Search results for: feeding duration

Authors: Trias Setiawati, Rizkika Awalia

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The study title is “In Working, Career is not everything: A Case Study of Family Friendly Policies (FFP) on Bank Company.” This study aims to describe the application of FFP in the banking, especially Bank Rakyat Indonesia or BRI (Indonesian People Bank) in Katamso Branch Office in Yogyakarta Katamso Branch Office in Yogyakarta (KBOY) as a support company to create a work-life balance, as well as the achievement of career and family harmony is seen from the work-family conflict faced by the employees. The importance of the application of FFP in an organization is basically to build competitive advantage of a company. This study used qualitative research methods with a case study approach in BRI in KBOY. Data collection techniques used non-participant observation and in-depth structured interviews with three employees. The results showed that FFP is in general adoption and not optimal yet. Optimal FFP policy is not yet implemented; it just in the in-formal policies such as the lack of flexible-time, the lack of daycare, the lack of counseling for employees of personal nature, despite it was the availability of lactation rooms for feeding. The employees found difficulties in balancing between achieving careers at work and reaching family harmony. Not pursued a career does not mean that they do not want to reach a better position, but they do not want to ignore the family harmony because of the hours of work overload.

Keywords: career, family friendly policies, work-family balance, work-family conflict

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Authors: Sadeg Abdurahman, Claudio Stockle, James Harsh, Marc Beutel, Usama Zaher

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Pollution of the environment is a phenomenon which has taken a big part of importance of the world governments since the second half of the last century, this takes dangerous environmental, economic and social ranges dimensions especially after industrial advancement in industrialized country and good industrial expansion supported with modern technology and as chromium is known to be used in tannery factories. Chromium is considered a harm element to the environment due to its danger and transference through food, air, and water to the plants, animals and people. In this study the capacity of Arundo donax against chromium pollution was conducted. A. donax plants were grown-up under greenhouse conditions in pots contain nursery soil and feeding by Cr synthetic wastewater (0, 0.1, 1.0 and 2.0 mg L-1 ) for four weeks. Leaves, roots and stems dry matter production, color degree values, chlorophyll, growth parameters, and morphological characters were measured. The high Cr concentration was in roots was 1.15 mg kg-1 . Similarly, Cr concentration in stem was 0.469 mg kg-1 at 2.0 mg L-1 supplied Cr. In case of leaves, the maximum Cr concentration was 0.345 mg kg-1 at 2.0 g L-1 supplied Cr. The bioaccumulation and translocation factors was calculated. The macrophyte A. donax L. may be considered to be the most promising plant species in remediation of Cr-contaminated soil and wastewater due to its deeper root system as well as has higher efficiency to absorb chromium and other heavy metals as well.

Keywords: Arundo donax, Chromium pollution, heavy metals, phytoremediation, wastewater

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Authors: S. Ravindran, Y.Liu, I. Gratchev, D.Jeng

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Rainfall-induced shallow landslides are more common in the northern New South Wales (NSW), Australia. From 2009 to 2017, around 105 rainfall-induced landslides occurred along the road corridors and caused temporary road closures in the northern NSW. Rainfall causing shallow landslides has different distributions of rainfall varying from uniform, normal, decreasing to increasing rainfall intensity. The duration of rainfall varied from one day to 18 days according to historical data. The objective of this research is to analyse slope instability of some of the sites in the northern NSW by varying cumulative rainfall using SLOPE/W and SEEP/W and compare with field data of rainfall causing shallow landslides. The rainfall data and topographical data from public authorities and soil data obtained from laboratory tests will be used for this modelling. There is a likelihood of shallow landslides if the cumulative rainfall is between 100 mm to 400 mm in accordance with field data.

Keywords: landslides, modelling, rainfall, suction

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Ali Kassem, Yhea Kishik, Ali Hassan, Mohamed Abdelwahab

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Introduction: Accelerated coronary and peripheral vascular atherosclerosis is one of the most common and chronic complications of diabetes mellitus. A recent aspect of coronary artery disease in this condition is its silent nature. The aim of the work: Detection of the prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia (SMI) in Upper Egypt type 2 diabetic males and to select male diabetic population who should be screened for SMI. Patients and methods: 100 type 2 diabetic male patients with a negative history of angina or anginal equivalent symptoms and 30 healthy control were included. Full medical history and thorough clinical examination were done for all participants. Fasting and post prandial blood glucose level, lipid profile, (HbA1c), microalbuminuria, and C-reactive protein were done for all participants Resting ECG, trans-thoracic echocardiography, treadmill exercise ECG, myocardial perfusion imaging were done for all participants and patients positive for one or more NITs were subjected for coronary angiography. Results Twenty nine patients (29%) were positive for one or more NITs in the patients group compared to only one case (3.3%) in the controls. After coronary angiography, 20 patients were positive for significant coronary artery stenosis in the patients group, while it was refused to be done by the patient in the controls. There were statistical significant difference between the two groups regarding, hypertension, dyslipidemia and obesity, family history of DM and IHD with higher levels of microalbuminuria, C-reactive protein, total lipids in patient group versus controls According to coronary angiography, patients were subdivided into two subgroups, 20 positive for SMI (positive for coronary angiography) and 80 negative for SMI (negative for coronary angiography). No statistical difference regarding family history of DM and type of diabetic therapy was found between the two subgroups. Yet, smoking, hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia and family history of IHD were significantly higher in diabetics positive versus those negative for SMI. 90% of patients in subgroup positive for SMI had two or more cardiac risk factors while only two patients had one cardiac risk factor (10%). Uncontrolled DM was detected more in patients positive for SMI. Diabetic complications were more prevalent in patients positive for SMI versus those negative for SMI. Most of the patients positive for SMI have DM more than 5 years duration. Resting ECG and resting Echo detected only 6 and 11 cases, respectively, of the 20 positive cases in group positive for SMI compared to treadmill exercise ECG and myocardial perfusion imaging that detected 16 and 18 cases respectively, Conclusion: Type 2 diabetic male patients should be screened for detection of SMI when aged above 50 years old, diabetes duration is more than 5 years, presence of two or more cardiac risk factors and/or patients suffering from one or more of the chronic diabetic complications. CRP, is an important parameter for selection of type 2 diabetic male patients who should be screened for SMI. Non invasive cardiac tests are reliable for screening of SMI in these patients in our locality.

Keywords: C-reactive protein, Silent myocardial ischemia, Stress tests, type 2 DM

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Authors: Christopher Thornton, Niina Kolehmainen, Kianoush Nazarpour

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Background: Accelerometers are widely used to measure physical activity behavior, including in children. The traditional method for processing acceleration data uses cut points, relying on calibration studies that relate the quantity of acceleration to energy expenditure. As these relationships do not generalise across diverse populations, they must be parametrised for each subpopulation, including different age groups, which is costly and makes studies across diverse populations difficult. A data-driven approach that allows physical activity intensity states to emerge from the data under study without relying on parameters derived from external populations offers a new perspective on this problem and potentially improved results. We evaluated the data-driven approach in a diverse population with a range of rapidly evolving physical and mental capabilities, namely very young children (9-38 months old), where this new approach may be particularly appropriate. Methods: We applied an unsupervised machine learning approach (a hidden semi-Markov model - HSMM) to segment and cluster the accelerometer data recorded from 275 children with a diverse range of physical and cognitive abilities. The HSMM was configured to identify a maximum of six physical activity intensity states and the output of the model was the time spent by each child in each of the states. For comparison, we also processed the accelerometer data using published cut points with available thresholds for the population. This provided us with time estimates for each child’s sedentary (SED), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Data on the children’s physical and cognitive abilities were collected using the Paediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI-CAT). Results: The HSMM identified two inactive states (INS, comparable to SED), two lightly active long duration states (LAS, comparable to LPA), and two short-duration high-intensity states (HIS, comparable to MVPA). Overall, the children spent on average 237/392 minutes per day in INS/SED, 211/129 minutes per day in LAS/LPA, and 178/168 minutes in HIS/MVPA. We found that INS overlapped with 53% of SED, LAS overlapped with 37% of LPA and HIS overlapped with 60% of MVPA. We also looked at the correlation between the time spent by a child in either HIS or MVPA and their physical and cognitive abilities. We found that HIS was more strongly correlated with physical mobility (R²HIS =0.5, R²MVPA= 0.28), cognitive ability (R²HIS =0.31, R²MVPA= 0.15), and age (R²HIS =0.15, R²MVPA= 0.09), indicating increased sensitivity to key attributes associated with a child’s mobility. Conclusion: An unsupervised machine learning technique can segment and cluster accelerometer data according to the intensity of movement at a given time. It provides a potentially more sensitive, appropriate, and cost-effective approach to analysing physical activity behavior in diverse populations, compared to the current cut points approach. This, in turn, supports research that is more inclusive across diverse populations.

Keywords: physical activity, machine learning, under 5s, disability, accelerometer

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Authors: Mahdi Akbari, Ali Torabi Haghighi

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Hamun Lakes, located in the Helmand Basin, consisting of four water bodies, were the greatest (>8500 km2) freshwater bodies in Iran plateau but have almost entirely desiccated over the last 20 years. The desiccation of the lakes caused dust storm in the region which has huge economic and health consequences on the inhabitants. The flow of the Hirmand (or Helmand) River, the most important feeding river, has decreased from 4 to 1.9 km3 downstream due to anthropogenic activities. In this basin, water is mainly consumed for farming. Due to the lack of in-situ data in the basin, this research utilizes remote-sensing data to show how croplands and consequently consumed water in the agricultural sector have changed. Based on Landsat NDVI, we suggest using a threshold of around 0.35-0.4 to detect croplands in the basin. Croplands of this basin has doubled since 1990, especially in the downstream of the Kajaki Dam (the biggest dam of the basin). Using PML V2 Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) data and considering irrigation efficiency (≈0.3), we estimate that the consumed water (CW) for farming. We found that CW has increased from 2.5 to over 7.5 km3 from 2002 to 2017 in this basin. Also, the annual average Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) of the basin has had a negative trend in the recent years, although the AET over croplands has an increasing trend. In this research, using remote sensing data, we covered lack of data in the studied area and highlighted anthropogenic activities in the upstream which led to the lakes desiccation in the downstream.

Keywords: Afghanistan-Iran transboundary Basin, Iran-Afghanistan water treaty, water use, lake desiccation

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Authors: Celal Dudak, Aslı Utku, Burak Yağlioğlu

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Uninterrupted and continuous satellite communication through the whole orbit time is becoming more indispensable every day. Data relay systems are developed and built for various high/low data rate information exchanges like TDRSS of USA and EDRSS of Europe. In these missions, a couple of task-dedicated communication satellites exist. In this regard, for Turkey a data relay system is attempted to be defined exchanging low data rate information (i.e. TTC) for Earth-observing LEO satellites appointing commercial GEO communication satellites all over the world. First, justification of this attempt is given, demonstrating duration enhancements in the link. Discussion of preference of RF communication is, also, given instead of laser communication. Then, preferred communication GEOs – including TURKSAT4A already belonging to Turkey- are given, together with the coverage enhancements through STK simulations and the corresponding link budget. Also, a block diagram of the communication system is given on the LEO satellite.

Keywords: communication, GEO satellite, data relay system, coverage

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Authors: Dinh Ha, Tran, Chung-Ruey Yen

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This study explored the morphological characteristics and effects of pollination methods on fruit set and characteristics in four red pitaya (Hylocereus spp.) clones. The distinctive morphological recognition and classification among pitaya clones were confirmed by the stem, flower and fruit features. The fruit production season was indicated from the beginning of May to the end of August, the beginning of September with 6-7 flowering cycles per year. The floral stage took from 15-19 days and fruit duration spent 30–32 days. VN White, fully self-compatible, obtained high fruit set rates (80.0-90.5 %) in all pollination treatments and the maximum fruit weight (402.6 g) in hand self- and (403.4 g) in open-pollination. Chaozhou 5 was partially self-compatible while Orejona and F11 were completely self-incompatible. Hand cross-pollination increased significantly fruit set (95.8; 88.4 and 90.2 %) and fruit weight (374.2; 281.8 and 416.3 g) in Chaozhou 5, Orejona, and F11, respectively. TSS contents were not much influenced by pollination methods.

Keywords: Hylocereus spp., morphology, floral phenology, pollination requirement

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Authors: Nassim Salmi

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Postoperative mobilization is an important part of fundamental care. Increased mobilization has a positive effect on recovery, but immobilization is still a challenge in postoperative care. Aims: To report how the establishment of a national nursing database was used to measure postoperative mobilization in patients undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer. Mobilization was defined as at least 3 hours out of bed on postoperative day 1, with the goal set at achieving this in 60% of patients. Clinical nurses on 4400 patients with ovarian cancer performed data entry. Findings: 46.7% of patients met the goal for mobilization on the first postoperative day, but variations in duration and type of mobilization were observed. Of those mobilized, 51.8% had been walking in the hallway. A national nursing database creates opportunities to optimize fundamental care. By comparing nursing data with oncological, surgical, and pathology data, it became possible to study mobilization in relation to cancer stage, comorbidity, treatment, and extent of surgery.

Keywords: postoperative care, gynecology, nursing documentation, database

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Authors: Chee Wee Gan, Anthony Herr Cheun Ng, Yee Shan Wong, Subbu Venkatraman, Lynne Hsueh Yee Lim

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Otitis media with effusion (OME) is the leading cause of hearing loss in children worldwide. Surgery to insert grommet tube into the eardrum is usually indicated for OME unresponsive to antimicrobial therapy. It is the most common surgery for children. However, current commercially available grommet tubes are non-bioresorbable, not drug-treated, with unpredictable duration of retention on the eardrum to ventilate middle ear. Their functionality is impaired when clogged or chronically infected, requiring additional surgery to remove/reinsert grommet tubes. We envisaged that a novel fully bioresorbable grommet tube with sustained antibiotic release technology could address these drawbacks. In this study, drug-loaded bioresorbable poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone)(PLC) copolymer grommet tubes were fabricated by microinjection moulding technique. In vitro drug release and degradation model of PLC tubes were studied. Antibacterial property was evaluated by incubating PLC tubes with P. aeruginosa broth. Surface morphology was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. A preliminary animal study was conducted using guinea pigs as an in vivo model to evaluate PLC tubes with and without drug, with commercial Mini Shah grommet tube as comparison. Our in vitro data showed sustained drug release over 3 months. All PLC tubes revealed exponential degradation profiles over time. Modeling predicted loss of tube functionality in water to be approximately 14 weeks and 17 weeks for PLC with and without drug, respectively. Generally, PLC tubes had less bacteria adherence, which were attributed to the much smoother tube surfaces compared to Mini Shah. Antibiotic from PLC tube further made bacteria adherence on surface negligible. They showed neither inflammation nor otorrhea after 18 weeks post-insertion in the eardrums of guinea pigs, but had demonstrated severe degree of bioresorption. Histology confirmed the new PLC tubes were biocompatible. Analyses on the PLC tubes in the eardrums showed bioresorption profiles close to our in vitro degradation models. The bioresorbable antibiotic-loaded grommet tubes showed good predictability in functionality. The smooth surface and sustained release technology reduced the risk of tube infection. Tube functional duration of 18 weeks allowed sufficient ventilation period to treat OME. Our ongoing studies include modifying the surface properties with protein coating, optimizing the drug dosage in the tubes to enhance their performances, evaluating their functional outcome on hearing after full resoption of grommet tube and healing of eardrums, and developing animal model with OME to further validate our in vitro models.

Keywords: bioresorbable polymer, drug release, grommet tube, guinea pigs, otitis media with effusion

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Authors: Ammar Asma, Bouafia Nabiha, Ben Cheikh Asma, Ezzi Olfa, Mahjoub Mohamed, Sma Nesrine, Chouchène Imed, Boussarsar Hamadi, Njah Mansour

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Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is currently recognized as one of the most relevant causes of morbidity and mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients worldwide. Identifying modifiable risk factors for VAP could be helpful for future controlled interventional studies aiming at improving prevention of VAP. The purposes of this study were to determine the incidence and risk factors for VAP in in a Tunisian medical ICU. Materials / Methods: A retrospective case-control study design based on the prospective database collected over a 14-month period from September 15th, 2015 through November 15th, 2016 in an 8-bed medical ICU. Patients under ventilation for over 48 h were included. The number of cases was estimated by Epi-info Software with the power of statistical test equal to 90 %. Each case patient was successfully matched to two controls according to the length of mechanical ventilation (MV) before VAP for cases and the total length of MV in controls. VAP in the ICU was defined according to American Thoracic Society; Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines. Early onset or late-onset VAP were defined whether the infectious process occurred within or after 96 h of ICU admission. Patients’ risk factors, causes of admission, comorbidities and respiratory specimens collected were reviewed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine variables associated with VAP with a p-value < 0.05. Results: During the period study, a total of 169 patients under mechanical ventilation were considered, 34 patients (20.11%) developed at least one episode of VAP in the ICU. The incidence rate for VAP was 14.88/1000 ventilation days. Among these cases, 9 (26.5 %) were early-onset VAP and 25 (73.5 %) were late-onset VAP. It was a certain diagnosis in 66.7% of cases. Tracheal aspiration was positive in 80% of cases. Multi-drug resistant Acinerobacter baumanii was the most common species detected in cases; 67.64% (n=23). The rate of mortality out of cases was 88.23% (n= 30). In univariate analysis, the patients with VAP were statistically more likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases (p=0.035) and prolonged duration of sedation (p=0.009) and tracheostomy (p=0.001), they also had a higher number of re-intubation (p=0.017) and a longer total time of intubation (p=0.012). Multivariate analysis showed that cardiovascular diseases (OR= 4.44; 95% IC= [1.3 - 14]; p=0.016), tracheostomy (OR= 4.2; 95% IC= [1.16 -15.12]; p= 0.028) and prolonged duration of sedation (OR=1.21; 95% IC= [1.07, 1.36]; p=0.002) were independent risk factors for the development of VAP. Conclusion: VAP constitutes a therapeutic challenge in an ICU setting, therefore; strategies that effectively prevent VAP are needed. An infection control-training program intended to all professional heath care in this unit insisting on bundles and elaboration of procedures are planned to reduce effectively incidence rate of VAP.

Keywords: case control study, intensive care unit, risk factors, ventilator associated pneumonia

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Authors: Dong Liu

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By sending a high-frequency probe wave and a low-frequency pump wave to a specimen, the vibroacoustic method evaluates the defect’s severity according to the modulation index of the received signal. Many studies experimentally proved the significant sensitivity of the modulation index to the tiny contact type defect. However, it has also been found that the modulation index was highly affected by the frequency of probe or pump waves. Therefore, the chirp signal has been introduced to the VAM method since it can assess multiple frequencies in a relatively short time duration, so the robustness of the VAM method could be enhanced. Consequently, the signal processing method needs to be modified accordingly. Various studies utilized different algorithms or combinations of algorithms for processing the VAM signal method by chirp excitation. These signal process methods were compared and used for processing a VAM signal acquired from the steel samples.

Keywords: vibroacoustic modulation, nonlinear acoustic modulation, nonlinear acoustic NDT&E, signal processing, structural health monitoring

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Authors: Hammad Khan, Wookeun Bae

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Major concerns regarding nitritation of low-strength ammonium wastewaters include low ammonium loading rates (usually below 0.2 kg/m3-d) and uncertainty about long-term stability of the process. The purpose of this study was to test a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) filled with cell-immobilized polyethylene glycol (PEG) pellets to see if it could achieve efficient and stable nitritation under various environmental conditions. SBR was fed with synthetic ammonium wastewater of 30±2 mg-N/L and pH: 8±0.05, maintaining the dissolved oxygen concentration of 1.7±0.2 mg/L and the temperature at 30±1oC. The reaction was easily converted to partial nitrification mode within a month by feeding relatively high ammonium substrate (~100 mg-N/L) in the beginning. We observed stable nitritation over 300 days with high ammonium loading rates (as high as ~1.1 kg-N/m3-d), nitrite accumulation rates (mostly over 97%) and ammonium removal rate (mostly over 95%). DO was a major limiting substrate when the DO concentration was below ~4 mg/L and the NH4+-N concentration was above 5 mg/L, giving almost linear increase in the ammonium oxidation rate with the bulk DO increase. Low temperatures mainly affected the reaction rate, which could be compensated for by increasing the pellet volume (i.e. biomass). Our results demonstrated that an SBR filled with small cell-immobilized PEG pellets could achieve very efficient and stable nitritation of a low-strength ammonium wastewater.

Keywords: ammonium loading rate (ALR), cell-immobilization, long-term nitritation, sequencing batch reactor (SBR), sewage treatment

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Authors: Monica Jong, Antonios Banos, Tom Scott, Chris Webster, David Fletcher

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Hydrogen, as a clean alternative to methane, is relatively easy to make, either from water using electrolysis or from methane using steam reformation. However, hydrogen is much trickier to store than methane, and without effective storage, it simply won’t pass muster as a suitable methane substitute. Physical storage of hydrogen is quite inefficient. Storing hydrogen as a compressed gas at pressures up to 900 times atmospheric is volumetrically inefficient and carries safety implications, whilst storing it as a liquid requires costly and constant cryogenic cooling to minus 253°C. This is where DU steps in as a possible solution. Across the periodic table, there are many different metallic elements that will react with hydrogen to form a chemical compound known as a hydride (or metal hydride). From a chemical perspective, the ‘king’ of the hydride forming metals is palladium because it offers the highest hydrogen storage volumetric capacity. However, this material is simply too expensive and scarce to be used in a scaled-up bulk hydrogen storage solution. Depleted Uranium is the second most volumetrically efficient hydride-forming metal after palladium. The UK has accrued a significant amount of DU because of manufacturing nuclear fuel for many decades, and that is currently without real commercial use. Uranium trihydride (UH3) contains three hydrogen atoms for every uranium atom and can chemically store hydrogen at ambient pressure and temperature at more than twice the density of pure liquid hydrogen for the same volume. To release the hydrogen from the hydride, all you do is heat it up. At temperatures above 250°C, the hydride starts to thermally decompose, releasing hydrogen as a gas and leaving the Uranium as a metal again. The reversible nature of this reaction allows the hydride to be formed and unformed again and again, enabling its use as a high-density hydrogen storage material which is already available in large quantities because of its stockpiling as a ‘waste’ by-product. Whilst the tritium storage credentials of Uranium have been rigorously proven at the laboratory scale and at the fusion demonstrator JET for over 30 years, there is a need to prove the concept for depleted uranium hydrogen storage (HyDUS) at scales towards that which is needed to flexibly supply our national power grid with energy. This is exactly the purpose of the HyDUS project, a collaborative venture involving EDF as the interested energy vendor, Urenco as the owner of the waste DU, and the University of Bristol with the UKAEA as the architects of the technology. The team will embark on building and proving the world’s first pilot scale demonstrator of bulk chemical hydrogen storage using depleted Uranium. Within 24 months, the team will attempt to prove both the technical and commercial viability of this technology as a longer duration energy storage solution for the UK. The HyDUS project seeks to enable a true by-product to wonder material story for depleted Uranium, demonstrating that we can think sustainably about unlocking the potential value trapped inside nuclear waste materials.

Keywords: hydrogen, long duration storage, storage, depleted uranium, HyDUS

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Authors: Ch. Sridevi, A. Chalapathi Rao, P. Srinivasulu

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The location accuracy of data products is a critical parameter in assessing the geometric performance of satellite sensors. This study focuses on reliability analysis of onboard sensors to evaluate their performance in terms of location accuracy performance over time. The analysis utilizes field failure data and employs the weibull distribution to determine the reliability and in turn to understand the improvements or degradations over a period of time. The analysis begins by scrutinizing the location accuracy error which is the root mean square (RMS) error of differences between ground control point coordinates observed on the product and the map and identifying the failure data with reference to time. A significant challenge in this study is to thoroughly analyze the possibility of an infant mortality phase in the data. To address this, the Weibull distribution is utilized to determine if the data exhibits an infant stage or if it has transitioned into the operational phase. The shape parameter beta plays a crucial role in identifying this stage. Additionally, determining the exact start of the operational phase and the end of the infant stage poses another challenge as it is crucial to eliminate residual infant mortality or wear-out from the model, as it can significantly increase the total failure rate. To address this, an approach utilizing the well-established statistical Laplace test is applied to infer the behavior of sensors and to accurately ascertain the duration of different phases in the lifetime and the time required for stabilization. This approach also helps in understanding if the bathtub curve model, which accounts for the different phases in the lifetime of a product, is appropriate for the data and whether the thresholds for the infant period and wear-out phase are accurately estimated by validating the data in individual phases with Weibull distribution curve fitting analysis. Once the operational phase is determined, reliability is assessed using Weibull analysis. This analysis not only provides insights into the reliability of individual sensors with regards to location accuracy over the required period of time, but also establishes a model that can be applied to automate similar analyses for various sensors and parameters using field failure data. Furthermore, the identification of the best-performing sensor through this analysis serves as a benchmark for future missions and designs, ensuring continuous improvement in sensor performance and reliability. Overall, this study provides a methodology to accurately determine the duration of different phases in the life data of individual sensors. It enables an assessment of the time required for stabilization and provides insights into the reliability during the operational phase and the commencement of the wear-out phase. By employing this methodology, designers can make informed decisions regarding sensor performance with regards to location accuracy, contributing to enhanced accuracy in satellite-based applications.

Keywords: bathtub curve, geometric performance, Laplace test, location accuracy, reliability analysis, Weibull analysis

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Authors: Siddharth Soni, Gourav Kumar Pandey, Sneha Kumari, Dev Mani Pandey, Koel Mukherjee

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The silkworm Bombyx mori is a commercially important insect, but a major roadblock in silk production are silkworm diseases. Flacherie is one of the diseases of the silkworm, that affects the midgut of the 4th and 5th instar larvae and eventually makes them lethargic, stop feeding and finally result in their death. The concerned disease is a result of bacterial and viral infection and in some instances a combination of both. The present study aims to identify and study the expression level of genes in the flacherie condition. For the said work, total RNA was isolated from the infected larvae at their most probable infectious instar and cDNA was synthesized using Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). This cDNA was then used to amplify disease relalted genes whose expression levels were checked using quantitaive PCR (qPCR) using the double delta Ct method. Cry toxin receptors like APN and BtR-175, ROS mediator Dual Oxidase are few proteins whose genes were overexpressed. Interestingly, pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) C-type lectins' genes were found to be downregulated. The results explain about the strong expression of genes that can distinguish the concerned protein in the midgut of diseased silkworm and thereby aiding knowledge in the field of inhibitor designing research.

Keywords: Bombyx mori, flacherie disease, inhibitor designing, up and down regulation

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Authors: Waqas Ali

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Concrete is broadly used as a structural material in the construction of buildings. When the concrete is exposed to elevated temperature, its strength evaluation is very necessary in the existing structure. In this study, the effect of temperature and the reliability of the core test has been evaluated. For this purpose, the cylindrical cores were extracted from High strength concrete (HSC) specimens that were exposed to the temperature ranging from 300 ℃ to 900 ℃ with a constant duration of 4 hr. This study compares the difference between the standard heated cylinders and the cores taken from them after curing of 90 days. The difference of cylindrical control and binary mix samples and extracted cores revealed that there is 12.19 and 12.38% difference at 300℃, while this difference was found to increase up to 12.89%, 13.03% at 500 ℃. Furthermore, this value is recorded as 12.99%, 13.57% and 14.40%, 14.38% at 700 ℃ and 900 ℃, respectively. A total of four equations were developed through a regression model for the prediction of the strength of concrete for both standard cylinders and extracted cores whose R square values were 0.9733, 0.9627 and 0.9473, 0.9452, respectively.

Keywords: high strength, temperature, core, reliability

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Authors: D. De-León-Escobedo, D. J. Delgado-Hernández, S. Pérez

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A probabilistic formulation to assess the slopes safety under the hazard of strong storms is presented and illustrated through a slope in Mexico. The formulation is based on the classical safety factor (SF) used in practice to appraise the slope stability, but it is introduced the treatment of uncertainties, and the slope failure probability is calculated as the probability that SF<1. As the main hazard is the rainfall on the area, statistics of rainfall intensity and duration are considered and modeled with an exponential distribution. The expected life-cycle cost is assessed by considering a monetary value on the slope failure consequences. Alternative mitigation measures are simulated, and the formulation is used to get the measures driving to the optimal one (minimum life-cycle costs). For the example, the optimal mitigation measure is the reduction on the slope inclination angle.

Keywords: expected life-cycle cost, failure probability, slopes failure, storms

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Authors: Badiy Elmabrouk, Abdelhamid Boujarif, Zhiguo Zeng, Stephane Borrel, Robert Heidsieck

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In an era where sustainability is paramount, this paper introduces a machine learning-driven testing protocol to accurately predict diode failures, merging reliability engineering with failure physics to enhance repair operations efficiency. Our approach refines the burn-in process, significantly curtailing its duration, which not only conserves energy but also elevates productivity and mitigates component wear. A case study from GE HealthCare’s repair center vividly demonstrates the method’s effectiveness, recording a high prediction of diode failures and a substantial decrease in energy consumption that translates to an annual reduction of 6.5 Tons of CO2 emissions. This advancement sets a benchmark for environmentally conscious practices in the electronics repair sector.

Keywords: maintenance, burn-in, failure physics, reliability testing

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Authors: Srikantan L. Jayasri, James Gan

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The changes in Singapore’s land use, natural preference of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to live in forest edges and their adaptability has led to interface between humans and macaques. Studies have shown that two-third of human-macaque interactions in Singapore were related to human food. We aimed to assess differences among macaques groups in their dependence on human food and interaction with humans as indicators of the level of interface. Field observations using instantaneous scan sampling and all occurrence ad-lib sampling were carried out for 23 macaque groups over 28 days recording 71.5 hours of observations. Data on macaque behaviour, demography, frequency, and nature of human-macaque interactions were collected. None of the groups were found to completely rely on human food source. Of the 23 groups, 40% of them were directly or indirectly provisioned by humans. One-third of the groups observed engaged in some form of interactions with the humans. Three groups that were directly fed by humans contributed to 83% of the total human-macaque interactions observed during the study. Our study indicated that interactions between humans and macaques exist in specific groups and in those fed by humans regularly. Although feeding monkeys is illegal in Singapore, such incidents seem to persist in specific locations. We emphasize the importance of group and location-specific assessment of the existing human-wildlife interactions. Conflict management strategies developed should be location specific to address the cause of interactions.

Keywords: primates, Southeast Asia, wildlife management, Singapore

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Authors: Ada Rocha, Beatriz Almeida, Cláudia Viegas

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Considering the growing trend of food consumption outside the home, Food Service units (FSU) achieved importance and responsibility in feeding the population. FSU have a strong environmental impact since the large-scale production of meals implies a high use of resources and produce high amounts of waste with economic and environmental consequences. At the end of 2019, with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, this effort towards sustainability was affected by the contingency measures imposed to stop the spread of the virus. Preventive measures in FSU, include the provision of cutlery and paper napkins in individual bags, the use of disposable paper towels, the supply of individual portions of bread and spices, as well as bottled water. These measures are, in many cases, a setback and an obstacle to the implementation of more sustainable practices and imply greater consumption of natural resources and materials. The present study aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of the contingency measures for the Covid-19 pandemic on the environmental practices of FSU in Portugal. A questionnaire was developed to characterize the FSU and the impact of the implementation of contingency measures for the Covid-19 pandemic. A great impact of the implementation of the contingency measures in the sustainability of FSU was observed, highlighting concerns about the need to keep these measures, some of them adopted due to fear of the unknown and its consequences on an ongoing successful process. Policymakers should keep only the ones that may prove to be efficient and positive and abandon or relieve the unnecessary ones.

Keywords: COVID-19, environment, food service, sustainability, SGD

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Authors: Baptiste Bouvier

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While we are constantly flooded with stimuli in daily life, attention allows us to select the ones we specifically process and ignore the others. Some salient stimuli may sometimes pass this filter independently of our will, in a "bottom-up" way. The role of the acoustic properties of the timbre of a sound on its salience, i.e., its ability to capture the attention of a listener, is still not well understood. We implemented a paradigm called the "additional singleton paradigm", in which participants have to discriminate targets according to their duration. This task is perturbed (higher error rates and longer response times) by the presence of an irrelevant additional sound, of which we can manipulate a feature of our choice at equal loudness. This allows us to highlight the influence of the timbre features of a sound stimulus on its salience at equal loudness. We have shown that a stimulus that is brighter than the others but not louder leads to an attentional capture phenomenon in this framework. This work opens the door to the study of the influence of any timbre feature on salience.

Keywords: attention, audition, bottom-up attention, psychoacoustics, salience, timbre

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Authors: Stephen V. Crowder, Jonathan W. Lane

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With short production development times, there is an increased need to demonstrate product reliability relatively quickly with minimal testing. In such cases there may be few if any observed failures. Thus it may be difficult to assess reliability using the traditional reliability test plans that measure only time (or cycles) to failure. For many components, degradation measures will contain important information about performance and reliability. These measures can be used to design a minimal test plan, in terms of number of units placed on test and duration of the test, necessary to demonstrate a reliability goal. In this work we present a case study involving an electronic component subject to degradation. The data, consisting of 42 degradation paths of cycles to failure, are first used to estimate a reliability function. Bootstrapping techniques are then used to perform power studies and develop a minimal reliability test plan for future production of this component.

Keywords: degradation measure, time to failure distribution, bootstrap, computational science

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Authors: Mei-Ying Huang, Huei-Jen Ju, Liang-Wei Tseng, Chin-Jung Hsu

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The aim of this study was to investigate a probiotic, Leuconostoc mesenteroides B4, and its products, isomaltooligosaccharide and dextran, on growth performance, digestive enzymes, immune responses, and pathogen resistance of spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides. The grouper were fed control and diets supplemented with L. mesenteroides B4 (107 CFU/g), isomaltooligosaccharide (0.15%), isomaltooligosaccharide (0.15%) + L. mesenteroides B4 (107 CFU/g) (I + B4), and dextran (0.15%) + L. mesenteroides B4 (107 CFU/g) (D + B4) for 8 weeks. The result showed that final weights and percent weight gains of the grouper fed diets supplemented with L. mesenteroides B4 and I + B4 were significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). The activities of digestive enzymes in the grouper fed with I + B4 were significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.05), too. After challenge with Vibrio harveyi, the enzyme activities of antiprotease and lysozyme as well as of respiratory burst of the fish fed with I + B4 and D + B4 were significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). The grouper fed with the both diets also had higher survival rates than that of the control group after the challenge. Overall, the study indicated that feeding diets supplemented with L. mesenteroides B4, and its products, isomaltooligosaccharide, and dextran could be an effective method for enhancing the growth performance and disease resistance in orange-spotted grouper.

Keywords: orange-spotted grouper, probiotic Leuconostoc mesenteroides B4, isomaltooligosaccharide, dextran, growth performance, pathogen resistance

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Authors: Hatharasinghe Liyanage Saneetha Chathaurika, Shreenika De Silva Weliange

Abstract:

Background and Significance of the Study: Natural and human-induced disasters have become more common due to rapid development and climate change. Therefore hospitalization due to injuries has increased in the midst of advancement in medicine. Prehospital trauma care is critical in reducing morbidity and mortality following injury. Army soldiers are one of the first responder categories after a major disaster causing injury. Thus, basic life support measures taken by trained lay first responders is life-saving, it is important to build up their capacities by updating their knowledge and practices while cultivating positive attitudes toward it. Objective: To describe knowledge, attitudes and practices on prehospital trauma care among army soldiers in Matara District. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among army soldiers in Matara district. The whole population was studied belonging to the above group during the study period. Self-administered questionnaire was used as the study instrument. Cross tabulations were done to identify the possible associations using chi square statistics. Knowledge and practices were categorized in to two groups as “Poor” and “Good” taking 50% as the cut off. Results: The study population consists of 266 participants (response rate 97.79%).The overall level of knowledge on prehospital trauma care is poor (78.6%) while knowledge on golden hour of trauma (77.1%), triage system (74.4%), cardio pulmonary resuscitation (92.5%) and transportation of patients with spinal cord injury (69.2%) was markedly poor. Good knowledge is significantly associated with advance age, higher income and higher level of education whereas it has no significant association with work duration. More than 80% of them had positive attitudes on most aspects of prehospital trauma care while majority thinks it is good to have knowledge on this topic and they would have performed better in disaster situations if they were trained on pre-hospital trauma care. With regard to the practice, majority (62.8%) is included in the group of poor level of practice. They lack practice on first-aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and safe transportation of the patients. Moreover, they had less opportunity to participate in drills/simulation programs done on disaster events. Good practice is significantly associated with advance age and higher level of education but not associated with level of income and working duration of army soldiers. Highly significant association was observed between the level of knowledge and level of practice on prehospital trauma care of army soldiers. It is observed that higher the knowledge practices become better. Conclusion: A higher proportion of army soldiers had poor knowledge and practice on prehospital trauma care while majority had positive attitudes regarding it. Majority lacks knowledge and practice in first-aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Due to significant association observed between knowledge and practice it can be recommended to include a training session on prehospital trauma care in the basic military curriculum which will enhance the ability to act as first responders effectively. Further research is needed in this area of prehospital trauma care to enhance the qualitative outcome.

Keywords: disaster, prehospital trauma care, first responders, army soldiers

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Authors: Manely Ansary Mood, Farzaneh Aziizi, Mahmoud Akbarian

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This investigation included 130 cats diagnosed with FIP (Feb 2021-March 2022) in Iran, 74 with effusive FIP, and 56 with non-effusive FIP. The patients' initial dosage regime consisted of a subcutaneous injection of GS-441524 was 6-15mg/kg-every 24h (based on the wet or ocular and neurologic signs). The minimum treatment period was twelve weeks, extended in animals that still had abnormal lab values, clinical signs, and sonographic findings. The outcomes of the 130 cats that completed the duration of treatment (14 died, 116 cured) were checked and recorded. Clinical, sonographic, and laboratory responses were checked and compared on days 28, 56, and 83 of treatment. 2 of the 116 cured cats relapsed within observation days. At the time of this publication (May 2022), 114 of the studied patients remained healthy. We could conclude that GS-441524 appears to be an effective option for FIP treatment, and also, to the base of our knowledge, this is the first report for group treatment of infected cats of FIP with GS-441524 in Iran.

Keywords: FIP, cat, GS-441524, treatment

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Authors: Smita Lakhotia, C. Kew, S. H. M. Siraj, B. Chern

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Up to 50% of those with endometriosis may suffer from infertility due to either distorted pelvic anatomy/impaired oocyte release or inhibit ovum pickup and transport, altered peritoneal function, endocrine and anovulatory disorders, including LUF, impaired implantation, progesterone resistance or decreased levels of cellular immunity. The dilemma continues as to whether the surgery or IVF is the optimal management for such recurrent endometriomas. The core question is whether surgery adds anything of value for infertile women with recurrent endometriosis or not. Complete and detailed information on risks and benefits of treatment alternatives must be offered to patients, giving a realistic estimate of chances of success of repetitive surgery and of multiple IVF cycles in order to allow unbiased choices between different possible optionsAn individualized treatment plan should be developed taking into account patient age, duration of infertility, previous pregnancies and specific clinical conditions and wish.

Keywords: recurrent endometriosis, infertility, oocyte release, pregnancy

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Authors: Fekadu Melak, Tsegaye Girma Asere

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Trace element ions, such as Cr(VI) and F−, are of particular interest due to their environmental impact. Both ions exhibit an anionic nature in water that can show similar removal tendencies except for their significant differences in ionic radius. Accordingly, partial freezing was performed to examine freeze separation efficiencies of Cr(VI) and F– from aqueous solutions. Real groundwater and simulated wastewater were included to test effeciency of F– and Cr(VI), respectively. Parameters such as initial ion concentration, salt addition, and freeze duration were explored. Under optimal operating conditions, freeze separation efficiencies of 90 ± 0.12 to 97 ± 0.54% and 58 ± 0.23% to 60 ± 0.34% from 5 mg/L of Cr(VI) and F–, respectively, were demonstrated. The F– ion intercalation into the ice, initiating the decrement of freeze separation efficiency was observed in the salt addition processes. The influences of structuring-destructuring (kosmotropicity-chaotropicity) and the size-exclusion nature of ice crystals were used to explain the plausible mechanism in freeze separation efficiency trace elemental ions.

Keywords: Cr(VI), F-, partial freezing, size exclusion

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Authors: Thomas Okechukwu Onah, Onyekachi Marcel Egwuagu

Abstract:

Zero-surface temperature, which controlled the cooling profile, was modeled and used to investigate the effect of process parameters on the hot-rolled steel plates. The parameters include impingement gaps of 40mm to 70mm; pipe diameters of 20mm to 45mm feeding jet nozzle with 30 holes of 8mm diameters each; and flow rates within 2.896x10-⁶m³/s and 3.13x10-⁵m³/s. The developed simulation model of the Zero-Surface Temperature, upon validation, showed 99% prediction accuracy with dimensional homogeneity established. The evaluated Zero-Surface temperature of Controlled Water Jet Impingement Steel plates showed a high cooling rate of 36.31 Celsius degree/sec at an optimal cooling nozzle diameter of 20mm, impingement gap of 70mm and a flow rate of 1.77x10-⁵m³/s resulting in Reynold's number 2758.586, in the turbulent regime was obtained. It was also deduced that as the nozzle diameter was increasing, the impingement gap was reducing. This achieved a faster rate of cooling to an optimum temperature of 300oC irrespective of the starting surface cooling temperature. The results additionally showed that with a tested-plate initial temperature of 550oC, a controlled cooling temperature of about 160oC produced a film and nucleated boiling heat extraction that was particularly beneficial at the end of controlled cooling and influenced the microstructural properties of the test plates.

Keywords: temperature, mechanistic-model, plates, impingements, dimensionless-numbers

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Authors: H. M. Mobarak, Helen Wu, Chunhui Yang

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In this study, an analytical model is developed to study crack breathing behavior under the effect of crack location and unbalance force. Crack breathing behavior is determined using effectual bending angle by studying the transient change in closed area of the crack. The status of the crack of a balanced shaft is symmetrical about shaft rotational angle and the duration of each crack status remains unchanged. The global stiffness of the balanced shaft is independent of crack location. Different crack breathing behavior for the unbalanced shaft has been observed. The influence of crack location on the unbalanced shaft stiffness can be divided into three regions. When the crack is located between 0.3L and 0.8335L, where L is the total length of the shaft, the unbalanced shaft is less stiff and when located outside this region it is stiffer than the balanced shaft. It was also found that unbalanced shaft stiffness has a maximum value with a crack at 0.1946L, a minimum value at 0.8053L and same value as balanced shaft at 0.3L and 0.8335L.

Keywords: cracked shaft, crack location, shaft stiffness, unbalanced force

Procedia PDF Downloads 307