Search results for: automatic classification of tremor types

Authors: Muhammad Bilal, Amelia Jane Llyod, Habsah Mohamad, Jia Hui Wong, Abdul Aziz Mohamed Yusoff, Jafri Malin Abdullah, Jingli Zhang

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Epilepsy is one of the major brain afflictions occurs with uncontrolled excitation of cortex; disturbed 50 million of world’s population. About 25 percent of patients subjected to adverse effects from antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) such as depression, nausea, tremors, gastrointestinal symptoms, osteoporosis, dizziness, weight change, drowsiness, fatigue are commonly observed indications; therefore, new drugs are required to cure epilepsy. GABA is principle inhibitory neurotransmitter, control excitation of the brain. Mutation or dysfunction of GABA receptor is one of the primary causes of epilepsy, which is confirmed from many acquired models of epilepsy like traumatic brain injury, kindling, and status epilepticus models of epilepsy. GABA receptor has 3 distinct types such as GABA (A), GABA (B), GABA(C).GABA (A) receptor has 20 different subunits, α1β2γ2 subunits composition of GABA (A) receptor is the most used combination of subunits for screening of compounds against epilepsy. We expressed α1β2γ2s subunits of GABA (A) Receptor in Xenopus leavis oocytes and examined the enhancement potential of 4-Hydroxybenzoic acid compound on GABA (A) receptor via two-electrode voltage clamp current recording technique. Bamboo shoots are the young, tender offspring of bamboo, which are usually harvested after a cultivating period of 2 weeks. Proteins, acids, fat, starch, carbohydrate, fatty acid, vitamin, dietary fiber, and minerals are the major constituent found systematically in bamboo shoots. These shoots reported to have anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial activity, also possess antioxidant properties due to the presence of phenolic compounds. Student t-test analysis suggested that 4- hydroxybenzoic acid positively allosteric GABA (A) receptor, increased normalized current amplitude to 1.0304±0.0464(p value 0.032) compared with vehicle. 4-Hydrobenzoic acid, a compound from Dendrocalamus Asper bamboo shoot gives new insights for future studies on bamboo shoots with motivation for extraction of more compounds to investigate their effects on human and rodents against epilepsy, insomnia, and anxiety.

Keywords: α1β2γ2S, antiepileptic, bamboo shoots, epilepsy GABA (A) receptor, two-microelectrode voltage clamp, xenopus laevis oocytes

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Authors: R. Sanchez-Salcedo, N. H. Voelcker

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Currently, low breast milk production in women is one of the leading health complications in infants. Recently, It has been demonstrated that exclusive breastfeeding, especially up to a minimum of 6 months, significantly reduces respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, which are the main causes of death in infants. However, the current data shows that a high percentage of women stop breastfeeding their children because they perceive an inadequate supply of milk, and only 45% of children are breastfeeding under 6 months. It is, therefore, clear the necessity to design and develop a biosensor that is sensitive and selective enough to identify and validate a panel of milk biomarkers that allow the early diagnosis of this condition. In this context, electrochemical biosensors could be a powerful tool for assessing all the requirements in terms of reliability, selectivity, sensitivity, cost efficiency and potential for multiplex detection. Moreover, they are suitable for the development of POC devices and wearable sensors. In this work, we report the development of two types of sensing platforms towards several biomarkers, including miRNAs and hormones present in breast milk and dysregulated in this pathological condition. The first type of sensing platform consists of an enzymatic sensor for the detection of lactose, one of the main components in milk. In this design, we used gold surface as an electrochemical transducer due to the several advantages, such as the variety of strategies available for its rapid and efficient functionalization with bioreceptors or capture molecules. For the second type of sensing platform, nanoporous silicon film (pSi) was chosen as the electrode material for the design of DNA sensors and aptasensors targeting miRNAs and hormones, respectively. pSi matrix offers a large superficial area with an abundance of active sites for the immobilization of bioreceptors and tunable characteristics, which increase the selectivity and specificity, making it an ideal alternative material. The analytical performance of the designed biosensors was not only characterized in buffer but also validated in minimally treated breastmilk samples. We have demonstrated the potential of an electrochemical transducer on pSi and gold surface for monitoring clinically relevant biomarkers associated with the heightened risk of low milk production in women. This approach, in which the nanofabrication techniques and the functionalization methods were optimized to increase the efficacy of the biosensor highly provided a foundation for further research and development of targeted diagnosis strategies.

Keywords: biosensors, electrochemistry, early diagnosis, clinical markers, miRNAs

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Authors: Yves Alain Ach, Sandra Rmadi Said

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An extensive review of literature in relation to brands has shown that little research has focused on the nature and determinants of the information disclosed by companies with respect to the brands they own and use. The objective of this paper is to address this issue. More specifically, the aim is to characterize the nature of the information disclosed by companies in terms of estimating the value of brands and to identify the determinants of that information according to the company’s characteristics most frequently tested by previous studies on the disclosure of information on intangible capital, by studying the practices of a sample of 37 French companies. Our findings suggest that companies prefer to communicate accounting, economic and strategic information in relation to their brands instead of providing financial information. The analysis of the determinants of the information disclosed on brands leads to the conclusion that the groups which operate internationally and have chosen a category 1 auditing firm to communicate more information to investors in their annual report. Our study points out that the sector is not an explanatory variable for voluntary brand disclosure, unlike previous studies on intangible capital. Our study is distinguished by the study of an element that has been little studied in the financial literature, namely the determinants of brand-related information. With regard to the effect of size on brand-related information disclosure, our research does not confirm this link. Many authors point out that large companies tend to publish more voluntary information in order to respond to stakeholder pressure. Our study also establishes that the relationship between brand information supply and performance is insignificant. This relationship is already controversial by previous research, and it shows that higher profitability motivates managers to provide more information, as this strengthens investor confidence and may increase managers' compensation. Our main contribution focuses on the nature of the inherent characteristics of the companies that disclose the most information about brands. Our results show the absence of a link between size and industry on the one hand and the supply of brand information on the other, contrary to previous research. Our analysis highlights three types of information disclosed about brands: accounting, economics and strategy. We, therefore, question the reasons that may lead companies to voluntarily communicate mainly accounting, economic and strategic information in relation to our study from one year to the next and not to communicate detailed information that would allow them to reconstitute the financial value of their brands. Our results can be useful for companies and investors. Our results highlight, to our surprise, the lack of financial information that would allow investors to understand a better valuation of brands. We believe that additional information is needed to improve the quality of accounting and financial information related to brands. The additional information provided in the special report that we recommend could be called a "report on intangible assets”.

Keywords: brand related information, brand value, information disclosure, determinants

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Authors: Medine Demir, Volker John

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Fluid equations in a rotating frame of reference have a broad class of important applications in meteorology and oceanography, especially in the large-scale flows considered in ocean and atmosphere, as well as many physical and industrial applications. The Coriolis and the centripetal forces, resulting from the rotation of the earth, play a crucial role in such systems. For such applications it may be required to solve the system in complex three-dimensional geometries. In recent years, the Navier--Stokes equations in a rotating frame have been investigated in a number of papers using the classical inf-sup stable mixed methods, like Taylor-Hood pairs, to contribute to the analysis and the accurate and efficient numerical simulation. Numerical analysis reveals that these classical methods introduce a pressure-dependent contribution in the velocity error bounds that is proportional to some inverse power of the viscosity. Hence, these methods are optimally convergent but small velocity errors might not be achieved for complicated pressures and small viscosity coefficients. Several approaches have been proposed for improving the pressure-robustness of pairs of finite element spaces. In this contribution, a pressure-robust space discretization of the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations in a rotating frame of reference is considered. The discretization employs divergence-free, $H^1$-conforming mixed finite element methods like Scott--Vogelius pairs. However, this approach might come with a modification of the meshes, like the use of barycentric-refined grids in case of Scott--Vogelius pairs. However, this strategy requires the finite element code to have control on the mesh generator which is not realistic in many engineering applications and might also be in conflict with the solver for the linear system. An error estimate for the velocity is derived that tracks the dependency of the error bound on the coefficients of the problem, in particular on the angular velocity. Numerical examples illustrate the theoretical results. The idea of pressure-robust method could be cast on different types of flow problems which would be considered as future studies. As another future research direction, to avoid a modification of the mesh, one may use a very simple parameter-dependent modification of the Scott-Vogelius element, the pressure-wired Stokes element, such that the inf-sup constant is independent of nearly-singular vertices.

Keywords: navier-stokes equations in a rotating frame of refence, coriolis force, pressure-robust error estimate, scott-vogelius pairs of finite element spaces

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Authors: O. V. Jurieva, O. U. Jurieva, R. H. Yagudin, P. B. Chursin

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In the recent scientific researches on the problems of public service the idea of the use of innovative technologies of management of personnel processes is accurately formulated. Authors made an attempt to analyze the changes in the public service organizations and to understand how the studied situation is interpreted by the government employees themselves. For this purpose the strategy of sociological research was carried out on the basis of application of questionnaire developed by M. Rokich and focus group research. For the research purposes it was necessary to get to microlevel in order to include daily activities of employees of an organization, their life experience and values in the focus of the analysis. Based on P. Bourdieu's methodology, authors investigated the established patterns of consciousness and behavior of officials (doxa) and also analyzed the tendencies of re-thinking (change) of the settled content of values (heterodoxy) by them. The distinctive feature of the conducted research is that the public servants who have different length of service in the public service took part in the research procedure. The obtained data helped to answer the following question: what are the specifics of doxs of the public servants who work in the public civil service more than 7-10 years and what perception of values of civil service have junior experts whose work experience doesn't exceed 3 years. Respondents were presented by two groups: (1) public servants of the level of main positions in the public civil service of the Republic of Tatarstan. (2) Public servants of the level of lower positions in the ministries and departments of the Republic of Tatarstan. For the study of doxa or of the existing values of public servants, the research with use of the questionnaire based on M. Rokich's system is conducted. Two types of values are emphasised: terminal and instrumental, which are united by us in the collective concept doxa. Doxa: the instrument of research of the established patterns of consciousness and behavior which can either resist to changes in the organization or, on the contrary, support their implementation. In the following stage an attempt to deepen our understanding of the essence and specifics of doxa of officials by means of the applied sociological research which is carried out by focus group method is made. Information obtained by authors during the research convinces that for the success of policy of changes in the organizations of public service it is necessary to develop special technologies of informing employees about the essence and inevitability of the developed innovations, to involve them in the process of changes, to train and to develop the younger generation of civil servants, seriously to perceive additional training and retraining of officials.

Keywords: innovative technologies, public service organizations, public servants

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Authors: Diana M. Torres, Anngie K. Hernandez, Andrea Villareal, Magda R. Gomez, Sadao Kobayashi

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Colombian Garlic crops exhibited mild mosaic, yellow stripes, and deformation. This group of symptoms suggested a viral infection. Several viruses belonging to the genera Potyvirus, Carlavirus and Allexivirus are known to infect garlic and lower their yield worldwide, but in Colombia, there are no studies of viral infections in this crop, only leek yellow stripe virus (LYSV) has been reported to our best knowledge. In Colombia, there are no management strategies for viral diseases in garlic because of the lack of information about viral infections on this crop, which is reflected in (i) high prevalence of viral related symptoms in garlic fields and (ii) high dispersal rate. For these reasons, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the viral status of garlic in Colombia, which can represent a major threat on garlic yield and quality for this country 55 symptomatic leaf samples were collected for virus detection by RT-PCR and mechanical inoculation. Total RNA isolated from infected samples were subjected to RT-PCR with primers 1-OYDV-G/2-OYDV-G for Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV) (expected size 774pb), 1LYSV/2LYSV for LYSV (expected size 1000pb), SLV 7044/SLV 8004 for Shallot latent virus (SLV) (expected size 960pb), GCL-N30/GCL-C40 for Garlic common latent virus (GCLV) (expected size 481pb) and EF1F/EF1R for internal control (expected size 358pb). GCLV, SLV, and LYSV were detected in infected samples; in 95.6% of the analyzed samples was detected at least one of the viruses. GCLV and SLV were detected in single infection with low prevalence (9.3% and 7.4%, respectively). Garlic generally becomes coinfected with several types of viruses. Four viral complexes were identified: three double infection (64% of analyzed samples) and one triple infection (15%). The most frequent viral complex was SLV + GCLV infecting 48.1% of the samples. The other double complexes identified had a prevalence of 7% (GCLV + LYSV and SLV + LYSV) and 5.6% of the samples were free from these viruses. Mechanical transmission experiments were set up using leaf tissues of collected samples from infected fields, different test plants were assessed to know the host range, but it was restricted to C. quinoa, confirming the presence of detected viruses which have limited host range and were detected in C. quinoa by RT-PCR. The results of molecular and biological tests confirm the presence of SLV, LYSV, and GCLV; this is the first report of SLV and LYSV in garlic plants in Colombia, which can represent a serious threat for this crop in this country.

Keywords: SLV, GCLV, LYSV, leek yellow stripe virus, Allium sativum

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Authors: Maryam Al Mheiri, Khaled Al Awadi

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Urban population is continuously increasing worldwide and the speed at which cities urbanize creates major challenges, particularly in terms of creating sustainable urban environments. Rapid urbanization often leads to negative environmental impacts and changes in the urban microclimates. Moreover, when rapid urbanization is paired with limited landscape elements, the effects on human health due to the increased pollution, and thermal comfort due to Urban Heat Island effects are increased. Urban Heat Island (UHI) describes the increase of urban temperatures in urban areas in comparison to its rural surroundings, and, as we discuss in this paper, it impacts on pedestrian comfort, reducing the number of walking trips and public space use. It is thus very necessary to investigate the quality of outdoor built environments in order to improve the quality of life incites. The main objective of this paper is to address the morphology of Emirati neighborhoods, setting a quantitative baseline by which to assess and compare spatial characteristics and microclimate performance of existing typologies in Abu Dhabi. This morphological mapping and analysis will help to understand the built landscape of Emirati neighborhoods in this city, whose form has changed and evolved across different periods. This will eventually help to model the use of different design strategies, such as landscaping, to mitigate UHI effects and enhance outdoor urban comfort. Further, the impact of different native plants types and native species in reducing UHI effects and enhancing outdoor urban comfort, allowing for the assessment of the impact of increasing landscaped areas in these neighborhoods. This study uses ENVI-met, an analytical, three-dimensional, high-resolution microclimate modeling software. This micro-scale urban climate model will be used to evaluate existing conditions and generate scenarios in different residential areas, with different vegetation surfaces and landscaping, and examine their impact on surface temperatures during summer and autumn. In parallel to these simulations, field measurement will be included to calibrate the Envi-met model. This research therefore takes an experimental approach, using simulation software, and a case study strategy for the evaluation of a sample of residential neighborhoods. A comparison of the results of these scenarios constitute a first step towards making recommendations about what constitutes sustainable landscapes for Abu Dhabi neighborhoods.

Keywords: landscape, microclimate, native plants, sustainable neighborhoods, thermal comfort, urban heat island

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Authors: B. Cilek Tatar, G. Sumnu, M. Oztop, E. Ayaz

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Encapsulation protects sensitive food ingredients against heat, oxygen, moisture and pH until they are released to the system. It can mask the unwanted taste of nutrients that are added to the foods for fortification purposes. Cherry laurels (Prunus laurocerasus) contain phenolic compounds which decrease the proneness to several chronic diseases such as types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this research was to study the effects of centrifugation, different coating materials and homogenization methods on microencapsulation of powders obtained from cherry laurels. In this study, maltodextrin and mixture of maltodextrin:whey protein with a ratio of 1:3 (w/w) were chosen as coating materials. Total solid content of coating materials was kept constant as 10% (w/w). Capsules were obtained from powders of freeze-dried cherry laurels through encapsulation process by silent crusher homogenizer or microfluidization. Freeze-dried cherry laurels were core materials and core to coating ratio was chosen as 1:10 by weight. To homogenize the mixture, high speed homogenizer was used at 4000 rpm for 5 min. Then, silent crusher or microfluidizer was used to complete encapsulation process. The mixtures were treated either by silent crusher for 1 min at 75000 rpm or microfluidizer at 50 MPa for 3 passes. Freeze drying for 48 hours was applied to emulsions to obtain capsules in powder form. After these steps, dry capsules were grounded manually into a fine powder. The microcapsules were analyzed for total antioxidant activity with DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging method. Prior to high speed homogenization, the samples were centrifuged (4000 rpm, 1 min). Centrifugation was found to have positive effect on total antioxidant activity of capsules. Microcapsules treated by microfluidizer were found to have higher total antioxidant activities than those treated by silent crusher. It was found that increasing whey protein concentration in coating material (using maltodextrin:whey protein 1:3 mixture) had positive effect on total antioxidant activity for both silent crusher and microfluidization methods. Therefore, capsules prepared by microfluidization of centrifuged mixtures can be selected as the best conditions for encapsulation of cherry laurel powder by considering their total antioxidant activity. In this study, it was shown that capsules prepared by these methods can be recommended to be incorporated into foods in order to enhance their functionality by increasing antioxidant activity.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cherry laurel, microencapsulation, microfluidization

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Authors: Badryah Alshehri, Kevin Gormley, Gillian Prue, Karen McCutcheon

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In a disaster event, sharing patient information between the pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Emergency Department (ED) hospitals is a complex process during which important information may be altered or lost due to poor communication. The aim of this study was to critically discuss the current evidence base in relation to communication between pre- EMS hospital and ED hospital professionals by the use of Information and Communication Systems (ICT). This study followed the systematic approach; six electronic databases were searched: CINAHL, Medline, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore Digital Library were comprehensively searched in January 2018 and a second search was completed in April 2020 to capture more recent publications. The study selection process was undertaken independently by the study authors. Both qualitative and quantitative studies were chosen that focused on factors that are positively or negatively associated with coordinated communication between pre-hospital EMS and ED teams in a disaster event. These studies were assessed for quality, and the data were analyzed according to the key screening themes which emerged from the literature search. Twenty-two studies were included. Eleven studies employed quantitative methods, seven studies used qualitative methods, and four studies used mixed methods. Four themes emerged on communication between EMTs (pre-hospital EMS and ED staff) in a disaster event using the ICT. (1) Disaster preparedness plans and coordination. This theme reported that disaster plans are in place in hospitals, and in some cases, there are interagency agreements with pre-hospital and relevant stakeholders. However, the findings showed that the disaster plans highlighted in these studies lacked information regarding coordinated communications within and between the pre-hospital and hospital. (2) Communication systems used in the disaster. This theme highlighted that although various communication systems are used between and within hospitals and pre-hospitals, technical issues have influenced communication between teams during disasters. (3) Integrated information management systems. This theme suggested the need for an integrated health information system that can help pre-hospital and hospital staff to record patient data and ensure the data is shared. (4) Disaster training and drills. While some studies analyzed disaster drills and training, the majority of these studies were focused on hospital departments other than EMTs. These studies suggest the need for simulation disaster training and drills, including EMTs. This review demonstrates that considerable gaps remain in the understanding of the communication between the EMS and ED hospital staff in relation to response in disasters. The review shows that although different types of ICTs are used, various issues remain which affect coordinated communication among the relevant professionals.

Keywords: emergency medical teams, communication, information and communication technologies, disaster

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Authors: Pei Yi Lin

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Objective: The objective of this study is to use machine learning methods to build an early prediction classifier model for acute delirium to improve the quality of medical care for intensive care patients. Background: Delirium is a common acute and sudden disturbance of consciousness in critically ill patients. After the occurrence, it is easy to prolong the length of hospital stay and increase medical costs and mortality. In 2021, the incidence of delirium in the intensive care unit of internal medicine was as high as 59.78%, which indirectly prolonged the average length of hospital stay by 8.28 days, and the mortality rate is about 2.22% in the past three years. Therefore, it is expected to build a delirium prediction classifier through big data analysis and machine learning methods to detect delirium early. Method: This study is a retrospective study, using the artificial intelligence big data database to extract the characteristic factors related to delirium in intensive care unit patients and let the machine learn. The study included patients aged over 20 years old who were admitted to the intensive care unit between May 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, excluding GCS assessment <4 points, admission to ICU for less than 24 hours, and CAM-ICU evaluation. The CAMICU delirium assessment results every 8 hours within 30 days of hospitalization are regarded as an event, and the cumulative data from ICU admission to the prediction time point are extracted to predict the possibility of delirium occurring in the next 8 hours, and collect a total of 63,754 research case data, extract 12 feature selections to train the model, including age, sex, average ICU stay hours, visual and auditory abnormalities, RASS assessment score, APACHE-II Score score, number of invasive catheters indwelling, restraint and sedative and hypnotic drugs. Through feature data cleaning, processing and KNN interpolation method supplementation, a total of 54595 research case events were extracted to provide machine learning model analysis, using the research events from May 01 to November 30, 2022, as the model training data, 80% of which is the training set for model training, and 20% for the internal verification of the verification set, and then from December 01 to December 2022 The CU research event on the 31st is an external verification set data, and finally the model inference and performance evaluation are performed, and then the model has trained again by adjusting the model parameters. Results: In this study, XG Boost, Random Forest, Logistic Regression, and Decision Tree were used to analyze and compare four machine learning models. The average accuracy rate of internal verification was highest in Random Forest (AUC=0.86), and the average accuracy rate of external verification was in Random Forest and XG Boost was the highest, AUC was 0.86, and the average accuracy of cross-validation was the highest in Random Forest (ACC=0.77). Conclusion: Clinically, medical staff usually conduct CAM-ICU assessments at the bedside of critically ill patients in clinical practice, but there is a lack of machine learning classification methods to assist ICU patients in real-time assessment, resulting in the inability to provide more objective and continuous monitoring data to assist Clinical staff can more accurately identify and predict the occurrence of delirium in patients. It is hoped that the development and construction of predictive models through machine learning can predict delirium early and immediately, make clinical decisions at the best time, and cooperate with PADIS delirium care measures to provide individualized non-drug interventional care measures to maintain patient safety, and then Improve the quality of care.

Keywords: critically ill patients, machine learning methods, delirium prediction, classifier model

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Authors: Susan Mwai, Mary Muchane, Peter Wachira, Sheila Okoth, Muchai Muchane, Halima Saado

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Tropical forests harbor a wide range of biodiversity and rich macro-fungi diversity compared to the temperate regions in the World. However, biodiversity is facing the threat of extinction following the rate of forest loss taking place before proper study and documentation of macrofungi is achieved. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of converting indigenous habitat to plantation forest on macrofungi diversity. To achieve the objective of this study, an inventory focusing on macro-fungi diversity was conducted within Kereita block in Kikuyu Escarpment forest which is on the southern side of Aberdare mountain range. The macrofungi diversity was conducted in the indigenous forest and in more than 15 year old Patula plantation forest , during the wet (long rain season, December 2014) and dry (Short rain season, May, 2015). In each forest type, 15 permanent (20m x 20m) sampling plots distributed across three (3) forest blocks were used. Both field and laboratory methods involved recording abundance of fruiting bodies, taxonomic identity of species and analysis of diversity indices and measures in terms of species richness, density and diversity. R statistical program was used to analyze for species diversity and Canoco 4.5 software for species composition. A total number of 76 genera in 28 families and 224 species were encountered in both forest types. The most represented taxa belonged to the Agaricaceae (16%), Polyporaceae (12%), Marasmiaceae, Mycenaceae (7%) families respectively. Most of the recorded macro-fungi were saprophytic, mostly colonizing the litter 38% and wood 34% based substrates, which was followed by soil organic dwelling species (17%). Ecto-mycorrhiza fungi (5%) and parasitic fungi (2%) were the least encountered. The data established that indigenous forests (native ecosystems) hosts a wide range of macrofungi assemblage in terms of density (2.6 individual fruit bodies / m2), species richness (8.3 species / plot) and species diversity (1.49/ plot level) compared to the plantation forest. The Conversion of native forest to plantation forest also interfered with species composition though did not alter species diversity. Seasonality was also shown to significantly affect the diversity of macro-fungi and 61% of the total species being present during the wet season. Based on the present findings, forested ecosystems in Kenya hold diverse macro-fungi community which warrants conservation measures.

Keywords: diversity, Indigenous forest, macro-fungi, plantation forest, season

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Authors: Maria Ulfa, Nur Awaliyah Putri

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Madurese is known as Malayo-Sumbawan Austronesian language which is used by Madurese people in Madura Island, Indonesia. However, there was a massive migration of Madurese people due to Dutch colonization. The Madurese people were brought by force for cultivation system to the eastern salient north coast or called as Tapal Kuda that spread in region covers the regencies of Probolinggo, Lumajang, Jember, Situbondo, Bondowoso, and Banyuwangi, the eastern part of the Pasuruan Regency, as well as the city of Probolinggo. The city of Probolinggo has unique characteristic regarding the ethnic and language variation. Several ethnics can be found in this city, such as Madurese, Javanese, Tengger, Arabic, Mandhalungan, Osing, and Chinese. Hence, the hybrid culture happens in Probolinggo, they called the culture as Pendhalungan which is the combination of culture among Madurese and Javanese. Among those ethnics, Madurese is the strongest ethnic that still maintains their identity, such as their ethnic language. The massive growth of Madurese in Probolinggo city, East Java is interesting to be analyzed. The object of this study is to discover language ideology and literacy of Madurese to maintain their ethnic language in Probolinggo city, East Java. The researchers used the theory of language maintenance practice based on three types of practices social language, social literacy, and peripheral ritualized practices. The approach of this study was qualitative research with ethnography method. In order to collect the data, researchers used observation and interview techniques. The amount of informants were 20 families which consist of mother, father and children in 5 sub-districts in Probolinggo city and they were interviewed regarding language ideology and literacy of Madurese. In supporting the data, researchers employed the Madurese speakers outside family scope like in school, office, and market. The result of the study revealed that Madurese has been preserved heritably to young generations by ethnics of Madura in Probolinggo city. Primarily the language is being taught in the earlier age of their children as L1 and used as ethnic identity. The parents teach them with simple sentences that grammatically correct. This language literacy is applied to maintain ethnic language as their ethnicity marker since they inhabit in Javanese ethnic area. In fact, it is not the only ideology of Madurese ethnic but also the influence of economic situation like in trading communication. The usage of Madurese in the trading scope is very beneficial since people can bargain the goods cheaper and easier because most of the traders are from Madurese ethnic. In this situation, linguistic phenomena such as code mixing and code switching between Madurese and Javanese are emerged as the trading communication. From the result, it can be concluded that solidarity exists among Madurese people in many scopes.

Keywords: language literacy, language maintenance, Madurese, Probolinggo City

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Authors: Sahar El Kasmi, Ayoub Aziz, Saadia Lharti, Mohammed El Janati, Boubker Boukili, Nacer El Motawakil, Mayom Chol Luka Awan

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Two types of geomaterials (Red Triassic clay from the Maaziz region and Yellow Pliocene clay from the Akrach region) were used to create different mixtures for the fabrication of ceramic bricks. This study investigated the influence of the Pliocene clay on the overall composition and mechanical properties of the Triassic clay. The red Triassic clay, sourced from Maaziz, underwent various mechanical processes and treatments to facilitate its transformation into ceramic bricks for construction. The triassic clay was subjected to a drying chamber and a heating chamber at 100°C to remove moisture. Subsequently, the dried clay samples were processed using a Planetary Babs ll Mill to reduce particle size and improve homogeneity. The resulting clay material was sieved, and the fine particles below 100 mm were collected for further analysis. In parallel, the Miocene marl obtained from the Akrach region was fragmented into finer particles and subjected to similar drying, grinding, and sieving procedures as the triassic clay. The two clay samples are then amalgamated and homogenized in different proportions. Precise measurements were taken using a weighing balance, and mixtures of 90%, 80%, and 70% Triassic clay with 10%, 20%, and 30% yellow clay were prepared, respectively. To evaluate the impact of Pliocene marl on the composition, the prepared clay mixtures were spread evenly and treated with a water modifier to enhance plasticity. The clay was then molded using a brick-making machine, and the initial manipulation process was observed. Additional batches were prepared with incremental amounts of Pliocene marl to further investigate its effect on the fracture behavior of the clay, specifically their resistance. The molded clay bricks were subjected to compression tests to measure their strength and resistance to deformation. Additional tests, such as water absorption tests, were also conducted to assess the overall performance of the ceramic bricks fabricated from the different clay mixtures. The results were analyzed to determine the influence of the Pliocene marl on the strength and durability of the Triassic clay bricks. The results indicated that the incorporation of Pliocene clay reduced the fracture of the triassic clay, with a noticeable reduction observed at 10% addition. No fractures were observed when 20% and 30% of yellow clay are added. These findings suggested that yellow clay can enhance the mechanical properties and structural integrity of red clay-based products.

Keywords: triassic clay, pliocene clay, mineralogical composition, geo-materials, ceramics, akach region, maaziz region, morocco.

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Authors: Rafael Andres Rincon Barrera

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Safety in global aviation plays a preponderant role in organizations that seek to avoid accidents in an attempt to preserve their most precious assets (the people and the machines). Human factors-based programs have shown to be effective in managing human-generated risks. The importance of training on human factors in maintenance has not been indifferent to the Colombian Air Force (COLAF). This research, which has a mixed quantitative, qualitative and descriptive approach, deals with its absence of structuring an instruction program in Human Factors in Aeronautical Maintenance, which serves as a tool to improve Operational Safety in the military air units of the COLAF. Research shows the trends and evolution of human factors programs in aeronautical maintenance through the analysis of a data matrix with 33 sources taken from different databases that are about the incorporation of these types of programs in the aeronautical industry in the last 20 years; as well as the improvements in the operational safety process that are presented after the implementation of these ones. Likewise, it compiles different normative guides in force from world aeronautical authorities for training in these programs, establishing a matrix of methodologies that may be applicable to develop a training program in human factors in maintenance. Subsequently, it illustrates the design, validation, and development of a human factors knowledge measurement instrument for maintenance at the COLAF that includes topics on Human Factors (HF), Safety Management System (SMS), and aeronautical maintenance regulations at the COLAF. With the information obtained, it performs the statistical analysis showing the aspects of knowledge and strengthening the staff for the preparation of the instruction program. Performing data triangulation based on the applicable methods and the weakest aspects found in the maintenance people shows a variable crossing from color coding, thus indicating the contents according to a training program for human factors in aeronautical maintenance, which are adjusted according to the competencies that are expected to be developed with the staff in a curricular format established by the COLAF. Among the most important findings are the determination that different authors are dealing with human factors in maintenance agrees that there is no standard model for its instruction and implementation, but that it must be adapted to the needs of the organization, that the Safety Culture in the Companies which incorporated programs on human factors in maintenance increased, that from the data obtained with the instrument for knowledge measurement of human factors in maintenance, the level of knowledge is MEDIUM-LOW with a score of 61.79%. And finally that there is an opportunity to improve Operational Safety for the COLAF through the implementation of the training program of human factors in maintenance for the technicians working in this area.

Keywords: Colombian air force, human factors, safety culture, safety management system, triangulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Erika Yamaguchi, Sirawadee Arunyanrt, Shunichi Ohmori, Kazuho Yoshimoto

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In this paper, we suggest a simulation tool to make a decision of monthly production planning for maximizing a profit of Specialty store retailer of Private label Apparel (SPA) firms. Most of SPA firms are fabless and make outsourcing deals for productions with factories of their subcontractors. Every month, SPA firms make a booking for production lines and manpower in the factories. The booking is conducted a few months in advance based on a demand prediction and a monthly production planning at that time. However, the demand prediction is updated month by month, and the monthly production planning would change to meet the latest demand prediction. Then, SPA firms have to change the capacities initially booked within a certain range to suit to the monthly production planning. The booking system is called “capacity-booking”. These days, though it is an issue for SPA firms to make precise monthly production planning, many firms are still conducting the production planning by empirical rules. In addition, it is also a challenge for SPA firms to match their products and factories with considering their demand predictabilities and regulation abilities. In this paper, we suggest a model for considering these two issues. An objective is to maximize a total profit of certain periods, which is sales minus costs of production, inventory, and capacity-booking penalty. To make a better monthly production planning at SPA firms, these points should be considered: demand predictabilities by random trends, previous and next month’s production planning of the target month, and regulation abilities of the capacity-booking. To decide matching products and factories for outsourcing, it is important to consider seasonality, volume, and predictability of each product, production possibility, size, and regulation ability of each factory. SPA firms have to consider these constructions and decide orders with several factories per one product. We modeled these issues as a linear programming. To validate the model, an example of several computational experiments with a SPA firm is presented. We suppose four typical product groups: basic, seasonal (Spring / Summer), seasonal (Fall / Winter), and spot product. As a result of the experiments, a monthly production planning was provided. In the planning, demand predictabilities from random trend are reduced by producing products which are different product types. Moreover, priorities to produce are given to high-margin products. In conclusion, we developed a simulation tool to make a decision of monthly production planning which is useful when the production planning is set every month. We considered the features of capacity-booking, and matching of products and factories which have different features and conditions.

Keywords: capacity-booking, SPA, monthly production planning, linear programming

Procedia PDF Downloads 519

Authors: Vanessa Castro, Liria H. Okuda, Daniela P. Chiebao, Adriana H. C. N. Romaldini, Harumi Hojo, Marina Grandi, Joao Paulo A. Silva, Alessandra F. C. Nassar

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The Biological Institute of Sao Paulo, in partnership with a private company, develops an Animal Health Family Farming Program (Prosaf) to enable communication among smallholder farmers and scientists, on-farm consulting and lectures, solving health questions that will benefit agricultural productivity. In Vale do Paraiba region, a dairy region of Sao Paulo State, southern Brazil, many of these types of farms are found with several milk quality problems. Most of these farms are profit-based business; however, with non-technified cattle rearing systems and uncertain veterinary assistance. Feedback from Prosaf showed that the biggest complaints from farmers were low milk production, sick animals and, mainly, loss of selling price due to a high somatic cell count (SCC) and a total bacterial count (TBC). The aims of this study were to improve milk quality, animal hygiene and herd health status by adjustments into general management practices and introducing techniques of sanitary control and milk monitoring in five dairy farms from Sao Jose do Barreiro municipality, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, to increase their profits. A total of 119 milk samples from 56 animals positive for California Mastitis Test (CMT) were collected. The positive CMT indicates subclinical mastitis, therefore laboratorial exams were performed in the milk (microbiological, biochemical and antibiogram test) detect the presence of Staphylococcus aureus (41.8%), Bacillus sp. (11.8%), Streptococcus sp. (2.1%), nonfermenting, motile and oxidase-negative Gram-negative Bacilli (2.1%) and Enterobacter (2.1%). Antibiograms revealed high resistance to gentamicin and streptomycin, probably due to indiscriminate use of antibiotics without veterinarian prescription. We suggested the improvement of hygiene management in the complete milking and cooling tanks system. Using the results of the laboratory tests, animals were properly treated, and the effects observed were better CMT outcomes, lower SCCs, and TBCs leading to an increase in milk pricing. This study will have a positive impact on the family farmers from Sao Paulo State dairy region by improving their market milk competitiveness.

Keywords: milk, family farming, food quality, antibiogram, profitability

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Kevin De Castro Cogle, Mirian Kubo, Maria Anastasiadi, Fady Mohareb, Claire Rossi

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Background: The bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds is a critical determinant of the nutritional quality of various food products. Despite its importance, there is a limited number of comprehensive studies aimed at assessing how the composition of a food matrix influences the bioaccessibility of a compound of interest. This knowledge gap has prompted a growing need to investigate the intricate relationship between food matrix formulations and the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds. One such class of bioactive compounds that has attracted considerable attention is curcuminoids. These naturally occurring phytochemicals, extracted from the roots of Curcuma longa, have gained popularity owing to their purported health benefits and also well known for their poor bioaccessibility Project aim: The primary objective of this research project is to systematically assess the influence of matrix composition on the bioaccessibility of curcuminoids. Additionally, this study aimed to develop a series of predictive models for bioaccessibility, providing valuable insights for optimising the formula for functional foods and provide more descriptive nutritional information to potential consumers. Methods: Food formulations enriched with curcuminoids were subjected to in vitro digestion simulation, and their bioaccessibility was characterized with chromatographic and spectrophotometric techniques. The resulting data served as the foundation for the development of predictive models capable of estimating bioaccessibility based on specific physicochemical properties of the food matrices. Results: One striking finding of this study was the strong correlation observed between the concentration of macronutrients within the food formulations and the bioaccessibility of curcuminoids. In fact, macronutrient content emerged as a very informative explanatory variable of bioaccessibility and was used, alongside other variables, as predictors in a Bayesian hierarchical model that predicted curcuminoid bioaccessibility accurately (optimisation performance of 0.97 R2) for the majority of cross-validated test formulations (LOOCV of 0.92 R2). These preliminary results open the door to further exploration, enabling researchers to investigate a broader spectrum of food matrix types and additional properties that may influence bioaccessibility. Conclusions: This research sheds light on the intricate interplay between food matrix composition and the bioaccessibility of curcuminoids. This study lays a foundation for future investigations, offering a promising avenue for advancing our understanding of bioactive compound bioaccessibility and its implications for the food industry and informed consumer choices.

Keywords: bioactive bioaccessibility, food formulation, food matrix, machine learning, probabilistic modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Mehwish Jamil Noor

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Morphological features of pollen (sculpturing) were useful for identification of different floral taxa. In this study 49 pollen grains, types belonging to 25 families were studied using Scanning Electron Microscope. Shape and sculpturing of pollen ranging from Psilate, scabrate to reticulate, bireticulate and echinolophate. Honey pollen was identified using morphological features, number and arrangement of pore and colpi, size and shape. It presents the first attempt from Pakistan involving extraction of pollen from honey, its identification and taxonomic analysis. Among pollen studied diversity in shape and sculpturing has been observed ranging from Psilate, scabrate to reticulate to bireticulate and echinolophate condition. Pollen has been identified with the help of morphological feature, number and arrangement of pore and colpi, size and shape, reference slides, light microscopic data and previous literature have been consulted for pollen identification. Pollen of closely related species resemble each other therefore pollen identification of airborne and honey pollen is not possible till species level. Survey of flora was carried in parallel to keep the record about the allergenic and melliferous preference of specific sites through surveys and interviews. Their pollination season and geographical distribution were recorded. Two hundred and five including wild and cultivated taxa were identified belonging to sixty-seven families. Major bee attracting wild shrub and trees includes Justicia adhatoda, Acacia nilotica, Ziziphus jujuba, Taraxicum officinalis, Artemisia dubia, Casuarina sp., Ulmus sp., Broussonetia papyrifera, Cupressus sp. or Pinus roxburghii etc. Cultivated crops like Pennisetum typhoides, Nigella sativa, Triticum sativum along with fruit trees of Pyrus, Prunus, Eryobotria, Citrus etc. are popular melliferous floras. Exotic/ introduced species like Eucalyptus or Parthenium hysterophorus, are also frequently visited by bees indicating the significance of those plants in the honey industry. It is concluded that different microscopic analysis techniques give more clear and authentic pictures of and melliferous pollen identification which is well supported by the floral calendar. The diversity of pollen are observed in case of melliferous pollen, and most of the windborne pollen were found less sculptured or psilate expressing the adaptation to the specific mode of pollination. Pollen morphology and sculpturing would serve as a reference for future studies.

Keywords: pollen, allergenic flora, sem, pollen key, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Procedia PDF Downloads 202

Authors: Faraj M. Elkhatri

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The spatial and temporal distribution of diagenetic alterations related impact on the reservoir quality of the Sarir Formation. ( present day burial depth of about 9000 feet) Depositional facies and diagenetic alterations are the main controls on reservoir quality of Sarir Formation Sirt Basin Libya; these based on lithology and grain size as well as authigenic clay mineral types and their distributions. However, petrology investigation obtained on study area with five sandstone wells concentrated on main rock components and the parameters that may have impacts on reservoirs. the main authigenic clay minerals are kaolinite and dickite, these investigations have confirmed by X.R.D analysis and clay fraction. mainly Kaolinite and Dickite were extensively presented on all of wells with high amounts. As well as trace of detrital smectite and less amounts of illitized mud-matrix are possibly find by SEM image. Thin layers of clay presented as clay-grain coatings in local depth interpreted as remains of dissolved clay matrix is partly transformed into kaolinite adjacent and towards pore throat. This also may have impacts on most of the pore throats of this sandstone which are open and relatively clean with some fine martial have been formed on occluded pores. This material is identified by EDS analysis to be collections of not only kaolinite booklets but also small disaggregated kaolinite platelets derived from the disaggregation of larger kaolinite booklets. These patches of kaolinite not only fill this pore but also coat some of the surrounding framework grains. Quartz grains often enlarged by authigenic quartz overgrowths partially occlude and reduce porosity. Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM) was conducted on the post-test samples to examine any mud filtrate particles that may be in the pore throats. Semi-qualitative elemental data on selected minerals observed during the SEM study were obtained through the use of an Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) unit. The samples showed mostly clean open pore throats with limited occlusion by kaolinite. very fine-grained elemental combinations (Si/Al/Na/Cl, Si/Al Ca/Cl/Ti, and Qtz/Ti) have been identified and conformed by EDS analysis. However, the identification of the fine grained disaggregated material as mainly kaolinite though study area.

Keywords: pore throat, fine migration, formation damage, solids plugging, porosity loss

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Bamikole J. Adeyemi, Prashant Jadhawar, Lateef Akanji

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Theoretically, there exist two mathematical interfaces (fluid-solid and fluid-fluid) when a liquid film is present on solid surfaces. These interfaces overlap if the mineral surface is oil-wet or mixed wet, and therefore, the effects of disjoining pressure are significant on both boundaries. Hence, dewetting is a necessary process that could detach oil from the mineral surface. However, if the thickness of the thin water film directly in contact with the surface is large enough, disjoining pressure can be thought to be zero at the liquid-liquid interface. Recent studies show that the integration of fluid-fluid interactions with fluid-rock interactions is an important step towards a holistic approach to understanding smart water effects. Experiments have shown that the brine solution can alter the micro forces at oil-water interfaces, and these ion-specific interactions lead to oil emulsion formation. The natural emulsifiers present in crude oil behave as polyelectrolytes when the oil interfaces with low salinity water. Wettability alteration caused by low salinity waterflooding during Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process results from the activities of divalent ions. However, polyelectrolytes are said to lose their viscoelastic property with increasing cation concentrations. In this work, the influence of cation concentrations on the dynamics of viscoelastic liquid-liquid interfaces is numerically investigated. The resultant ion concentrations at the crude oil/brine interfaces were estimated using a surface complexation model. Subsequently, the ion concentration parameter is integrated into a mathematical model to describe its effects on the dynamics of a viscoelastic interfacial thin film. The film growth, stability, and rupture were measured after different time steps for three types of fluids (Newtonian, purely elastic and viscoelastic fluids). The interfacial films respond to exposure time in a similar manner with an increasing growth rate, which resulted in the formation of more droplets with time. Increased surfactant accumulation at the interface results in a higher film growth rate which leads to instability and subsequent formation of more satellite droplets. Purely elastic and viscoelastic properties limit film growth rate and consequent film stability compared to the Newtonian fluid. Therefore, low salinity and reduced concentration of the potential determining ions in injection water will lead to improved interfacial viscoelasticity.

Keywords: liquid-liquid interfaces, surfactant concentrations, potential determining ions, residual oil mobilization

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: A. Lefebre, M. Willekens, K. Debackere

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Since the 1990s, patent applications have been booming, especially in the field of telecommunications. However, this increase in patent filings has been associated with an (alleged) decrease in patent quality. The plethora of low-quality patents devalues the high-quality ones, thus weakening the incentives for inventors to patent inventions. Despite the rich literature on strategic patenting, previous research has neglected to emphasize the importance of patent portfolio management and its impact on patent quality. In this paper, we compare related patent portfolios vs. nonrelated patents and investigate whether the patent quality and innovativeness differ between the two types. In the analyses, patent quality is proxied by five individual proxies (number of inventors, claims, renewal years, designated states, and grant lag), and these proxies are then aggregated into a quality index. Innovativeness is proxied by two measures: the originality and radicalness index. Results suggest that related patent portfolios have, on average, a lower patent quality compared to nonrelated patents, thus suggesting that firms use them for strategic purposes rather than for the extended protection they could offer. Even upon testing the individual proxies as a dependent variable, we find evidence that related patent portfolios are of lower quality compared to nonrelated patents, although not all results show significant coefficients. Furthermore, these proxies provide evidence of the importance of adding fixed effects to the model. Since prior research has found that these proxies are inherently flawed and never fully capture the concept of patent quality, we have chosen to run the analyses with individual proxies as supplementary analyses; however, we stick with the comprehensive index as our main model. This ensures that the results are not dependent upon one certain proxy but allows for multiple views of the concept. The presence of divisional applications might be linked to the level of innovativeness of the underlying invention. It could be the case that the parent application is so important that firms are going through the administrative burden of filing for divisional applications to ensure the protection of the invention and the preemption of competition. However, it could also be the case that the preempting is a result of divisional applications being used strategically as a backup plan and prolonging strategy, thus negatively impacting the innovation in the portfolio. Upon testing the level of novelty and innovation in the related patent portfolios by means of the originality and radicalness index, we find evidence for a significant negative association with related patent portfolios. The minimum innovation that has been brought on by the patents in the related patent portfolio is lower compared to the minimum innovation that can be found in nonrelated portfolios, providing evidence for the second argument.

Keywords: patent portfolio management, patent quality, related patent portfolios, strategic patenting

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: S. S. Sharma, P. R. Prabhu, K. Jagannath, Achutha Kini U., Gowri Shankar M. C.

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In present global scenario, aluminum alloys are coining the attention of many innovators as competing structural materials for automotive and space applications. Comparing to other challenging alloys, especially, 7xxx series aluminum alloys have been studied seriously because of their benefits such as moderate strength; better deforming characteristics, excellent chemical decay resistance, and affordable cost. 7075 Al-alloys have been used in the transportation industry for the fabrication of several types of automobile parts, such as wheel covers, panels and structures. It is expected that substitution of such aluminum alloys for steels will result in great improvements in energy economy, durability and recyclability. However, it is necessary to improve the strength and the formability levels at low temperatures in aluminium alloys for still better applications. Aluminum–Zinc–Magnesium with or without other wetting agent denoted as 7XXX series alloys are medium strength heat treatable alloys. Cu, Mn and Si are the other solute elements which contribute for the improvement in mechanical properties achievable by selecting and tailoring the suitable heat treatment process. On subjecting to suitable treatments like age hardening or cold deformation assisted heat treatments, known as low temperature thermomechanical treatments (LTMT) the challenging properties might be incorporated. T6 is the age hardening or precipitation hardening process with artificial aging cycle whereas T8 comprises of LTMT treatment aged artificially with X% cold deformation. When the cold deformation is provided after solution treatment, there is increase in hardness related properties such as wear resistance, yield and ultimate strength, toughness with the expense of ductility. During precipitation hardening both hardness and strength of the samples are increasing. Decreasing peak hardness value with increasing aging temperature is the well-known behavior of age hardenable alloys. The peak hardness value is further increasing when room temperature deformation is positively supported with age hardening known as thermomechanical treatment. Considering these aspects, it is intended to perform heat treatment and evaluate hardness, tensile strength, wear resistance and distribution pattern of reinforcement in the matrix. 2 to 2.5 and 3 to 3.5 times increase in hardness is reported in age hardening and LTMT treatments respectively as compared to as-cast composite. There was better distribution of reinforcements in the matrix, nearly two fold increase in strength levels and upto 5 times increase in wear resistance are also observed in the present study.

Keywords: reinforcement, precipitation, thermomechanical, dislocation, strain hardening

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: J. A. Marañón, L. Lozano C. De Los Santos, L. Martínez-Campesino, E. Caballero-Garrido, F. Galán-Estella

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Urinary incontinence (UI) is a significant health problem with considerable social and economic impact. An estimated 30% of women aged 30 to 60 years old have urinary incontinence (UI), while more than 50% of community-dwelling older women have the condition. Stress urinary incontinence and overactive bladder are the common types of incontinence The prevalence of stress and mixed (stress and urge) incontinence is higher than urge incontinence, but the latter is more likely to require treatment. In women, moderate and severe have a prevalence ranging from about 12% to 17% The objectives of this study was to examine the effect of the supplementation of tablets containing Dropsordry in women with urge urinary incontinence (UUI). Dropsordry is a novel active containing phytoestrogens from SOLGEN, the high genistin soy bean extract and pyrogallol plus polyphenols from standarized pumpkin seed extract,. The study was a single-center, not randomiized open prospective, study. 28 women with urinary incontinence ≥45 years were enrolled in this study (45-62 y. old age . Mean 52 y old). Items related to UI symptoms, were previously collected (T0) and these ítems were reviewed at the final of the study – 8 weeks. (T2). The presence of UI was previously diagnosed using the International Continence Society standards (ICS). Relationships between presence of UI and potential related factors as diabetes were also explored. Daily urinary test control was performed during the 8 weeks of treatment. Daily dosage was 1 g/ day (500 mg twice per day) from 0 to 4 week (T1), following a 500 mg/day daily intake from 4 to 8 week (T2). After eight weeks of treatment, the urgency grade score was reduced a 24,7%. The total urge episodes was reduced a 46%. Surprisingly there was no a significant change in daytime urinations (< 5%), however nocturia was reduced a 69,35%. Strenght Urinary Incontinence (SUI) was also tested showing a remarkably 52,17% reduction. Moreover the use of daily pantyliners was reduced a 66,25%. In addition, it was performed a panel test survey with quests when subjects of the study were enrolled (T0) and the same quests was performed after 8 weeks of supplementation (T2). 100% of the enrolled women fullfilled the ICIQ-SF quest (Spanish versión) and they were also questioned about the effects they noticed in response to taking the supplement and the change in quality of life. Interestingly no side effects were reported. There was a 96,2% of subjective satisfaction and a 85,8% objective score in the improvement of quality of life. CONCLUSION: the combination of High genistin isoflavones and pumpkin seed pyrogallol in Dropsordry tablets seems to be a safe and highly effective supplementation for the relieve of the urinary incontinence symptoms and a better quality of life in perimenopause women .

Keywords: isoflavones, pumpkin, menopause, incontinence, genistin

Procedia PDF Downloads 405

Authors: Dennis Kreutzer, Sarah Müller-Abdelrazeq, Ingrid Isenhardt

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Resource scarcity, energy transition and the planned climate neutrality pose enormous challenges for manufacturing companies. In order to achieve these goals and a holistic sustainable development, the European Union has listed the circular economy as part of the Circular Economy Action Plan. In addition to a reduction in resource consumption, reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and a reduced volume of waste, the principles of the circular economy also offer enormous economic potential for companies, such as the generation of new circular business models. However, many manufacturing companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, do not have the necessary capacity to plan their transformation. They need support and strategies on the path to circular transformation, because this change affects not only production but also the entire company. Maturity models offer an approach, as they enable companies to determine the current status of their transformation processes. In addition, companies can use the models to identify transformation strategies and thus promote the transformation process. While maturity models are established in other areas, e.g. IT or project management, only a few circular economy maturity models can be found in the scientific literature. The aim of this paper is to analyse the identified maturity models of the circular economy through a systematic literature review (SLR) and, besides other aspects, to check their completeness as well as their quality. Since the terms "maturity model" and "readiness model" are often used to assess the transformation process, this paper considers both types of models to provide a more comprehensive result. For this purpose, circular economy maturity models at the company (micro) level were identified from the literature, compared, and analysed with regard to their theoretical and methodological structure. A specific focus was placed, on the one hand, on the analysis of the business units considered in the respective models and, on the other hand, on the underlying metrics and indicators in order to determine the individual maturity level of the entire company. The results of the literature review show, for instance, a significant difference in the holism of their assessment framework. Only a few models include the entire company with supporting areas outside the value-creating core process, e.g. strategy and vision. Additionally, there are large differences in the number and type of indicators as well as their metrics. For example, most models often use subjective indicators and very few objective indicators in their surveys. It was also found that there are rarely well-founded thresholds between the levels. Based on the generated results, concrete ideas and proposals for a research agenda in the field of circular economy maturity models are made.

Keywords: maturity model, circular economy, transformation, metric, assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Mariana Calderón, Paola Montenegro, Diana Moreno

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Through this study, it was possible to identify the different levels and types of violence, both individual and collective, experienced by women, girls, and the sexually diverse population of Buenaventura translated from the different tensions and threats against ancestrality and accounting for a social and political context of violence related to race and geopolitical location. These threats are related to: the stigma and oblivion imposed on practices and knowledge; the imposition of the hegemonic culture; the imposition of external customs as a way of erasing ancestrality; the singling out and persecution of those who practice it; the violence that the health system has exercised against ancestral knowledge and practices, especially in the case of midwives; the persecution of the Catholic religion against this knowledge and practices; the difficulties in maintaining the practices in the displacement from rural to urban areas; the use and control of ancestral knowledge and practices by the armed actors; the rejection and stigma exercised by the public forces; and finally, the murder of the wise women at the hands of the armed actors. This research made it possible to understand the importance of using tools such as the violence meter to support processes of resistance to violence against women, girls, and sexually diverse people; however, it is essential that these tools be adapted to the specific contexts of the people. In the analysis of violence, it was possible to identify that these not only affect women, girls, and sexually diverse people individually but also have collective effects that threaten the territory and the ancestral culture to which they belong. Ancestrality has been the object of violence, but at the same time, it has been the place from which resistance has been organized. The identification of the violence suffered by women, girls, and sexually diverse people is also an opportunity to make visible the forms of resistance of women and communities in the face of this violence. This study examines how women, girls, and sexually diverse people in Buenaventura have been exposed to sexism and racism, which historically have been translated into specific forms of violence, in addition to the other forms of violence already identified by the traditional models of the violentometer. A qualitative approach was used in the study. The study included the participation of more than 40 people and two women's organizations from Buenaventura. The participants came from both urban and rural areas of the municipality of Buenaventura and were over 15 years of age. The participation of such a diverse group allowed for the exchange of knowledge and experiences, particularly between younger and older people. The instrument used for the exercise was previously defined with the leaders of the organizations and consisted of four moments that referred to i) ancestry, ii) threats to ancestry, iii) identification of resistance and iv) construction of the ancestral violentometer.

Keywords: violence against women, intersectionality, sexual and reproductive rights, black communities

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Vincent Andrew Cappellano

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In the early phases of critical infrastructure system design, translating distributed computing requirements to an architecture has risk given the multitude of approaches (e.g., cloud, edge, fog). In many systems, a single requirement for system uptime / availability is used to encompass the system’s intended operations. However, when architected systems may perform to those availability requirements only during normal operations and not during component failure, or during outages caused by adversary attacks on critical infrastructure (e.g., physical, cyber). System designers lack a structured method to evaluate availability requirements against candidate system architectures through deep degradation scenarios (i.e., normal ops all the way down to significant damage of communications or physical nodes). This increases risk of poor selection of a candidate architecture due to the absence of insight into true performance for systems that must operate as a piece of critical infrastructure. This research effort proposes a process to analyze critical infrastructure system availability requirements and a candidate set of systems architectures, producing a metric assessing these architectures over a spectrum of degradations to aid in selecting appropriate resilient architectures. To accomplish this effort, a set of simulation and evaluation efforts are undertaken that will process, in an automated way, a set of sample requirements into a set of potential architectures where system functions and capabilities are distributed across nodes. Nodes and links will have specific characteristics and based on sampled requirements, contribute to the overall system functionality, such that as they are impacted/degraded, the impacted functional availability of a system can be determined. A machine learning reinforcement-based agent will structurally impact the nodes, links, and characteristics (e.g., bandwidth, latency) of a given architecture to provide an assessment of system functional uptime/availability under these scenarios. By varying the intensity of the attack and related aspects, we can create a structured method of evaluating the performance of candidate architectures against each other to create a metric rating its resilience to these attack types/strategies. Through multiple simulation iterations, sufficient data will exist to compare this availability metric, and an architectural recommendation against the baseline requirements, in comparison to existing multi-factor computing architectural selection processes. It is intended that this additional data will create an improvement in the matching of resilient critical infrastructure system requirements to the correct architectures and implementations that will support improved operation during times of system degradation due to failures and infrastructure attacks.

Keywords: architecture, resiliency, availability, cyber-attack

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Lucie Bielská, Lucia Škulcová, Martina Hvězdová, Jakub Hofman, Zdeněk Šimek

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The currently used pesticides represent a broad group of chemicals with various physicochemical and environmental properties which input has reached 2×106 tons/year and is expected to even increases. From that amount, only 1% directly interacts with the target organism while the rest represents a potential risk to the environment and human health. Despite being authorized and approved for field applications, the effects of pesticides in the environment can differ from the model scenarios due to the various pesticide-soil interactions and resulting modified fate and behavior. As such, a direct monitoring of pesticide residues and evaluation of their impact on soil biota, aquatic environment, food contamination, and human health should be performed to prevent environmental and economic damages. The present project focuses on fluvisols as they are intensively used in the agriculture but face to several environmental stressors. Fluvisols develop in the vicinity of rivers by the periodic settling of alluvial sediments and periodic interruptions to pedogenesis by flooding. As a result, fluvisols exhibit very high yields per area unit, are intensively used and loaded by pesticides. Regarding the floods, their regular contacts with surface water arise from serious concerns about the surface water contamination. In order to monitor pesticide residues and assess their environmental and biological impact within this project, 70 fluvisols were sampled over the Czech Republic and analyzed for the total and bioaccessible amounts of 40 various pesticides. For that purpose, methodologies for the pesticide extraction and analysis with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technique were developed and optimized. To assess the biological risks, both the earthworm bioaccumulation tests and various types of passive sampling techniques (XAD resin, Chemcatcher, and silicon rubber) were optimized and applied. These data on chemical analysis and bioavailability were combined with the results of soil analysis, including the measurement of basic physicochemical soil properties as well detailed characterization of soil organic matter with the advanced method of diffuse reflectance infrared spectrometry. The results provide unique data on the residual levels of pesticides in the Czech Republic and on the factors responsible for increased pesticide residue levels that should be included in the modeling of pesticide fate and effects.

Keywords: currently used pesticides, fluvisoils, bioavailability, Quechers, liquid-chromatography-mass spectrometry, soil properties, DRIFT analysis, pesticides

Procedia PDF Downloads 464

Authors: Xiangtuo Chen, Paul-Henry Cournéde

Abstract:

Crop yield prediction is a paramount issue in agriculture. The main idea of this paper is to find out efficient way to predict the yield of corn based meteorological records. The prediction models used in this paper can be classified into model-driven approaches and data-driven approaches, according to the different modeling methodologies. The model-driven approaches are based on crop mechanistic modeling. They describe crop growth in interaction with their environment as dynamical systems. But the calibration process of the dynamic system comes up with much difficulty, because it turns out to be a multidimensional non-convex optimization problem. An original contribution of this paper is to propose a statistical methodology, Multi-Scenarios Parameters Estimation (MSPE), for the parametrization of potentially complex mechanistic models from a new type of datasets (climatic data, final yield in many situations). It is tested with CORNFLO, a crop model for maize growth. On the other hand, the data-driven approach for yield prediction is free of the complex biophysical process. But it has some strict requirements about the dataset. A second contribution of the paper is the comparison of these model-driven methods with classical data-driven methods. For this purpose, we consider two classes of regression methods, methods derived from linear regression (Ridge and Lasso Regression, Principal Components Regression or Partial Least Squares Regression) and machine learning methods (Random Forest, k-Nearest Neighbor, Artificial Neural Network and SVM regression). The dataset consists of 720 records of corn yield at county scale provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the associated climatic data. A 5-folds cross-validation process and two accuracy metrics: root mean square error of prediction(RMSEP), mean absolute error of prediction(MAEP) were used to evaluate the crop prediction capacity. The results show that among the data-driven approaches, Random Forest is the most robust and generally achieves the best prediction error (MAEP 4.27%). It also outperforms our model-driven approach (MAEP 6.11%). However, the method to calibrate the mechanistic model from dataset easy to access offers several side-perspectives. The mechanistic model can potentially help to underline the stresses suffered by the crop or to identify the biological parameters of interest for breeding purposes. For this reason, an interesting perspective is to combine these two types of approaches.

Keywords: crop yield prediction, crop model, sensitivity analysis, paramater estimation, particle swarm optimization, random forest

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Rangrong Yoksan, Amporn Sane, Nattaporn Khanoonkon, Chanakorn Yokesahachart, Narumol Noivoil, Khanh Minh Dang

Abstract:

Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most commercially available bio-based and biodegradable plastic at present. PLA has been used in plastic related industries including single-used containers, disposable and environmentally friendly packaging owing to its renewability, compostability, biodegradability, and safety. Although PLA demonstrates reasonably good optical, physical, mechanical, and barrier properties comparable to the existing petroleum-based plastics, its brittleness and mold shrinkage as well as its price are the points to be concerned for the production of rigid and semi-rigid packaging. Blending PLA with other bio-based polymers including thermoplastic starch (TPS) is an alternative not only to achieve a complete bio-based plastic, but also to reduce the brittleness, shrinkage during molding and production cost of the PLA-based products. TPS is a material produced mainly from starch which is cheap, renewable, biodegradable, compostable, and non-toxic. It is commonly prepared by a plasticization of starch under applying heat and shear force. Although glycerol has been reported as one of the most plasticizers used for preparing TPS, its migration caused the surface stickiness of the TPS products. In some cases, mixed plasticizers or natural fibers have been applied to impede the retrogradation of starch or reduce the migration of glycerol. The introduction of fibers into TPS-based materials could reinforce the polymer matrix as well. Therefore, the objective of the present research is to study the effect of starch type (i.e. native starch and phosphate starch), plasticizer type (i.e. glycerol and xylitol with a weight ratio of glycerol to xylitol of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100), and fiber content (i.e. in the range of 1-25 % wt) on properties of PLA/TPS blend and composite. PLA/TPS blends and composites were prepared using a twin-screw extruder and then converted into dumbbell-shaped specimens using an injection molding machine. The PLA/TPS blends prepared by using phosphate starch showed higher tensile strength and stiffness than the blends prepared by using the native one. In contrast, the blends from native starch exhibited higher extensibility and heat distortion temperature (HDT) than those from the modified starch. Increasing xylitol content resulted in enhanced tensile strength, stiffness, and water resistance, but decreased extensibility and HDT of the PLA/TPS blend. Tensile properties and hydrophobicity of the blend could be improved by incorporating silane treated-jute fibers.

Keywords: polylactic acid, thermoplastic starch, Jute fiber, composite, blend

Procedia PDF Downloads 424

Authors: Lubna M. Al-Otaibi

Abstract:

Mucocele is a common benign neoplasm of the oral cavity and the most common after fibroma. The lesion develops as a result of retention or extravasation of mucous material from minor salivary glands. Extravasation type of mucocele results from trauma and mostly occurs in the lower lip of young patients. The various treatment options available for the treatment of mucocele are associated with a relatively high incidence of recurrence making surgical intervention necessary for a permanent cure. The conventional surgical procedure, however, arouses apprehension in the patient and is associated with bleeding and postoperative pain. Recently, treatment of mucocele with lasers has become a viable treatment option. Various types of lasers are being used and are preferable over the conventional surgical procedure as they provide good hemostasis, reduced postoperative swelling and pain, reduced bacterial population, lesser need for suturing, faster healing and low recurrence rates. Er,Cr:YSGG is a solid-state laser with great affinity to water molecule. Its hydrokinetic cutting action allows it to work effectively on hydrated tissues without any thermal damage. However, up to date, only a few studies have reported its use in the removal of lip mucocele, especially in children. In this case, a 6 year old female patient with history of trauma to the lower lip presented with a soft, sessile, whitish-bluish 4 mm papule. The lesion was present for approximately four months and was fluctuant in size. The child developed a habit of biting the lesion causing injury, bleeding and discomfort. Surgical excision under local anaesthesia was performed using 2780 nm Er,Cr:YSGG Laser (WaterLase iPlus, Irvine, CA) with a Gold handpiece and MZ6 tip (3.5w, 50 Hz, 20% H2O, 20% Air, S mode). The tip was first applied in contact mode with focused beam using the Circumferential Incision Technique (CIT) to excise the tissue followed by the removal of the underlying causative minor salivary gland. Bleeding was stopped using Laser Dry Bandage setting (0.5w, 50 Hz, 1% H2O, 20% Air, S mode) and no suturing was needed. Safety goggles were worn and high-speed suction was used for smoke evacuation. Mucocele excision using 2780 nm Er,Cr:YSGG laser was rapid, easy to perform with excellent precision and allowed for histopathological examination of the excised tissue. The patient was comfortable and there were minimum bleeding and no sutures, postoperative pain, scarring or recurrence. Laser assisted mucocele excision appears to have efficient and reliable benefits in young patients and should be considered as an alternative to conventional surgical and non-surgical techniques.

Keywords: Erbium, excision, laser, lip, mucocele

Procedia PDF Downloads 236