Search results for: visual loss

Authors: Onur Potok, Deniz Deger, Kemal Ulutas, Sahin Yakut, Deniz Bozoglu

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Thalium Selenide (TlSe) is used for optoelectronic devices, pressure sensitive detectors, and gamma-ray detectors. The TlSe samples were grown as large single crystals using the Stockbarger-Bridgman method. The thin films, in the form of Al/TlSe/Al, were deposited on the microscope slide in different thicknesses (300-3000 Å) using thermal evaporation technique at 10-5 Torr. The dielectric properties of (TlSe) thin films, capacitance (C) and dielectric loss factor (tanδ), were measured in a frequency range of 10-105 Hz, and temperatures between 213K and 393K via Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy analyzer. The dielectric constant (ε’) and the dielectric loss (ε’’) of the thin films were derived from measured parameters (C and tanδ). These results showed that the dielectric properties of TlSe thin films are frequency and temperature dependent. The capacitance and the dielectric constant decrease with increasing frequency and decreasing temperature. The dielectric loss of TlSe thin films decreases with increasing frequency, on the other hand, they increase with increasing temperature and increasing thicknesses. There is two relaxation region in the investigated frequency and temperature interval. These regions can be called as low and high-frequency dispersion regions. Low-frequency dispersion region can be attributed to the polarization of the main part of the chain structure of TlSe while high-frequency dispersion region can be attributed to the polarization of side parts of the structure.

Keywords: thin films, thallium selenide, dielectric spectroscopy, binary compounds

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Authors: Shareefa Abdullah Al-Maqtari, Ruzaika Omar Basaree, Rafeah Legino

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A pictorial representation of hybrid forms in science-art collaboration has become a crucial issue in the course of exploring a new painting technique development. This is straight related to the reception of an invisible-recognition phenomenology. In hybrid pictorial representation of invisible-recognition phenomenology, the challenging issue is how to depict the pictorial features of indescribable objects from its mental source, modality and transparency. This paper proposes the hybrid technique of painting Demonstrate, Resemble, and Synthesize (DRS) through a combination of the hybrid aspect-recognition representation of understanding picture, demonstrative mod, the number theory, pattern in the modular arithmetic system, and the coherence theory of visual attention in the dynamic scenes representation. Multi-methods digital gaze data analyses, pattern-modular table operation design, and rotation parameter were used for the visualization. In the scientific processes, Eye-trackingvideo-sections based was conducted using Tobii T60 remote eye tracking hardware and TobiiStudioTM analysis software to collect and analyze the eye movements of ten participants when watching the video clip, Alexander Paulikevitch’s performance’s ‘Tajwal’. Results: we found that correlation of fixation count in section one was positively and moderately correlated with section two Person’s (r=.10, p < .05, 2-tailed) as well as in fixation duration Person’s (r=.10, p < .05, 2-tailed). However, a paired-samples t-test indicates that scores were significantly higher for the section one (M = 2.2, SD = .6) than for the section two (M = 1.93, SD = .6) t(9) = 2.44, p < .05, d = 0.87. In the visual process, the exported data of gaze number N was resembled the hybrid forms of visuospatial attention using the table-mod-analyses operation. The explored hybrid guideline was simply applicable, and it could be as alternative approach to the sustainability of contemporary visual arts.

Keywords: science-art collaboration, hybrid forms, pictorial representation, visuospatial attention, modular arithmetic

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Authors: P. Siriarchawatana, K. Leungchavaphongse, N. Covavisaruch, K. Rojananuangnit, P. Boondaeng, N. Panyayingyong

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Glaucoma is a disease that causes visual loss in adults. Glaucoma causes damage to the optic nerve and its overall pathophysiology is still not fully understood. Vasculopathy may be one of the possible causes of nerve damage. Photographic imaging of retinal vessels by fundus camera during eye examination may complement clinical management. This paper presents an innovation for measuring central light reflex width-to-retinal vessel diameter ratio (CRR) from digital retinal photographs. Using our edge detection technique, CRRs from glaucoma and normal eyes were compared to examine differences and associations. CRRs were evaluated on fundus photographs of participants from Mettapracharak (Wat Raikhing) Hospital in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. Fifty-five photographs from normal eyes and twenty-one photographs from glaucoma eyes were included. Participants with hypertension were excluded. In each photograph, CRRs from four retinal vessels, including arteries and veins in the inferotemporal and superotemporal regions, were quantified using edge detection technique. From our finding, mean CRRs of all four retinal arteries and veins were significantly higher in persons with glaucoma than in those without glaucoma (0.34 vs. 0.32, p < 0.05 for inferotemporal vein, 0.33 vs. 0.30, p < 0.01 for inferotemporal artery, 0.34 vs. 0.31, p < 0.01 for superotemporal vein, and 0.33 vs. 0.30, p < 0.05 for superotemporal artery). From these results, an increase in CRRs of retinal vessels, as quantitatively measured from fundus photographs, could be associated with glaucoma.

Keywords: glaucoma, retinal vessel, central light reflex, image processing, fundus photograph, edge detection

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Authors: Maximo Cozzetti

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The aim is to evaluate the capability of the 'Siberian Husky' (FCI-Standard Nº 270) breed of the common dog (Canis lupus familiaris) to detect terminally-ill human patients undergoing palliative care. A total of 49 such patients that fulfill the 'National Scientific and Technical Research Council–Ethical Principles for the Behavior of the Scientific and Technical Investigator' policy, (mainly affected with Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma or Stage IV Carcinoma, though various other terminal diseases were present) and 49 controls were enrolled. A total of 13 specimens of Siberian Huskies (Canis lupus familiaris FCI – Standard Nº 270) were selected. After a conditioning training regime in which the canines were rewarded when identifying terminally ill patients and excluding the control subjects, a double-blind experiment was conducted in which the canines were presented with a previously unknown patient through an olfactory-proof plexiglass window for 2-minute intervals. The test subjects correctly identified 89.80% of the humans as either ‘ill’ or ‘healthy’. It is important to note that both groups of humans were selected considering and preventing confounding and self-identifying factors such as age, ethnicity, clothing, posture, skin color, alopecia (chemotherapy-induced or otherwise), etc. The olfactory-proofing of the test area rules out the use of the sense of smell to detect distinctive drugs or bodily odors that may be associated with terminal diseases. Thus, the Siberian Husky breed of the common dog shows the visual capability to detect and identify terminally ill patients undergoing palliative care regardless of age, posture, and quantity of hair. Though the capability of the breed of dog to detect terminally-ill patients was observed thoroughly during the course of the experiments, the exact process by which the canines identify the test subjects remains unknown and further research is encouraged.

Keywords: Canis lupus familiaris, Siberian Husky, visual identification of terminall illness, FCI-Standard Nº270

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Said Benaissa, David Plets, Emmeric Tanghe, Jens Trogh, Luc Martens, Leen Vandaele, Annelies Van Nuffel, Frank A. M. Tuyttens, Bart Sonck, Wout Joseph

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The herd monitoring and managing - in particular the detection of ‘attention animals’ that require care, treatment or assistance is crucial for effective reproduction status, health, and overall well-being of dairy cows. In large sized farms, traditional methods based on direct observation or analysis of video recordings become labour-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, automatic monitoring systems using sensors have become increasingly important to continuously and accurately track the health status of dairy cows. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and internet-of-things (IoT) can be effectively used in health tracking of dairy cows to facilitate herd management and enhance the cow welfare. Since on-cow measuring devices are energy-constrained, a proper characterization of the off-body wireless channel between the on-cow sensor nodes and the back-end base station is required for a power-optimized deployment of these networks in barns. The aim of this study was to characterize the off-body wireless channel in indoor (barns) environment at 868 MHz using LoRa nodes. LoRa is an emerging wireless technology mainly targeted at WSNs and IoT networks. Both large scale fading (i.e., path loss) and temporal fading were investigated. The obtained path loss values as a function of the transmitter-receiver separation were well fitted by a lognormal path loss model. The path loss showed an additional increase of 4 dB when the wireless node was actually worn by the cow. The temporal fading due to movement of other cows was well described by Rician distributions with a K-factor of 8.5 dB. Based on this characterization, network planning and energy consumption optimization of the on-body wireless nodes could be performed, which enables the deployment of reliable dairy cow monitoring systems.

Keywords: channel, channel modelling, cow monitoring, dairy cows, health monitoring, IoT, LoRa, off-body propagation, PLF, propagation

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Authors: Sriram Kashyap Prasad, Ionut Florescu

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This study models the intraday asset prices as driven by Markov process. This work identifies the latent states of the Hidden Markov model, using limit order book data (trades and quotes) to continuously estimate the states throughout the day. This work builds a trading strategy using estimated states to generate signals. The strategy utilizes current state to recalibrate buy/ sell levels and the transition between states to trigger stop-loss when adverse price movements occur. The proposed trading strategy is tested on the Stevens High Frequency Trading (SHIFT) platform. SHIFT is a highly realistic market simulator with functionalities for creating an artificial market simulation by deploying agents, trading strategies, distributing initial wealth, etc. In the implementation several assets on the NASDAQ exchange are used for testing. In comparison to a strategy with static buy/ sell levels, this study shows that the number of limit orders that get matched and executed can be increased. Executing limit orders earns rebates on NASDAQ. The system can capture jumps in the limit order book prices, provide dynamic buy/sell levels and trigger stop loss signals to improve the PnL (Profit and Loss) performance of the strategy.

Keywords: algorithmic trading, Hidden Markov model, high frequency trading, limit order book learning

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Authors: Gianluca Castelnuovo, Gian Mauro Manzoni, Giada Pietrabissa, Stefania Corti, Emanuele Giusti, Roberto Cattivelli, Enrico Molinari, Susan Simpson

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Obesity is currently an important public health problem of epidemic proportions (globesity). Moreover Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is typically connected with obesity, even if not occurring exclusively in conjunction with overweight conditions. Typically obesity with BED requires a longer term treatment in comparison with simple obesity. Rehabilitation interventions that aim at improving weight-loss, reducing obesity-related complications and changing dysfunctional behaviors, should ideally be carried out in a multidisciplinary context with a clinical team composed of psychologists, dieticians, psychiatrists, endocrinologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, etc. Long-term outpatient multidisciplinary treatments are likely to constitute an essential aspect of rehabilitation, due to the growing costs of a limited inpatient approach. Internet-based technologies can improve long-term obesity rehabilitation within a collaborative approach. The new m health (m-health, mobile health) paradigm, defined as clinical practices supported by up to date mobile communication devices, could increase compliance- engagement and contribute to a significant cost reduction in BED and obesity rehabilitation. Five psychological components need to be considered for successful m Health-based obesity rehabilitation in order to facilitate weight-loss.1) Self-monitoring. Portable body monitors, pedometers and smartphones are mobile and, therefore, can be easily used, resulting in continuous self-monitoring. 2) Counselor feedback and communication. A functional approach is to provide online weight-loss interventions with brief weekly or monthly counselor or psychologist visits. 3) Social support. A group treatment format is typically preferred for behavioral weight-loss interventions. 4) Structured program. Technology-based weight-loss programs incorporate principles of behavior therapy and change with structured weekly protocolos including nutrition, exercise, stimulus control, self-regulation strategies, goal-setting. 5) Individually tailored program. Interventions specifically designed around individual’s goals typically record higher rates of adherence and weight loss. Opportunities and limitations of m health approach in clinical psychology for obesity and BED are discussed, taking into account future research directions in this promising area.

Keywords: obesity, rehabilitation, out-patient, new technologies, tele medicine, tele care, m health, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, chronic care management

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Authors: Neha Gupta

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Landslide vulnerability is considered as the crucial parameter for the assessment of landslide risk. The term vulnerability defined as the damage or degree of elements at risk of different dimensions, i.e., physical, social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Himalaya region is very prone to multi-hazard such as floods, forest fires, earthquakes, and landslides. With the increases in fatalities rates, loss of infrastructure, and economy due to landslide in the Himalaya region, leads to the assessment of vulnerability. In this study, a methodology to measure the combination of vulnerability dimension, i.e., social vulnerability, physical vulnerability, and environmental vulnerability in one framework. A combined result of these vulnerabilities has rarely been carried out. But no such approach was applied in the Indian Scenario. The methodology was applied in an area of east Sikkim Himalaya, India. The physical vulnerability comprises of building footprint layer extracted from remote sensing data and Google Earth imaginary. The social vulnerability was assessed by using population density based on land use. The land use map was derived from a high-resolution satellite image, and for environment vulnerability assessment NDVI, forest, agriculture land, distance from the river were assessed from remote sensing and DEM. The classes of social vulnerability, physical vulnerability, and environment vulnerability were normalized at the scale of 0 (no loss) to 1 (loss) to get the homogenous dataset. Then the Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) was used to assign individual weights to each dimension and then integrate it into one frame. The final vulnerability was further classified into four classes from very low to very high.

Keywords: landslide, multi-criteria analysis, MCA, physical vulnerability, social vulnerability

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Authors: Amanda Silva Parra, Dayra Yisel García Ramirez

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In developing countries, agricultural "modernization" has led to a loss of biodiversity and inefficiency of agricultural systems, manifested in increases in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) and the C footprint, generating the susceptibility of systems agriculture to environmental problems, loss of biodiversity, depletion of natural resources, soil degradation and loss of nutrients, and a decrease in the supply of products that affect food security for peoples and nations. Each year agriculture emits 10 to 12% (5.1 to 6.1 Gt CO2eq per year) of the total estimated GHG emissions (51 Gt CO2 eq per year). The FAO recommends that countries that have not yet done so consider declaring sustainable agriculture as an essential or strategic activity of public interest within the framework of green economies to better face global climate change. The objective of this research was to estimate the balance of GHG in agricultural systems of Cumaral, Meta (Colombia), to contribute to the recovery and sustainable operation of agricultural systems that guarantee food security and face changes generated by the climate in a more intelligent way. To determine the GHG balances, the IPCC methodologies were applied with a Tier 1 and 2 level of use. It was estimated that all the silvopastoral systems evaluated play an important role in this reconversion compared to conventional systems such as improved pastures. and degraded pastures due to their ability to capture C both in soil and in biomass, generating positive GHG balances, guaranteeing greater sustainability of soil and air resources.

Keywords: climate change, carbon capture, environmental sustainability, GHG mitigation, silvopastoral systems

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Authors: Peiyin Hung, Katy Kozhimannil, Michelle Casey, Ira Moscovice

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Background/Objective: The loss of obstetric services has been a pressing concern in urban and rural areas nationwide. This study aims to determine factors that contribute to the loss of obstetric care through closures of a hospital or obstetric unit. Methods: Data from 2002-2013 American Hospital Association annual surveys were used to identify hospitals providing obstetric services. We linked these data to Medicare Healthcare Cost Report Information for hospital financial indicators, the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for zip-code level characteristics, and Area Health Resource files for county- level clinician supply measures. A discrete-time multinomial logit model was used to determine contributing factors to obstetric unit or hospital closures. Results: Of 3,551 hospitals providing obstetrics services during 2002-2013, 82% kept units open, 12% stopped providing obstetrics services, and 6% closed down completely. State-level variations existed. Factors that significantly increased hospitals’ probability of obstetric unit closures included lower than 250 annual birth volume (adjusted marginal effects [95% confidence interval]=34.1% [28%, 40%]), closer proximity to another hospital with obstetric services (per 10 miles: -1.5% [-2.4, -0.5%]), being in a county with lower family physician supply (-7.8% [-15.0%, -0.6%), being in a zip code with higher percentage of non-white females (per 10%: 10.2% [2.1%, 18.3%]), and with lower income (per $1,000 income: -0.14% [-0.28%, -0.01%]). Conclusions: Over the past 12 years, loss of obstetric services has disproportionately affected areas served by low-volume urban and rural hospitals, non-white and low-income communities, and counties with fewer family physicians, signaling a need to address maternity care access in these communities.

Keywords: access to care, obstetric care, service line discontinuation, hospital, obstetric unit closures

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Authors: Linh Nguyen Tung, Anh Truong Viet, Nghien Nguyen Ba, Chuong Trinh Trong

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This paper proposes a reconfiguration methodology based on a continuous genetic algorithm (CGA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) for minimizing active power loss and minimizing voltage deviation. Both algorithms are adapted using graph theory to generate feasible individuals, and the modified crossover is used for continuous variable of CGA. To demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed methods, a comparative analysis of CGA with PSO for network reconfiguration, on 33-node and 119-bus radial distribution system is presented. The simulation results have shown that both CGA and PSO can be used in the distribution network reconfiguration and CGA outperformed PSO with significant success rate in finding optimal distribution network configuration.

Keywords: distribution network reconfiguration, particle swarm optimization, continuous genetic algorithm, power loss reduction, voltage deviation

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Authors: Burak Köken, Hatice D. Arslan, Bilgehan Y. Çakmak

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Analyzing the relation networks between the hospital buildings which have complex structure and distinctive spatial relationships is quite difficult. The hospital buildings which require specialty in spatial relationship solutions during design and self-innovation through the developing technology should survive and keep giving service even after the disasters such as earthquakes. In this study, a hospital building where the load-bearing system was strengthened because of the insufficient earthquake performance and the construction of an additional building was required to meet the increasing need for space was discussed and a comparative spatial evaluation of the hospital building was made with regard to its status before the change and after the change. For this reason, spatial organizations of the building before change and after the change were analyzed by means of Space Syntax method and the effects of the change on space organization parameters were searched by applying an analytical procedure. Using Depthmap UCL software, connectivity, visual mean depth, beta and visual integration analyses were conducted. Based on the data obtained after the analyses, it was seen that the relationships between spaces of the building increased after the change and the building has become more explicit and understandable for the occupants. Furthermore, it was determined according to findings of the analysis that the increase in depth causes difficulty in perceiving the spaces and the changes considering this problem generally ease spatial use.

Keywords: architecture, hospital building, space syntax, strengthening

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Authors: Matthew D. Baffa

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Infrared thermography is a non-destructive test method used to estimate surface temperatures based on the amount of electromagnetic energy radiated by building envelope components. These surface temperatures are indicators of various qualitative building envelope deficiencies such as locations and extent of heat loss, thermal bridging, damaged or missing thermal insulation, air leakage, and moisture presence in roof, floor, and wall assemblies. Although infrared thermography is commonly used for qualitative deficiency detection in buildings, this study assesses its use as a quantitative method to estimate the overall thermal conductance value (U-value) of the exterior above-grade walls of a study home. The overall U-value of exterior above-grade walls in a home provides useful insight into the energy consumption and thermal comfort of a home. Three methodologies from the literature were employed to estimate the overall U-value by equating conductive heat loss through the exterior above-grade walls to the sum of convective and radiant heat losses of the walls. Outdoor infrared thermography field measurements of the exterior above-grade wall surface and reflective temperatures and emissivity values for various components of the exterior above-grade wall assemblies were carried out during winter months at the study home using a basic thermal imager device. The overall U-values estimated from each methodology from the literature using the recorded field measurements were compared to the nominal exterior above-grade wall overall U-value calculated from materials and dimensions detailed in architectural drawings of the study home. The nominal overall U-value was validated through calendarization and weather normalization of utility bills for the study home as well as various estimated heat loss quantities from a HOT2000 computer model of the study home and other methods. Under ideal environmental conditions, the estimated overall U-values deviated from the nominal overall U-value between ±2% to ±33%. This study suggests infrared thermography can estimate the overall U-value of exterior above-grade walls in low-rise residential homes with a fair amount of accuracy.

Keywords: emissivity, heat loss, infrared thermography, thermal conductance

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Authors: Sana Dridi, Jalel Aouissi, Rafla Attia, Taoufik Hermassi, Thouraya Sahli

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Soil erosion is an increasing issue in Mediterranean countries. In Tunisia, the capacity of dam reservoirs continues to decrease as a consequence of soil erosion. This study aims to predict sediment yield to enrich soil management practices using Soil and Water Assessment Tools model (SWAT) in the Siliana watershed (1041.6 km²), located in the northwest of Tunisia. A database was constructed using remote sensing and Geographical Information System. Climatic and flow data were collected from water resources directorates in Tunisia. The SWAT model was built to simulate hydrological processes and sediment transport. A sensitivity analysis, calibration, and validation were performed using SWAT-CUP software. The model calibration of stream flow simulations shows a good performance with NSE and R² values of 0.77 and 0.79, respectively. The model validation shows a very good performance with values of NSE and R² for 0.8 and 0.88, respectively. After calibration and validation of stream flow simulation, the model was used to simulate the soil erosion and sediment load transport. The spatial distributions of soil loss rate for determining the critical sediment source areas show that 63 % of the study area has a low soil loss rate less than 7 t ha⁻¹y⁻¹. The annual average soil loss rate simulated with the SWAT model in the Siliana watershed is 4.62 t ha⁻¹y⁻¹.

Keywords: water erosion, SWAT model, streamflow, SWATCUP, sediment yield

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Authors: Nan Stevens

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Photo-voice is a participatory method through which participants identify and represent their lived experiences and contexts through the use of photo imagery. Photo-voice is a qualitative research method that explores individuals’ lived experiences. This method is known as a creative art form to help researchers listen to the 'voice' of a certain population. A teacher educator at Thompson Rivers University, responsible for preparing new teachers for the demands of the profession in an ever-changing demographic, utilized the Photo-voice method to enable a self-study of emerging teachers’ readiness for the inclusive classroom. Coding analysis was applied to 96 Photo-voice portfolios, which were created over two years with the Inclusive Education course work, in a Bachelor of Education program (Elementary). Coding utilized students’ written associations to their visual images, anecdotes attached to visual metaphors, and personal narratives that illustrated the professional development process in which they were engaged. Thematic findings include: 1) becoming an inclusive educator is a process; 2) one must be open to identifying and exploring their fear and biases, and 3) an attitudinal shift enables relevant skill acquisition and readiness for working with diverse student needs.

Keywords: teacher education, inclusive education, professional development, Photo-voice

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Authors: Patrik Johansson, Selina Mardh

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The present study proposes a usability test method, Atmosphere, to assess the fitness of components and interaction patterns of design systems. The method covers the user’s perception of the components of the system, the efficiency of the logic of the interaction patterns, perceived ease of use as well as the user’s understanding of the intended outcome of interactions. These aspects are assessed by combining measures of first impression, visual affordance and expectancy. The method was applied to a design system developed for the design of an electronic health record system. The study was conducted involving 15 healthcare personnel. It could be concluded that the Atmosphere method provides tangible data that enable human-computer interaction practitioners to analyze and categorize components and patterns based on perceived usability, success rate of identifying interactive components and success rate of understanding components and interaction patterns intended outcome.

Keywords: atomic design, atmosphere methodology, design system, expectancy testing, first impression testing, usability testing, visual affordance testing

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Authors: P. Neeraj, Anurag Sharma, Harsukhpreet Singh

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In current years, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) scheme based on steady-state Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) have earned much consideration. This study tries to evolve an SSVEP based BCI scheme that can regulate any gadget mock-up in two unique positions ON and OFF. In this paper, two distinctive gleam frequencies in low-frequency part were utilized to evoke the SSVEPs and were shown on a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen utilizing Lab View. Two stimuli shading, Yellow, and Blue were utilized to prepare the system in SSVEPs. The Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded from the occipital part. Elements of the brain were separated by utilizing discrete wavelet Transform. A prominent system for multilayer system diverse Neural Network Algorithm (NNA), is utilized to characterize SSVEP signals. During training of the network with diverse calculation Regression plot results demonstrated that when Levenberg-Marquardt preparing calculation was utilized the exactness turns out to be 93.9%, which is superior to another training algorithm.

Keywords: brain computer interface, electroencephalography, steady-state visual evoked potential, wavelet transform, neural network

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Authors: Adel Francis

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Most of scheduling methods and software apply the critical path logic. This logic schedule activities, apply constraints between these activities and try to optimize and level the allocated resources. The extensive use of this logic produces a complex an erroneous network hard to present, follow and update. Planning and management building projects should tackle the coordination of works and the management of limited spaces, traffic, and supplies. Activities cannot be performed without the resources available and resources cannot be used beyond the capacity of workplaces. Otherwise, workspace congestion will negatively affect the flow of works. The objective of the space planning is to link the spatial and temporal aspects, promote efficient use of the site, define optimal site occupancy rates, and ensures suitable rotation of the workforce in the different spaces. The Chronographic scheduling modelling belongs to this category and models construction operations as well as their processes, logical constraints, association and organizational models, which help to better illustrate the schedule information using multiple flexible approaches. The model defined three categories of areas (punctual, surface and linear) and four different layers (space creation, systems, closing off space, finishing, and reduction of space). The Chronographical modelling is a more complete communication method, having the ability to alternate from one visual approach to another by manipulation of graphics via a set of parameters and their associated values. Each individual approach can help to schedule a certain project type or specialty. Visual communication can also be improved through layering, sheeting, juxtaposition, alterations, and permutations, allowing for groupings, hierarchies, and classification of project information. In this way, graphic representation becomes a living, transformable image, showing valuable information in a clear and comprehensible manner, simplifying the site management while simultaneously utilizing the visual space as efficiently as possible.

Keywords: building projects, chronographic modelling, CPM, critical path, precedence diagram, scheduling

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Authors: Anupriya, Bikramjit Sinfh, Radhay Shyam

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In order to improve mixing phenomena and combustion processes in supersonic flow, the current work has concentrated on identifying the ideal cavity parameters using CFD ANSYS Fluent. Offset ratios (OR) and aft ramp angles () have been manipulated in simulations of several models, but the length-to-depth ratio has remained the same. The length-to-depth ratio of all cavity flows is less than 10, making them all open. Hydrogen fuel was injected into a supersonic air flow with a Mach number of 3.75 using a chamber with a 1 mm diameter and a transverse slot nozzle. The free stream had conditions of a pressure of 1.2 MPa, a temperature of 299K, and a Reynolds number of 2.07x107. This method has the ability to retain a flame since the cavity facilitates rapid mixing of fuel and oxidizer and decreases total pressure losses. The impact of the cavity on combustion efficiency and total pressure loss is discussed, and the results are compared to those of a model without a cavity. Both the mixing qualities and the combustion processes were enhanced in the model with the cavity. The overall pressure loss as well as the effectiveness of the combustion process both increase with the increase in the ramp angle to the rear. When OR is increased, however, resistance to the supersonic flow field is reduced, which has a detrimental effect on both parameters. For a given ramp height, larger pressure losses were observed at steeper ramp angles due to increased eddy-viscous turbulent flow and increased wall drag.

Keywords: total pressure loss, flame holder, supersonic combustion, combustion efficiency, cavity, nozzle

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Authors: Rishi Richa, N. C. Shahi, J. P. Pandey, S. S. Kautkar

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Citrus fruits rank third in area and production after banana and mango in India. Sweet oranges are the second largest citrus fruits cultivated in the country. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand are the main sweet orange-growing states. Citrus fruits occupy a leading position in the fruit trade of Uttarakhand, is casing about 14.38% of the total area under fruits and contributing nearly 17.75 % to the total fruit production. Malta is grown in most of the hill districts of the Uttarakhand. Malta common is having high acceptability due to its attractive colour, distinctive flavour, and taste. The excellent quality fruits are generally available for only one or two months. However due to its less shelf-life, Malta can not be stored for longer time under ambient conditions and cannot be transported to distant places. Continuous loss of water adversely affects the quality of Malta during storage and transportation. Method of picking, packaging, and cold storage has detrimental effects on moisture loss. The climatic condition such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind condition (aeration) and microbial attack greatly influences the rate of moisture loss and quality. Therefore, different agro-climatic zone will have different moisture loss pattern. The rate of moisture loss can be taken as one of the quality parameters in combination of one or more parameter such as RH, and aeration. The moisture contents of the fruits and vegetables determine their freshness. Hence, it is important to maintain initial moisture status of fruits and vegetable for prolonged period after the harvest. Keeping all points in views, effort was made to store Malta at ambient condition. In this study, the response surface method and experimental design were applied for optimization of independent variables to enhance the shelf life of four months stored malta. Box-Benkhen design, with, 12 factorial points and 5 replicates at the centre point were used to build a model for predicting and optimizing storage process parameters. The independent parameters, viz., scavenger (3, 4 and 5g), polythene thickness (75, 100 and 125 gauge) and fungicide concentration (100, 150 and 200ppm) were selected and analyzed. 5g scavenger, 125 gauge and 200ppm solution of fungicide are the optimized value for storage which may enhance life up to 4months.

Keywords: Malta fruit, scavenger, packaging, shelf life

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Authors: Alireza Mehdizadeh, Ghanbarali Sheikhzadeh

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In this paper the pressure loss of drilling fluid flow in the annulus is investigated. On this purpose the domains between two concentric and two eccentric cylinders are considered as computational domains. In this research foam is used as drilling fluid. Firstly simulation results for laminar flow and non Newtonian fluid and different density like 100, 200, 300 kg/m3 and different inner cylinder rotational velocity like 100, 200, 300 RPM is presented. These results are compared and matched with references results. The power law and Herschel Bulkly methods are used for non Newtonian fluid modeling. After that computations are repeated with turbulence flow considering. K- Model is used for turbulence modeling. Results show that in laminar flow Herschel bulkly model has best result in comparison with power law model. And pressure loss in turbulence flow is higher than laminar flow.

Keywords: simulation, concentric cylinders, drilling, non Newtonian

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Authors: Umesh Kumar Sinha, Y. K. Nayak, N. Kumar, Swapnil Saurav, Monika Kashyap

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The authors investigate the effect of system and operating parameters on the performance of high temperature solar concentrator for power generation. The effects of system and operating parameters were investigated using the developed mathematical expressions for collector efficiency, heat removal factor, fluid outlet temperature and power, etc. The results were simulated using C++program. The simulated results were plotted for investigation like effect of thermal loss parameter and radiative loss parameters on the collector efficiency, heat removal factor, fluid outlet temperature, rise of temperature and effect of mass flow rate of the fluid outlet temperature. In connection with the power generation, plots were drawn for the effect of (TM–TAMB) on the variation of concentration efficiency, concentrator irradiance on PM/PMN, evaporation temperature on thermal to electric power efficiency (Conversion efficiency) of the plant and overall efficiency of solar power plant.

Keywords: parabolic trough solar collector, radiative and thermal loss parameters, collector efficiency, heat removal factor, fluid outlet and inlet temperatures, rise of temperature, mass flow rate, conversion efficiency, concentrator irradiance

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Authors: Mohamed Abdel Sabour, Mohamed Nouh, Ian Stevans, Essam Elkholy

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We study the period change of six Cepheids using 19376 accurate flux observations of the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) onboard the Coriolis spacecraft. All observations for the six Cepheids have been derived as templates for each star, independent of the specific sites utilized to establish and update the O-C values. Sometimes, sinusoidal patterns are superimposed on the star's O-C changes, which cannot be regarded as random fluctuations in the pulsation period. Random period changes were detected and computed using Eddington's and Plakidis's approaches. A comparison of the observed and predicted period change reveals a good agreement with some published models and a very substantial divergence with others. Between the reported period change and that estimated by the current technique, a linear fit with a correlation coefficient of 90.08 percent was obtained. The temporal rate of period change in Cepheid stars might be connected to how well these stars' mass losses are known today.

Keywords: cepheids, period change, mass loss, O-C changes, period change, mass loss, O-C

Procedia PDF Downloads 11

Authors: Elham Soltani Dehnavi

Abstract:

In today’s compact cities, bringing daylighting and fresh air to buildings is a significant challenge, but it also presents opportunities to reduce energy consumption in buildings by reducing the need for artificial lighting and mechanical systems. Simple adjustments to building form can contribute to their efficiency. This paper examines how the relationship between the width and depth of the rooms in office buildings affects visual and thermal comfort, and consequently energy savings. Based on these evaluations, we can determine the best location for sedentary areas in a room. We can also propose improvements to occupant experience and minimize the difference between the predicted and measured performance in buildings by changing other design parameters, such as natural ventilation strategies, glazing properties, and shading. This study investigates the condition of spatial daylighting and thermal comfort for a range of room configurations using computer simulations, then it suggests the best depth for optimizing both daylighting and thermal comfort, and consequently energy performance in each room type. The Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) is 40% with 0.8m window sill and 0.4m window head. Also, there are some fixed parameters chosen according to building codes and standards, and the simulations are done in Seattle, USA. The simulation results are presented as evaluation grids using the thresholds for different metrics such as Daylight Autonomy (DA), spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE), and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) for visual comfort, and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD), occupied Thermal Comfort Percentage (occTCP), over-heated percent, under-heated percent, and Standard Effective Temperature (SET) for thermal comfort that are extracted from Grasshopper scripts. The simulation tools are Grasshopper plugins such as Ladybug, Honeybee, and EnergyPlus. According to the results, some metrics do not change much along the room depth and some of them change significantly. So, we can overlap these grids in order to determine the comfort zone. The overlapped grids contain 8 metrics, and the pixels that meet all 8 mentioned metrics’ thresholds define the comfort zone. With these overlapped maps, we can determine the comfort zones inside rooms and locate sedentary areas there. Other parts can be used for other tasks that are not used permanently or need lower or higher amounts of daylight and thermal comfort is less critical to user experience. The results can be reflected in a table to be used as a guideline by designers in the early stages of the design process.

Keywords: occupant experience, office buildings, space depth, thermal comfort, visual comfort

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Rafael A. B. De Medeiros, Zilmar M. P. Barros, Carlos B. O. De Carvalho, Eunice G. Fraga Neta, Maria I. S. Maciel, Patricia M. Azoubel

Abstract:

The use of the sugar substitution technique (D3S) in mango was studied. It consisted of two stages and the use of ultrasound in one or both stages was evaluated in terms of water loss and solid gain. Higher water loss results were found subjecting the fruit samples to ultrasound in the first stage followed by immersion of the samples in Stevia-based solution with application of ultrasound in the second stage, while higher solids gain were obtained without application of ultrasound in second stage. Samples were evaluated in terms of total carotenoids content and total color difference. Samples submitted to ultrasound in both D3S stages presented higher carotenoid retention compared to samples sonicated only in the first stage. Color of man goes after the D3S process showed notable changes.

Keywords: Mangifera indica L., quality, Stevia rebaudiana, ultrasound

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Chunying Fang, Haifeng Li, Lin Ma, Mancai Zhang

Abstract:

Speech intelligibility assessment is an important measure to evaluate the functional outcomes of surgical and non-surgical treatment, speech therapy and rehabilitation. The assessment of pathological speech plays an important role in assisting the experts. Pathological speech usually is non-stationary and mutational, in this paper, we describe a multi-granularity combined feature schemes, and which is optimized by hierarchical visual method. First of all, the difference granularity level pathological features are extracted which are BAFS (Basic acoustics feature set), local spectral characteristics MSCC (Mel s-transform cepstrum coefficients) and nonlinear dynamic characteristics based on chaotic analysis. Latterly, radar chart and F-score are proposed to optimize the features by the hierarchical visual fusion. The feature set could be optimized from 526 to 96-dimensions.The experimental results denote that new features by support vector machine (SVM) has the best performance, with a recognition rate of 84.4% on NKI-CCRT corpus. The proposed method is thus approved to be effective and reliable for pathological speech intelligibility evaluation.

Keywords: pathological speech, multi-granularity feature, MSCC (Mel s-transform cepstrum coefficients), F-score, radar chart

Procedia PDF Downloads 265

Authors: Stefan Bauer, Josef Frysak

Abstract:

According to the scientific information management literature, the improper use of information technology (e.g. personal computers) by employees are one main cause for operational and information security loss events. Therefore, organizations implement information security awareness programs to increase employees’ awareness to further prevention of loss events. However, in many cases these information security awareness programs consist of conventional delivery methods like posters, leaflets, or internal messages to make employees aware of information security policies. We assume that a viral information security awareness video might be more effective medium than conventional methods commonly used by organizations. The purpose of this research is to develop a viral video artifact to improve employee security behavior concerning information technology.

Keywords: information security awareness, delivery methods, viral videos, employee security behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 525

Authors: S. Zenia, A. Menasseria, A. E. Kheidous, F. Lariouna, A. Smai, H. Saadi, F. Haddadj, A. Milla, F. Marniche

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to estimate the correlation ship between different pheasant external egg quality traits. A total of 938 eggs were collected. Egg weight (g), egg length (mm), egg width (mm), volume (cm3), shape index egg, surface area and water loss were measured. The overall mean values obtained for the different variables are respectively 29.2 ± 2,24, 43.01 ± 1,84, 34.05 ± 1,44, 25.63 ± 2.88 cm3, 79.00 ± 3%, 68% and 13%. Concerning studied regressions, it was considered only the most important regressions. Those that show significant links between the different parameters studied. The ANOVA procedure was applied to estimate correlations for the examined traits. The weights of the eggs being observed before incubation and before hatching are linearly correlated with a positive correlation coefficient of order 0.75. Egg length and the weight before incubation had a good and positive correlation with a coefficient r = 0.6. However, density had high and negative correlations with egg height r = -0.78. Shape index had a good linear and negative r= - 0.71 correlation with water loss.

Keywords: correlation, egg, morphometry of eggs, analysis of variance

Procedia PDF Downloads 434

Authors: Francisco Alvarado, Luz Ramírez

Abstract:

Corneal diseases are one of the main causes of visual impairment and affect almost 4 million, and this study assesses the effects of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) with porcine corneal stroma and postoperative topical treatment with tacrolimus in patients with infectious keratitis. No patient was observed with clinical graft rejection. Among the cases: 2 were positive to fungal culture, 2 with Aspergillus and the other 8 cases were confirmed by bacteriological culture. Corneal diseases are one of the main causes of visual impairment and affect almost 4 million. This study assesses the effects of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) with porcine corneal stroma and postoperative topical treatment with tacrolimus in patients with infectious keratitis. Receiver bed diameters ranged from 7.00 to 9.00 mm. No incidents of Descemet's membrane perforation were observed during surgery. During the follow-up period, no corneal graft splitting, IOP increase, or intolerance to tacrolimus were observed. Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty seems to be the best option to avoid xenograft rejection, and it could help new surgical techniques in humans.

Keywords: ophthalmology, cornea, corneal transplant, xenografts, surgical innovations

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: M. Habibi

Abstract:

The feasibility of proton-boron fusion in plasmoids caused by magneto hydrodynamics instabilities in plasma focus devices is studied analytically. In plasmoids, fusion power for 76 keV < Ti < 1500 keV exceeds bremsstrahlung loss (W/Pb=5.39). In such situation gain factor and the ratio of Te to Ti for a typical 150 kJ plasma focus device will be 7.8 and 4.8 respectively. Also with considering the ion viscous heating effect, W/Pb and Ti/Te will be 2.7 and 6 respectively. Strong magnetic field will reduces ion-electron collision rate due to quantization of electron orbits. While approximately there is no change in electron-ion collision rate, the effect of quantum magnetic field makes ions much hotter than electrons which enhance the fraction of fusion power to bremsstrahlung loss. Therefore self-sustained p-11B fusion reactions would be possible and it could be said that p-11B fuelled plasma focus device is a clean and efficient source of energy.

Keywords: plasmoids, p11B fuel, ion viscous heating, quantum magnetic field, plasma focus device

Procedia PDF Downloads 443