Search results for: software defined storage

Authors: Saddam Husain Dhobi, Bikrant Karki

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The main objective of this paper is save money, balance ecosystem of the terrestrial organism, control global warming, and enhancing the storage capacity of the battery with requiring weight and thinness by using Cyanobacteria in the battery. To fulfill this purpose of paper we can use different methods: Analysis, Biological, Chemistry, theoretical and Physics with some engineering design. Using this different method, we can produce the special type of battery that has the long life, high storage capacity, and clean environment, save money so on and by using the byproduct of Cyanobacteria i.e. glucose. Cyanobacteria are a special type of bacteria that produces different types of extracellular glucoses and oxygen with the help of little sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide and can survive in freshwater, marine and in the land as well. In this process, O₂ is more in the comparison to plant due to rapid growth rate of Cyanobacteria. The required materials are easily available in this process to produce glucose with the help of Cyanobacteria. Since CO₂, is greenhouse gas that causes the global warming? We can utilize this gas and save our ecological balance and the byproduct (glucose) C₆H₁₂O₆ can be utilized for raw material for the battery where as O₂ escape is utilized by living organism. The glucose produce by Cyanobateria goes on Krebs's Cycle or Citric Acid Cycle, in which glucose is complete, oxidizes and all the available energy from glucose molecule has been release in the form of electron and proton as energy. If we use a suitable anodes and cathodes, we can capture these electrons and protons to produce require electricity current with the help of byproduct of Cyanobacteria. According to "Virginia Tech Bio-battery" and "Sony" 13 enzymes and the air is used to produce nearly 24 electrons from a single glucose unit. In this output power of 0.8 mW/cm, current density of 6 mA/cm, and energy storage density of 596 Ah/kg. This last figure is impressive, at roughly 10 times the energy density of the lithium-ion batteries in your mobile devices. When we use Cyanobacteria in battery, we are able to reduce Carbon dioxide, Stop global warming, and enhancing the storage capacity of battery more than 10 times that of lithium battery, saving money, balancing ecology. In this way, we can produce energy from the Cyanobacteria and use it in battery for different benefits. In addition, due to the mass, size and easy cultivation, they are better to maintain the size of battery. Hence, we can use Cyanobacteria for the battery having suitable size, enhancing the storing capacity of battery, helping the environment, portability and so on.

Keywords: anode, byproduct, cathode, cyanobacteri, glucose, storage capacity

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Constâncio Augusto Machanguana, Luís Miguel Estevão Cristóvão

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In Mozambique, over 80% of the rural population relies on agriculture, livestock, and silviculture for their livelihoods. Unfortunately, these communities face persistent food shortages, which are exacerbated by natural disasters and post-harvest losses due to inadequate storage facilities. Addressing post-harvest loss is critical not only for ensuring food security but also for preventing financial hardships faced by farmers. The study delves into the perceptions of beneficiary communities regarding the construction of three food dryer models made from metal, wood, and clay brick. These solar dryers are part of the project titled ‘Solar Dryer Integrated with Natural Rocks as Energy Storage for Drying Fruits and Vegetables in Mozambique.’ The overarching goal is to enhance food availability beyond the typical growing season, particularly for fruits and vegetables, while simultaneously combating hunger. Given the context of climate change impacts on agriculture, this project becomes even more relevant. Structured interviews conducted with 45 members of beneficiary associations in Manica Province—primarily female heads of households—revealed that rural communities are aware of various food drying alternatives. However, reliance on traditional methods often comes at a cost: compromised product quality and reduced shelf life. To address these challenges, the project implemented energy storage solutions like rock-based thermal energy storage for food drying. This result underscores the urgent need to foster innovation and extend these sustainable practices —such as solar dryers integrated with thermal energy-storage systems made of locally abundant and affordable materials— to more local communities, especially those with significant agricultural potential within the country. By taking these actions, we can improve food security and alleviate hunger.

Keywords: solar dryer, food security, rural community, small technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 30

Authors: Vinh Duy Cao, Shima Pilehvar, Anna M. Szczotok, Anna-Lena Kjøniksen

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The total energy consumption is dramatically increasing on over the world, especially for building energy consumption where a significant proportion of energy is used for heating and cooling purposes. One of the solutions to reduce the energy consumption for the building is to improve construction techniques and enhance material technology. Recently, microcapsulated phase change materials (MPCM) with high energy storage capacity within the phase transition temperature of the materials is a potential method to conserve and save energy. A new composite materials with high energy storage capacity by mixing MPCM into concrete for passive building technology is the promising candidate to reduce the energy consumption. One of the most untilized building materials for mixing with MPCM is Portland cement concrete. However, the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to producing cement which plays the important role in the global warming is the main drawback of PCC. Accordingly, an environmentally friendly building material, geopolymer, which is synthesized by the reaction between the industrial waste material (aluminosilicate) and a strong alkali activator, is a potential materials to mixing with MPCM. Especially, the effect of MPCM on the thermal and mechanical properties of geopolymer concrete (GPC) is very limited. In this study, high thermal energy storage capacity materials were fabricated by mixing MPCM into geopolymer concrete. This article would investigate the effect of MPCM concentration on thermal and mechanical properties of GPC. The target is to balance the effect of MPCM on improving the thermal performance and maintaining the compressive strength of the geopolymer concrete at an acceptable level for building application.

Keywords: microencapsulated phase change materials, geopolymer concrete, energy storage capacity, thermal performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Sunil Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Mamta Bulla, Rita Dahiya

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Supercapacitors have emerged as a leading energy storage technology, gaining popularity in applications like digital telecommunications, memory backup, and hybrid electric vehicles. Their appeal lies in a long cycle life, high power density, and rapid recharge capabilities. These exceptional traits attract researchers aiming to develop advanced, cost-effective, and high-energy-density electrode materials for next-generation energy storage solutions. Two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures are highly attractive for fabricating nanodevices due to their high surface-to-volume ratio and good compatibility with device design. In the current study, a composite was synthesized by combining MoS2 with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) under optimal conditions and characterized using various techniques, including XRD, FTIR, SEM and XPS. The electrochemical properties of the composite material were assessed through cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charging-discharging and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The supercapacitor device demonstrated a specific capacitance of 153 F g-1 at a current density of 1 Ag-1, achieving an excellent energy density of 30.5 Wh kg-1 and a power density of 600 W kg-1. Additionally, it maintained excellent cyclic stability over 5000 cycles, establishing it as a promising candidate for efficient and durable energy storage solutions. These findings highlight the dynamic relationship between electrode materials and offer valuable insights for the development and enhancement of high-performance symmetric devices.

Keywords: 2D material, energy density, galvanostatic charge-discharge, hydrothermal reactor, specific capacitance

Procedia PDF Downloads 14

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 467

Authors: Manirath Wongsim

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Information technology management has become important for the achievement of organisations. An increase in the pace of technological change has revolutionised the way accountants perform their jobs. In response to this challenge, the identification of a new comprehensive set of information technology competencies combined with information technology skills and other skills (namely, soft skills) are necessary. Thus, this study aims to investigate IT competencies among professional accountants to enhance firm performance. This research was conducted with 42 respondents at ten organisations in Thailand. This research used qualitative, interpretive evidence.The results indicate that the factor IT competencies within the organizational issues defines19 factors. Specifically, these new factors, based on the research findings and the literature and unique to IT competences for professional accountants, include ERP software skills, BI software skills and accounting law and legal skills. The evidence in this study suggests that ERP software, spreadsheets, BI software and accounting software were ranked as much-needed skills to be acquired by accountants while communication skills were ranked as the most required skills, and delegation skills as the least required. The findings of the research’s empirical evidence suggest that organizations should understand appropriate into developing information technology related competencies for knowledge workers in general and professional accountants in particular and provide assistance in all processes of decision making.

Keywords: IT competencies, IT competencies for accountants, IT skills for accounting, soft skills for accountants

Procedia PDF Downloads 415

Authors: D. Habibinia, M. R. Feyzi

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Nowadays, specialized software is vastly used to verify the performance of an electric machine prototype by evaluating a model of the system. These models mainly consist of electrical parameters such as inductances and resistances. However, when the operating frequency of the device is above one kHz, the effect of parasitic capacitances grows significantly. In this paper, a software-based procedure is introduced to model these capacitances within the electromagnetic simulation of the device. The case study is a high-frequency high-voltage pulse transformer. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software with coupled field analysis is used in this method.

Keywords: finite element analysis, parasitic capacitance, pulse transformer, high frequency

Procedia PDF Downloads 515

Authors: Naser Valipour Motlagh, Majid Aliabadi, Elnaz Rahmani, Samira Ghorbanpour

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Strawberry is one of the most favored fruits all along the world. But due to its vulnerability to microbial contamination and short life storage, there are lots of problems in industrial production and transportation of this fruit. Therefore, lots of ideas have tried to increase the storage life of strawberries especially through proper packaging. This paper works on efficient packaging as well. The primary material used is produced through simple mixing of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and silver nanoparticles in different weight fractions of 0.5 and 1% in presence of dicumyl peroxide as a cross-linking agent. Final packages were made in a twin-screw extruder. Then, their effect on the quality maintenance of strawberry is evaluated. The SEM images of nano-silver packages show the distribution of silver nanoparticles in the packages. Total bacteria count, mold, yeast and E. coli are measured for microbial evaluation of all samples. Texture, color, appearance, odor, taste and total acceptance of various samples are evaluated by trained panelists and based on 9-point hedonic scale method. The results show a decrease in total bacteria count and mold in nano-silver packages compared to the samples packed in polyethylene packages for the same storage time. The optimum concentration of silver nanoparticles for the lowest bacteria count and mold is predicted to be around 0.5% which has attained the most acceptance from the panelist as well. Moreover, organoleptic properties of strawberry are preserved for a longer period in nano-silver packages. It can be concluded that using nano-silver particles in strawberry packages has improved the storage life and quality maintenance of the fruit.

Keywords: antimicrobial properties, polyethylene, silver nanoparticles, strawberry

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Wittaya Apai, Satippong Rattanakam, Suttinee Likhittragulrung, Nuttanai Tungmunkongvorakul, Sompetch Jaroensuk

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The objective of this study was to find some alternative ways to decrease sulfur dioxide (SO₂) residue problem and prolong storage life in fresh longan for export. Office of Agricultural Research and Development Region 1, Chiang Mai province conducted the research and development from 2016-2018. A grade longan cv. Daw fruit with panicle attached was placed in 11.5 kg commercial perforated plastic basket. They had 5 selected treatments comprising of 3 baskets as replication for each treatment, i.e. 1.5% SO₂ fumigation prior to insert SO₂-generated pads (Uvasys®) (1.5% SO₂+SO₂ pad), dipping in 5% hydrochloric acid (HCl) mixed with 1% sodium metabisulfite (SMS) for 5 min (5% HCl +1% SMS), ozone (O₃) fumigation for 1 hours (h) prior to 1.5% SO₂ fumigation (O₃ 1 h+1.5% SO₂), 1.5% SO₂ fumigation prior to O₃ fumigation for 1 h (1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h) and 1.5% SO₂ fumigation alone as commercial treatment (1.5% SO₂). They were stored at 5 ˚C, 90% relative humidity (RH) for 40-80 days. The results found that the possible treatments were 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h and 5% HCl +1% SMS respectively and prevented pericarp browning for 80 days at 5 ºC. There were no significant changes in some parameters in any treatments; 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h and 1.5% SO₂ during storage, i.e., pericarp browning, flesh discoloration, disease incidence (%) and sensory evaluation during storage. Application 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h had a tendency less both SO₂ residue in fruit and disease incidence (%) including brighter pericarp color as compared with commercial 1.5% SO₂ alone. Moreover, HCl 5%+SMS 1% showed the least SO₂ residue in whole fruit below codex tolerance at 50 mg/kg throughout period of time. The fruit treated with 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h, 1.5% SO₂, 5% HCl+1% SMS, O₃ 1 h+1.5% SO₂, and 1.5% SO₂+SO₂ pad could prolong storage life for 40, 40, 40, 30 and 30 days respectively at 5°C, 90% RH. Thus, application 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h and/or 5% HCl +1% SMS could be used for extending shelf life fresh longan exported to restricted countries due to less SO₂ residue and fruit quality was maintained as compared with the conventional method.

Keywords: longan, sulfur dioxide, ozone fumigation, sodium metabisulfite

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Mounir Baccar, Imen Jmal

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Because of the rise in energy costs, thermal storage systems designed for the heating and cooling of buildings are becoming increasingly important. Energy storage can not only reduce the time or rate mismatch between energy supply and demand but also plays an important role in energy conservation. One of the most preferable storage techniques is the Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES) by Phase Change Materials (PCM) due to its important energy storage density and isothermal storage process. This paper presents a numerical study of the solidification of a PCM (paraffin RT27) in a rectangular thermal storage exchanger for air conditioning systems taking into account the presence of natural convection. Resolution of continuity, momentum and thermal energy equations are treated by the finite volume method. The main objective of this numerical approach is to study the effect of natural convection on the PCM solidification time and the impact of fins number on heat transfer enhancement. It also aims at investigating the temporal evolution of PCM solidification, as well as the longitudinal profiles of the HTF circling in the duct. The present research undertakes the study of two cases: the first one treats the solidification of PCM in a PCM-air heat exchanger without fins, while the second focuses on the solidification of PCM in a heat exchanger of the same type with the addition of fins (3 fins, 5 fins, and 9 fins). Without fins, the stratification of the PCM from colder to hotter during the heat transfer process has been noted. This behavior prevents the formation of thermo-convective cells in PCM area and then makes transferring almost conductive. In the presence of fins, energy extraction from PCM to airflow occurs at a faster rate, which contributes to the reduction of the discharging time and the increase of the outlet air temperature (HTF). However, for a great number of fins (9 fins), the enhancement of the solidification process is not significant because of the effect of confinement of PCM liquid spaces for the development of thermo-convective flow. Hence, it can be concluded that the effect of natural convection is not very significant for a high number of fins. In the optimum case, using 3 fins, the increasing temperature of the HTF exceeds approximately 10°C during the first 30 minutes. When solidification progresses from the surfaces of the PCM-container and propagates to the central liquid phase, an insulating layer will be created in the vicinity of the container surfaces and the fins, causing a low heat exchange rate between PCM and air. As the solid PCM layer gets thicker, a progressive regression of the field of movements is induced in the liquid phase, thus leading to the inhibition of heat extraction process. After about 2 hours, 68% of the PCM became solid, and heat transfer was almost dominated by conduction mechanism.

Keywords: heat transfer enhancement, front solidification, PCM, natural convection

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Zarmina Gillani, Nuzhat Huma, Aysha Sameen, Mulazim Hussain Bukhari

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Whey is an excellent food ingredient owing to its high nutritive value and its functional properties. However, composition of whey varies depending on composition of milk, processing conditions, processing method, and its whey protein content. The aim of this study was to prepare a whey powder from raw whey and to determine the influence of different processing temperatures (160 and 180 °C) on the physicochemical, functional properties during storage of 180 days and on whey protein denaturation. Results have shown that temperature significantly (P < 0.05) affects the pH, acidity, non-protein nitrogen (NPN), protein total soluble solids, fat and lactose contents. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher foaming capacity (FC), foam stability (FS), whey protein nitrogen index (WPNI), and a lower turbidity and solubility index (SI) were observed in whey powder processed at 160 °C compared to whey powder processed at 180 °C. During storage of 180 days, slow but progressive changes were noticed on the physicochemical and functional properties of whey powder. Reverse phase-HPLC analysis revealed a significant (P < 0.05) effect of temperature on whey protein contents. Denaturation of β-Lactoglobulin is followed by α-lacalbumin, casein glycomacropeptide (CMP/GMP), and bovine serum albumin (BSA).

Keywords: whey powder, temperature, denaturation, reverse phase, HPLC

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Ivan Stanev, Maria Koleva

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Described are challenges to the Bulgarian e-Customs (BeC) related to low level of interoperability and standardization, inefficient use of available infrastructure, lack of centralized identification and authorization, extremely low level of software process automation, and insufficient quality of data stored in official registers. The technical requirements for BeC are prepared with a focus on domain independent common platform, specialized customs and excise components, high scalability, flexibility, and reusability. The Knowledge Based Automated Software Engineering (KBASE) Common Platform for Automated Programming (CPAP) is selected as an instrument covering BeC requirements for standardization, programming automation, knowledge interpretation and cloud computing. BeC stage 3 results are presented and analyzed. BeC.S3 development trends are identified.

Keywords: service oriented architecture, cloud computing, knowledge based automated software engineering, common platform for automated programming, e-customs

Procedia PDF Downloads 373

Authors: Anton Hristozov, Eric Matson, Eric Dietz, Marcus Rogers

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Components are heavily used in many software systems, including robotics systems. The growth of sophistication and diversity of new capabilities for robotic systems presents new challenges to their architectures. Their complexity is growing exponentially with the advent of AI, smart sensors, and the complex tasks they have to accomplish. Such complexity requires a more rigorous approach to the creation, use, and interoperability of software components. The issue is exacerbated because robotic systems are becoming more and more reliant on third-party components for certain functions. In order to achieve this kind of interoperability, including dynamic component replacement, we need a way to standardize their interfaces. A formal approach is desperately needed to specify what an interface of a robotic software component should contain. This study performs an analysis of the issue and presents a universal and generic approach to standardizing component interfaces for robotic systems. Our approach is inspired by well-established robotic architectures such as ROS, PX4, and Ardupilot. The study is also applicable to other software systems that share similar characteristics with robotic systems. We consider the use of JSON or Domain Specific Languages (DSL) development with tools such as Antlr and automatic code and configuration file generation for frameworks such as ROS and PX4. A case study with ROS2 is presented as a proof of concept for the proposed methodology.

Keywords: CPS, robots, software architecture, interface, ROS, autopilot

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Ivana Cestar, Ivica Stančerić, Saša Ahac, Vesna Dragčević, Tamara Džambas

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On special paved areas, such as road intersections, vehicles are usually moving through horizontal curves with smaller radii and occupy considerably greater area compared to open road segments. Planning procedure of these areas is mainly an iterative process that consists of designing project elements, assembling those elements to a design project, and analyzing swept paths for the design vehicle. If applied elements do not fulfill the swept path requirements for the design vehicle, the process must be carried out again. Application of specialized computer software for swept path analysis significantly facilitates planning procedure of special paved areas. There are various software of this kind available on the global market, and each of them has different specifications. In this paper, comparison of two software commonly used in Croatia (Auto TURN and Vehicle Tracking) is presented, their advantages and disadvantages are described, and their applicability on a particular paved area is discussed. In order to reveal which one of the analyszed software is more favorable in terms of swept paths widths, which one includes input parameters that are more relevant for this kind of analysis, and which one is more suitable for the application on a certain special paved area, the analysis shown in this paper was conducted on a number of different intersection types.

Keywords: software comparison, special paved areas, swept path analysis, swept path input parameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Eisa Aliagahei

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Today, the use of geosynthetic materials in geotechnical activities is increasing significantly. One of the main uses of these materials is to increase the compressive strength of clay reinforced by geotextile layers. In the present study, the effect of clay reinforcement by geotextile layers in increasing the compressive strength of clay has been investigated using modeling in ABAQUS 6.11.3 software. For this purpose, the modified Drager Prager model has been chosen to simulate the stress-strain behavior of soil layers and the linear elastic model for the geotextile layer. Unreinforced samples and reinforced samples are modeled by geotextile layers (1, 2 and 3 geotextile layers) by software. In order to validate the results, an article in the same field was used and the numerical modeling results were calibrated with the laboratory results. Based on the obtained results, the software has a suitable capability for modeling and the results of the numerical model overlap with the laboratory results to a very acceptable extent, by increasing the number of geotextile layers, the error between the results of the laboratory sample and the software model increases. The highest amount of error is related to the sample reinforced with three layers of geotextile and is 7.3%.

Keywords: Abaqus, cap model, clay, geotextile layer, reinforced soil

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Ashana Gupta

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Aim: In the UK, Botulinum Toxin (botox) is authorised for treating chronic myofascial pain secondary to masseter muscle hypertrophy (Fedorowicz et al. 2013). This audit aimed to ensure the Maxillofacial Unit is meeting the trust guidelines for the safe storage and disposal of botox. Method: The trust upholds a strict policy for botox handling. The audit was designed to optimise several elements including Staff awareness of regulations around botox handling A questionnaire was designed to test knowledge of advised storage temperatures, reporting of adverse events, disposal procedures and regulatory authorities. Steps taken to safely delivertoxin and eliminate unused toxin. A checklist was completed. These include marks for storagetemperature, identification checks, disposal of sharps, deactivation of toxin, and disposal. Results: All staff correctly stated storage requirements for toxin. 75% staff (n=8) were unsure about reporting and regulations. Whilst all staff knew how to dispose of vials, 0% staff showed awareness for the crucial step of deactivating toxin. All checklists (n=20) scored 100% for adequate storage, ID checks, and toxin disposal. However, there were no steps taken to deactivate toxin in any cases. Staff training took place with revision to clinical protocols. In line with Trust guidelines, an additional clinical step has been introduced including use of 0.5% sodium hypochlorite to deactivate botox. Conclusion: Deactivation is crucial to ensure residual toxin is not misused. There are cases of stolen botox within South-Tees Hospital (Woodcock, 2014). This audit was successful in increasing compliance to safe handling and disposal of botox by 100% and ensured our hospitalmeets Trust guidance.

Keywords: botulinum toxin, aesthetics, handling, disposal

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Steven Arcidiacono, Robert Stote, Erin Anderson, Molly Richards

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There are numerous standard test methods for antimicrobial textiles that measure activity against specific microorganisms. However, many times these results do not translate to the performance of treated textiles when worn by individuals. Standard test methods apply a single target organism grown under optimal conditions to a textile, then recover the organism to quantitate and determine activity; this does not reflect the actual performance environment that consists of polymicrobial communities in less than optimal conditions or interaction of the textile with the skin substrate. Here we propose the development of in vitro skin model method to bridge the gap between lab testing and wear studies. The model will consist of a defined polymicrobial community of 5-7 commensal microbes simulating the skin microbiome, seeded onto a solid tissue platform to represent the skin. The protocol would entail adding a non-commensal test organism of interest to the defined community and applying a textile sample to the solid substrate. Following incubation, the textile would be removed and the organisms recovered, which would then be quantitated to determine antimicrobial activity. Important parameters to consider include identification and assembly of the defined polymicrobial community, growth conditions to allow the establishment of a stable community, and choice of skin surrogate. This model could answer the following questions: 1) is the treated textile effective against the target organism? 2) How is the defined community affected? And 3) does the textile cause unwanted effects toward the skin simulant? The proposed model would determine activity under conditions comparable to the intended application and provide expanded knowledge relative to current test methods.

Keywords: antimicrobial textiles, defined polymicrobial community, in vitro skin model, skin microbiome

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Peter Sabev, Katalina Grigorova

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Test automation allows performing difficult and time consuming manual software testing tasks efficiently, quickly and repeatedly. However, development and maintenance of automated tests is expensive, so it needs a proper prioritization what to automate first. This paper describes a simple yet efficient approach for such prioritization of test cases based on the effort needed for both manual execution and software test automation. The suggested approach is very flexible because it allows working with a variety of assessment methods, and adding or removing new candidates at any time. The theoretical ideas presented in this article have been successfully applied in real world situations in several software companies by the authors and their colleagues including testing of real estate websites, cryptographic and authentication solutions, OSGi-based middleware framework that has been applied in various systems for smart homes, connected cars, production plants, sensors, home appliances, car head units and engine control units (ECU), vending machines, medical devices, industry equipment and other devices that either contain or are connected to an embedded service gateway.

Keywords: automated testing, manual testing, test automation, software testing, test prioritization

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Vladimíra Kňazovická, Mária Dovičičová, Miroslava Kačániová, Margita Čanigová

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The aim of the study was to test the storage of bee pollen at room temperature and in cold store, and to describe microorganisms originated from it. Fresh bee pollen originating in West Slovakia was collected in May 2010. It was tested for presence of particular microbial groups using dilution plating method, and divided into two parts with different storage (in cold store and at room temperature). Microbial analyses of pollen were repeated after one year of storage. Several bacterial strains were isolated and tested using Gram staining, for catalase and fructose-6-phosphate-phosphoketolase presence, and by rapid ID 32A (BioMérieux, France). Micromycetes were identified at genus level. Fresh pollen contained coliform bacteria, which were not detected after one year of storage in both ways. Total plate count (TPC) of aerobes and anaerobes and of yeasts in fresh bee pollen exceeded 5.00 log CFU/g. TPC of aerobes and anaerobes decreased below 2.00 log CFU/g after one year of storage in both ways. Count of yeasts decreased to 2.32 log CFU/g (at room temperature) and to 3.66 log CFU/g (in cold store). Microscopic filamentous fungi decreased from 3.41 log CFU/g (fresh bee pollen) to 1.13 log CFU/g (at room temperature) and to 1.89 log CFU/g (in cold store). In fresh bee pollen, 12 genera of micromycetes were identified in the following order according to their relative density: Penicillium > Mucor > Absidia > Cladosporium, Fusarium > Alternaria > Eurotium > Aspergillus, Rhizopus > Emericella > Arthrinium and Mycelium sterilium. After one year at room temperature, only three genera were detected in bee pollen (Penicillium > Aspergillus, Mucor) and after one year in cold store, seven genera were detected (Mucor > Penicillium, Emericella > Aspergillus, Absidia > Arthrinium, Eurotium). From the plates designated for anaerobes, eight colonies originating in fresh bee pollen were isolated. Among them, a single yeast isolate occurred. Other isolates were G+ bacteria, with a total of five rod shaped. In three out of these five, catalase was absent and fructose-6-phosphate-phosphoketolase was present. Bacterial isolates originating in fresh pollen belonged probably to genus Bifidobacterium or relative genera, but their identity was not confirmed unequivocally. In general, cold conditions are suitable for maintaining the natural properties of foodstuffs for a longer time. Slight decrease of microscopic fungal number and diversity was recorded in cold temperatures compared with storage at room temperature.

Keywords: bacteria, bee product, microscopic fungi, biosystems engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Mahawish Masud, Muhammad Iqbal, M. U. Khan, Farooque Azam

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Manual writing of test cases from functional requirements is a time-consuming task. Such test cases are not only difficult to write but are also challenging to maintain. Test cases can be drawn from the functional requirements that are expressed in natural language. However, manual test case generation is inefficient and subject to errors.  In this paper, we have presented a systematic procedure that could automatically derive test cases from user stories. The user stories are specified in a restricted natural language using a well-defined template.  We have also presented a detailed methodology for writing our test ready user stories. Our tool “Test-o-Matic” automatically generates the test cases by processing the restricted user stories. The generated test cases are executed by using open source Selenium IDE.  We evaluate our approach on a case study, which is an open source web based application. Effectiveness of our approach is evaluated by seeding faults in the open source case study using known mutation operators.  Results show that the test case generation from restricted user stories is a viable approach for automated testing of web applications.

Keywords: automated testing, natural language, restricted user story modeling, software engineering, software testing, test case specification, transformation and automation, user story, web application testing

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: K. Premakumar, R. G. Lakmali, S. M. A. C. U. Senarathna

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In the present world, production and consumption of fruit and vegetable beverages have increased owing to the healthy life style of the people. Therefore, a study was conducted to develop composite vegetable squash by incorporating nutritional, medicinal and organoleptic properties of tomato, pumpkin and ginger. Considering the finding of several preliminary studies, five formulations in different combinations tomato pumpkin were taken and their physico-chemical parameters such as pH, TSS, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid content and total sugar and organoleptic parameters such as colour, aroma, taste, nature, overall acceptability were analyzed. Then the best sample was improved by using 1 % ginger (50% tomato+ 50% pumpkin+ 1% ginger). Best three formulations were selected for storage studied. The formulations were stored at 30 °C room temperature and 70-75% of RH for 12 weeks. Physicochemical parameters , organoleptic and microbial activity (total plate count, yeast and mold, E-coil) were analyzed during storage periods and protein content, fat content, ash were also analysed%.The study on the comparison of physico-chemical and sensory qualities of stored Squashes was done up to 12 weeks storage periods. The nutritional analysis of freshly prepared tomato pumpkin vegetable squash formulations showed increasing trend in titratable acidity, pH, total sugar, non -reducing sugar, total soluble solids and decreasing trend in ascorbic acid and reducing sugar with storage periods. The results of chemical analysis showed that, there were the significant different difference (p < 0.05) between tested formulations. Also, sensory analysis also showed that there were significant differences (p < 0.05) for organoleptic character characters between squash formulations. The highest overall acceptability was observed in formulation with 50% tomato+ 50% pumpkin+1% ginger and all the all the formulations were microbiologically safe for consumption. Based on the result of physico-chemical characteristics, sensory attributes and microbial test, the Composite Vegetable squash with 50% tomato+50% pumpkin+1% ginger was selected as best formulation and could be stored for 12 weeks without any significant changes in quality characteristics.

Keywords: nutritional analysis, formulations, sensory attributes, squash

Procedia PDF Downloads 199

Authors: C. Busuioc, S. I. Jinga, E. Pavel

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The continuous need of more non-volatile memories with a higher storage capacity, smaller dimensions and weight, as well as lower costs, has led to the exploration of optical lithography on active media, as well as patterned magnetic composites. In this context, optical lithography is a technique that can provide a significant decrease of the information bit size to the nanometric scale. However, there are some restrictions that arise from the need of breaking the optical diffraction limit. Major achievements have been obtained by employing a vitoceramic material as active medium and a laser beam operated at low power for the direct writing procedure. Thus, optical discs with ultra-high density were fabricated by a conventional melt-quenching method starting from analytical purity reagents. They were subsequently used for 3D recording based on their photosensitive features. Naturally, the next step consists in the elucidation of the composition and structure of the active centers, in correlation with the use of silver and rare-earth compounds for the synthesis of the optical supports. This has been accomplished by modern characterization methods, namely transmission electron microscopy coupled with selected area electron diffraction, scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. The influence of laser diode parameters, silver concentration and fluorescent compounds formation on the writing process and final material properties was investigated. The results indicate performances in terms of capacity with two order of magnitude higher than other reported information storage systems. Moreover, the fluorescent photosensitive vitroceramics may be integrated in other applications which appeal to nanofabrication as the driving force in electronics and photonics fields.

Keywords: data storage, fluorescent compounds, laser writing, vitroceramics

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Authors: Manel Brichni, Abdelhak-Djamel Seriai

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Systems are increasingly complex. To reduce their complexity, an abstract view of the system can simplify its development. To overcome this problem, we propose a method to decompose systems into subsystems while reducing their coupling. These subsystems represent components. Consisting of an existing object-oriented systems, the main idea of our approach is based on modelling as graphs all entities of an oriented object source code. Such modelling is easy to handle, so we can apply restructuring algorithms based on graph metrics. The particularity of our approach consists in integrating in addition to standard metrics, such as coupling and cohesion, some graph metrics giving more precision during the components identication. To treat this problem, we relied on the ROMANTIC approach that proposed a component-based software architecture recovery from an object oriented system.

Keywords: software reengineering, software component and interfaces, metrics, graphs

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Authors: Stephanie Newman

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Niemann-Pick Type C disease is a rare, usually fatal lysosomal storage disorder. Although clinically characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, there is also evidence of altered innate immune responses such as neuroinflammation that promote disease progression. We have initiated an investigation into whether phagocytosis, an important innate immune activity and the process by which particles are ingested is defective in NPC. Using an in vitro assay, we have shown that NPC macrophages have a deficiency in the phagocytosis of different particles. We plan to investigate the mechanistic basis for impaired phagocytosis, the contribution that this deficiency makes to disease pathology, and whether therapies that have shown in vivo benefit are able to restore phagocytic activity.

Keywords: Niemann Pick Disease C, phagocytosis, innate immunity, lysosomal storage disorder

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Kooshan Nayebzadeh, Maryam Enteshari

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In this study, the oxidative stability of soybean oil under different storage temperatures (4 and 25 ˚C) and during 6-month shelf-life was investigated by various analytical methods and headspace-liquid phase microextraction (HS-LPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Oxidation changes were monitored by analytical parameters consisted of acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), p-Anisidine value (p-AV), thiobarbituric acid value (TBA), fatty acids profile, iodine value (IV) and oxidative stability index (OSI). In addition, concentrations of hexanal and heptanal as secondary volatile oxidation compounds were determined by HS-LPME/GC-MS technique. Rate of oxidation in soybean oil which stored at 25 ˚C was so higher. The AV, p-AV, and TBA were gradually increased during 6 months, while the amount of unsaturated fatty acids, IV, and OSI decreased. Other parameters included concentrations of both hexanal and heptanal, and PV exhibited increasing trend during primitive months of storage; then, at the end of third and fourth months a sudden decrement was understood for the concentrations of hexanal and heptanal and the amount of PV, simultaneously. The latter parameters increased again until the end of shelf-time. As a result, the temperature and time were effective factors in oxidative stability of soybean oil. Also intensive correlations were found for soybean oil at 4 ˚C between AV and TBA (r2=0.96), PV and p-AV (r2=0.9), IV and TBA (-r2=0.9), and for soybean oil stored at 4 ˚C between p-AV and TBA (r2=0.99).

Keywords: headspace-liquid phase microextraction, oxidation, shelf-life, soybean oil

Procedia PDF Downloads 398

Authors: Rajeshwar S. Matche, Subhash V. Pawde, Suraj P, Sachin R. Chaudhari

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Time Temperature Indicator’s (TTI) are trending approach in a food packaging that will be insightful to have safe and hygienic food products. Currently, available TTI in the market are mostly a product specific and sometime even difficult to handle especially in supply chain as these are pre-activated and require specific storage conditions. In the present study, research focus is on the development of a cost-effective lactic acid based TTI that can work over a wide range of temperature and can be activated at time of packaging or on demand. The correlation between activation energies of colour change of the developed indicator and packed pasteurized milk spoilage with respect to time and temperature was established. Developed lactic acid based TTI strips have range of activation energy from 10.13 to 24.20 KJ/mol. We found that the developed TTI strip’s with activation energy 12.42, and 14.41KJ/mol can be correlated with spoilage activation energy of packed pasteurized milk which was 25.71 KJ/mol with factor of 2 at storage temperature 4°C. The implementation of these TTI on packed pasteurized milk allow us see visual colour change during the storage and can be fruitful to monitoring quality of the milk and understand its freshness especially in a cold supply chain, viz distributor and road vendor etc.

Keywords: pasteurised packed milk, time temperature indicator, spoilage, freshness

Procedia PDF Downloads 110

Authors: Keaghan Brown

Abstract:

The prioritization of drug resistance mutations impacting protein folding or protein-drug and protein-DNA interactions within macromolecular systems is critical to the success of treatment regimens. With a continual increase in computational tools to assess these impacts, the need for scalability and reproducibility became an essential component of computational analysis and experimental research. Here it introduce a bioinformatics pipeline that combines several structural analysis tools in a simplified workflow, by optimizing the present computational hardware and software to automatically ease the flow of data transformations. Utilizing preestablished software tools, it was possible to develop a pipeline with a set of pre-defined functions that will automate mutation introduction into the HIV-1 Integrase protein structure, calculate the gain and loss of polar interactions and calculate the change in energy of protein fold. Additionally, an automated molecular dynamics analysis was implemented which reduces the constant need for user input and output management. The resulting pipeline, Automated Mutation Introduction and Analysis (AMIA) is an open source set of scripts designed to introduce and analyse the effects of mutations on the static protein structure as well as the results of the multi-conformational states from molecular dynamic simulations. The workflow allows the user to visualize all outputs in a user friendly manner thereby successfully enabling the prioritization of variant systems for experimental validation.

Keywords: automated workflow, variant prioritization, drug resistance, HIV Integrase

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Muhammad Arsalan Khan Sherwani

Abstract:

The use of Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors (VCI) to protect Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) bottom plates against soil-side corrosion is one of the emerging corrosion prevention methods, specifically for tanks constructed on oily sand pad. Oily sand pad and the presence of air gaps underneath the bottom plates lead to severe corrosion and high metal thickness loss. In such cases, the cathodic protection cannot be fully considered as effective due to Cathodic Protection (CP) current shielding. These situations sometimes result in serious failures on multiple fronts, such as; containment losses, system shutdowns, extensive repairs, environmental impact and safety concerns in case of flammable fluids. Recently, East West Pipeline Department (EWPD) of Saudi Aramco has deployed this technology to one of the crude oil storage tanks, which showed high metal thickness loss during its out of service inspection. Soil-side corrosion rustled in major repairs of bottom plates and ultimately caused enormous unplanned activities in term of time as well as cost. This paper mainly focuses on the methodology of VCI installation, corrosion monitoring system and the expected results of protection.

Keywords: Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor, Soil Side Corrosion, External Corrosion, Above Grade Storage Tank

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: L. Ramirez, E. Guillén, J. Sánchez

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Some of the main goals about telecare such as monitoring, treatment, telediagnostic are deployed with the integration of applications with specific appliances. In order to achieve a coherent model to integrate software, hardware, and healthcare systems, different telehealth models with Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc. have been implemented, and their advantages are still under analysis. In this paper, we propose an integrated model based on IoT architecture and cloud computing telehealth center. Analytics module is presented as a solution to control an ideal diagnostic about some diseases. Specific features are then compared with the recently deployed conventional models in telemedicine. The main advantage of this model is the availability of controlling the security and privacy about patient information and the optimization on processing and acquiring clinical parameters according to technical characteristics.

Keywords: analytics, telemedicine, internet of things, cloud computing

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Huynh Tan Hoi

Abstract:

Considered as one of the hardest languages in the world, Japanese is still the language that many young people choose to learn. Today, with the development of technology, learning foreign languages in general and Japanese language, in particular, is not an impossible barrier. Learning materials are not only from paper books, songs but also through software programs of smartphones or computers. Especially, students who begin to explore effective skills to study this language need to access modern technologies to improve their learning much better. When using the software, some students may feel embarrassed and challenged, but everything would go smoothly after a few days. After completing the course, students will get more knowledge, achieve a higher knowledge such as N2 or N1 Japanese Language Proficiency Test Certificate. In this research paper, 35 students who are studying at Ho Chi Minh City FPT University were asked to complete the questionnaire at the beginning of July up to August of 2018. Through this research, we realize that with the guidance of lecturers, the necessity of using modern software and some effective methods are indispensable in term of improving quality of teaching and learning process.

Keywords: higher knowledge, Japanese, methods, software, students

Procedia PDF Downloads 225