Search results for: small object detection

Authors: N.Quaranta, M. Caligaris, R. Varoli, A. Cristobal, M. Unsen, H. López

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Corncobs are agricultural wastes and they can be used as fuel or as raw material in different industrial processes like cement manufacture, contaminant adsorption, chemical compound synthesis, etc. The aim of this work is to characterize this waste and analyze the feasibility of its use as a pore-forming material in the manufacture of lightweight ceramics for the civil construction industry. The characterization of raw materials is carried out by using various techniques: electron diffraction analysis X-ray, differential and gravimetric thermal analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, ecotoxicity evaluation, among others. The ground corncobs, particle size less than 2 mm, are mixed with clay up to 30% in volume and shaped by uniaxial pressure of 25 MPa, with 6% humidity, in moulds of 70mm x 40mm x 18mm. Then the green bodies are heat treated at 950°C for two hours following the treatment curves used in ceramic industry. The ceramic probes are characterized by several techniques: density, porosity and water absorption, permanent volumetric variation, loss on ignition, microscopies analysis, and mechanical properties. DTA-TGA analysis of corncobs shows in the range 20°-250°C a small loss in TGA curve and exothermic peaks at 250°-500°C. FTIR spectrum of the corncobs sample shows the characteristic pattern of this kind of organic matter with stretching vibration bands of adsorbed water, methyl groups, C–O and C–C bonds, and the complex form of the cellulose and hemicellulose glycosidic bonds. The obtained ceramic bodies present external good characteristics without loose edges and adequate properties for the market requirements. The porosity values of the sintered pieces are higher than those of the reference sample without waste addition. The results generally indicate that it is possible to use corncobs as porosity former in ceramic bodies without modifying the usual sintering temperatures employed in the industry.

Keywords: ceramic industry, biomass, recycling, hemicellulose glycosidic bonds

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Authors: C. G. Mendez-Garcia, E. T. Romero-Guzman, H. Hernandez-Mendoza, C. Solis, E. Chavez-Lomeli, E. Chamizo, R. Garcia-Tenorio

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Plutonium is present in different concentrations in the environment and biological samples related to nuclear weapons testing, nuclear waste recycling and accidental discharges of nuclear plants. This radioisotope is considered the most radiotoxic substance, particularly when it enters the human body through inhalation of powders insoluble or aerosols. This is the main reason of the determination of the concentration of this radioisotope in the atmosphere. Besides that, the isotopic ratio of ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu provides information about the origin of the source. PM₂.₅ sampling was carried out in the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico (MZVM) from February 18th to March 17th in 2015 on quartz filter. There have been significant developments recently due to the establishment of new methods for sample preparation and accurate measurement to detect ultra trace levels as the plutonium is found in the environment. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a technique that allows measuring levels of detection around of femtograms (10-15 g). The AMS determinations include the chemical isolation of Pu. The Pu separation involved an acidic digestion and a radiochemical purification using an anion exchange resin. Finally, the source is prepared, when Pu is pressed in the corresponding cathodes. According to the author's knowledge on these aerosols showed variations on the ²³⁵U/²³⁸U ratio of the natural value, suggesting that could be an anthropogenic source altering it. The determination of the concentration of the isotopes of Pu can be a useful tool in order the clarify this presence in the atmosphere. The first results showed a mean value of activity concentration of ²³⁹Pu of 280 nBq m⁻³ thus the ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu was 0.025 corresponding to the weapon production source; these results corroborate that there is an anthropogenic influence that is increasing the concentration of radioactive material in PM₂.₅. According to the author's knowledge in Total Suspended Particles (TSP) have been reported activity concentrations of ²³⁹⁺²⁴⁰Pu around few tens of nBq m⁻³ and 0.17 of ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu ratios. The preliminary results in MZVM show high activity concentrations of isotopes of Pu (40 and 700 nBq m⁻³) and low ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu ratio than reported. These results are in the order of the activity concentrations of Pu in weapons-grade of high purity.

Keywords: aerosols, fallout, mass spectrometry, radiochemistry, tracer, ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu ratio

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Authors: NeisaKuonuo Tungoe

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Tenyidie, also known as Angami, is spoken by the Angami tribe of Nagaland, North-East India, bordering Myanmar (Burma). It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language group, falling under the Kuki-Chin-Naga sub-family. Tenyidie studies have seen random attempts at explaining the phonemic inventory of Tenyidie. Different scholars have variously emphasized the grammar or the history of Tenyidie. Many of these claims have been stimulating, but they were often based on a small amount of merely suggestive data or on auditory perception only. The principal objective of this paper is to analyse the affricate segments of Tenyidie as an acoustic study. There are seven categories to the inventory of Tenyidie; Plosives, Nasals, Affricates, Laterals, Rhotics, Fricatives, Semi vowels and Vowels. In all, there are sixty phonemes in the inventory. As mentioned above, the only prominent readings on Tenyidie or affricates in particular are only reflected through auditory perception. As noted above, this study aims to lay out the affricate segments based only on acoustic conclusions. There are seven affricates found in Tenyidie. They are: 1) Voiceless Labiodental Affricate - / pf /, 2) Voiceless Aspirated Labiodental Affricate- / pfh /, 3) Voiceless Alveolar Affricate - / ts /, 4) Voiceless Aspirated Alveolar Affricate - / tsh /, 5) Voiced Alveolar Affricate - / dz /, 6) Voiceless Post-Alveolar Affricate / tʃ / and 7) Voiced Post- Alveolar Affricate- / dʒ /. Since the study is based on acoustic features of affricates, five informants were asked to record their voice with Tenyidie phonemes and English phonemes. Throughout the study of the recorded data, PRAAT, a scientific software program that has made itself indispensible for the analyses of speech in phonetics, have been used as the main software. This data was then used as a comparative study between Tenyidie and English affricates. Comparisons have also been drawn between this study and the work of another author who has stated that there are only six affricates in Tenyidie. The study has been quite detailed regarding the specifics of the data. Detailed accounts of the duration and acoustic cues have been noted. The data will be presented in the form of spectrograms. Since there aren’t any other acoustic related data done on Tenyidie, this study will be the first in the long line of acoustic researches on Tenyidie.

Keywords: tenyidie, affricates, praat, phonemic inventory

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Authors: F. Sahnoune

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The study focuses on the analysis of the Algerian greenhouse gase emissions. In Algeria, as in other countries, the issue of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change is the subject of great concern. As climate change is a global problem and taking into consideration the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' as mentioned in the Rio Declaration in 1992, Algeria has initiated a broad program of voluntary reduction of GHG emissions and climate change adaptation. Thus although the contribution of Algeria on global warming is minimal (less than 0.5% of global GHG emissions), the country is, because its geographical position and climatic characteristics, very vulnerable and should integrate mitigation and adaptation into its development policy. Even a small rise in temperature would lead to various socio-economic problems that hinder the development of the country. The models predict that rainfall events are less frequent but more intense, while droughts are more common and longer. The decrease of water resources, declining agricultural yields, encroaching desert, the challenge of planning and the energy consumption for air conditioning are only the initial impacts to which Algeria must find answers supportable economically and socially. The study examines to what extent, Algeria can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We present an analysis of the current situation, trends in CO2 emissions, footprint of Algeria, national climate plan and especially what will be the impact on GHG emissions of the new strategy for promoting renewable energy adopted in 2011 and expects to produce 40% of electricity needs from solar energy. The results show that in 2012 the GHG emissions totaled 153 MT CO2 eq and growing at a rate of over 3%. The Introduction of solar energy in electricity production and implementation of energy efficiency allow to reduce by 2030 more than 300 MT CO2 eq. Avenues of consideration relating to a combination of policies and improved technologies that are able to reduce CO2 emissions and mitigate the impacts caused by climate change in the medium term will also be presented.

Keywords: climate change, co2 mitigation, greenhouse gases, renewable energy, sustainable development

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Authors: Souvik Phadikar, Nidul Sinha, Rajdeep Ghosh

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In brainwaves research using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, finding the most relevant and effective feature set for identification of activities in the human brain is a big challenge till today because of the random nature of the signals. The feature extraction method is a key issue to solve this problem. Finding those features that prove to give distinctive pictures for different activities and similar for the same activities is very difficult, especially for the number of activities. The performance of a classifier accuracy depends on this quality of feature set. Further, more number of features result in high computational complexity and less number of features compromise with the lower performance. In this paper, a novel idea of the selection of optimal feature set using a heuristically optimized deep autoencoder is presented. Using various feature extraction methods, a vast number of features are extracted from the EEG signals and fed to the autoencoder deep neural network. The autoencoder encodes the input features into a small set of codes. To avoid the gradient vanish problem and normalization of the dataset, a meta-heuristic search algorithm is used to minimize the mean square error (MSE) between encoder input and decoder output. To reduce the feature set into a smaller one, 4 hidden layers are considered in the autoencoder network; hence it is called Heuristically Optimized Deep Autoencoder (HO-DAE). In this method, no features are rejected; all the features are combined into the response of responses of the hidden layer. The results reveal that higher accuracy can be achieved using optimal reduced features. The proposed HO-DAE is also compared with the regular autoencoder to test the performance of both. The performance of the proposed method is validated and compared with the other two methods recently reported in the literature, which reveals that the proposed method is far better than the other two methods in terms of classification accuracy.

Keywords: autoencoder, brainwave signal analysis, electroencephalogram, feature extraction, feature selection, optimization

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Authors: Paola Villoria Sáez, Mercedes Del Río Merino, Jaime Santa Cruz Astorqui, Antonio Rodríguez Sánchez

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The Spanish construction industry generates large volumes of waste. However, despite the legislative improvements introduced for construction and demolition waste (CDW), construction waste recycling rate remains well below other European countries and also below the target set for 2020. This situation can be due to many difficulties. i.e.: The difficulty of onsite segregation or the estimation in advance of the total amount generated. Despite these difficulties, the proper management of CDW must be one of the main aspects to be considered by the construction companies. In this sense, some large national companies are implementing Integrated Management Systems (IMS) including not only quality and safety aspects, but also environment issues. However, although this fact is a reality for large construction companies still the vast majority of companies need to adopt this trend. In short, it is common to find in small and medium enterprises a decentralized management system: A single system of quality management, another for system safety management and a third one for environmental management system (EMS). In addition, the EMSs currently used address CDW superficially and are mainly focus on other environmental concerns such as carbon emissions. Therefore, this research determines and implements a specific best practice management system for CDW based on eight procedures in a Spanish Construction company. The main advantages and drawbacks of its implementation are highlighted. Results of this study show that establishing and implementing a CDW management system in building works, improve CDW quantification as the company obtains their own CDW generation ratio. This helps construction stakeholders when developing CDW Management Plans and also helps to achieve a higher adjustment of CDW management costs. Finally, integrating this CDW system with the EMS of the company favors the cohesion of the construction process organization at all stages, establishing responsibilities in the field of waste and providing a greater control over the process.

Keywords: construction and demolition waste, waste management, best practices, waste minimization, building, quality management systems

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Authors: Sergei Voychuk

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Introduction: Adaptive response (AR) is a manifestation of radiation hormesis, which deal with the radiation resistance that may be increased with the pretreatment with small doses of radiation. In the current study, we evaluated the potency of radiofrequency EMF to induce the AR mechanisms and to increase a resistance to UV light. Methods: Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains, which were created to study induction of mutagenesis and recombination, were used in the study. The strains have mutations in rad2 and rad54 genes, responsible for DNA repair: nucleotide excision repair (PG-61), postreplication repair (PG-80) and mitotic (crossover) recombination (T2). An induction of mutation and recombination are revealed due to the formation of red colonies on agar plates. The PG-61 and T2 are UV sensitive strains, while PG-80 is sensitive to ionizing radiation. Extremely high frequency electromagnetic field (EHF-EMF) was used. The irradiation was performed in floating mode and frequency changed during exposure from 57 GHz to 62 GHz. The power of irradiation was 100 mkW, and duration of exposure was 10 and 30 min. Treatment was performed at RT and then cells were stored at 28° C during 1 h without any exposure but after that they were treated with UV light (254nm) for 20 sec (strain T2) and 120 sec (strain PG-61 and PG-80). Cell viability and quantity of red colonies were determined after 5 days of cultivation on agar plates. Results: It was determined that EHF-EMF caused 10-20% decrease of viability of T2 and PG-61 strains, while UV showed twice stronger effect (30-70%). EHF-EMF pretreatment increased T2 resistance to UV, and decreased it in PG-61. The PG-80 strain was insensitive to EHF-EMF and no AR effect was determined for this strain. It was not marked any induction of red colonies formation in T2 and PG-80 strain after EHF or UV exposure. The quantity of red colonies was 2 times more in PG-61 strain after EHF-EMF treatment and at least 300 times more after UV exposure. The pretreatment of PG-61 with EHF-EMF caused at least twice increase of viability and consequent decrease of amount of red colonies. Conclusion: EHF-EMF may induce AR in yeast cells and increase their viability under UV treatment.

Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, EHF-EMF, UV light, adaptive response

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Authors: Sami El Khatib, Agnès Leroux, Jean-Louis Merlin, François Guillemin, Marie-Ange D’Hallewin

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment modality based on the cytotoxic effect occurring on the target tissues by interaction of a photosensitizer with light in the presence of oxygen. One of the major advances in PDT can be attributed to the use of topical aminolevulinic (ALA) to induce Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) for the treatment of early stage cancers as well as diagnosis. ALA is a precursor of the heme synthesis pathway. Locally delivered to the target tissue ALA overcomes the negative feedback exerted by heme and promotes the transient formation of PpIX in situ to reach critical effective levels in cells and tissue. Whereas early steps of the heme pathway occur in the cytosol, PpIX synthesis is shown to be held in the mitochondrial membranes and PpIX fluorescence is expected to accumulate in close vicinity of the initial building site and to progressively diffuse to the neighboring cytoplasmic compartment or other lipophylic organelles. PpIX is known to be highly reactive and will be degraded when irradiated with light. PpIX photobleaching is believed to be governed by a singlet oxygen mediated mechanism in the presence of oxidized amino acids and proteins. PpIX photobleaching and subsequent spectral phototransformation were described widely in tumor cells incubated in vitro with ALA solution, or ex vivo in human and porcine mucosa superfused with hexylaminolevulinate (hALA). PpIX photobleaching was also studied in vivo, using animal models such as normal or tumor mice skin and orthotopic rat bladder model. Hexyl aminolevulinate a more potent lipophilic derivative of ALA was proposed as an adjunct to standard cystoscopy in the fluorescence diagnosis of bladder cancer and other malignancies. We have previously reported the effectiveness of hALA mediated PDT of rat bladder cancer. Although normal and tumor bladder epithelium exhibit similar fluorescence intensities after intravesical instillation of two hALA concentrations (8 and 16 mM), the therapeutic response at 8mM and 20J/cm2 was completely different from the one observed at 16mM irradiated with the same light dose. Where the tumor is destroyed, leaving the underlying submucosa and muscle intact after an 8 mM instillation, 16mM sensitization and subsequent illumination results in the complete destruction of the underlying bladder wall but leaves the tumor undamaged. The object of the current study is to try to unravel the underlying mechanism for this apparent contradiction. PpIX extraction showed identical amounts of photosensitizer in tumor bearing bladders at both concentrations. Photobleaching experiments revealed mono-exponential decay curves in both situations but with a two times faster decay constant in case of 16mM bladders. Fluorescence microscopy shows an identical fluorescence pattern for normal bladders at both concentrations and tumor bladders at 8mM with bright spots. Tumor bladders at 16 mM exhibit a more diffuse cytoplasmic fluorescence distribution. The different response to PDT with regard to the initial pro-drug concentration can thus be attributed to the different cellular localization.

Keywords: bladder cancer, hexyl-aminolevulinate, photobleaching, confocal fluorescence microscopy

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Authors: Maryam Salehi, Gholamreza Bonyadinejad

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The application of agricultural plastic products like mulch, greenhouse covers, and silage films is increasing due to their economic benefits in providing an early and better-quality harvest. In 2015, the 4 million tons (valued a 10.6 million USD) global market for agricultural plastic films was estimated to grow by 5.6% per year through 2030. Despite the short-term benefits provided by plastic products, their long-term sustainability issues and negative impacts on soil health are not well understood. After their removal from the field, some plastic residuals remain in the soil. Plastic residuals in farmlands may fragment to small particles called microplastics (d<5mm). The microplastics' exposure to solar radiation could alter their surface chemistry and make them susceptible to fragmentation. Thus, this study examined the photodegradation of low density polyethylene as the model microplastics that are released to the agriculture farmland. The variation of plastic’s surface chemistry, morphology, and bulk characteristics were studied after accelerated UV-A radiation experiments and sampling from an agricultural field. The Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated the formation of oxidized surface functional groups onto the microplastics surface due to the photodegradation. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed an increased crystallinity for the photodegraded microplastics compared to the new samples. The gel permeation chromatography (GPC) demonstrated the reduced molecular weight for the polymer due to the photodegradation. This study provides an important opportunity to advance understanding of soil pollution. Understanding the plastic residuals’ variations as they are left in the soil is providing a critical piece of information to better estimate the microplastics' impacts on environmental biodiversity, ecosystem sustainability, and food safety.

Keywords: soil health, plastic pollution, sustainability, photodegradation

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Authors: Ahmed AlNouss, Salim Ahmed

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Process control refers to the techniques to control the variables in a process in order to maintain them at their desired values. Advanced process control (APC) is a broad term within the domain of control where it refers to different kinds of process control and control related tools, for example, model predictive control (MPC), statistical process control (SPC), fault detection and classification (FDC) and performance assessment. APC is often used for solving multivariable control problems and model predictive control (MPC) is one of only a few advanced control methods used successfully in industrial control applications. Advanced control is expected to bring many benefits to the plant operation; however, the extent of the benefits is plant specific and the application needs a large investment. This requires an analysis of the expected benefits before the implementation of the control. In a real plant simulation studies are carried out along with some experimentation to determine the improvement in the performance of the plant due to advanced control. In this research, such an exercise is undertaken to realize the needs of APC application. The main objectives of the paper are as follows: (1) To apply MPC to a number of simulations set up to realize the need of MPC by comparing its performance with that of proportional integral derivatives (PID) controllers. (2) To study the effect of controller parameters on control performance. (3) To develop appropriate performance index (PI) to compare the performance of different controller and develop novel idea to present tuning map of a controller. These objectives were achieved by applying PID controller and a special type of MPC which is dynamic matrix control (DMC) on the multi-tanks process simulated in loop-pro. Then the controller performance has been evaluated by changing the controller parameters. This performance was based on special indices related to the difference between set point and process variable in order to compare the both controllers. The same principle was applied for continuous stirred tank heater (CSTH) and continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) processes simulated in Matlab. However, in these processes some developed programs were written to evaluate the performance of the PID and MPC controllers. Finally these performance indices along with their controller parameters were plotted using special program called Sigmaplot. As a result, the improvement in the performance of the control loops was quantified using relevant indices to justify the need and importance of advanced process control. Also, it has been approved that, by using appropriate indices, predictive controller can improve the performance of the control loop significantly.

Keywords: advanced process control (APC), control loop, model predictive control (MPC), proportional integral derivatives (PID), performance indices (PI)

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Authors: Young-Taeg Kim, Gwang Ho Seo, Hyungju Oh, Ho Kyung Ha, Kuk Jin Kim

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Kim et al., hypothesized an increase in volume transport in the Korea Strait based on the concurrent increase in water temperature and mean sea level observed by the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency (KHOA) in the vicinity of the Korea Strait from 2000 to 2009. Since then, to our best knowledge, no definitive studies have been reported on the increase in volume transport through the Korea Strait, but the observed water temperature (2000-2021) and sea level (1989-2021) in the Korea Strait and East Sea have been found to be increasing. In particular, the rapid increase rate in the mean sea level rise (2.55~3.53 mm/y) in these areas cannot be explained by only steric effect due to the increased water temperature. It is more reasonable interpretation that the sea level rise is due to an increase in the volume transport of warm and salty currents. If the increase in the volume transport is explained by the geostrophic equation without considering the sea level rise in the Korea Strait, the current velocity should increase. However, up to now, there are no reports of an increase in current velocity from direct observations using ADCP (e.g., observations of Camellia) or from various numerical models. Therefore, the increase in volume transport cannot be explained by the geostrophic equation. Another possible explanation for the increase in the volume transport is the effect of wind. Although Korea is dominated by monsoon, it is affected by winds according to El Niño and La Niña, which have a cycle of about 3 to 4 years. During El Niño (La Niña), northerly winds (southerly winds) prevail in Korea. Consequently, it is inferred that the transported volume in the Korea Strait slowly increases interannually. However, in this study, it was difficult to find a clear correlation between annually-averaged mean sea level and El Niño (or La Niña) during 1989-2021. This is probably due to the interactions of the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and AO (Arctic Oscillation) along with the ENSO (El niño-Southern Oscillation). However, it is clear that the interannual variability of winds is affecting the volume transport in the Korean Strait. On the other hand, the effect of global sea level rise on the volume transport in the Korea Strait is small compared to the interannual variability of the volume transport, but it seems to play a constant role.

Keywords: mean sea level, volume transport, El nino, La nina

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Authors: Vivek Anand, Rainer Naegele

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Industry 4.0 envisages 'smart' manufacturing and services, taking the automation of the 3rd Industrial Revolution to the autonomy of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Powered by innovations in technology and business models, this disruptive transformation is revitalising industry by integrating silos across and beyond value chains. Motivated by the challenges faced by SMEs and Startups in understanding and adopting Industry 4.0, this paper aims to analyse the concept of Growth Poles and evaluate the possibility of its application to Innovation Clusters that strive to propel Industry 4.0 adoption and capacity building. The proposed paper applies qualitative research methodologies including focus groups and survey questionnaires to identify the various factors that affect formation and development of Innovation Clusters. Employing content analysis, the interaction between SMEs and other ecosystem players in such clusters is studied. A strong collaborative culture is a key driver of digital transformation and technology adoption across sectors, value chains and supply chains; and will position these cluster-based growth poles at the forefront of industrial renaissance. Motivated by this argument, and based on the results of the qualitative research, a roadmap will be proposed to position Innovation Clusters as Growth Poles and effective ecosystems to support Industry 4.0 adoption in a region in the medium to long term. This paper will contribute to the current understanding of the role of Innovation Clusters in capacity building. Relevant management and policy implications stem from the analysis. Furthermore, the findings will be helpful for academicians and policymakers alike, who can leverage an ‘innovation cluster policy’ to enable Industry 4.0 Growth Poles in their regions.

Keywords: digital transformation, fourth industrial revolution, growth poles, industry 4.0, innovation clusters, innovation policy, SMEs and startups

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Authors: Kahlouche Amal, Touzene F. Zohra, Betatache Fatihaet Nouani Abdelouahab

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The development of the world production of the cheese these last decades, as well as agents' greater request cheap coagulants, accentuated the search for new surrogates of the rennet. What about the interest to explore the vegetable biodiversity, the source well cheap of many naturals metabolites that the scientists today praise it (thistle, latex of fig tree, Cardoon, seeds of melon). Indeed, a big interest is concerned the search for surrogates of vegetable origin. The objective of the study is to show the possibility of extracting a protease coagulant the milk from the cake of Sunflower, available raw material and the potential source of surrogates of rennet. so, the determination of the proteolytic activity of raw extracts, the purification, the elimination of the pigments of tint of the enzymatic preparations, a better knowledge of the coagulative properties through study of the effect of certain factors (temperature, pH, concentration in CaCl2) are so many factors which contribute to value milk particularly those produced by the small ruminants of the Algerian dairy exploitations. Otherwise, extracts coagulants of vegetable origin allowed today to value traditional, in addition, although the extract coagulants of vegetable origin made it possible today to develop traditional cheeses whose Iberian peninsula is the promoter, but the test of 'pressed paste not cooked' cheese manufacturing led to the semi-scale pilot; and that, by using the enzymatic extract of sunflower (Helianthus annus) which gave satisfactory results as well to the level of outputs as on the sensory level,which, statistically,did not give any significant difference between studied cheeses. These results confirm the possibility of use of this coagulase as a substitute of rennet commercial on an industrial scale.

Keywords: characterization, cheese, Rennet, sunflower

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Authors: S. Lemoussu, J. C. Chaudemar, R. A. Vingerhoeds

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The aeronautics sector is currently living an unprecedented growth largely due to innovative projects. In several cases, such innovative developments are being carried out by Small and Medium sized-Enterprises (SMEs). For instance, in Europe, a handful of SMEs are leading projects like airships, large civil drones, or flying cars. These SMEs have all limited resources, must make strategic decisions, take considerable financial risks and in the same time must take into account the constraints of safety, cost, time and performance as any commercial organization in this industry. Moreover, today, no international regulations fully exist for the development and certification of this kind of projects. The absence of such a precise and sufficiently detailed regulatory framework requires a very close contact with regulatory instances. But, SMEs do not always have sufficient resources and internal knowledge to handle this complexity and to discuss these issues. This poses additional challenges for those SMEs that have system integration responsibilities and that must provide all the necessary means of compliance to demonstrate their ability to design, produce, and operate airships with the expected level of safety and reliability. The final objective of our research is thus to provide a methodological framework supporting SMEs in their development taking into account recent innovation and institutional rules of the sector. We aim to provide a contribution to the problematic by developing a specific Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach. Airspace regulation, aeronautics standards and international norms on systems engineering are taken on board to be formalized in a set of models. This paper presents the on-going research project combining Systems Engineering and Project Management process modeling and taking into account the metamodeling problematic.

Keywords: aeronautics, certification, process modeling, project management, SME, systems engineering

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Authors: S. Altmeyer, B. Hof, F. Marques, J. M. Lopez

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We present numerical simulations concerning the reversal of spiraling vortices in short highly counter-rotating cylinders. Increasing the differential cylinder rotation results in global flow-inversion is which develops various different and complex flow dynamics of several quasi-periodic solutions that differ in their number of vortex cells in the bulk. The dynamics change from being dominated of the inner cylinder boundary layer with ’passive’ only responding outer one to be dominated by the outer cylinder boundary layer with only responding inner one. Solutions exist on either two or three tori invariant manifolds whereby they appear as symmetric or asymmetric states. We find for either moderate and high inner cylinder rotation speed the quasiperiodic flow to consist of only two vortex cells but differ as the vortices has opposite spiraling direction. These both flows live on 2-tori but differ in number of symmetries. While for the quasi-periodic flow (q^a_2) at lower rotation speed a pair of symmetrically related 2-tori T2 exists the quasi-periodic flow (q^s_2) at higher rotation speeds is symmetric living on a single 2-torus T2. In addition these both flows differ due to their dominant azimuthal m modes. The first is dominated by m=1 whereas for the latter m=3 contribution is largest. The 2-tori states are separated by a further quasi-periodic flow (q^a_3) living on pair of symmetrically related 3-tori T3. This flow offers a ’periodical’ competition between a two and three vortex cell states in the bulk. This flow is also an m=1 solution as for the quasiperiodic flows living on the pair of symmetrically-related 2-tori states. Moreover we find hysteresis resulting in coexisting regions of different quasiperiodic flows q^s_2 and q^a_3 with increasing and decreasing the differential rotation.

Keywords: transition, bifurcation, torus, symmetries

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Authors: Mohammed Al-Zubaidi, Katherine Ong, Pravin Viswambaram, Steve McCombie, Oliver Oey, Jeremy Ong, Richard Gauci, Ronny Low, Dickon Hayne

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Objective: Lymph node involvement along with distant metastasis in a patient with invasive bladder cancer determines the disease survival, therefeor, it is an essential determinant of the therapeutic management and outcome. This retrospective study aims to determine the accuracy of FDG PET scan in detecting lymphatic involvement and distant metastatic urothelial cancer compared to conventional CT staging. Method: A retrospective review of 76 patients with UC or BC who underwent surgery or confirmatory biopsy that was staged with both CT and 18F-FDG-PET (up to 8 weeks apart) between 2015 and 2020. Fifty-sevenpatients (75%) had formal pelvic LN dissection or biopsy of suspicious metastasis. 18F-FDG-PET reports for positive sites were qualitative depending on SUV Max. On the other hand, enlarged LN by RECIST criteria 1.1 (>10 mm) and other qualitative findings suggesting metastasis were considered positive in CT scan. Histopathological findings from surgical specimens or image-guided biopsies were considered the gold standard in comparison to imaging reports. 18F-FDG-avid or enlarged pelvic LNs with surgically proven nodal metastasis were considered true positives. Performance characteristics of 18F-FDG-PET and CT, including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (PPV), were calculated. Results: Pelvic LN involvement was confirmed histologically in 10/57 (17.5%) patients. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of CT for detecting pelvic LN metastases were 41.17% (95% CI:18-67%), 100% (95% CI:90-100%) 100% (95% CI:59-100%) and 78.26% (95% CI:64-89%) respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 18F-FDG-PET for detecting pelvic LN metastases were 62.5% (95% CI:35-85%), 83.78% (95% CI:68-94%), 62.5% (95% CI:35-85%), and 83.78% (95% CI:68-94%) respectively. Pre-operative staging with 18F-FDG-PET identified the distant metastatic disease in 9/76 (11.8%) patients who were occult on CT. This retrospective study suggested that 18F-FDG-PET may be more sensitive than CT for detecting pelvic LN metastases. 7/76 (9.2%) patients avoided cystectomy due to 18F-FDG-PET diagnosed metastases that were not reported on CT. Conclusion: 18F-FDG-PET is more sensitive than CT for pelvic LN metastases, which can be used as the standard modality of bladder cancer staging, as it may change the treatment by detecting lymph node metastasis that was occult in CT. Further research involving randomised controlled trials comparing the diagnostic yield of 18F-FDG-PET and CT in detecting nodal and distant metastasis in UC or BC is warranted to confirm our findings.

Keywords: FDG PET, CT scan, urothelial cancer, bladder cancer

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Authors: Marcin Jakiel, Maria Kurek, Karolina Gutkowska, Sylwia Sanakiewicz, Dominika Stolarczyk, Jakub Batko, Rafał Jakiel, Mateusz K. Hołda

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The geometry of RVOT is extremely complicated. It is an irregular block with an ellipsoidal cross-section, whose dimensions decrease toward the pulmonary valve and measure 33.82 (IQR 30,51-39,36), 28.82 (IQR 26,11-32,22), 27.95 ± 4,11 for width [mm] and 33.41 ± 6,14, 26.99 ± 4,41, 26.91 ± 4,00 [mm] for depth, in the basal, middle and subpulmonary parts, respectively. In a sagittal section view, the RVOT heads upward and slightly backward. Its anterior perimeter has an average length of 41.96 mm and inclines to the transverse plane at an angle of 50.77° (IQR 46,53°-58,70°). In the posterior region, the RVOT is shorter (18.17mm) and flexes anteriorly. Therefore, the slope of the upper part of the rear wall to the transverse plane is an acute angle (open toward the rear) of 44,58° (IQR 37,30°-51,25°), while in the lower part it is an angle close to a right angle of 94,30°±15,44°. In addition, the thickness of the RVOT wall in the diastolic phase, at the posterior perimeter at the base, in the middle of the length and subpulmonary measure 3,80 mm ± 0,88 mm, 3,56 mm ± 0,73 mm, 3,56 mm ± 0,65 mm, respectively. In frontal cross-section, the RVOT rises on the interventricular septum, which makes it possible to distinguish the septal and supraseptal parts on its left periphery. The angles (facing the vertices to the right) of the inclination of these parts to the transverse plane are 75.5° (IQR 66,44°-81,11°) and 107.01° (IQR 99,09 – 115,23°), respectively, which allows us to conclude that the direction of the RVOT long axis changes from left to right. The above analysis shows that there is no single RVOT axis. Two axes can be distinguished, the one for the upper RVOT being more backward and leftward. The aforementioned forward deflection of the posterior wall and the RVOT's elevation over the interventricular septum, suggest that access to the subpulmonary region may be difficult. It should be emphasized that this area is often the target for ablation of ventricular arrhythmias. The small thickness of the RVOT posterior wall, with its difficult geometry, may favor its perforation into the pericardium or ascending aorta.

Keywords: angle, geometry, operation access, position, RVOT, shape

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Authors: S. S. Sree Sanker, K. N. Madhusoodanan

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Optical biosensors are dominant alternative for traditional analytical methods, because of their small size, simple design and high sensitivity. Photonic sensing method is one of the recent advancing technology for biosensors. It measures the change in refractive index which is induced by the difference in molecular interactions due to the change in concentration of the analyte. Glucose is an aldosic monosaccharide, which is a metabolic source in many of the organisms. The terahertz waves occupies the space between infrared and microwaves in the electromagnetic spectrum. Terahertz waves are expected to be applied to various types of sensors for detecting harmful substances in blood, cancer cells in skin and micro bacteria in vegetables. We have designed glucose sensors using silicon based 1D and 2D photonic crystal pillar arrays in terahertz frequency range. 1D photonic crystal has rectangular pillars with height 100 µm, length 1600 µm and width 50 µm. The array period of the crystal is 500 µm. 2D photonic crystal has 5×5 cylindrical pillar array with an array period of 75 µm. Height and diameter of the pillar array are 160 µm and 100 µm respectively. Two samples considered in the work are blood and glucose solution, which are labelled as sample 1 and sample 2 respectively. The proposed sensor detects the concentration of glucose in the samples from 0 to 100 mg/dL. For this, the crystal was irradiated with 0.3 to 3 THz waves. By analyzing the obtained S parameter, the refractive index of the crystal corresponding to the particular concentration of glucose was measured using the parameter retrieval method. Refractive indices of the two crystals decreased gradually with the increase in concentration of glucose in the sample. For 1D photonic crystals, a gradual decrease in refractive index was observed at 1 THz. 2D photonic crystal showed this behavior at 2 THz. The proposed sensor was simulated using CST Microwave studio. This will enable us to develop a model which can be used to characterize a glucose sensor. The present study is expected to contribute to blood glucose monitoring.

Keywords: CST microwave studio, glucose sensor, photonic crystal, terahertz waves

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Authors: Wisam H. Muragaa, Kamaruzzaman Seman, Mohd Fadzli Marhusin

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Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new norm of networks. It is designed to facilitate the way of managing, measuring, debugging and controlling the network dynamically, and to make it suitable for the modern applications. Generally, measurement methods can be divided into two categories: Active and passive methods. Active measurement method is employed to inject test packets into the network in order to monitor their behaviour (ping tool as an example). Meanwhile the passive measurement method is used to monitor the traffic for the purpose of deriving measurement values. The measurement methods, both active and passive, are useful for the collection of traffic statistics, and monitoring of the network traffic. Although there has been a work focusing on measuring traffic statistics in SDN environment, it was only meant for measuring packets and bytes rates for non-web traffic. In this study, a feasible method will be designed to measure the number of packets and bytes in a certain time, and facilitate obtaining statistics for both web traffic and non-web traffic. Web traffic refers to HTTP requests that use application layer; while non-web traffic refers to ICMP and TCP requests. Thus, this work is going to be more comprehensive than previous works. With a developed module on POX OpenFlow controller, information will be collected from each active flow in the OpenFlow switch, and presented on Command Line Interface (CLI) and wireshark interface. Obviously, statistics that will be displayed on CLI and on wireshark interfaces include type of protocol, number of bytes and number of packets, among others. Besides, this module will show the number of flows added to the switch whenever traffic is generated from and to hosts in the same statistics list. In order to carry out this work effectively, our Python module will send a statistics request message to the switch requesting its current ports and flows statistics in every five seconds; while the switch will reply with the required information in a message called statistics reply message. Thus, POX controller will be notified and updated with any changes could happen in the entire network in a very short time. Therefore, our aim of this study is to prepare a list for the important statistics elements that are collected from the whole network, to be used for any further researches; particularly, those that are dealing with the detection of the network attacks that cause a sudden rise in the number of packets and bytes like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).

Keywords: mininet, OpenFlow, POX controller, SDN

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Authors: Zhao Kuo, Chen Liang, Zhang Zhongbing, Ruan Jinlu. He Shiyi, Xu Mengxuan

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Stilbene, C₁₄H₁₂, is well known as one of the most useful organic scintillators for pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique for its good scintillation properties. An on-line acquisition system and an off-line acquisition system were developed with several CAMAC standard plug-ins, NIM plug-ins, neutron/γ discriminating plug-in named 2160A and a digital oscilloscope with high sampling rate respectively for which stilbene crystals and photomultiplier tube detectors (PMT) as detector for accelerator neutron sources measurement carried out in China Institute of Atomic Energy. Pulse amplitude spectrums and charge amplitude spectrums were real-time recorded after good neutron/γ discrimination whose best PSD figure-of-merits (FoMs) are 1.756 for D-D accelerator neutron source and 1.393 for D-T accelerator neutron source. The probability of neutron events in total events was 80%, and neutron detection efficiency was 5.21% for D-D accelerator neutron sources, which were 50% and 1.44% for D-T accelerator neutron sources after subtracting the background of scattering observed by the on-line acquisition system. Pulse waveform signals were acquired by the off-line acquisition system randomly while the on-line acquisition system working. The PSD FoMs obtained by the off-line acquisition system were 2.158 for D-D accelerator neutron sources and 1.802 for D-T accelerator neutron sources after waveform digitization off-line processing named charge integration method for just 1000 pulses. In addition, the probabilities of neutron events in total events obtained by the off-line acquisition system matched very well with the probabilities of the on-line acquisition system. The pulse information recorded by the off-line acquisition system could be repetitively used to adjust the parameters or methods of PSD research and obtain neutron charge amplitude spectrums or pulse amplitude spectrums after digital analysis with a limited number of pulses. The off-line acquisition system showed equivalent or better measurement effects compared with the online system with a limited number of pulses which indicated a feasible method based on stilbene crystals detectors for the measurement of prompt neutrons neutron sources like prompt accelerator neutron sources emit a number of neutrons in a short time.

Keywords: stilbene crystal, accelerator neutron source, neutron / γ discrimination, figure-of-merits, CAMAC, waveform digitization

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Tesfay Gidey, Emiru Birhane, Ashenafi Manaye, Hailemariam Kassa, Tesfay Atsbha, Negasi Solomon, Hadgu Hishe, Aklilu Negussie, Petr Madera, Jose G. Borges

Abstract:

The globally endangered Dracaena ombet is one of the ten dragon multipurpose tree species in arid ecosystems. Anthropogenic and natural factors are now impacting the sustainability of the species. This study was conducted to prioritize criteria and alternative strategies for the conservation of the species using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) model by involving all relevant stakeholders in the Desa'a dry Afromontane forest in northern Ethiopia. Information about the potential alternative strategies and the criteria for their evaluation was first collected from experts, personal experiences, and literature reviews. Afterward, they were validated using stakeholders' focus group discussions. Five candidate strategies with three evaluation criteria were considered for prioritization using the AHP techniques. The overall priority ranking value of the stakeholders showed that the ecological criterion was deemed as the most essential factor for the choice of alternative strategies, followed by the economic and social criteria. The minimum cut-off strategy, combining exclosures with the collection of only 5% of plant parts from the species, soil and water conservation, and silviculture interventions, was selected as the best alternative strategy for sustainable D. ombet conservation. The livelihood losses due to the selected strategy should be compensated by the collection of non-timber forest products, poultry farming, home gardens, rearing small ruminants, beekeeping, and agroforestry. This approach may be extended to study other dragon tree species and explore strategies for the conservation of other arid ecosystems.

Keywords: conservation strategies, analytical hierarchy process model, Desa'a forest, endangered species, Ethiopia, overexploitation

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Authors: Li Pan

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The recently prevalent government procurement of public services in China boasts a new form of government’s provision of public service through the purchasing of social work from social organizations, a new measure of the transformation in governmental functions as well as an unprecedented opportunity for the development of social organizations. For the past few years, the phenomenon of a surge in the number of social work organizations and social work staff emerged right with the initiatives of energetically carrying out the purchase of public services by the government. Such efforts have presented the strong determination of the Chinese government in building a small government by streamlining administration and delegating part of the governmental power to social organizations. This paper is based on the 2012-2014 performance appraisal project of the Guangzhou municipal government’s purchasing of public services and the project was carried out in the summer of 2015. During the process of the appraisal, several general problems hindering the sustainable development of government purchasing of public service have been observed. As Guangzhou is among the rank of pioneer cities in the conduct of the reform, it is representative and imperative to study the sustainability of government purchasing of public service. In 2012, Guangzhou local government started contracting out public service to the community social organizations to provide general family services and special services to community residents, since when integrated family service centers and special service centers were established as platforms to provide public social service in a city-wide range. Consequently, taking an example of the current rapid development of government purchase of the integrated family services and special services in Guangzhou, this paper puts up several proposals for the sustainable development of Guangzhou municipal government’s procurement of public services on the perspective of social work’s resource dependence.

Keywords: government procurement of public services, Guangzhou, integrated family service center, social work, sustainability.

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Authors: Yusif Habib

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The Volta River Basin (VRB) is a transboundary resource shared by Six (6) the West African States. It’s utilization spans across irrigation, hydropower generation, domestic/household water use, transportation, industrial processing, among others. Simultaneously, mineral resources such as gold are mined within the VRB catchment. Typically, the extraction/mining operation is earth-surface excavation; known as Artisanal and Small-scale mining. We developed a conceptual framework in the context of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus to delineate the trade-offs and synergies between the mineral extractive operation’s impact on Agricultural systems, specifically, cereal crops (e.g. Maize, Millet, and Rice) and the environment (water and soil quality, deforestation, etc.) on the VRB. Thus, the study examined the trade-offs and synergies through the WEF nexus lens to explore the extent of an eventual overarching mining preference for gold exploration with high economic returns as opposed to the presumably low yearly harvest and household income from food crops production to inform intervention prioritization. Field survey (household, expert, and stakeholder consultation), bibliometric analysis/literature review, scenario, and simulation models, including land-use land cover (LULC) analyses, were conducted. The selected study area(s) in Ghana was the location where the mineral extractive operation’s presence and impact are widespread co-exist with the Agricultural systems. Overall, the study proposes mechanisms of the virtuous cycle through FEW Nexus instead of the presumably existing vicious cycle to inform decision making and policy implementation.

Keywords: agriculture, environmental sustainability, gold Mining, synergies, trade-off, water-energy-food nexus

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Authors: J. Van der Walt, N. A. Plastow, M. Unger

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Gross and fine motor skill difficulties among children affect their ability to learn and progress in school. Research indicates that children in low socio-economic areas are at a higher risk of motor skill difficulties, while therapy resources are limited. The Hopscotch motor skill programme is a well-researched accessible in-school intervention developed by occupational and physiotherapists through complex intervention development. The development stage of the complex intervention development model firstly included a prevalence study in a low-resourced area in the West Coast of South Africa, indicating a high prevalence with significant motor skill difficulties among pre-school children at 14.5% with fine motor skill difficulties at 24.6%. A scoping review identifies motor skill interventions for pre-school children and a proposed a framework of fundamental concepts to consider when developing a motor skill intervention. a Delphi-study considered the framework and encouraged collaboration between therapists and educators to make the programme accessible, resource and cost effective, specifically geared towards a rural, low resourced area. The results from the Delphi study, together with the proposed framework from the scoping review was used to develop the Hopscotch programme, adopting a task-shifting approach. The eight-week small-group programme is facilitated by teachers with the support of therapists. The programme aims to improve the motor skills of pre-school aged children with motor skill difficulties to promote academic readiness through obstacle courses, ball skill games and fine motor games and crafts. A randomised controlled trial is planned as a next stage to determine the preliminary effect of the programme on the motor and early academic skills of pre-school children.

Keywords: accesible learning, motor skill intervention, school readiness, task shifting

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Murali Aarthy, Sanjeev Kumar Singh

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High risk human papillomaviruses are highly associated with the carcinoma of the cervix and the other genital tumors. Cervical cancer develops through the multistep process in which increasingly severe premalignant dysplastic lesions called cervical intraepithelial neoplastic progress to invasive cancer. The oncoprotein E7 of human papillomavirus expressed in the lower epithelial layers drives the cells into S-phase creating an environment conducive for viral genome replication and cell proliferation. The replication of the virus occurs in the terminally differentiating epithelium and requires the activation of cellular DNA replication proteins. To date, no suitable drug molecule is available to treat HPV infection whereas identification of potential drug targets and development of novel anti-HPV chemotherapies with unique mode of actions are expected. Hence, our present study aimed to identify the potential inhibitors analogous to EGCG, a green tea molecule which is considered to be safe to use for mammalian systems. A 3D similarity search on the natural small molecule library from natural product database using EGCG identified 11 potential hits based on their similarity score. The structure based docking strategies were implemented in the potential hits and the key interacting residues of protein with compounds were identified through simulation studies and binding free energy calculations. The conformational changes between the apoprotein and the complex were analyzed with the simulation and the results demonstrated that the dynamical and structural effects observed in the protein were induced by the compounds and indicated the dominance to the oncoprotein. Overall, our study provides the basis for the structural insights of the identified potential hits and EGCG and hence, the analogous compounds identified can be potent inhibitors against the HPV 16 E7 oncoprotein.

Keywords: EGCG, oncoprotein, molecular dynamics simulation, analogues

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Authors: Erika De Finis, Paola Gattinoni, Laura Scesi

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Massive rock avalanches formed some of the largest landslide deposits on Earth and they represent one of the major geohazards in high-relief mountains. This paper interprets a very large sedimentary fan (the Sernio fan, Valtellina, Northern Italy), located 20 Km SW from Val Pola Rock avalanche (1987), as the deposit of a partial collapse of a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DSGSD), afterwards eroded and buried by debris flows. The proposed emplacement sequence has been reconstructed based on geomorphological, structural and mechanical evidences. The Sernio fan is actually considered anomalous with reference to the very high ratio between the fan area (about 4.5km2) and the basin area (about 3km2). The morphology of the fan area is characterised by steep slopes (dip about 20%) and the fan apex is extended for 1.8 km inside the small catchment basin. This sedimentary fan was originated by a landslide that interested a part of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation, involving a wide area of about 55 km². The main controlling factor is tectonic and it is related to the proximity to regional fault systems and the consequent occurrence of fault weak rocks (GSI locally lower than 10 with compressive stress lower than 20MPa). Moreover, the fan deposit shows sedimentary evidences of recent debris flow events. The best current explanation of the Sernio fan involves an initial failure of some hundreds of Mm3. The run-out was quite limited because of the morphology of Valtellina’s valley floor, and the deposit filled the main valley forming a landslide dam, as confirmed by the lacustrine deposits detected upstream the fan. Nowadays the debris flow events represent the main hazard in the study area.

Keywords: anomalous sedimentary fans, deep seated gravitational slope deformation, Italy, rock avalanche

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Authors: Saboor Saeed, Chunming Jiang

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Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), formerly known as Churg-Strauss syndrome, is a rare systemic vasculitis of small and medium-sized vessels that primarily develops in middle-aged individuals. It is characterized by asthma, blood eosinophilia, and extra pulmonary manifestations. In childhood, EGPA is extremely rare. Pulmonary and cardiac involvement is predominant in pediatric EGPA, and mortality is substantial. Generally, EGPA will develop in three stages: a) The allergic phase is commonly associated with asthma, allergic rhinitis, and sinusitis, b) the eosinophilic phase, in which the main pathology is related to the infiltration of eosinophilic organs, i.e., lung, heart, and gastrointestinal system, c) vasculitis phase involved purpura, peripheral neuropathy, and some constitutional symptoms. The key to the treatment of EGPA lies in the early diagnosis of the disease. Early application of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants can improve symptoms and the overall prognosis of EGPA. Case Description: We presented a case of an 8-year-old boy with a history of short asthma, marked eosinophilia, and multi-organ involvement. The extremely high eosinophil level in the blood (72.50%) prompted the examination of eosinophilic leukemia before EGPA diagnosis was made. Subsequently, this disease was successfully treated. This case report shows a typical case of CSS in childhood because of the extreme eosinophilia. It emphasizes the importance of EGPA is a life-threatening cause of children's eosinophilia. Conclusion: EGPA in children has unique clinical, imaging, and histological characteristics different from those of adults. In pediatric patients, the development and diagnosis of systemic symptoms are often delayed, mainly occurring in the eosinophilic phase, which will lead to specific manifestations. At the same time, we cannot detect a genetic relationship related to EGPA.

Keywords: Churg Strauss syndrome, asthma, vasculitis, hypereosinophilia, eosinophilic granulomatosis polyangiitis

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Authors: Anurag Mishra, Prabhat Kumar Singh, Anurag Ohri, Shishir Gaur

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Streams and rivulets are crucial in maintaining river networks and their hydrology, influencing downstream ecosystems, and connecting different watersheds of urban and rural areas. The river Assi, an urban river, once a lifeline for the locals, has degraded over time. Evidence, such as the presence of paleochannels and patterns of water bodies and settlements, suggests that the river Assi was initially an alluvial stream or rivulet that originated near Rishi Durvasha Ashram near Prayagraj, flowing approximately 120 km before joining the river Ganga at Assi ghat in Varanasi. Presently, a major challenge is that nearly 90% of its original channel has been silted and disappeared, with only the last 8 km retaining some semblance of a river. It is possible that initially, the river Assi branched off from the river Ganga and functioned as a Yazoo stream. In this study, paleochannels of the river Assi were identified using Landsat 5 imageries and SRTM DEM. The study employed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Seasonality Index (NDVSI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to detect these paleochannels. The average elevation of the sub-basin at the Durvasha Rishi Ashram of river Assi is 96 meters, while it reduces to 80 meters near its confluence with the Ganga in Varanasi, resulting in a 16-meter elevation drop along its course. There are 81 subbasins covering an area of 83,241 square kilometers. It is possible that due to the increased resistance in the flow of river Assi near urban areas of Varanasi, a new channel, Morwa, has originated at an elevation of 87 meters, meeting river Varuna at an elevation of 79 meters. The difference in elevation is 8 meters. Furthermore, the study explored the possibility of restoring the paleochannel of the river Assi and nearby ponds and water bodies to improve the river's base flow and overall hydrological conditions.

Keywords: River Assi, small river restoration, paleochannel identification, remote sensing, GIS

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Authors: Nashaat Mazrui, Oarabile Mogobe, Barbara Ngwenya, Ketlhatlogile Mosepele, Mangaliso Gondwe

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Over the last several decades, the world has seen a rapid increase in activities such as deforestation, agriculture, and energy use. Subsequently, trace elements are being deposited into our water bodies, where they can accumulate to toxic levels in aquatic organisms and can be transferred to humans through fish consumption. Thus, though fish is a good source of essential minerals and omega-3 fatty acids, it can also be a source of toxic elements. Monitoring trace elements in fish is important for the proper management of aquatic systems and the protection of human health. The aim of this study was to determine concentrations of trace elements in sediment and muscle tissues of Clarias gariepinus at Lake Ngami, in the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, during low floods. The fish were bought from local fishermen, and samples of muscle tissue were acid-digested and analyzed for iron, zinc, copper, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, cadmium, lead, and arsenic using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Sediment samples were also collected and analyzed for the elements and for organic matter content. Results show that in all samples, iron was found in the greatest amount while cadmium was below the detection limit. Generally, the concentrations of elements in sediment were higher than in fish except for zinc and arsenic. While the concentration of zinc was similar in the two media, arsenic was almost 3 times higher in fish than sediment. To evaluate the risk to human health from fish consumption, the target hazard quotient (THQ) and cancer risk for an average adult in Botswana, sub-Saharan Africa, and riparian communities in the Okavango Delta was calculated for each element. All elements were found to be well below regulatory limits and do not pose a threat to human health except arsenic. The results suggest that other benthic feeding fish species could potentially have high arsenic levels too. This has serious implications for human health, especially riparian households to whom fish is a key component of food and nutrition security.

Keywords: Arsenic, African sharp tooth cat fish, Okavango delta, trace elements

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Authors: Sara Dragisic

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Using the theoretical analysis of the birth of biopolitics that Foucault performed through the history of liberalism and neoliberalism, in this paper we will try to show how, precisely through problematizing the role of international institutions, the model of governance differs from previous ways of objectifying body and life. Are the state and its mechanisms still a Leviathan to fight against, or can it be even the driver of resistance against the proponents of modern governance and the biopolitical power? Do paradigmatic examples of biopolitics still appear through sovereignty and (international) law, or is it precisely this sphere that shows a significant dose of incompetence and powerlessness in relation to, not only the economic sphere (Foucault’s critique of neoliberalism) but also the new politics of freedom? Have the struggle for freedom and human rights, as well as the war on terrorism, opened a new spectrum of biopolitical processes, which are manifested precisely through new international institutions and humanitarian discourse? We will try to answer these questions, in the following way. On the one hand, we will show that the views of authors such as Agamben and Hardt and Negri, in whom the state and sovereignty are seen as enemies to be defeated or overcome, fail to see how such attempts could translate into the politicization of life like it is done in many examples through the doctrine of liberal interventionism and humanitarianism. On the other hand, we will point out that it is precisely the humanitarian discourse and the defense of the right to intervention that can be the incentive and basis for the politicization of the category of life and lead to the selective application of human rights. Zizek example of the killing of United Nations workers and doctors in a village during the Vietnam War, who were targeted even before police or soldiers, because they were precisely seen as a powerful instrument of American imperialism (as they were sincerely trying to help the population), will be focus of this part of the analysis. We’ll ask the question whether such interpretation is a kind of liquidation of the extreme left of the political (Laclau) or on this basis can be explained at least in part the need to review the functioning of international organizations, ranging from those dealing with humanitarian aid (and humanitarian military interventions) to those dealing with protection and the security of the population, primarily from growing terrorism. Based on the above examples, we will also explain how the discourse of terrorism itself plays a dual role: it can appear as a tool of liberal biopolitics, although, more superficially, it mostly appears as an enemy that wants to destroy the liberal system and its values. This brings us to the basic problem that this paper will tackle: do the mechanisms of institutional struggle for human rights and freedoms, which is often seen as opposed to the security mechanisms of the state, serve the governance of citizens in such a way that the latter themselves participate in producing biopolitical governmental practices? Is the freedom today "nothing but the correlative development of apparatuses of security" (Foucault)? Or, we can continue this line of Foucault’s argumentation and enhance the interpretation with the important question of what precisely today reflects the change in the rationality of governance in which society is transformed from a passive object into a subject of its own production. Finally, in order to understand the skills of biopolitical governance in modern civil society, it is necessary to pay attention to the status of international organizations, which seem to have become a significant place for the implementation of global governance. In this sense, the power of sovereignty can turn out to be an insufficiently strong power of security policy, which can go hand in hand with freedom policies, through neoliberal governmental techniques.

Keywords: neoliberalism, Foucault, sovereignty, biopolitics, international organizations, NGOs, Agamben, Hardt&Negri, Zizek, security, state power

Procedia PDF Downloads 201