Search results for: multiplicative weight update

Authors: Bangoura Issa, Ji-Young Kang, M. T. H. Chowdhury, Ji-Eun Lee, Yong-Ki Hong

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Investigation was carried out for the production of value-added abalone Haliotis discus hannai containing bioactive phlorotannin by feeding phlorotannin-rich seaweed Eisenia bicyclis 2 weeks prior to harvesting. Accumulation of phlorotannins was proceded by feeding with E. bicyclis after 4 days of starvation. HPLC purification afforded two major phlorotannins. Mass spectrometry and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance analysis clarified their structures to be as 7-phloroeckol and eckol. Throughout the feeding period of 20 days, 7-phloroeckolol was accumulated in the muscle (foot muscle tissue) up to 0.18±0.12 mg g-1 dry weight of tissue after 12 days. Eckol reached 0.21±0.03 mg g-1 dry weight of tissue after 18 days. By feeding Laminaria japonica as reference, abalone showed no detection of phlorotannins in the muscle tissue. Seaweed consumption and growth rate of abalone revealed almost similar when feed with E. bicyclis or L. japonicain 20 days. Phlorotannins reduction to half-maximal accumulation values took 1.0 day and 2.7 days for 7-phloroeckol and eckol respectively, after replacing the feed to L. japonica.

Keywords: abalone, accumulation, eisenia bicyclis, phlorotannins

Procedia PDF Downloads 377

Authors: Nayomi Ranathunga, Priyantha Perera, Sumal Nandasena, Nalini Sathiakumar, Anuradhini Kasthuriratne, Rajitha Wikremasinghe

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Solid fuel combustion is an important source of indoor air pollution (IAP) in developing countries that has adverse health impacts particularly in children. This study was conducted to determine the effect of IAP due to solid fuel combustion on physical growth of children under five in a Sri Lankan setting. A prospective study was conducted in a mixed population comprising urban and semi urban residents. The study included 240 children under 5 who were permanent residents of the area. Physical growth was assessed by measuring anthropometric indices based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and standards. Exposure levels were defined according to the main type of fuel used for cooking at home: children residing in households using biomass fuel or kerosene as the main type of fuel for cooking were classified as the “high exposure” group and children resident in households using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or electricity for cooking were classified as the “low exposure” group. Sixty percent of the children were classified as from the “high” exposure group and 40% of the children were classified as from the “low” exposure group; 54% of the children were male. At baseline, the prevalence of wasting was 17.1% and the prevalence of stunting was 10.4%; the mean z-score for weight for height was - 0.85, weight for age was - 0.46 and height for age was -0.38. At baseline, children from the “high” exposure group had a significantly lower mean weight for height z-score (p=0.02) and a mean height for age z-score (p=0.001) as compared to children from the “low” exposure group after adjusting for confounding factors such as father’s education, mother’s education and family income. Poor maternal education was significantly associated with lower height for age z-scores (p=0.04) after adjusting for exposure status. IAP due to combustion of biomass fuel leads to chronic malnutrition.

Keywords: children, growth, indoor air pollution, solid fuel

Procedia PDF Downloads 298

Authors: Abolfazl Hosseinpour, Javad Marzbanrad

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In this research, the topology and shape optimization of a Macpherson control arm has been accomplished to achieve lighter weight. Present automotive market demands low cost and light weight component to meet the need of fuel efficient and cost effective vehicle. This in turn gives the rise to more effective use of materials for automotive parts which can reduce the mass of vehicle. Since automotive components are under dynamic loads which cause fatigue damage, considering fatigue criteria seems to be essential in designing automotive components. At first, in order to create severe loading condition for control arm, some rough roads are generated through power spectral density. Then, the most critical loading conditions are obtained through multibody dynamics analysis of a full vehicle model. Then, the topology optimization is performed based on fatigue life criterion using HyperMesh software, which resulted to 50 percent mass reduction. In the next step a CAD model is created using CATIA software and shape optimization is performed to achieve accurate dimensions with less mass.

Keywords: topology optimization, shape optimization, fatigue life, MacPherson control arm

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Authors: Jin Li, Jing Sun, Xiangkun Cai, Lijuanwang, Yanbin Tang, Junsheng Huo

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In order to improve the malnutrition of infants and young children in poor rural areas of China, Chinese government implement a project on improvement of children's nutrition in poor rural areas. Each infant or young child aged 6 to 23 months in selected poor rural areas of China was provided a package of Yingyangbao (YYB) per day, which is a full fat soy powder mixed with multiple micronutrient powders. A technical direction to implement this project comprehensively in poor rural areas of China will be provided by assessing the nutritional status of infants and feeding practices of caregiver. The nutritional intervention was conducted using Yingyangbao for infants aged 6 to 23 months in six poor counties of Shanxi, Yunnan and Hubei Provinces. The caregiver or parents of infants were educated on feeding knowledge and practice. A total of 1840 infants were assessed before the intervention and 1789 infants one year later. The length, weight, hemoglobin concentration of infants were measured to evaluate nutritional status before and after the intervention respectively. The questionnaires were designed to collect data for the basic demographic information and feeding practices. The average weight of infants aged 6 to 23 months increased from 9.59 ± 1.54kg to 9.73 ± 1.61kg one years later (p<0.01), and the average length from 76.0±6.0 to 77.0±6.1(p<0.01). The weight and length of infants aged 12 to 17 months had most obviously improving effect among the three age groups. Before the intervention, the hemoglobin concentration value of infants was 11.7±1.2g/L, and the anemia prevalence was 32.9%. One year later, the hemoglobin concentration value of the infants was increased to 12.0±1.1g/dL, and the anemia prevalence was decreased to 26.0%. There were both statistically significant (p <0.01). The anemia prevalence of infants aged 18 to 23 months had most obviously improving effect，which decreased from 25.0% to 17.2%(p<0.01). The proportion of infants aged 6 to 8 months who received solid, semi-solid or soft foods in time was increased from 89.4% to 91.6%, while there was no statistically significant. The proportion of 6-23 month-old infants who received minimum dietary diversity increased from 55.6% to 60.3%(p <0.01). The differences of the proportion of infants who received minimum meal frequency was no statistically significant between before and after the intervention. The nutritional intervention using Yingyangbao showed the significant effect for improving infants aged 6 to 23 months anemia status, weight and length. The feeding practices were improved through education in the process of nutritional intervention, while the effect is not significant. It is need for Chinese government to explore new publicity pattern.

Keywords: nutritional intervention, infants, nutritional status, feeding practice

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: Narumon Phaonakrop, Janthima Jaresitthikunchai, Sittiruk Roytrakul, Wasinee Pongprayoon

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Chitosan has been proposed as a natural polymer, and it is derived from chitin. The objective of this research was to determine the growth promoting responses induced by chitosan at the molecular physiology level in Khao Dawk Mali 105 (KDML 105) rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings under drought stress by adding of 2% polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG4000) to the nutrient solution and after removal of the drought stress (re-water). Oligomeric chitosan at 40 ppm could enhance shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight during drought stress and re-water. After 7 days of drought stress and re-water, significant increases in chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b contents in KDML 105 cultivar were observed. The 749 phosphoproteins in rice leaf treated with chitosan could be resolved by phosphoprotein enrichment, tryptic digestion and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. They can be classified into 10 groups. Proteins involved in the metabolic process and biological regulation were upregulated in response to chitosan during drought stress. This work will help us to understand protein phosphorylation relating to chitosan response during drought stress in aromatic rice seedlings.

Keywords: Chitosan, drought, phosphoproteome, rice

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Susan Thurstans, Natalie Sessions, Carmel Dolan, Kate Sadler, Bernardette Cichon, Shelia Isanaka, Dominique Roberfroid, Heather Stobagh, Patrick Webb, Tanya Khara

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For many years, wasting and stunting have been viewed as separate conditions without clear evidence supporting this distinction. In 2014, the Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) examined the relationship between wasting and stunting and published a report highlighting the evidence for linkages between the two forms of undernutrition. This systematic review aimed to update the evidence generated since this 2014 report to better understand the implications for improving child nutrition, health and survival. Following PRISMA guidelines, this review was conducted using search terms to describe the relationship between wasting and stunting. Studies related to children under five from low- and middle-income countries that assessed both ponderal growth/wasting and linear growth/stunting, as well as the association between the two, were included. Risk of bias was assessed in all included studies using SIGN checklists. 45 studies met the inclusion criteria- 39 peer reviewed studies, 1 manual chapter, 3 pre-print publications and 2 published reports. The review found that there is a strong association between the two conditions whereby episodes of wasting contribute to stunting and, to a lesser extent, stunting leads to wasting. Possible interconnected physiological processes and common risk factors drive an accumulation of vulnerabilities. Peak incidence of both wasting and stunting was found to be between birth and three months. A significant proportion of children experience concurrent wasting and stunting- Country level data suggests that up to 8% of children under 5 may be both wasted and stunted at the same time, global estimates translate to around 16 million children. Children with concurrent wasting and stunting have an elevated risk of mortality when compared to children with one deficit alone. These children should therefore be considered a high-risk group in the targeting of treatment. Wasting, stunting and concurrent wasting and stunting appear to be more prevalent in boys than girls and it appears that concurrent wasting and stunting peaks between 12- 30 months of age with younger children being the most affected. Seasonal patterns in prevalence of both wasting and stunting are seen in longitudinal and cross sectional data and in particular season of birth has been shown to have an impact on a child’s subsequent experience of wasting and stunting. Evidence suggests that the use of mid-upper-arm circumference combined with weight-for-age Z-score might effectively identify children most at risk of near-term mortality, including those concurrently wasted and stunted. Wasting and stunting frequently occur in the same child, either simultaneously or at different moments through their life course. Evidence suggests there is a process of accumulation of nutritional deficits and therefore risk over the life course of a child demonstrates the need for a more integrated approach to prevention and treatment strategies to interrupt this process. To achieve this, undernutrition policies, programmes, financing and research must become more unified.

Keywords: Concurrent wasting and stunting, Review, Risk factors, Undernutrition

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Authors: Ranjit Singh

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Body fat % lean body mass and body type play vital role in sports performance. A sports person who is having optional body composition can show its performance flawlessly whereas other who is not physical fit may be more prone to injury. Competitive swimming is an association of plethora of aspects like morphological, physiological, biochemical, biomechanical and psychological. The primary key of the present research is to examine the correlation among selected morphological dimensions such as height, weight, body fat%, lean body mass, somatotype and swimming performance. The present study also focused to investigate by potential deficiencies if any and to find out remedial measures to curb the training stresses. Thirty (age group 10-14 years) swimmers undergoing training under skilled and professional coaches were selected in the present study. The morphological variables and performance criterion like 50 meter swimming time and speed were calculated by using standard training methodology. Correlation coefficient among body composition, somatotype and performance variables were assessed by using standard statistical package SPSS. Mean height, weight, fat% and lean body mass of the present group is 150.97±8.68 cm, 44.0±9.34 kg., 15.97±4.42 % and 37.10±8.77 kg respectively. Somatotype of the young swimmers of this research is revealed ectomorphic mesomorph. The analysis of the results Illustrated that swimming performance is significantly correlated (p<0.05) with height, body weight, mesomorphoic component and lean body mass. Body fat is significantly and negatively correlated (p<0.05) with mesomorphic component, lean body mass and swimming speed. From this present study, it can be concluded that along with techniques and tactics other the physical attributes also play significant role in swimming performance which can help the swimmers to excel in higher level of competition and swimmers having improved morphological qualities can ultimately perform well.

Keywords: body fat, mass, mesomorphic component, somatotype

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Adeleye Oluwagbemmiga, Obuotor Tolulope, Dosumu Adebisi, Opowoye I., Olasoju M., Kolawole Amos, Egbeyale Lawrence

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Gut Microbiota plays a vital role in animal health and welfare. This study investigated the effect of naringin and hesperidin administration on broiler birds. A total of 80 day – old broiler chicks were randomly divided into eight groups, with ten birds per group. Four groups were not inoculated but administered coccidiostat (1A), hesperidin alone (2A), naringin alone (3A) and a combination of naringin and hesperidin (4A) from day eight (8) to day fourteen (14) while four other groups (5A – 8A) were inoculated with 2 x 10⁴ oocysts per 0.5ml of Eimeria tenella on the 16th and 19th day of age after they were administered conventional antibiotics and coccidiostat, naringin (50mg/body weight), hesperidin (50mg/body weight) and a combination from day 8 - 14. McMaster counting technique was used to count the oocysts, while pour plate technique was used to determine the bacterial load. The results showed a significant increase in their performance with an average weight ranging from 1.55kg – 2.00kg, microbial load also improved with colony count values from 3.5 x 104 - 4.5 x 10⁴ CFU/ml. The study also found that the inclusion of naringin and hesperidin in the diets of broiler birds inoculated with coccidia oocysts significantly reduced the fecal oocyst counts, with the lowest count in combined treatment (8A) (10%) and indicating a lower degree of coccidiosis infection in the treated groups whereas control group (5A) had the highest oocyst count (35%). Mortality and Morbidity rate was 0% as none of the bird showed signs and symptoms. The reduction in oocyst counts could help to strengthen the immune system of broiler birds and limit the severity of coccidiosis infection, which could be an effective strategy for improving performance, immune function and mitigating the impact of coccidiosis infection in broiler birds.

Keywords: gut colonization, naringin, hesperidin, eimeria tenella, broilers

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Radha H. R., Krupakara P. V.

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Metal matrix composites are attracting today's manufacturers of many automobile parts so that they lost longer and their properties can be tailored according to the requirement. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the corrosion characteristics of Aluminium 6061 / quartz metal matrix composites in alkali medium like sodium hydroxide solutions. Metal matrix composites are heterogeneous mixtures of a matrix and reinforcement. In this work the matrix selected is Aluminium 6061 alloy which is commercially available and the reinforcement selected is quartz particulates of 50-80 micron size which is available in plenty in and around Bangalore district, India. Composites containing Aluminium 6061 with 2, 4 and 6 weight percent of quartz are manufactured by liquid melt metallurgy technique using vortex method. Corrosion tests like static weight loss and open circuit potential tests are conducted in different concentrated solutions of sodium hydroxide. To compare the results the matrix Aluminium 6061 is also casted in the same way. Specimens for the test are prepared according to ASTM standards. In all the tests the metal matrix composites showed better corrosion resistance than matrix alloy.

Keywords: aluminium 6061, corrosion, quartz, vortex

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Authors: Edison E. Haro, Akindele G. Odeshi, Jerzy A. Szpunar

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Hybrid bio-composites are developed for use in protective armor through positive hybridization offered by reinforcement of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with Kevlar short fibers and palm wood micro-fillers. The manufacturing process involved a combination of extrusion and compression molding techniques. The mechanical behavior of Kevlar fiber reinforced HDPE with and without palm wood filler additions are compared. The effect of the weight fraction of the added palm wood micro-fillers is also determined. The Young modulus was found to increase as the weight fraction of organic micro-particles increased. However, the flexural strength decreased with increasing weight fraction of added micro-fillers. The interfacial interactions between the components were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The influence of the size, random alignment and distribution of the natural micro-particles was evaluated. Ballistic impact and dynamic shock loading tests were performed to determine the optimum proportion of Kevlar short fibers and organic micro-fillers needed to improve impact strength of the HDPE. These results indicate a positive hybridization by deposition of organic micro-fillers on the surface of short Kevlar fibers used in reinforcing the thermoplastic matrix leading to enhancement of the mechanical strength and dynamic impact behavior of these materials. Therefore, these hybrid bio-composites can be promising materials for different applications against high velocity impacts.

Keywords: hybrid bio-composites, organic nano-fillers, dynamic shocking loading, ballistic impacts, energy absorption

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Amelia Tero-Vescan, Camil-Eugen Vari, Laura Ciulea, Cristina Filip, Silvia Imre

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A HPLC –UV method for the identification of ephedrine (EPH), sibutramine (SB), yohimbine (Y) and caffeine (CF) was developed. Separation was performed on a Kromasil 100-RP8, 150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 mm column equipped with a precolumn Kromasil RP 8. Mobile phase was a gradient of 80-35 % sodium dihydrogen phosphate pH=5 with NH4OH and acetonitrile over 15 minutes time of analysis. Based on the responses of 113 athletes about dietary supplements (DS) consumed for "fat burning" and weight loss which have a legal status in Romania, 28 supplements have been selected and investigated for their content in CF, Y, legal substances, and SB, EPH (prohibited substances in DS). The method allows quantitative determination of the four substances in a short analysis time and with minimum cost. The presence of SB and EPH in the analyzed DS was not detected while the content in CF and Y considering the dosage recommended by the manufacturer does not affect the health of the consumers. DS labeling (plant extracts with CF and Y content) allows manufacturers to avoid declaring correct and exact amounts per pharmaceutical form (pure CF or equivalent and Y, respectively).

Keywords: dietary supplements, sibutramine, ephedrine, yohimbine, caffeine, HPLC

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Seyyed Naeim Saber, Javad Usefi

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This study was conducted to determine the effect of salbutamol (beta-adrenergic agonist) on carcass characteristics and some blood parameters in male broiler chicks. Four hundred and twenty day-old (Coob-500) male broiler were used in this experiment for six weeks. All birds were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups with 4 replicates of 15 birds per pen. Treatment groups included: control, 5, 10, and 15 mg salbutamol per liter water and 10, 20 and 30 mg salbutamol per kg diet. The data obtained from this study indicated that supplementation of salbutamol in water and diets have significant effect on live body weight, abdominal fat, and gizzard weight (p<0.05). Also adding salbutamol in broiler water and feed did not have significant effect on thigh and breast dry matter, thigh and breast crude protein, and thigh and breast crude fat (p>0.05). The results from this study demonstrated that salbutamol has significant (p<0.05) effect on hemoglobin content and RV/TV but it does not have significant effect (p>0.05) on hematocrit amount.

Keywords: salbutamol, beta-adrenergic agonist, broiler chicks, carcass characteristic

Procedia PDF Downloads 234

Authors: Masoud Alipanah, Sekineh Akbari, Gholamreza Dashab

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Myostatin genes or factor 8 affecting on growth and making differentiation works (GDF8) as a moderator in the development of skeletal muscle inhibitor. If mutations occurs in the coding region of myostatin, alter its inhibitory role and the muscle growth is increased. In this study, blood samples were collected randomly from 60 Kurdish sheep in northern Khorasan and DNA extraction was performed using a modified salt. A fragment 337 bp from exon 3 myostatin gene and-specific primers by using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were amplified. In order to detect different forms of an allele at this locus HaeΙΙΙ restriction enzymes and PCR-RFLP analysis were used. Band patterns clarification was performed using agarose gel electrophoresis. The frequency of genotypes mm, Mm, and MM, were respectively detected, 0, 0.15 and 0.85. The allele frequency for alleles m and M, were respectively, 0.07 and 0.93. The statistical analyses indicated that m allele was significantly associated with body weight. The results of this study suggest that the Myostatin gene possibly is a candidate gene that affects growth traits in Kurdish sheep.

Keywords: GDF8 gene, Kurdi Sheep of Northern Khorasan, polymorphism, weight traits

Procedia PDF Downloads 336

Authors: Mohsen Salesi, Seyyed Zoheir Rabei

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Exercise has been considered a cornerstone of diabetes prevention and treatment for decades, but the benefits of resistance training are less clear. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of resistance training on blood profile and inflammatory marker (CRP) of type 2 diabetes mellitus people. Thirty diabetic male were recruited (age: 50.34±10.28 years) and randomly assigned to 8 weeks resistance exercise training (n=15) and control groups (n=15). Before and after training blood pressure, weight, lipid profile (TC, TG, LDL-c, and HDL-c) and hs-CRP were measured. The resistance exercise training group took part in supervised 50–80 minutes resistance training sessions, three days a week on non-consecutive days for 8 weeks. Each exercise session included approximately 10 min of warm-up and cool-down periods. Results showed that TG significantly decreased (pre 210.19±9.31 vs. 101.12±7.25, p=0.03) and HDL-c significantly increased (pre 42.37±3.15 vs. 47.50±2.19, p=0.01) after exercise training. However, there was no difference between groups in TC, LDL-c, BMI and weight. In addition, a decrease in fasting blood glucose levels showed significant difference between groups (pre 144.65±5.73 vs. 124.21±6.48 p=0.04). Regular resistance exercise training can improve the lipid profile and reducing the cardiovascular risk factors in T2DM patients.

Keywords: lipid profile, resistance exercise, type 2 diabetes mellitus, men

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Authors: Mohamed Eldessouki, Ebraheem Shady, Yasser Gowayed

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are known for having high elastic properties with high surface area that promote them as good candidates for reinforcing polymeric matrices. In composite materials, CNTs lack chemical bonding with the surrounding matrix which decreases the possibility of better stress transfer between the components. In this work, a chemical treatment for activating the surface of the multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) was applied and the effect of this functionalization on the elastic properties of the epoxy nanocomposites was studied. Functional amino-groups were added to the surface of the CNTs and it was evaluated to be about 34% of the total weight of the CNTs. Elastic modulus was found to increase by about 40% of the neat epoxy resin at CNTs’ weight fraction of 0.5%. The elastic modulus was found to decrease after reaching a certain concentration of CNTs which was found to be 1% wt. The scanning electron microscopic pictures showed the effect of the CNTs on the crack propagation through the sample by forming stress concentrated spots at the nanocomposite samples.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes functionalization, crack propagation, elastic modulus, epoxy nanocomposites

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Authors: Gianluca Castelnuovo, Giada Pietrabissa, Gian Mauro Manzoni, Margherita Novelli, Emanuele Maria Giusti, Roberto Cattivelli, Enrico Molinari

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Diabesity could be defined as a new global epidemic of obesity and being overweight with many complications and chronic conditions. Such conditions include not only type 2 diabetes, but also cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, and various psychosocial and psychopathological disorders. The financial direct and indirect burden (considering also the clinical resources involved and the loss of productivity) is a real challenge in many Western health-care systems. Recently the Lancet journal defined diabetes as a 21st-century challenge. In order to promote patient compliance in diabesity treatment reducing costs, evidence-based interventions to improve weight-loss, maintain a healthy weight, and reduce related comorbidities combine different treatment approaches: dietetic, nutritional, physical, behavioral, psychological, and, in some situations, pharmacological and surgical. Moreover, new technologies can provide useful solutions in this multidisciplinary approach, above all in maintaining long-term compliance and adherence in order to ensure clinical efficacy. Psychological therapies with diet and exercise plans could better help patients in achieving weight loss outcomes, both inside hospitals and clinical centers and during out-patient follow-up sessions. In the management of chronic diseases clinical psychology play a key role due to the need of working on psychological conditions of patients, their families and their caregivers. mHealth approach could overcome limitations linked with the traditional, restricted and highly expensive in-patient treatment of many chronic pathologies: one of the best up-to-date application is the management of obesity with type 2 diabetes, where mHealth solutions can provide remote opportunities for enhancing weight reduction and reducing complications from clinical, organizational and economic perspectives. A stepped care mHealth-based approach is an interesting perspective in chronic care management of obesity with type 2 diabetes. One promising future direction could be treating obesity, considered as a chronic multifactorial disease, using a stepped-care approach: -mhealth or traditional based lifestyle psychoeducational and nutritional approach. -health professionals-driven multidisciplinary protocols tailored for each patient. -inpatient approach with the inclusion of drug therapies and other multidisciplinary treatments. -bariatric surgery with psychological and medical follow-up In the chronic care management of globesity mhealth solutions cannot substitute traditional approaches, but they can supplement some steps in clinical psychology and medicine both for obesity prevention and for weight loss management.

Keywords: clinical health psychology, mhealth, obesity, type 2 diabetes, stepped care, chronic care management

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Ren Moses

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The process of classifying vehicles on a highway is hereby viewed as a pattern recognition problem in which connectionist techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANN) can be used to assign vehicles to their correct classes and hence to establish optimum axle spacing thresholds. In the United States, vehicles are typically classified into 13 classes using a methodology commonly referred to as “Scheme F”. In this research, the ANN model was developed, trained, and applied to field data of vehicles. The data comprised of three vehicular features—axle spacing, number of axles per vehicle, and overall vehicle weight. The ANN reduced the classification error rate from 9.5 percent to 6.2 percent when compared to an existing classification algorithm that is not ANN-based and which uses two vehicular features for classification, that is, axle spacing and number of axles. The inclusion of overall vehicle weight as a third classification variable further reduced the error rate from 6.2 percent to only 3.0 percent. The promising results from the neural networks were used to set up new thresholds that reduce classification error rate.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, vehicle classification, traffic flow, traffic analysis, and highway opera-tions

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Authors: Fagner O. Serrano, Danielle R. Bouchard, Todd A. Duhame

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Walking cadence (steps/min) is an effective way to prescribe exercise so an individual can reach a moderate intensity, which is recommended to optimize health benefits. To our knowledge, there is no study on the required walking cadence to reach a moderate intensity for people that present chronic conditions or risk factors for chronic conditions such as Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD). The objectives of this study were: 1- to identify the walking cadence needed for people at risk of CVD to a reach moderate intensity, and 2- to develop and test an equation using clinical variables to help professionals working with individuals at risk of CVD to estimate the walking cadence needed to reach moderate intensity. Ninety-one people presenting a minimum of two risk factors for CVD completed a medically supervised graded exercise test to assess maximum oxygen consumption at the first visit. The last visit consisted of recording walking cadence using a foot pod Garmin FR-60 and a Polar heart rate monitor, aiming to get participants to reach 40% of their maximal oxygen consumption using a portable metabolic cart on an indoor flat surface. The equation to predict the walking cadence needed to reach moderate intensity in this sample was developed as follows: The sample was randomly split in half and the equation was developed with one half of the participants, and validated using the other half. Body mass index, height, stride length, leg height, body weight, fitness level (VO2max), and self-selected cadence (over 200 meters) were measured using objective measured. Mean walking cadence to reach moderate intensity for people age 64.3 ± 10.3 years old at risk of CVD was 115.8  10.3 steps per minute. Body mass index, height, body weight, fitness level, and self-selected cadence were associated with walking cadence at moderate intensity when evaluated in bivariate analyses (r ranging from 0.22 to 0.52; all P values ≤0.05). Using linear regression analysis including all clinical variables associated in the bivariate analyses, body weight was the significant predictor of walking cadence for reaching a moderate intensity (ß=0.24; P=.018) explaining 13% of walking cadence to reach moderate intensity. The regression model created was Y = 134.4-0.24 X body weight (kg).Our findings suggest that people presenting two or more risk factors for CVD are reaching moderate intensity while walking at a cadence above the one officially recommended (116 steps per minute vs. 100 steps per minute) for healthy adults.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease, moderate intensity, older adults, walking cadence

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Authors: Esteban Alejandro Armas Vega, Ana Lucila Sandoval Orozco, Luis Javier García Villalba

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The benchmarking of tools for dynamic analysis of vulnerabilities in web applications is something that is done periodically, because these tools from time to time update their knowledge base and search algorithms, in order to improve their accuracy. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these evaluations are made by software enthusiasts who publish their results on blogs or on non-academic websites and always with the same evaluation methodology. Similarly, academics who have carried out this type of analysis from a scientific approach, the majority, make their analysis within the same methodology as well the empirical authors. This paper is based on the interest of finding answers to questions that many users of this type of tools have been asking over the years, such as, to know if the tool truly test and evaluate every vulnerability that it ensures do, or if the tool, really, deliver a real report of all the vulnerabilities tested and exploited. This kind of questions have also motivated previous work but without real answers. The aim of this paper is to show results that truly answer, at least on the tested tools, all those unanswered questions. All the results have been obtained by changing the common model of benchmarking used for all those previous works.

Keywords: cybersecurity, IDS, security, web scanners, web vulnerabilities

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Authors: Dale Daniel G. Bodo

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This study investigated the status of the Laboratory Tools and Equipment of the BSHRT Program of Eastern Visayas State University, Tacloban City Campus. Descriptive-correlation method was used which Variables include profile age, gender, acquired NC II, competencies in HRT and the status of the laboratory facilities, tools, and equipment of the BSHRT program. The study also identified significant correlation between the profile of the respondents and the implementation of the BSHRT Program in terms of laboratory tools and equipment. A self-structured survey questionnaire was used to gather relevant data among eighty-seven (87) BSHRT-OJT students. To test the correlations of variables, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient Correlation or Pearson r was used. As a result, the study revealed very interesting results and various significant correlations among the paired variables and as to the implementation of the BSHRT Program. Hence, this study was done to update the status of laboratory tools and equipment of the program.

Keywords: status, BSHRT Program, laboratory tools and equipment, descriptive-correlation

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Authors: Gianne Bianca P. Manalo, Ernesto A. Martin, Vanessa V. Velasco

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The laying performance, egg quality, egg classification, and income over feed cost of Improved Philippine Mallard duck (Itik Pinas) were examined as influenced by garlic powder in drinking water. A total of 48 ducks (42 females and 6 males) were used in the study. The ducks were allocated into two treatments - with garlic powder (GP) and without garlic powder (control) in drinking water. Each treatment had three replicates with eight ducks (7 females and 1 male) per replication. The results showed that there was a significant (P = 0.03) difference in average egg weight where higher values were attained by ducks with GP (77.67 g ± 0.64) than the control (75.64 g ± 0.43). The supplementation of garlic powder in drinking water, however, did not affect the egg production, feed intake, FCR, egg mass, livability, egg quality and egg classification. The Itik Pinas with GP in drinking water had numerically higher income over feed cost than those without. GP in drinking water can be considered in raising Itik Pinas. Further studies on increasing level of GP and long feeding duration also merit consideration to substantiate the findings.

Keywords: phytogenic, garlic powder, Itik-Pinas, egg weight, egg production

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Authors: Nader H. Ghareeb, Mohamed S. Gaith, Sayed M. Soleimani

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In modern engineering, weight optimization has a priority during the design of structures. However, optimizing the weight can result in lower stiffness and less internal damping, causing the structure to become excessively prone to vibration. To overcome this problem, active or smart materials are implemented. The coupled electromechanical properties of smart materials, used in the form of piezoelectric ceramics in this work, make these materials well-suited for being implemented as distributed sensors and actuators to control the structural response. The smart structure proposed in this paper is composed of a cantilevered steel beam, an adhesive or bonding layer, and a piezoelectric actuator. The static deflection of the structure is derived as function of the piezoelectric voltage, and the outcome is compared to theoretical and experimental results from literature. The relation between the voltage and the piezoelectric moment at both ends of the actuator is also investigated and a reduced finite element model of the smart structure is created and verified. Finally, a linear controller is implemented and its ability to attenuate the vibration due to the first natural frequency is demonstrated.

Keywords: active linear control, lyapunov stability theorem, piezoelectricity, smart structure, static deflection

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Authors: Thea Werkhoven, Wayne Cotton

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Adult and childhood rates of obesity in Australia are health concerns of high national priority, retaining epidemic status in the populations affected. Attempts to prevent further increases in prevalence of childhood obesity in the population aged below eighteen years have had varied success. A multidisciplinary approach has been used, employing strategies in schools, through established health care system usage and public health campaigns. Over the last decade a plateau in prevalence has been reached in the youth population afflicted by obesity and interest has peaked in school based strategies to prevent and treat overweight and obesity. Of interest to this study is the importance of the tertiary training of future health educators or health professionals destined to be involved in obesity prevention and treatment strategies. Health educators and health professionals are considered instrumental to the success of prevention and treatment strategies, required to possess sufficient and accurate knowledge in order to be effective in their positions. A common influence on the success of school based health promoting activities are the weight based attitudes possessed by health educators, known to be negative and biased towards overweight or obese children during training and practice. Whilst the tertiary training of future health professionals includes minimal nutrition education, there is no mandatory training in health education or nutrition for pre-service health educators in Australian tertiary institutions. This study aimed to assess the impact of a pedagogical intervention on pre-service health educators and health professionals enrolled in a health and wellbeing elective. The intervention aimed to increase nutrition knowledge and decrease weight bias and was embedded in the twelve week elective. Participants (n=98) were tertiary students at a major Australian University who were enrolled in health (47%) and non-health related degrees (53%). A quantitative survey using four valid and reliable instruments was conducted to measured nutrition knowledge, antifat attitudes and weight stereotyping attitudes at baseline and post-intervention. Scores on each instrument were compared between time points to check if they had significantly changed and to determine the effect of the intervention on attitudes and knowledge. Antifat attitudes at baseline were considered low and decreased further over the course of the intervention. Scores representing weight bias did decrease but the change was not significant. Fat stereotyping attitudes became stronger over the course of the intervention and this change was significant. Nutrition knowledge significantly improved from baseline to post-intervention. The design of the nutrition knowledge and attitude amelioration content of the intervention was semi-successful in achieving its outcomes. While the level of nutrition knowledge was improved over the course of the intervention, an unintentional increase was observed in weight based prejudice which is known to occur in interventions that employ stigma reduction methodologies. Further research is required into a structured methodology that increases level of nutrition knowledge and ameliorates weight bias at the tertiary level. In this way training provided would help prepare future health educators with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to be effective and bias free in their practice.

Keywords: education, intervention, nutrition, obesity

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Authors: N. Piwpuan, J. Tosalee, N. Phonkerd

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Malachite green (MG), a synthetic dye, is used in industries and aquaculture and also disposed in the effluent. Use of wastewater in irrigation increases due to water shortage. However, wastewater containing dyes, MG, are toxic to biological systems. Therefore, effects of MG on growth of vegetables were evaluated in order to utilize dye-contaminated wastewater for irrigation. In this study, Pak choy (Brassica chinensis) and Chinese convolvulus (Ipomoea aquatica) were grown in growing material (mixture of soil, coconut fiber, and compost) for four weeks and afterward kept watering with 200 ml of tap water containing MG at the concentrations of 0 (control), 1, 2, 10, and 20 mg/L. At harvest, number of leaf and shoot and root dry weight of the treated plants were measured and compared with control. For both species, their biomass values were similar among treatments and did not differ from the control plants (dry weight were 0.6-1.0 and 1.1-1.7 g/plant for B. chinensis and I. aquatica, respectively). B. chinensis treated with 2, 10, and 20 mg/L of MG produced lower number of new leaf and had smaller and shorter leaf compared to control and treatment of 1 mg/L. These results indicate the different responses between plant species, which B. chinensis is more sensitive to contaminant compared to I. aquatica. There was no sign of MG and leucomalachite green (LMG) detected in root and shoot tissues of plants treated with MG at 20 mg/L, tested by thin layer chromatography. After plant harvest, toxicity of the growing material from all treatments was tested on mung beans. Percent germination (83-97%), seedling fresh weight (0.3-0.5 g/plant), and shoot length (11-12.5 cm) were similar to the control. These indicated that contaminant in growing material did not pose detrimental effect on mung beans. Based on these results, the water contaminated with low concentration of MG, such as discharge from aquaculture, may serve as ferti-irrigation water to compensate water shortage.

Keywords: ferti-irrigation, soil toxicity, triphenylmethane dye, wastewater reuse

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Authors: Hualter Barbosa, Bruno Bonifacio

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The process of globalization and new business has transformed the dynamics of software development. To meet the new demands, the software industry has adapted new methodologies that can shorten development cycles to ensure greater competitiveness. Given this scenario, Global Software Development (GSD) has become a strategic element for new products' success. However, the reliability, opportunity, and perceived value can be influenced substantially with the automation of steps in the development process activities. In this sense, the development of new technologies can help developers and managers to improve the quality of development. This paper presents a report on improving one of the release process activities of Sidia's mobile product area using software technology. The objective is to present the improvement of the CLCATCH tool developed based on experimental studies and qualitative analysis on the points of improvement for the release process in Android update projects for Samsung mobile devices. The results show improvement for the new version and approach of the tool, with points that can facilitate new features of the proposed technology.

Keywords: Android updated, empirical studies, GSD, process improvement

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Authors: Joe Amalraj, M. Arunkumar

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Haze is an atmospheric phenomenon that signicantly degrades the visibility of outdoor scenes. This is mainly due to the atmosphere particles that absorb and scatter the light. This paper introduces a novel single image approach that enhances the visibility of such degraded images. In this method is a fusion-based strategy that derives from two original hazy image inputs by applying a white balance and a contrast enhancing procedure. To blend effectively the information of the derived inputs to preserve the regions with good visibility, we filter their important features by computing three measures (weight maps): luminance, chromaticity, and saliency. To minimize artifacts introduced by the weight maps, our approach is designed in a multiscale fashion, using a Laplacian pyramid representation. This paper demonstrates the utility and effectiveness of a fusion-based technique for de-hazing based on a single degraded image. The method performs in a per-pixel fashion, which is straightforward to implement. The experimental results demonstrate that the method yields results comparative to and even better than the more complex state-of-the-art techniques, having the advantage of being appropriate for real-time applications.

Keywords: single image de-hazing, outdoor images, enhancing, DSP

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Authors: Nursah Kutuk, Sevil Cetinkaya

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Geopolymers are becoming new concrete materials to use alongside cement, which are formed due to reaction between alumino-silicates and oxides with alkaline media. Silicates obtained from natural minerals or industrial wastes are used for geopolymer synthesis. Geopolymers have recently received wide attention because of their advantages over other cementitious material like Portland cement. Some of the advantages are high compressive strength, low environmental impact, chemical and fire resistance and thermal stability. In this study, geopolymers were prepared by using inorganic materials such as kaolinite and calcite. The experiments were carried out by varying the concentration of NaOH as 5, 10, 15 and 20 M, and at cure temperature of 22, 45 and 65 °C. Compressive strengths for each mixes at each cure temperature were measured. Results of the analyses indicated that the compressive strength of geopolymers did not increase steadily with increasing concentration of NaOH, but did increase steadily with increasing cure temperature. We examined the effect Na2SiO3/NaOH weight ratio on the properties of the geopolymers, too. It was seen that Na2SiO3/NaOH weight ratio was also important to prepare geopolymers that can be applied to construction industry.

Keywords: geopolymers, compressive strength, kaolinite, calcite

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Authors: Mukul Kumar Srivastava, Sumit Basu

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Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites find wide use in the space and aerospace industries primarily due to their favourable strength-to-weight ratios. However, in spite of the impressive mechanical properties, their ability to shield sophisticated electronics from electromagnetic interference (EMI) is rather limited. As a result, metallic wire meshes or metal foils are often embedded in CFRP composites to provide adequate EMI shielding. This comes at additional manufacturing cost, increased weight and, particularly in cases of aluminium, increased risk of galvanic corrosion in the presence of moisture. In this work, we will explore ways of enhancing EMI shielding of CFRP laminates in the 8-12 GHz range (the so-called X-band), without compromising their mechanical and fracture properties, through minimal modifications to their current well-established fabrication protocol. The computational-experimental study of EMI shielding in CFRP laminates will focus on the effects of incorporating multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and conducting nanoparticles in different ways in the resin and/or carbon fibers. We will also explore the possibility of utilising the excellent absorbing properties of MWCNT reinforced polymer foams to enhance the overall EMI shielding capabilities.

Keywords: EMI shielding, X-band, CFRP, MWCNT

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Authors: Frederick Otite Ighovojah

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Corrosion in the oil and gas industries is one of the most common causes of failure. Such failure includes leaks in above-ground storage tanks (AGST). The involvement of microorganisms in the corrosion process in AGST systems is often ignored, and this outlines the need to investigate the effect of microbial corrosion in oil and gas facilities. This study's methodology comprised gathering generated water samples from a nearby AGST oil facility that was operating, which were then equally divided into two batch reactors, 1 and 2. Each batch reactor was filled with five prepared X60 coupons using sterilized forceps. To provide nutrients for the microorganisms in batch reactor 1 during the test period, 2g of NPK 15- 15-15 fertilizer was added on a weekly basis. To kill the microorganisms and significantly lower their concentration in the generated water, 5ml of dissolved ozone (a biocide) with a 0.5ppm concentration was added to batch reactor 2. The weight loss measurement (WLM) was used to evaluate for corrosion. Coupons were removed from each batch reactor, and weight loss was measured at every interval of 336 hrs for 2016 hrs. The overall results obtained indicated that coupons from the batch 1 reactor showed a higher corrosion rate and higher mass loss, and this was due to the metabolic production of an aggressive compound in the medium.

Keywords: AGST, microbial corrosion, reactor, X60 steel

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Authors: Abdulrahman M. Hamid

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Dynamic Cone Penetration Test (DCPT) is widely used for field quality assessment of soils. Its application to predict the engineering properties of soil is globally promoted by the fact that it is difficult to obtain undisturbed soil samples, especially when loose or submerged sandy soil is encountered. Detailed discussion will be presented on the current development of DCPT correlations with resilient modulus, relative density, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), unconfined compressive strength and shear strength that have been developed for different materials in both the laboratory and field, as well as on the usage of DCPT in quality control of compaction of earth fills and performance evaluation of pavement layers. In addition, the relationship of the DCPT with other instruments such as falling weight deflectometer, nuclear gauge, soil stiffens gauge, and plate load test will be reported. Lastely, the application of DCPT in Saudi Arabia in recent years will be addressed in this manuscript.

Keywords: dynamic cone penetration test, falling weight deflectometer, nuclear gauge, soil stiffens gauge, plate load test, automated dynamic cone penetration

Procedia PDF Downloads 425