Search results for: loss reduction

Authors: Dona Shaini Abhilasha Nanayakkara, Kurugamage Jude Pravinda Gregory Perera

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E-commerce platforms have revolutionized the shopping experience, offering convenient ways for consumers to make purchases. To improve interactions with customers and optimize marketing strategies, it is essential for businesses to understand user behavior, preferences, and needs on these platforms. This paper focuses on recommending businesses to customize interactions with users based on their behavioral patterns, leveraging data-driven analysis and machine learning techniques. Businesses can improve engagement and boost the adoption of e-commerce platforms by aligning behavioral patterns with user goals of usability and satisfaction. We propose TheAnalyzer, a clustering-based system designed to enhance business productivity by analyzing user-profiles and improving human-computer interaction. The Analyzer seamlessly integrates with business applications, collecting relevant data points based on users' natural interactions without additional burdens such as questionnaires or surveys. It defines five key user analytics as features for its dataset, which are easily captured through users' interactions with e-commerce platforms. This research presents a study demonstrating the successful distinction of users into specific groups based on the five key analytics considered by TheAnalyzer. With the assistance of domain experts, customized business rules can be attached to each group, enabling The Analyzer to influence business applications and provide an enhanced personalized user experience. The outcomes are evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, demonstrating that utilizing TheAnalyzer’s capabilities can optimize business outcomes, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive sustainable growth. The findings of this research contribute to the advancement of personalized interactions in e-commerce platforms. By leveraging user behavioral patterns and analyzing both new and existing users, businesses can effectively tailor their interactions to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and ultimately drive sales.

Keywords: data clustering, data standardization, dimensionality reduction, human computer interaction, user profiling

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Authors: Gayathri.G, Hemamalini.A.J, Chandrasekaran.A

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Problem statement: Nutritional deficiency, especially calcium, may lead to poor bone formation and mineralization. Although there are plenty of synthetic supplements available, it is essential to make a calcium rich food supplement accessible to combat calcium deficiency that could be readily prepared at the household level. Thus the current study aimed to formulate and standardize an indigenous low-cost calcium-rich food supplement and to study the impact of supplementation on the bone resorption and formation markers. Methods: A Randomized controlled trial was conducted with 60 subjects distributed equally in control and experimental groups, including perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. A plant-based calcium-rich product was developed and supplemented in form of balls as a midmorning and evening snack by addition of optimized proportions of leaves of Sesbania Grandiflora, seeds of Sesamum indicum, Eleusine coracana, Glycine max, Vigna mungo for a period of 6 months. Postmenopausal and perimenopausal women received 1200mg and 800mg of calcium per day from the supplemented, respectively. Outcome measures like serum calcium; betacrosslaps (bone resorption marker) and total P1NP (bone absorption marker) were assessed after 3 months and after 6 months. Results: There were no significant changes seen in the serum calcium and total P1NP levels (bone formation marker) among the subjects during the supplementation period. The bone resorption marker (betacrosslaps) reduced in all the groups and the reduction (0.32 ± 0.130 ng/ml to 0.25 ± 0.130 ng/ml) was found to be statistically highly significant (p < 0.01) in experimental group of perimenopausal subjects and significant (p < 0.05) in experimental group of postmenopausal subjects (1.11 ± 0.290 ng/ml to 0.42 ± 0.263 ng/ml). Conclusion: With the current severe calcium deficiency in the Indian population, integrating low-cost, calcium-rich native foods that could be readily prepared at household level would be useful in raising the nutritional consumption of calcium, which would, in turn, decrease bone turnover.

Keywords: calcium, sesbania grandiflora, sesamum indicum, eleusine coracana, glycine max, vigna mungo, postmenopause, perimenopause, bone resorption, bone absorption, betacrosslaps, total P1NP

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Authors: Jayanta Kumar Mahato, Partha Sarathi De, Amrita Kundu, P. C. Chakraborti

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Ratcheting is one of the most important phenomena to be considered for design and safety assessment of structural components subjected to stress controlled asymmetric cyclic loading in the elasto-plastic domain. In the present study uniaxial ratcheting behavior of commercially pure annealed OFHC copper and aluminium with two different grain sizes has been investigated. Stress-controlled tests have been conducted at various combinations of stress amplitude and mean stress. These stresses were selected in such a way that the ratio of equivalent stress amplitude (σₐeq) to ultimate tensile strength (σUTS) of the selected materials remains constant. It is found that irrespective of grain size the ratcheting fatigue lives decrease with the increase of both stress amplitude and mean stress following power relationships. However, the effect of stress amplitude on ratcheting lives is observed higher as compared to mean stress for both the FCC metals. It is also found that for both FCC metals ratcheting fatigue lives at a constant ratio of equivalent stress amplitude (σ ₐeq) to ultimate tensile strength (σUTS) are more in case fine grain size. So far ratcheting strain rate is concerned, it decreases rapidly within first few cycles and then a steady state is reached. Finally, the ratcheting strain rate increases up to the complete failure of the specimens due to a very large increase of true stress for a substantial reduction in cross-sectional area. The steady state ratcheting strain rate increases with the increase in both stress amplitude and mean stress. Interestingly, a unique perfectly power relationship between steady state ratcheting strain rate and cycles to failure has been found irrespective of stress combination for both FCC metals. Similar to ratcheting strain rate, the strain energy density decreases rapidly within first few cycles followed by steady state and then increases up to a failure of the specimens irrespective of stress combinations for both FCC metals; but strain energy density at steady state decreases with increase in mean stress and increases with the increase of stress amplitude. From the fractography study, it is found that the void density increases with the increase of maximum stress, but the void size and void density are almost same for any combination of stress parameters considering constant maximum stress.

Keywords: ratcheting phenomena, grain size, stress parameter, ratcheting lives, ratcheting strain rate

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Authors: Nemat Mohammadi, Yuki Nakayama

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After occurring Great East Japan earthquake and as a consequence the invasion of an extremely large Tsunami to the city, obligated many local governments to take into account certainly these kinds of issues. Poor preparation of local governments to deal with such kinds of disasters at that time and consequently lack of assistance delivery for local residents caused thousands of civilian casualties as well as billion dollars of economic damages. Those local governments who are responsible for governing such coastal areas, have to consider some countermeasures to deal with these natural disasters, prepare a comprehensive evacuation plan and contrive some feasible emergency plans for the purpose of victims’ reduction as much as possible. Under this evacuation plan, the local government should contemplate more about the traffic congestion during wide-area evacuation operation and estimate the minimum essential time to evacuate the whole city completely. This challenge will become more complicated for the government when the people who are affected by disasters are not only limited to the normal informed citizens but also some pregnant women, physically handicapped persons, old age citizens and foreigners or tourists who are not familiar with that conditions as well as local language are involved. The important issue to deal with this challenge is that how to inform these people to take a proper action right away noticing the Tsunami is coming. After overcoming this problem, next significant challenge is even more considerable. Next challenge is to evacuate the whole residents in a short period of time from the threated area to the safer shelters. In fact, most of the citizens will use their own vehicles to evacuate to the designed shelters and some of them will use the shuttle buses which are provided by local governments. The problem will arise when all residents want to escape from the threated area simultaneously and consequently creating a traffic jam on evacuation routes which will cause to prolong the evacuation time. Hence, this research mostly aims to calculate the minimum essential time to evacuate each region inside the threated area and find the evacuation start point for each region separately. This result will help the local government to visualize the situations and conditions during disasters and assist them to reduce the possible traffic jam on evacuation routes and consequently suggesting a comprehensive wide-area evacuation plan during natural disasters.

Keywords: BPR formula, disaster scenarios, evacuation completion time, wide-area evacuation

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Hancy Issac, Gerben Keijzers, Ian Yang, Clint Moloney, Jackie Lea, Melissa Taylor

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Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease guideline non-adherence is associated with a reduction in health-related quality of life in patients (HRQoL). Improving guideline adherence has the potential to mitigate fragmented care thereby sustaining pulmonary function, preventing acute exacerbations, reducing economic health burdens, and enhancing HRQoL. The development of an electronic proforma stemming from expert consensus, including digital guideline resources and direct interdisciplinary referrals is hypothesised to improve guideline adherence and patient outcomes for emergency department (ED) patients with COPD. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop consensus among ED and respiratory staff for the correct composition of a COPD electronic proforma that aids in guideline adherence and management in the ED. Methods: This study adopted a mixed-method design to develop the most important indicators of care in the ED. The study involved three phases: (1) a systematic literature review and qualitative interdisciplinary staff interviews to assess barriers and solutions for guideline adherence and qualitative interdisciplinary staff interviews, (2) a modified Delphi panel to select interventions for the proforma, and (3) a consensus process through three rounds of scoring through a quantitative survey (ED and Respiratory consensus) and qualitative thematic analysis on each indicator. Results: The electronic proforma achieved acceptable and good internal consistency through all iterations from national emergency department and respiratory department interdisciplinary experts. Cronbach’s alpha score for internal consistency (α) in iteration 1 emergency department cohort (EDC) (α = 0.80 [CI = 0.89%]), respiratory department cohort (RDC) (α = 0.95 [CI = 0.98%]). Iteration 2 reported EDC (α = 0.85 [CI = 0.97%]) and RDC (α = 0.86 [CI = 0.97%]). Iteration 3 revealed EDC (α = 0.73 [CI = 0.91%]) and RDC (α = 0.86 [CI = 0.95%]), respectively. Conclusion: Electronic proformas have the potential to facilitate direct referrals from the ED leading to reduced hospital admissions, reduced length of hospital stays, holistic care, improved health care and quality of life and improved interdisciplinary guideline adherence.

Keywords: COPD, electronic proforma, modified delphi study, interdisciplinary, guideline adherence, COPD-X plan

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Authors: Miguel Angel Calvo Salve

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This qualitative and quantitative study will identify the impact of tourism pressure on the intangible cultural heritage of the pilgrim route of El Camino de Santiago (Saint James Way) and propose an approach to a sustainable touristic model for these Cultural Routes. Since 1993, the Spanish Section of the Pilgrim Route of El Camino de Santiago has been on the World Heritage List. In 1994, the International Committee on Cultural Routes (CIIC-ICOMOS) initiated its work with the goal of studying, preserving, and promoting the cultural routes and their significance as a whole. Another ICOMOS group, the Charter on Cultural Routes, pointed out in 2008 the importance of both tangible and intangible heritage and the need for a holistic vision in preserving these important cultural assets. Tangible elements provide a physical confirmation of the existence of these cultural routes, while the intangible elements serve to give sense and meaning to it as a whole. Intangible assets of a Cultural Route are key to understanding the route's significance and its associated heritage values. Like many pilgrim routes, the Route to Santiago, as the result of a long evolutionary process, exhibits and is supported by intangible assets, including hospitality, cultural and religious expressions, music, literature, and artisanal trade, among others. A large increase in pilgrims walking the route, with very different aims and tourism pressure, has shown how the dynamic links between the intangible cultural heritage and the local inhabitants along El Camino are fragile and vulnerable. Economic benefits for the communities and population along the cultural routes are commonly fundamental for the micro-economies of the people living there, substituting traditional productive activities, which, in fact, modifies and has an impact on the surrounding environment and the route itself. Consumption of heritage is one of the major issues of sustainable preservation promoted with the intention of revitalizing those sites and places. The adaptation of local communities to new conditions aimed at preserving and protecting existing heritage has had a significant impact on immaterial inheritance. Based on questionnaires to pilgrims, tourists and local communities along El Camino during the peak season of the year, and using official statistics from the Galician Pilgrim’s Office, this study will identify the risk and threats to El Camino de Santiago as a Cultural Route. The threats visible nowadays due to the impact of mass tourism include transformations of tangible heritage, consumerism of the intangible, changes of local activities, loss in the authenticity of symbols and spiritual significance, and pilgrimage transformed into a tourism ‘product’, among others. The study will also approach some measures and solutions to mitigate those impacts and better preserve this type of cultural heritage. Therefore, this study will help the Route services providers and policymakers to better preserve the Cultural Route as a whole to ultimately improve the satisfying experience of pilgrims.

Keywords: cultural routes, El Camino de Santiago, impact of tourism, intangible heritage

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: F. Al-Fahad, J. Chakkamalayath, A. Al-Aibani

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Conventional methods of determination of concrete strength under controlled laboratory conditions will not accurately represent the actual strength of concrete developed under site curing conditions. This difference in strength measurement will be more in the extreme environment in Kuwait as it is characterized by hot marine environment with normal temperature in summer exceeding 50°C accompanied by dry wind in desert areas and salt laden wind on marine and on shore areas. Therefore, it is required to have test methods to measure the in-place properties of concrete for quality assurance and for the development of durable concrete structures. The maturity method, which defines the strength of a given concrete mix as a function of its age and temperature history, is an approach for quality control for the production of sustainable and durable concrete structures. The unique harsh environmental conditions in Kuwait make it impractical to adopt experiences and empirical equations developed from the maturity methods in other countries. Concrete curing, especially in the early age plays an important role in developing and improving the strength of the structure. This paper investigates the use of maturity method to assess the effectiveness of three different types of curing methods on the compressive and flexural strength development of one high strength concrete mix of 60 MPa produced with silica fume. This maturity approach was used to predict accurately, the concrete compressive and flexural strength at later ages under different curing conditions. Maturity curves were developed for compressive and flexure strengths for a commonly used concrete mix in Kuwait, which was cured using three different curing conditions, including water curing, external spray coating and the use of internal curing compound during concrete mixing. It was observed that the maturity curve developed for the same mix depends on the type of curing conditions. It can be used to predict the concrete strength under different exposure and curing conditions. This study showed that concrete curing with external spray curing method cannot be recommended to use as it failed to aid concrete in reaching accepted values of strength, especially for flexural strength. Using internal curing compound lead to accepted levels of strength when compared with water cuing. Utilization of the developed maturity curves will help contactors and engineers to determine the in-place concrete strength at any time, and under different curing conditions. This will help in deciding the appropriate time to remove the formwork. The reduction in construction time and cost has positive impacts towards sustainable construction.

Keywords: curing, durability, maturity, strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Andrew Fox, Qingping Yang, Yuanhong Zhao, Tao Zhang

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Furniture is a very significant subdivision of architecture and its inherent interior design activities. The furniture industry has developed from an artisan-driven craft industry, whose forerunners saw themselves manifested in their crafts and treasured a sense of pride in the creativity of their designs, these days largely reduced to an anonymous collective mass-produced output. Although a very conservative industry, there is great potential for the implementation of collaborative digital technologies allowing a reconfigured artisan experience to be reawakened in a new and exciting form. The furniture manufacturing industry, in general, has been slow to adopt new methodologies for a design using artificial and rule-based generative design. This tardiness has meant the loss of potential to enhance its capabilities in producing sustainable, flexible, and mass customizable ‘right first-time’ designs. This paper aims to demonstrate the concept methodology for the creation of alternative and inspiring aesthetic structures for robot-based additive manufacturing (RBAM). These technologies can enable the economic creation of previously unachievable structures, which traditionally would not have been commercially economic to manufacture. The integration of these technologies with the computing power of generative design provides the tools for practitioners to create concepts which are well beyond the insight of even the most accomplished traditional design teams. This paper aims to address the problem by introducing generative design methodologies employing the Autodesk Fusion 360 platform. Examination of the alternative methods for its use has the potential to significantly reduce the estimated 80% contribution to environmental impact at the initial design phase. Though predominantly a design methodology, generative design combined with RBAM has the potential to leverage many lean manufacturing and quality assurance benefits, enhancing the efficiency and agility of modern furniture manufacturing. Through a case study examination of a furniture artifact, the results will be compared to a traditionally designed and manufactured product employing the Ecochain Mobius product life cycle analysis (LCA) platform. This will highlight the benefits of both generative design and robot-based additive manufacturing from an environmental impact and manufacturing efficiency standpoint. These step changes in design methodology and environmental assessment have the potential to revolutionise the design to manufacturing workflow, giving momentum to the concept of conceiving a pre-industrial model of manufacturing, with the global demand for a circular economy and bespoke sustainable design at its heart.

Keywords: robot, manufacturing, generative design, sustainability, circular econonmy, product life cycle assessment, furniture

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Karina I. Hidas, Csaba Németh, Anna Visy, Judit Csonka, László Friedrich, Ildikó Cs. Nyulas-Zeke

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Egg yolk is a popular ingredient in the food industry due to its gelling, emulsifying, colouring, and coagulating properties. Because of the heat sensitivity of proteins, egg yolk can only be heat treated at low temperatures, so its shelf life, even with the addition of a preservative, is only a few weeks. Freezing can increase the shelf life of liquid egg yolk up to 1 year, but it undergoes gelling below -6 ° C, which is an irreversible phenomenon. The degree of gelation depends on the time and temperature of freezing and is influenced by the process of thawing. Therefore, in our experiment, we examined egg yolks thawed in different ways. In this study, unpasteurized, industrially broken, separated, and homogenized liquid egg yolk was used. Freshly produced samples were frozen in plastic containers at -18°C in a laboratory freezer. Frozen storage was performed for 90 days. Samples were analysed at day zero (unfrozen) and after frozen storage for 1, 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90 days. Samples were thawed in two ways (at 5°C for 24 hours and 30°C for 3 hours) before testing. Calorimetric properties were examined by differential scanning calorimetry, where heat flow curves were recorded. Denaturation enthalpy values were calculated by fitting a linear baseline, and denaturation temperature values were evaluated. Besides, dry matter content of samples was measured by the oven method with drying at 105°C to constant weight. For statistical analysis two-way ANOVA (α = 0.05) was employed, where thawing mode and freezing time were the fixed factors. Denaturation enthalpy values decreased from 1.1 to 0.47 at the end of the storage experiment, which represents a reduction of about 60%. The effect of freezing time was significant on these values, already the enthalpy of samples stored frozen for 1 day was significantly reduced. However, the mode of thawing did not significantly affect the denaturation enthalpy of the samples, and no interaction was seen between the two factors. The denaturation temperature and dry matter content did not change significantly either during the freezing period or during the defrosting mode. Results of our study show that slow freezing and frozen storage at -18°C greatly reduces the amount of protein that can be denatured in egg yolk, indicating that the proteins have been subjected to aggregation, denaturation or other protein conversions regardless of how they were thawed.

Keywords: denaturation enthalpy, differential scanning calorimetry, liquid egg yolk, slow freezing

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Humaira M. Khan, Kanwal Asif

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Ischemic stroke is a neurological disorder with a complex pathophysiology associated with motor, sensory and cognitive deficits. Major approaches developed to treat acute ischemic stroke fall into two categories, thrombolysis and neuroprotection. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the neuroprotective and anti-thrombolytic effects of Olea europaea (olive oil) and Malus domestica (apple cider vinegar) and their combination in rat stroke model. Furthermore, histopathological analysis was also performed to assess the severity of ischemia among treated and reference groups. Male albino rats (12 months age) weighing 300- 350gm were acclimatized and subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion method for stroke induction. Olea europaea and Malus domestica was administered orally in dose of 0.75ml/kg and 3ml/kg and combination was administered at dose of 0.375ml/kg and 1.5ml/kg prophylactically for consecutive 21 days. Negative control group was dosed with normal saline whereas piracetam (250mg/kg) was administered as reference. Neuroprotective activity of standard piracetam, Olea europaea, Malus domestica and their combination was evaluated by performing functional outcome tests i.e. Cylinder, pasta, ladder run, pole and water maize tests. Rats were subjected to surgery after 21 days of treatment for analysis from stroke recovery. Olea europaea and Malus domestica in individual doses of 0.75ml/kg and 3ml/kg respectively showed neuroprotection by significant improvement in ladder run test (121.6± 0.92;128.2 ± 0.73) as compare to reference (125.4 ± 0.74). Both test doses showed significant neuroprotection as compare to reference (9.60 ± 0.50) in pasta test (8.40 ± 0.24;9.80 ± 0.37) whereas with cylinder test, experimental groups showed significant increase in movements (6.60 ± 0.24; 8.40 ± 0.24) in contrast to reference (7.80 ± 0.37).There was a decrease in percentage time taken f to reach the hidden maize in water maize test (56.80 ± 0.58;61.80 ± 0.66) at doses 0.75ml/kg and 3ml/kg respectively as compare to piracetam (59.40 ± 1.07). Olea europaea and Malus domestica individually showed significant reduction in duration of mobility (127.0 ± 0.44; 123.0 ± 0.44) in pole test as compare to piracetam (124.0 ± 0.70). Histopathological analysis revealed the significant extent of protection from ischemia after prophylactic treatments. Hence it is concluded that Olea europaea and Malus domestica are effective neuroprotective agents alone as compare to their combination.

Keywords: ischemia, Malus domestica, neuroprotection, Olea europaea

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Authors: Eqqab Maree, Habil Jurgen Bast, Zana K. Shakir

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Passive damping, once properly characterized and incorporated into the structure design is an autonomous mechanism. Passive damping can be achieved by applying layers of a polymeric material, called viscoelastic layers (VEM), to the base structure. This type of configuration is known as free or unconstrained layer damping treatment. A shear or constrained damping treatment uses the idea of adding a constraining layer, typically a metal, on top of the polymeric layer. Constrained treatment is a more efficient form of damping than the unconstrained damping treatment. In constrained damping treatment a sandwich is formed with the viscoelastic layer as the core. When the two outer layers experience bending, as they would if the structure was oscillating, they shear the viscoelastic layer and energy is dissipated in the form of heat. This form of energy dissipation allows the structural oscillations to attenuate much faster. The purpose behind this study is to predict damping effects by using two methods of passive viscoelastic constrained layer damping. First method is Euler-Bernoulli beam theory; it is commonly used for predicting the vibratory response of beams. Second method is Finite Element software packages provided in this research were obtained by using two-dimensional solid structural elements in ANSYS14 specifically eight nodded (SOLID183) and the output results from ANSYS 14 (SOLID183) its damped natural frequency values and mode shape for first five modes. This method of passive damping treatment is widely used for structural application in many industries like aerospace, automobile, etc. In this paper, take a steel cantilever sandwich beam with viscoelastic core type 3M-468 by using methods of passive viscoelastic constrained layer damping. Also can proved that, the percentage reduction of modal frequency between undamped and damped steel sandwich cantilever beam 8mm thickness for each mode is very high, this is due to the effect of viscoelastic layer on damped beams. Finally this types of damped sandwich steel cantilever beam with viscoelastic materials core type (3M468) is very appropriate to use in automotive industry and in many mechanical application, because has very high capability to reduce the modal vibration of structures.

Keywords: steel cantilever, sandwich beam, viscoelastic materials core type (3M468), ANSYS14, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory

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Authors: Mehdi Heydari Sanglaji

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The dramatic events of the 11 September, and their tragic repercussions, catapulted issues of the political violence in and from the ‘Muslim world’ onto the political discourse, be it in patriotic speeches of campaigning politicians or the TV and news punditry. Depending on what end of the political spectrum the politician/pundit pledges fealty to, the overall analyses of political violence in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) tends towards two overarching categories: on the Right, the diagnosis has unanimously been, ‘they must hate our freedom.’ On the Left, however, there is the contention that the West has to be counted as the primary cause of such rage, for the years of plundering of lives and resources, through colonialism, the Cold War, coups, etc. All these analyses are premised on at least two presuppositions: the violence in and from the WANA region a) is always reactionary, in the sense that it happens only in response to something the West is or does; and b) must always already be condemned, as it is essentially immoral and wrong. It is the aim of this paper to challenge such viewpoints. Through a rigorous study of the historical discourses on political violence in the Leftist organizations active in Algeria and Lebanon, we claim there is a myriad of diverse reasons and justifications presented for advocating political violence in these countries that defy facile categorization. Inspecting such rhetoric for inciting political violence in Leftist discourses, and how some of these reasonings have percolated into other movements in the region (e.g., Islamist ones), will reveal a wealth of indigenous discourses on the subject that has been largely neglected by the Western Media punditry and even by the academia. The indigenous discourses on political violence, much of which overlaps with emancipatory projects in the region, partly follow grammar and logic, which may be different from those developed in the West, even by its more critical theories. Understanding so different epistemology of violence, and the diverse contexts in which political violence might be justifiable in the mind of ‘the other,’ necessitates a historical, materialist, and genealogical study of the discourse already in practice in the WANA region. In that regard, both critical terrorism studies and critical discourse analysis provide exemplary tools of analysis. Capitalizing on such tools, this project will focus on unearthing a history of thought that renders moot the reduction of all instances of violence in the region to an Islamic culture or imperialism/colonialism. The main argument in our research is that by studying the indigenous discourses on political violence, we will be far more equipped in understanding the reasons and the possible solutions for acts of terrorism in and from the region.

Keywords: political violence, terrorism, leftist organizations, West Asia/North Africa

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Authors: Amal G. Kurian

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The use of mathematical modeling has seen a considerable boost in recent times with the development of many advanced algorithms and mathematical modeling capabilities. The advantages this method has over other methods are that they are much closer to standard physics theories and thus represent a better theoretical model. They take lesser solving time and have the ability to change various parameters for optimization, which is a big advantage, especially in automotive industry. This thesis work focuses on a thorough investigation of the effects of vehicle speed and road roughness on a heavy commercial vehicle ride and structural dynamic responses. Since commercial vehicles are kept in operation continuously for longer periods of time, it is important to study effects of various physical conditions on the vehicle and its user. For this purpose, various experimental as well as simulation methodologies, are adopted ranging from experimental transfer path analysis to various road scenario simulations. To effectively investigate and eliminate several causes of unwanted responses, an efficient and robust technique is needed. Carrying forward this motivation, the present work focuses on the development of a mathematical model of a 4-axle configuration heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) capable of calculating responses of the vehicle on different road PSD inputs and vehicle speeds. Outputs from the model will include response transfer functions and PSDs and wheel forces experienced. A MATLAB code will be developed to implement the objectives in a robust and flexible manner which can be exploited further in a study of responses due to various suspension parameters, loading conditions as well as vehicle dimensions. The thesis work resulted in quantifying the effect of various physical conditions on ride comfort of the vehicle. An increase in discomfort is seen with velocity increase; also the effect of road profiles has a considerable effect on comfort of the driver. Details of dominant modes at each frequency are analysed and mentioned in work. The reduction in ride height or deflection of tire and suspension with loading along with load on each axle is analysed and it is seen that the front axle supports a greater portion of vehicle weight while more of payload weight comes on fourth and third axles. The deflection of the vehicle is seen to be well inside acceptable limits.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, HCV, suspension, ride analysis

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Authors: Wen-Chung Wang, Xue-Lan Qiu

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Ipsative tests have been widely used in vocational and career counseling (e.g., the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey). Pairwise-comparison items are a typical item format of ipsative tests. When the two statements in a pairwise-comparison item measure two different constructs, the item is referred to as a multidimensional pairwise-comparison (MPC) item. A typical MPC item would be: Which activity do you prefer? (A) playing with young children, or (B) working with tools and machines. These two statements aim at the constructs of social interest and investigative interest, respectively. Recently, new item response theory (IRT) models for ipsative tests with MPC items have been developed. Among them, the Rasch ipsative model (RIM) deserves special attention because it has good measurement properties, in which the log-odds of preferring statement A to statement B are defined as a competition between two parts: the sum of a person’s latent trait to which statement A is measuring and statement A’s utility, and the sum of a person’s latent trait to which statement B is measuring and statement B’s utility. The RIM has been extended to polytomous responses, such as preferring statement A strongly, preferring statement A, preferring statement B, and preferring statement B strongly. To promote the new initiatives, in this study we developed computerized adaptive testing algorithms for MFC items and evaluated their performance using simulations and two real tests. Both the RIM and its polytomous extension are multidimensional, which calls for multidimensional computerized adaptive testing (MCAT). A particular issue in MCAT for MPC items is the within-person statement exposure (WPSE); that is, a respondent may keep seeing the same statement (e.g., my life is empty) for many times, which is certainly annoying. In this study, we implemented two methods to control the WPSE rate. In the first control method, items would be frozen when their statements had been administered more than a prespecified times. In the second control method, a random component was added to control the contribution of the information at different stages of MCAT. The second control method was found to outperform the first control method in our simulation studies. In addition, we investigated four item selection methods: (a) random selection (as a baseline), (b) maximum Fisher information method without WPSE control, (c) maximum Fisher information method with the first control method, and (d) maximum Fisher information method with the second control method. These four methods were applied to two real tests: one was a work survey with dichotomous MPC items and the other is a career interests survey with polytomous MPC items. There were three dependent variables: the bias and root mean square error across person measures, and measurement efficiency which was defined as the number of items needed to achieve the same degree of test reliability. Both applications indicated that the proposed MCAT algorithms were successful and there was no loss in measurement proficiency when the control methods were implemented, and among the four methods, the last method performed the best.

Keywords: computerized adaptive testing, ipsative tests, item response theory, pairwise comparison

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Authors: Jalil ur Rehman, Ramesh C, Tailor, Isa Khan, Jahanzeeb Ashraf, Muhammad Afzal, Geofferry S. Ibbott

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The purpose of this analysis is to estimate secondary cancer risks after VMAT compared to other modalities of head and neck radiotherapy (IMRT, 3DCRT). Computer tomography (CT) scans of Radiological Physics Center (RPC) head and neck phantom were acquired with CT scanner and exported via DICOM to the treatment planning system (TPS). Treatment planning was done using four arc (182-178 and 180-184, clockwise and anticlockwise) for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) , Nine fields (200, 240, 280, 320,0,40,80,120 and 160), which has been commonly used at MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and four fields for three dimensional radiation therapy (3DCRT) were used. True beam linear accelerator of 6MV photon energy was used for dose delivery, and dose calculation was done with CC convolution algorithm with prescription dose of 6.6 Gy. Primary Target Volume (PTV) coverage, mean and maximal doses, DVHs and volumes receiving more than 2 Gy and 3.8 Gy of OARs were calculated and compared. Absolute point dose and planar dose were measured with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) and GafChromic EBT2 film, respectively. Quality Assurance of VMAT and IMRT were performed by using ArcCHECK method with gamma index criteria of 3%/3mm dose difference to distance to agreement (DD/DTA). PTV coverage was found 90.80 %, 95.80 % and 95.82 % for 3DCRT, IMRT and VMAT respectively. VMAT delivered the lowest maximal doses to esophagus (2.3 Gy), brain (4.0 Gy) and thyroid (2.3 Gy) compared to all other studied techniques. In comparison, maximal doses for 3DCRT were found higher than VMAT for all studied OARs. Whereas, IMRT delivered maximal higher doses 26%, 5% and 26% for esophagus, normal brain and thyroid, respectively, compared to VMAT. It was noted that esophagus volume receiving more than 2 Gy was 3.6 % for VMAT, 23.6 % for IMRT and up to 100 % for 3DCRT. Good agreement was observed between measured doses and those calculated with TPS. The averages relative standard errors (RSE) of three deliveries within eight TLD capsule locations were, 0.9%, 0.8% and 0.6% for 3DCRT, IMRT and VMAT, respectively. The gamma analysis for all plans met the ±5%/3 mm criteria (over 90% passed) and results of QA were greater than 98%. The calculations for maximal doses and volumes of OARs suggest that the estimated risk of secondary cancer induction after VMAT is considerably lower than IMRT and 3DCRT.

Keywords: RPC, 3DCRT, IMRT, VMAT, EBT2 film, TLD

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Authors: Mohammad Arabi

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Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a systematic approach to fundamentally redesign organizational processes to achieve significant improvements in organizational performance. At Fars Regional Electric Company, implementing BPR is deemed essential to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve service quality. This article examines how BPR can help enhance the performance of Fars Regional Electric Company. The objective of this research is to evaluate and analyze the advancements in process modeling and reengineering at Fars Regional Electric Company and to provide solutions for improving the productivity and efficiency of organizational processes. This study aims to demonstrate how BPR can be used to improve organizational processes and enhance the overall performance of the company. This research employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods and includes interviews with senior managers and experts at Fars Regional Electric Company. The analytical tools include process modeling software such as Bizagi and ARIS, and statistical analysis software such as SPSS and Minitab. Data analysis was conducted using advanced statistical methods. The results indicate that the use of BPR techniques can lead to a significant reduction in process execution time and overall improvement in quality. Implementing BPR at Fars Regional Electric Company has led to increased productivity, reduced costs, and improved overall performance of the company. This study shows that with proper implementation of BPR and the use of modeling tools, the company can achieve significant improvements in its processes. Recommendations: (1) Continuous Training for Staff: Invest in continuous training of staff to enhance their skills and knowledge in BPR. (2) Use of Advanced Technologies: Utilize modeling and analysis software to improve processes. (3) Implementation of Effective Management Systems: Employ knowledge and information management systems to enhance organizational performance. (4) Continuous Monitoring and Review of Processes: Regularly review and revise processes to ensure ongoing improvements. This article highlights the importance of improving organizational processes at Fars Regional Electric Company and recommends that managers and decision-makers at the company seriously consider reengineering processes and utilizing modeling technologies to achieve developmental goals and continuous improvement.

Keywords: business process reengineering, electric company, Fars province, process modeling advancements

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Authors: Kyriacos Clerides, Panagiotis Herodotou, Constantina Polycarpou, Evagoras Xydas

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Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the workplace is a very common problem in Europe which are caused by multiple risk factors. In recent years, wearable devices and exoskeletons for the workplace have been trying to address the various risk factors that are associated with strenuous tasks in the workplace. The logistics sector is a huge sector that includes warehousing, storage, and transportation. However, the task associated with logistics is not well-studied in terms of MSDs risk. This study was aimed at looking into the MSDs affecting workers of logistics companies. It compares the prevalence of MSDs among workers and evaluates multiple risk factors that contribute to the development of MSDs. Moreover, this study seeks to obtain user feedback on the adoption of exoskeletons in such a work environment. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among workers in logistics companies in Nicosia, Cyprus, from July to September 2022. A set of standardized questionnaires was used for collecting different types of data. Results: A high proportion of logistics professionals reported MSDs in one or more other body regions, the lower back being the most commonly affected area. Working in the same position for long periods, working in awkward postures, and handling an excessive load, were found to be the most commonly reported job risk factor that contributed to the development of MSDs, in this study. A significant number of participants consider the back region as the most to be benefited from a wearable exoskeleton device. Half of the participants would like to have at least a 50% reduction in their daily effort. The most important characteristics for the adoption of exoskeleton devices were found to be how comfortable the device is and its weight. Conclusion: Lower back and posture were the highest risk factors among all logistics professionals assessed in this study. A larger scale study using quantitative analytical tools may give a more accurate estimate of MSDs, which would pave the way for making more precise recommendations to eliminate the risk factors and thereby prevent MSDs. A follow-up study using exoskeletons in the workplace should be done to assess whether they assist in MSD prevention.

Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders, occupational health, safety, occupational risk, logistic companies, workers, Cyprus, industrial exoskeletons, wearable devices

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Authors: Raul Guerrero, Sandro Machado, Miriam Carvalho

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Soil and aquifer pollution, caused by hydrocarbon liquid spilling, is induced by misguided operational practices and inefficient safety guidelines. According to the Environmental Brazilian Institute (IBAMA), during 2013 alone, over 472.13 m3 of diesel oil leaked into the environment nationwide for those reported cases only. Regarding the aforementioned information, there’s an indisputable need to adopt appropriate environmental safeguards specially in those areas intended for the production, treatment, transportation and storage of hydrocarbon fluids. According to Brazilian norm, ABNT-NBR 7505-1:2000, compacted soil or mineral barriers used in structural contingency levees, such as storage tanks, are required to present a maximum water permeability coefficient, k, of 1x10-6 cm/s. However, as discussed by several authors, water can not be adopted as the reference fluid to determine the site’s containment performance against organic fluids. Mainly, due to the great discrepancy observed in polarity values (dielectric constant) between water and most organic fluids. Previous studies, within this same research group, proposed an optimal range of values for the soil’s index properties for mineral barrier composition focused on organic fluid containment. Unfortunately, in some circumstances, it is not possible to encounter a type of soil with the required geotechnical characteristics near the containment site, increasing prevention and construction costs, as well as environmental risks. For these specific cases, the use of an organic product or material as an additive to enhance mineral-barrier containment performance may be an attractive geotechnical solution. This paper evaluates the effect of activated carbon (AC) content additions into a clayey soil towards hydrocarbon fluid permeability. Variables such as compaction energy, carbon texture and addition content (0%, 10% and 20%) were analyzed through laboratory falling-head permeability tests using distilled water and commercial diesel as percolating fluids. The obtained results showed that the AC with smaller particle-size reduced k values significantly against diesel, indicating a direct relationship between particle-size reduction (surface area increase) of the organic product and organic fluid containment.

Keywords: activated carbon, clayey soils, permeability, surface area

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Nassima Noufail, Sara Bouhali

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In this work, we develop a semi-supervised solution for the purpose of action detection in videos and propose an efficient algorithm for video segmentation. The approach is divided into video segmentation, feature extraction, and classification. In the first part, a video is segmented into clips, and we used the K-means algorithm for this segmentation; our goal is to find groups based on similarity in the video. The application of k-means clustering into all the frames is time-consuming; therefore, we started by the identification of transition frames where the scene in the video changes significantly, and then we applied K-means clustering into these transition frames. We used two image filters, the gaussian filter and the Laplacian of Gaussian. Each filter extracts a set of features from the frames. The Gaussian filter blurs the image and omits the higher frequencies, and the Laplacian of gaussian detects regions of rapid intensity changes; we then used this vector of filter responses as an input to our k-means algorithm. The output is a set of cluster centers. Each video frame pixel is then mapped to the nearest cluster center and painted with a corresponding color to form a visual map. The resulting visual map had similar pixels grouped. We then computed a cluster score indicating how clusters are near each other and plotted a signal representing frame number vs. clustering score. Our hypothesis was that the evolution of the signal would not change if semantically related events were happening in the scene. We marked the breakpoints at which the root mean square level of the signal changes significantly, and each breakpoint is an indication of the beginning of a new video segment. In the second part, for each segment from part 1, we randomly selected a 16-frame clip, then we extracted spatiotemporal features using convolutional 3D network C3D for every 16 frames using a pre-trained model. The C3D final output is a 512-feature vector dimension; hence we used principal component analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction. The final part is the classification. The C3D feature vectors are used as input to a multi-class linear support vector machine (SVM) for the training model, and we used a multi-classifier to detect the action. We evaluated our experiment on the UCF101 dataset, which consists of 101 human action categories, and we achieved an accuracy that outperforms the state of art by 1.2%.

Keywords: video segmentation, action detection, classification, Kmeans, C3D

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Khairil Ahmad, Jenny Gryzelius, Mohd Helmi Mohd Sobri

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With the waning support for centrist ‘third-way’ politics across the Western world, there has been an increase in political parties and individual candidates relying on populist political discourse and rhetoric in order to capitalize on the sense of frustration apparent within the electorate. What is of note is the divergence in the discourses employed. On the one hand, there is a polarization between a growing wave of populist right-wing parties and politicians, employing a mixture of economic populism with divisive nationalistic ideals such as restricted immigration, for example, the UK’s UKIP and Donald Trump in the US. On the other hand, there are resurgent, often grassroots-led, left-wing movements and politicians, such as Podemos in Spain and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, focusing on anti-austerity measures and inclusive policies. In general, the concept of populism is often ascribed in a pejorative way. This is despite the success of populist left-wing governments across Latin America in recent times, especially in terms of reducing poverty. Nonetheless, recently, scholars such as Ernesto Laclau have tried to rethink populism as a social scientific concept which is essential in helping us make sense of contemporary political articulations. Using Laclau’s framework, this paper seeks to analyze poverty reduction policies in different iterations in the context of the tenures of three Prime Ministers of Malaysia. The first is Abdul Razak Hussein’s New Economic Policy, which focused on uplifting the economic position of Malaysia’s majority Malay population. The second is Mahathir Mohamad’s state-led neo-liberalization of the Malaysian economy, which focused on the creation of a core group of crony elites in order to spearhead economic development. The third is current Prime Minister Najib Razak’s targeted poverty eradication strategy through a focused program which directly provides benefits to recipients such as through direct cash transfers. The paper employs a discursive approach to trace elements of populism in these cases and highlight instances of how their strategies are articulated in ways that seek to appeal towards particular visions of national unity.

Keywords: discourse analysis, Malaysia, populism, poverty eradication

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Moayyad Shawaqfah, Ibtehal Alqdah, Amjad Adaileh

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Coridoor area (400 km2) lies to the north – east of Amman (60 km). It lies between 285-305 E longitude and 165-185 N latitude (according to Palestine Grid). It been subjected to exploitation of groundwater from new eleven wells since the 1999 with a total discharge of 11 MCM in addition to the previous discharge rate from the well field 14.7 MCM. Consequently, the aquifer balance is disturbed and a major decline in water level. Therefore, suitable groundwater resources management is required to overcome the problems of over pumping and its effect on groundwater quality. Three–dimensional groundwater flow model Processing Modeflow for Windows Pro (PMWIN PRO, 2003) has been used in order to calculate the groundwater budget, aquifer characteristics, and to predict the aquifer response under different stresses for the next 20 years (2035). The model was calibrated for steady state conditions by trial and error calibration. The calibration was performed by matching observed and calculated initial heads for year 2001. Drawdown data for period 2001-2010 were used to calibrate transient model by matching calculated with observed one, after that, the transient model was validated by using the drawdown data for the period 2011-2014. The hydraulic conductivities of the Basalt- A7/B2 aquifer System are ranging between 1.0 and 8.0 m/day. The low conductivity value was found at the north-west and south-western parts of the study area, the high conductivity value was found at north-western corner of the study area and the average storage coefficient is about 0.025. The water balance for the Basalt and B2/A7 formation at steady state condition with a discrepancy of 0.003%. The major inflows come from Jebal Al Arab through the basalt and through the limestone aquifer (B2/A7 12.28 MCMY aquifer and from excess rainfall is about 0.68 MCM/a. While the major outflows from the Basalt-B2/A7 aquifer system are toward Azraq basin with about 5.03 MCMY and leakage to A1/6 aquitard with 7.89 MCMY. Four scenarios have been performed to predict aquifer system responses under different conditions. Scenario no.2 was found to be the best one which indicates that the reduction the abstraction rates by 50% of current withdrawal rate (25.08 MCMY) to 12.54 MCMY. The maximum drawdowns were decreased to reach about, 7.67 and 8.38m in the years 2025 and 2035 respectively.

Keywords: Amman/Zarqa Basin, Jordan, groundwater management, groundwater modeling, modflow

Procedia PDF Downloads 204

Authors: D. Glamowska, K. Szymkowska, K. Mojsiewicz- Pieńkowska, K. Cal, Z. Jankowski

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Introduction: The integrity of the outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) is vital to the penetration of various compounds, including toxic substances. Barrier function of skin depends of its structure. The barrier function of the stratum corneum is provided by patterned lipid lamellae (binlayer). However, a lot of substances, including the low molecular methyl siloxanes (volatile methyl siloxanes, VMS) have an impact on alteration the skin barrier due to damage of stratum corneum structure. VMS belong to silicones. They are widely used in the pharmaceutical as well as cosmetic industry. Silicones fulfill the role of ingredient or excipient in medicinal products and the excipient in personal care products. Due to the significant human exposure to this group of compounds, an important aspect is toxicology of the compounds and safety assessment of products. Silicones in general opinion are considered as a non-toxic substances, but there are some data about their negative effect on living organisms through the inhaled or oral application. However, the transdermal route has not been described in the literature as a possible alternative route of penetration. The aim of the study was to verify the possibility of penetration of the stratum corneum, further permeation into the deeper layers of the skin (epidermis and dermis) as well as to the fluid acceptor by VMS. Methods: Research methodology was developed based on the OECD and WHO guidelines. In ex-vivo study, the fluorescence microscope and ATR FT-IR spectroscopy was used. The Franz- type diffusion cells were used to application of the VMS on the sample of human skin (A=0.65 cm) for 24h. The stratum corneum at the application site was tape-stripped. After separation of epidermis, relevant dyes: fluorescein, sulforhodamine B, rhodamine B hexyl ester were put on and observations were carried in the microscope. To confirm the penetration and permeation of the cyclic or linear VMS and thus the presence of silicone in the individual layers of the skin, spectra ATR FT-IR of the sample after application of silicone and H2O (control sample) were recorded. The research included comparison of the intesity of bands in characteristic positions for silicones (1263 cm-1, 1052 cm-1 and 800 cm-1). Results: and Conclusions The results present that cyclic and linear VMS are able to overcome the barrier of the skin. Influence of them on damage of corneocytes of the stratum corneum was observed. This phenomenon was due to distinct disturbances in the lipid structure of the stratum corneum. The presence of cyclic and linear VMS were identified in the stratum corneum, epidermis as well as in the dermis by both fluorescence microscope and ATR FT-IR spectroscopy. This confirms that the cyclic and linear VMS can penetrate to stratum corneum and permeate through the human skin layers. Apart from this they cause changes in the structure of the skin. Results show to possible absorption into the blood and lymphathic vessels by the VMS with linear and cyclic structure.

Keywords: low molecular methyl siloxanes, volatile methyl siloxanes, linear and cyclic siloxanes, skin penetration, skin permeation

Procedia PDF Downloads 333

Authors: Mdluli Fezile, Schmidt Stefan, Thamaga-Chitja Joyce

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In view of the frequently reported foodborne disease outbreaks caused by contaminated fresh produce, consumers have a preference for foods that meet requisite hygiene standards to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses. Producing good quality fresh produce then becomes critical in improving market access and food security, especially for small-scale farmers. Questions of hygiene and subsequent microbiological quality in the rural small-scale farming sector of South Africa are even more crucial, given the policy drive to develop small-scale farming as a measure for reinforcement of household food security and reduction of poverty. Farming practices and methods, throughout the fresh produce value chain, influence the quality of the final product, which in turn determines its success in the market. This study’s aim was to therefore determine the extent to which training on organic farming methods, including modules such as Importance of Production Hygiene, influenced the hygienic farming practices employed by eTholeni small-scale organic farmers in uMbumbulu, KwaZulu-Natal- South Africa. Questionnaires were administered to 73 uncertified organic farmers and analysis showed that a total of 33 farmers were trained and supplied the local Agri-Hub while 40 had not received training. The questionnaire probed respondents’ attitudes, knowledge of hygiene and composting practices. Data analysis included descriptive statistics such as the Chi-square test and a logistic regression model. Descriptive analysis indicated that a majority of the farmers (60%) were female, most of which (73%) were above the age of 40. The logistic regression indicated that factors such as farmer training and prior experience in the farming sector had a significant influence on hygiene practices both at 5% significance levels. These results emphasize the importance of training, education and farming experience in implementing good hygiene practices in small-scale farming. It is therefore recommended that South African policies should advocate for small-scale farmer training, not only for subsistence purposes, but also with an aim of supplying produce markets with high fresh produce.

Keywords: small-scale farmers, leafy salad vegetables, organic produce, food safety, hygienic practices, food security

Procedia PDF Downloads 415

Authors: Shivani Dhande, Sanjiv Choudhary, Adarshlata Singh

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Introduction: Early age of onset of baldness has marked psychological impact on personality. Combination therapies have better efficacy than monotherapy in androgenetic alopecia. Although medical, surgical treatment and cosmetic aids are available for treatment of pattern baldness, medical is first preferred the line of treatment. Although only 5% topical minoxidil is USFDA approved, 10% is available in India since 2007. Efficacy of tablet finasteride is well established in male pattern baldness. 5% topical minoxidil is effective and safe in female pattern baldness. There is a role of saw palmetto in regrowth of scalp hair. With this background research was undertaken to study efficacy and safety of topical minoxidil 10% + tab. Finesteride (1mg) + dermaroller in male pattern baldness and topical minoxidil 5% + cap. Saw palmetto (320 mg) + dermaroller in female pattern baldness. Methods and Materials: It was a randomized uncontrolled evaluator blind study consisting of total 21 patients, 15 of male pattern baldness and 6 of female pattern baldness within 20-35 yrs of age were enrolled. Male patients had Hamilton grade 2-4 MPB and females had Ludwig grade 2 FPB. Male patients were treated with Tab Finesteride 1mg once daily + 10% topical Minoxidil 1ml twice daily for 6 months. Female patients were treated with Cap. Saw palmetto 320 mg once daily + 5% topical Minoxidil twice daily for 6 months. In both male & female patients dermaroller therapy was used once in 10 days for 4 sittings followed by once in 15 days for next 5 months. Blood pressure and possible side effects were monitored in every follow up visits. Pre and post treatment photographs were taken. Assessment of hair growth was done at baseline and at the end of 6 months. Patients satisfactory grading scale and Physician assessment of hair growth scale were used to assessing the results. Trichoscan was done for assessment of hair-shaft diameter and density. Pre and post treatment photographs and Trichoscan hair growth analysis (by diameter and density) was done by physician (dermatologist) not directly involved in this study (evaluator blind). Result: This combination therapy showed moderate response in female pattern alopecia and good to excellent results in male pattern alopecia at the end of 6 months. During therapy none of the patients showed side effects like hypotension, headache and loss of libido, hirsuitism. Mild irritation due to crystal deposition was noted by 3 patients. Conclusion: Effective and early treatment using combination therapy with higher percent of Minoxidil for rapid hair growth is necessary in initial period since it will boost up the self-confidence in patients leading to better treatment compliance. Subsequent maintenance of hair growth can be done with lower concentration. No significant side effects with treatment are observed in both group of patients.

Keywords: androgenetic alopecia, dermaroller, finasteride, minoxidil, saw palmetto

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Ashutosh Verma, Satyendra MIttal

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The loss of strength at the facing-reinforcement interface brought on by the seasonal thermal expansion/contraction of the bridge deck has been responsible for several geosynthetic reinforced soil abutment failures over the years. This results in excessive settlement below the bridge seat, which results in bridge bumps along the approach road and shortens abutment's design life. There are surely a wide variety of facing configurations available to designers when choosing the sort of facade. These layouts can generally be categorised into three groups: continuous, full height rigid (FHR) and modular (panels/block). The current work aims to experimentally explore the behavior of these three facing categories using 1g physical model testing under serviceable cyclic lateral displacements. With configurable facing arrangements to represent these three facing categories, a field instrumented GRS abutment prototype was modelled into a N scaled down 1g physical model (N = 5) to reproduce field behavior. Peak earth pressure coefficient (K) on the facing and vertical settlement of the footing (s/B) for footing offset (x/H) as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 at 100 cycles have been measured for cyclic lateral displacement of top of facing at loading rate of 1mm/min. Three types of cyclic displacements have been carried out to replicate active condition (CA), passive condition (CP), and active-passive condition (CAP) for each footing offset. The results demonstrated that a significant decrease in the earth pressure over the facing occurs when footing offset increases. It is worth noticing that the highest rate of increment in earth pressure and footing settlement were observed for each facing configuration at the nearest footing offset. Interestingly, for the farthest footing offset, similar responses of each facing type were observed, which indicates that the upon reaching a critical offset point presumably beyond the active region in the backfill, the lateral responses become independent of the stresses from the external footing load. Evidently, the footing load complements the stresses developed due to lateral excitation resulting in significant footing settlements for nearer footing offsets. The modular facing proved inefficient in resisting footing settlement due to significant buckling along the depth of facing. Instead of relative displacement along the depth of facing, continuous facing rotates around the base when it fails, especially for nearer footing offset causing significant depressions in the backfill area surrounding the footing. FHR facing, on the other hand, have been successful in confining the stresses in the soil domain itself reducing the footing settlement. It may be suitably concluded that increasing the footing offset may render stability to the GRS abutment with any facing configuration even for higher cycles of excitation.

Keywords: GRS abutments, 1g physical model, footing offset, cyclic lateral displacement

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Authors: Klazina T. Havinga, Hilde R. H. de Geus

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Introduction: Pre-operative coagulation management of Apixaban prescribed patients, a new oral anticoagulant (a factor Xa inhibitor), is difficult, especially when chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes drug overdose. Apixaban is not dialyzable due to its high level of protein binding. An antidote, Andexanet α, is available but expensive and has an unfavorable short half-life. We report the successful extracorporeal removal of Apixaban prior to emergency surgery with the CytoSorb® Hemoadsorption device. Methods: A 89-year-old woman with CKD, with an Apixaban prescription for atrial fibrillation, was presented at the ER with traumatic rib fractures, a flail chest, and an unstable spinal fracture (T12) for which emergency surgery was indicated. However, due to very high Apixaban levels, this surgery had to be postponed. Based on the Apixaban-specific anti-factor Xa activity (AFXaA) measurements at admission and 10 hours later, complete clearance was expected after 48 hours. In order to enhance the Apixaban removal and reduce the time to operation, and therefore reduce pulmonary complications, CRRT with CytoSorb® cartridge was initiated. Apixaban-specific anti-factor Xa activity (AFXaA) was measured frequently as a substitute for Apixaban drug concentrations, pre- and post adsorber, in order to calculate the adsorber-related clearance. Results: The admission AFXaA concentration, as a substitute for Apixaban drug levels, was 218 ng/ml, which decreased to 157 ng/ml after ten hours. Due to sustained anticoagulation effects, surgery was again postponed. However, the AFXaA levels decreased quickly to sub-therapeutic levels after CRRT (Multifiltrate Pro, Fresenius Medical Care, Blood flow 200 ml/min, Dialysate Flow 4000 ml/h, Prescribed renal dose 51 ml-kg-h) with Cytosorb® connected in series into the circuit was initiated (within 5 hours). The adsorber-related (indirect) Apixaban clearance was calculated every half hour (Cl=Qe * (AFXaA pre- AFXaA post/ AFXaA pre) with Qe=plasma flow rate calculated with Ht=0.38 and system blood flow rate 200 ml-min): 100 ml/min, 72 ml/min and 57 ml/min. Although, as expected, the adsorber-related clearance decreased quickly due to saturation of the beads, still the reduction rate achieved resulted in a very rapid decrease in AFXaA levels. Surgery was ordered and possible within 5 hours after Cytosorb initiation. Conclusion: The CytoSorb® Hemoadsorption device enabled rapid correction of Apixaban associated anticoagulation.

Keywords: Apixaban, CytoSorb, emergency surgery, Hemoadsorption

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Olivera Lupescu, Taina Elena Avramescu, Mihail Nagea, Alexandru Dimitriu

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Acetabular fractures represent a real challenge due to their impact upon the long term function of the hip joint, and due to the risk of intra- and peri-operative complications especially that they affect young, active people. That is why treating these fractures require certain skills which must be exercised, regarding the pre-operative planning, as well as the execution of surgery.The authors retrospectively analyse 38 cases with acetabular fractures operated using the posterior approach in our hospital between 01.01.2013- 01.01.2015 for which complete medical records ensure a follow-up of 24 months, in order to establish the main causes of potential errors and to underline the methods for preventing them. This target is included in the Erasmus + project ‘Collaborative learning for enhancing practical skills for patient-focused interventions in gait rehabilitation after orthopedic surgery COR-skills’. This paper analyses the pitfalls revealed by these cases, as well as the measures necessary to enhance the practical skills of the surgeons who perform acetabular surgery. Pre-op planning matched the intra and post-operative outcome in 88% of the analyzed points, from 72% at the beginning to 94% in the last case, meaning that experience is very important in treating this injury. The main problems detected for the posterior approach were: nervous complications - 3 cases, 1 of them a complete paralysis of the sciatic nerve, which recovered 6 months after surgery, and in other 2 cases intra-articular position of the screws was demonstrated by post-operative CT scans, so secondary screw removal was necessary in these cases. We analysed this incident, too, due to lack of information about the relationship between the screws and the joint secondary to this approach. Septic complications appeared in 3 cases, 2 superficial and 1 profound (requiring implant removal). The most important problems were the reduction of the fractures and the positioning of the screws so as not to interfere with the the articular space. In posterior acetabular fractures, pre-op complex planning is important in order to achieve maximum treatment efficacy with minimum of risk; an optimal training of the surgeons insisting on the main points of potential mistakes ensure the success of the procedure, as well as a favorable outcome for the patient.

Keywords: acetabular fractures, articular congruency, surgical skills, vocational training

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Yogesh Rai, Saurabh Singh, Sanjay Pandey, Dhananjay K. Sah, B. G. Roy, B. S. Dwarakanath, Anant N. Bhatt

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One of the most common signatures of highly malignant gliomas is their capacity to metabolize more glucose to lactic acid than normal brain tissues, even under normoxic conditions (Warburg effect), indicating that aerobic glycolysis is constitutively upregulated through stable genetic or epigenetic changes. However, oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) is also required to maintain the mitochondrial membrane potential for tumor cell survival. In the process of tumorigenesis, tumor cells during fastest growth rate exhibit both high glycolytic and high OxPhos. Therefore, metabolically reprogrammed cancer cells with combination of both aerobic glycolysis and altered OxPhos develop a robust metabolic phenotype, which confers a selective growth advantage. In our study, we grew the high glycolytic BMG-1 (glioma) cells with continuous exposure of mitochondrial uncoupler 2, 4, dinitro phenol (DNP) for 10 passages to obtain a phenotype of high glycolysis with enhanced altered OxPhos. We found that OxPhos modified BMG (OPMBMG) cells has similar growth rate and cell cycle distribution but high mitochondrial mass and functional enzymatic activity than parental cells. In in-vitro studies, OPMBMG cells showed enhanced invasion, proliferation and migration properties. Moreover, it also showed enhanced angiogenesis in matrigel plug assay. Xenografted tumors from OPMBMG cells showed reduced latent period, faster growth rate and nearly five folds reduction in the tumor take in nude mice compared to BMG-1 cells, suggesting that robust metabolic phenotype facilitates tumor formation and growth. OPMBMG cells which were found radio-resistant, showed enhanced radio-sensitization by 2-DG as compared to the parental BMG-1 cells. This study suggests that metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells enhances the potential of migration, invasion and proliferation. It also strengthens the cancer cells to escape the death processes, conferring resistance to therapeutic modalities. Our data also suggest that combining metabolic inhibitors like 2-DG with conventional therapeutic modalities can sensitize such metabolically aggressive cancer cells more than the therapies alone.

Keywords: 2-DG, BMG, DNP, OPM-BMG

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Authors: L. García, N. Cobas, M. López

Abstract:

Acrylamide, a probable carcinogen, is formed in high-temperature processed food (>120ºC) when the free amino acid asparagine reacts with reducing sugars, mainly glucose and fructose. Cane juices' repeated heating would potentially form acrylamide during brown sugar production. This study aims to determine if using panela in yogurt cake preparation increases acrylamide formation. A secondary aim is to analyze the acrylamide concentration in four cake confections with different caloric sweetener ingredients: beet sugar (BS), cane sugar (CS), panela (P), and a panela and chocolate mix (PC). The doughs were obtained by combining ingredients in a planetary mixer. A model system made up of flour (25%), caloric sweeteners (25 %), eggs (23%), yogurt (15.7%), sunflower oil (9.4%), and brewer's yeast (2 %) was applied to BS, CS and P cakes. The ingredients of PC cakes varied: flour (21.5 %), panela chocolate (21.5 %), eggs (25.9 %), yogurt (18 %), sunflower oil (10.8 %), and brewer’s yeast (2.3 %). The preparations were baked for 45' at 180 ºC. Moisture was estimated by AOAC. Protein was determined by the Kjeldahl method. Ash percentage was calculated by weight loss after pyrolysis (≈ 600 °C). Fat content was measured using liquid-solid extraction in hydrolyzed raw ingredients and final confections. Carbohydrates were determined by difference and total sugars by the Luff-Schoorl method, based on the iodometric determination of copper ions. Finally, acrylamide content was determined by LC-MS by the isocratic system (phase A: 97.5 % water with 0.1% formic acid; phase B: 2.5 % methanol), using a standard internal procedure. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v.23. One-way variance analysis determined differences between acrylamide content and compositional analysis, with caloric sweeteners as fixed effect. Significance levels were determined by applying Duncan's t-test (p<0.05). P cakes showed a lower energy value than the other baked products; sugar content was similar to BS and CS, with 6.1 % mean crude protein. Acrylamide content in caloric sweeteners was similar to previously reported values. However, P and PC showed significantly higher concentrations, probably explained by the applied procedure. Acrylamide formation depends on both reducing sugars and asparagine concentration and availability. Beet sugar samples did not present acrylamide concentrations within the detection and quantification limit. However, the highest acrylamide content was measured in the BS. This may be due to the higher concentration of reducing sugars and asparagine in other raw ingredients. The cakes made with panela, cane sugar, or panela with chocolate did not differ in acrylamide content. The lack of asparagine measures constitutes a limitation. Cakes made with panela showed lower acrylamide formation than products elaborated with beet or cane sugar.

Keywords: beet sugar, cane sugar, panela, yogurt cake

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Nihan Nugay, Nur Cicek Kekec, Kalman Toth, Turgut Nugay, Joseph P. Kennedy

Abstract:

In recent years, polyurethane structures are paving the way for elastomer usage in biology, human medicine, and biomedical application areas. Polyurethanes having a combination of high oxidative and hydrolytic stability and excellent mechanical properties are focused due to enhancing the usage of PUs especially for implantable medical device application such as cardiac-assist. Currently, unique polyurethanes consisting of polyisobutylenes as soft segments and conventional hard segments, named as PIB-based PUs, are developed with precise NCO/OH stoichiometry (∽1.05) for obtaining PIB-based PUs with enhanced properties (i.e., tensile stress increased from ∽11 to ∽26 MPa and elongation from ∽350 to ∽500%). Static and dynamic mechanical properties were optimized by examining stress-strain graphs, self-organization and crystallinity (XRD) traces, rheological (DMA, creep) profiles and thermal (TGA, DSC) responses. Annealing procedure was applied for PIB-based PUs. Annealed PIB-based PU shows ∽26 MPa tensile strength, ∽500% elongation, and ∽77 Microshore hardness with excellent hydrolytic and oxidative stability. The surface characters of them were examined with AFM and contact angle measurements. Annealed PIB-based PU exhibits the higher segregation of individual segments and surface hydrophobicity thus annealing significantly enhances hydrolytic and oxidative stability by shielding carbamate bonds by inert PIB chains. According to improved surface and microstructure characters, greater efforts are focused on analyzing protein adsorption and calcification profiles. In biomedical applications especially for cardiological implantations, protein adsorption inclination on polymeric heart valves is undesirable hence protein adsorption from blood serum is followed by platelet adhesion and subsequent thrombus formation. The protein adsorption character of PIB-based PU examines by applying Bradford assay in fibrinogen and bovine serum albumin solutions. Like protein adsorption, calcium deposition on heart valves is very harmful because vascular calcification has been proposed activation of osteogenic mechanism in the vascular wall, loss of inhibitory factors, enhance bone turnover and irregularities in mineral metabolism. The calcium deposition on films are characterized by incubating samples in simulated body fluid solution and examining SEM images and XPS profiles. PIB-based PUs are significantly more resistant to hydrolytic-oxidative degradation, protein adsorption and calcium deposition than ElastEonTM E2A, a commercially available PDMS-based PU, widely used for biomedical applications.

Keywords: biomedical application, calcification, polyisobutylene, polyurethane, protein adsorption

Procedia PDF Downloads 246