Search results for: time prediction algorithms

Authors: Keerthi Katam, Abhinav B. Tirunaghari, Vinod Vadithya, Toshiyuki Shimizu, Satoshi Soda, Debraj Bhattacharyya

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Researchers worldwide are increasingly focusing on the removal of carbon and nutrient from wastewater using algal-bacterial hybrid systems. Algae produce oxygen during photosynthesis, which is taken up by heterotrophic bacteria for mineralizing organic carbon to carbon dioxide. This phenomenon reduces the net mechanical aeration requirement of aerobic biological wastewater treatment processes. Consequently, the treatment cost is also reduced. Microalgae also participate in the treatment process by taking up nutrient (N, P) from wastewater. Algal biomass, if harvested, can generate value-added by-products. The aim of the present study was to compare the performance of two systems - System A (mixed microalgae and bacteria) and System B (diatoms and bacteria) in treating kitchen wastewater (KWW). The test reactors were operated at five different solid retention times (SRTs) -2, 4, 6, 8, and 10-days in draw-and-fill mode. The KWW was collected daily from the dining hall-kitchen area of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. The influent and effluent samples were analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) using TOC-L analyzer. A colorimetric method was used to analyze anionic surfactant. Phosphorus (P) and chlorophyll were measured by following standard methods. The TOC, TN, and P of KWW were in the range of 113.5 to 740 mg/L, 2 to 22.8 mg/L, and 1 to 4.5 mg/L, respectively. Both the systems gave similar results with 85% of TOC removal and 60% of TN removal at 10-d SRT. However, the anionic surfactant removal in System A was 99% and 60% in System B. The chlorophyll concentration increased with an increase in SRT in both the systems. At 2-d SRT, no chlorophyll was observed in System B, whereas 0.5 mg/L was observed in System A. At 10-d SRT, the chlorophyll concentration in System A was 7.5 mg/L, whereas it was 4.5 mg/L in System B. Although both the systems showed similar performance in treatment, the increase in chlorophyll concentration suggests that System A demonstrated a better algal-bacterial symbiotic relationship in treating KWW than System B.

Keywords: diatoms, microalgae, retention time, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Carlos M. Goncalves, Luisa Duarte, Teresa Cartaxo

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The aim of this work was to understand the reasons behind the underutilization of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the younger population and raise possible solutions. We conducted a non-systematic review of literature throughout a search on PubMed, using the terms ‘children’, ‘adolescents’ and ‘electroconvulsive’, ‘therapy’. Candidate articles written in languages other than English were excluded. Articles were selected according to title and/or abstract’s content relevance, resulting in a total of 5 articles. ECT is a recognized effective treatment in adults for several psychiatric conditions. As in adults, ECT in children and adolescents is proven most beneficial in the treatment of severe mood disorders, catatonia, and, to a lesser extent, schizophrenia. ECT in adults has also been used to treat autism’s self-injurious behaviours, Tourette’s syndrome and resistant first-episode schizophrenia disorder. Despite growing evidence on its safety and effectiveness in children and adolescents, like those found in adults, ECT remains a controversial and underused treatment in patients this age, even when it is clearly indicated. There are various possible reasons to this; limited awareness among professionals (lack of knowledge and experience among child psychiatrists), stigmatic public opinion (despite positive feedback from patients and families, there is an unfavourable and inaccurate representation in the media, contributing to a negative public opinion), legal restrictions and ethical controversies (restrictive regulations such as a minimum age for administration), lack of randomized trials (the currently available studies are retrospective, with small size samples, and most of the publications are either case reports or case series). This shows the need to raise awareness and knowledge, not only for mental health professionals, but also to the general population, through the media, regarding indications, methods and safety of ECT in order to provide reliable information to the patient and families. Large-scale longitudinal studies are also useful to further demonstrate the efficacy and safety of ECT and can aid in the formulation of algorithms and guidelines as without these changes, the availability of ECT to the younger population will remain restricted by regulations and social stigma. In conclusion, these results highlight that lack of adequate knowledge and accurate information are the most important factors behind the underutilization of ECT in younger population. Mental healthcare professionals occupy a cornerstone position; if data is given by a well-informed healthcare professional instead of the media, general population (including patients and their families) will probably regard the procedure in a more favourable way. So, the starting point should be to improve health care professional’s knowledge and experience on this choice of treatment.

Keywords: adolescents, children, electroconvulsive, therapy

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Authors: M. G. Nasuruddin, S. Ishak

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In anthropological medicine (traditional therapeutic healing) symbolic interface are used to connect with the cognitive and metacognitive mechanisms to activate conscious and unconscious response of patients or other recipients. At the same time they are used to communicate with the inhabitants of the nether world to whom are ascribed almost all cases of psychosomatic illness. The symbols, which are cultural specific, are divided into verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. The verbal forms are chanting of mantra and doa and the invocation to invoke the spirits while the non-verbal ones are the physical materials such as the offerings, props and decorative elements, music, movements, olfactory sensation and the performance space. The process of communication through these symbols is affected by the Shaman who is a link or intermediary between the healer (Shaman) and the patients and between the healer and the spirits of the nether world. The paper also examines the scientific perspective of the traditional healing through the use of these symbols. The response to these symbols as external stimuli is embedded in the genes that are linked to the hereditary factor in the person’s DNA. When the patients are tuned in to external stimuli such as music, chanting and singing (sonic orders), it can triggers a response from the brain, which may activate its inner pharmacy by releasing drugs such as dopamine and/or opiodsto ameliorate pain and counter depression, anxiety and create a feel good feeling. These symbols act like placebo, evoking the power of the mind over the body and triggering the innate self-healing energy. At the same time they could also be used as nocebo, for example black magic, which has the opposite effect of placebo. In whatever capacity they operate these symbols, which are either visual or auditory, is an integral part of anthropological medicine. For they communicate and conjure emotional responses that are conducive to healing by activating the internal brain pharmacy.

Keywords: communication, healing, placebo, nacebo, symbol

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Authors: Arun Prasad, Abhishek Tiwari, Rekha Jaiswal, Vivek Chaudhary

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Background: Robotic Roux en Y gastric bypass is being done for some time but is technically difficult, requiring operating in both the sub diaphragmatic and infracolic compartments of the abdomen. This can mean a dual docking of the robot or a hybrid partial laparoscopic and partial robotic surgery. The Mini /One anastomosis /omega loop gastric bypass (MGB) has the advantage of having all dissection and anastomosis in the supracolic compartment and is therefore suitable technically for robotic surgery. Methods: We have done 208 robotic mini gastric bypass surgeries. The robot is docked above the head of the patient in the midline. Camera port is placed supra umbilically. Two ports are placed on the left side of the patient and one port on the right side of the patient. An assistant port is placed between the camera port and right sided robotic port for use of stapler. Distal stomach is stapled from the lesser curve followed by a vertical sleeve upwards leading to a long sleeve pouch. Jejunum is taken at 200 cm from the duodenojejunal junction and brought up to do a side to side gastrojejunostomy. Results: All patients had a successful robotic procedure. Mean time taken was 85 minutes. There were major intraoperative or post operative complications. No patient needed conversion or re-explorative surgery. Mean excess weight loss over a period of 2 year was about 75%. There was no mortality. Patient satisfaction score was high and was attributed to the good weight loss and minimal dietary modifications that were needed after the procedure. Long term side effects were anemia and bile reflux in a small number of patients. Conclusions: MGB / OAGB is gaining worldwide interest as a short simple procedure that has been shown to very effective and safe bariatric surgery. The purpose of this study was to report on the safety and efficacy of robotic surgery for this procedure. This is the first report of totally robotic mini gastric bypass.

Keywords: MGB, mini gastric bypass, OAGB, robotic bariatric surgery

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Authors: Muhammet Kurucu, Sahabettin Ozturk, Soner Guler

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Varagavank monastery is one of the most important symbols of Van city. In time, because of it hosted sacred memories, Varagavank monastery has become a great place with additional churches and chapels. A large part of contemporary spaces in the main building of the Varagavank monastery are now under ground. In addition to this, many parts of this structure have been destroyed by humanity and natural disasters. In this study, present condition of the Varagavank monastery are observed and debated in detail.

Keywords: Van city, seven churches, chapel, natural disasters

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Authors: Antonio Ruiz Gonzalez, Kwang-Leong Choy

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The measurement of electrolytes has a high value in the clinical routine. Ions are present in all body fluids with variable concentrations and are involved in multiple pathologies such as heart failures and chronic kidney disease. In the case of dissolved potassium, although a high concentration in the blood (hyperkalemia) is relatively uncommon in the general population, it is one of the most frequent acute electrolyte abnormalities. In recent years, the integration of thin films technologies in this field has allowed the development of highly sensitive biosensors with ultra-low limits of detection for the assessment of metals in liquid samples. However, despite the current efforts in the miniaturization of sensitive devices and their integration into portable systems, only a limited number of successful examples used commercially can be found. This fact can be attributed to a high cost involved in their production and the sustained degradation of the electrodes over time, which causes a signal drift in the measurements. Thus, there is an unmet necessity for the development of low-cost and robust sensors for the real-time monitoring of analyte concentrations in patients to allow the early detection and diagnosis of diseases. This paper reports a thin film ion-selective sensor for the evaluation of potassium ions in aqueous samples. As an alternative for this fabrication method, aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD), was applied due to cost-effectivity and fine control over the film deposition. Such a technique does not require vacuum and is suitable for the coating of large surface areas and structures with complex geometries. This approach allowed the fabrication of highly homogeneous surfaces with well-defined microstructures onto 50 nm thin gold layers. The degradative processes of the ubiquitously employed poly (vinyl chloride) membranes in contact with an electrolyte solution were studied, including the polymer leaching process, mechanical desorption of nanoparticles and chemical degradation over time. Rational design of a protective coating based on an organosilicon material in combination with cellulose to improve the long-term stability of the sensors was then carried out, showing an improvement in the performance after 5 weeks. The antifouling properties of such coating were assessed using a cutting-edge quartz microbalance sensor, allowing the quantification of the adsorbed proteins in the nanogram range. A correlation between the microstructural properties of the films with the surface energy and biomolecules adhesion was then found and used to optimize the protective film.

Keywords: hyperkalemia, drift, AACVD, organosilicon

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Authors: Linlong Mu, Maosong Huang

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Considering excavations in urban areas, the soil deformation induced by the excavations usually causes damage to the surrounding structures. Displacement control becomes a critical indicator of foundation design in order to protect the surrounding structures. Evaluation, the damage potential of the surrounding structures induced by the excavations, usually depends on the finite element method (FEM) because of the complexity of the excavation and the variety of the surrounding structures. Besides, evaluation the influence of the excavation on surrounding structures is a three-dimensional problem. And it is now well recognized that small strain behaviour of the soil influences the responses of the excavation significantly. Three-dimensional FEM considering small strain behaviour of the soil is a very complex method, which is hard for engineers to use. Thus, it is important to obtain a simplified method for engineers to predict the influence of the excavations on the surrounding structures. Based on large-scale finite element calculation with small-strain based soil model coupling with inverse analysis, an empirical method is proposed to calculate the three-dimensional soil movement induced by braced excavation. The empirical method is able to capture the small-strain behaviour of the soil. And it is suitable to be used in layered soil. Then the free-field soil movement is applied to the pile to calculate the responses of the pile in both vertical and horizontal directions. The asymmetric solutions for problems in layered elastic half-space are employed to solve the interactions between soil points. Both vertical and horizontal pile responses are solved through finite difference method based on elastic theory. Interactions among the nodes along a single pile, pile-pile interactions, pile-soil-pile interaction action and soil-soil interactions are counted to improve the calculation accuracy of the method. For passive piles, the shadow effects are also calculated in the method. Finally, the restrictions of the raft on the piles and the soils are summarized as: (1) the summations of the internal forces between the elements of the raft and the elements of the foundation, including piles and soil surface elements, is equal to 0; (2) the deformations of pile heads or of the soil surface elements are the same as the deformations of the corresponding elements of the raft. Validations are carried out by comparing the results from the proposed method with the results from the model tests, FEM and other existing literatures. From the comparisons, it can be seen that the results from the proposed method fit with the results from other methods very well. The method proposed herein is suitable to predict the responses of the pile-raft foundation induced by braced excavation in layered soil in both vertical and horizontal directions when the deformation is small. However, more data is needed to verify the method before it can be used in practice.

Keywords: excavation, pile-raft foundation, passive piles, deformation control, soil movement

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Authors: P.P. Rupasinghe, A.H. Farid

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The Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV, Carnivore amdoparvovirus 1) causes persistent infection, plasmacytosis, and formation and deposition of immune complexes in various organs in adult mink, leading to glomerulonephritis, arteritis and sometimes death. The disease has no cure nor an effective vaccine, and identification and culling of mink positive for anti-AMDV antibodies have not been successful in controlling the infection in many countries. The failure to eradicate the virus from infected farms may be caused by keeping false-negative individuals on the farm, virus transmission from wild animals, or neighboring farms. The identification of sources of infection, which can be performed by comparing viral sequences, is important in the success of viral eradication programs. High mutation rates could cause inaccuracies when viral sequences are used to trace back an infection to its origin. There is no published information on the mutation rate of AMDV either in vivo or in vitro. The in vivo estimation is the most accurate method, but it is difficult to perform because of the inherent technical complexities, namely infecting live animals, the unknown numbers of viral generations (i.e., infection cycles), the removal of deleterious mutations over time and genetic drift. The objective of this study was to determine the mutation rate of AMDV on which no information was available. A homogenate was prepared from the spleen of one naturally infected American mink (Neovison vison) from Nova Scotia, Canada (parental template). The near full-length genome of this isolate (91.6%, 4,143 bp) was bidirectionally sequenced. A group of black mink was inoculated with this homogenate (descendant mink). Spleen sampled were collected from 10 descendant mink after 16 weeks post-inoculation (wpi) and from anther 10 mink after 176 wpi, and their near-full length genomes were bi-directionally sequenced. Sequences of these mink were compared with each other and with the sequence of the parental template. The number of nucleotide substitutions at 176 wpi was 3.1 times greater than that at 16 wpi (113 vs 36) whereas the estimates of mutation rate at 176 wpi was 3.1 times lower than that at 176 wpi (2.85×10-3 vs 9.13×10-4 substitutions/ site/ year), showing a decreasing trend in the mutation rate per unit of time. Although there is no report on in vivo estimate of the mutation rate of DNA viruses in animals using the same method which was used in the current study, these estimates are at the higher range of reported values for DNA viruses determined by various techniques. These high estimates are logical based on the wide range of diversity and pathogenicity of AMDV isolates. The results suggest that increases in the number of nucleotide substitutions over time and subsequent divergence make it difficult to accurately trace back AMDV isolates to their origin when several years elapsed between the two samplings.

Keywords: Aleutian mink disease virus, American mink, mutation rate, nucleotide substitution

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Authors: Nur Sahver Uslu, Ali̇ Hakan Büyüklü

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Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) costs are significant in the aviation industry. On the other hand, companies that provide MRO services to the aviation industry but are not dominant in the sector, need to determine the right strategies for sustainable profitability in a competitive environment. This study examined the operational real data of a small medium enterprise (SME) MRO company where analytical methods are not widely applied. The company's customers were divided into two categories: airline companies and non-airline companies, and the variables that best explained profitability were analyzed with Logistic Regression for each category and the results were compared. First, data reduction was applied to the transformed variables that went through the data cleaning and preparation stages, and the variables to be included in the model were decided. The misclassification rates for the logistic regression results concerning both customer categories are similar, indicating consistent model performance across different segments. Less profit margin is obtained from airline customers, which can be explained by the variables part description, time to quotation (TTQ), turnaround time (TAT), manager, part cost, and labour cost. The higher profit margin obtained from non-airline customers is explained only by the variables part description, part cost, and labour cost. Based on the two models, it can be stated that it is significantly more challenging for the MRO company, which is the subject of our study, to achieve profitability from Airline customers. While operational processes and organizational structure also affect the profit from airline customers, only the type of parts and costs determine the profit for non-airlines.

Keywords: aircraft, aircraft components, aviation, data analytics, data science, gini index, maintenance, repair, and overhaul, MRO, logistic regression, profit, variable clustering, variable reduction

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Authors: Debabrata Adhikari, Mikhail Matveev, Louise Brown, Andy Long, Jan Kočí

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A good understanding of mesoscale permeability of complex architectures in fibrous porous preforms is of particular interest in order to achieve efficient and cost-effective resin impregnation of liquid composite molding (LCM). Fabrics used in structural reinforcements are typically woven or stitched. However, 3D fabric reinforcement is of particular interest because of the versatility in the weaving pattern with the binder yarn and in-plain yarn arrangements to manufacture thick composite parts, overcome the limitation in delamination, improve toughness etc. To predict the permeability based on the available pore spaces between the inter yarn spaces, unit cell-based computational fluid dynamics models have been using the Stokes Darcy model. Typically, the preform consists of an arrangement of yarns with spacing in the order of mm, wherein each yarn consists of thousands of filaments with spacing in the order of μm. The fluid flow during infusion exchanges the mass between the intra and inter yarn channels, meaning there is no dead-end of flow between the mesopore in the inter yarn space and the micropore in the yarn. Several studies have employed the Brinkman equation to take into account the flow through dual-scale porosity reinforcement to estimate their permeability. Furthermore, to reduce the computational effort of dual scale flow, scale separation criteria based on the ratio between yarn permeability to the yarn spacing was also proposed to quantify the dual scale and negligible micro-scale flow regime for the prediction of mesoscale permeability. In the present work, the key parameter to identify the influence of intra yarn permeability on the mesoscale permeability has been investigated with the systematic study of weft and warp yarn spacing on the plane weave as well as the position of binder yarn and number of in-plane yarn layers on 3D weave fabric. The permeability tensor has been estimated using an OpenFOAM-based model for the various weave pattern with idealized geometry of yarn implemented using open-source software TexGen. Additionally, scale separation criterion has been established based on the various configuration of yarn permeability for the 3D fabric with both the isotropic and anisotropic yarn from Gebart’s model. It was observed that the variation of mesoscale permeability Kxx within 30% when the isotropic porous yarn is considered for a 3D fabric with binder yarn. Furthermore, the permeability model developed in this study will be used for multi-objective optimizations of the preform mesoscale geometry in terms of yarn spacing, binder pattern, and a number of layers with an aim to obtain improved permeability and reduced void content during the LCM process.

Keywords: permeability, 3D fabric, dual-scale flow, liquid composite molding

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Authors: Saimir Cenameri, Arjana Tereziu, Kastriot Dallaku

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Introduction: Intra-uterine death is a common problem in obstetrical practice, and can lead to complications if left to resolve spontaneously. The cervix is unprepared, making inducing of labor difficult. Misoprostol is a synthetic prostaglandin E1 analogue, inexpensive, and is presented valid thanks to its ability to bring about changes in the cervix that lead to the induction of uterine contractions. Misoprostol is quickly absorbed when taken orally, resulting in high initial peak serum concentrations compared with the vaginal route. The vaginal misoprostol peak serum concentration is not as high and demonstrates a more gradual serum concentration decline. This is associated with many benefits for the patient; fast induction of labor; smaller doses; and fewer side effects (dose-depended). Mostly it has been used the regime of 50 μg/4 hour, with a high percentage of success and limited side effects. Objective: Evaluation of the efficiency of the use of oral and vaginal misoprostol in inducing labor, and comparing it with its use not by a previously defined protocol. Methods: Participants in this study included patients at U.H.O.G. 'Koco Gliozheni', Tirana from April 2004-July 2006, presenting with an indication for inducing labor in the third trimester for pregnancy termination. A total of 37 patients were randomly admitted for birth inducing activity, according to protocol (26), oral or vaginal protocol (10 vs. 16), and a control group (11), not subject to the protocol, was created. Oral or vaginal misoprostol was administered at a dose of 50 μg/4 h, while the fourth group participants were treated individually by the members of the medical staff. The main result of interest was the time between induction of labor to birth. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the average age, parity, women weight, gestational age, Bishop's score, the size of the uterus and weight of the fetus between the four groups in the study. The Fisher exact test was used to compare day-stay and causes in the four groups. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the time of the expulsion and the number of doses between oral and vaginal group. For all statistical tests used, the value of P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The four groups were comparable with regard to woman age and weight, parity, abortion indication, Bishop's score, fetal weight and the gestational age. There was significant difference in the percentage of deliveries within 24 hours. The average time from induction to birth per route (vaginal, oral, according to protocol and not according to the protocol) was respectively; 10.43h; 21.10h; 15.77h, 21.57h. There was no difference in maternal complications in groups. Conclusions: Use of vaginal misoprostol for inducing labor in the third trimester for termination of pregnancy appears to be more effective than the oral route, and even more to uses not according to the protocols approved before, where complications are greater and unjustified.

Keywords: inducing labor, misoprostol, pregnancy termination, third trimester

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Authors: Felice De Luca, Vincenzo Galdi, Piera Stella, Vito Calderaro, Adriano Campagna, Antonio Piccolo

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Sustainable mobility has become one of the major issues of recent years. The challenge in reducing polluting emissions as much as possible has led to the production and diffusion of vehicles with internal combustion engines that are less polluting and to the adoption of green energy vectors, such as vehicles powered by natural gas or LPG and, more recently, with hybrid and electric ones. While on the one hand, the spread of electric vehicles for private use is becoming a reality, albeit rather slowly, not the same is happening for vehicles used for public transport, especially those that operate in the congested areas of the cities. Even if the first electric buses are increasingly being offered on the market, it remains central to the problem of autonomy for battery fed vehicles with high daily routes and little time available for recharging. In fact, at present, solid-state batteries are still too large in size, heavy, and unable to guarantee the required autonomy. Therefore, in order to maximize the energy management on the vehicle, the optimization of driving profiles offer a faster and cheaper contribution to improve vehicle autonomy. In this paper, following the authors’ precedent works on electric vehicles in public transport and energy management strategies in the electric mobility area, an eco-driving strategy for electric bus is presented and validated. Particularly, the characteristics of the prototype bus are described, and a general-purpose eco-drive methodology is briefly presented. The model is firstly simulated in MATLAB™ and then implemented on a mobile device installed on-board of a prototype bus developed by the authors in a previous research project. The solution implemented furnishes the bus-driver suggestions on the guide style to adopt. The result of the test in a real case will be shown to highlight the effectiveness of the solution proposed in terms of energy saving.

Keywords: eco-drive, electric bus, energy management, prototype

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Authors: Alina Smalinskiene Janina Petkeviciene, Jurate Klumbiene, Vilma Kriaucioniene, Vaiva Lesauskaite

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The worldwide prevalence of obesity has been increasing dramatically in the last few decades, and Lithuania is no exception. In 2012, every fifth adult (19% of men and 20.5 % of women) was obese and every third was overweight Association studies have highlighted the influence of SNPs in obesity, with particular focus on FTO rs9939609. Thus far, no data on the possible association of this SNP to obesity in the adult Lithuanian population has been reported. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate an association between the FTO rs9939609 homozygous AA genotype and increased BMI when compared to homozygous TT. Furthermore, a positive association was determined between the FTO rs9939609 variant and risk of metabolic syndrome. Background: This study aimed to examine the associations between the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene rs9939609 variant with obesity and metabolic syndrome in Lithuanian adult population. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional health survey was carried out in randomly selected municipalities of Lithuania. The random sample was obtained from lists of 25–64 year-old inhabitants. The data from 1020 subjects were analysed. The rs9939609 SNP of the FTO gene was assessed using TaqMan assays (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). The Applied Biosystems 7900HT Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction System was used for detecting the SNPs. Results: The carriers of the AA genotype had the highest mean values of BMI and waist circumference (WC) and the highest risk of obesity. Interactions ‘genotype x age’ and ‘genotype x physical activity’ in determining BMI and WC were shown. Neither lipid and glucose levels, nor blood pressure were associated with the rs9939609 independently of BMI. In the age group of 25-44 years, association between the FTO genotypes and metabolic syndrome was found. Conclusion: The FTO rs9939609 variant was significantly associated with BMI and WC, and with the risk of obesity in Lithuanian population. The FTO polymorphism might have a greater influence on weight status in younger individuals and in subjects with a low level of physical activity.

Keywords: obesity metabolic syndrome, FTO gene, polymorphism, Lithuania

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Authors: Mark Daniel De Luna, Ma. Katreena Pillejera, Wei-Hsin Chen

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The raw bamboo (Phyllostachys mankinoi), with a moisture content of 13.54 % and a higher heating value (HHV) of 17.657 MJ/kg, was subjected to torrefaction under a high gravity (higee) environment using a rotating packed bed. The performance of the higee torrefaction was explored in two parts: (1) effect of rotation and temperature and (2) effect of duration on the solid yield, HHV and energy yield. By statistical analyses, the results indicated that the rotation, temperature and their interaction has a significant effect on the three responses. Same remarks on the effect of duration where when the duration (temperature and rotation) increases, the HHV increases, while the solid yield and energy yield decreases. Graphical interpretations showed that at 300 °C, the rotating speed has no evident effect on the responses. At 30-min holding time, the highest HHV reached (28.389 MJ/kg) was obtained in the most severe torrefaction condition (the rotating speed at 1800 rpm and temperature at 300 °C) with an enhancement factor of HHV corresponding to 1.61 and an energy yield of 63.51%. Upon inspection, the recommended operating condition under a 30-min holding time is at 255 °C-1800 rpm since the enhancement factor of HHV (1.53), HHV (26.988 MJ/kg), and energy yield (65.21%) values are relatively close to that of the aforementioned torrefaction condition. The Van Krevelen diagram of the torrefied biomass showed that the ratios decrease as the torrefaction intensifies, hence improving the hydrophobicity of the product. The spreads of the results of the solid yield, enhancement factor (EF) of HHV, energy yield, and H/C and O/C ratios were in accordance with the trends of the responses. Overall, from the results presented, it can be concluded that the quality of the product from the process is at par to that of coal (i.e. HHV of coal is 21-35 MJ/kg). The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results indicated that cellulose and lignin may have been degraded at a lower temperature accompanied with a high rotating speed. The results suggested that torrefaction under higee environment indicates promising process for the utilization of bamboo.

Keywords: heat transfer, high gravity environment, FTIR, rotation, rotating speed, torrefaction

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Authors: Inga Badasyan

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Every year we do monitoring of water pollution of catchment basin of Debed River. Next, the Ministry of Nature Protection does modeling programme. Finely, we are managing the impact of water pollution in Debed river. Ecosystem technologies efficiency performance were estimated based on the physical, chemical, and macrobiological analyses of water on regular base between 2012 to 2015. Algae community composition was determined to assess the ecological status of Debed river, while vegetation was determined to assess biodiversity. Last time, experts werespeaking about global warming, which is having bad impact on the surface water, freshwater, etc. As, we know that global warming is caused by the current high levels of carbon dioxide in the water. Geochemical modelling is increasingly playing an important role in various areas of hydro sciences and earth sciences. Geochemical modelling of highly concentrated aqueous solutions represents an important topic in the study of many environments such as evaporation ponds, groundwater and soils in arid and semi-arid zones, costal aquifers, etc. The sampling time is important for benthic macroinvertebrates, for that reason we have chosen in the spring (abundant flow of the river, the beginning of the vegetation season) and autumn (the flow of river is scarce). The macroinvertebrates are good indicator for a chromic pollution and aquatic ecosystems. Results of our earlier investigations in the Debed river reservoirs clearly show that management problem of ecosystem reservoirs is topical. Research results can be applied to studies of monitoring water quality in the rivers and allow for rate changes and to predict possible future changes in the nature of the lake.

Keywords: ecohydrological monitoring, flood risk management, global warming, aquatic macroinvertebrates

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Authors: Wafula Simon Peter, Kimuli Nabayego Ibtihal, Nabaggala Kimuli Nashua

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The worldwide use of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment and other electronic equipment is growing and consequently, there is a growing amount of equipment that becomes waste after its time in use. This growth is expected to accelerate since equipment lifetime decreases with time and growing consumption. As a result, e-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally. The United Nations University (UNU) calculates in its second Global E-waste Monitor 44.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) of e-waste were generated globally in 2016. The study population was 80 respondents, from which a sample of 69 respondents was selected using simple and purposive sampling techniques. This research was carried out to investigate the problem of e-waste and come up with a framework to improve e-waste management. The objective of the study was to develop a framework for improving e-waste management at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT). This was achieved by breaking it down into specific objectives, and these included the establishment of the policy and other Regulatory frameworks being used in e-waste management at CEDAT, the determination of the effectiveness of the e-waste management practices at CEDAT, the establishment of the critical challenges constraining e-waste management at the College, development of a framework for e-waste management. The study reviewed the e-waste regulatory framework used at the college and then collected data which was used to come up with a framework. The study also established that weak policy and regulatory framework, lack of proper infrastructure, improper disposal of e-waste and a general lack of awareness of the e-waste and the magnitude of the problem are the critical challenges of e-waste management. In conclusion, the policy and regulatory framework should be revised, localized and strengthened to contextually address the problem. Awareness campaigns, the development of proper infrastructure and extensive research to establish the volumes and magnitude of the problems will come in handy. The study recommends a framework for the improvement of e-waste.

Keywords: e-waste, treatment, disposal, computers, model, management policy and guidelines

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Authors: Shigenori Togashi, Yukako Asano

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We developed an effective microfluidic device for photoreactions with low reflectance and good heat conductance. The performance of this microfluidic device was tested by carrying out a photoreactive synthesis of benzopinacol and acetone from benzophenone and 2-propanol. The yield reached 36% with an irradiation time of 469.2 s and was improved by more than 30% when compared to the values obtained by the batch method. Therefore, the microfluidic device was found to be effective for improving the yields of photoreactions.

Keywords: microfluidic device, photoreaction, black aluminum oxide, benzophenone, yield improvement

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Authors: Muhammad Shahzad Tufail, Iram Liaqat, Umer Sohail Meer, Muhammad Ishtaiq, Muhammad Sattar

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Nanotechnology is a vibrant field with numerous applications in many different branches of science and technology. Several methods are used to synthesize nanoparticles (NPs), which have multiple range of applications. Comparatively, the biogenic synthesis of NPs is a more economical and environmentally favourable method than the traditional chemical method. The current study aims to synthesize biogenically silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using bacterial isolates. Four bacterial strains Escherichia coli (MT448673), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MN900691), Bacillus subtilis (MN900684) and Bacillus licheniformis (MN900686) were used for the synthesis of AgNPs from silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution. The biofilm time kinetics of four bacterial isolates (P. aeruginosa, E. coli, B. licheniformis and B. subtilis) was analysed by incubating bacterial cultures at 37◦C in test tubes over a period of different time intervals i.e., 2, 3, 5 and 7 days following crystal violet staining method. All the four strains had ability to form strong biofilms between 48 to 72 hours of incubation. Two strains (B. subtilis and B. licheniformis) formed significant (p < 0.05) biofilm after 3 days of incubation period. The other two strains (E. coli and P. aeruginosa) showed strong biofilm formation after 2 days of incubation. Next, the antibiofilm activity of biogenically synthesized AgNPs (10 - 100 µgmL-1) was analysed against biofilm forming human pathogenic bacteria. Findings of the work revealed that 60-90% inhibition was observed at 60 µgmL-1 of AgNPs, while maximum inhibition (i.e.,100%) was found at highest concentration (90 µgmL-1). It was evident that highly significant (p < 0.05) decrease in biofilm formation was observed with increasing concentration of AgNPs.

Keywords: antibiofilm, biofilm formation, nanotechnology, pathogenic bacteria, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: Shaukat Ali Shahee, Usha Ananthakumar

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A data set exhibits class imbalance problem when one class has very few examples compared to the other class, and this is also referred to as between class imbalance. The traditional classifiers fail to classify the minority class examples correctly due to its bias towards the majority class. Apart from between-class imbalance, imbalance within classes where classes are composed of a different number of sub-clusters with these sub-clusters containing different number of examples also deteriorates the performance of the classifier. Previously, many methods have been proposed for handling imbalanced dataset problem. These methods can be classified into four categories: data preprocessing, algorithmic based, cost-based methods and ensemble of classifier. Data preprocessing techniques have shown great potential as they attempt to improve data distribution rather than the classifier. Data preprocessing technique handles class imbalance either by increasing the minority class examples or by decreasing the majority class examples. Decreasing the majority class examples lead to loss of information and also when minority class has an absolute rarity, removing the majority class examples is generally not recommended. Existing methods available for handling class imbalance do not address both between-class imbalance and within-class imbalance simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a method that handles between class imbalance and within class imbalance simultaneously for binary classification problem. Removing between class imbalance and within class imbalance simultaneously eliminates the biases of the classifier towards bigger sub-clusters by minimizing the error domination of bigger sub-clusters in total error. The proposed method uses model-based clustering to find the presence of sub-clusters or sub-concepts in the dataset. The number of examples oversampled among the sub-clusters is determined based on the complexity of sub-clusters. The method also takes into consideration the scatter of the data in the feature space and also adaptively copes up with unseen test data using Lowner-John ellipsoid for increasing the accuracy of the classifier. In this study, neural network is being used as this is one such classifier where the total error is minimized and removing the between-class imbalance and within class imbalance simultaneously help the classifier in giving equal weight to all the sub-clusters irrespective of the classes. The proposed method is validated on 9 publicly available data sets and compared with three existing oversampling techniques that rely on the spatial location of minority class examples in the euclidean feature space. The experimental results show the proposed method to be statistically significantly superior to other methods in terms of various accuracy measures. Thus the proposed method can serve as a good alternative to handle various problem domains like credit scoring, customer churn prediction, financial distress, etc., that typically involve imbalanced data sets.

Keywords: classification, imbalanced dataset, Lowner-John ellipsoid, model based clustering, oversampling

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Authors: Massimo Mozzon, Nadia Raffaelli

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Proteases from herbs, woody plants, and trees are exploited for cheesemaking in several countries, especially in South Europe and West Africa. Particularly, “thistles” belonging to several genera within the Asteraceae family (Cynara, Silybum, Centaurea, Carlina, Cirsium, Onopordum) are traditionally used in Mediterranean countries for clotting raw ewe’s and goat’s milk. For the first time, the clotting performance of an aqueous extract from flowers of Onopordum tauricum Willd. (Taurian thistle, bull cottonthistle) were tested in milk of different origin (cow, goat, ewe). The vegetable material was collected in the Central Apennines range, between the Marche and Umbria regions. A response surface methodology (RSM) approach was used to study the effect of the curdling variables (temperature, pH, amount of enzymatic extract) on the technological performance of the thistle extract. A three-step procedure for the purification of the enzyme (ammonium sulphate precipitation, gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography) was also carried out. The milk clotting activity (MCA) of O. tauricum crude extracts was strongly affected by temperature, pH and by the interaction between these two variables, according to a second-order response surface model, while the milk/coagulant ratio did not affect in a significant way the clotting properties. Experimental data showed that the addition of 10 mM CaCl2 reduced the clotting time of ewe’s, goat’s, and cow’s milk by about 3-fold, 8-fold, and 14-fold, respectively, at 35°C and pH 6.7-6.8. After purification, an enzymatic preparation very close to homogeneity was obtained, which showed a major band at about 30 kDa when analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The identity of the enzyme as an aspartic protease was confirmed by inhibition studies. Cheese-making trials were carried out to check the scale-up (1 to 5 L of milk; 37 °C; 10 mM CaCl2 fortification) and set the recipe: 35-45% of curd yields were recorded, according to curd cutting and pressing.

Keywords: milk clotting activity, Onopordum tauricum, plant proteases, vegetable rennet

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Authors: Himanshu Singh, Rishi Kant, Shantanu Bhattacharya

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This paper adopts a top-down approach for mathematical modeling to predict the size reduction from micro to nano-scale through persistent etching. The process is simulated using a finite difference approach. Previously, various researchers have simulated the etching process for 1-D and 2-D substrates. It consists of two processes: 1) Convection-Diffusion in the etchant domain; 2) Chemical reaction at the surface of the particle. Since the process requires analysis along moving boundary, partial differential equations involved cannot be solved using conventional methods. In 1-D, this problem is very similar to Stefan's problem of moving ice-water boundary. A fixed grid method using finite volume method is very popular for modelling of etching on a one and two dimensional substrate. Other popular approaches include moving grid method and level set method. In this method, finite difference method was used to discretize the spherical diffusion equation. Due to symmetrical distribution of etchant, the angular terms in the equation can be neglected. Concentration is assumed to be constant at the outer boundary. At the particle boundary, the concentration of the etchant is assumed to be zero since the rate of reaction is much faster than rate of diffusion. The rate of reaction is proportional to the velocity of the moving boundary of the particle. Modelling of the above reaction was carried out using Matlab. The initial particle size was taken to be 50 microns. The density, molecular weight and diffusion coefficient of the substrate were taken as 2.1 gm/cm3, 60 and 10-5 cm2/s respectively. The etch-rate was found to decline initially and it gradually became constant at 0.02µ/s (1.2µ/min). The concentration profile was plotted along with space at different time intervals. Initially, a sudden drop is observed at the particle boundary due to high-etch rate. This change becomes more gradual with time due to declination of etch rate.

Keywords: particle size reduction, micromixer, FDM modelling, wet etching

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Authors: El Asnaoui Khalid, Aksasse Brahim, Ouanan Mohammed

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This paper presents an unsupervised color image segmentation method. It is based on a hierarchical analysis of 2-D histogram in RGB color space. This histogram minimizes storage space of images and thus facilitates the operations between them. The improved segmentation approach shows a better identification of objects in a color image and, at the same time, the system is fast.

Keywords: image segmentation, hierarchical analysis, 2-D histogram, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: Hanna Teklu Gebregziabher

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Background: A variety of techniques for medical termination of second-trimester pregnancy can be used, but there is no consensus about which is the best. Even though most evidence suggests the combined use of intracervical Foley catheter and vaginal misoprostol is safe, effective, and acceptable method for termination of second-trimester pregnancy, which is comparable to mifepristone-misoprostol combination regimen with lower cost and no additional maternal risks. The use of mifepristone and misoprostol alone with no other procedure is still the most common procedure in different institutions for 2nd-trimester pregnancy. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative prospective study design is employed on women who were admitted for 2nd-trimester medical abortion and medical abortion failed or if there was no change in cervical status after 24 hours of 1st dose of misoprostol. The study was conducted at St. Paulose Hospital Millennium Medical College. A sample of 44 participants in each arm was necessary to give a two-tailed test, a type 1 error of 5%, 80% statistical power, and a 1:1 ratio among groups. Thus, a total of 94 cases, 47 from each arm, were recruited. Data was entered and cleaned by using Epi-info and analyzed using SPSS version 29.0 statistical software and was presented in descriptive and tabular forms. Different variables were cross-tabulated and compared for significant differences and statistical analysis using the chi-square test and independent t-test, to conclude. Result: There was a significant difference between the two groups on induction to expulsion time and number of doses used. The mean ± SD of induction to expulsion time for those used misoprostol alone was 48.09 ± 11.86 and those who used trans-cervical catheter sequentially with misoprostol were 36.7 ±6.772. Conclusion: The use of a trans-cervical Foley catheter in conjunction with misoprostol in a sequential manner is a more effective, safe, and easily accessible procedure. In addition, the cost of utilizing the catheter is less compared to the cost of misoprostol and is readily available. As a good substitute, we advised using Trans-cervical Catether even for medical abortions performed in the second trimester.

Keywords: second trimester, medical abortion, catheter, misoprostol

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Authors: Michela Quadrini

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Chord diagrams occur in mathematics, from the study of RNA to knot theory. They are widely used in theory of knots and links for studying the finite type invariants, whereas in molecular biology one important motivation to study chord diagrams is to deal with the problem of RNA structure prediction. An RNA molecule is a linear polymer, referred to as the backbone, that consists of four types of nucleotides. Each nucleotide is represented by a point, whereas each chord of the diagram stands for one interaction for Watson-Crick base pairs between two nonconsecutive nucleotides. A chord diagram is an oriented circle with a set of n pairs of distinct points, considered up to orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of the circle. A linear chord diagram (LCD) is a special kind of graph obtained cutting the oriented circle of a chord diagram. It consists of a line segment, called its backbone, to which are attached a number of chords with distinct endpoints. There is a natural fattening on any linear chord diagram; the backbone lies on the real axis, while all the chords are in the upper half-plane. Each linear chord diagram has a natural genus of its associated surface. To each chord diagram and linear chord diagram, it is possible to associate the intersection graph. It consists of a graph whose vertices correspond to the chords of the diagram, whereas the chord intersections are represented by a connection between the vertices. Such intersection graph carries a lot of information about the diagram. Our goal is to define an LCD equivalence class in terms of identity of intersection graphs, from which many chord diagram invariants depend. For studying these invariants, we introduce a new representation of Linear Chord Diagrams based on a set of appropriate topological operators that permits to model LCD in terms of the relations among chords. Such set is composed of: crossing, nesting, and concatenations. The crossing operator is able to generate the whole space of linear chord diagrams, and a multiple context free grammar able to uniquely generate each LDC starting from a linear chord diagram adding a chord for each production of the grammar is defined. In other words, it allows to associate a unique algebraic term to each linear chord diagram, while the remaining operators allow to rewrite the term throughout a set of appropriate rewriting rules. Such rules define an LCD equivalence class in terms of the identity of intersection graphs. Starting from a modelled RNA molecule and the linear chord, some authors proposed a topological classification and folding. Our LCD equivalence class could contribute to the RNA folding problem leading to the definition of an algorithm that calculates the free energy of the molecule more accurately respect to the existing ones. Such LCD equivalence class could be useful to obtain a more accurate estimate of link between the crossing number and the topological genus and to study the relation among other invariants.

Keywords: chord diagrams, linear chord diagram, equivalence class, topological language

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Avirup Chowdhury, Angus K. McFadyen, Linsey Batchelor

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Blood cultures (BCs) are an important aspect of management of the septic patient, identifying the underlying pathogen and its antibiotic sensitivities. However, while the current literature outlines indications for initial BCs to be taken, there is little guidance for repeat sampling in the following 5-day period and little information on how antibiotic use can affect the usefulness of this investigation. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using inpatients who had undergone 2 or more BCs within 5 days between April 2016 and April 2017 at a 400-bed hospital in the west of Scotland and received antibiotic therapy between the first and second BCs. The data for BC sampling was collected from the electronic microbiology database, and cross-referenced with data from the hospital electronic prescribing system. Overall, 283 BCs were included in the study, taken from 92 patients (mean 3.08 cultures per patient, range 2-10). All 92 patients had initial BCs, of which 83 were positive (90%). 65 had a further sample within 24 hours of commencement of antibiotics, with 35 positive (54%). 23 had samples within 24-48 hours, with 4 (17%) positive; 12 patients had sampling at 48-72 hours, 12 at 72-96 hours, and 10 at 96-120 hours, with none positive. McNemar’s Exact Test was used to calculate statistical significance for patients who received blood cultures in multiple time blocks (Initial, < 24h, 24-120h, > 120h). For initial vs. < 24h-post BCs (53 patients tested), the proportion of positives fell from 46/53 to 29/53 (one-tailed P=0.002, OR 3.43, 95% CI 1.48-7.96). For initial vs 24-120h (n=42), the proportions were 38/42 and 4/42 respectively (P < 0.001, OR 35.0, 95% CI 4.79-255.48). For initial vs > 120h (n=36), these were 33/36 and 2/36 (P < 0.001,OR ∞). These were also calculated for a positive in initial or < 24h vs. 24-120h (n=42), with proportions of 41/42 and 4/42 (P < 0.001, OR 38.0, 95% CI 5.22-276.78); and for initial or < 24h vs > 120h (n=36), with proportions of 35/36 and 2/36 respectively (P < 0.001, OR ∞). This data appears to show that taking an initial BC followed by a BC within 24 hours of antibiotic commencement would maximise blood culture yield while minimising the risk of false negative results. This could potentially remove the need for as many as 46% of BC samples without adversely affecting patient care. BC yield decreases sharply after 48 hours of antibiotic use, and may not provide any clinically useful information after this time. Further multi-centre studies would validate these findings, and provide a foundation for future health policy generation.

Keywords: antibiotics, blood culture, efficacy, inpatient

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Authors: Xianlu Zeng

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China has undergone rapid economic growth over the last three decades. During this time, China-focused study has become one of the most popular areas of research. However, even though China has one of the oldest legal traditions in the world, there is limited research available regarding the development and operation of China’s juvenile justice system. This article will provide general information about China’s juvenile justice tradition along with a review of its reformation in 2013. A discussion is presented that provides some thoughts about how successful these reforms have been and where China may need to head.

Keywords: China, history, juvenile justice, legal traditions

Procedia PDF Downloads 481

Authors: Liu Canqi, Zeng Junsheng

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This study identifies two typical bottlenecks that occur when a vehicle cannot change lanes: car following and car stopping. The ideas of traffic field and traffic mass are presented in this work. When there are other vehicles in front of the target vehicle within a particular distance, a force is created that affects the target vehicle's driving speed. The characteristics of the driver and the vehicle collectively determine the traffic mass; the driving speed of the vehicle and external variables have no bearing on this. From a physical level, this study examines the vehicle's bottleneck when following a car, identifies the outside factors that have an impact on how it drives, takes into account that the vehicle will transform kinetic energy into potential energy during deceleration, and builds a calculation model for traffic mass. The energy-time conversion coefficient is created from an economic standpoint utilizing the social average wage level and the average cost of motor fuel. Vissim simulation program measures the vehicle's deceleration distance and delays under the Wiedemann car-following model. The difference between the measured value of deceleration delay acquired by simulation and the theoretical value calculated by the model is compared using the conversion calculation model of traffic mass and deceleration delay. The experimental data demonstrate that the model is reliable since the error rate between the theoretical calculation value of the deceleration delay obtained by the model and the measured value of simulation results is less than 10%. The article's conclusion is that the traffic field has an impact on moving cars on the road and that physical and socioeconomic factors should be taken into account while studying vehicle-following behavior. The deceleration delay value of a vehicle's driving and traffic mass have a socioeconomic relationship that can be utilized to calculate the energy-time conversion coefficient when dealing with the bottleneck of cars stopping and starting.

Keywords: traffic field, social economics, traffic mass, bottleneck, deceleration delay

Procedia PDF Downloads 48

Authors: M. Aboalazayem, Essam A. Gouda, Ahmed M. Moussa, Amr E. Flifl

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Field data collecting is considered one of the most difficult work due to the difficulty of accessing large zones such as large lakes. Also, it is well known that the cost of obtaining field data is very expensive. Remotely monitoring of lake water quality (WQ) provides an economically feasible approach comparing to field data collection. Researchers have shown that lake WQ can be properly monitored via Remote sensing (RS) analyses. Using satellite images as a method of WQ detection provides a realistic technique to measure quality parameters across huge areas. Landsat (LS) data provides full free access to often occurring and repeating satellite photos. This enables researchers to undertake large-scale temporal comparisons of parameters related to lake WQ. Satellite measurements have been extensively utilized to develop algorithms for predicting critical water quality parameters (WQPs). The goal of this paper is to use RS to derive WQ indicators in Aswan High Dam Reservoir (AHDR), which is considered Egypt's primary and strategic reservoir of freshwater. This study focuses on using Landsat8 (L-8) band surface reflectance (SR) observations to predict water-quality characteristics which are limited to Turbidity (TUR), total suspended solids (TSS), and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a). ArcGIS pro is used to retrieve L-8 SR data for the study region. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to derive new correlations between observed optical water-quality indicators in April and L-8 SR which were atmospherically corrected by values of various bands, band ratios, and or combinations. Field measurements taken in the month of May were used to validate WQP obtained from SR data of L-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) satellite. The findings demonstrate a strong correlation between indicators of WQ and L-8 .For TUR, the best validation correlation with OLI SR bands blue, green, and red, were derived with high values of Coefficient of correlation (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) equal 0.96 and 3.1 NTU, respectively. For TSS, Two equations were strongly correlated and verified with band ratios and combinations. A logarithm of the ratio of blue and green SR was determined to be the best performing model with values of R2 and RMSE equal to 0.9861 and 1.84 mg/l, respectively. For Chl-a, eight methods were presented for calculating its value within the study area. A mix of blue, red, shortwave infrared 1(SWR1) and panchromatic SR yielded the greatest validation results with values of R2 and RMSE equal 0.98 and 1.4 mg/l, respectively.

Keywords: remote sensing, landsat 8, nasser lake, water quality

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Authors: Pedro Miguel Cardoso Carneiro, Ricardo André Nunes Borges, João Pedro Soares Loureiro, Hermínio Maio Graça Fernandes

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Wind energy has been exponentially growing over the last years and will allow countries to progress regarding the decarbonization objective. In parallel, the maintenance activities have also been increasing in consequence of ageing and deterioration of the wind farms. The time available for wind blade maintenance is given by the weather window that is based upon weather conditions. Most of the wind blade repair and maintenance activities require a narrow window of temperature and humidity. Due to this limitation, the current weather windows result only on approximately 35% days/year are used for maintenance, that takes place mostly during summertime. This limitation creates large economic losses in the energy production of the wind towers, since they can be inoperative or with the energy production output reduced for days or weeks due to existing damages. Another important aspect is that the maintenance costs are higher due to the high standby time and seasonality imposed on the technicians. To reduce the relevant maintenance costs of blades and energy loses some technological developments were carried out to significantly improve this reality. The focus of this activity was to develop a series of key developments to have in the near future a suspended access equipment that can operate in harsh conditions, wind rain, cold/hot environment. To this end we have identified key areas that need to be revised and require new solutions to be found; a habitat system, multi-configurable roof and floor, roof and floor interface to blade, secondary attachment solutions to the blade and to the tower. On this paper we will describe the advances produced during a national R&D project made in partnership with an end-user (Onrope) and a test center (ISQ).

Keywords: wind turbine maintenance, cost reduction, technological innovations, wind turbine blade

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Authors: Homa Hedayat

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Public spaces have been a central concern of urban planners for centuries but have been neglected for a long time. In the modernist planning, the focus has been on the requirements of cars rather than the needs and expectations of pedestrians, and therefore, cities have lost many qualities. Urban public space is a space within the city area which is accessible to all people and is the ground for their activity. People’s public life occurs in urban public spaces in a complex set of forms and functions. These spaces must facilitate diverse behavior, uses, and activities such as shopping, walking, conversation, entertainment, relaxation or even passing the time during festivities and events. One of the public spaces is the surrounding space of public transportation stations. Subway stations, although potentially encompass many different groups of people accommodate few social interactions. Making the surrounding areas of subway stations pedestrian-oriented, potentially increases the socialization capacity. The Sadeghieh Subway Station can be considered as the most important subway station in Tehran, which on the one hand is the rail port of Tehran's western entrance, and on the other is the port for railway journeys inside the city. The main concern of this study is to assess the success or failure of the interventions made by the municipality for changing the surrounding area of the Sadeghieh Subway Station into a pedestrian-oriented space and examine the amount of the area's improvement into a desirable space. The method used in this study is surveying, in which the data were collected using a questionnaire and interview. The study's population is all people who use Sadeghieh Subway, and the sample size for the study was 140 subjects. Using parametric one-sample t-test, we found improvement in factors such as transportation, security, pedestrian infrastructure, vitality and climate comfort. However, there was no improvement in mix use, recreational activity, readability.

Keywords: public space, public transportation stations, pedestrian-oriented space, socialization

Procedia PDF Downloads 195