Search results for: high strain rate

Authors: Fuad M. Alkoot

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The main component of a machine learning system is the classifier. Classifiers are mathematical models that can perform classification tasks for a specific application area. Additionally, many classifiers are combined using any of the available methods to reduce the classifier error rate. The benefits gained from the combination of multiple classifier designs has motivated the development of diverse approaches to multiple classifiers. We aim to investigate using fractal geometry to develop an improved classifier combiner. Initially we experiment with measuring the fractal dimension of data and use the results in the development of a combiner strategy.

Keywords: fractal geometry, machine learning, classifier, fractal dimension

Procedia PDF Downloads 197

Authors: So Young Kim, Eun-Young Kwon, Bora Choi, Mi Kyeong Yu, Seon Jeong Lee, Myung-Sook Choi

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Lemon (Citrus limon) has various beneficial effect. Eriocitrin (eriodictyol 7-rutinoside) is the main ingredient of lemon fruit and is known to have antioxidative effects. However, there has been little research about the effects of eriocitrin on obesity and regulation of lipid profiles levels. In the present study, we investigated the anti-obesity and lipid-lowering effects of eriocitrin in mice fed high-fat diet (HFD). The 4 week-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into two groups and were fed HFD (20% fat, w/w) and HFD supplemented with eriocitrin (0.005%, w/w, EC) for 16 weeks. Food intake, body weight and white adipose tissue weight (WAT) were measured and plasma free fatty acid (FFA), apolipoprotein (Apo) B100 level and hepatic enzyme activity were analyzed. No differences were shown between the HFD and EC groups in body weight and food intake. However EC supplementation significantly reduced the weights of epididymal, subcutaneous and total WAT. In addition, the levels of plasma FFA and Apo B100 were significantly decreased in the EC group compared with the HFD group. Moreover, the activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and malic enzyme (ME) related to fatty acids synthesis were significantly lower in the EC group than in the HFD group in liver. Therefore, this study indicates that eriocitrin has beneficial effects on adiposity and nonalcholic fatty liver diseases by modulating hepatic lipid-regulating enzyme activities and plasma lipid profile.

Keywords: antiobesity, eriocitrin, high fat diet, lipid lowering

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Authors: Ashish Bohre, Blaž Likozar, Saikat Dutta, Dionisios G. Vlachos, Basudeb Saha

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Graphene oxide, decorated with surface oxygen functionalities, has emerged as a sustainable alternative to precious metal catalysts for many reactions. Herein, we report for the first time that graphene oxide becomes super active for C-C coupling upon incorporation of multilayer crystalline features, highly oxidized surface, Brønsted acidic functionalities and defect sites on the surface and edges via modified oxidation. The resulting improved graphene oxide (IGO) demonstrates superior activity to commonly used framework zeolites for upgrading of low carbon biomass furanics to long carbon chain aviation fuel precursors. A maximum 95% yield of C15 fuel precursor with high selectivity is obtained at low temperature (60 C) and neat conditions via hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA) of 2-methylfuran (2-MF) and furfural. The coupling of 2-MF with carbonyl molecules ranging from C3 to C6 produced the precursors of carbon numbers 12 to 21. The catalyst becomes inactive in the 4th cycle due to the loss of oxygen functionalities, defect sites and multilayer features; however, regains comparable activity upon regeneration. Extensive microscopic and spectroscopic characterization of the fresh and reused IGO is presented to elucidate high activity of IGO and to establish a correlation between activity and surface and structural properties. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are presented to further illustrate the surface features and the reaction mechanism.

Keywords: methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, biomass, monomer, solid base catalyst

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Ayman M. El-Zahaby, Ahmed S. El-Gendy

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Aeration for wastewater is essential for the proper operation of aerobic treatment units where the wastewater normally has zero dissolved oxygen. This is due to the need of oxygen by the aerobic microorganisms to grow and survive. Typical aeration units for wastewater treatment require electric energy for their operation such as mechanical aerators or diffused aerators. The passive units are units that operate without the need of electric energy such as cascade aerators, spray aerators and tray aerators. In contrary to the cascade aerators and spray aerators, tray aerators require much smaller area foot print for their installation as the treatment stages are arranged vertically. To the extent of the authors knowledge, the design of tray aerators for the aeration purpose has not been presented in the literature. The current research concerns with an analytical study for the design of tray aerators for the purpose of increasing the dissolved oxygen in wastewater treatment systems, including an investigation on different design parameters and their impact on the aeration efficiency. The studied aerator shall act as an intermediate stage between an anaerobic primary treatment unit and an aerobic treatment unit for small scale treatment systems. Different free falling flow regimes were investigated, and the thresholds for transition between regimes were obtained from the literature. The study focused on the jetting flow regime between trays. Starting from the two film theory, an equation that relates the dissolved oxygen concentration effluent from the system was derived as a function of the flow rate, number of trays, tray area, spacing between trays, number and diameter of holes and the water temperature. A MATLab ® model was developed for the derived equation. The expected aeration efficiency under different tray configurations and operating conditions were illustrated through running the model with varying the design parameters. The impact of each parameter was illustrated. The overall system efficiency was found to increase by decreasing the hole diameter. On the other side, increasing the number of trays, tray area, flow rate per hole or tray spacing had positive effect on the system efficiency.

Keywords: aeration, analytical, passive, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Ola A. Nassr, Ali M. Abd Alridha, Rua A. Naser, Rasha S. Abbas

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Background: Excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents among hospitalized patients remains an important patient safety and public health issue worldwide. Not only does this behavior incur unnecessary cost but it is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to obtain an insight into the prescribing patterns of antibiotics in surgical and medical wards, to help identify a scope for improvement in service delivery. Method: A simple point prevalence survey included a convenience sample of 200 patients admitted to medical and surgical wards in a government teaching hospital in Baghdad between October 2017 and April 2018. Data were collected by a trained pharmacy intern using a standardized form. Patient’s demographics and details of the prescribed antibiotics, including dose, frequency of dosing and route of administration, were reported. Patients were included if they had been admitted at least 24 hours before the survey. Patients under 18 years of age, having a diagnosis of cancer or shock, or being admitted to the intensive care unit, were excluded. Data were checked and entered by the authors into Excel and were subjected to frequency analysis, which was carried out on anonymized data to protect patient confidentiality. Results: Overall, 88.5% of patients (n=177) received 293 antibiotics during their hospital admission, with a small variation between wards (80%-97%). The average number of antibiotics prescribed per patient was 1.65, ranging from 1.3 for medical patients to 1.95 for surgical patients. Parenteral third-generation cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed at a rate of 54.3% (n=159) followed by nitroimidazole 29.4% (n=86), quinolones 7.5% (n=22) and macrolides 4.4% (n=13), while carbapenems and aminoglycosides were the least prescribed together accounting for only 4.4% (n=13). The intravenous route was the most common route of administration, used for 96.6% of patients (n=171). Indications were reported in only 63.8% of cases. Culture to identify pathogenic organisms was employed in only 0.5% of cases. Conclusion: Broad-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed at an alarming rate. This practice may provoke antibiotic resistance and adversely affect the patient outcome. Implementation of an antibiotic stewardship program is warranted to enhance the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: Acute care, Antibiotic misuse, Iraq, Prescribing

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Aqsa Jamil, Tamura Hiroshi, Katsuchi Hiroshi, Wang Jiaqi

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The yield point represents the upper limit of forces which can be applied to a specimen without causing any permanent deformation. After yielding, the behavior of the specimen suddenly changes, including the possibility of cracking or buckling. So, the accumulation of damage or type of fracture changes depending on this condition. As it is difficult to accurately detect yield points of the several stress concentration points in structural steel specimens, an effort has been made in this research work to develop a convenient technique using thermography (temperature-based detection) during tensile tests for the precise detection of yield point initiation. To verify the applicability of thermography camera, tests were conducted under different loading conditions and measuring the deformation by installing various strain gauges and monitoring the surface temperature with the help of a thermography camera. The yield point of specimens was estimated with the help of temperature dip, which occurs due to the thermoelastic effect during the plastic deformation. The scattering of the data has been checked by performing a repeatability analysis. The effects of temperature imperfection and light source have been checked by carrying out the tests at daytime as well as midnight and by calculating the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the noised data from the infrared thermography camera, it can be concluded that the camera is independent of testing time and the presence of a visible light source. Furthermore, a fully coupled thermal-stress analysis has been performed by using Abaqus/Standard exact implementation technique to validate the temperature profiles obtained from the thermography camera and to check the feasibility of numerical simulation for the prediction of results extracted with the help of the thermographic technique.

Keywords: signal to noise ratio, thermoelastic effect, thermography, yield point

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Authors: Adisai Thovicha, Jiranan Pattaphong

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The objective of this research is to study the satisfaction of the disbursement of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The sample of this study consisted of 98 participants who are faculty members and staff of the Faculty of Science and Technology. Sample was drawn by systematic random sampling technique. Questionnaire was used to collect data. Analysis involves frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. It was found that: (1) Most of the 98 faculty members and staff are female, aged between 31-40 years and they have been working at the university for 1-5 years. (2) The satisfaction level of the disbursement of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University is high. When each aspect is considered, the satisfaction level of faculty members and staff of the Faculty of Science and Technology is high in service providing staff, process and facilitation.

Keywords: satisfaction of disbursement, petition financing, faculty members, staff

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Authors: Qiushi Ning

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The nitrogen (N) is an important limiting factor of various ecosystems, and the N deposition rate is increasing unprecedentedly due to anthropogenic activities. The N deposition altered the microbial growth and activity, and microbial mediated N cycling through changing soil pH, the availability of N and carbon (C). The CO2, CH4 and N2O are important greenhouse gas which threaten the sustainability and function of the ecosystem. With the prolonged and increasing N enrichment, the soil acidification and C limitation will be aggravated, and the microbial biomass will be further declined. The soil acidification and lack of C induced by N addition are argued as two important factors regulating the microbial activity and growth, and the studies combined soil acidification with lack of C on microbial community are scarce. In order to restore the ecosystem affected by chronic N loading, we determined the responses of microbial activity and GHG emssions to lime and glucose (control, 1‰ lime, 2‰ lime, glucose, 1‰ lime×glucose and 2‰ lime×glucose) addition which was used to alleviate the soil acidification and supply C resource into soils with N addition rates 0-50 g N m–2yr–1. The results showed no significant responses of soil respiration and microbial biomass (MBC and MBN) to lime addition, however, the glucose substantially improved the soil respiration and microbial biomass (MBC and MBN); the cumulative CO2 emission and microbial biomass of lime×glucose treatments were not significantly higher than those of only glucose treatment. The glucose and lime×glucose treatments reduced the net mineralization and nitrification rate, due to inspired microbial growth via C supply incorporating more inorganic N to the biomass, and mineralization of organic N was relatively reduced. The glucose addition also increased the CH4 and N2O emissions, CH4 emissions was regulated mainly by C resource as a substrate for methanogen. However, the N2O emissions were regulated by both C resources and soil pH, the C was important energy and the increased soil pH could benefit the nitrifiers and denitrifiers which were primary producers of N2O. The soil respiration and N2O emissions increased with increasing N addition rates in all glucose treatments, as the external C resource improved microbial N utilization. Compared with alleviated soil acidification, the improved availability of C substantially increased microbial activity, therefore, the C should be the main limiting factor in long-term N loading soils. The most important, when we use the organic C fertilization to improve the production of the ecosystems, the GHG emissions and consequent warming potentials should be carefully considered.

Keywords: acidification and C limitation, greenhouse gas emission, microbial activity, N deposition

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Authors: Bharat Kumar, Deepak Kumar, Vijay Chaudhry

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Zirconium alloys are generally used for designing the core components of nuclear reactors due to their good mechanical and tribological properties. Some core components are subjected to flow-induced vibrations resulting in wear of these components due to their interaction with one another. To simulate these conditions, low amplitude reciprocating wear tests are conducted at room temperature and high temperature (260 degrees Celsius) between Zr-2.5Nb alloy and SS-410. The tests are conducted at a frequency range of 5 Hz to 25 Hz and an amplitude range of 200 µm to 600 µm. Friction and wear responses were recorded and correlated with the change in parameters. Worn surfaces are analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical profilometer. Elemental changes on the worn surfaces were determined using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The coefficient of friction (COF) increases with increasing temperature and decreases with increasing frequency. Adhesive wear is found to be the dominant wear mechanism which increases at high temperature.

Keywords: nuclear reactor, Zr-2.5Nb, SS-410, friction and wear

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Authors: Lenka Markovičová, Viera Zatkalíková, Tomasz Garbacz

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The development of composite materials and the related design and manufacturing technologies is one of the most important advances in the history of materials. Composites are multifunctional materials having unprecedented mechanical and physical properties that can be tailored to meet the requirements of a particular application. Some composites also exhibit great resistance to high-temperature corrosion, oxidation, and wear. Polymers are widely used indoors and outdoors, therefore they are exposed to a chemical environment which may include atmospheric oxygen, acidic fumes, acidic rain, moisture heat and thermal shock, ultra-violet light, high energy radiation, etc. Different polymers are affected differently by these factors even though the amorphous polymers are more sensitive. Ageing is also important and it is defined as the process of deterioration of engineering materials resulting from the combined effects of atmospheric radiation, heat, oxygen, water, micro-organisms and other atmospheric factors.

Keywords: composites with glass fibers, mechanical properties, polyamides, UV degradation

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Authors: Febri Ramadhan

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Water medium is a vital necessity for the survival of fish. Fish can survive inside/outside of water medium within a certain time. By knowing the level of survival fish at outside of water medium, a person can transport the fish to a place with more efficiently. Transport of live fish from one place to another can be done with wet and dry media system. In this experiment the treatment-given the observed differences in fish species. This experiment aimed to test the degree of resilience of fish out of water media. Based on the ANOVA table is obtained, it can be concluded that the type of fish affects the level of resilience of fish outside the water (Fhit> Ftab).

Keywords: fish, transport, retention rate, fish resiliance

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Authors: Amritpal Slaich, Mark Elshaw

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This paper explores the development of a decision support framework for the introduction of business intelligence (BI) through operational research techniques for application by SMEs. Aligned with the goals of the new Midlands Enterprise Initiative of improving the skill levels of the Midlands workforce and addressing high levels of regional unemployment, we have developed a framework to increase the level of business intelligence used by SMEs to improve business decision-making. Many SMEs in the Midlands fail due to the lack of high quality decision making. Our framework outlines how universities can: engage with SMEs in the use of BI through operational research techniques; develop appropriate and easy to use Excel spreadsheet models; and make use of a process to allow SMEs to feedback their findings of the models. Future work will determine how well the framework performs in getting SMEs to apply BI to improve their decision-making performance.

Keywords: SMEs, decision support framework, business intelligence, operational research techniques

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Authors: Shiu-Wan Hung, Che-Wei Chang, Han-Yu Lin

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Internet celebrities possess high visibility and a great number of fans on the Internet and are the targets that various companies are keen to collaborate with. This study investigated the para-social interaction and its antecedents among internet celebrities and their fans. The effects of Internet celebrity advertising from the perspectives of source credibility and endorser suitability were studied. This study gathered 283 valid questionnaires from people who regularly follow internet celebrities for analysis. The experimental results suggest that expertise has the most significant and direct influence on advertising. Additionally, Internet celebrities with high attractiveness can better influence the thinking of their fans and enhance homophily. However, when considering the construction of source credibility, the direct influence of attractiveness is the least significant, suggesting that the attractiveness of internet celebrities can only promote advertising via the mediating effect of homophily.

Keywords: celebrity, para-social interaction, homophily, source credibility

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Authors: J. Samuel, S. Al-Enezi, A. Al-Banna

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High-density polyethylene reinforced with carbon nanofibers (HDPE/CNF) have been prepared via melt processing using dialkylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (ionic liquid) as a dispersion agent. The prepared samples were characterized by thermogravimetric (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analyses. The samples blended with imidazolium ionic liquid exhibit higher thermal stability. DSC analysis showed clear miscibility of ionic liquid in the HDPE matrix and showed single endothermic peak. The melt rheological analysis of HDPE/CNF composites was performed using an oscillatory rheometer. The influence of CNF and ionic liquid concentration (ranging from 0, 0.5, and 1 wt%) on the viscoelastic parameters was investigated at 200 °C with an angular frequency range of 0.1 to 100 rad/s. The rheological analysis shows the shear-thinning behavior for the composites. An improvement in the viscoelastic properties was observed as the nanofiber concentration increases. The progress in the modulus values was attributed to the structural rigidity imparted by the high aspect ratio CNF. The modulus values and complex viscosity of the composites increased significantly at low frequencies. Composites blended with ionic liquid exhibit slightly lower values of complex viscosity and modulus over the corresponding HDPE/CNF compositions. Therefore, reduction in melt viscosity is an additional benefit for polymer composite processing as a result of wetting effect by polymer-ionic liquid combinations.

Keywords: high-density polyethylene, carbon nanofibers, ionic liquid, complex viscosity

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Authors: Tridipa Biswas, Kamal Pandey

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A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a simple representation of a surface in 3 dimensional space with elevation as the third dimension along with X (horizontal coordinates) and Y (vertical coordinates) in rectangular coordinates. DEM has wide applications in various fields like disaster management, hydrology and watershed management, geomorphology, urban development, map creation and resource management etc. Cartosat-1 or IRS P5 (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite) is a state-of-the-art remote sensing satellite built by ISRO (May 5, 2005) which is mainly intended for cartographic applications.Cartosat-1 is equipped with two panchromatic cameras capable of simultaneous acquiring images of 2.5 meters spatial resolution. One camera is looking at +26 degrees forward while another looks at –5 degrees backward to acquire stereoscopic imagery with base to height ratio of 0.62. The time difference between acquiring of the stereopair images is approximately 52 seconds. The high resolution stereo data have great potential to produce high-quality DEM. The high-resolution Cartosat-1 stereo image data is expected to have significant impact in topographic mapping and watershed applications. The objective of the present study is to generate high-resolution DEM, quality evaluation in different elevation strata, generation of ortho-rectified image and associated accuracy assessment from CARTOSAT-1 data based Ground Control Points (GCPs) for Aglar watershed (Tehri-Garhwal and Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, India). The present study reveals that generated DEMs (10m and 30m) derived from the CARTOSAT-1 stereo pair is much better and accurate when compared with existing DEMs (ASTER and CARTO DEM) also for different terrain parameters like slope, aspect, drainage, watershed boundaries etc., which are derived from the generated DEMs, have better accuracy and results when compared with the other two (ASTER and CARTO) DEMs derived terrain parameters.

Keywords: ASTER-DEM, CARTO-DEM, CARTOSAT-1, digital elevation model (DEM), ortho-rectified image, photogrammetry, RPC, stereo pair, terrain parameters

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Authors: Hassan Noun, Christian Urban-Seelmann, Mohamed Abdelfattah, Guillaume Zeller, Rajesh G., Iryna Mozgova, Roland Lachmayer

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Several modules in automotive are usually modified and adapted for various project-specific applications. Due to a standardized safety concept, high reusability is accessible. A safety element out of context (SEooC) according to ISO 26262 can be a suitable approach. Based on the same safety concept and analysis, common modules can reach high usability. For developing according to a module out of context, an appropriate and detailed development approach is required. This paper shows how to derive these development processes for platform modules. Therefore, the detailed approach to the safety element out of context is derived. The aim is to create a detailed workflow for all phases of the development and integration of any kind of system modules. As an application example, an automotive project for an actuator control module is considered.

Keywords: functional safety, engineering processes, system engineering, electronic engineering

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Authors: Ajay Kumar Pandey, Mayank Kumar

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White grub (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) is a major destructive pest in western Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. Beetles feed on apple, apricot, plum, walnut etc. during night while, second and third instar grubs feed on live roots of cultivated as well as non-cultivated crops. Collection and identification of scarab beetles through light trap was carried out at Crop Research Centre, Govind Ballab Pant University Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand) during 2018. Field trials were also conducted in 2018 to evaluate pre and post sown application of different insecticides against the white grub infesting soybean. The insecticides like Carbofuran 3 Granule (G) (750 g a.i./ha), Clothianidin 50 Water Dispersal Granule (WG) (120 g a.i./ha), Fipronil 0.3 G (50 g a.i./ha), Thiamethoxam 25 WG (80 g a.i./ha), Imidacloprid 70 WG (300 g a.i./ha), Chlorantraniliprole 0.4% G(100 g a.i./ha) and mixture of Fipronil 40% and Imidacloprid 40% WG (300 g a.i./ha) were applied at the time of sowing in pre sown experiment while same dosage of insecticides were applied in standing soybean crop during (first fortnight of July). Commutative plant mortality data were recorded after 20, 40, 60 days intervals and compared with untreated control. Total 23 species of white grub beetles recorded on the light trap and Holotrichia serrata Fabricious (Coleoptera: Melolonthinae) was found to be predominant species by recording 20.6% relative abundance out of the total light trap catch (i.e. 1316 beetles) followed by Phyllognathus sp. (14.6% relative abundance). H. rosettae and Heteronychus lioderus occupied third and fourth rank with 11.85% and 9.65% relative abundance, respectively. The emergence of beetles of predominant species started from 15th March, 2018. In April, average light trap catch was 382 white grub beetles, however, peak emergence of most of the white grub species was observed from June to July, 2018 i.e. 336 beetles in June followed by 303 beetles in the July. On the basis of the emergence pattern of white grub beetles, it may be concluded that the Peak Emergence Period (PEP) for the beetles of H. serrata was second fortnight of April for the total period of 15 days. In May, June and July relatively low population of H. serrata was observed. A decreasing trend in light trap catch was observed and went on till September during the study. No single beetle of H. serrata was observed on light trap from September onwards. The cumulative plant mortality data in both the experiments revealed that all the insecticidal treatments were significantly superior in protection-wise (6.49-16.82% cumulative plant mortality) over untreated control where highest plant mortality was 17.28 to 39.65% during study. The mixture of Fipronil 40% and Imidacloprid 40% WG applied at the rate of 300 g a.i. per ha proved to be most effective having lowest plant mortality i.e. 9.29 and 10.94% in pre and post sown crop, followed by Clothianidin 50 WG (120 g a.i. per ha) where the plant mortality was 10.57 and 11.93% in pre and post sown treatments, respectively. Both treatments were found significantly at par among each other. Production-wise, all the insecticidal treatments were found statistically superior (15.00-24.66 q per ha grain yields) over untreated control where the grain yield was 8.25 & 9.13 q per ha. Treatment Fipronil 40% + Imidacloprid 40% WG applied at the rate of 300 g a.i. per ha proved to be most effective and significantly superior over Imidacloprid 70WG applied at the rate of 300 g a.i. per ha.

Keywords: bio efficacy, insecticide, soybean, white grub

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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

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Authors: V. A. Ritchie

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The loss of life and livelihood experienced after the magnitude 9.3 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004 and magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011, has raised global awareness and brought tsunami phenomenology, nomenclature, and representation into sharp focus. At the same time, travel and tourism continue to increase, contributing around 1 in 11 jobs worldwide. This increase in tourism is especially true for coastal zones, placing pressure on decision-makers to downplay tsunami risks and at the same time provide adequate tsunami warning so that holidaymakers will feel confident enough to visit places of high tsunami risk. This study investigates how well tsunami preparedness messages are getting through for tourist-based businesses in Hawke’s Bay New Zealand, a region of frequent seismic activity and a high probability of experiencing a nearshore tsunami. The aim of this study is to investigate whether tourists based businesses are well informed about tsunamis, how well they understand that information and to what extent their clients are included in awareness raising and evacuation processes. In high-risk tsunami zones, such as Hawke’s Bay, tourism based businesses face competitive tension between short term business profitability and longer term reputational issues related to preventable loss of life from natural hazards, such as tsunamis. This study will address ways to accommodate culturally and linguistically relevant tourist awareness measures without discouraging tourists or being too costly to implement.

Keywords: tsunami risk and response, travel and tourism, business preparedness, cross cultural knowledge transfer

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Authors: Kleche Myriam, Ziane Nadia, Berrebbah Houria, Djebar Mohammed Reda

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The Phytoremediation has now become a necessity. Thus, in our work, we are interested in the biological wastewater treatment of Oued Meboudja. The physicochemical analysis of water after treatment showed a significant reduction of suspended matter, COD and BOD5 and rate of metals in roots for example iron and zinc. We also highlighted some significant changes in biometric and physiological parameters such as increasing the number of roots and increased respiratory metabolism through the oxygen consumption in isolated roots of Phragmites australis, placed in a polluted environment.

Keywords: phragmites australis, roots, phytoremediation, iron, zinc

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Authors: A. Mezzidi, H. Hamli Benzahar

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The present study evaluates the stress and stress intensity factor during the propagation of a crack at presence of a dislocation near of crack tip. The problem is formulated using a glass material having an equivalent elasticity modulus and a Poisson ratio. In this research work, the proposed material is a plate form with a main crack in one of these ends and a dislocation near this crack, subjected to tensile stresses according to the mode 1 opening. For each distance between the two cracks, we can determine these stresses. This study is treated by finite elements method by using the software (ABAQUS) rate. It is shown here in that obtained results agreed with those determined by other researchers

Keywords: crack, dislocation, finite element, glass

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Authors: Narinee Sophatsathit, Yuwadee Nitutorn

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of the staff in the Faculty of Science and Technology towards the e-office documentary system of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The subjects of this study included 98 staffs of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Questionnaires were used to ask the attitude of the staffs towards the implementation of e-office system. The results showed that most of the users of e-office are female with the age between 31-40 years old, master degree of education and in the academic positions. They have working experiences between 1-5 years and reported the time of using e-office between 8:30-12:30 during the weekday with the frequency of 3-5 times/day. Most of them reported their opinions on the e-office at high level (x=3.84) and problems and obstacles in using e-office at high level, as well (x=3.63).

Keywords: attitudes, e-office, staff, documentary system

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Authors: Mariyah Poonawala, Selvan Ravindran, Anuradha Vaidya

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Despite much progress in understanding the regulatory factors and cytokines that support the maturation of the various cell lineages of the hematopoietic system, factors that govern the self-renewal and proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is still a grey area of research. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has evolved over the years and gained tremendous importance in the treatment of both malignant and non-malignant diseases. However, factors such as graft rejection and multiple organ failure have challenged HSCT from time to time, underscoring the urgent need for development of milder processes for successful hematopoietic transplantation. An emerging concept in the field of stem cell biology states that the interactions between the bone-marrow micro-environment and the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells is essential for regulation, maintenance, commitment and proliferation of stem cells. Understanding the role of mesenchymal stromal cells in modulating the functionality of HSCs is, therefore, an important area of research. Trans-resveratrol has been extensively studied for its various properties to combat and prevent cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases etc. The aim of the present study was to understand the effect of trans-resveratrol on HSCs using single and co-culture systems. We have used KG1a cells since it is a well accepted hematopoietic stem cell model system. Our preliminary experiments showed that low concentrations of trans-resveratrol stimulated the HSCs to undergo proliferation whereas high concentrations of trans-resveratrol did not stimulate the cells to proliferate. We used a murine fibroblast cell line, M210B4, as a stromal feeder layer. On culturing the KG1a cells with M210B4 cells, we observed that the stimulatory as well as inhibitory effects of trans-resveratrol at low and high concentrations respectively, were enhanced. Our further experiments showed that low concentration of trans-resveratrol reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) whereas high concentrations increased the oxidative stress in KG1a cells. We speculated that perhaps the oxidative stress was imposing inhibitory effects at high concentration and the same was confirmed by performing an apoptotic assay. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis and growth kinetic experiments provided evidence that low concentration of trans-resveratrol reduced the doubling time of the cells. Our hypothesis is that perhaps at low concentration of trans-resveratrol the cells get pushed into the G0/G1 phase and re-enter the cell cycle resulting in their proliferation, whereas at high concentration the cells are perhaps arrested at G2/M phase or at cytokinesis and therefore undergo apoptosis. Liquid Chromatography-Quantitative-Time of Flight–Mass Spectroscopy (LC-Q-TOF MS) analyses indicated the presence of trans-resveratrol and its metabolite(s) in the supernatant of the co-cultured cells incubated with high concentration of trans-resveratrol. We conjecture that perhaps the metabolites of trans-resveratrol are responsible for the apoptosis observed at the high concentration. Our findings may shed light on the unsolved problems in the in vitro expansion of stem cells and may have implications in the ex vivo manipulation of HSCs for therapeutic purposes.

Keywords: co-culture system, hematopoietic micro-environment, KG1a cell line, M210B4 cell line, trans-resveratrol

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Authors: Christoph Mayer, Dominik Holzmann

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This paper presents the development of a compact, portable and easy to handle solar cell characterization device. The presented device reduces the effort and cost of single solar cell characterization to a minimum. It enables realistic characterization of cells under sunlight within minutes. In the field of photovoltaic research the common way to characterize a single solar cell or a module is, to measure the current voltage curve. With this characteristic the performance and the degradation rate can be defined which are important for the consumer or developer. The paper consists of the system design description, a summary of the measurement results and an outline for further developments.

Keywords: solar cell, photovoltaics, PV, characterization

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Authors: A. B. M. Rezaul Islam, Ernur Karadogan

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Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are known for their shape memory effect and pseudoelasticity behavior. Their thermomechanical behaviors are modeled by numerous researchers using microscopic thermodynamic and macroscopic phenomenological point of view. Tanaka, Liang-Rogers and Ivshin-Pence models are some of the most popular SMA macroscopic phenomenological constitutive models. They describe SMA behavior in terms of stress, strain and temperature. These models involve material parameters and they have associated uncertainty present in them. At different operating temperatures, the uncertainty propagates to the output when the material is subjected to loading followed by unloading. The propagation of uncertainty while utilizing these models in real-life application can result in performance discrepancies or failure at extreme conditions. To resolve this, we used probabilistic approach to perform the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of Tanaka, Liang-Rogers, and Ivshin-Pence models. Sobol and extended Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Testing (eFAST) methods have been used to perform the sensitivity analysis for simulated isothermal loading/unloading at various operating temperatures. As per the results, it is evident that the models vary due to the change in operating temperature and loading condition. The average and stress-dependent sensitivity indices present the most significant parameters at several temperatures. This work highlights the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis results and shows comparison of them at different temperatures and loading conditions for all these models. The analysis presented will aid in designing engineering applications by eliminating the probability of model failure due to the uncertainty in the input parameters. Thus, it is recommended to have a proper understanding of sensitive parameters and the uncertainty propagation at several operating temperatures and loading conditions as per Tanaka, Liang-Rogers, and Ivshin-Pence model.

Keywords: constitutive models, FAST sensitivity analysis, sensitivity analysis, sobol, shape memory alloy, uncertainty analysis

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Authors: T. Scattolin, E. Cavarzerani, F. Visentin, F. Rizzolio

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Organopalladium compounds have recently attracted attention for their high stability even under physiological conditions and, above all, for their remarkable in vitro cytotoxicity towards cisplatin-resistant cell lines. Among the organopalladium derivatives, those bearing at least one N-heterocyclic carbene ligand (NHC) and the Pd(II)-η³-allyl fragment have exhibited IC₅₀ values in the micro and sub-micromolar range towards several cancer cell lines in vitro and in some cases selectivity towards cancerous vs. non-tumorigenic cells. Herein, a selection of allyl and indenyl palladates were synthesized using a solvent-free method consisting of grinding the corresponding palladium precursors with different saturated and unsaturated azolium salts. All compounds have been fully characterized by NMR, XRD and elemental analyses. The intramolecular H, Cl interaction has been elucidated and quantified using the Voronoi Deformation Density scheme. Most of the complexes showed excellent cytotoxicity towards ovarian cancer cell lines, with I₅₀ values comparable to or even lower than cisplatin. Interestingly, the potent anticancer activity was also confirmed in a high-serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) patient-derived tumoroid, with a clear superiority of this class of compounds over classical platinum-based agents. Finally, preliminary enzyme inhibition studies of the synthesized palladate complexes against the model TrxR show that the compounds have high activity comparable to or even higher than auranofin and classical Au(I) NHC complexes. Based on such promising data, further in vitro and in vivo experiments and in-depth mechanistic studies are ongoing in our laboratories.

Keywords: anticancer activity, palladium complexes, organoids, indenyl and allyl ligands

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Authors: Alberto Fina, Samuele Colonna, Maria del Mar Bernal, Orietta Monticelli, Mauro Tortello, Renato Gonnelli, Julio Gomez, Chiara Novara, Guido Saracco

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Thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites are of high interest for several applications including low-temperature heat recovery, heat exchangers in a corrosive environment and heat management in electronics and flexible electronics. In this paper, the preparation of thermally conductive nanocomposites exploiting graphene-related materials is addressed, along with their thermal characterization. In particular, correlations between 1- chemical and physical features of the nanoflakes and 2- processing conditions with the heat conduction properties of nanocomposites is studied. Polymers are heat insulators; therefore, the inclusion of conductive particles is the typical solution to obtain a sufficient thermal conductivity. In addition to traditional microparticles such as graphite and ceramics, several nanoparticles have been proposed, including carbon nanotubes and graphene, for the use in polymer nanocomposites. Indeed, thermal conductivities for both carbon nanotubes and graphenes were reported in the wide range of about 1500 to 6000 W/mK, despite such property may decrease dramatically as a function of the size, number of layers, the density of topological defects, re-hybridization defects as well as on the presence of impurities. Different synthetic techniques have been developed, including mechanical cleavage of graphite, epitaxial growth on SiC, chemical vapor deposition, and liquid phase exfoliation. However, the industrial scale-up of graphene, defined as an individual, single-atom-thick sheet of hexagonally arranged sp2-bonded carbons still remains very challenging. For large scale bulk applications in polymer nanocomposites, some graphene-related materials such as multilayer graphenes (MLG), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) or graphite nanoplatelets (GNP) are currently the most interesting graphene-based materials. In this paper, different types of graphene-related materials were characterized for their chemical/physical as well as for thermal properties of individual flakes. Two selected rGOs were annealed at 1700°C in vacuum for 1 h to reduce defectiveness of the carbon structure. Thermal conductivity increase of individual GNP with annealing was assessed via scanning thermal microscopy. Graphene nano papers were prepared from both conventional RGO and annealed RGO flakes. Characterization of the nanopapers evidenced a five-fold increase in the thermal diffusivity on the nano paper plane for annealed nanoflakes, compared to pristine ones, demonstrating the importance of structural defectiveness reduction to maximize the heat dissipation performance. Both pristine and annealed RGO were used to prepare polymer nanocomposites, by melt reactive extrusion. Thermal conductivity showed two- to three-fold increase in the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite was observed for high temperature treated RGO compared to untreated RGO, evidencing the importance of using low defectivity nanoflakes. Furthermore, the study of different processing paremeters (time, temperature, shear rate) during the preparation of poly (butylene terephthalate) nanocomposites evidenced a clear correlation with the dispersion and fragmentation of the GNP nanoflakes; which in turn affected the thermal conductivity performance. Thermal conductivity of about 1.7 W/mK, i.e. one order of magnitude higher than for pristine polymer, was obtained with 10%wt of annealed GNPs, which is in line with state of the art nanocomposites prepared by more complex and less upscalable in situ polymerization processes.

Keywords: graphene, graphene-related materials, scanning thermal microscopy, thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites

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Authors: C. T. Eze, I. N. E. Onwurah

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An important hydrogeologic problem in areas of high faults formations is high environmental health hazard occasioned by microbial and heavy metals contamination of ground waters. Consequently, we examined the microbial load and heavy metals concentration of hospital wastewater discharged into the environment at Park Lane General Hospital Enugu Urban, Nigeria. The microbial counts, characteristics and frequency of occurrences of the isolated microorganisms were determined by cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics using established procedure while the varying concentrations of the identified heavy metals were determined using the spectrophotometric method. The microbiological analyses showed a mean total aerobic bacteria counts from 13.7 ± 0.65 × 107 to 22.8 ± 1.14 ×1010 CFU/ml, mean total anaerobic bacteria counts from 6.0 ± 1.6 × 103 to 1.7 ± 0.41 ×104 CFU/ml and mean total fungal counts from 0 ± 0 to 2.3 ± 0.16 × 105 CFU/ml. The isolated micro-organisms which included both pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Klesbsiella pneumonia and bacteriodes sp. The only fungal isolate was Candida albican. The heavy metals identified in the leachate were Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury and Chromium and their concentrations ranged from 0.003 ± 0.00082 to 0.14 ± 0.0082 mg/l. These values were above WHO permissible limits while others fall within the limits. Therefore, hospital waste water can pose the environmental health risk when not properly treated before discharge, especially in geologic formations with high fault formations.

Keywords: bacterial isolates, fungal isolates, heavy metals, hospital wastewater, microbial counts

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Authors: Alokananda Nath

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Land is an important issue anywhere in the world as it is one of the fundamental elements in human settlements. Since the urban areas are considered to be the drivers of economy for any country across the world and the phenomenon of ‘urbanization’ happening everywhere, there is always a greater pressure on urban land and its management. Many states in India have realized the importance of land as a valuable resource and have implemented certain framework for managing and developing land. But in West Bengal no such statutory framework has been formulated till now and a very out dated model of land acquisition for public purpose is practiced. Due to the lop-sided character of urban growth in the entire eastern region of India, the city of Kolkata continues to bear the burden of excessive growth of population and consequent urbanization of the adjoining areas at a rapid pace. This research tries to look into these conflicts with respect to the present pattern of development in the context of Kolkata and suggest a system for land management in order to implement the planning processes. For this purpose, five case study areas were taken up within the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and subsequent analysis of their present land management and development techniques was done. The findings reveal that there is a lack of political will as well as administrative inefficiency on part of both the development authority and the local bodies. Mostly the local bodies lack the financial resources and technical expertise to work out any kind of land management framework or work out any kind of model in order to manage the development that is happening. All these place undue strain on city infrastructure systems and reduce the potential of cities to contribute as engines of economic growth. The focus of reforms, therefore, ought to be on streamlining the urban planning process, judicious and optimal land use, efficient plan implementation mechanisms, improvement of titling and registration processes.

Keywords: urbanization, land management framework, land development, policy reforms, land-use planning processes

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Authors: Bhargav Baruah, Ali Shemsedin Reshad, Pankaj Tiwari

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This work presents a detailed study on the thermal degradation kinetics of co-pyrolysis of oil shale of Upper Assam, India with rubber seed shell, and lab-scale pyrolysis to investigate the influence of pyrolysis parameters on product yield and composition of products. The physicochemical characteristics of oil shale and rubber seed shell were studied by proximate analysis, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The physicochemical study showed the mixture to be of low moisture, high ash, siliceous, sour with the presence of aliphatic, aromatic, and phenolic compounds. The thermal decomposition of the oil shale with rubber seed shell was studied using thermogravimetric analysis at heating rates of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 °C/min. The kinetic study of the oil shale pyrolysis process was performed on the thermogravimetric (TGA) data using three model-free isoconversional methods viz. Friedman, Flynn Wall Ozawa (FWO), and Kissinger Akahira Sunnose (KAS). The reaction mechanisms were determined using the Criado master plot. The understanding of the composition of Indian oil shale and rubber seed shell and pyrolysis process kinetics can help to establish the experimental parameters for the extraction of valuable products from the mixture. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed usinf central composite design (CCD) model to setup the lab-scale experiment using TGA data, and optimization of process parameters viz. heating rate, temperature, and particle size. The samples were pre-dried at 115°C for 24 hours prior to pyrolysis. The pyrolysis temperatures were set from 450 to 650 °C, at heating rates of 2 to 20°C/min. The retention time was set between 2 to 8 hours. The optimum oil yield was observed at 5°C/min and 550°C with a retention time of 5 hours. The pyrolytic oil and gas obtained at optimum conditions were subjected to characterization using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).

Keywords: Indian oil shale, rubber seed shell, co-pyrolysis, isoconversional methods, gas chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

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