Search results for: non-obstruction of noumena and phenomena .

Authors: Jingjing Huang, Nengwei Li, Guanghua Wei, Jiabin You, Chao Wang, Junliang Zhang

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In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is applied to analyze the mass transport process in the cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), of which all types of molecules situated in the cathode is considered. a reasonable and effective MD simulation process is provided, and models were built and compared using both Materials Studio and LAMMPS. The mass transport is one of the key issues in the study of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this report, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is applied to analyze the influence of Nafion ionomer distribution and Pt nano-particle size on mass transport process in the cathode. It is indicated by the diffusion coefficients calculation that a larger quantity of Nafion, as well as a higher equivalent weight (EW) value, will hinder the transport of oxygen. In addition, medium-sized Pt nano-particles (1.5~2nm) are more advantageous in terms of proton transport compared with other particle sizes (0.94~2.55nm) when the center-to-center distance between two Pt nano-particles is around 5 nm. Then mass transport channels are found to be formed between the hydrophobic backbone and the hydrophilic side chains of Nafion ionomer according to the radial distribution function (RDF) curves. And the morphology of these channels affected by the Pt size is believed to influence the transport of hydronium ions and, consequently the performance of PEMFC.

Keywords: cathode catalytic layer, mass transport, molecular dynamics, proton exchange membrane fuel cell

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Authors: Wahiba Boudraa, Khalil Draidi, Badis Bakhouch, Farah Chettibi, Meriem Aberkane, Zihad Bouslama, Moussa Houhamdi

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The Gulf of Annaba, located at the extreme north eastern Algerian; our site of study is a marsh administratively it is part of the wilaya of Annaba, municipality of El-Bouni; extends on a surface from 55 hectare, the maximum depth is of less 2m. A scheme of work was adopted for an evaluation and characterization of the reproduction of the water nicheurs birds in the marsh of Boussedra. Some important parameters described by the scientific literature; According to standardized methods, variables were the object of a regular follow-up during the period of reproduction. These parameters were taken into account: the installation date of the nests, the vegetable support; blossoming of eggs, causes of the failure of the blossomings (predation or abandonment), characteristics of the nests (composition, internal diameter, external diameter, depth and heightening), measurements of the distances nest-nest nearest, Depth of water, the measurement of eggs, size of laying, size of laying. The follow-up in the marsh was carried out between March 2013 until the month of July 2014 at a rate of two outputs per weeks, one located and noted the nests to control them each week. The study on the reproduction of the water birds enables us to note that this site plays a very important part in the wintering and the reproduction of certain species important. This study opens broad prospects for study of several phenomena related to the ecology of the water birds, and the conservation of the wetlands.

Keywords: Algeria, Boussedra, nests, reproduction, water birds

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Authors: Javier Varillas, Jorge Alcalá

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We investigate dislocation avalanche phenomena in face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) crystals using massive, large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The analysis is focused on the intermittent development of dense dislocation arrangements subjected to uniaxial tensile straining under displacement control. We employ a novel computational scheme that allows us to inject an entangled dislocation structure in periodic MD domains. We assess the emission of plastic bursts (or dislocation avalanches) in terms of the sharp stress drops detected in the stress-strain curve. The plastic activity corresponds to the sporadic operation of specific dislocation glide processes exhibiting quiescent periods between successive avalanche events. We find that the plastic intermittences in our simulations do not overlap in time under sufficiently low strain rates as dissipation operates faster than driving, where the dense dislocation networks evolve through the emission of dislocation avalanche events whose carried slip adheres to self-organized power-law distributions. These findings enable the extension of the slip distributions obtained from strict displacement-controlled micropillar compression experiments towards smaller values of slip size. Our results furnish further understanding upon the development of entangled dislocation networks in metal plasticity, including specific mechanisms of dislocation propagation and annihilation, along with the evolution of specific dislocation populations through dislocation density analyses.

Keywords: dislocations, intermittent plasticity, molecular dynamics, slip distributions

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Authors: John Oupa Hlatshwayo

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Background: There seem to be preferred digital business models with varying impacts within hospitality, tourism and catering sub-sectors explored through online commerce, as all are ingrained in the business economics domain. Aim: A study aims to establish if such phenomena (Digital Business Models) exist and to what extent if any, within the hospitality, tourism and catering industries, respectively. Setting: This is a qualitative study conducted by exploring several (Four) institutions globally through Case Studies. Method: This research explored explanatory case studies to answer questions about ‘how’ or ’why’ with little control by a researcher over the occurrence of events. It is qualitative research, deductive, and inductive methods. Hence, a comprehensive approach to analyzing qualitative data was attainable through immersion by reading to understand the information. Findings: The results corroborated the notion that digital business models are applicable, by and large, in business economics. Thus, three sectors wherein enterprises operate in the business economics sphere have been narrowed down i.e. hospitality, tourism and catering, are also referred to as triangular polygons due to the atypical nature of being ‘stand-alone’, yet ‘sub-sectors’, but there are confounding factors to consider. Conclusion: The significance of digital business models and digital transformation shows an inevitable merger between business and technology within Hospitality, Tourism, and Catering. Contribution: Such symbiotic relationship of business and technology, persistent evolution of clients’ interface with end-products, forever changing market, current adaptation as well as adjustment to ‘new world order’ by enterprises must be embraced constantly without fail by Business Practitioners, Academics, Business Students, Organizations and Governments.

Keywords: digital business models, hospitality, tourism, catering, business economics

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Authors: Meenu Kaushik, Ayon K. Bandhoyadhayay, Lalit M. Joshi

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Inductive output tubes (IOTs) are widely used as microwave power amplifiers for broadcast and scientific applications. It is capable of amplifying radio frequency (RF) power with very good efficiency. Its compactness, reliability, high efficiency, high linearity and low operating cost make this device suitable for various applications. The device consists of an integrated structure of electron gun and RF cavity, collector and focusing structure. The working principle of IOT is a combination of triode and klystron. The cathode lies in the electron gun produces a stream of electrons. A control grid is placed in close proximity to the cathode. Basically, the input part of IOT is the integrated structure of gridded electron gun which acts as an input cavity thereby providing the interaction gap where the input RF signal is applied to make it interact with the produced electron beam for supporting the amplification phenomena. The paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of a radial re-entrant cavity for implementing in the input structure of IOT at 350 MHz operating frequency. The model’s suitability has been discussed and a generalized mathematical relation has been introduced for getting the proper transverse magnetic (TM) resonating mode in the radial narrow gap RF cavities. The structural modeling has been carried out in CST and SUPERFISH codes. The cavity is fabricated with the Aluminum material and the RF characterization is done using vector network analyzer (VNA) and the results are presented for the resonant frequency peaks obtained in VNA.

Keywords: inductive output tubes, IOT, radial cavity, coaxial cavity, particle accelerators

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Authors: Luiz Carlos Wrobel, Matjaz Hribersek, Jure Marn, Jurij Iljaz

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Dynamic thermography has been clinically proven to be a valuable diagnostic technique for skin tumor detection as well as for other medical applications such as breast cancer diagnostics, diagnostics of vascular diseases, fever screening, dermatological and other applications. Thermography for medical screening can be done in two different ways, observing the temperature response under steady-state conditions (passive or static thermography), and by inducing thermal stresses by cooling or heating the observed tissue and measuring the thermal response during the recovery phase (active or dynamic thermography). The numerical modelling of heat transfer phenomena in biological tissue during dynamic thermography can aid the technique by improving process parameters or by estimating unknown tissue parameters based on measured data. This paper presents a nonlinear numerical model of multilayer skin tissue containing a skin tumor, together with the thermoregulation response of the tissue during the cooling-rewarming processes of dynamic thermography. The model is based on the Pennes bioheat equation and solved numerically by using a subdomain boundary element method which treats the problem as axisymmetric. The paper includes computational tests and numerical results for Clark II and Clark IV tumors, comparing the models using constant and temperature-dependent thermophysical properties, which showed noticeable differences and highlighted the importance of using a local thermoregulation model.

Keywords: boundary element method, dynamic thermography, static thermography, skin tumor diagnostic

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Authors: Jutta Ransmayr

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The German language is known to be one of the most varied and diverse languages in Europe. This variance in the standard language can be conceptualized using the pluricentric concept, which has been useful for describing the German language for more than three decades. Up to now, there have hardly been any well-founded studies of how Austrian teachers and pupils conceptualize the German language and how they view the varieties of German and especially Austrian German. The language attitudes and norms of German teachers are of particular interest in the normative, educational language-oriented school context. The teachers’ attitudes are, in turn, formative for the attitudes of the students, especially since Austrian German is an important element in the construction of Austrian national identity. The project 'Austrian German as a Language of Instruction and Education' dealt, among other things, with the attitude of language laypeople (pupils, n = 1253) and language experts (teachers, n = 164) towards the Austrian standard variety. It also aimed to find out to what extent external factors such as regional origin, age, education, or media use to influence these attitudes. It was examined whether language change phenomena can be determined and to what extent language change is in conflict with loyalty to variants. The study also focused on what norms prevail among German teachers, how they deal with standard language variation from a normative point of view, and to what extent they correct exonorm-oriented, as claimed in the literature. Methodologically, both quantitative (questionnaire survey) and qualitative methods were used (interviews with 21 teachers, 2 group discussions, and participatory observation of lessons in 7 school classes). The data were evaluated in terms of inference statistics and discourse analysis. This paper reports on the results of this project.

Keywords: Austrian German, language attitudes and linguistic identity, linguistic loyalty, teachers and students

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Authors: Hamidreza Namazi

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Fractal analysis is assessing fractal characteristics of data. It consists of several methods to assign fractal characteristics to a dataset which may be a theoretical dataset or a pattern or signal extracted from phenomena including natural geometric objects, sound, market fluctuations, heart rates, digital images, molecular motion, networks, etc. Fractal analysis is now widely used in all areas of science. An important limitation of fractal analysis is that arriving at an empirically determined fractal dimension does not necessarily prove that a pattern is fractal; rather, other essential characteristics have to be considered. For this purpose a Visual C++ based software called FRATSAN (FRActal Time Series ANalyser) was developed which extract information from signals through three measures. These measures are Fractal Dimensions, Jeffrey’s Measure and Hurst Exponent. After computing these measures, the software plots the graphs for each measure. Besides computing three measures the software can classify whether the signal is fractal or no. In fact, the software uses a dynamic method of analysis for all the measures. A sliding window is selected with a value equal to 10% of the total number of data entries. This sliding window is moved one data entry at a time to obtain all the measures. This makes the computation very sensitive to slight changes in data, thereby giving the user an acute analysis of the data. In order to test the performance of this software a set of EEG signals was given as input and the results were computed and plotted. This software is useful not only for fundamental fractal analysis of signals but can be used for other purposes. For instance by analyzing the Hurst exponent plot of a given EEG signal in patients with epilepsy the onset of seizure can be predicted by noticing the sudden changes in the plot.

Keywords: EEG signals, fractal analysis, fractal dimension, hurst exponent, Jeffrey’s measure

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Authors: Oibar Martinez, Clara Oliver, Jose Miguel Miranda

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The study of dispersion phenomena in electromagnetic waves reflected by conductors at infrared and lower frequencies is a topic which finds a number of applications. We aim to explain in this work what are the most relevant ones and how this phenomenon is modeled from both optics and electromagnetics points of view. We also explain here how the amplitude of an electromagnetic wave reflected by a lossy conductor could depend on both the frequency of the incident wave, as well as on the electrical properties of the conductor, and we illustrate this phenomenon with a practical example. The mathematical analysis made by a specialist in electromagnetics or a microwave engineer is apparently very different from the one made by a specialist in optics. We show here how both approaches lead to the same physical result and what are the key concepts which enable one to understand that despite the differences in the equations the solution to the problem happens to be the same. Our study starts with an analysis made by using the complex refractive index and the reflectance parameter. We show how this reflectance has a dependence with the square root of the frequency when the reflecting material is a good conductor, and the frequency of the wave is low enough. Then we analyze the same problem with a less known approach, which is based on the reflection coefficient of the electric field, a parameter that is most commonly used in electromagnetics and microwave engineering. In summary, this paper presents a mathematical study illustrated with a worked example which unifies the modeling of dispersion effects made by specialists in optics and the one made by specialists in electromagnetics. The main finding of this work is that it is possible to reproduce the dependence of the Fresnel reflectance with frequency from the intrinsic impedance of the reflecting media.

Keywords: dispersion, electromagnetic waves, microwaves, optics

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Authors: Li-Hua Luu, Alexis Doghmane, Abbas Farhat, Mohammad Sanayei, Pierre Philippe, Pablo Cuellar

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Suction buckets are promising innovative foundations for offshore wind turbines. They generally feature the shape of an inverted bucket and rely on a suction system as a driving agent for their installation into the seabed. Water is pumped out of the buckets that are initially placed to rest on the seabed, creating a net pressure difference across the lid that generates a seepage flow, lowers the soil resistance below the foundation skirt, and drives them effectively into the seabed. The stability of the suction mechanism as well as the possibility of a piping failure (i.e., localized fluidization within the internal soil plug) during their installation are some of the key questions that remain open. The present work deals with an experimental study of localized fluidization by suction within a fixed bucket partially embedded into a submerged artificial soil made of spherical beads. The transient process, from the onset of granular motion until reaching a stationary regime for the fluidization at the embedded bucket wall, is recorded using the combined optical techniques of planar laser-induced fluorescence and refractive index matching. To conduct a systematic study of the piping threshold for the seepage flow, we vary the beads size, the suction pressure, and the initial depth for the bucket. This experimental modelling, by dealing with erosion-related phenomena from a micromechanical perspective, shall provide qualitative scenarios for the local processes at work which are missing in the offshore practice so far.

Keywords: fluidization, micromechanical approach, offshore foundations, suction bucket

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Authors: M. Wittmann, G. Kopacik, A. Leitmannova

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A prominent place in the spatial arrangement of Czech as well as other post-socialist, Central European cities belongs to 19th century closed urban blocks and the open concrete panel housing estates which were erected during the socialism era in the second half of 20th century. The characteristics of these two fundamentally diverse types of residential structures have, as we suppose, a different impact on the sustainable development of the urban area. The characteristics of these residential structures may influence the ecological stability of the area, its hygienic qualities, the intensity and way of using by various social groups, and also, e.g., the prices of real estates. These and many other phenomena indicate the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the urban area. The proposed research methodology assessed specific indicators of sustainability within a range from 0 to 10 points. 5 points correspond to the general standard in the area, 0 points indicates degradation, and 10 points indicate the highest contribution to sustainable development. The survey results are reflected in the overall sustainability index and in the residents’ satisfaction index. The paper analyses the residential structures in the Central European city of Brno, Czech Republic. The case studies of the urban blocks near the city centre and of the housing estate Brno - Vinohrady are compared. The results imply that a considerable positive impact on the sustainable development of the area should be ascribed to the closed urban blocks near the city centre.

Keywords: City of Brno, closed urban block, open housing estate, urban structure

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Authors: Yuan Yan

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Interlayer interactions or hybridization in van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures of two-dimensional (2D) materials significantly influence their physical characteristics, including layer-dependent electronic and vibrational structures, magic-angle superconductivity, interlayer antiferromagnetism, and interlayer excitons. These interactions are sensitive to a set of interdependent and externally tunable parameters. To fully exploit the potential of these materials, it is crucial to understand the physical origins of interlayer interaction and hybridization. Traditional theories often attribute these interactions to the sharing of electrons via p orbital lone pairs or π electrons, based on the octet rule, which posits that p electrons are the primary occupants of the outermost atomic shells, except in hydrogen. However, our study challenges this prevailing belief. Through geometry-based analysis, we conducted a high-throughput screening of the Materials Project database and identified 1,623 layered materials. By examining the atomic structure and bonding characteristics of surface atoms, we demonstrate that s-orbital lone pairs can also drive interlayer interactions in two-dimensional materials. Using density functional theory, we further analyzed charge distribution and electronic localization. The crystal field and inert pair effect induce a Stark-like phenomenon, leading to energy level splitting and the formation of directional electron clouds. This allows these electrons to directly participate in the hybridization of interlayer wavefunctions without forming chemical bonds. it findings expand the understanding of interlayer interactions, revealing new mechanisms that govern these properties and providing a theoretical foundation for manipulating interlayer phenomena in 2D materials.

Keywords: interlayer interaction, nanomaterials, 2D materials, van der waals, heterostructures

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Authors: A. Bouhmouche, I. Rhrissi, A. Jabar, R. Moubah

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Quantum spin liquids (QSLs), known for their competing interactions that prevent conventional ordering, exhibit emergent phenomena and exotic properties resulting from quantum correlations. Despite these recent advancements in QSLs, a significant portion of the optical and thermodynamic properties in the Kagome lattice remains unknown. In addition, the thermodynamic phenomenology of NaRuO₂ bears a resemblance to that of highly frustrated magnets. Here, we employed ab-initio calculations to explore the electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties of NaRuO₂, a new QSL candidate. NaRuO₂ was identified as a semiconductor with a small bandgap energy of 0.69 eV. Our results reveal huge anisotropic optical properties, in which a distinct refractive index within the ab-plane indicating an impressive birefringent character of the NaRuO₂ system and a significant enhancement of the optical absorption coefficient and optical conductivity in the in-plane with respect to the c-axis. The investigation also examines the electronic anisotropy of the gap energy; by applying strain, the gap energy displays significant variations in the ab-plane compared to the out-of-plane direction. Conversely, calculations of the thermodynamic properties reveal a low thermal conductivity (2.5-0.5 W.m-¹. K-¹) and specific heat, which suggests the existence of strong interactions among the NaRuO₂ quantum spins. The linear specific heat behavior observed in NaRuO₂ suggests the fractionalization of electrons and the presence of a spinons Fermi surface. These findings hold promising potential for future quantum applications.

Keywords: quantum spin liquids, anisotropy, hybrid-DFT, applied strain, optoelectronic and thermodynamic properties

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Authors: Berger Aida

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Social entrepreneurship has emerged as an active area of practice and research within the last three decades and has called for a focus on Social Entrepreneurship innovation. Areas such as academics, practitioners , institutions or governments have placed Social Entrepreneurship on the priority list of reflexion and action. It has been accepted that Social entrepreneurship (SE) shares large similarities with its parent, Traditional Entrepreneurship (TE). SE has grown over the past ten years exploring entrepreneurial cognition and the analysis of the ways of thinking of entrepreneurs. The research community believes that value exists in grounding entrepreneurship in neuroscience and notes that SE, like Traditional Entrepreneurship, needs to undergo efforts in clarification, definition and differentiation. Moreover, gaps in SE research call for integrative multistage and multilevel framework for further research. The cognitive processes underpinning entrepreneurial action are similar for SE and TE even if Social Entrepreneurship orientation shows an increased empathy value. Theoretically, there is a need to develop sound models of how to process functions and how to work more effectively as entrepreneurs and research on efficiency improvement calls for the analysis of the most common practices in entrepreneurship. Multitasking has been recognized as a daily and unavoidable habit of entrepreneurs. Hence, we believe in the need of analyzing the multiple task phenomena as a methodology for skill acquisition. We will conduct our paper including Social Entrepreneurship within the wider spectrum of Traditional Entrepreneurship, for the purpose of simplifying the neuroscientific lecture of the entrepreneurial cognition. A question to be inquired is to know if there is a way of developing multitasking habits in order to improve entrepreneurial skills such as speed of information processing , creativity and adaptability . Nevertheless, the direct link between the neuroscientific approach to multitasking and entrepreneurship effectiveness is yet to be uncovered. That is why an extensive Literature Review on Multitasking is a propos.

Keywords: cognitive, entrepreneurial, empathy, multitasking

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Authors: Ali Bahri Lubis

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Tryptophan oxidation by Heme-dioxygenase enzyme is the initial rate-limiting step in the kynurenine pathway, which leads to the formation of NADH and dangerous metabolites, implicating several severe diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington's Disease, poliomyelitis and cataract. This oxidation, generally, allows tryptophan to convert to N-Formylkynurenine (NFK). Observing the catalytic mechanism of Heme dioxygenase in tryptophan oxidation has been a debatably scientific interest since no one has yet proven the mechanism obviously. In this research we have attempted to prove mechanistic steps of tryptophan oxidation via human indoleamine dioxygenase (h-IDO) utilising various substrates: L-tryptophan, L-tryptophan (indole-ring-2-¹³C), L-fully-labelled¹³C-tryptophan, L-N-methyl-tryptophan, L-tryptophanol and 2-amino-3-(benzo(b)thiophene-3-yl) propanoic acid. All enzyme assay experiments were measured using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, LC-MS, 1H-NMR and HSQC. We also successfully synthesised enzyme products as our control in NMR measurements. The result exhibited that all substrates produced N-formyl kynurenine (NFK), and a side, the minor product of hydroxypyrrolloindoleamine carboxylic acid (HPIC) in cis and trans isomer, except 1-methyl tryptophan only generating cis HPIC. Interestingly, L- tryptophanol was oxidised to form HPIC derivative as a major product and 5-hydroxy tryptophan was converted to NFK derivative instead without any HPIC derivative. The bizarre result of oxidation underwent in 2-amino-3-(benzo(b)thiophene-3-yl) propanoic acid, which produced epoxide cyclic. Those phenomena have been explainable in our research based on the proposed mechanism of how tryptophan is oxidised by human indoleamine dioxygenase.

Keywords: tryptophan oxidation, heme-dioxygenases, human indoleamine dioxygenases, N-formylkynurenine, hydroxypyrroloindoleamine carboxylic acid

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Authors: Hawa Khan

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Autism is a complex disorder related to abnormalities in the development of brain structure and neurological function and a new phenomenon which is epidemically on the increase. The Muslim community, with its profound commitment to the all-encompassing Islamic precedence, views all phenomena in the light of religious imperatives. How autism is understood and treated in these communities is key to successful inclusive services. Moreover, parents mentioned their Islamic faith as a coping mechanism for the challenges they faced while caring for their child. This study utilises interpretative phenomenology analysis as a methodology that seeks to interpret the meaning the participants make of their experiences, which extends descriptive analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 family units that included fathers, mothers, grandparents, and siblings. In the preliminary stage, this study found families give high importance of accessible Islamic education for their child and questioning the accountability of the child who might not be able to follow the Islamic way of life entirely or understand the concept of Allah. Moreover, the families expressed their beliefs in traditional and religious treatment as an effective way to treat and cure autism. This poses a major barrier between families seeking support and professionals providing services. Consequentially, it can also result in a low uptake of mainstream services from the Muslim community. Exploring the lived experiences of parents from the Muslim community and how ASD is conceptualised in this community could have implications for improved and effective home, community, and service collaboration.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, Islamic education, religious beliefs, mainstream services

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Authors: Claudius Peter Van Wyk

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Given the increasingly manifest phenomena, as described in complexity theory, of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), Taleb's notion of 'antifragility, has a significant contribution to make to positive psychology applied to wellbeing. Antifragility is argued to be fundamentally different from the concepts of resiliency; as the ability to recover from failure, and robustness; as the ability to resist failure. Rather it describes the capacity to reorganise in the face of stress in such a way as to cope more effectively with systemic challenges. The concept, which has been applied in disciplines ranging from physics, molecular biology, planning, engineering, and computer science, can now be considered for its application in individual human and social wellbeing. There are strong correlations to Antonovsky's model of 'salutogenesis' in which an attitude and competencies are developed of transforming burdening factors into greater resourcefulness. We demonstrate, from the perspective of neuroscience, how technology measuring nervous system coherence can be coupled to acquired psychodynamic approaches to not only identify contextual stressors, utilise biofeedback instruments for facilitating greater coherence, but apply these insights to specific life stressors that compromise well-being. Employing an on-going case study with BMW South Africa, the neurological mapping is demonstrated together with 'reframing' and emotional anchoring techniques from neurolinguistic programming. The argument is contextualised in the discipline of psychoneuroimmunology which describes the stress pathways from the CNS and endocrine systems and their impact on immune function and the capacity to restore homeostasis.

Keywords: antifragility, complexity, neuroscience, psychoneuroimmunology, salutogenesis, volatility

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Authors: Argyris Karapetsas, Maria Bampou, Andriani Mitropoulou

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The aim of the present work is to study the role of brain function in social awareness processing. Mind controls all the psychosomatic functions. Mind’s functioning enables individual not only to recognize one's own self and propositional attitudes, but also to assign such attitudes to other individuals, and to consider such observed mental states in the elucidation of behavior. Participants and Methods: Twenty (n=20) undergraduate students (mean age 18 years old) were involved in this study. Students participated in a clinical assessment, being conducted in Laboratory of Neuropsychology, at University of Thessaly, in Volos, Greece. Assessment included both electrophysiological (i.e.Event Related Potentials (ERPs) esp.P300 waveform) and neuropsychological tests (Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) and Sally-Anne test). Results: Initial assessment’s results confirmed statistically significant differences between the males and females, as well as in score performance to the tests applied. Strong correlations emerged between prefrontal lobe functioning, RPM, Sally-Anne test and P300 latencies. Also, significant dysfunction of mind has been found, regarding its three dimensions (straight, circular and helical). At the end of the assessment, students received consultation and appropriate guidelines in order to improve their intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Conclusions: Mind and social awareness phenomena play a vital role in human development and may act as determinants of the quality of one’s own life. Meanwhile, brain function is highly correlated with social awareness and it seems that different set of brain structures are involved in social behavior.

Keywords: brain activity, emotions, ERP's, social awareness

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Authors: Francesco Scarpati

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Because of their long history, ranging from ancient times to the present day, European cities feature many historical layers, whose single identities are represented by traces surviving in the urban design. However, urban transformations, in particular, the ones that have been produced by the property speculation phenomena of the 20th century, often compromised the readability of these traces, resulting in a loss of the historical identities of the single layers. The purpose of this research is, therefore, a reflection on the theme of the reenactment of the historical memory in the stratified European contexts and on how contemporary architecture can help to reveal past signs of the cities. The research work starts from an analysis of a series of emblematic examples that have already provided an original solution to the described problem, going from the architectural detail scale to the urban and landscape scale. The results of these analyses are then applied to the case study of the city of Naples, as an emblematic example of a stratified city, with an ancient Greek origin; a city where it is possible to read most of the traces of its transformations. Particular consideration is given to the trace of the medieval walls of the city, which a long time ago clearly divided the city itself from the outer fields, and that is no longer readable at the current time. Finally, solutions and methods of intervention are proposed to ensure that the trace of the walls, read as a boundary, can be revealed through the contemporary project.

Keywords: contemporary project, historic memory, historic urban contexts, medieval walls, naples, stratified cities, urban traces

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Authors: Bernat-Carles Serdà Ferrer, Arantza Del Valle Gómez

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The Quality of Life (QoL) paradigm is multidimensional, dynamic and modular and its definition differs across the cancer continuum. The challenge in the interpretation of QoL data in clinical research is that QoL is influenced by psychological phenomena such as adaptation to illness. This research aims to obtain a valid and sensitive assessment of QoL change over the continuum disease, and to evaluate a rehabilitation programme aimed at inverting the observed decrease in QoL when patients return to daily living activities. The sample comprised 66 men. Patients were first assessed to establish a baseline (P1-diagnosis). This was followed by a post-test (P2-discharge) and a then-test measurement (P3-retrospective evaluation) and after returning home patients were randomized in experimental and control groups. The experimental group attended a rehabilitation programme over 24 weeks (P4). Results show that from baseline to post-test, QoL decreased significantly. The recalibration then-test confirmed a low QoL in all periods evaluated. Significant differences between the experimental and control groups prove the positive effect of the Exercise Rehabilitation Programme (ERP) on QoL. Understanding the real dynamic of QoL over time would help to adapt rehabilitation programmes by improving sensitivity and efficacy and provide professionals with a more accurate perception of the impact of treatment and side effects on patients’ QoL. Our results underline the importance of changing the approach adopted by health professionals towards one of watchful waiting on patients’ QoL until their complete recovery in daily life.

Keywords: exercise, prostate cancer, quality of life, rehabilitation programme, response shift

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Authors: Vincent Iacobellis, Kamran Behdinan

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A finite element cohesive zone model is used to predict the temperature dependent material properties of a polyimide matrix composite with unidirectional carbon fiber arrangement. The cohesive zone parameters have been obtained from previous research involving an atomistic-to-continuum multiscale simulation of the fiber-matrix interface using the bridging cell multiscale method. The goal of the research was to both investigate the effect of temperature change on the composite behavior with respect to transverse loading as well as the validate the use of cohesive parameters obtained from atomistic-to-continuum multiscale modeling to predict fiber-matrix interfacial cracking. From the multiscale model cohesive zone parameters (i.e. maximum traction and energy of separation) were obtained by modeling the interface between the coarse-grained polyimide matrix and graphite based carbon fiber. The cohesive parameters from this simulation were used in a cohesive zone model of the composite microstructure in order to predict the properties of the macroscale composite with respect to changes in temperature ranging from 21 ˚C to 316 ˚C. Good agreement was found between the microscale RUC model and experimental results for stress-strain response, stiffness, and material strength at low and high temperatures. Examination of the deformation of the composite through localized crack initiation at the fiber-matrix interface also agreed with experimental observations of similar phenomena. Overall, the cohesive zone model was shown to be both effective at modeling the composite properties with respect to transverse loading as well as validated the use of cohesive zone parameters obtained from the multiscale simulation.

Keywords: cohesive zone model, fiber-matrix interface, microscale damage, multiscale modeling

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Authors: Premjit K. Sanjram, Gagan Jakhotiya, Apoorv Goyal, Shanu Shukla

Abstract:

In psychological research, laboratory experiments often face the trade-off issue between experimental control and mundane realism. With the advent of Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET), this issue seems to be at bay. However there is a growing challenge within the IVET itself to design and develop system or software that captures the psychological phenomenon of everyday lives. One such phenomena that is of growing interest is ‘media-multitasking’ To aid laboratory researches in media-multitasking this paper introduces Query Task Modulator (QTM), a computerized experimentation system to study media-multitasking behavior in a controlled laboratory environment. The system provides a computerized platform in conducting an experiment for experimenters to study media-multitasking in which participants will be involved in a query task. The system has Instant Messaging, E-mail, and Voice Call features. The answers to queries are provided on the left hand side information panel where participants have to search for it and feed the information in the respective communication media blocks as fast as possible. On the whole the system will collect multitasking behavioral data. To analyze performance there is a separate output table that records the reaction times and responses of the participants individually. Information panel and all the media blocks will appear on a single window in order to ensure multi-modality feature in media-multitasking and equal emphasis on all the tasks (thus avoiding prioritization to a particular task). The paper discusses the development of QTM in the light of current techniques of studying media-multitasking.

Keywords: experimentation system, human performance, media-multitasking, query-task

Procedia PDF Downloads 558

Authors: Chen Chou, Feng-Tyan Lin

Abstract:

Big Data has been attracted a lot of attentions in many fields for analyzing research issues based on a large number of maternal data. Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is one of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications in Taiwan, used to record starting point, end point, distance and travel time of vehicle on the national freeway. This study, taking advantage of ETC big data, combined with urban planning theory, attempts to explore various phenomena of inter-city transportation activities. ETC, one of government's open data, is numerous, complete and quick-update. One may recall that living area has been delimited with location, population, area and subjective consciousness. However, these factors cannot appropriately reflect what people’s movement path is in daily life. In this study, the concept of "Living Area" is replaced by "Influence Range" to show dynamic and variation with time and purposes of activities. This study uses data mining with Python and Excel, and visualizes the number of trips with GIS to explore influence range of Tainan city and the purpose of trips, and discuss living area delimited in current. It dialogues between the concepts of "Central Place Theory" and "Living Area", presents the new point of view, integrates the application of big data, urban planning and transportation. The finding will be valuable for resource allocation and land apportionment of spatial planning.

Keywords: Big Data, ITS, influence range, living area, central place theory, visualization

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Authors: Jakub Czyżycki, Paweł Twardowski

Abstract:

Thin-walled components made of aluminum alloys are increasingly found in many fields of industry, and they dominate the aerospace industry. The machining of thinwalled structures encounters many difficulties related to the high susceptibility of the workpiece, which causes vibrations including the most unfavorable ones called chatter. The effect of these phenomena is the difficulty in obtaining the required geometric dimensions and surface quality. The purpose of this study is to analyze vibrations arising during machining of thin-walled workpieces made of aluminum alloy EN AW-7075. Samples representing actual thin-walled workpieces were examined in a different range of dimensions characterizing thin-walled workpieces. The tests were carried out in HSM high-speed machining (cutting speed vc = 1400 m/min) using a monolithic solid carbide endmill. Measurement of vibration was realized using a singlecomponent piezoelectric accelerometer 4508C from Brüel&Kjær which was mounted directly on the sample before machining, the measurement was made in the normal feed direction AfN. In addition, the natural frequency of the tested thin-walled components was investigated using a laser vibrometer for an broader analysis of the tested samples. The effect of vibrations on machining accuracy was presented in the form of surface images taken with an optical measuring device from Alicona. A classification of the vibrations produced during the test was carried out, and were analyzed in both the time and frequency domains. Observed significant influence of the thickness of the thin-walled component on the course of vibrations during machining.

Keywords: high-speed machining, thin-walled elements, thin-walled components, milling, vibrations

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Ricky Saputra, Rashmi Walvekar, Mohammad Khalid, Kaveh Shahbaz, Suganti Ramarad

Abstract:

This particular study of interest aims to study the effect of coupling ultrasonic treatment with eutectic solvents in devulcanization process of waste rubber tyre. Specifically, three different types of Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) were utilized, namely ChCl:Urea (1:2), ChCl:ZnCl₂ (1:2) and ZnCl₂:urea (2:7) in which their physicochemical properties were analysed and proven to have permissible water content that is less than 3.0 wt%, degradation temperature below 200ᵒC and freezing point below 60ᵒC. The mass ratio of rubber to DES was varied from 1:20-1:40, sonicated for 1 hour at 37 kHz and heated at variable time of 5-30 min at 180ᵒC. Energy dispersive x-rays (EDX) results revealed that the first two DESs give the highest degree of sulphur removal at 74.44 and 76.69% respectively with optimum heating time at 15 minutes whereby if prolonged, reformation of crosslink network would be experienced. Such is supported by the evidence shown by both FTIR and FESEM results where di-sulfide peak reappears at 30 minutes and morphological structures from 15 to 30 minutes change from smooth with high voidage to rigid with low voidage respectively. Furthermore, TGA curve reveals similar phenomena whereby at 15 minutes thermal decomposition temperature is at the lowest due to the decrease of molecular weight as a result of sulphur removal but increases back at 30 minutes. Type of bond change was also analysed whereby it was found that only di-sulphide bond was cleaved and which indicates partial-devulcanization. Overall, the results show that DES has a great potential to be used as devulcanizing solvent.

Keywords: crosslink network, devulcanization, eutectic solvents, reformation, ultrasonic

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: A. G. Miah, U. Salma, K. Schellander

Abstract:

Relaxin was first described in 1926 by Frederick Hisaw. Previously it was considered as only the hormone of pregnant mammals due to its important roles in pregnancy and parturition. From the last decade, the physiological role of relaxin in male reproduction has been given experimental attention, and the results have made it clear that relaxin can no longer be considered strictly as only the hormone of female reproduction. The accessory glands (specially, the prostate glands) of the male reproductive system are the source of seminal relaxin, which is secreted into the seminal plasma and saturated with spermatozoa just after ejaculation. Several studies have reported that relaxin has important roles in improving motility in human sperm. Thereafter, the growing interest on relaxin has intensified efforts to investigate the role of relaxin in other sperm physiological phenomena like, capacitation, acrosome reaction, and their mediating factors associated with successful fertilization. Therefore, this review aims to provide up-to-date information about the physiological roles of relaxin in sperm motility, capacitation, acrosome reaction, and their mediating factors, such as, utilization of glucose, cholesterol efflux, Ca2+-influx, intracellular cAMP and protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Some studies have shown relaxin to increase the percentage of progressive motility and induce capacitation and acrosome reaction through increasing the utilization of glucose and mediating the cholesterol efflux, Ca2+-influx, intracellular cAMP and protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Thus, the review suggests that the supplementation of relaxin into the capacitating medium may contribute the possible beneficial roles in fresh and cryopreserved spermatozoal prefertilization events.

Keywords: relaxin, physiological roles, prefertilizing activities, spermatozoa

Procedia PDF Downloads 569

Authors: Walid Tawfik

Abstract:

The interaction of high intensity ultrashort laser pulses with plasma generates many significant applications, including soft x-ray lasers, time-resolved laser induced plasma spectroscopy LIPS, and laser-driven accelerators. The development in producing of femtosecond down to ten femtosecond optical pulses has facilitates scientists with a vital tool in a variety of ultrashort phenomena, such as high field physics, femtochemistry and high harmonic generation HHG. In this research, we generate a two-octave-wide ultrashort supercontinuum pulses with an optical spectrum extending from 3.5 eV (ultraviolet) to 1.3 eV (near-infrared) using a capillary fiber filled with neon gas. These pulses are formed according to nonlinear self-phase modulation in the neon gas as a nonlinear medium. The investigations of the created pulses were made using spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction (SPIDER). A complete description of the output pulses was considered. The observed characterization of the produced pulses includes the beam profile, the pulse width, and the spectral bandwidth. After reaching optimization conditions, the intensity of the reconstructed pulse autocorrelation function was applied for the shorts pulse duration to achieve transform limited ultrashort pulses with durations below 6-fs energies up to 600μJ. Moreover, the effect of neon pressure variation on the pulse width was examined. The nonlinear self-phase modulation realized to be increased with the pressure of the neon gas. The observed results may lead to an advanced method to control and monitor ultrashort transit interaction in femtochemistry.

Keywords: supercontinuum, ultrafast, SPIDER, ultra-broadband

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: Omid Tavasoli, Mahmoud Ghazavi

Abstract:

A numerical analysis of drivability of piles in different geometry is presented. In this paper, a three-dimensional finite difference analysis for plastic point extension and soil compaction in the effect of pile driving is analyzed. Four pile configurations such as cylindrical pile, fully tapered pile, T-C pile consists of a top tapered segment and a lower cylindrical segment and C-T pile has a top cylindrical part followed by a tapered part are investigated. All piles which driven up to a total penetration depth of 16 m have the same length with equivalent surface area and approximately with identical material volumes. An idealization for pile-soil system in pile driving is considered for this approach. A linear elastic material is assumed to model the vertical pile behaviors and the soil obeys the elasto-plastic constitutive low and its failure is controlled by the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. A slip which occurred at the pile-soil contact surfaces along the shaft and the toe in pile driving procedures is simulated with interface elements. All initial and boundary conditions are the same in all analyses. Quiet boundaries are used to prevent wave reflection in the lateral and vertical directions for the soil. The results obtained from numerical analyses were compared with available other numerical data and laboratory tests, indicating a satisfactory agreement. It will be shown that with increasing the angle of taper, the permanent piles toe settlement increase and therefore, the extension of plastic points increase. These are interesting phenomena in pile driving and are on the safe side for driven piles.

Keywords: pile driving, finite difference method, non-uniform piles, pile geometry, pile set, plastic points, soil compaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 486

Authors: Aymen Laadhari

Abstract:

The cardiovascular system is centered on the heart and is characterized by a very complex structure with different physical scales in space (e.g. micrometers for erythrocytes and centimeters for organs) and time (e.g. milliseconds for human brain activity and several years for development of some pathologies). The development and numerical implementation of mathematical models of the cardiovascular system is a tremendously challenging topic at the theoretical and computational levels, inducing consequently a growing interest over the past decade. The accurate computational investigations in both healthy and pathological cases of processes related to the functioning of the human cardiovascular system can be of great potential in tackling several problems of clinical relevance and in improving the diagnosis of specific diseases. In this talk, we focus on the specific task of simulating three particular phenomena related to the cardiovascular system on the macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic scales, respectively. Namely, we develop numerical methodologies tailored for the simulation of (i) the haemodynamics (i.e., fluid mechanics of blood) in the aorta and sinus of Valsalva interacting with highly deformable thin leaflets, (ii) the hyperelastic anisotropic behaviour of cardiomyocytes and the influence of calcium concentrations on the contraction of single cells, and (iii) the dynamics of red blood cells in microvasculature. For each problem, we present an appropriate fully Eulerian finite element methodology. We report several numerical examples to address in detail the relevance of the mathematical models in terms of physiological meaning and to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the numerical methods.

Keywords: finite element method, cardiovascular system, Eulerian framework, haemodynamics, heart valve, cardiomyocyte, red blood cell

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Jerzy Ejsmont, Beata Świeczko-Żurek, Grzegorz Ronowski

Abstract:

Gas cylinders in general and particularly cylinders containing acetylene constitute a great potential danger for fire and rescue services involved in salvage operations. Experiments show that gas cylinders with acetylene, oxygen, hydrogen, CNG, LPG or CO2 may blow after short exposition to heat with very destructive effect as fragments of blown cylinder may fly even several hundred meters. In the case of acetylene, the explosion may occur also several hours after the cylinder is cooled down. One of the possible neutralization procedures that in many cases may be used to prevent explosions is shooting dangerous cylinders by rifle bullets. This technique is used to neutralize acetylene cylinders in a few European countries with great success. In Poland research project 'BLOW' was launched in 2014 with the aim to investigate phenomena related to fire influence on industrial and home used cylinders and to evaluate usefulness of the shooting technique. All together over 100 gas cylinders with different gases were experimentally tested at the military blasting grounds and in shelters. During the experiments cylinder temperature and pressure were recorded. In the case of acetylene that is subjected to thermal decomposition also concentration of hydrogen was monitored. Some of the cylinders were allowed to blow and others were shot by snipers. It was observed that shooting hot cylinders has never created more dangerous situations than letting the cylinders to explode spontaneously. In a great majority of cases cylinders that were punctured by bullets released gas in a more or less violent but relatively safe way. The paper presents detailed information about experiments and presents particularities of behavior of cylinders containing different gases. Extensive research was also done in order to select bullets that may be safely and efficiently used to puncture different cylinders. The paper shows also results of those experiments as well as gives practical information related to techniques that should be used during shooting.

Keywords: fire, gas cylinders, neutralization, shooting

Procedia PDF Downloads 264