Search results for: long–term (chronic) stress

Authors: P. Sawitri, S. Cdr. Sittha, T. Kritsana

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Flow forming is widely used in many industries, especially in defence technology industries. Pressure vessels requirements are high precision, light weight, seamless and optimum strength. For large pressure vessels, flow forming by 3 rollers machine were used. In case of long range rocket motor case flow forming and welding of pressure vessels have been used for manufacturing. Due to complication of welding process, researchers had developed 4 meters length pressure vessels without weldment by 4 rollers flow forming machine. Design and preparation of preform work pieces are performed. The optimization of flow forming parameter such as feed rate, spindle speed and depth of cut will be discussed. The experimental result shown relation of flow forming parameters to quality of flow formed tube and prototype pressure vessels have been made.

Keywords: flow forming, pressure vessel, four rollers, feed rate, spindle speed, cold work

Procedia PDF Downloads 333

Authors: Dalma Dojcsák, Csaba Váradi, Flóra Farkas, Tamás Farkas, János Papp, Béla Viskolcz

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Background: Appendicitis is a common acute inflammatory condition in both children and adults, but current laboratory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and red blood cell count (RNC) lack specificity in detecting appendicitis-related inflammation. N-glycosylation, an asparagine-linked glycosylation process, plays a vital role in cellular interactions, angiogenesis, immune response, and effector functions. Altered N-glycosylation impacts tumor growth and both acute and chronic inflammatory processes. IgG, the second most abundant glycoprotein in serum, shows altered glycosylation patterns during inflammation, suggesting that IgG glycan modifications may serve as potential biomarkers for appendicitis. Specifically, increased levels of agalactosylated IgG glycans are a known feature of various inflammatory conditions, potentially including appendicitis. Identifying pediatric appendicitis remains challenging due to the absence of specific biomarkers, which makes diagnosis reliant on clinical symptoms, imaging such as ultrasound, and nonspecific lab indicators (e.g., CRP, WBC, ANC). In this study, we analyzed the IgG derived N-glycome in pediatric patients with appendicitis compared with healthy controls. Methodology: The N-glycome was analyzed by high-performance liquid-chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. IgG was isolated from serum samples by Protein G column. The IgG derived glycans were released by enzymatic deglycosylation and fluorescent tags were attached to each glycan moiety, which made necessitates the sample clean-up for further reliable quantitation. Overall, 38 controls and 40 serum samples diagnosed with pediatric appendicitis were analyzed by HILIC-MS methods. Multivariate statistical tests were performed with area percentage under the peak data derived from the integrated peaks, which were obtained from the chromatograms. Conclusions: Our results represented the altered N-glycome of IgG in pediatric appendicitis is similar with other observations. The glycosylation pattern reported so far for IgG is characterized by decreased galactosylation and sialylation, and an increase in fucosylation.

Keywords: N-glycosylation, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, inflammation, appendicitis, immunoglobulin G

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Authors: Giovana Longo-Silva, Risia Cristina Egito de Menezes, Renan Serenini, Márcia de Oliveira Lima, Júlia Souza de Melo, Larissa de Lima Soares

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Introduction: Sleep duration and quality have been increasingly recognized as important factors affecting overall health and well-being, including their potential impact on body weight and composition. Previous research has shown inconsistent results regarding the association between sleep patterns and body mass index (BMI), particularly among diverse populations such as Brazilian adults. Understanding these relationships is crucial for developing targeted interventions to address obesity and related health issues. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI among Brazilian adults using data from a large national survey focused on chronic nutrition and sleep habits. Materials and Methods: The study included 2050 participants from a population-based virtual survey. BMI was calculated using self-reported weight and height measurements. Participants also reported usual bedtime and wake time on weekdays and weekends and whether they experienced symptoms of insomnia. The average sleep duration across the entire week was calculated as follows: [(5×sleep duration on weekdays) + (2×sleep duration on weekends)]/7. Linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI, adjusting for potential confounding factors, including age, sex, marital status, physical exercise duration, and diet quality. Results: After adjusting for confounding variables, the study found that BMI decreased by 0.19 kg/m² for each additional hour of sleep duration (95% CI = -0.37, -0.02; P = 0.03). Conversely, individuals with insomnia had a higher BMI, with an increase of 0.75 kg/m² (95% CI = 0.28, 1.22; P = 0.002) compared to those without insomnia. Conclusions: The findings suggest a significant association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI among Brazilian adults. Longer sleep duration was associated with lower BMI, while insomnia was associated with higher BMI. These results underscore the importance of considering sleep patterns in strategies aimed at preventing and managing obesity in this population. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms and potential interventions targeting sleep-related factors to promote healthier body weight outcomes.

Keywords: sleep, obesity, chronobiology, nutrition

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Ramana Reddy, Vijay Kothari

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Aircraft provide a fast, reliable mode of transport with no comparable alternative for long distance travel. Throughout the years, technology improvements have been made to aircraft and engines to make them more fuel efficient. Air traffic continues to grow around the world and needs more aircrafts to accommodate such rapid growth. This has direct consequences on two of the most important environmental factors i.e. emissions and noise. Aviation contributes about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Aviation emits a number of pollutants that alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere, changing its radiative balance and hence influencing the climate. In order to reduce or if possible eliminate potential harm to the environment and also make air travel efficient and economical, an environmentally beneficial concept called “Green Aviation System” is required. This is a structured frame work with elements like innovative technologies/tools in engineering design, manufacturing, airport and fleet operations.

Keywords: air traffic, environment, emissions, noise, green aviation system

Procedia PDF Downloads 459

Authors: Avadhesh Kumar

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Background: The cell phone has rapidly become an integral, and, for some, an essential communication tool that is being used worldwide. Their use without any knowledge of their harmful effects like cancers and other health effects is not ‘quite’ safe. Studies on cancers due to electromagnetic radiations from cell phones are available, but there is a need to research on the detrimental physical and psychological effects on users like students. This study focused on certain psychological or mental health effects of cell phone usage amongst students. Materials and methods: The present study will be carried out on all the students of Banaras Hindu University. Students of both sexes from urban and rural backgrounds were selected at random and administered a pre- tested questionnaire which included aspects related to few common adverse psychological health signs and symptoms attributed to cell phone over-usage. Results: Stress was found to be the commonest symptom (51.47%) followed by irritability/anger (43.79%). Other common mental symptoms included lack of concentration and academic performance, insomnia, anxiety etc. Suggestions: This study confirms that the younger generation, who are the most frequent cell phone users, needs to be aware of the adverse health effects of cell phone usage especially the mental aspects and take preventive measures to minimize and control the same. Less dependence on the device, a curtailing time period spent on talking, communicating more by texting, etc. are some of the practical measures suggested.

Keywords: cell phones, psychological health effects, students, mental health

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Authors: B. Kabane, G. G. Redhi

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An ammonium based ionic liquid (methyltrioctylammonium chloride) [N_{8 8 8 1}] [Cl] was investigated as an extraction potential solvent for volatile organic solvents (in this regard, solutes), which includes alkenes, alkanes, ketones, alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons, tetrahydrofuran (THF), alcohols, thiophene, water and acetonitrile based on the experimental activity coefficients at infinite THF measurements were conducted by the use of gas-liquid chromatography at four different temperatures (313.15 to 343.15) K. Experimental data of activity coefficients obtained across the examined temperatures were used in order to calculate the physicochemical properties at infinite dilution such as partial molar excess enthalpy, Gibbs free energy and entropy term. Capacity and selectivity data for selected petrochemical extraction problems (heptane/thiophene, heptane/benzene, cyclohaxane/cyclohexene, hexane/toluene, hexane/hexene) were computed from activity coefficients data and compared to the literature values with other ionic liquids. Evaluation of activity coefficients at infinite dilution expands the knowledge and provides a good understanding related to the interactions between the ionic liquid and the investigated compounds.

Keywords: separation, activity coefficients, methyltrioctylammonium chloride, ionic liquid, capacity

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Authors: Stanley Dula, Oluwatosini A. Ijabadeniyi

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Biofilm formation is a major source of materials and foodstuffs contamination, contributing to occurrence of pathogenic and spoilage microbes in food processing resulting in food spoilage, transmission of diseases and significant food hygiene and safety issues. This study elucidates biofilm formation of E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644 grown under food related environmental stress conditions of varying pH (5.0;7.0; and 8.5) and temperature (15, 25 and 37 ℃). Both strains showed confluent biofilm formation at 25 ℃ and 37 ℃, at pH 8.5 after 5 days. E. coli showed curli fimbriae production at various temperatures, while L. monocytogenes did not show pronounced expression. Swarm, swimming and twitching plate assays were used to determine strain motilities. Characterization of cell hydrophobicity was done using the microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons (MATH) assay using n-hexadecane. Both strains showed hydrophilic characteristics as they fell within a < 20 % interval. FT-IR revealed COOH at 1622 cm-1, and a strong absorption band at 3650 cm-1 – 3200 cm-1 indicating the presence of both -OH and -NH groups. Both strains were hydrophilic and could form biofilm at different combinations of temperature and pH. EPS produced in both species proved to be an acidic hetero-polysaccharide.

Keywords: biofilm, pathogens, hydrophobicity, motility

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: H. Aburideh, Z.Tigrine, D. Ziou, S. Hout, R. Bellatreche, D. Belhout, Z. Belgroun, M. Abbas

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Faced with climate hazards in recent decades and the constant increase of the population, Algeria is making considerable efforts to provide water resources and water availability, both for its nascent industry, agriculture and for the drinking water supply of cities and arid region of the country. Following a remarkable worldwide technological breakthrough in seawater and brackish water desalination, known in recent years, the specialists have seen that the use of desalination of sea water in Algeria is a promising alternative as long as it has a coastline of 1200 km. Seawater is clean and virtually inexhaustible resource; mainly for population and industry that have high water consumption and are close to the sea. The purpose of this work is to present information on the number of sea water desalination stations and demineralization plants existing in Algeria. The constraints related to the operation of certain stations; those which are operational, those that are not operational as well as the seawater desalination program that was hired to cover 49 desalination plants across the country at the end of 2019 with the aim of increasing and diversifying water resources.

Keywords: desalination, water, membrane, demineralization

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Ayesha Waqar Khan, Mariam Altaf, Jamil Ahmad, Shaheen Shahzad

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Kidney fibrosis is an anticipated outcome of possibly all types of progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD). Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signaling pathway is responsible for production of matrix-producing fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in diseased kidney. In this study, a discrete model of TGF-beta (transforming growth factor) and CTGF (connective tissue growth factor) was constructed using Rene Thomas formalism to investigate renal fibrosis turn over. The kinetic logic proposed by Rene Thomas is a renowned approach for modeling of Biological Regulatory Networks (BRNs). This modeling approach uses a set of constraints which represents the dynamics of the BRN thus analyzing the pathway and predicting critical trajectories that lead to a normal or diseased state. The molecular connection between TGF-beta, Smad 2/3 (transcription factor) phosphorylation and CTGF is modeled using GenoTech. The order of BRN is CTGF, TGF-B, and SMAD3 respectively. The predicted cycle depicts activation of TGF-B (TGF-β) via cleavage of its own pro-domain (0,1,0) and presentation to TGFR-II receptor phosphorylating SMAD3 (Smad2/3) in the state (0,1,1). Later TGF-B is turned off (0,0,1) thereby activating SMAD3 that further stimulates the expression of CTGF in the state (1,0,1) and itself turns off in (1,0,0). Elevated CTGF expression reactivates TGF-B (1,1,0) and the cycle continues. The predicted model has generated one cycle and two steady states. Cyclic behavior in this study represents the diseased state in which all three proteins contribute to renal fibrosis. The proposed model is in accordance with the experimental findings of the existing diseased state. Extended cycle results in enhanced CTGF expression through Smad2/3 and Smad4 translocation in the nucleus. The results suggest that the system converges towards organ fibrogenesis if CTGF remains constructively active along with Smad2/3 and Smad 4 that plays an important role in kidney fibrosis. Therefore, modeling regulatory pathways of kidney fibrosis will escort to the progress of therapeutic tools and real-world useful applications such as predictive and preventive medicine.

Keywords: CTGF, renal fibrosis signaling pathway, system biology, qualitative modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Tianyu Wang, Nikita Karandikar

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The uncertainty around cost, safety, and feasibility of the decarbonized shipping fuels has made it increasingly complex for the shipping companies to set pricing strategies and forecast their freight revenues going forward. The increase in the green fuel surcharges will ultimately influence the automobile’s consumer prices. The auto shipping demand (ton-miles) has been gradually shifting from long-haul to short-sea trade over the past years following the relocation of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) manufacturing to regions such as South America and Southeast Asia. The objective of this paper is twofold: 1) to investigate the car-carriers freight revenue development over the years when the trade pattern is gradually shifting towards short-sea exports 2) to empirically identify the quantitative impact of such trade pattern shifting to mainly freight rate, but also vessel size, fleet size as well as Green House Gas (GHG) emission in Roll on-Roll Off (Ro-Ro) shipping. In this paper, a model of analyzing and forecasting ton-miles and freight revenues for the trade routes of AS-NA (Asia to North America), EU-NA (Europe to North America), and SA-NA (South America to North America) is established by deploying Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and the financial results of a selected car carrier company. More specifically, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WALWIL), the Norwegian Ro-Ro carrier listed on Oslo Stock Exchange, is selected as the case study company in this paper. AIS-based ton-mile datasets of WALWIL vessels that are sailing into North America region from three different origins (Asia, Europe, and South America), together with WALWIL’s quarterly freight revenues as reported in trade segments, will be investigated and compared for the past five years (2018-2022). Furthermore, ordinary‐least‐square (OLS) regression is utilized to construct the ton-mile demand and freight revenue forecasting. The determinants of trade pattern shifting, such as import tariffs following the China-US trade war and fuel prices following the 0.1% Emission Control Areas (ECA) zone requirement after IMO2020 will be set as key variable inputs to the machine learning model. The model will be tested on another newly listed Norwegian Car Carrier, Hoegh Autoliner, to forecast its 2022 financial results and to validate the accuracy based on its actual results. GHG emissions on the three routes will be compared and discussed based on a constant emission per mile assumption and voyage distances. Our findings will provide important insights about 1) the trade-off evaluation between revenue reduction and energy saving with the new ton-mile pattern and 2) how the trade flow shifting would influence the future need for the vessel and fleet size.

Keywords: AIS, automobile exports, maritime big data, trade flows

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: P. V. Leksin, A. A. Kamashev, N. N. Garifyanov, I. A. Garifullin, Ya. V. Fominov, J. Schumann, Y. Krupskaya, V. Kataev, O. G. Schmidt, B. Büchner

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We report on experimental evidence for the occurrence of the long range triplet correlations (LRTC) of the superconducting (SC) condensate in the spin-valve heterostructures CoOx/Fe1/Cu/Fe2/Pb. The LRTC generation in this layer sequence is accompanied by a Tc suppression near the orthogonal mutual orientation of the Fe1 and Fe2 layers’ magnetization. This Tc drop reaches its maximum of 60mK at the Fe2 layer thickness dFe2 = 0.6 nm and falls down when dFe2 is increased. The modification of the Fe/Pb interface by using a thin Cu intermediate layer between Fe and Pb layers reduces the SC transition width without preventing the interaction between Pb and Fe2 layers. The dependence of the SSVE magnitude on Fe1 layer thickness dFe1 reveals maximum of the effect when dFe1 and dFe2 are equal and the dFe2 value is minimal. Using the optimal Fe layers thicknesses and the intermediate Cu layer between Pb and Fe2 layer we realized almost full switching from normal to superconducting state due to SSVE.

Keywords: superconductivity, ferromagnetism, heterostructures, proximity effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 420

Authors: Masoud Mahdavi

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The structure is made using different members and combining them with each other. These members are basically based on technical and engineering principles and are combined in different ways and have their own unique effects on the building. Trusses are one of the most common and important members of the structure, accounting for a large percentage of the power transmission structure in the building. Different types of trusses are based on structural needs and evaluating and making complete comparisons between them is one of the most important engineering analyses. In the present study, four types of trusses have been studied; 1) Hawe truss, 2) Pratt truss, 3) k truss, and 4) warren truss, under cyclic loading for 80 seconds. The trusses are modeled in 3d using st₃₇ steel. The results showed that Hawe trusses had higher values ​​than all other trusses (k, Pratt and Warren) in all the studied indicators. Indicators examined in the study include; 1) von Mises stresses, 2) displacement, 3) support force, 4) velocity, 5) acceleration, 6) capacity (hysteresis curve) and 7) energy diagram. Pratt truss in indicators; Mises stress, displacement, energy have the least amount compared to other trusses. K truss in indicators; support force, speed and acceleration are the lowest compared to other trusses.

Keywords: hawe truss, pratt truss, K truss, warren truss, cyclic loading, finite element method

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Ankush Kalra, Mirza Masroor, Usha Manaktala, B. C. Koner, T. K. Mishra

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Introduction: Pre-eclampsia affects 3-5% of pregnancies worldwide and increases maternal-fetal morbidity and mortality. Reduced placental perfusion induces the release of biomolecules by the placenta into maternal circulation causing endothelial dysfunction. Zinc dependent matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) may be up-regulated and interact with circulating factors of oxidative stress and inflammation to produce endothelial dysfunction in pre-eclampsia. Aim: To study the functional genetic polymorphism of MMP-2 gene (g-1306 C>T) in pre-eclampsia and its effect on serum MMP-2 levels in these patients. Method: Hundred pre-eclampsia patients and hundred age and gestation period matched healthy pregnant women with their consent were recruited in the study. Serum MMP-2 levels in all subjects were estimated using standard ELISA kits. MMP-2 gene (g.- 1306 C>T) SNPs were genotyped using whole blood by ASO-PCR. Result: The pre-eclampsia patients had higher serum levels of MMP-2 compared to the healthy pregnant (p < 0.05). Also the MMP-2 genotype was associated with significant alteration in the serum MMP-2 concentration in these patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study results suggest an association of MMP-2 genetic polymorphism and serum levels of MMP-2 to the path physiology of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy.

Keywords: allele specific oligonucleotide polymerase chain reaction (ASO-PCR), enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), pre-eclampsia

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Amina Omer, Ikram Elsiddig

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Arctostaphylos uvaursi is a plant of the family Ericaceae, it’s used in skin care products mostly for its depigmenting action, due to the presence of hydroquinones that are well known inhibitors of tyrosinase, an enzyme involved in melanin biosynthesis in humans. The main hydroquinone found within the A. uvaursi is arbutin, which is found with varying percentage within the plant depending on the season, and area from which the plant is harvested. An in vitro experiment has shown that the arbutin found within the bearberry leaf extract inhibited the biosynthesis of melanin in human melanoma cells and in three-dimensional human skin model. Madurella mycetomatis is filamentous fungus that causes the fungal form of mycetoma known as eumycetoma, with existing anti-fungals and surgery, only 35% of people living eumycetoma are treated, M. mycetomatis has been found to shield itself against the antifungal therapy through the production of melanin decreasing the effectiveness of the therapy, therefore there is a need for a new and more effective therapy. The aim of the study was to investigate and compare the effect of arbutin powder and aqueous extract of A. uvaursi containing arbutin on the biosynthesis of melanin by M. mycetomatis. The experiment was carried out by culturing M. mycetomatis on minimal media composed of 2% agar, 15 mM glucose, 10 mM MgSO4, 29.4 mM KH2PO4, 13 mM glycin and 80mg/l gentamicin, the media was supplied with different concentration of arbutin solution (5, 25 50,and 75mg) and aqueous extract of A. uvaursi to contain arbutin with concentrations (5, 25 50,and 75mg), the plates were incubated for two month and the result was observed by the naked eye. The results revealed that the arbutin powder had an inhibitory effect on melanin synthesis by M. mycetomatis that correlated with its established inhibitory effect on melanin synthesis in humans. The inhibitory effect of arbutin on melanin synthesis by M. mycetomatis was found to be dose dependent. A. uvaursi aqueous leaf extract containing arbutin was also found to decrease melanin production by M. mycetomatis, however plates containing high concentrations of aqueous extract couldn’t be assessed for its melanin inhibitory effect due to the high content of carbohydrates in the extract that promoted the growth of fungi Asperigullus niger rendering the plates unsuitable for visual inspection. In conclusion inhibition of melanin synthesis was observed on the arbutin powder as well as the aqueous extract containing arbutin. A. uvaursi is known to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity, which can aid in wound healing that is beneficial in the chronic inflammation caused by M. mycetomatis.

Keywords: arbutin, arctostaphylos, Madurella, melanin

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Authors: Chuanpeng Zhou

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The effect of dietary carbohydrate (CHO) level on serum physiological response, hepatic antioxidant abilities and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression of Wuchang bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) was studied. Two isonitrogenous (28.56% crude protein) and isolipidic (5.28% crude lipid) diets were formulated to contain 30% or 53% wheat starch. Diets were fed for 90 days to fish in triplicate tanks (28 fish per tank). At the end of feeding trial, significantly higher serum triglyceride level, insulin level, cortisol level, malondialdehyde (MDA) content were observed in fish fed the 53% CHO diet, while significantly lower serum total protein content, alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) were found in fish fed the 53% CHO diet compared with those fed the 30% diet. The relative level of hepatic heat shock protein 70 mRNA was significantly higher in the 53% CHO group than that in the 30% CHO at 6, 12, and 48 h after feeding. The results of this study indicated that ingestion of 53% dietary CHO impacted the nonspecific immune ability and caused metabolic stress of Megalobrama amblycephala.

Keywords: Megalobrama amblycephala, carbohydrate, fasted and postprandial response, immunity, Hsp70

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Authors: Kharina Budiman, Adinda Syifa Azhari, Eleonora Agustine

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Industrial activities get increase in this globalization era, one of the major impacts of industrial activities is a problem to the environment. This can happen because at the industrial production term will bring out pollutant in the shape of solid, liquid or gas. Normally this pollutant came from some dangerous materials for environment. However not every industry produces the same amount of pollutant, every industry produces different kind of pollution. To compare the pollution impact of industrial activities, soil sample has been taken around the animal feed industry and the fertilizer industry. This study applied the rock magnetic method and used Bartington MS2B to measured magnetic susceptibility (χ) as the physical parameter. This study tested soil samples using the value of susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) and Frequency Dependent (χ FD). Samples only taken in the soil surface with 0-5 cm depth and sampling interval was 20 cm. The animal feed factory has susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) = 111,9 – 325,7 and Frequency Dependent (χ FD) = 0,8 – 3,57 %. And the fertilizer factory has susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) = 187,1 – 494,8 and Frequency Dependent (χ FD) = 1,37 – 2,46 %. Based on the results, the highest value of susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) is the fertilizer factory, but the highest value of Frequency Dependent (FD) is the animal feed factory.

Keywords: industrial, pollution, magnetic susceptibility, χlf, χfd, animal feed industry and fertilizer industry

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Authors: J. Marchand

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While university dropout entrepreneurs are celebrated in the practitioner literature, students’ intentions of becoming entrepreneurs have increasingly been the focus of student entrepreneur studies. However, students who are already running a business have rarely been examined. The experience of these students is a phenomenon that requires further research. Entrepreneurial identity represents a gap in the organisational studies literature. This paper utilises studentpreneurs’ self-narratives of their entrepreneurial journey. More specifically, the aim is to answer the following question: what are the types of identity work that individuals go through to build their entrepreneurial identity during that journey? Through long interviews, this paper studies the lived experience of 14 studentpreneurs who have achieved $54,000 in income and who participated publicly in entrepreneurial competitions. A general inductive analysis is performed on their narrative. With its focus on the journey, this paper makes a contribution to the literature on identity work and the entrepreneurial journey. A key contribution is the study of identity work on the journey to becoming an (established) entrepreneur in contrast to routine identity work.

Keywords: entrepreneurial identity, student entrepreneur, identity work, student entrepreneurship

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Authors: Hong Kai, Zhong Jun Jie, Chen Lin Qi, Wang Chen Guang

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There are inefficient global scheduling parallelism and local scheduling parallelism prone to processor starvation in current scheduling algorithms. Regarding this issue, this paper proposed a load-aware queue partitioning scheduling strategy by first allocating the queues according to the number of processor cores, calculating the load factor to specify the load queue capacity, and it assigned the awaiting nodes to the appropriate perceptual queues through the precursor nodes and the communication computation overhead. At the same time, real-time computation of the load factor could effectively prevent the processor from being starved for a long time. Experimental comparison with two classical algorithms shows that there is a certain improvement in both performance metrics of scheduling length and task speedup ratio.

Keywords: load-aware, scheduling algorithm, perceptual queue, heterogeneous multi-core

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Xiu Zhang

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The Merchant of Venice focuses on identity anxiety through the contract of “a pound of flesh” and refers to the economic, legal and religious issues related to identity. The development of the emerging capitalist economy in Venetian society prompted Shylock to become a usurer. The social identity of Shylock’s lender enabled him to use the power of money to consolidate the interdependent relationship with Christians and strive for his position and living space in Venetian society. However, there have long been economical and religious conflicts between Jews and Christians. Therefore, in order to take vengeance on Antonio and take his life, so as to revenge the whole Christian society, Shylock insists on taking a pound of Antonio’s flesh in the name of abiding by the contract and the law. The choice of “a pound of flesh” is essentially the representation of human materialization and commercialization under the background of the rise of capitalism and economic transformation. At the same time, it also symbolizes Shylock’s efforts and attempts to reshape himself and his racial identity.

Keywords: merchant of Venice, ethical choices, Shylock, a pound of flesh, identity anxiety

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Authors: Stephanie Al Otaiba, Kyle Roberts

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Background and Significance Globally far too many students read below grade level; thus improving literacy outcomes is vital. Research suggests that non-cognitive factors, including Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) are linked to success in literacy outcomes. Converging evidence exists that early interventions are more effective than later remediation; therefore teachers need strategies to support early literacy while developing students’ SEL and their vocabulary, or language, for learning. This presentation describe findings from a US federally-funded project that trained teachers to provide an evidence-based read-aloud program for young children, using commercially available books with multicultural characters and themes to help their students “GROW”. The five GROW SEL themes include: “I can name my feelings”, “I can learn from my mistakes”, “I can persist”, “I can be kind to myself and others”, and “I can work toward and achieve goals”. Examples of GROW vocabulary (from over 100 words taught across the 5 units) include: emotions, improve, resilient, cooperate, accomplish, responsible, compassion, adapt, achieve, analyze. Methodology This study used a mixed methods research design, with qualitative methods to describe data from teacher feedback surveys (regarding satisfaction, feasibility), observations of fidelity of implementation, and with quantitative methods to assess the effect sizes for student vocabulary growth. GROW Intervention and Teacher Training Procedures Researchers trained classroom teachers to implement GROW. Each thematic unit included four books, vocabulary cards with images of the vocabulary words, and scripted lessons. Teacher training included online and in-person training; researchers incorporated virtual reality videos of instructors with child avatars to model lessons. Classroom teachers provided 2-3 20 min lessons per week ranging from short-term (8 weeks) to longer-term trials for up to 16 weeks. Setting and Participants The setting for the study included two large urban charter schools in the South. Data was collected across two years; during the first year, participants included 7 kindergarten teachers and 108 and the second year involved an additional set of 5 kindergarten and first grade teachers and 65 students. Initial Findings The initial qualitative findings indicate teachers reported the lessons to be feasible to implement and they reported that students enjoyed the books. Teachers found the vocabulary words to be challenging and important. They were able to implement lessons with fidelity. Quantitative analyses of growth for each taught word suggest that students’ growth on taught words ranged from large (ES = .75) to small (<.20). Researchers will contrast the effects for more and less successful books within the GROW units. Discussion and Conclusion It is feasible for teachers of young students to effectively teach SEL vocabulary and themes during shared book reading. Teachers and students enjoyed the books and students demonstrated growth on taught vocabulary. Researchers will discuss implications of the study and about the GROW program for researchers in learning sciences, will describe some limitations about research designs that are inherent in school-based research partnerships, and will provide some suggested directions for future research and practice.

Keywords: early literacy, learning science, language and vocabulary, social and emotional learning, multi-cultural

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Authors: J. Suneetha, Vijayalaxmi

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Sequential Pattern Mining involves applying data mining methods to large data repositories to extract usage patterns. Sequential pattern mining methodologies used to analyze the data and identify patterns. The patterns have been used to implement efficient systems can recommend on previously observed patterns, in making predictions, improve usability of systems, detecting events, and in general help in making strategic product decisions. In this paper, identified performance of approximate sequential pattern mining defines as identifying patterns approximately shared with many sequences. Approximate sequential patterns can effectively summarize and represent the databases by identifying the underlying trends in the data. Conducting an extensive and systematic performance over synthetic and real data. The results demonstrate that ApproxMAP effective and scalable in mining large sequences databases with long patterns.

Keywords: multiple data, performance analysis, sequential pattern, sequence database scalability

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Authors: C. Scurr, J. Jeans, S. Srivastava

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Introduction: Acute type two respiratory failure (T2RF) has become a common presentation over the last two decades primarily due to an increase in the prevalence of chronic lung disease. Acute exacerbations can be managed either medically or in combination with non-invasive ventilation (NIV) which should be monitored with regular arterial blood gas samples (ABG). Arterial lines allow more frequent arterial blood sampling with less patient discomfort. We present the experience from a teaching hospital emergency department (ED) and level 2 medical high-dependency unit (HDU) that together form the pathway for management of acute type 2 respiratory failure. Methods: Patients acutely presenting to Charing Cross Hospital, London, with T2RF requiring non-invasive ventilation (NIV) over 14 months (2011 to 2012) were identified from clinical coding. Retrospective data collection included: demographics, co-morbidities, blood gas numbers and timing, if arterial lines were used and who performed this. Analysis was undertaken using Microsoft Excel. Results: Coding identified 107 possible patients. 69 notes were available, of which 41 required NIV for type 2 respiratory failure. 53.6% of patients had an arterial line inserted. Patients with arterial lines had 22.4 ABG in total on average compared to 8.2 for those without. These patients had a similar average time to normalizing pH of (23.7 with arterial line vs 25.6 hours without), and no statistically significant difference in mortality. Arterial lines were inserted by Foundation year doctors, Core trainees, Medical registrars as well as the ICU registrar. 63% of these were performed by the medical registrar rather than ICU, ED or a junior doctor. This is reflected in that the average time until an arterial line was inserted was 462 minutes. The average number of ABGs taken before an arterial line was 2 with a range of 0 – 6. The average number of gases taken if no arterial line was ever used was 7.79 (range of 2-34) – on average 4 times as many arterial punctures for each patient. Discussion: Arterial line use was associated with more frequent arterial blood sampling during each inpatient admission. Additionally, patients with an arterial line have less individual arterial punctures in total and this is likely more comfortable for the patient. Arterial lines are normally sited by medical registrars, however this is normally after some delay. ED clinicians could improve patient comfort and monitoring thus allowing faster titration of NIV if arteral lines were regularly inserted in the ED. We recommend that ED doctors insert arterial lines when indicated in order improve the patient experience and facilitate medical management.

Keywords: non invasive ventilation, arterial blood gas, acute type, arterial line

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Authors: F. M. El-Domyati, A. Atef, S. Edris, N. O. Gadalla, M. A. Al-Kordy, A. M. Ramadan, Y. M. Saad, H. S. Al-Zahrani, A. Bahieldin

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Transcriptome retrieved from SRA database of different tissues and treatments of C. roseus was assembled in order to detect tissue-specific transcription factors (TFs) and TFs possibly related to terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIA) pathway. A number of 290 TF-like transcripts along with 12 transcripts related to TIA biosynthetic pathway were divided in terms of co-expression in the different tissues, treatments and genotypes. Three transcripts encoding peroxidases 1 and 12 were downregulated in hairy root, while upregulated in mature leaf. Eight different transcripts of the TIA pathway co-expressed with TFs either functioning downstream tryptophan biosynthesis, e.g., tdc, str1 and sgd, or upstream vindoline biosynthesis, e.g., t16h, omt, nmt, d4h and dat. The results showed no differential expression of TF transcripts in hairy roots knocked down for tdc gene (TDCi) as compared to their wild type controls. There were several evidences of tissue-specific expression of TF transcripts in flower, mature leaf, root/hairy root, stem, seedling, hairy root and immature/mature leaves. Regulation included transcription factor families, e.g., bHLH, MYB and WRKY mostly induced by ABA and/or JA (or MeJA) and regulated during abiotic or biotic stress. The information of tissue-specific regulation and co-expression of TFs and genes in the TIA pathway can be utilized in manipulating alkaloid biosynthesis in C. roseus.

Keywords: SRA database, bHLH, MYB, WRKY, co-expression

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Authors: Juan Xia, Jiaxu Yan, Ze Xiang Shen

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The tuneable interlayer interactions in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichlcogenides (TMDs) offer an exciting platform for exploring new physics and applications by material variety, thickness, stacking sequence, electromagnetic filed, and stress/strain. Compared with the five methods mentioned above, high pressure is a clean and powerful tool to induce dramatic changes in lattice parameters and physical properties for 2D TMD materials. For instance, high pressure can strengthen the van der Waals interactions along c-axis and shorten the covalent bonds in atomic plane, leading to the typical first-order structural transition (2Hc to 2Ha for MoS2), or metallization. In particular, in the case of WTe₂, its unique symmetry endows the significant anisotropy and the corresponding unexpected properties including the giant magnetoresistance, pressure-induced superconductivity and Weyl semimetal states. Upon increasing pressure, the Raman peaks for WTe₂ at ~120 cm⁻¹, are gradually red-shifted and totally suppressed above 10 GPa, attributed to the possible structural instability of orthorhombic Td phase under high pressure and phase transition to a new monoclinic T' phase with inversion symmetry. Distinct electronic structures near Fermi level between the Td and T' phases may pave a feasible way to achieve the Weyl state tuning in one material without doping.

Keywords: 2D TMDs, electronic property, high pressure, first-principles calculations

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Authors: Mohammad Mahbub Alam Talukder, Shahnewaz, Hasanat-E-Rabbi, Mohammed Nazrul Islam

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Road traffic accident is a global problem which is severe in the developing countries like Bangladesh. In consequence, in developing countries road trauma has now been recognized as an increasing public health hazards and economic burning issue. And after road traffic accidents the lack of management and economic costs related with health seeking behavior have a disproportionate impact on lower income groups, thus contributing to the persistence of poverty in conjunction with disability. This cross sectional study, carried out during July 2012 to June 2013, aimed to explore health seeking decision and culture of handling the road traffic accident related victims, as taken from experiences of the poor disabled people of slum dwellers of Dhaka city. The present study has been designed based on qualitative techniques such as in-depth interview and case studies. Additionally, a survey questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics of the study population (n=150) and to select participants purposely for in-depth interview (n=50) and case study (n=30). Content analysis of qualitative data was done through theme coding and matrix analysis of case study was done to use relevant verbatim. Most of the time the health seeking decision totally depended on the surrounded people of the accidental place, their knowledge, awareness and remaining facility and capacity regarding proper management of the victims. However, most of the cases the victims did not get any early treatment and it took 2-12 hours to get even the first aid because of distance, shortage of money, lack of availability of getting the aid, lack of mass awareness etc. Under the reality of discriminated and unaffordable health service provision better treatment could not turn out due to economic inability of the poor victims. To avoid the severe trauma, treatment delay must be reduced by providing first aid within very short time and to do so, mass awareness campaign is necessary for handing the victims. Moreover, necessary measures should be taken to ensure cost free health service provision to treat the chronic disabled condition of the road traffic accident related poor victims.

Keywords: accident, injury, disabled, qualitative, slum

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Authors: Safia Akram

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In this article, the effects of peristaltic transport with double-diffusive convection in nanofluids through an asymmetric channel with different waveforms is presented. Mathematical modelling for two-dimensional and two directional flows of a Jeffrey fluid model along with double-diffusive convection in nanofluids are given. Exact solutions are obtained for nanoparticle fraction field, concentration field, temperature field, stream functions, pressure gradient and pressure rise in terms of axial and transverse coordinates under the restrictions of long wavelength and low Reynolds number. With the help of computational and graphical results the effects of Brownian motion, thermophoresis, Dufour, Soret, and Grashof numbers (thermal, concentration, nanoparticles) on peristaltic flow patterns with double-diffusive convection are discussed.

Keywords: nanofluid particles, peristaltic flow, Jeffrey fluid, magnetic field, asymmetric channel, different waveforms

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Authors: Vahid Rashedi, Banafsheh Ebrahimi, Mahtab Sharif Mohseni, Mohammadali Hosseini

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Introduction: One of the metrics used to evaluate health status is life expectancy. This index alters as people age as a result of several events, illnesses, stress, and anxiety. One of the issues that might develop into a lethal phobia is death anxiety. This study looked at older persons in Tehran, Iran, to see if there was any correlation between life expectancy and fear of dying. Methods: Cluster random sampling was used to select 208 older persons (age 60) who had been sent to adult daycare facilities in Tehran for this correlational descriptive study. A demographic questionnaire, Temper's death anxiety scale, and Snyder's life expectancy scale were used to gather the data. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences softwear version 22 was used to conduct the data analysis. Results: The average age of the senior citizens was 66.60 (6.58) years. With a mean life expectancy of 24.94, it was discovered that the average death anxiety was 12.21. Additionally, Pearson's correlation coefficient demonstrated a bad correlation between fear of dying and life expectancy. Age, residential status, and death fear were the three primary predictors of a decline in life expectancy, according to multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: The findings suggest that there is a link between death fear and a lower life expectancy, which calls for the use of appropriate strategies to increase older individuals' life expectancies as well as the teaching of anxiety coping mechanisms.

Keywords: aged, frailty, death, anxiety, life

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Authors: Emanuela Chiarella, Clelia Nisticò, Nicola Lombardo, Giovanna Lucia Piazzetta, Nadia Lobello, Maria Mesuraca

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Killian’s Antrochoanal Polyp is a benign lesion of the maxillary sinus characterized by unilateral nasal obstruction, pus discharge, and headache. It affects, more commonly children and young adults. Although its etiology still remains unclear, chronic inflammation, autoreactivity, allergies, and viral infections are strongly associated with its formation and development, resulting in nasal tissue remodeling. We aimed to investigate the stem cells components which reside in this pathological tissue. In particular, we adopted a protocol for the isolation and culturing of mesenchymal stem cells from surgical biopsies of three Killian nasal polyp patients (KNP-MSCs) as well as from their healthy nasal tissue (HNT-MSCs) that were used as controls. The immunophenotype profile of HNT-MSCs and KNP-MSCs was more similar, with a marked positivity for CD73, CD90, and CD105 expression, while being negative for CD34 and CD14 haematopoietic genes. Cell proliferation assay showed that KNP-MSCs had a replicative disadvantage compared to HNT-MSCs, as evidenced by the significantly lower number of cells in the S-phase of the cell cycle. KNP-MSCs also took longer to close a wound than HNT-MSCs, indicating a partial epithelial phenotype in which low levels of ICAM-1 mRNA and a significant increase in E-CAD transcript were detectable. Subsequently, the differentiation potential of both MSCs populations was analyzed by inducing osteoblastic or adipocyte differentiation for up to 20 days. KNP-MSCs showed the ability to differentiate into osteoblasts, although ALP activity as well as the number and size of calcium deposits were lower than osteogenic induced-HNT-MSCs. Also, mRNA levels of osteoblastic marker genes (OCN, OPN, OSX, RUNX2) resulted lower compared to control cell population. Instead, the analysis of the adipogenic differentiation potential showed a similar behavior between KNP-MSCs and HNT-MSCs considering that the amount of lipid droplets, the expression of adipocyte-specific genes (FABP4, AdipoQ, PPARγ2, LPL) and the content of triacylglycerols were almost overlapping. Taken together, these results first demonstrated that Killian's nasal polyp is a source of mesenchymal stem cells with self-renewal and multi-differentiative capabilities.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells, adipogenic differentiation, osteogenic differentiation, EMT

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Authors: Mihaela Mocanu

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The Romanian multilingual dictionaries – also named polyglot, plurilingual or polylingual dictionaries, have known a slow yet constant development starting with the end of the 17th century, when the first such work is attested, to the present time, when we witness a considerable increase of the number of polyglot dictionaries, especially the terminological ones. This paper aims at analyzing the context in which the first Romanian multilingual dictionaries were issued, as well as and the organization and structure particularities of the first lexicographic works of this type. The irretrievable loss of some of these works as well as the partial conservation of others renders the attempt to retrace the beginnings of Romanian lexicography extremely difficult. The research methodology is part of a descriptive and analytical approach based on two types of sources, subject to contrastive analysis: the notes made by the initiators of lexicographic projects and the testimonies of their contemporaries, respectively, along with the specialized studies regarding the history of the old Romanian lexicography. The analysis of the contents has indicated that these dictionaries lacked a scientific apparatus in the true sense of the phrase, failed to obey unitary organizational criteria, being limited, most of the times, to mere inventories of words, where the Romanian term was assigned its correspondent in other languages. Motivated by practical reasons, the first multilingual dictionaries were aimed at the clerics their purpose being to ensure the translators’ fidelity towards the original religious texts, regarded as sacred.

Keywords: Romanian lexicography, multilingual dictionary, terminology, language

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Authors: Adriana Hernandez-Martinez, Edgar D. Ramon-Raygoza

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Currently, there has been a great interest, during the last years, on graphene due to its lubricant properties on friction and antiwear processes. Likewise, fluorographene has also been gaining renown due to its excellent chemical and physical properties which have been mostly applied in the electronics industry. Nevertheless, its tribological properties haven’t been analyzed thoroughly. In this paper, fluorographene was examined as an extreme pressure additive and the nano lubricant made with a cutting fluid and fluorographene in the range of 0.01-0.5% wt, which proved to withstand 53.78% more pounds than the conventional product and 7.12% more than the nano lubricant with graphene in a range between 0.01-0.5% wt. Said extreme pressure test was carried out with a Pin and Vee Block Tribometer following an ASTM D3233A test. The fluorographene used has a low C/F ratio, which reflects a greater presence of atomic fluorine and its low oxygen percentage, supports the substitution of oxygen-containing groups by fluorine. XPS Spectra shows high atomic fluorine content of 56.12%, and SEM analysis details the formation of long and clear crystalline structures, in the fluorographene used.

Keywords: extreme pressure additive, fluorographene, nanofluids, nanolubricant

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