Search results for: Frequency tuning range

Authors: George Abu-Aqil, Leah Tsror, Elad Shufan, Shaul Mordechai, Mahmoud Huleihel, Ahmad Salman

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Pectobacterium and Dickeya spp which negatively affect a wide range of crops are the main causes of the aggressive diseases of agricultural crops. These aggressive diseases are responsible for a huge economic loss in agriculture including a severe decrease in the quality of the stored vegetables and fruits. Therefore, it is important to detect these pathogenic bacteria at their early stages of infection to control their spread and consequently reduce the economic losses. In addition, early detection is vital for producing non-infected propagative material for future generations. The currently used molecular techniques for the identification of these bacteria at the strain level are expensive and laborious. Other techniques require a long time of ~48 h for detection. Thus, there is a clear need for rapid, non-expensive, accurate and reliable techniques for early detection of these bacteria. In this study, infrared spectroscopy, which is a well-known technique with all its features, was used for rapid detection of Pectobacterium and Dickeya spp. at the strain level. The bacteria were isolated from potato plants and tubers with soft rot symptoms and measured by infrared spectroscopy. The obtained spectra were analyzed using different machine learning algorithms. The performances of our approach for taxonomic classification among the bacterial samples were evaluated in terms of success rates. The success rates for the correct classification of the genus, species and strain levels were ~100%, 95.2% and 92.6% respectively.

Keywords: soft rot enterobacteriaceae (SRE), pectobacterium, dickeya, plant infections, potato, solanum tuberosum, infrared spectroscopy, machine learning

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki, Anastasia Kalamakidou

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Transport infrastructure assets are key components of the national asset portfolio. The decision to invest in a new infrastructure in transports could take from a few years to some decades. This is mainly because of the need to reserve and spent many capitals, the long payback period, the number of the stakeholders involved in the decision process and –many times- the investment and business risks are high. Decision makers and stakeholders need to define the framework and the outputs of the decision process taking into account the project characteristics, the business uncertainties, and the different expectations. Therefore, the decision assessment framework is an essential challenge linked with the key decision factors meet the stakeholder expectations highlighting project trade-offs, financial risks, business uncertainties and market limitations. This paper examines the decision process for new transport infrastructure projects in cross-border regions, where a wide range of stakeholders with different expectation is involved. According to a consequences analysis systemic approach, the relationship of transport infrastructure development, economic system development and stakeholder expectation is analysed. Adopting the on system of system methodological approach, the decision making the framework, variables, inputs and outputs are defined, highlighting the key shareholder’s role and expectations. The application provides the methodology outputs presenting the proposed decision framework for a strategic railway project in north Greece deals with the upgrade of the existing railway corridor connecting Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

Keywords: system of system decision making, managing decisions for transport projects, decision support framework, defining decision process

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Authors: Houda Jalali, Hassan Abbassi

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In this numerical work, natural convection and entropy generation of Al₂O₃–water nanofluid in square cavity have been studied. A two-dimensional steady laminar natural convection in a differentially heated square cavity of length L, filled with a nanofluid is investigated numerically. The horizontal walls are considered adiabatic. Vertical walls corresponding to x=0 and x=L are respectively maintained at hot temperature, T_h and cold temperature, T_c. The resolution is performed by the CFD code "FLUENT" in combination with GAMBIT as mesh generator. These simulations are performed by maintaining the Rayleigh numbers varied as 10³ ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁶, while the solid volume fraction varied from 1% to 5%, the particle size is fixed at dp=33 nm and a range of the temperature from 20 to 70 °C. We used models of thermophysical nanofluids properties based on experimental measurements for studying the effect of adding solid particle into water in natural convection heat transfer and entropy generation of nanofluid. Such as models of thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity which are dependent on solid volume fraction, particle size and temperature. The average Nusselt number is calculated at the hot wall of the cavity in a different solid volume fraction. The most important results is that at low temperatures (less than 40 °C), the addition of nanosolids Al₂O₃ into water leads to a decrease in heat transfer and entropy generation instead of the expected increase, whereas at high temperature, heat transfer and entropy generation increase with the addition of nanosolids. This behavior is due to the contradictory effects of viscosity and thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. These effects are discussed in this work.

Keywords: entropy generation, heat transfer, nanofluid, natural convection

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Authors: Valentina Narvaez Gaitan, Paula K. Rodriguez Ramirez, Derian D. Espinosa

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Corrective orthosis has great importance in orthopedic treatments providing assistance in improving mobility and stability in order to improve the quality of life for a different patient. The corrective orthosis studied in this article can correct deformities, reduce pain, and improve the ability to perform daily activities. This work describes the design and evaluation of a corrective orthosis for knee hyperextension. This orthosis is capable of generating a progressive and variable alignment of the joint, limiting the range of motion according to medical criteria. The main objective was to design a corrective knee orthosis capable of correcting knee hyperextension progressively to return to its natural angle with greater economic affordability and adjustable size. The limiting mechanism is based on a goniometer to determine the desired angles. The orthosis was made of acrylic to reduce costs and maintenance; neoprene is also used to make comfortable contact; additionally, Velcro was used in order to adjust the orthosis for various sizes. Simulations of static and fatigue analysis of the mechanism were performed to verify its resistance and durability under normal conditions. A biomechanical gait study of gait was carried out on 10 healthy subjects without the orthosis and limiting their knee extension capacity in a normal gait cycle with the orthosis to observe the efficiency of the proposed system. In the results obtained, the knee angle curves show that the maximum extension angle was the established angle by the orthosis. Showing the efficiency of the proposed design for different leg sizes.

Keywords: biomechanical study, corrective orthosis, efficiency, goniometer, knee hyperextension.

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Authors: Muhammad Luthfi, Sutikno Sutikno, Purhadi Purhadi

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Weather forecast has necessarily been improved to provide the communities an accurate and objective prediction as well. To overcome such issue, the numerical-based weather forecast was extensively developed to reduce the subjectivity of forecast. Yet the Numerical Weather Predictions (NWPs) outputs are unfortunately issued without taking dynamical weather behavior and local terrain features into account. Thus, NWPs outputs are not able to accurately forecast the weather quantities, particularly for medium and long range forecast. The aim of this research is to aid and extend the development of ensemble forecast for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency of Indonesia. Ensemble method is an approach combining various deterministic forecast to produce more reliable one. However, such forecast is biased and uncalibrated due to its underdispersive or overdispersive nature. As one of the parametric methods, Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) generates the calibrated ensemble forecast and constructs predictive PDF for specified period. Such method is able to utilize ensemble of any size but does not take spatial correlation into account. Whereas space dependencies involve the site of interest and nearby site, influenced by dynamic weather behavior. Meanwhile, Geostatistical Output Perturbation (GOP) reckons the spatial correlation to generate future weather quantities, though merely built by a single deterministic forecast, and is able to generate an ensemble of any size as well. This research conducts both BMA and GOP to generate the calibrated ensemble forecast for the daily temperature at few meteorological sites nearby Indonesia international airport.

Keywords: Bayesian Model Averaging, ensemble forecast, geostatistical output perturbation, numerical weather prediction, temperature

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Authors: Aarati Susan Mathew, Radhika Narendra Patel, Jiji Mathew

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A retrospective study conducted at Christian Medical College (CMC) Teaching Hospital, Vellore, India on 14th August 2014 to assess the accuracy of clinically estimated foetal weight upon labour admission. Estimating foetal weight is a crucial factor in assessing maternal and foetal complications during and after labour. Medical notes of ninety-eight postnatal women who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were studied to evaluate the correlation between their recorded Estimated Foetal Weight (EFW) on admission and actual birth weight (ABW) of the newborn after delivery. Data concerning maternal and foetal demographics was also noted. Accuracy was determined by absolute percentage error and proportion of estimates within 10% of ABW. Actual birth weights ranged from 950-4080g. A strong positive correlation between EFW and ABW (r=0.904) was noted. Term deliveries (≥40 weeks) in the normal weight range (2500-4000g) had a 59.5% estimation accuracy (n=74) compared to pre-term (<40 weeks) with an estimation accuracy of 0% (n=2). Out of the term deliveries, macrosomic babies (>4000g) were underestimated by 25% (n=3) and low birthweight (LBW) babies were overestimated by 12.7% (n=9). Registrars who estimated foetal weight were accurate in babies within normal weight ranges. However, there needs to be an improvement in predicting weight of macrosomic and LBW foetuses. We have suggested the use of an amended version of the Johnson’s formula for the Indian population for improvement and a need to re-audit once implemented.

Keywords: clinical palpation, estimated foetal weight, pregnancy, India, Johnson’s formula

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Authors: Zsanett Bahor, Cristina Nunes-Fonseca, Gillian L. Currie, Emily S. Sena, Lindsay D.G. Thomson, Malcolm R. Macleod

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Psychosis is ranked as the third most disabling medical condition in the world by the World Health Organization. Despite a substantial amount of research in recent years, available treatments are not universally effective and have a wide range of adverse side effects. Since many clinical drug candidates are identified through in vivo modelling, a deeper understanding of these models, and their strengths and limitations, might help us understand reasons for difficulties in psychosis drug development. To provide an unbiased summary of the preclinical psychosis literature we performed a systematic electronic search of PubMed for publications modelling a psychotic disorder in vivo, identifying 14,721 relevant studies. Double screening of 11,000 publications from this dataset so far established 2403 animal studies of psychosis, with the most common model being schizophrenia (95%). 61% of these models are induced using pharmacological agents. For all the models only 56% of publications test a therapeutic treatment. We propose a systematic review of these studies to assess the prevalence of reporting of measures to reduce risk of bias, and a meta-analysis to assess the internal and external validity of these animal models. Our findings are likely to be relevant to future preclinical studies of psychosis as this generation of strong empirical evidence has the potential to identify weaknesses, areas for improvement and make suggestions on refinement of experimental design. Such a detailed understanding of the data which inform what we think we know will help improve the current attrition rate between bench and bedside in psychosis research.

Keywords: animal models, psychosis, systematic review, schizophrenia

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Authors: Sara Ramos Contioso

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The premiere of Anton Bruckner's Requiem in Dm, in September 1849, represents a turning point in the composer's creative evolution. This Mass of the Dead, which was dedicated to the memory of his esteemed friend and mentor Franz Sailer, establishes the beginning of a new creative aesthetic in the composer´s production and links its liturgical development, which is contextualized in the monastery of St. Florian, to the use of a range of musicals possibilities that are projected by Bruckner on an orchestral texture with choir and organ. Set on a strict tridentine ritual model, this requiem exemplifies the religious aesthetics of a composer that is committed to the Catholic faith and that also links to its structure the reinterpretation of a religious model that, despite being romantic, shows a strong influence derived from the baroque or the Viennese Classicism language. Consequently, the study responds to the need to show the survival of the Requiem Mass within the romantic context of Vienna. Therefore, it draws on a detailed analysis of the score and the creative context of the composer with the intention of linking the work to the tradition of the genre and also specifying the stylistic particularities of its musical model within a variability of possibilities such as the contrasting precedents of Mozart, Haydn, Cherubini or Berlioz´s requiems. Tradition or modernity, liturgy or concert hall are aesthetic references that will condition the development of the Requiem Mass in the middle of the nineteenth century. In this context, this paper tries to recover Bruckner's Requiem in Dm as a musical model of the romantic ritual of deceased and as a stylistic reference of a creative composition that will condition the development of later liturgical works such as Liszt or DeLange (1868) ones.

Keywords: liturgy, religious symbolism, requiem, romanticism

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Authors: Sohair Hassan, Olfat Hammam, Sahar Hussein, Wessam Magdi

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Objective: Acute liver failure (ALF) is a clinical condition with an unclear history of pathophysiology, making it a challenging task for scientists to reverse the disease in its initial phase and to help the liver re-function customary: this study aimed to estimate the hepatoprotective effects of Punica granatum Lpeel and Pistacia atlantica leaves as a multi-rich antioxidants ingredients either in their normal and/or in their nanoforms against thioacetamide induced acute liver failure in a rodent model. Method: Male Wistar rats (n=60) were divided into six equal groups, the first group employed as a control; The second group administered a dose of 350 mg /Kg/ b.w of thioacetamide (TAA)-IP, from the third to the sixth group received TAA + [2mls / 100 g b.w/d] of aqueous extracts of Punica granatum L and Pistacia atlantica either in their normal and/or Nano forms consecutively for (14 days) Results: Recorded significant elevation in liver enzymes, lipid profiles, LPO (p= 0.05) and NO with a marked significant decrease in GSH and SOD accompanied by an elevation in inflammatory cytokine (IL6, TNF-α, and AFP) in addition to a noticeable increase in HSP70 level & degradation in DNA respectively in TAA challenged group. However significant and subsequent amelioration of most of the impaired markers was observed with ip nano treatment of both extracts. Conclusion: The current results highlighted the high performance of both plant nano extracts and their hepatoprotective impact and their possible therapeutic role in the amelioration of TAA induced acute liver failure in experimental animals.

Keywords: acute liver failure HPLC, IL6, nano extracts, thioacetamide, TNF-α

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Authors: Iting Chiang, Cheng-Yu Wei, Chin-Teng Kuo, Po-Sheng Hsu, Yo-Lun Yang, Yung-Chang Kang, Chien-Chon Chen, Chih-Yuan Chen

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In recent years, it is reported that microalloying of nitrogen atoms within traditional Cr-Mo-V hot work tool steels can achieve better high temperature mechanical properties, which thus leads to such metallurgical approach widely utilized in the several commercial advanced hot work tool steels. Although the performance of hot work tool steel can be improved better by alloy composition design strategy, the influence of processing parameters on the mechanical property, especially on the service life of hot work tool steel, is still not fully understood yet. A longer service life of hot work tool steel can decrease the manufacturing cost effectively and thus become a research hot spot. According to several previous studies, it is generally acknowledged the service life of hot work tool steels can be increased effectively as the steels possessing higher hardness and toughness due to the formation and propagation of microcracks within the steel can be inhibited effectively. Therefore, in the present research, the designed experiments are primarily to explore the synergistic effect of nitrogen content and austenitization conditioning on the mechanical properties of hot work tool steels has been conducted and analyzed. No matter the nitrogen content, the results indicated the hardness of hot work tool steels increased as the austenitization treatment executed at higher temperature. On the other hand, an optimum toughness of hot work tool steel can be achieved as the austenitization treatment performed at a suitable temperature range. The possible explanation of such metallurgical phenomenon has been also proposed and analyzed in the present research.

Keywords: hot work tool steel, Cr-Mo-V, toughness, hardness, TEM

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Authors: E. Syngelaki, C. C. F. Schinkel, S. Klatt, E. Hörandl

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Environmental influence can alter the conditions for plant development and can trigger changes in epigenetic variation. Thus, the exposure to abiotic environmental stress can lead to different DNA methylation profiles and may have evolutionary consequences for adaptation. Epigenetic control mechanisms may further influence mode of reproduction. The alpine species R. kuepferi has diploid and tetraploid cytotypes, that are mostly sexual and facultative apomicts, respectively. Hence, it is a suitable model system for studying the correlations of mode of reproduction, ploidy, and environmental stress. Diploid and tetraploid individuals were placed in two climate chambers and treated with low (+7°C day/+2°C night, -1°C cold shocks for three nights per week) and warm (control) temperatures (+15°C day/+10°C night). Subsequently, methylation sensitive-Amplified Fragment-Length Polymorphism (AFPL) markers were used to screen genome-wide methylation alterations triggered by stress treatments. The dataset was analyzed for four groups regarding treatment (cold/warm) and ploidy level (diploid/tetraploid), and also separately for full methylated, hemi-methylated and unmethylated sites. Patterns of epigenetic variation suggested that diploids differed significantly in their profiles from tetraploids independent from treatment, while treatments did not differ significantly within cytotypes. Furthermore, diploids are more differentiated than the tetraploids in overall methylation profiles of both treatments. This observation is in accordance with the increased frequency of apomictic seed formation in diploids and maintenance of facultative apomixis in tetraploids during the experiment. Global analysis of molecular variance showed higher epigenetic variation within groups than among them, while locus-by-locus analysis of molecular variance showed a high number (54.7%) of significantly differentiated un-methylated loci. To summarise, epigenetic variation seems to depend on ploidy level, and in diploids may be correlated to changes in mode of reproduction. However, further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanism and possible functional significance of these correlations.

Keywords: apomixis, cold stress, DNA methylation, Ranunculus kuepferi

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Authors: Farzad Shidfar, Najmeh Rostami, Ziaodin Mazhari, Fatemeh Hosseini Baharanchi

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Background and Aim: The rate of failure to maintain a reduced weight has been increased. By definition, people who regain about one-third to two-thirds of their lost weight after one year from the end of the dietary treatment and return all the lost weight after 5 years it is called weight regain. This study was performed to find the causes of weight regain and its relationship with biochemical and psychological factors. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed by reviewing the files of people who followed the dietary treatment in 1397-1398.seventy-three persons was in the weight regain group, and seventy-three people were in the weight maintenance group. Psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, quality of life, physical activity, and dietary frequency were assessed through a questionnaire, and biochemical factors such as serum insulin and fasting blood sugar were measured. The mean basal energy in the weight regain group was significantly higher than the weight maintenance group (p = 0.004). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food intake and inflammatory index of food. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food intake and inflammatory index of food. Mean serum insulin concentration (p = 0.023), mean fasting blood sugar (p = 0.04) and insulin resistance (p = 0.013) in the weight regain group were higher than the weight maintenance group. The weight maintenance group showed higher insulin sensitivity than the weight regain group (p = 0.005). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of psychological indicators. Conclusion: The only body mass index after one year from the end of the treatment period, insulin sensitivity, serum insulin concentration, fasting blood sugar, insulin resistance, selenium intake, and basal energy expenditure Specific and significant with weight regain. However, the significance of insulin resistance, basal energy expenditure, and body mass index after one year from the end of the treatment period was higher than other variables in the weight regain group.

Keywords: body weight maintenance, weight regain, insulin resistance, insulin sensitivity

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Authors: G. W. Greubel, A. Kalam

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This paper provides a review of the technical problems facing the South African electricity system and discusses a hypothetical ‘virtual grid’ concept that may assist in solving the problems. The proposed solution has potential application across emerging markets with constrained power infrastructure or for companies who wish to be entirely powered by renewable energy. South Africa finds itself at a confluence of forces where the national electricity supply system is constrained with under-supply primarily from old and failing coal-fired power stations and congested and inadequate transmission and distribution systems. Simultaneously, the country attempts to meet carbon reduction targets driven by both an alignment with international goals and a consumer-driven requirement. The constrained electricity system is an aspect of an economy characterized by very low economic growth, high unemployment, and frequent and significant load shedding. The fiscus does not have the funding to build new generation capacity or strengthen the grid. The under-supply is increasingly alleviated by the penetration of wind and solar generation capacity and embedded roof-top solar. However, this increased penetration results in less inertia, less synchronous generation, and less capability for fast frequency response, with resultant instability. The renewable energy facilities assist in solving the under-supply issues but merely ‘kick the can down the road’ by not contributing to grid stability or by substituting the lost inertia, thus creating an expanding issue for the grid to manage. By technically balancing its electricity demand and supply a company with facilities located across the country can be protected from the effects of load shedding, and thus ensure financial and production performance, protect jobs, and contribute meaningfully to the economy. By treating the company’s load (across the country) and its various distributed generation facilities as a ‘virtual grid’, which by design will provide ancillary services to the grid one is able to create a win-win situation for both the company and the grid.

Keywords: load shedding, renewable energy integration, smart grid, virtual grid, virtual power plant

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Authors: Imam Taufiqurrahman, Anugrah Adiwilaga, Egi Hidayat, Bambang Riyanto Trilaksono

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Autonomous Underwater Vehicle glider is one of the renewal of underwater vehicles. This vehicle is one of the autonomous underwater vehicles that are being developed in Indonesia. Glide ability is obtained by controlling the buoyancy and attitude of the vehicle using the movers within the vehicle. The glider motion mechanism is expected to provide energy resistance from autonomous underwater vehicles so as to increase the cruising range of rides while performing missions. The control system on the vehicle consists of three parts: controlling the attitude of the pitch, the buoyancy engine controller and the yaw controller. The buoyancy and pitch controls on the vehicle are sequentially referring to the finite state machine with pitch angle and depth of diving inputs to obtain a gliding cycle. While the yaw control is done through the rudder for the needs of the guide system. This research is focused on design and implementation of control system of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle glider based on PID anti-windup. The control system is implemented on an ARM TS-7250-V2 device along with a mathematical model of the vehicle in MATLAB using the hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) method. The TS-7250-V2 is chosen because it complies industry standards, has high computing capability, minimal power consumption. The results show that the control system in HILS process can form glide cycle with depth and angle of operation as desired. In the implementation using half control and full control mode, from the experiment can be concluded in full control mode more precision when tracking the reference. While half control mode is considered more efficient in carrying out the mission.

Keywords: control system, PID, underwater glider, marine robotics

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Authors: Benselama Amel, Ounane S. Mohamed, Bekki Abdelkader

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A collection of 20 isolates from fresh Nodules of the legume plant Lablab purpureus was isolated. These isolates have been authenticated by seedling inoculation grown in jars containing sand. The results obtained after two months of culture have revealed that the 20 isolates (100% of the isolates) are able to nodulate their host plants. The results obtained were analyzed statistically by ANOVA using the software statistica and had shown that the effect of the inoculation has significantly improved all the growth parameters (the height of the plant and the dry weight of the aerial parts and roots, and the number of nodules). We have evaluated the tolerance of all strains of the collection to the major stress factors as the salinity, pH and extreme temperature. The osmotolerance reached a concentration up to 1710mm of NaCl. The strains were also able to grow on a wide range of pH, ranging from 4.5 to 9.5, and temperature, between 4°C and 40°C. Also, we tested the effect of the acidity, aluminum and ferric deficit on the Lablab-rhizobia symbiosis. Lablab purpureus has not been affected by the presence of high concentrations of aluminum. On the other hand, iron deficiency has caused a net decrease in the dry biomass of the aerial part. The results of all the phenotypic characters have been treated by the statistical Minitab software, the numerical analysis had shown that these bacterial strains are divided into two distinct groups at a level of similarity of 86 %. The SDS-PAGE was carried out to determine the profile of the total protein of the strains. The coefficients of similarity of polypeptide bands between the isolates and strains reference (Bradyrhizobium, Mesorizobium sp.) confirm that our strain belongs to the groups of rhizobia.

Keywords: SDS-PAGE, rhizobia, symbiosis, phenotypic characterization, Lablab purpureus

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Authors: Samira Ghasempourkazemi

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In terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, lots of mutations in the urban system, which have systemic impacts, have clearly appeared. COVID-19 not only had a direct impact on health but also caused significant losses to other departments, including the economy, education, tourism, environment and the construction industry. Therefore, the pandemic caused a disruption in the whole urban system. Particularly, today’s large urban areas are not designed in order to be compatible during a pandemic. Hence, cities are more vulnerable to infectious disease threats according to the population density, built environment and socioeconomic aspects. Considering the direct relationship between population and rate of infection, higher rates are given to those individuals located in areas with high-density populations. Population density can be a factor that seems to have a strong impact on the spread of infectious diseases. Thus, the preliminary hypothesis can be related to a densely populated areas which become hotspots for the rapid spread of the pandemic due to high levels of interaction. In addition, some other indicators can be effective in this condition, such as age range, education and socio-economy. To figure out the measure of infectious disease risk in densely populated areas in Istanbul is an objective of this study. Besides, this study intends to figure out Vulnerability Index in the case of COVID-19. In order to achieve the proper result, the considered method can be Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) by involving the mentioned variables. In the end, the study represents the COVID Vulnerability of densely populated areas in a metro city and the gaps that need to be identified and plugged for the pandemic-resilience city of tomorrow.

Keywords: infectious disease, COVID-19, urban system, densely populated area

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Authors: S. M. Samkeyat Shohan

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This study is mainly focused on the determination and analysis of the photolysis rate of atmospheric, specifically tropospheric, ozone as function of cloud properties through-out the year 2007. The observational basis for ozone concentrations and cloud properties are the measurement data set of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) sensor on board the polar orbiting Metop-A satellite. Two different spectral ranges are used; ozone total column are calculated from the wavelength window 325 – 335 nm, while cloud properties, such as cloud top height (CTH) and cloud optical thick-ness (COT) are derived from the absorption band of molecular oxygen centered at 761 nm. Cloud fraction (CF) is derived from measurements in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared range of GOME-2. First, ozone concentrations above clouds are derived from ozone total columns, subtracting the contribution of stratospheric ozone and filtering those satellite measurements which have thin and low clouds. Then, the values of ozone photolysis derived from observations are compared with theoretical modeled results, in the latitudinal belt 5˚N-5˚S and 20˚N - 20˚S, as function of CF and COT. In general, good agreement is found between the data and the model, proving both the quality of the space-borne ozone and cloud properties as well as the modeling theory of ozone photolysis rate. The found discrepancies can, however, amount to approximately 15%. Latitudinal seasonal changes of photolysis rate of ozone are found to be negatively correlated to changes in upper-tropospheric ozone concentrations only in the autumn and summer months within the northern and southern tropical belts, respectively. This fact points to the entangled roles of temperature and nitrogen oxides in the ozone production, which are superimposed on its sole photolysis induced by thick and high clouds in the tropics.

Keywords: cloud properties, photolysis rate, stratospheric ozone, tropospheric ozone

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Authors: Svetlana Strinyuk, Viacheslav Lanin

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Academic English has become lingua franca for international scientific community which stimulates universities to introduce English for Specific Purposes (EAP) courses into curriculum. Teaching L2 EAP students might be fulfilled with corpus technologies and digital stylistics. A special software developed to reach the manifold task of teaching, assessing and researching academic writing of L2 students on basis of digital stylistics and multidimensional analysis was created. A set of annotations (style markers) – grammar, lexical and syntactic features most significant of academic writing was built. Contrastive comparison of two corpora “model corpus”, subject domain limited papers published by competent writers in leading academic journals, and “students’ corpus”, subject domain limited papers written by last year students allows to receive data about the features of academic writing underused or overused by L2 EAP student. Both corpora are tagged with a special software created in GATE Developer. Style markers within the framework of research might be replaced depending on the relevance and validity of the result which is achieved from research corpora. Thus, selecting relevant (high frequency) style markers and excluding less relevant, i.e. less frequent annotations, high validity of the model is achieved. Software allows to compare the data received from processing model corpus to students’ corpus and get reports which can be used in teaching and assessment. The less deviation from the model corpus students demonstrates in their writing the higher is academic writing skill acquisition. The research showed that several style markers (hedging devices) were underused by L2 EAP students whereas lexical linking devices were used excessively. A special software implemented into teaching of EAP courses serves as a successful visual aid, makes assessment more valid; it is indicative of the degree of writing skill acquisition, and provides data for further research.

Keywords: corpus technologies in EAP teaching, multidimensional analysis, GATE Developer, corpus stylistics

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Authors: M. A. Alqahtani, D. P. Coleman, N. D. Pugh, L. D. M. Nokes

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In diagnostic ultrasound, the echo graphic B-scan texture is an important area of investigation since it can be analyzed to characterize the histological state of internal tissues. An important factor requiring consideration when evaluating ultrasonic tissue texture is the depth. The effect of attenuation with depth of ultrasound, the size of the region of interest, gain, and dynamic range are important variables to consider as they can influence the analysis of texture features. These sources of variability have to be considered carefully when evaluating image texture as different settings might influence the resultant image. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of depth on the texture features in-vivo using a 3D ultrasound probe. The left leg medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle of 10 healthy subjects were scanned. Two regions A and B were defined at different depth within the gastrocnemius muscle boundary. The size of both ROI’s was 280*20 pixels and the distance between region A and B was kept constant at 5 mm. Texture parameters include gray level, variance, skewness, kurtosis, co-occurrence matrix; run length matrix, gradient, autoregressive (AR) model and wavelet transform were extracted from the images. The paired t –test was used to test the depth effect for the normally distributed data and the Wilcoxon–Mann-Whitney test was used for the non-normally distributed data. The gray level, variance, and run length matrix were significantly lowered when the depth increased. The other texture parameters showed similar values at different depth. All the texture parameters showed no significant difference between depths A and B (p > 0.05) except for gray level, variance and run length matrix (p < 0.05). This indicates that gray level, variance, and run length matrix are depth dependent.

Keywords: ultrasound image, texture parameters, computational biology, biomedical engineering

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Authors: Chongtham Jiten, K. Chandramani Singh, Radhapiyari Laishram

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Nanocrystalline powders of the lead-free piezoelectric material, tantalum-substituted potassium sodium niobate (K0.5Na0.5)(Nb0.9Ta0.1)O3 (KNNT), were produced using a Retsch PM100 planetary ball mill by setting the milling time to 15h, 20h, 25h, 30h, 35h and 40h, at a fixed speed of 250rpm. The average particle size of the milled powders was found to decrease from 12nm to 3nm as the milling time increases from 15h to 25h, which is in agreement with the existing theoretical model. An anomalous increase to 98nm and then a drop to 3nm in the particle size were observed as the milling time further increases to 30h and 40h respectively. Various sizes of these starting KNNT powders were used to investigate the effect of milling time on the microstructure, dielectric properties, phase transitions and piezoelectric properties of the resulting KNNT ceramics. The particle size of starting KNNT was somewhat proportional to the grain size. As the milling time increases from 15h to 25h, the resulting ceramics exhibit enhancement in the values of relative density from 94.8% to 95.8%, room temperature dielectric constant (εRT) from 878 to 1213, and piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) from 108pC/N to 128pC/N. For this range of ceramic samples, grain size refinement suppresses the maximum dielectric constant (εmax), shifts the Curie temperature (Tc) to a lower temperature and the orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition (Tot) to a higher temperature. Further increase of milling time from 25h to 40h produces a gradual degradation in the values of relative density, εRT, and d33 of the resulting ceramics.

Keywords: perovskite, dielectric, ceramics, high-energy milling

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Authors: Intissar Farid

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Groundwater quality assessment is crucial for sustainable water use, especially in semi-arid regions like the Jeloula basin in Tunisia, where groundwater is essential for domestic and agricultural needs. The present research aims to characterize the suitability of groundwater for irrigational purposes by considering various parameters: total salt concentration as measured by Electrical Conductivity EC, relative proportions of Na⁺ as expressed by %Na and SAR, Kelly’s ratio, Permeability Index, Magnesium hazard and Residual Sodium chloride. Chemical data indicate that the percent sodium (%Na) in the study area ranged from 26.3 to 45.3%. According to the Wilcox diagram, the quality classification of irrigation water suggests that analyzed groundwaters are suitable for irrigation purposes. The SAR values vary between 2.1 and 5. Most of the groundwater samples plot in the Richards’C3S1 water class and indicate little danger from sodium content to soil and plant growth. The Kelly’s ratio of the analyzed samples ranged from 0.3 to 0.8. These values indicate that the waters are fit for agricultural purposes. Magnesium hazard (MH) values range from 27.5 to 52.6, with an average of 38.9 in the analyzed waters. Hence, the Mg²⁺ content of the groundwater from the shallow aquifer cannot cause any problem to the soil permeability. Permeability index (PI) values computed for the area ranged from 33.6 to 52.7%. The above result, therefore, suggests that most of the water samples fall within class I of the Doneen chart and can be categorized as good irrigation water. The groundwaters collected from the Jeloula shallow aquifer were found to be within the safe limits and thus suitable for irrigation purposes.

Keywords: Kelly's ratio, magnesium hazard, permeability index, residual sodium chloride

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Authors: Adewole Taiwo Adelabu

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The study investigated the factors militating the organization of intramural sports programs in secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to identify the factors affecting the organization of sports in secondary schools and also to proffer possible solutions to these factors. The study employed the inferential statistics of chi-square (x2). Five research hypotheses were formulated. The population for the study was all the students in the government-owned secondary schools in Ekiti West Local Government of Ekiti State Nigeria. The sample for the study was 60 students in three schools within the local government selected through simple random sampling techniques. The instrument used for the study was a self-developed questionnaire by the researcher for data collection. The instrument was presented to experts and academicians in the field of Human Kinetics and Health Education for construct and content validation. A reliability test was conducted which involves 10 students who are not part of the study. The test-retest coefficient of 0.74 was obtained which attested to the fact that the instrument was reliable enough for the study. The validated questionnaire was administered to the students in their various schools by the researcher with the help of two research assistants; the questionnaires were filled and returned to the researcher immediately. The data collected were analyzed using the descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentage and mean to analyze demographic data in section A of the questionnaire, while inferential statistics of chi-square was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The results of the study revealed that personnel, fund, schedule (time) were significant factors that affect the organization of intramural sport programs among students in secondary schools in Ekiti West Local Government Area of the State. The study also revealed that organization of intramural sports programs among students of secondary schools will improve and motivate students’ participation in sports beyond the local level. However, facilities and equipment is not a significant factor affecting the organization of intramural sports among secondary school students in Ekiti West Local Government Area.

Keywords: challenge, intramural sport, militating, programmes

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Authors: Robert G. Nini

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Soil consolidation is one of the biggest problem facing engineers. The consolidation process has an important role in settlement analysis for the embankments and footings resting on clayey soils. The settlement amount is related to the compression and the swelling indexes of the soil. Because the predominant upper soil layer in Lebanon is consisting mainly of clay, this layer is a real challenge for structural and highway engineering. To determine the effect of load and drainage on the engineering consolidation characteristics of Lebanese soil, a full experimental and synthesis study was conducted on different soil samples collected from many locations. This study consists of two parts. During the first part which is an experimental one, the Proctor test and the consolidation test were performed on the collected soil samples. After it, the identifications soil tests as hydrometer, specific gravity and Atterberg limits are done. The consolidation test which is the main test in this research is done by loading the soil for some days then an unloading cycle was applied. It takes two weeks to complete a typical consolidation test. Because of these reasons, during the second part of our research which is based on the analysis of the experiments results, some correlations were found between the main consolidation parameters as compression and swelling indexes with the other soil parameters easy to calculate. The results show that the compression and swelling indexes of Lebanese clays may be roughly estimated using a model involving one or two variables in the form of the natural void ratio and the Atterberg limits. These correlations have increasing importance for site engineers, and the proposed model also seems to be applicable to a wide range of clays worldwide.

Keywords: atterberg limits, clay, compression and swelling indexes, settlement, soil consolidation

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Authors: Manal Suleiman, George Abu-Aqil, Uraib Sharaha, Klaris Riesenberg, Itshak Lapidot, Ahmad Salman, Mahmoud Huleihel

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Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most aggressive multidrug-resistant bacteria associated with human infections resulting in high mortality and morbidity. Thus, for an effective treatment, it is important to diagnose both the species of infecting bacteria and their susceptibility to antibiotics. Current used methods for diagnosing the bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics are time-consuming (about 24h following the first culture). Thus, there is a clear need for rapid methods to determine the bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. Infrared spectroscopy is a well-known method that is known as sensitive and simple which is able to detect minor biomolecular changes in biological samples associated with developing abnormalities. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the potential of infrared spectroscopy in tandem with Random Forest and XGBoost machine learning algorithms to diagnose the susceptibility of Klebsiella pneumoniae to antibiotics within approximately 20 minutes following the first culture. In this study, 1190 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were obtained from different patients with urinary tract infections. The isolates were measured by the infrared spectrometer, and the spectra were analyzed by machine learning algorithms Random Forest and XGBoost to determine their susceptibility regarding nine specific antibiotics. Our results confirm that it was possible to classify the isolates into sensitive and resistant to specific antibiotics with a success rate range of 80%-85% for the different tested antibiotics. These results prove the promising potential of infrared spectroscopy as a powerful diagnostic method for determining the Klebsiella pneumoniae susceptibility to antibiotics.

Keywords: urinary tract infection (UTI), Klebsiella pneumoniae, bacterial susceptibility, infrared spectroscopy, machine learning

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Authors: I Putu Yuda Hananta, Inke Kusumastuti

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The latest Indonesian Biology and Behavior Surveillance (IBBS) conducted by Indonesian Ministry of Health reported a large proportion of men who have sex with men (MSM) engaging in oral sex in their recent sexual history. While it is considered as a pleasuring and safe, oral sex might facilitate the transmission of various sexually transmitted infection (STI) pathogens. This study was aimed to investigate the oral sex practice among MSM in Indonesian urban settings to help delineate demographic and behavior determinants of such practice. In 2014, 501 MSM in 8 clinic-based and outreach STI services were recruited in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Denpasar, Indonesia. Respondents completed a self-administered questionnaire inquiring about their demographics and sexual history. Median age (interquartile range) of the respondents was 27 (24-30) years; most completed senior high school (54.3%), worked in informal jobs (57.9%), and single (60.9%); and 32.3% reported receiving money in exchange for sex. Oral sex was practiced by most respondents: insertive only (10.0%), receptive only (6.0%), and both (82.4%). A separate multivariable analysis was performed using logistic regression to identify the determinants for receptive and insertive oral sex. Factors associated with receptive oral sex were having more than 10 sex partner(s) in the preceding 6 months vs 1 partner, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) [95% CI]=3.40 [1.22-9.42], p=0.03; and history of receptive-insertive anal sex vs no history, aOR=4.37 [1.76-10.82], p=0.01. Factors associated with insertive oral sex were receiving money for sex vs. not receiving, aOR=2.98 [1.10-8.04], p=0.02; and history of receptive-insertive anal sex vs. no history, aOR=2.10 [0.51-8.74], p<0.001. Only a few respondents reported consistent condom use (11.6% and 12.0% for receptive and insertive oral sex, respectively). Our findings demonstrated that while oral sex is a common practice among MSM, the consistency of condom use in oral sex is very low. In addition, certain sex behavior (number of sex partners, sex work and history of anal sex) were associated with oral sex, and this might need to be addressed during health promotion efforts on STI prevention through oral-genital contact.

Keywords: behavior, Indonesia, men who have sex with men, oral sex

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Authors: Md Imtiaz, Sanchita Dei, Shubham Damke

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In recent years, there has been a rapidly accelerating shift from traditional surface processing operations to subsea processing operation. This shift has been driven by a number of factors including the depletion of shallow fields around the world, technological advances in subsea processing equipment, the need for production from marginal fields, and lower initial upfront investment costs compared to traditional production facilities. Moving production facilities to the seafloor offers a number of advantage, including a reduction in field development costs, increased production rates from subsea wells, reduction in the need for chemical injection, minimization of risks to worker ,reduction in spills due to hurricane damage, and increased in oil production by enabling production from marginal fields. Subsea processing consists of a range of technologies for separation, pumping, compression that enables production from offshore well without the need for surface facilities. At present, there are two primary technologies being used for subsea processing: subsea multiphase pumping and subsea separation. Multiphase pumping is the most basic subsea processing technology. Multiphase pumping involves the use of boosting system to transport the multiphase mixture through pipelines to floating production vessels. The separation system is combined with single phase pumps or water would be removed and either pumped to the surface, re-injected, or discharged to the sea. Subsea processing can allow for an entire topside facility to be decommissioned and the processed fluids to be tied back to a new, more distant, host. This type of application reduces costs and increased both overall facility and integrity and recoverable reserve. In future, full subsea processing could be possible, thereby eliminating the need for surface facilities.

Keywords: FPSO, marginal field, Subsea processing, SWAG

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Authors: Raouf Alizadeh, Kadijeh Hemmati

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The aim of this study is to synthesize several series of hydrogels from combination of a natural based polymer (Quince seed mucilage QSD), a synthetic copolymer contained methoxy poly ethylene glycol -polycaprolactone (mPEG-PCL) in the presence of different amount of multi-walled carbon nanotube (f-MWNT). Mono epoxide functionalized mPEG (mP EG-EP) was synthesized and reacted with sodium azide in the presence of NH4Cl to afford mPEG- N3(-OH). Then ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ε–caprolactone (CL) in the presence of mPEG- N3(-OH) as initiator and Sn(Oct)2 as catalyst led to preparation of mPEG-PCL- N3(-OH ) which was grafted onto propagylated f-MWNT by the click reaction to obtain mPEG-PCL- f-MWNT (-OH ). In the presence of mPEG- N3(-Br) and mixture of NHS/DCC/ QSD, hybrid hydrogels were successfully synthesized. The copolymers and hydrogels were characterized using different techniques such as, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The gel content of hydrogels showed dependence on the weight ratio of QSD:mPEG-PCL:f-MWNT. The swelling behavior of the prepared hydrogels was also studied under variation of pH, immersion time, and temperature. According to the results, the swelling behavior of the prepared hydrogels showed significant dependence in the gel content, pH, immersion time and temperature. The highest swelling was observed at room temperature, in 60 min and at pH 8. The loading and in-vitro release of quercetin as a model drug were investigated at pH of 2.2 and 7.4, and the results showed that release rate at pH 7.4 was faster than that at pH 2.2. The total loading and release showed dependence on the network structure of hydrogels and were in the range of 65- 91%. In addition, the cytotoxicity and release kinetics of the prepared hydrogels were also investigated.

Keywords: antioxidant, drug delivery, Quince Seed Mucilage(QSD), swelling behavior

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Authors: Mohsin Raza, Rizwan Latif, Syed Adnan Qasim, Imran Shafi

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High torque low-speed diesel engine has a wide range of industrial and commercial applications. In literature, it’s found that lot of work has been done for the high-speed diesel engine and research on High Torque low-speed is rare. The fuel injection plays a key role in the efficiency of engine and reduction in exhaust emission. The fuel breakup plays a critical role in air-fuel mixture and spray combustion. The current study explains numerically an important phenomenon in spray combustion which is deformation and breakup of liquid drops in compression ignition internal combustion engine. The secondary breakup and its influence on spray and characteristics of compressed gas in-cylinder have been calculated by using simulation software in the backdrop of high torque low-speed diesel like conditions. The secondary spray breakup is modeled with KH - RT instabilities. The continuous field is described by turbulence model and dynamics of the dispersed droplet is modeled by Lagrangian tracking scheme. The results by using KH - RT model are compared against other default methods in OpenFOAM and published experimental data from research and implemented in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). These numerical simulation, done in OpenFoam and Matlab, results are analyzed for the complete 720- degree 4 stroke engine cycle at a low engine speed, for favorable agreement to be achieved. Results thus obtained will be analyzed for better evaporation in near nozzle region. The proposed analyses will further help in better engine efficiency, low emission and improved fuel economy.

Keywords: diesel fuel, KH-RT, Lagrangian , Open FOAM, secondary breakup

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Authors: Ahmed A. Abd El Rahim, Mohamed M. M. Essa, Magdy M. A. Shabana, Said A. Mohamed, Mohamed Ibrahim Mabrouk

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Background: Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction is considered the main cause of pregnancy-related back pain, which may continue to persist postnatally. Myofascial release technique (MFR) is an application of low-intensity, prolonged stretch to myofascial structures to improve function by increasing the sliding properties of restricted myofascial tissues. Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the effect of MFR on postnatal SIJ hypo-mobility. Materials and Methods: Fifty postnatal women complaining of SIJ hypo-mobility participated in this study. Their ages ranged from 26 to 35 yrs., and their body mass index (BMI) didn`t exceed 30 kg/m2. They were randomly assigned to two equal groups, group A (Gr. A) and group B (Gr. B). Both groups received three sessions per week for eight successive weeks. Gr. A received a traditional physical therapy program, while Gr. B received a traditional physical therapy program in addition to MFR. Doppler imaging of vibration was utilized to measure SIJ mobility pre- and post-intervention, and an electronic digital goniometer was used to measure back flexion and extension Range of motion. Results: Findings revealed a statistical improvement in post-intervention values of SIJ mobility in addition to trunk flexion and extension ROM in Gr. B compared to Gr. A (P<0.001). Conclusion: Adding MFR to traditional physical therapy programs is highly recommended in the treatment of SIJ hypo-mobility in postnatal women.

Keywords: sacroiliac hypo-mobility, sacroiliac dysfunction, myofascial release technique, traditional physical therapy, postnatal

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Authors: Ana Lambelho

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Nowadays is very common that an activity may be performed independently or dependently. In Portugal, the Labour Law exclusively protects the dependent labour relations. The independent work is regulated by civil law, where the autonomy of the will is the main principle. For companies is more advantageous to hire people under a service agreement since, in that case, the relation is not submitted to the limits established in Labour law and collective bargaining. This practice has nothing wrong, if the performance of work is, in fact, made autonomously. The problem is the increased frequency of the celebration of service agreements to hide a legal relation of subordination. Aware of this and regarding the huge difficulty to demonstrate the existence of subordinated work (that often runs against the employee), the Portuguese legislator devoted some legislative rules in order to facilitate the evidence of legal subordination and, on the other hand, to avoid the misuse of the provision of service agreements. This study focuses precisely on the analysis of this solution, namely the so-called presumption of ‘laboralidade’ and on the lawsuit to recognize the existence of a labour contract. The presumption of the existence of a labour contract is present in the Portuguese legal system since 2003, and received, with the 2009 Labour Code, a new redaction that, according to the doctrine and the jurisprudence, finally approached it to a legal presumption, with the consequent reversal of the burden of proof and, in consequence, made easier to proof the legal subordination, because the employee will just have to plead and prove the existence of two of the elements described in the law to use this presumption. Another change in the Portuguese legal framework is related with the competencies of the Authority for Working Conditions (AWC): now, if during an inspection, the Authority finds a situation that seems to be an undeclared employment situation, it may access the company and, if it does not regularize voluntarily the situation, AWC has a duty to communicate to the public prosecutor, who will begin the lawsuit for the recognition of the existence of an employment contract. To defend the public interest, the action to recognize the existence of an employment contract will follow its terms, even against the employee will. Although the existence of these mechanisms does not solve by itself the problem of evasion of labour law and false ‘green receipts’, it is undeniable that it is an important step in combating fraud in this field.

Keywords: independent work, labour contract, Portugal, service agreement

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