors: M. M. Hassani, S. Ammann, F. K. Wittel, P. Niemz, H. J. Herrmann

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Application of engineered wood, especially in the form of glued-laminated timbers has increased significantly. Recent progress in plywood made of high strength and high stiffness hardwoods, like European beech, gives designers in general more freedom by increased dimensional stability and load-bearing capacity. However, the strong hygric dependence of basically all mechanical properties renders many innovative ideas futile. The tendency of hardwood for higher moisture sorption and swelling coefficients lead to significant residual stresses in glued-laminated configurations, cross-laminated patterns in particular. These stress fields cause initiation and evolution of cracks in the bond-lines resulting in: interfacial de-bonding, loss of structural integrity, and reduction of load-carrying capacity. Subsequently, delamination of glued-laminated timbers made of hardwood elements can be considered as the dominant failure mechanism in such composite elements. In addition, long-term creep and mechano-sorption under changing environmental conditions lead to loss of stiffness and can amplify delamination growth over the lifetime of a structure even after decades. In this study we investigate the delamination process of adhesively bonded hardwood (European beech) elements subjected to changing climatic conditions. To gain further insight into the long-term performance of adhesively bonded elements during the design phase of new products, the development and verification of an authentic moisture-dependent constitutive model for various species is of great significance. Since up to now, a comprehensive moisture-dependent rheological model comprising all possibly emerging deformation mechanisms was missing, a 3D orthotropic elasto-plastic, visco-elastic, mechano-sorptive material model for wood, with all material constants being defined as a function of moisture content, was developed. Apart from the solid wood adherends, adhesive layer also plays a crucial role in the generation and distribution of the interfacial stresses. Adhesive substance can be treated as a continuum layer constructed from finite elements, represented as a homogeneous and isotropic material. To obtain a realistic assessment on the mechanical performance of the adhesive layer and a detailed look at the interfacial stress distributions, a generic constitutive model including all potentially activated deformation modes, namely elastic, plastic, and visco-elastic creep was developed. We focused our studies on the three most common adhesive systems for structural timber engineering: one-component polyurethane adhesive (PUR), melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF), and phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF). The corresponding numerical integration approaches, with additive decomposition of the total strain are implemented within the ABAQUS FEM environment by means of user subroutine UMAT. To predict the true stress state, we perform a history dependent sequential moisture-stress analysis using the developed material models for both wood substrate and adhesive layer. Prediction of the delamination process is founded on the fracture mechanical properties of the adhesive bond-line, measured under different levels of moisture content and application of the cohesive interface elements. Finally, we compare the numerical predictions with the experimental observations of de-bonding in glued-laminated samples under changing environmental conditions.

Keywords: engineered wood, adhesive, material model, FEM analysis, fracture mechanics, delamination

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: Dimpy Shah

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The global economy has substantially changed in last three decades. Now almost all markets are transparent and visible for global customers. The corporates are now no more reliant on local markets for trade. The information technology revolution has changed business dynamics and marketing practices of corporate. The markets are divided into two different formats: traditional and virtual. In very short span of time, many e-commerce portals have captured global market. This strategy is well supported by global delivery system of multinational logistic companies. Now the markets are dealing with global supply chain networks, which are more demand driven and customer oriented. The corporate have realized importance of supply chain integration and marketing in this competitive environment. The Indian markets are also significantly affected with all these changes. In terms of population, India is in second place after China. In terms of demography, almost half of the population is of youth. It has been observed that the Indian youth are more inclined towards e-commerce and prefer to buy goods from web portal. Initially, this trend was observed in Indian service sector, textile and electronic goods and now further extended in other product categories. The FMCG companies have also recognized this change and started integration of their supply chain with e-commerce platform. This paper attempts to understand contemporary marketing practices of corporate in e-commerce business in Indian food and beverages segment and also tries to identify innovative marketing practices for proper execution of their strategies. The findings are mainly focused on supply chain re-integration and brand building strategies with proper utilization of social media.

Keywords: FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), ISCM (Integrated supply chain management), RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), traditional and virtual formats

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: Ibram Khalafalla Roshdy Shokry

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This paper gives service feel multiple get entry to (CSMA) verbal exchange model based totally totally on SoC format method. Such model can be used to guide the modelling of the complex c084d04ddacadd4b971ae3d98fecfb2a communique systems, consequently use of such communication version is an crucial method in the creation of excessive general overall performance conversation. SystemC has been selected as it gives a homogeneous format drift for complicated designs (i.e. SoC and IP based format). We use a swarm device to validate CSMA designed version and to expose how advantages of incorporating communication early within the layout process. The wireless conversation created via the modeling of CSMA protocol that may be used to attain conversation among all of the retailers and to coordinate get proper of entry to to the shared medium (channel).The device of automobiles with wi-fiwireless communique abilities is expected to be the important thing to the evolution to next era intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The IEEE network has been continuously operating at the development of an wireless vehicular communication protocol for the enhancement of wi-fi get admission to in Vehicular surroundings (WAVE). Vehicular verbal exchange systems, known as V2X, help car to car (V2V) and automobile to infrastructure (V2I) communications. The wi-ficiencywireless of such communication systems relies upon on several elements, amongst which the encircling surroundings and mobility are prominent. as a result, this observe makes a speciality of the evaluation of the actual performance of vehicular verbal exchange with unique cognizance on the effects of the actual surroundings and mobility on V2X verbal exchange. It begins by wi-fi the actual most range that such conversation can guide and then evaluates V2I and V2V performances. The Arada LocoMate OBU transmission device changed into used to check and evaluate the effect of the transmission range in V2X verbal exchange. The evaluation of V2I and V2V communique takes the real effects of low and excessive mobility on transmission under consideration.Multiagent systems have received sizeable attention in numerous wi-fields, which include robotics, independent automobiles, and allotted computing, where a couple of retailers cooperate and speak to reap complicated duties. wi-figreen communication among retailers is a critical thing of these systems, because it directly influences their usual performance and scalability. This scholarly work gives an exploration of essential communication factors and conducts a comparative assessment of diverse protocols utilized in multiagent systems. The emphasis lies in scrutinizing the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of those protocols across diverse situations. The studies additionally sheds light on rising tendencies within verbal exchange protocols for multiagent systems, together with the incorporation of device mastering strategies and the adoption of blockchain-based totally solutions to make sure comfy communique. those developments offer valuable insights into the evolving landscape of multiagent structures and their verbal exchange protocols.

Keywords: communication, multi-agent systems, protocols, consensussystemC, modelling, simulation, CSMA

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Authors: N. V. Klassen, A. A. Vasin, A. M. Likhter, K. A. Voronin, A. V. Mariasevskaya, I. M. Shmit’ko

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Regular patterning in mixtures of bio-polymers (chitosan and collagen) and nanoparticles in water suspensions has been found by means of optical microscopy. The patterning was created either by external electrical field of moderate amplitude (200–1000 v/cm) or spontaneously. Simultaneously with the patterning pushing out of water drops mixed with nanoparticles to the external regions was observed. These phenomena are explained by interactions of charged bio-polymers and nanoparticles with external and internal electrical fields as well as with the regions of decreased dielectrical permittivity surrounding nano-objects in water which possesses anomalously high dielectrical permittivity. Electrical charges of opposite signs of the nano-objects induce their mutual attraction whereas dipole moments created around these nano-objects by the electrical fields are pushing these particles to the regions with lower fields. Due to this reason, non-homogeneities of dielectrical permittivity around nano-objects immersed into water suspension induces mutual repulsion of the objects. This spatial decrease of this repulsion with the inter-particle distances is more sharp than that of the Coulomb attraction. So, at longer distances, the attractions are stronger whereas at shorter distances the repulsion prevails. At a certain distance these two forces compensate each other creating the equilibrium state of the mixture of nano-objects with opposite charges. When the groups of positive and negative nano-objects consist from identical particles, quasi-periodical pattern of the suspension is observed like mesoscopic two-dimensional super-crystal. These results can clarify the mechanisms of healing of internal organs with direct or alternative electrical fields.

Keywords: bio-polymers, chitosan, collagen, nanoparticles, Coulomb attraction, polarization repulsion, periodical patterning, electrical low frequency resonances

Procedia PDF Downloads 444

Authors: J. J. Lee, S. R. Sung, E. J. Yum, S. C. Kim, B. H. Hyun, M. Her, H. S. Lee

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Canine brucellosis is a critical problem in dogs leading to reproductive diseases which are mainly caused by Brucella canis. There are, nonetheless, not clear symptoms so that it may go unnoticed in most of the cases. Serodiagnosis for canine brucellosis has not been confirmed. Moreover, it has substantial difficulties due to broad cross-reactivity between the rough cell wall antigens of B. canis and heterospecific antibodies present in normal, uninfected dogs. Thus, this study was conducted to characterize the immunogenic proteins in cytoplasmic antigen (CPAg) of B. canis, which defined the antigenic sensitivity of the humoral antibody responses to B. canis-infected dogs. In analysis of B. canis CPAg, first, we extracted and purified the cytoplasmic proteins from cultured B. canis by hot-saline inactivation, ultrafiltration, sonication, and ultracentrifugation step by step according to the sonicated antigen extract method. For characterization of this antigen, we checked the sort and range of each protein on SDS-PAGE and verified the immunogenic proteins leading to reaction with antisera of B. canis-infected dogs. Selected immunodominant proteins were identified using MALDI-MS/MS. As a result, in an immunoproteomic assay, several polypeptides in CPAg on one or two-dimensional electrophoresis (DE) were specifically reacted to antisera from B. canis-infected dogs but not from non-infected dogs. The polypeptides with approximate 150, 80, 60, 52, 33, 26, 17, 15, 13, 11 kDa on 1-DE were dominantly recognized by antisera from B. canis-infected dogs. In the immunoblot profiles on 2-DE, ten immunodominant proteins in CPAg were detected with antisera of infected dogs between pI 3.5-6.5 at approximate 35 to 10 KDa, without any nonspecific reaction with sera in non-infected dogs. Ten immunodominant proteins identified by MALDI-MS/MS were identified as superoxide dismutase, bacteroferritin, amino acid ABC transporter substrate-binding protein, extracellular solute-binding protein family3, transaldolase, 26kDa periplasmic immunogenic protein, Rhizopine-binding protein, enoyl-CoA hydratase, arginase and type1 glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Most of these proteins were determined by their cytoplasmic or periplasmic localization with metabolism and transporter functions. Consequently, this study discovered and identified the prominent immunogenic proteins in B. canis CPAg, highlighting that those antigenic proteins may accomplish a specific serodiagnosis for canine brucellosis. Furthermore, we will evaluate those immunodominant proteins for applying to the advanced diagnostic methods with high specificity and accuracy.

Keywords: Brucella canis, Canine brucellosis, cytoplasmic antigen, immunogenic proteins

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Nindyo Cahyo Kresnanto, Muhamad Willdan, Wika Harisa Putri

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Gunungkidul is one of the emerging tourism industry areas in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. This article describes how GIS can predict the development of tourism potential in Gunungkidul. The tourism sector in Gunungkidul Regency contributes 3.34% of the total gross regional domestic product and is the economic sector with the highest growth with a percentage of 18.37% in the post-Covid-19 period. This contribution makes researchers consider that several tourist sites need to be explored more to increase regional economic development gradually. This research starts by collecting spatial data from tourist locations tourists want to visit in Gunungkidul Regency based on survey data from 571 respondents. Then the data is visualized with ArcGIS software. This research shows an overview of tourist destinations interested in travellers depicted from the lowest to the highest from the data visualization. Based on the data visualization results, specific tourist locations potentially developed to influence the surrounding economy positively. The visualization of the data displayed is also in the form of a desire line map that shows tourist travel patterns from the origin of the tourist to the destination of the tourist location of interest. From the desire line, the prediction of the path of tourist sites with a high frequency of transportation activity can figure out. Predictions regarding specific tourist location routes that high transportation activities can burden can consider which routes will be chosen. The route also needs to be improved in terms of capacity and quality. The goal is to provide a sense of security and comfort for tourists who drive and positively impact the tourist sites traversed by the route.

Keywords: tourism development, GIS and survey, transportation, potential desire line

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: F. O Anugom

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The general functions of the university amongst other things include teaching, research and community service. Universities are recognized as the apex of learning, accumulating and imparting knowledge and skills of all kinds to students to enable them to be productive, earn their living and to make optimum contributions to national development. This is equivalent to the production of human capital in the form of high level manpower needed to administer the educational society, be useful to the society and manage the economy. Quality has become a matter of major importance for university education in Nigeria. Accreditation is the systematic review of educational programs to ensure that acceptable standards of education, scholarship and infrastructure are being maintained. Accreditation ensures that institution maintain quality. The process is designed to determine whether or not an institution has met or exceeded the published standards for accreditation, and whether it is achieving its mission and stated purposes. Ensuring quality assurance in accreditation process falls in the hands of university management which justified the need for this study. This study examined accreditation and quality assurance: the management imperative. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The design was a correlation survey with a population of 2,893 university administrators out of which 578 Heads of department and Dean of faculties were sampled. The instrument for data collection was titled Programme Accreditation Exercise scale with high levels of reliability. The research questions were answered with Pearson ‘r’ statistics. T-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses. It was found among others that the quality of accredited programme depends on the level of funding of universities in Nigeria. It was also indicated that quality of programme accreditation and physical facilities of universities in Nigeria have high relationship. But it was also revealed that programme accreditation is positively related to staffing in Nigerian universities. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommend that academic administrators should be included in the team of those who ensure quality programs in the universities. Private sector partnership should be encouraged to fund programs to ensure quality of programme in the universities. Independent agencies should be engaged to monitor the activities of accreditation teams to avoid bias.

Keywords: accreditation, quality assurance, national universities commission , physical facilities, staffing

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Wern Lin Yeo, Choo Kim Tan, Sook Ling Lew

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Mathematics anxiety refers to the feeling of anxious when one having difficulties in solving mathematical problem. Mathematics anxiety is the most common type of anxiety among other types of anxiety which occurs among the students. However, level of anxiety among males and females are different. There were few past study were conducted to determine the relationship of anxiety and gender but there were still did not have an exact results. Hence, the purpose of this study is to determine the relationship of anxiety level between male and female undergraduates at a private university in Malaysia. Convenient sampling method used in this study in which the students were selected based on the grouping assigned by the faculty. There were 214 undergraduates who registered the probability courses had participated in this study. Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was the instrument used in study which used to determine students’ anxiety level towards probability. Reliability and validity of instrument was done before the major study was conducted. In the major study, students were given briefing about the study conducted. Participation of this study were voluntary. Students were given consent form to determine whether they agree to participate in the study. Duration of two weeks were given for students to complete the given online questionnaire. The data collected will be analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to determine the level of anxiety. There were three anxiety level, i.e., low, average and high. Students’ anxiety level were determined based on their scores obtained compared with the mean and standard deviation. If the scores obtained were below mean and standard deviation, the anxiety level was low. If the scores were at below and above the mean and between one standard deviation, the anxiety level was average. If the scores were above the mean and greater than one standard deviation, the anxiety level was high. Results showed that both of the gender were having average anxiety level. Males having high frequency of three anxiety level which were low, average and high anxiety level as compared to females. Hence, the mean values obtained for males (M = 3.62) was higher than females (M = 3.42). In order to be significant of anxiety level among the gender, the p-value should be less than .05. The p-value obtained in this study was .117. However, this value was greater than .05. Thus, there was no significant difference of anxiety level among the gender. In other words, there was no relationship of anxiety level with the gender.

Keywords: anxiety level, gender, mathematics anxiety, probability and statistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 290