Search results for: weather parameter

Authors: Dagaci Aliyu Manbe, Anthony Abah Ebonyi

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The increase in global temperatures is worsened by frequent natural events and human activities. Climate change has taken a prominent space in the global discourse on crime and criminality. Compared to when the subject centred around the discussion on the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming, today, the narrative revolves around the implications of changes in weather and climatic conditions in relations to violent crimes or conflict that traverse vast social, economic, and political spaces in different countries. Global warming and climate change refer to an increase in average global temperatures in the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans, which occurs due to human activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuel such as gas flaring. The trend is projected to continue, if unchecked. This paper seeks to explore the nexus between climate change and criminality in Nigeria. It further examines the main ecological changes that predispose conflict dynamics of security threats factored by climate change to peaceful co-existence in Nigeria. It concludes with some recommendations on the way forward.

Keywords: conflict, climate change, criminality, global warning, peace

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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Obesity is defined as a severe chronic disease characterized by a low-grade inflammatory state. Therefore, inflammatory markers gained utmost importance during the evaluation of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS), a disease characterized by central obesity, elevated blood pressure, increased fasting blood glucose and elevated triglycerides or reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) values. Some inflammatory markers based upon complete blood cell count (CBC) are available. In this study, it was questioned which inflammatory marker was the best to evaluate the differences between various obesity groups. 514 pediatric individuals were recruited. 132 children with MetS, 155 morbid obese (MO), 90 obese (OB), 38 overweight (OW) and 99 children with normal BMI (N-BMI) were included into the scope of this study. Obesity groups were constituted using age- and sex-dependent body mass index (BMI) percentiles tabulated by World Health Organization. MetS components were determined to be able to specify children with MetS. CBC were determined using automated hematology analyzer. HDL-C analysis was performed. Using CBC parameters and HDL-C values, ratio markers of inflammation, which cover neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), monocyte-to-HDL-C ratio (MHR) were calculated. Statistical analyses were performed. The statistical significance degree was considered as p < 0.05. There was no statistically significant difference among the groups in terms of platelet count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, monocyte count, and NLR. PLR differed significantly between OW and N-BMI as well as MetS. Monocyte-to HDL-C value exhibited statistical significance between MetS and N-BMI, OB, and MO groups. HDL-C value differed between MetS and N-BMI, OW, OB, MO groups. MHR was the ratio, which exhibits the best performance among the other CBC-based inflammatory markers. On the other hand, when MHR was compared to HDL-C only, it was suggested that HDL-C has given much more valuable information. Therefore, this parameter still keeps its value from the diagnostic point of view. Our results suggest that MHR can be an inflammatory marker during the evaluation of pediatric MetS, but the predictive value of this parameter was not superior to HDL-C during the evaluation of obesity.

Keywords: children, complete blood cell count, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, obesity

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Authors: Ouahab Kadri, Leila Hayet Mouss

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In this paper, we present three diagnostic modules for complex and dynamic systems. These modules are based on three ant colony algorithms, which are AntTreeStoch, Lumer & Faieta and Binary ant colony. We chose these algorithms for their simplicity and their wide application range. However, we cannot use these algorithms in their basement forms as they have several limitations. To use these algorithms in a diagnostic system, we have proposed three variants. We have tested these algorithms on datasets issued from two industrial systems, which are clinkering system and pasteurization system.

Keywords: ant colony algorithms, complex and dynamic systems, diagnosis, classification, optimization

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Authors: Olga I. Moskalenko, Maksim O. Zhuravlev, Alexey A. Koronovskii, Alexander E. Hramov

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Intermittent behavior near the boundary of phase synchronization in the presence of noise is studied. In certain range of the coupling parameter and noise intensity the intermittency of eyelet and ring intermittencies is shown to take place. Main results are illustrated using the example of two unidirectionally coupled Rössler systems. Similar behavior is shown to take place in two hydrodynamical models of Pierce diode coupled unidirectionally.

Keywords: chaotic oscillators, phase synchronization, noise, intermittency of intermittencies

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Authors: Candida Petrogalli, Giovanni Incerti, Luigi Solazzi

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This paper describes three lumped parameters models for the study of the dynamic behaviour of a boom crane. The models proposed here allow evaluating the fluctuations of the load arising from the rope and structure elasticity and from the type of the motion command imposed by the winch. A calculation software was developed in order to determine the actual acceleration of the lifted mass and the dynamic overload during the lifting phase. Some application examples are presented, with the aim of showing the correlation between the magnitude of the stress and the type of the employed motion command.

Keywords: crane, dynamic model, overloading condition, vibration

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Authors: Nitin Rajan, Kashif Shakeel, Shashank Tiwari, Shachan Sagar

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Background: - Aegle Marmelos (Bael) leaf extract is taken twice daily to treat ophthalmia, ulcers, and intestinal worms, among other ailments. Poultice made from bael leaf is used in the treatment of eye conditions. The leaf juice has a variety of therapeutic applications, with the most notable being the treatment of diabetes. Fenugreek is used to cure red spots around the eyes, as well as to soften the throat and chest and to give relief from coughing. The use of this plant in the form of infusion, powder, pomade, and decoction has been extremely popular in Iranian traditional medicine. The plant may be used to wash one's vaginal linings. This plant is used as an emollient in the lack of appetite, treatment of pellagra, and gastrointestinal problems, as well as a general tonic. Calendula officinalis leaves are used to treat varicose veins on the outside of the body by infusing them. In Europe, the leaves are diaphoretic and resolvent in nature, while the blooms are employed as an emmenagogue and antispasmodic stimulant in Canada and the United States. The flowers were decocted and served as a posset drink when smallpox and measles were common in England, and the fresh juice was used to treat jaundice. Objective: - This study is done to compare the physicochemical parameter of the alcoholic extract of the leaves of Aegle Marmelos, Calendula Officinalis, and Fenugreek. Materials and Methods: Extraction and Isolation of Aegle Marmelos, Calendula Officinalis, Fenugreek, were done. Preliminary phytochemical study for alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, resins, saponins, steroids, tannins, terpenoids of the extract was done individual by using the standard procedure. Result: - The phytochemical screening of Aegle Marmelos, Calendula Officinalis, and Fenugreek shows the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, total phenolics, total flavonoids, tannins, saponins gum. Conclusion: - In this study, we have found that crude aqueous and organic solvent extracts of Aegle Marmelos, Calendula Officinalis, and Fenugreek leaves contain some important bioactive compounds and it justifies their use in the traditional medicines for the treatment of different diseases.

Keywords: Aegle Marmelos, Calendula Officinalis, Fenugreek, physiochemical parameter

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Authors: L. Haddad, Z. Aouachria

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The development of transport systems has negative impacts on the environment although it has beneficial effects on society.. The car policy caused many problems such as: - the spectacular growth of fuel consumption hence the very vast increase in urban pollution, traffic congestion in certain places and at certain times, the increase in the number of accidents. The exhaust emissions from cars and weather conditions are the main factors that determine the level of pollution in urban atmosphere. These conditions lead to the phenomenon of heat transfer and radiation occurring between the air and the soil surface of any town. These exchanges give rise, in urban areas, to the effects of heat islands that correspond to the appearance of excess air temperature between the city and its surrounding space. In this object, we perform a numerical simulation of the plume generated by the cars exhaust gases and show that these gases form a screening effect above the urban city which cause the heat island in the presence of wind flow. This study allows us: i. To understand the different mechanisms of interactions between these phenomena. ii. To consider appropriate technical solutions to mitigate the effects of the heat island.

Keywords: atmospheric pollution, impact on the health, urban transport, heat island

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Authors: Apurva Sapra

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The aim of this research was to study and compare the nature of expected, feared and hoped-for selves in institutionalized adolescent boys in two residential settings – an observation home with children in conflict with the law, and a children’s home with children in need of care and protection. The study uses a concurrent mixed methods design, in which eight adolescent boys from each group, aged 13-17, were asked to respond to a questionnaire, followed by an in-depth interview. The questionnaire looked into the total scores on current, probable and hoped-for/feared positive and negative self-descriptors. Possible selves of both groups were found to be influenced by their unique histories, such as with their experience of violence, interaction with the police and emphasis given on education. Expected selves and hoped-for selves were similar within the two groups. However, they were more concrete and attainable in the observation home and more ambitious in the children’s home. Quantitative results showed that on the positive self-descriptors, the participants in the observation home had a slightly lower total score on the current parameter as on the probable and hoped-for parameters. The participants in the children’s home showed similar results on current and probable positive self-descriptors, with higher scores on the hoped-for parameter. For most of the negative self-descriptors, the current score for the observation home group was lower than the expected score, and for the children’s home group, they were feared slightly more than they were expected. Along with the nature of possible selves, the study also looked into threats and support to desired and feared possible selves, as well as strategies to attain the desired possible selves and avoid feared possible selves. While threats to possible selves were identified as external and internal in both groups, the participants in the children’s home tended to identify threats as external. The categories of support were similar across the two groups, although the nature of support provided differed. Strategies adopted by participants in the observation home could be clearly divided as past, present and future strategies, while those adopted by participants in the children’s home had an overlap with past and future strategies. The institution was perceived as having a negative influence for the future in the observation home group, but positive in the children’s home group. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research, policy setting and the counselling profession are discussed.

Keywords: adolescents, expected self, feared self, hoped-for self, institutions, possible selves

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Authors: Kazuyoshi Mori

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In this paper, we consider the parametrization of Anantharam’s model within the framework of the factorization approach. In the parametrization, we investigate the number of required parameters of Anantharam’s model. We consider single-input single-output systems in this paper. By the investigation, we find three cases that are (1) there exist plants which require only one parameter and (2) two parameters, and (3) the number of parameters is at most three.

Keywords: linear systems, parametrization, coprime factorization, number of parameters

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Authors: Nour Aljafari, Mariam, S. Maani, Serter Atabay, Tarig Ali, Said Daker, Lara Daher, Hamad Bukhammas, Mohammed Abou Shakra

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This paper aims at determining the soil characteristics that influence the irrigation process of green landscapes and deciding on the optimum amount of water needed for irrigation. The laboratory experiments were conducted using the constant head methodology to determine the soil infiltration rates. The steady state infiltration rate was reached after 10 minutes of infiltration at a rate of 200 mm/hr. The effects of different water heads on infiltration rates were also investigated, and the head of 11 cm was found to be the optimum head for the test. The experimental results showed consistent infiltration results for the range between 11 cm and 15 cm. The study also involved finding the initial moisture content, which ranged between 5% and 25%, and finding the organic content, which occupied 1% to 2% of the soil. These results will be later utilized, using the water balance approach, to estimate the optimum amount of water needed for irrigation for changing weather conditions.

Keywords: infiltration rate, moisture content, grass type, organic content

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Authors: Sayed Kifayat Shah, Tang Zhongjun, Arfa Tanveer

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This study explores the significant heatwave effect on stock return and volatility. Using an ARCH/GARCH approach, it examines the relationship between the heatwave of Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore on the KSE-100 index. It also explores the impact of heatwave on returns of the pharmaceutical and electronics industries. The empirical results confirm that that stock return is positively related to the heat waves of Karachi, negatively related to that of Islamabad, and is not affected by the heatwave of Lahore. Similarly, pharmaceutical and electronics indices are also positively related to heatwaves. These differences in results can be ascribed to the change in the behavior of the residents of that city. The outcomes are useful for understanding an investor's behavior reacting to weather and fluxes in stock price related to heatwave severity levels. The results can support investors in fixing biases in behavior.

Keywords: ARCH/GARCH model, heat wave, KSE-100 index, stock market return

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Authors: N. Bachok, N. L. Aleng, N. M. Arifin, A. Ishak, N. Senu

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The problem of laminar fluid flow which results from the shrinking of a permeable surface in a nanofluid has been investigated numerically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. A similarity solution is presented which depends on the mass suction parameter S, Prandtl number Pr, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion number Nb and thermophoresis number Nt. It was found that the reduced Nusselt number is decreasing function of each dimensionless number.

Keywords: Boundary layer, nanofluid, shrinking sheet, Brownian motion, thermophoresis, similarity solution

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Authors: Ran Etgar

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The process of rounding off measurements in continuous variables is commonly encountered. Although it usually has minor effects, sometimes it can lead to poor outcomes in statistical process control using X ̅-chart. The traditional control limits can cause incorrect conclusions if applied carelessly. This study looks into the limitations of classical control limits, particularly the impact of asymmetry. An approach to determining the distribution function of the measured parameter (Y ̅) is presented, resulting in a more precise method to establish the upper and lower control limits. The proposed method, while slightly more complex than Shewhart's original idea, is still user-friendly and accurate and only requires the use of two straightforward tables.

Keywords: quality control, process control, round-off, measurement, rounding error

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Authors: M. R. Bekli, N. Mebarki, I. Chadou

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In this study, we focus on the structure functions and violation of scale invariance in the context of non-commutative standard model (NCSM). We find that this violation appears in the first order of perturbation theory and a non-commutative version of the DGLAP evolution equation is deduced. Numerical analysis and comparison with experimental data imposes a new bound on the non-commutative parameter.

Keywords: NCSM, structure function, DGLAP equation, standard model

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Authors: Zilong Peng, Jun Fan

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With the improvement of the living standards, the requirement on the acoustic comfort of the vehicle interior environment is becoming higher. The rain-the-roof producing interior noise is a common phenomenon for the vehicle, which usually discourages the conversation, especially for the heavy rain. This paper presents some numerical results about the rain-the-roof noise. The impact of each water drop is modeled as a short pulse, and the excitation locations on the roof are generated randomly. The vehicle body is simplified to a box closed with some certain-thickness shells. According to the main frequency components of the rain excitation, the analyzing frequency range is divided as low, high and middle frequency domains, which makes the vehicle body are modeled using finite element method (FEM), statistical energy analysis (SEA) and hybrid FE-SEA method, respectively. Furthermore, the effect of spatial distribution density and size of the rain on the sound pressure level are also discussed. These results may provide a guide for designing a more silent vehicle in the special weather.

Keywords: rain-the-roof noise, vehicle, finite element method, statistical energy analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Ran Etgar

Abstract:

The process of rounding off measurements in continuous variables is commonly encountered. Although it usually has minor effects, sometimes it can lead to poor outcomes in statistical process control using X̄ chart. The traditional control limits can cause incorrect conclusions if applied carelessly. This study looks into the limitations of classical control limits, particularly the impact of asymmetry. An approach to determining the distribution function of the measured parameter ȳ is presented, resulting in a more precise method to establish the upper and lower control limits. The proposed method, while slightly more complex than Shewhart's original idea, is still user-friendly and accurate and only requires the use of two straightforward tables.

Keywords: SPC, round-off data, control limit, rounding error

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Authors: Rigers Dodaj

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Nowadays, the environment is a critical goal for civil engineers, human activity, construction projects, economic growth, and whole national development. Regarding the development of Albania's economy, people's living standards are increasing, and the requirements for the living environment are also increasing. Under these circumstances, environmental protection and sustainability this is the critical issue. The rising industrialization, urbanization, and energy demand affect the environment by emission of carbon dioxide gas (CO2), a significant parameter known to impact air pollution directly. Consequently, many governments and international organizations conducted policies and regulations to address environmental degradation in the pursuit of economic development, for instance in Albania, the CO2 emission calculated in metric tons per capita has increased by 23% in the last 20 years. This paper analyzes the importance of civil engineering and economic growth in the sustainability of the environment focusing on CO2 emission. The analyzed data are time series 2001 - 2020 (with annual frequency), based on official publications of the World Bank. The statistical approach with vector error correction model and time series forecasting model are used to perform the parameter’s estimations and long-run equilibrium. The research in this paper adds a new perspective to the evaluation of a sustainable environment in the context of carbon emission reduction. Also, it provides reference and technical support for the government toward green and sustainable environmental policies. In the context of low-carbon development, effectively improving carbon emission efficiency is an inevitable requirement for achieving sustainable economic and environmental protection. Also, the study reveals that civil engineering development projects impact greatly the environment in the long run, especially in areas of flooding, noise pollution, water pollution, erosion, ecological disorder, natural hazards, etc. The potential for reducing industrial carbon emissions in recent years indicates that reduction is becoming more difficult, it needs another economic growth policy and more civil engineering development, by improving the level of industrialization and promoting technological innovation in industrial low-carbonization.

Keywords: CO₂ emission, civil engineering, economic growth, environmental sustainability

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Authors: Sujesh F. Sujan, Steve W. Jones, Arto Kiviniemi

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The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Architectural-Engineering-Construction (AEC) industry is a form of systemic innovation. Unlike incremental innovation, (such as the technological development of CAD from hand based drawings to 2D electronically printed drawings) any form of systemic innovation in Project-Based Inter-Organisational Networks requires complete collaboration and results in numerous benefits if adopted and utilised properly. Proper use of BIM involves people collaborating with the use of interoperable BIM compliant tools. The AEC industry globally has been known for its adversarial and fragmented nature where firms take advantage of one another to increase their own profitability. Due to the industry’s nature, getting people to collaborate by unifying their goals is critical to successful BIM adoption. However, this form of innovation is often being forced artificially in the old ways of working which do not suit collaboration. This may be one of the reasons for its low global use even though the technology was developed more than 20 years ago. Therefore, there is a need to develop a metric/method to support and allow industry players to gain confidence in their investment into BIM software and workflow methods. This paper departs from defining systemic risk as a risk that affects all the project participants at a given stage of a project and defines categories of systemic risks. The need to generalise is to allow method applicability to any industry where the category will be the same, but the example of the risk will depend on the industry the study is done in. The method proposed seeks to use individual perception of an example of systemic risk as a key parameter. The significance of this study lies in relating the variance of individual perception of systemic risk to how much the team is collaborating. The method bases its notions on the claim that a more unified range of individual perceptions would mean a higher probability that the team is collaborating better. Since contracts and procurement devise how a project team operates, the method could also break the methodological barrier of highly subjective findings that case studies inflict, which has limited the possibility of generalising between global industries. Since human nature applies in all industries, the authors’ intuition is that perception can be a valuable parameter to study collaboration which is essential especially in projects that utilise systemic innovation such as BIM.

Keywords: building information modelling, perception of risk, systemic innovation, team collaboration

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Authors: Jaime Martín-de-Nicolás, David Mata-Moya, Nerea del-Rey-Maestre, Pedro Gómez-del-Hoyo, María-Pilar Jarabo-Amores

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Ship detection is nowadays quite an important issue in tasks related to sea traffic control, fishery management and ship search and rescue. Although it has traditionally been carried out by patrol ships or aircrafts, coverage and weather conditions and sea state can become a problem. Synthetic aperture radars can surpass these coverage limitations and work under any climatological condition. A fast CFAR ship detector based on a robust statistical modeling of sea clutter with respect to sea states in SAR images is used. In this paper, the minimum SNR required to obtain a given detection probability with a given false alarm rate for any sea state is determined. A Gaussian target model using real SAR data is considered. Results show that SNR does not depend heavily on the class considered. Provided there is some variation in the backscattering of targets in SAR imagery, the detection probability is limited and a post-processing stage based on morphology would be suitable.

Keywords: SAR, generalized gamma distribution, detection curves, radar detection

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Authors: Juan M. Rodriguez-Diaz

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The precision of parameter estimators in the Gaussian linear model is traditionally accounted by the variance-covariance matrix of the asymptotic distribution. However, this measure can underestimate the true variance, specially for small samples. Traditionally, optimal design theory pays attention to this variance through its relationship with the model's information matrix. For this reason it seems convenient, at least in some cases, adapt the optimality criteria in order to get the best designs for the actual variance structure, otherwise the loss in efficiency of the designs obtained with the traditional approach may be very important.

Keywords: correlated observations, information matrix, optimality criteria, variance-covariance matrix

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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A well-defined insulin resistance (IR) is one of the requirements for the good understanding and evaluation of metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, underlying causes for the development of IR are not clear. Endothelial dysfunction also participates in the pathogenesis of this disease. IR indices are being determined in various obesity groups and also in diagnosing MetS. Components of MetS have been well established and used in adult studies. However, there are some ambiguities particularly in the field of pediatrics. The aims of this study were to compare the performance of fasting blood glucose (FBG), one of MetS components, with some other IR indices and check whether FBG may be replaced by some other parameter or ratio for a better evaluation of pediatric MetS. Five-hundred and forty-nine children were involved in the study. Five groups were constituted. Groups 109, 40, 100, 166, 110, 24 children were included in normal-body mass index (N-BMI), overweight (OW), obese (OB), morbid obese (MO), MetS with two components (MetS2) and MetS with three components (MetS3) groups, respectively. Age and sex-adjusted BMI percentiles tabulated by World Health Organization were used for the classification of obesity groups. MetS components were determined. Aside from one of the MetS components-FBG, eight measures of IR [homeostatic model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR), homeostatic model assessment of beta cell function (HOMA-%β), alanine transaminase-to-aspartate transaminase ratio (ALT/AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), insulin (INS), insulin-to-FBG ratio (INS/FBG), the product of fasting triglyceride and glucose (TyG) index, McAuley index] were evaluated. Statistical analyses were performed. A p value less than 0.05 was accepted as the statistically significance degree. Mean values for BMI of the groups were 15.7 kg/m², 21.0 kg/m², 24.7 kg/m², 27.1 kg/m², 28.7 kg/m², 30.4 kg/m² for N-BMI, OW, OB, MO, MetS2, MetS3, respectively. Differences between the groups were significant (p < 0.001). The only exception was MetS2-MetS3 couple, in spite of an increase detected in MetS3 group. Waist-to-hip circumference ratios significantly differed only for N-BMI vs, OB, MO, MetS2; OW vs MO; OB vs MO, MetS2 couples. ALT and ALT/AST did not differ significantly among MO-MetS2-MetS3. HOMA-%β differed only between MO and MetS2. INS/FBG, McAuley index and TyG were not significant between MetS2 and MetS3. HOMA-IR and FBG were not significant between MO and MetS2. INS was the only parameter, which showed statistically significant differences between MO-MetS2, MO-MetS3, and MetS2-MetS3. In conclusion, these findings have suggested that FBG presently considered as one of the five MetS components, may be replaced by INS during the evaluation of pediatric morbid obesity and MetS.

Keywords: children, insulin resistance indices, metabolic syndrome, obesity

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Authors: M. Belouadah, S. Rahmouni, N. Teballe

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The durability of concrete is not one of its features, but its response to service loads and environmental conditions. Thus, the durability of concrete depends on a variety of material characteristics, but also the aggressiveness of the environment. Much durability problems encountered in tropical regions (region M'sila) due to the presence of chlorides and sulfates (in the ground or in the aggregate) with the additional aggravation of the effect of hot weather and arid. This lack of sustainability has a direct influence on the structure of the building and can lead to the complete deterioration of many buildings. The characteristics of the nature of fillers are evaluated based on the degree of aggressiveness of the environment considering as a means of characterization: mechanical strength, porosity. Specimens will be exposed to different storage media chemically aggressive drinking water, salts and sulfates (sodium chloride, MgSO4), solutions are not renewed or PH control solutions. The parameters taken into account are: age, the nature and degree of aggressiveness of the environment conservation, the incorporation of adjuvant type superplasticizer dosage and mineral additives.

Keywords: ordinary concretes, marble powder fillers, adjuvant, strength

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Authors: Shiva Osouli, Maryam Atapour, Mehrdad Ahmadi, Shima Shokri

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Citrus leaf miner (Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton) is native to Asia and one of the most serious pests of Iran’s citrus nursery stocks. In the present study, the possibility of insect mass rearing on four various citrus hosts and the effects of gamma irradiation on the pupal mortality and reproduction of this pest were studied. Trifoliate orange and grapefruit showed less infection, while the number of pupae in Valencia oranges and sweet lemons cages was so high. There was not any significant difference between weight of male and female pupae among different citrus hosts, but generally the weight of male pupae was less than females. Use of Valencia orange or sweet lemons seedlings in especial dark emergence and oviposition cages could be recommended for mass rearing of this pest. In this study, the effects of gamma radiation at doses 100 to 450 Gy on biological and reproductive parameters of the pest has been determined. The results show that mean percent of pupal mortality increased with increasing doses and reached to 28.67% at 450 Gy for male pupae and 38.367% for female pupae. Also, the mean values of this parameter were higher for irradiated female, which indicated the higher sensitivity of this sex. The gamma ray irradiation from 200 and 300 Gy caused decrease in male and female adult moth longevity, respectively. The eggs were laid by emerged females, and their hatchability was decreased by increasing gamma doses. The fecundity of females in both combinations of crosses (irradiated male × normal female and irradiated female × normal male) did not differ, but fertility of laid eggs by irradiated female × normal male affected seriously and the mean values of this parameter reached to zero at 300 Gy. The hatchability percentage of produced eggs by normal female × irradiated male at 300 Gy was 23.29% and reached to less than 2 % at 450 Gy as the highest tested dose. The results of this test show that females have more radio-sensitivity in comparison to males.

Keywords: citrus leaf miner, Phyllocnistis citrella, citrus hosts, mass rearing, Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)

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Authors: Martin Goubej, Tomas Popule, Alois Krejci

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This paper deals with experimental identification of mechanical systems with nonlinear friction characteristics. Dynamic LuGre friction model is adopted and a systematic approach to parameter identification of both linear and nonlinear subsystems is given. The identification procedure consists of three subsequent experiments which deal with the individual parts of plant dynamics. The proposed method is experimentally verified on an industrial-grade robotic manipulator. Model fidelity is compared with the results achieved with a static friction model.

Keywords: mechanical friction, LuGre model, friction identification, motion control

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Authors: Oya Umit Yemisci, Nur Saracgil Cosar, Tubanur Ozturk Sisman, Selin Ozen

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Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) may result in a wide spectrum of reversible abnormalities in the neuromuscular function. Usually, proximal muscle-related symptoms and neuropathic findings such as mild axonal peripheral neuropathy have been reported. Sympathetic skin responses are useful in evaluating sudomotor activity of the unmyelinated sympathetic fibers of the autonomic nervous system. Neurocognitive impairment may also be a prominent feature of hypothyroidism, particularly in elderly patients. Electromyographic reaction times as a highly sensitive parameter provides. Objective data concerning cognitive and motor functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate peripheral nerve functions, sympathetic skin response and electroneuromyographic (ENMG) reaction times in euthyroid and subclinically hypothyroid patients with a diagnosis of AIT and compare to those of a control group. Thirty-five euthyroid, 19 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and 35 age and sex-matched healthy subjects were included in the study. Motor and sensory nerve conduction studies, sympathetic skin responses recorded from hand and foot by stimulating contralateral median nerve and simple reaction times by stimulating tibial nerve and recording from extensor indicis proprius muscle were performed to all patients and control group. Only median nerve sensory conduction velocities of the forearm were slower in patients with AIT compared to the control group (p=0.019). Otherwise, nerve conduction studies and sympathetic skin responses showed no significant difference between the patients and the control group. However, reaction times were shorter in the healthy subjects compared to AIT patients. Prolongation in the reaction times may be considered as a parameter reflecting the alterations in the cognitive functions related to the primary disease process in AIT. Combining sympathetic skin responses with more quantitative tests such as cardiovascular tests and sudomotor axon reflex testing may allow us to determine higher rates of involvement of the autonomic nervous system in AIT.

Keywords: sympathetic skin response, simple reaction time, chronic autoimmune thyroiditis

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Authors: Bakr Gomaa

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Cross ventilation is an important and practical mean to achieve thermal comfort and conserve energy. This is especially true in the breezy waterfront settings. However, due to a number of factors, cross ventilation in buildings is usually studied by using oversimplified scenarios. It is then reasonable to study the impact of complex set of factors on the accuracy of predicting air flow rate because of wind driven cross ventilation. The objective of this paper is to provide architects with the tools necessary to achieve natural ventilation for cooling purposes in a waterfront urban canyon context. Also, urban canyons have not received much attention in terms of their impact on cross ventilation, and while we know how the wind flows between buildings in different urban canyon settings, the effect of the parallel-to-the-wind urban canyon on cross ventilation in buildings remains unclear. For this, we use detailed weather data, boundary layer correction factor, and CFD simulations to study the pressure patterns that form on the canyons surfaces in the case study of Alexandria. We found that the simplified numerical methods of calculating the cross ventilation in buildings can lead to inaccurate design decisions.

Keywords: cross ventilation, Alexandria, CFD, urban canyon

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Authors: Moammar Dayoub

Abstract:

The study aimed to know the reality of farmers and determine the extent of adoption of the recommendations of the fertilizer and the difficulties and problems they face. The study was conducted on a random sample of farmers consist of 95 farmers who had analysed their field soil in scientific research centres in agricultural southern region through the form specially prepared for this purpose, the results showed that the rate of adoption of the fertilizer recommendations whole amounted to an average of 36.9% in the southern region, The degree of adoption was 34.7% in the region. The results showed that 41% of farmers did not implement the recommendations because of the non-convenient analysis, and 34% due to neglect, and 15% due to the weather and an environment, while 10% of them for lack of manure in the suitable time. The study also revealed that Independent factors affecting the continuing adoption of soil analysis are: farms experience, sampling method in farmer’s schools, irrigated area, and personal knowledge of farmers in analysing the soil. Also, show that the application of fertilizer recommendations led to increased production by 15-20%, this analysis emphasizes the importance of soil analysis and adherence to the recommendations of the research centres.

Keywords: adoption, recommendations of the fertilizer, soil analysis, southern region

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: D. Ravinder, K. S. Nagaraju

Abstract:

Ni–Al ferrite with composition of NiAlxFe2-xO4 (x=0.2, 0.4 0.6, and 0.8, ) were prepared by citrate gel method. The dielectric properties for all the samples were investigated at room temperature as a function of frequency. The dielectric constant shows dispersion in the lower frequency region and remains almost constant at higher frequencies. The frequency dependence of dielectric loss tangent (tanδ) is found to be abnormal, giving a peak at certain frequency for mixed Ni-Al ferrites. A qualitative explanation is given for the composition and frequency dependence of the dielectric loss tangent.

Keywords: ferrites, citrate method, lattice parameter, dielectric constant

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: A. Giniatoulline

Abstract:

A nonlinear model of the mathematical fluid dynamics which describes the motion of an incompressible viscous rotating fluid in a homogeneous gravitational field is considered. The model is a generalization of the known Navier-Stokes system with the addition of the Coriolis parameter and the equations for changeable density. An explicit algorithm for the solution is constructed, and the proof of the existence and uniqueness theorems for the strong solution of the nonlinear problem is given. For the linear case, the localization and the structure of the spectrum of inner waves are also investigated.

Keywords: Galerkin method, Navier-Stokes equations, nonlinear partial differential equations, Sobolev spaces, stratified fluid

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: B. Selma

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to test the feasibility of SIPINA method to predict the harmfulness parameters controlling the seismic response. The approach developed takes into consideration both the focal depth and the peak ground acceleration. The parameter to determine is displacement. The data used for the learning of this method and analysis nonlinear seismic are described and applied to a class of models damaged to some typical structures of the existing urban infrastructure of Jassy, Romania. The results obtained indicate an influence of the focal depth and the peak ground acceleration on the displacement.

Keywords: SIPINA algorithm, seism, focal depth, peak ground acceleration, displacement

Procedia PDF Downloads 293