Search results for: lateral flow immunoassay on-site detection

Authors: Maged A. Mogalli, Abdullah I. Al-Mansour, Seongkwan Mark Lee

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In the last decades, population growth has gradually exceeded transportation infrastructure growth, and today’s transportation professionals are facing challenge on how to meet the mobility needs of a rising population especially in the absence of adequate public transport, as is the case in Saudi Arabia. The traffic movement congestion can be decreased by carrying out some appropriate alternative designs of interchanges such as diverging diamond interchange (DDI) and single diamond interchange (SPDI). In this paper, evaluation of newly implemented DDIs at the interchange of Makkah road with Prince Turki road and the interchange of King Khaled road with Prince Saud Ibn Mohammed Ibn Mugrin road in Riyadh city was carried out. The comparison between the DDI and SPDI is conducted by evaluating different measures of effectiveness (MOE) such as stop delay, average queue length, and number of stops. In this connection, each interchange type was evaluated for traffic flow at peak hours using micro-simulation program namely 'Synchro/SimTarffic' to measure its effectiveness such as stop delay, average queue length, and number of stops. The results of this study show that DDI provides a better result when compared with SPDI in terms of stope delay, average queue length, and number of stops. The stop delay for the SPDI is greater than DDI by three times. Also, the average queue length is approximately twice that of the SPDI when compared to the DDI. Furthermore, the number of stops for the SPDI is about twice as the DDI.

Keywords: single point diamond interchange, diverging diamond interchange, measures of effectiveness, simulation

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Authors: Priscilla Akua Agyapong

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Background: In a country of nearly 34 million people, Ghana suffers from rapidly growing pediatric CHD cases and not enough pediatric specialists to attend to the burgeoning needs of these children. Most of the cases are either missed or diagnosed late, resulting in increased mortality. According to the National Cardiothoracic Centre, 1 in every 100,000 births in Ghana has CHD; however, there is limited data on the clinical presentation and its management, one of the many reasons I decided to do this case study coupled with the loss my 2 month old niece to multiple Ventricular Septal Defect 3 years ago due late diagnoses. Method: A retrospective cohort study was performed at the child health clinic of one of Ghana’s public tertiary Institutions using data from their electronic health record (EHR) from February 2021 to April 2022. All suspected or provisionally diagnosed cases were included in the analysis. Results: Records of over 3000 children were reviewed with an approximate male to female ratio of 1:1.53 cases diagnosed during the period of study, most of whom were less than 5 years of age. 25 cases had complete clinical records, with acyanotic septal defects being the most diagnosed. 62.5% of the cases were ventricular septal defects, followed by Patent Ductus Arteriosus (23%) and Atrial Septal Defects (4.5%). Tetralogy of Fallot was the most predominant and complex cyanotic CHD with 10%. Conclusion: The indeterminate coronary anatomy of infants makes it difficult to use only echocardiography and other conventional clinical methods in screening for CHDs. There are rising modernizations and new innovative ways that can be employed in Ghana for early detection, hence preventing the delay of a potential surgical repair. It is, therefore, imperative to create the needed awareness about these “SILENT CRISES” and help save the Ghanaian child’s life.

Keywords: congenital heart defect(CHD), ventricular septal defect(VSD), atrial septal defect(ASD), patent ductus arteriosus(PDA)

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Authors: P. Vanichkobchinda

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The Logistics Transportation techniques, Open Vehicle Routing (OVR) is an approach toward transportation cost reduction, especially for long distance pickup and delivery nodes. The outstanding characteristic of OVR is that the route starting node and ending node are not necessary the same as in typical vehicle routing problems. This advantage enables the routing to flow continuously and the vehicle does not always return to its home base. This research aims to develop a heuristic for the open vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery under time window and loading capacity constraints to minimize the total distance. The proposed heuristic is developed based on the Insertion method, which is a simple method and suitable for the rapid calculation that allows insertion of the new additional transportation requirements along the original paths. According to the heuristic analysis, cost comparisons between the proposed heuristic and companies are using method, nearest neighbor method show that the insertion heuristic. Moreover, the proposed heuristic gave superior solutions in all types of test problems. In conclusion, the proposed heuristic can effectively and efficiently solve the open vehicle routing. The research indicates that the improvement of new transport's calculation and the open vehicle routing with "Insertion Heuristic" represent a better outcome with 34.3 percent in average. in cost savings. Moreover, the proposed heuristic gave superior solutions in all types of test problems. In conclusion, the proposed heuristic can effectively and efficiently solve the open vehicle routing.

Keywords: business competitiveness, cost reduction, SMEs, logistics transportation, VRP

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Authors: Lianxue Shi

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Urban waterfront rail transit stations exert a dual impact on both the waterfront and the transit station, resulting in a concentration of development elements in the surrounding space. In order to more effectively develop the space around the station, this study focuses on the perspective of the integration of station, city, and people. Taking Chongqing as an example, based on the Arc GIS platform, it explores the vitality of the site from the three dimensions of crowd activity heat, space facilities heat, and spatial accessibility. It conducts a comprehensive evaluation and interpretation of the vitality surrounding the waterfront rail transit station area in Chongqing. The study found that (1) the spatial vitality in the vicinity of waterfront rail transit stations is correlated with the waterfront's functional zoning and the intensity of development. Stations situated in waterfront residential and public spaces are more likely to experience a convergence of people, whereas those located in waterfront industrial areas exhibit lower levels of vitality. (2) Effective transportation accessibility plays a pivotal role in maintaining a steady flow of passengers and facilitating their movement. However, the three-dimensionality of urban space in mountainous regions is a notable challenge, leading to some stations experiencing limited accessibility. This underscores the importance of enhancing the optimization of walking space, particularly the access routes from the station to the waterfront area. (3) The density of spatial facilities around waterfront stations in old urban areas lags behind the population's needs, indicating a need to strengthen the allocation of relevant land and resources in these areas.

Keywords: rail transit station, waterfront, influence area, spatial vitality, urban vitality

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Authors: Sandy J. M. Balla, Jerry J. Walker, Isaac K. Kyere

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The heat transfer coefficient at the soil–air interface is important in calculating underground cable ampacity when convection occurs. Calculating the heat transfer coefficient accurately is complex because of the temperature variations at the earth's surface. This paper presents the effect of convection heat flow across the ground surface on the rating of three single-core, 132kV, XLPE cables buried underground. The Finite element method (FEM) is a numerical analysis technique used to determine the cable rating of buried cables under installation conditions that are difficult to support when using the analytical method. This study demonstrates the use of FEM to investigate the effect of convection on the rating ofburied cables in flat formation using QuickField finite element simulation software. As a result, developing a model to simulate this type of situation necessitates important considerations such as the following boundary conditions: burial depth, soil thermal resistivity, and soil temperature, which play an important role in the simulation's accuracy and reliability. The results show that when the ground surface is taken as a convection interface, the conductor temperature rises and may exceed the maximum permissible temperature when rated current flows. This is because the ground surface acts as a convection interface between the soil and the air (fluid). This result correlates and is compared with the rating obtained using the IEC60287 analytical method, which is based on the condition that the ground surface is an isotherm.

Keywords: finite element method, convection, buried cables, steady-state rating

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Authors: Nadia H. Mohammed, Anmar Al-Taie, Fadia H. Al-Sultany

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Although breast cancer prevalence continues to increase, mortality has been decreasing as a result of early detection and improvement in adjuvant systemic therapy. Nevertheless, this disease required further efforts to understand and identify the associated potential risk factors that could play a role in the prevalence of this malignancy among Iraqi women. The objective of this study was to assess the perception of certain predictive risk factors on the prevalence of breast cancer types among a sample of Iraqi women diagnosed with breast cancer. This was a retrospective observational study carried out at National Cancer Research Center in College of Medicine, Baghdad University from November 2017 to January 2018. Data of 100 patients with breast cancer whose biopsies examined in the National Cancer Research Center were included in this study. Data were collected to structure a detailed assessment regarding the patients’ demographic, medical and cancer records. The majority of study participants (94%) suffered from ductal breast cancer with mean age 49.57 years. Among those women, 48.9% were obese with body mass index (BMI) 35 kg/m². 68.1% of them had positive family history of breast cancer and 66% had low parity. 40.4% had stage II ductal breast cancer followed by 25.5% with stage III. It was found that 59.6% and 68.1% had positive oestrogen receptor sensitivity and positive human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu) receptor sensitivity respectively. In regard to the impact of prediction of certain variables on the incidence of ductal breast cancer, positive family history of breast cancer (P < 0.0001), low parity (P< 0.0001), stage I and II breast cancer (P = 0.02) and positive HER2/neu status (P < 0.0001) were significant predictive factors among the study participants. The results from this study provide relevant evidence for a significant positive and potential association between certain risk factors and the prevalence of breast cancer among Iraqi women.

Keywords: Ductal Breast Cancer, Hormone Sensitivity, Iraq, Risk Factors

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Authors: Hamed Karimian, Noraziah Nordin, Mohamad Ibrahim Noordin, Syam Mohan, Mahboubeh Razavi, Najihah Mohd Hashim, Happipah Mohd Ali

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Satureja bachtiarica Bunge is a perennial medicinal plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family and endemic species in Iran. Satureja bachtiarica Bunge with the local name of Marzeh koohi is edible vegetable use as flavoring agent, anti-bacterial and to relieve cough and indigestion. In this study, the anti-cancer effect of Satureja bachtiarica Bunge on the MDA-MB-231 cell line as an Breast cancer cell model has been analyzed for the first time. Satureja bachtiarica Bunge was extracted using different solvents in the order of increasing polarity. Cytotoxicity activity of hexane extract of Satureja bachtiarica Bunge (SBHE) was observed using MTT assay. Acridine orange/Propidium iodide staining was used to detect early apoptosis; Annexin-V-FITC assay was carried out to observe the detection of cell-surface Phosphatidylserine (PS), with Annexin-Vserving as a marker for apoptotic cells. Caspase 3/7, 8 and-9 assays showed significantly activation of caspase-9 where lead intrinsic mitochondrial pathway. Bcl-2/Bax expressions and cell cycle arrest were also investigated. SBHE had exhibited significantly higher cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 Cell line compare to other cell lines. A significant increase in chromatin condensation in the cell nucleus was observed by fluorescence analysis. Treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with SBHE encouraged apoptosis, by down-regulating Bcl-2 and up-regulating Bax, which lead the activation of caspase 9. Moreover, SBHE treatment significantly arrested MDA-MB-231 cells in the G1 phase. Together, the results presented in this study demonstrated that SBHE inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells, leading cell cycle arrest and programmed cell death, which was confirmed to be through the mitochondrial pathway.

Keywords: Satureja bachtiarica Bunge, MDA-MB-231, apoptosis, annexin-V, cell cycle

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Authors: Zair Nadje, Attoui Badra, Miloudi Abdelmonem

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This study aims to assess sensitivity to nitrate pollution and monitor the temporal evolution of nitrate contents in groundwater using statistical models and map their spatial distribution. The nitrate levels observed in the waters of the town of El-Oued differ from one aquifer to another. Indeed, the waters of the Quaternary aquifer are the richest in nitrates, with average annual contents varying from 6 mg/l to 85 mg/l, for an average of 37 mg/l. These levels are higher than the WHO standard (50 mg/l) for drinking water. At the water level of the Terminal Complex (CT) aquifer, the annual average nitrate levels vary from 14 mg/l to 37 mg/l, with an average of 18 mg/l. In the Terminal Complex, excessive nitrate levels are observed in the central localities of the study area. The spatial distribution of nitrates in the waters of the Quaternary aquifer shows that the majority of the catchment points of this aquifer are subject to nitrate pollution. This study shows that in the waters of the Terminal Complex aquifer, nitrate pollution evolves in two major areas. The first focus is South-North, following the direction of underground flow. The second is West-East, progressing towards the East zone. The temporal distribution of nitrate contents in the water of the Terminal Complex aquifer in the city of El-Oued showed that for decades, nitrate contents have suffered a decline after an increase. This evolution of nitrate levels is linked to demographic growth and the rapid urbanization of the city of El-Oued.

Keywords: anthropogenic activities, groundwater, nitrates, pollution, arid zones city of El-Oued, Algeria

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Authors: Novee Lor C. Leyso, Maylin C. Palatino

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Under-five malnutrition continues to persist in the Philippines, particularly in the island Province of Marinduque, with prevalence of some forms of malnutrition even worsening in recent years. Local spatial cluster detection provides a spatial perspective in understanding this phenomenon as key in analyzing patterns of geographic variation, identification of community-appropriate programs and interventions, and focused targeting on high-risk areas. Using data from a province-wide household-based census conducted in 2014–2016, this study aimed to determine and evaluate spatial clusters of under-five malnutrition, across the province and within each municipality at the individual level using household location. Malnutrition was defined as weight-for-age z-score that fall outside the 2 standard deviations from the median of the WHO reference population. The Kulldorff’s elliptical spatial scan statistic in binomial model was used to locate clusters with high-risk of malnutrition, while adjusting for age and membership to government conditional cash transfer program as proxy for socio-economic status. One large significant cluster of under-five malnutrition was found southwest of the province, in which living in these areas at least doubles the risk of malnutrition. Additionally, at least one significant cluster were identified within each municipality—mostly located along the coastal areas. All these indicate apparent geographical variations across and within municipalities in the province. There were also similarities and disparities in the patterns of risk of malnutrition in each cluster across municipalities, and even within municipality, suggesting underlying causes at work that warrants further investigation. Therefore, community-appropriate programs and interventions should be identified and should be focused on high-risk areas to maximize limited government resources. Further studies are also recommended to determine factors affecting variations in childhood malnutrition considering the evidence of spatial clustering found in this study.

Keywords: Binomial model, Kulldorff’s elliptical spatial scan statistic, Philippines, under-five malnutrition

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Authors: Mohammad Ali Rajaeifar, Oliver Heidrich

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Nowadays, Li-ion batteries are vastly disseminated and the battery market is expected to experience a huge growth during next decade especially in terms of traction batteries. As the automotive industry moving towards the electrification of the powertrain, more raw/critical materials and energy are extracted while on the other hand, concerns are made regarding the scarcity of the materials as well as environmental issues regarding the destiny of the spent batteries. In this regards, recycling could play a vital role in the supply chain, leading reutilization of key battery materials and also reducing environmental burden related to the use of batteries. The aim of this paper is to review the previous and state-of-the-art treatments for recycling of Li-ion batteries. All the treatments method from mechanical, mild-thermal, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical as well as combined methods for recycling of Li-ion batteries were considered in the study. There are various treatment methods that are economical, but they are not environmentally friendly or vice versa. This is due to the fact that the benefits of the Li-ion batteries recycling could be affected by different factors such as the amount of spent batteries available, the quality of the recovered material, the energy and material consumption by the process itself and environmental burdens caused by required logistics. Finally, a preliminary work sheet of possible route for recycling of spent Li-ion batteries was presented through the course of this study. Overall, it is worth quoting that recycling processes generally consumes a great deal of energy and auxiliary materials. Moreover, the collection of spent products from waste streams represents additional environmental efforts. Therefore, developing and optimizing efficient collection and separation technologies is essential to achieve sustainability goals.

Keywords: hydrometallurgical treatment, Li-ion batteries, mild-thermal treatment, mechanical treatment, recycling, pyrometallurgical treatment

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Authors: Asma Naseer Cheema, Attya Bhatti, Jabar Ali, John Peter

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Background: High cholesterol levels, endothelial dysfunction, inefficient coagulation cascade and hyper inflammatory response all are the basis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Several studies are carried out to see the genetic influence of these factors on disease outcome. Objective: The objective of our study was to see the association of 10 putative loci with coronary artery disease in our population. Materials & Methods: We screened our population for 10 putative loci of CAD showing significant association (p < 5x10-8) with candidate genes (regulating the cholesterol metabolism, endothelial function, coagulation cascade and inflammatory response of body). Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and linkage disequilibrium in cases and controls s were estimated separately. Approximately 5-10 ng of dried DNA in 384 well plate format was used to genotype each sample on the Sequenom iPLEX assay at University of Pittsburgh Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratories. It was built on single-base primer extension with the MALDI-TOF MS detection possessing high sensitivity and specificity. The SNPs were genotyped through Taqman assay. Hardy Weinberg test was applied. The 10 SNPs were selected as genetic markers for this study (rs579459, rs1561198, rs2954029, rs1122608, rs17114036, rs9515203, rs10947789, rs7173743, rs2895811, rs2075650). Results: Mean age of the patient was 52 ± 11 years. Blood pressure and positive family history was found a significant risk factor for CAD. None of the selected SNPs showed significant association with coronary artery disease in our population (p>0.05). Conclusion: rs579459, rs1561198, rs2954029, rs1122608, rs17114036, rs9515203, rs10947789, rs7173743, rs2895811, rs2075650 are not significant genetic markers for CAD in our population.

Keywords: CAD, genetic markers, loci, risk factors

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Authors: Nur Aziza Luxfiati

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Clustering is partitioning data sets into sub-sets or groups in such a way that elements certain properties have shared property settings with a high level of similarity within one group and a low level of similarity between groups. . The K-Means algorithm is one of thealgorithmsclustering as a grouping tool that is most widely used in scientific and industrial applications because the basic idea of the kalgorithm is-means very simple. In this research, applying the technique of clustering using the k-means algorithm as a method of solving the problem of national development imbalances between regions in Central Java Province based on macroeconomic indicators. The data sample used is secondary data obtained from the Central Java Provincial Statistics Agency regarding macroeconomic indicator data which is part of the publication of the 2019 National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) data. score and determine the number of clusters (k) using the elbow method. After the clustering process is carried out, the validation is tested using themethodsBetween-Class Variation (BCV) and Within-Class Variation (WCV). The results showed that detection outlier using z-score normalization showed no outliers. In addition, the results of the clustering test obtained a ratio value that was not high, namely 0.011%. There are two district/city clusters in Central Java Province which have economic similarities based on the variables used, namely the first cluster with a high economic level consisting of 13 districts/cities and theclustersecondwith a low economic level consisting of 22 districts/cities. And in the cluster second, namely, between low economies, the authors grouped districts/cities based on similarities to macroeconomic indicators such as 20 districts of Gross Regional Domestic Product, with a Poverty Depth Index of 19 districts, with 5 districts in Human Development, and as many as Open Unemployment Rate. 10 districts.

Keywords: clustering, K-Means algorithm, macroeconomic indicators, inequality, national development

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Authors: Ghada S. Ellithy, John. W. Murphy, Maureen K. Corcoran

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Erosion rate of soils during a levee or dam overtopping event is a major component in risk assessment evaluation of breach time and downstream consequences. The mechanism and evolution of dam or levee breach caused by overtopping erosion is a complicated process and difficult to measure during overflow due to accessibility and quickly changing conditions. In this paper, the results of a flume erosion tests are presented and discussed. The tests are conducted on a coarse-grained material with a median grain size D50 of 5 mm in a 1-m (3-ft) wide flume under varying flow rates. Each test is performed by compacting the soil mix r to its near optimum moisture and dry density as determined from standard Proctor test in a box embedded in the flume floor. The box measures 0.45 m wide x 1.2 m long x 0.25 m deep. The material is tested several times at varying hydraulic loading to determine the erosion rate after equal time intervals. The water depth, velocity are measured at each hydraulic loading, and the acting bed shear is calculated. A shallow water lidar (SWL) system was utilized to record the progress of soil erodibility and water depth along the scanned profiles of the tested box. SWL is a non-contact system that transmits laser pulses from above the water and records the time-delay between top and bottom reflections. Results from the SWL scans are compared with before and after manual measurements to determine the erosion rate of the soil mix and other erosion parameters.

Keywords: coarse-grained materials, erosion rate, LIDAR system, soil erosion

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Authors: Kristopher A. Pruitt, Justin M. Hill

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The purpose of this research is to determine the pacing and nutrition strategies which minimize completion time and carbohydrate intake for athletes competing in ultramarathon races. The model formulation consists of a two-phase optimization. The first-phase mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) determines the minimum completion time subject to the altitude, terrain, and distance of the race, as well as the mass and cardiovascular fitness of the athlete. The second-phase MINLP determines the minimum total carbohydrate intake required for the athlete to achieve the completion time prescribed by the first phase, subject to the flow of carbohydrates through the stomach, liver, and muscles. Consequently, the second phase model provides the optimal pacing and nutrition strategies for a particular athlete for each kilometer of a particular race. Validation of the model results over a wide range of athlete parameters against completion times for real competitive events suggests strong agreement. Additionally, the kilometer-by-kilometer pacing and nutrition strategies, the model prescribes for a particular athlete suggest unconventional approaches could result in lower completion times. Thus, the MINLP provides prescriptive guidance that athletes can leverage when developing pacing and nutrition strategies prior to competing in ultramarathon races. Given the highly-variable topographical characteristics common to many ultramarathon courses and the potential inexperience of many athletes with such courses, the model provides valuable insight to competitors who might otherwise fail to complete the event due to exhaustion or carbohydrate depletion.

Keywords: nutrition, optimization, pacing, ultramarathons

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Authors: Ahmad Fahim Nasiry, Shigeo Honma

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We examine two-dimensional oil displacement by water in a petroleum reservoir. The pore fluid is immiscible, and the porous media is homogenous and isotropic in the horizontal direction. Buckley-Leverett theory and a combination of Laplacian and Darcy’s law are used to study the fluid flow through porous media, and the Laplacian that defines the dispersion and diffusion of fluid in the sand using heavy oil is discussed. The reservoir is homogenous in the horizontal direction, as expressed by the partial differential equation. Two main factors which are observed are the water saturation and pressure distribution in the reservoir, and they are evaluated for predicting oil recovery in two dimensions by a physical and mathematical simulation model. We review the numerical simulation that solves difficult partial differential reservoir equations. Based on the numerical simulations, the saturation and pressure equations are calculated by the iterative alternating direction implicit method and the iterative alternating direction explicit method, respectively, according to the finite difference assumption. However, to understand the displacement of oil by water and the amount of water dispersion in the reservoir better, an interpolated contour line of the water distribution of the five-spot pattern, that provides an approximate solution which agrees well with the experimental results, is also presented. Finally, a computer program is developed to calculate the equation for pressure and water saturation and to draw the pressure contour line and water distribution contour line for the reservoir.

Keywords: numerical simulation, immiscible, finite difference, IADI, IDE, waterflooding

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Authors: Jia-Jia He, Lin Jiang, Jin-Hua Sun

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Rigid polyurethane foam (RPU) has been extensively applied in building insulation system, yet with high flammability for being easily ignited by high temperature spark or radiative heat flux from other flaming materials or surrounding building facade. Using a cone calorimeter by Fire Testing Technology and thermal couple tree, this study systematically investigated the effect of radiative heat flux on the ignition time and characteristic temperature distribution during RPU combustion under different heat fluxes gradient (12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 kW/m²) with spark ignition/ignition by radiation. The ignition time decreases proportionally with increase of external heat flux, meanwhile increasing the external heat flux raises the peak heat release rate and impresses on the vertical temperature distribution greatly. The critical ignition heat flux is found to be 15 and 25 kW/m² for spark ignition and radiative ignition, respectively. Based on previous experienced ignition formula, a methodology to predict ignition times in both modes has been developed theoretically. By analyzing the heat transfer mechanism around the sample surroundings, both radiation from cone calorimeter and convection flow are considered and calculated theoretically. The experimental ignition times agree well with the theoretical ones in both radiative and convective conditions; however, the observed critical ignition heat flux is higher than the calculated one under piloted-ignition mode because the heat loss process, especially in lower heat flux radiation, is not considered in this developed methodology.

Keywords: rigid polyurethane foam, cone calorimeter, ignition time, external heat flux

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Authors: Khairani Binti Supyan, Fatimah Khalid, Mas Rina Mustaffa, Azreen Bin Azman, Amirul Azuani Romle

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Perennial plant classification plays a significant role in various agricultural and environmental applications, assisting in plant identification, disease detection, and biodiversity monitoring. Nevertheless, attaining high accuracy in perennial plant image classification remains challenging due to the complex variations in plant appearance, the diverse range of environmental conditions under which images are captured, and the inherent variability in image quality stemming from various factors such as lighting conditions, camera settings, and focus. This paper proposes an adaptation approach to optimize perennial plant image classification by fine-tuning the pre-trained DNNs model. This paper explores the efficacy of fine-tuning prevalent architectures, namely VGG16, ResNet50, and InceptionV3, leveraging transfer learning to tailor the models to the specific characteristics of perennial plant datasets. A subset of the MYLPHerbs dataset consisted of 6 perennial plant species of 13481 images under various environmental conditions that were used in the experiments. Different strategies for fine-tuning, including adjusting learning rates, training set sizes, data augmentation, and architectural modifications, were investigated. The experimental outcomes underscore the effectiveness of fine-tuning deep neural networks for perennial plant image classification, with ResNet50 showcasing the highest accuracy of 99.78%. Despite ResNet50's superior performance, both VGG16 and InceptionV3 achieved commendable accuracy of 99.67% and 99.37%, respectively. The overall outcomes reaffirm the robustness of the fine-tuning approach across different deep neural network architectures, offering insights into strategies for optimizing model performance in the domain of perennial plant image classification.

Keywords: perennial plants, image classification, deep neural networks, fine-tuning, transfer learning, VGG16, ResNet50, InceptionV3

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Authors: Sarah Al-Lumai, Fatima Al-Attar, Nour Jamal, Badria Al-Dabbous, Manal Abdulla

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Today, many commonly used Industrial Engineering tools and techniques are being used in hospitals around the world for the goal of producing a more efficient and effective healthcare system. A common quality improvement methodology known as Lean Six-Sigma has been successful in manufacturing industries and recently in healthcare. The objective of our project is to use the Lean Six-Sigma methodology to reduce waiting time in the Emergency Department (ED), in a local private hospital. Furthermore, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to evaluate the success of Lean Six-Sigma in the ED. According to the study conducted by Ibn Sina Hospital, in Morocco, the most common problem that patients complain about is waiting time. To ensure patient satisfaction many hospitals such as North Shore University Hospital were able to reduce waiting time up to 37% by using Lean Six-Sigma. Other hospitals, such as John Hopkins’s medical center used Lean Six-Sigma successfully to enhance the overall patient flow that ultimately decreased waiting time. Furthermore, it was found that capacity constraints, such as staff shortages and lack of beds were one of the main reasons behind long waiting time. With the use of Lean Six-Sigma and bed management, hospitals like Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital were able to reduce patient delays. Moreover, in order to successfully implement Lean Six-Sigma in our project, two common methodologies were considered, DMAIC and DMADV. After the assessment of both methodologies, it was found that DMAIC was a more suitable approach to our project because it is more concerned with improving an already existing process. With many of its successes, Lean Six-Sigma has its limitation especially in healthcare; but limitations can be minimized if properly approached.

Keywords: lean six sigma, DMAIC, hospital, methodology

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Authors: Jaruwan Duangchuen, Siwalak Pathaveerat

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Coconut (Cocos nucifera) belongs to the family Arecaceae. Coconut juice and meat are consumed as food and dessert in several regions of the world. Coconut juice contains low proteins, and arginine is the main amino acid content. Coconut meat is the endosperm of coconut that has nutritional value. It composes of carbohydrate, protein and fat. The objective of this study is utilization of by-products from the virgin coconut oil extraction process by using the skimmed coconut milk as a powder. The skimmed coconut milk was separated from the coconut milk in virgin coconut oil extraction process that consists approximately of protein 6.4%, carbohydrate 7.2%, dietary fiber 0.27 %, sugar 6.27%, fat 3.6 % and moisture content of 86.93%. This skimmed coconut milk can be made to powder for value - added product by using spray drying. The factors effect to the yield and properties of dry skimmed coconut milk in spraying process are inlet, outlet air temperature and the maltodextrin concentration. The percentage of maltodextrin content (15, 20%), outlet air temperature (80 ºC, 85 ºC, 90 ºC) and inlet air temperature (190 ºC, 200 ºC, 210 ºC) were conducted to the skimmed coconut milk spray drying process. The spray dryer was kept air flow rate (0.2698 m3 /s). The result that shown 2.22 -3.23% of moisture content, solubility, bulk density (0.4-0.67g/mL), solubility, wettability (4.04 -19.25 min) for solubility in the water, color, particle size were analyzed for the powder samples. The maximum yield (18.00%) of spray dried coconut milk powder was obtained at 210 °C of temperature, 80°C of outlet temperature and 20% maltodextrin for 27.27 second for drying time. For the amino analysis shown that the high amino acids are Glutamine (16.28%), Arginine (10.32%) and Glycerin (9.59%) by using HPLP method (UV detector).

Keywords: skimmed coconut milk, spray drying, virgin coconut oil process (VCO), maltodextrin

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Authors: Duaa Mughal, Syeda Areeba Nadeem, Shakil Ahmed, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan

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The identification of porcine DNA in Halal food items is critical to ensuring compliance with dietary restrictions and religious beliefs. In Islam, Porcine is prohibited as clearly mentioned in Quran (Surah Al-Baqrah, Ayat 173). The purpose of this study was to compare two DNA extraction procedures for detecting 0.001% of porcine DNA in processed Halal food sample mixtures containing chicken, camel, veal, turkey and goat meat using the TaqMan Real-Time PCR technology. In this research, two different commercial kit protocols were compared. The processed sample mixtures were prepared by spiking known concentration of porcine DNA to non-porcine food matrices. Afterwards, TaqMan Real-Time PCR technique was used to target a particular porcine gene from the extracted DNA samples, which was quantified after extraction. The results of the amplification were evaluated for sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility. The results of the study demonstrated that two DNA extraction techniques can detect 0.01% of porcine DNA in mixture of Halal food samples. However, as compared to the alternative approach, Eurofins| GeneScan GeneSpin DNA Isolation kit showed more effective sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, the commercial kit-based approach showed great repeatability with minimal variance across repeats. Quantification of DNA was done by using fluorometric assay. In conclusion, the comparison of DNA extraction methods for detecting porcine DNA in Halal food sample mixes using the TaqMan Real-Time PCR technology reveals that the commercial kit-based approach outperforms the other methods in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability. This research helps to promote the development of reliable and standardized techniques for detecting porcine DNA in Halal food items, religious conformity and assuring nutritional.

Keywords: real time PCR (qPCR), DNA extraction, porcine DNA, halal food authentication, religious conformity

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Authors: Saman Namvarrechi, Armin A. Dormeny, Javad Dargahi, Mojtaba Kahrizi

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Since last two decades, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has grown significantly due to its advantages compared to the traditional open surgery like less physical pain, faster recovery time and better healing condition around incision regions; however, one of the important challenges in MIS is getting an effective sensing feedback within the patient’s body during operations. Therefore, surgeons need efficient tactile sensing like determining the hardness of contact tissue for investigating the patient’s health condition. In such a case, MIS tactile sensors are preferred to be able to provide force/pressure sensing, force position, lump detection, and softness sensing. Among different pressure sensor technologies, the piezoelectric operating principle is the fittest for MIS’s instruments, such as catheters. Using PVDF with its copolymer, TrFE, as a piezoelectric material, is a common method of design and fabrication of a tactile sensor due to its ease of implantation and biocompatibility. In this research, PVDF-TrFE polymer is deposited via spin-coating method and treated with various post-deposition processes to investigate its piezoelectricity and amount of electroactive β phase. These processes include different post thermal annealing, the effect of spin-coating speed, different layer of deposition, and the presence of additional hydrate salt. According to FTIR spectroscopy and SEM images, the amount of the β phase and porosity of each sample is determined. In addition, the optimum experimental study is established by considering every aspect of the fabrication process. This study clearly shows the effective way of deposition and fabrication of a tactile PVDF-TrFE based sensor and an enhancement methodology to have a higher β phase and piezoelectric constant in order to have a better sense of touch at the end effector of biomedical devices.

Keywords: β phase, minimally invasive surgery, piezoelectricity, PVDF-TrFE, tactile sensor

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Authors: Mabel Usunobun Olanipekun, Henry Ogbemudia Omoregbee

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Anomalies such as water pipeline and hydraulic or petrochemical pipeline network leakages and bursts have significant implications for economic conditions and the environment. In order to ensure pipeline systems are reliable, they must be efficiently controlled. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have become a powerful network with critical infrastructure monitoring systems for water, oil and gas pipelines. The loss of water, oil and gas is inevitable and is strongly linked to financial costs and environmental problems, and its avoidance often leads to saving of economic resources. Substantial repair costs and the loss of precious natural resources are part of the financial impact of leaking pipes. Pipeline systems experts have implemented various methodologies in recent decades to identify and locate leakages in water, oil and gas supply networks. These methodologies include, among others, the use of acoustic sensors, measurements, abrupt statistical analysis etc. The issue of leak quantification is to estimate, given some observations about that network, the size and location of one or more leaks in a water pipeline network. In detecting background leakage, however, there is a greater uncertainty in using these methodologies since their output is not so reliable. In this work, we are presenting a scalable concept and simulation where a pressure-driven model (PDM) was used to determine water pipeline leakage in a system network. These pressure data were collected with the use of acoustic sensors located at various node points after a predetermined distance apart. We were able to determine with the use of correlation difference to determine the leakage point locally introduced at a predetermined point between two consecutive nodes, causing a substantial pressure difference between in a pipeline network. After de-noising the signal from the sensors at the nodes, we successfully obtained the exact point where we introduced the local leakage using the correlation difference model we developed.

Keywords: leakage detection, acoustic signals, pipeline network, correlation, wireless sensor networks (WSNs)

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Authors: Wafa Jahouach-Rabai, Khouloud Ouerghi, Zohra Azzouz-Berriche, Faouzi Hosni

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Widely used organic products in the pharmaceutical industry have been detected in environmental systems, essentially carboxylic acids. In this purpose, the degradation efficiency of these contaminants was evaluated using an advanced oxidation process (AOP), namely ionization process as an alternative to conventional water treatment technologies. This process permitted the generation of radical reactions to directly degrade organic pollutants in wastewater. In fact, gamma irradiation of aqueous solutions produces several reactive radicals, essentially hydroxyl radical (OH), to destroy recalcitrant pollutants. Different concentrations of aqueous solutions of Fumaric acid (FA) were considered in this study (0.1-1 mmol/L), which were treated by irradiation doses from 1 to 15 kGy with 6.1 kGy/h rate by ionizing system in pilot scale (⁶⁰Co irradiator). Variations of main parameters influencing degradation efficiency versus absorbed doses were released in the aim to optimize total mineralization of considered pollutants. Preliminary degradation pathway until complete mineralization into CO₂ has been suggested based on detection of residual degradation derivatives using different techniques, namely high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). Results revealed total destruction of treated compound, which improve the efficiency of this process in water remediation. We investigated the reactivity of hydroxyl radicals generated by irradiation on dicarboxylic acid (FA) in aqueous solutions, leading to its degradation into other smaller molecules. In fact, gamma irradiation of FA leads to the formation of hydroxylated intermediates such as hydroxycarbonyl radical which were identified by EPR spectroscopy. Finally, pilot plant irradiation facilities improved the applicability of radiation technology on large scale.

Keywords: AOP, radiolysis, fumaric acid, gamma irradiation, hydroxyl radical, EPR, HPLC

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Ahmed Alkarimi, Kevin Welham

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Organic mixed mode monolithic columns were fabricated from; glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate-co-stearyl methacrylate, using glycidyl methacrylate and stearyl methacrylate as co monomers representing 30% and 70% respectively of the liquid volume with ethylene dimethacrylate crosslinker and 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone as the free radical initiator. The monomers were mixed with a binary porogenic solvent, comprising propan-1-ol, and methanol (0.825 mL each). The monolith was formed by photo polymerization (365 nm) inside a borosilicate glass tube (1.5 mm ID and 3 mm OD x 50 mm length). The monolith was observed to have formed correctly by optical examination and generated reasonable backpressure, approximately 650 psi at a flow rate of 0.2 mL min⁻¹ 50:50 acetonitrile: water. The morphological properties of the monolithic columns were investigated using scanning electron microscopy images, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, the results showed that the monolith was formed properly with 19.98 ± 0.01 mm² surface area, 0.0205 ± 0.01 cm³ g⁻¹ pore volume and 6.93 ± 0.01 nm average pore size. The polymer monolith formed was further investigated using proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The monolithic columns were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography to test their ability to separate different samples with a range of properties. The columns displayed both hydrophobic/hydrophilic and hydrophobic/ion exchange interactions with the compounds tested indicating that true mixed mode separations. The mixed mode monolithic columns exhibited significant separation of proteins.

Keywords: LC separation, proteins separation, monolithic column, mixed mode

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Authors: S. Ghanaraja, Subrata Ray, S. K. Nath

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Particle reinforced Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) succeeds in synergizing the metallic matrix with ceramic particle reinforcements to result in improved strength, particularly at elevated temperatures, but adversely it affects the ductility of the matrix because of agglomeration and porosity. The present study investigates the outcome of tensile properties in a cast and hot forged composite reinforced simultaneously with coarse and fine particles. Nano-sized alumina particles have been generated by milling mixture of aluminum and manganese dioxide powders. Milled particles after drying are added to molten metal and the resulting slurry is cast. The microstructure of the composites shows good distribution of both the size categories of particles without significant clustering. The presence of nanoparticles along with coarser particles in a composite improves both strength and ductility considerably. Delay in debonding of coarser particles to higher stress is due to reduced mismatch in extension caused by increased strain hardening in presence of the nanoparticles. However, higher addition of powder mix beyond a limit results in deterioration of mechanical properties, possibly due to clustering of nanoparticles. The porosity in cast composite generally increases with the increasing addition of powder mix as observed during process and on forging it has got reduced. The base alloy and nanocomposites show improvement in flow stress which could be attributed to lowering of porosity and grain refinement as a consequence of forging.

Keywords: aluminium, alumina, nano-particle reinforced composites, porosity

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: N. Noori, P. Taherkhani, A. Akhondzadeh Basti, H. Gandomi, M. Alimohammadi

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Research on natural antimicrobial agents, especially of plant origin, highly noticed in recent years and evaluation of antimicrobial effects of native plants such as Bunium persicum Boiss. is especially important. In the present study, sensory characteristics and microbiological properties of Gouda cheese affected by different concentrations of Bunium persicum Boiss. essential oil were investigated. Extraction of the essential oil was performed by hydro distillation. The oil was analyzed by GC using flame ionization (FID) and GC/ MS for detection. The antimicrobial effects were determined against various microbial groups (aerobic mesophilic bacteria, enterococci, mesophilic lactobacilli, enterobacteriaceae, lactococcus and yeasts). Microbial groups were counted during ripening period using plate count on specific culture media. Organoleptic evaluation including teture, flavor, odor, color and total acceptability were determined at the end of aging. According to results, the essential oil yield was 4/1 % ( W/ W). Twenty- six compounds were identified in the oil that concluded 99.7 % of the total oil. The major components of Bunium persicum Boiss. essential oil were γ- terpinene- 7- al (26.9 %) and cuminaldehyde (23.3 %). Generally, the increase of Black Cumin essential oil concentration led to reduction in microbial counts in different groups. The maximum antimicrobial effect was seen in yeast that reduced by 2 log compared to the control group at EO concentration of 4µl/ ml at day 90.The minimum reduction was observed in enterobacteriaceae that showed only 0.75 log decreese compared to the control at the same concentration of EO. Addition of EO improved organoleptic properties of Gouda cheese especially in the case of flavor and odor characteristic. However, no significant differences were observed in texture and color between treatment and control groups. Bunium persicum Boiss. essential oil could be used as preservative material and flavoring agent in some kinds of food such as cheese and also could be provided consumers health.

Keywords: Bunium persicum Boiss. essential oil, Microbiological properties, sensory evaluation, gouda cheese

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Radka Gorejova, Ivana Sisolakova, Jana Shepa, Frederika Chovancova, Renata Orinakova

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious metabolic disease characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. Often, the symptoms are not sufficiently observable at early stages, and so hyperglycemia causes pathological and functional changes before the diagnosis of the DM. Therefore, the development of an electrochemical sensor that will be fast, accurate, and instrumentally undemanding is currently needful. Screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) can be considered as the most suitable matrix material for insulin sensors because of the small size of the working electrode. It leads to the analyst's volume reduction to only 50 µl for each measurement. The surface of bare SPCE was modified by a combination of chitosan, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and zinc nanoparticles (ZnNPs) to obtain better electrocatalytic activity towards insulin oxidation. ZnNPs were electrochemically deposited on the chitosan-MWCNTs/SPCE surface using the pulse deposition method. Thereafter, insulin was determined on the prepared electrode using chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The chronoamperometric measurement was performed by adding a constant amount of insulin in 0.1 M NaOH and PBS (2 μl) with the concentration of 2 μM, and the current response of the system was monitored after a gradual increase in concentration. Subsequently, the limit of detection (LOD) of the prepared electrode was determined via the Randles-Ševčík equation. The LOD was 0.47 µM. Prepared electrodes were studied also as the impedimetric sensors for insulin determination. Therefore, various insulin concentrations were determined via EIS. Based on the performed measurements, the ZnNPs/chitosan-MWCNTs/SPCE can be considered as a potential candidate for novel electrochemical sensor for insulin determination. Acknowledgments: This work has been supported by the projects Visegradfund project number 22020140, VEGA 1/0095/21 of the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency, and APVV-PP-COVID-20-0036 of the Slovak Research and Development Agency.

Keywords: zinc nanoparticles, insulin, chronoamperometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Soumya Kedia, Puja Agarwala, Mahesh Tirumkudulu

Abstract:

Linear stability analysis is performed for a radially expanding liquid sheet in the presence of a gas medium. A liquid sheet can break up because of the aerodynamic effect as well as its thinning. However, the study of the aforementioned effects is usually done separately as the formulation becomes complicated and is difficult to solve. Present work combines both, aerodynamic effect and thinning effect, ignoring the non-linearity in the system. This is done by taking into account the formation of the gas boundary layer whilst neglecting viscosity in the liquid phase. Axisymmetric flow is assumed for simplicity. Base state analysis results in a Blasius-type system which can be solved numerically. Perturbation theory is then applied to study the stability of the liquid sheet, where the gas-liquid interface is subjected to small deformations. The linear model derived here can be applied to investigate the instability for sinuous as well as varicose modes, where the former represents displacement in the centerline of the sheet and the latter represents modulation in sheet thickness. Temporal instability analysis is performed for sinuous modes, which are significantly more unstable than varicose modes, for a fixed radial distance implying local stability analysis. The growth rates, measured for fixed wavenumbers, predicated by the present model are significantly lower than those obtained by the inviscid Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and compare better with experimental results. Thus, the present theory gives better insight into understanding the stability of a thin liquid sheet.

Keywords: boundary layer, gas-liquid interface, linear stability, thin liquid sheet

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Rose A. Yemson, Ping Jiang, Oyedeji L. Inumoh

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The deployment of wireless sensor network has rapidly increased, however with the increased capacity and diversity of sensors, and applications ranging from biological, environmental, military etc. generates tremendous volume of data’s where more attention is placed on the distributed sensing and little on how to manage, analyze, retrieve and understand the data generated. This makes it more quite difficult to process live sensor data, run concurrent control and update because sensor data are either heavyweight, complex, and slow. This work will focus on developing a web service platform for automatic detection of sensors, acquisition of sensor data, storage of sensor data into a database, processing of sensor data using reconfigurable software components. This work will also create a web service based sensor data management system to monitor physical movement of an individual wearing wireless network sensor technology (SunSPOT). The sensor will detect movement of that individual by sensing the acceleration in the direction of X, Y and Z axes accordingly and then send the sensed reading to a database that will be interfaced with an internet platform. The collected sensed data will determine the posture of the person such as standing, sitting and lying down. The system is designed using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and implemented using Java, JavaScript, html and MySQL. This system allows real time monitoring an individual closely and obtain their physical activity details without been physically presence for in-situ measurement which enables you to work remotely instead of the time consuming check of an individual. These details can help in evaluating an individual’s physical activity and generate feedback on medication. It can also help in keeping track of any mandatory physical activities required to be done by the individuals. These evaluations and feedback can help in maintaining a better health status of the individual and providing improved health care.

Keywords: HTML, java, javascript, MySQL, sunspot, UML, web-based, wireless network sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 212

Authors: Mariana Paz Sajon, Paula Cecilia Primogerio, Mariana Albarracin

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This study recovers an experience of teacher training carried out in an Undergraduate Business School from a private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The purpose of the project was to provide teachers with an opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices at the university. The aim of the study is to systematize lessons and challenges that emerge from this teacher training experience. A group of teachers who showed a willingness to learn teaching abilities was selected to work. They completed a formative journey working in learning communities starting from the immersion in different aspects of teaching and learning, class observations, and an individual and collaborative reflection exercise in a systematic way among colleagues. In this study, the productions of the eight teachers who are members of the learning communities are analyzed, framed in an e-portfolio that they prepared during the training journey. The analysis shows that after the process of shared reflection, traits related to powerful teaching and meaningful learning have appeared in the classes. For their part, teachers reflect having reached an awareness of their own practices, identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement, and the experience of sharing their own way and knowing the successes and failures of others was valued. It is an educational journey of pedagogical transformation of the teachers, which is infrequent in business education, which could lead to a change in teaching practices for the entire Business School. The present study involves theoretical and pedagogic aspects of education in a business school in Argentina and its flow-on implications for the workplace that may be transferred to other educational contexts.

Keywords: Argentina, learning community, meaningful learning, powerful teaching, reflective practice

Procedia PDF Downloads 223