Search results for: clinical application

Authors: Salima Djehaichia, Rachid Lassoued

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Reinforced concrete structural walls are very efficient elements for protecting buildings against excessive early damage and against collapse under earthquake actions. It is therefore of interest to develop a numerical model which simulates the typical behavior of these units, this paper presents and describes different modeling techniques that have been used by researchers and their advantages and limitations mentioned. The earthquake of Boumerdes in 2003 has demonstrated the fragility of structures and total neglect of sismique design rules in the realization of old buildings. Significant damage and destruction of buildings caused by this earthquake are not due to the choice of type of material, but the design and the study does not congruent with seismic code requirements and bad quality of materials. For idealizing the failure of rules, a parametric study focuses on: low rate of reinforcements, type of reinforcement, resistance moderate of concrete. As an application the modeling strategy based on finite elements combined with a discretization of wall more solicited by successive thin layers. The estimated performance level achieved during a seismic action is obtained from capacity curves under incrementally increasing loads. Using a pushover analysis, a characteristic non linear force-displacement relationship can be determined. The results of numeric model are confronted with those of Algerian Para seismic Rules (RPA) in force have allowed the determination of profits in terms of displacement, shearing action, ductility.

Keywords: modeling, old building, pushover analysis, structural walls

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Lina Yang, Mao Wen, Jianhong Chen, Kan Zhang

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Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) represents a highly sought lubricant for reducing friction based on intrinsic layered structure, but for this reason, practical applications have been greatly restricted due to the fact that its low hardness would cause severe wear. Here, a novel TiMoN/MoSₓ composite coatings with TiMoN solid solution grains embedded into MoSₓ-based amorphous matrix has been successfully designed and synthesized, through magnetron co-sputtering technology. Desirably, in virtue of such special microstructure, superhardness and excellent toughness can be well achieved, along with an ultra-low wear rate at ~2×10⁻¹¹ mm³/Nm in the air environment, simultaneously, low friction at ~0.1 is maintained. It should be noted that this wear level is almost two orders of magnitude lower than that of pure TiN coating, and is, as we know, the lowest wear rate in dry sliding. Investigations of tribofilm reveal that it is amorphous MoS₂ in nature, and its formation arises directly from the MoSₓ amorphous matrix. Which contributes to effective lubrication behavior, coupled with excellent mechanical performances of such composite coating, exceptionally low wear can be guaranteed. The findings in this work suggest that the special composite structure makes it possible for the synthesis of super-hard and super-durable lubricative coating, offering guidance to synthesize ultrahigh performance protective coating for industrial application.

Keywords: hardness, MoS₂-containing composite coatings, toughness, tribological properties

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Authors: Paulina Ojeda, Damaris Estrella, Hector Rubio

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Insomnia is a disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or both. It negatively affects the life quality of people, it hinders the concentration, attention, memory, motor skills, among other abilities that complicate work or learning. Some studies show that women are more susceptible to insomnia. Medicine curricula usually involve a great deal of theoretical and memory content, especially in the early years of the course. The way to accredit a university course is to demonstrate the level of competence or acquired knowledge. In Mexico the most widely used form of measurement is written exams, with numerical scales results. The prevalence of sleep disorders in university students is usually high, so it is important to know if insomnia has an effect on school performance in men and women. A cross-sectional study was designed that included a probabilistic sample of 118 regular students from the School of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico. All on legally age. The project was authorized by the School of Medicine and all the ethical implications of the case were monitored. Participants completed anonymously the following questionnaires: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Insomnia Severity Index, AUDIT test, epidemiological and clinical data. Academic performance was assessed by the average number of official grades earned on written exams, as well as the number of approved or non-approved courses. These data were obtained officially through the corresponding school authorities. Students with at least one unapproved course or average less than 70 were considered to be poor performers. With all courses approved and average between 70-79 as regular performance and with an average of 80 or higher as a good performance. Statistical analysis: t-Student, difference of proportions and ANOVA. 65 men with a mean age of 19.15 ± 1.60 years and 53 women of 18.98 ± 1.23 years, were included. 96% of the women and 78.46% of the men sleep in the family home. 16.98% of women and 18.46% of men consume tobacco. Most students consume caffeinated beverages. 3.7% of the women and 10.76% of the men complete criteria of harmful consumption of alcohol. 98.11% of the women and 90.76% of the men are perceived with poor sleep quality. Insomnia was present in 73% of women and 66% of men. Women had higher levels of moderate insomnia (p=0.02) compared to men and only one woman had severe insomnia. 50.94% of the women and 44.61% of the men had poor academic performance. 18.86% of women and 27% of men performed well. Only in the group of women we found a significant association between poor performance with mild (p= 0.0035) and moderate (p=0.031) insomnia. The medical students reported poor sleep quality and insomnia. In women, levels of insomnia were associated with poor academic performance.

Keywords: scholar-average, sex, sleep, university

Procedia PDF Downloads 297

Authors: Sedat Aktas, Egemen Ulusoy, Remzi Yildirim

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This article explains how to get a ram image from a computer with a Linux operating system and what steps should be followed while getting it. What we mean by taking a ram image is the process of dumping the physical memory instantly and writing it to a file. This process can be likened to taking a picture of everything in the computer’s memory at that moment. This process is very important for tools that analyze ram images. Volatility can be given as an example because before these tools can analyze ram, images must be taken. These tools are used extensively in the forensic world. Forensic, on the other hand, is a set of processes for digitally examining the information on any computer or server on behalf of official authorities. In this article, the protected mode architecture in the Linux operating system is examined, and the way to save the image sample of the kernel driver and system memory to disk is followed. Tables and access methods to be used in the operating system are examined based on the basic architecture of the operating system, and the most appropriate methods and application methods are transferred to the article. Since there is no article directly related to this study on Linux in the literature, it is aimed to contribute to the literature with this study on obtaining ram images. LIME can be mentioned as a similar tool, but there is no explanation about the memory dumping method of this tool. Considering the frequency of use of these tools, the contribution of the study in the field of forensic medicine has been the main motivation of the study due to the intense studies on ram image in the field of forensics.

Keywords: linux, paging, addressing, ram-image, memory dumping, kernel modules, forensic

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Authors: Stella Y. Erinosho

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In an attempt to impact on girls’ interest in science, an instructional package on ‘Learn Science by Doing (LSD)’ was developed to support science teachers in teaching integrated science at the junior secondary level in Nigeria. LSD provides an instructional framework aimed at actively engaging girls in beginners’ science through activities that are discovery-oriented and allow for experiential learning. The goal of this study was to show the impact of application of LSD on girls’ performance and interest in science. The major hypothesis that was tested in the study was that students would exhibit higher learning outcomes (achievement and attitude) in science as effect of exposure to LSD instructional package. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, incorporating four all-girls schools. Three of the schools (comprising six classes) were randomly designated as experimental and one as the control. The sample comprised 357 girls (275 experimental and 82 control) and nine science teachers drawn from the experimental schools. The questionnaire was designed to gather data on students’ background characteristics and their attitude toward science while the cognitive outcomes were measured using tests, both within a group and between groups, the girls who had exposure to LSD exhibited improved cognitive outcomes and more positive attitude towards science compared with those who had conventional teaching. The data are consistent with previous studies indicating that interactive learning activities increase student performance and interest.

Keywords: active learning, school science, teaching and learning, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 386

Authors: Elena M. Kopteva, Pavlina Jaluvkova, Zdenek Stuchlik

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In spite of the numerous attempts to close the discussion about the influence of cosmological expansion on local gravitationally bounded systems, this question arises in literature again and again and remains still far from its final resolution. Here one of the main problems is the problem of obtaining a physically adequate model of strongly gravitating object immersed in non-static cosmological background. Such objects are usually called ‘cosmological’ black holes and are of great interest in wide set of cosmological and astrophysical areas. In this work the set of new exact solutions of the Einstein equations is derived for the flat space that generalizes the known Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solution for the case of nonzero pressure. The solutions obtained are pretending to describe the black hole immersed in nonstatic cosmological background and give a possibility to investigate the hot problems concerning the effects of the cosmological expansion in gravitationally bounded systems, the structure formation in the early universe, black hole thermodynamics and other related problems. It is shown that each of the solutions obtained contains either the Reissner-Nordstrom or the Schwarzschild black hole in the central region of the space. It is demonstrated that the approach of the mass function use in solving of the Einstein equations allows clear physical interpretation of the resulting solutions, that is of much benefit to any their concrete application.

Keywords: exact solutions of the Einstein equations, cosmological black holes, generalized Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solutions, nonzero pressure

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Authors: Sidra Suleman, Maliha Suleman, Stephen Brindley

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Oral rehabilitation of head and neck cancer patients plays a crucial role in the quality of life for such individuals post-treatment. Placement of dental implants or implant-retained prostheses can help restore oral function and aesthetics, which is often compromised following surgery. Conventional prosthodontic techniques can be insufficient in rehabilitating such patients due to their altered anatomy and reduced oral competence. Hence, there is a strong clinical need for the placement of dental implants. With an increasing incidence of head and neck cancer patients, the demand for such treatment is rising. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the survival rate of dental implants in head and neck cancer patients placed at the Restorative and Maxillofacial Department, Royal Stoke University Hospital (RSUH), United Kingdom. Methodology: All patients who received dental implants between January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2020 were identified. Patients were excluded based on three criteria: 1) non-head and neck cancer patients, 2) no outpatient follow-up post-implant placement 3) provision of non-dental implants. Scanned paper notes and electronic records were extracted and analyzed. Implant survival was defined as fixtures that had remained in-situ / not required removal. Sample: Overall, 61 individuals were recruited from the 143 patients identified. The mean age was 64.9 years, with a range of 35 – 89 years. The sample included 37 (60.7%) males and 24 (39.3%) females. In total, 211 implants were placed, of which 40 (19.0%) were in the maxilla, 152 (72.0%) in the mandible and 19 (9.0%) in autogenous bone graft sites. Histologically 57 (93.4%) patients had squamous cell carcinoma, with 43 (70.5%) patients having either stage IVA or IVB disease. As part of treatment, 42 (68.9%) patients received radiotherapy, which was carried out post-operatively for 29 (69.0%) cases. Whereas 21 (34.4%) patients underwent chemotherapy, 13 (61.9%) of which were post-operative. The Median follow-up period was 21.9 months with a range from 0.9 – 91.4 months. During the study, 23 (37.7%) patients died and their data was censored beyond the date of death. Results: In total, four patients who had received radiotherapy had one implant failure each. Two mandibular implants failed secondary to osteoradionecrosis, and two maxillary implants did not survive as a result of failure to osseointegrate. The overall implant survival rates were 99.1% at three years and 98.1% at both 5 and 7 years. Conclusions: Although this data shows that implant failure rates are low, it highlights the difficulty in predicting which patients will be affected. Future studies involving larger cohorts are warranted to further analyze factors affecting outcomes.

Keywords: oncology, dental implants, survival, restorative

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Authors: J. Yan, B. Pieper, B. Bucsky, H. H. Sievers, B. Nasseri, S. A. Mohamed

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In order to optimize the efficacy of medications, the regular follow-up with long-term continuous monitoring of heart rhythmic patterns has been facilitated since clinical introduction of cardiac implantable electronic monitoring devices (CIMD). Extensive analysis of rhythmic circadian properties is capable to disclose the distributions of arrhythmic events, which may support appropriate medication according rate-/rhythm-control strategy and minimize consequent afflictions. 348 patients (69 ± 0.5ys, male 61.8%) with predisposed atrial fibrillation (AF), undergoing primary ablating therapies combined to coronary or valve operations and secondary implantation of CIMDs, were involved and divided into 3 groups such as PAAF (paroxysmal AF) (n=99, male 68.7%), PEAF (persistent AF) (n=94, male 62.8%), and LSPEAF (long-standing persistent AF) (n=155, male 56.8%). All patients participated in three-year ambulant follow-up (3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months). Burdens of atrial fibrillation recurrence were assessed using cardiac monitor devices, whereby attacks frequencies and their circadian patterns were systemically analyzed. Anticoagulants and regular anti-arrhythmic medications were evaluated and the last were listed in terms of anti-rate and anti-rhythm regimens. Patients in the PEAF-group showed the least AF-burden after surgical ablating procedures compared to both of the other subtypes (p < 0.05). The AF-recurrences predominantly performed such attacks’ property as shorter than one hour, namely within 10 minutes (p < 0.05), regardless of AF-subtypes. Concerning circadian distribution of the recurrence attacks, frequent AF-attacks were mostly recorded in the morning in the PAAF-group (p < 0.05), while the patients with predisposed PEAF complained less attack-induced discomforts in the latter half of the night and the ones with LSPEAF only if they were not physically active after primary surgical ablations. Different AF-subtypes presented distinct therapeutic efficacies after appropriate surgical ablating procedures and recurrence properties in sense of circadian distribution. An optimization of medical regimen and drug dosages to maintain the therapeutic success needs more attention to detailed assessment of the long-term follow-up. Rate-control strategy plays a much more important role than rhythm-control in the ongoing follow-up examinations.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation, CIMD, MAZE, rate-control, rhythm-control, rhythm patterns

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Authors: G. Kabir, A. M. Mohammed, M. A. Bawa

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The paper presents corrosion behaviors of Naval Brass, aluminum alloy and carbon steel in simulated seawater under stagnant conditions. The behaviors were characterized on the variation of chloride ions concentration in the range of 3.0wt% and 3.5wt% and exposure time. The weight loss coupon-method immersion technique was employed. The weight loss for the various alloys was measured. Based on the obtained results, the corrosion rate was determined. It was found that the corrosion rates of the various alloys are related to the chloride ions concentrations, exposure time and kinetics of passive film formation of the various alloys. Carbon steel, suffers corrosion many folds more than Naval Brass. This indicated that the alloy exhibited relatively strong resistance to corrosion in the exposure environment of the seawater. Whereas, the aluminum alloy exhibited an excellent and beneficial resistance to corrosion more than the Naval Brass studied. Despite the prohibitive cost, Naval Brass and aluminum alloy, indicated to have beneficial corrosion behavior that can offer wide range of application in seashore operations. The corrosion kinetics parameters indicated that the corrosion reaction is limited by diffusion mass transfer of the corrosion reaction elements and not by reaction controlled.

Keywords: alloys, chloride ions concentration, corrosion kinetics, corrosion rate, diffusion mass transfer, exposure time, seawater, weight loss

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Authors: Kersch-Counet C., Fransen K. H. S., Broyd M., Nyakayiru J. D. O. A., Schoemaker M. H., Mallee L. F., Bovee-Oudenhoven I. M. J.

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Background: Around one third of people, including athletes, suffer from feelings of gut discomfort. Fermentation of dairy is a process that has been associated with products that can improve gut health. However, insight in (potential) health benefits of most fermented foods is limited to chemical analyses and in-vitro models. Objective: The aim of this open-label, single-arm explorative trial was to investigate in a real life setting the effect of consumption of a fermented whey product for 3 weeks on self-perceived physical and mental wellbeing and digestive issues in 150 US recreational athletes (20-50 years of age) with self-reported gut complaints at enrolment. Methods: Participants living at the West-Coast of the US received for 3 weeks a daily powder of 15 g of BiotisTM Fermentis to be mixed in water using a supplied shaker. Weekly questionnaires were conducted by MMR research to study the effect on physical/mental health issues and self-perceived gut complaints. Non-parametric tests (e.g., Friedman test) were used to assess statistical differences over time while the Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used for sub-groups analysis. Results: Bloating, stress and anxiety were the top 3 issues of the US recreational athletes. Satisfaction of physical wellbeing increased significantly throughout the 3-weeks of fermented whey product consumption (p<0.0005). Combined digestive issues decreased significantly after 2- and 3-weeks of product consumption, with bloating showing a significant reduction (p<0.05). There was a trend that self-reported stress levels reduced after 3 weeks and participants said to significantly feel more active, energetic, and vital (p<0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that gender and habitual protein supplement consumption were associated with specific health issues and modulated the response to the fermented dairy product. Conclusion: Daily consumption of the fermented BiotisTM Fermentis product is associated with a reduction in self-perceived gastrointestinal symptoms and improved overall wellbeing and mood state in US recreational athletes. This large nutrition and health consumer study brings valuable insights in self-reported gut complaints of recreational athletes in the US and their response to a fermented dairy product. A controlled clinical trial in a targeted population is recommended to scientifically substantiate the product effect as observed in this explorative study.

Keywords: real-life study, digestive health, fermented whey, sports

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Authors: Aratrika Sarkar, Jayita Guha Niyogi

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This paper focuses on the application of general healing design theories to modulate them into case-specific and contextual design considerations. Existing literature focuses on the relationship between architecture and mental health. Primary case studies are selected in India to focus on the effect of a specific location on design considerations. They are qualitatively analysed to further contextualise the inferences from the literature study. An academic project is cited as an example to apply the learnings from the study and understand the influence of various parameters on the design process for further conclusion. Literature studies, case studies and hypothetical design applications helped in finding the different ways of achieving the similar goal of a sensitive approach toward mental health. Along with salutogenic parameters, category of establishment, age group, location of the site and user preference plays a crucial role in the design process. Design of mental health establishments, especially in India, has to involve transparency between stakeholders and users. Owing to different climatic zones and diverse sociocultural traditions, the approach toward healing should adapt accordingly. It should be an effort towards striking a balance between contradictory elements of healing design and resolving the dilemmas with sensitivity and consensus. Lastly, the design should not force a person towards communication or companionship but rather let the person realise that naturally through the healing process.

Keywords: contextual healing design, deinstitutionalisation, Indian mental healthcare establishments, environmental psychology, salutogenesis, therapeutic design

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Authors: Imran Ullah Khana, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othmanb, Haslenda Hashima, Takeshi Matsuurad, A. F. Ismailb, M. Rezaei-DashtArzhandib, I. Wan Azelee

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Biogas upgrading is a widely studied and discussed topic, and its utilization as a natural gas substitute has gained significant attention in recent years. The production of biomethane provides a versatile application in both heat and power generation and as a vehicular fuel. This paper systematically reviews the state of the art of biogas upgrading technologies with upgrading efficiency, methane (CH4) loss, environmental effect, development and commercialization, and challenges in terms of energy consumption and economic assessment. The market situation for biogas upgrading has changed rapidly in recent years, giving membrane separation a significant market share with traditional biogas upgrading technologies. In addition, the potential utilization of biogas, efficient conversion into bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG), and storage systems are investigated in depth. Two storing systems for bio-CNG at filling stations, namely buffer and cascade storage systems are used. The best storage system should be selected on the basis of the advantages of both systems. Also, the fuel economy and mass emissions for bio-CNG and CNG-filled vehicles are studied. There is the same fuel economy and less carbon dioxide (CO2) emission for bio-CNG. Based on the results of comparisons between the technical features of upgrading technologies, various specific requirements for biogas utilization and the relevant investment, and operating and maintenance costs, future recommendations are made for biogas upgrading.

Keywords: biogas upgrading, cost, utilization, bio-CNG, storage, energy

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Authors: Ade Dwi Utami

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Pedagogic competence is the basic competence of teachers to perform their tasks as educators. The ability to assess has become one of the demands in teachers pedagogic competence. Teachers ability to assess is related to curriculum instructions and applications. This research is aimed at obtaining data concerning teachers ability to assess that comprises of understanding assessment, determining assessment type, tools and procedure, conducting assessment process, and using assessment result information. It uses mixed method of explanatory technique in which qualitative data is used to verify the quantitative data obtained through a survey. The technique of quantitative data collection is by test whereas the qualitative data collection is by observation, interview and documentation. Then, the analyzed data is processed through a proportion study technique to be categorized into high, medium and low. The result of the research shows that teachers ability to assess can be grouped into 3 namely, 2% of high, 4% of medium and 94% of low. The data shows that teachers ability to assess is still relatively low. Teachers are lack of knowledge and comprehension in assessment application. The statement is verified by the qualitative data showing that teachers did not state which aspect was assessed in learning, record children’s behavior, and use the data result as a consideration to design a program. Teachers have assessment documents yet they only serve as means of completing teachers administration for the certification program. Thus, assessment documents were not used with the basis of acquired knowledge. The condition should become a consideration of the education institution of educators and the government to improve teachers pedagogic competence, including the ability to assess.

Keywords: assessment, early childhood education, pedagogic competence, teachers

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Authors: John P. Ulhøi

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Firms are faced with pressure to stay innovative and entrepreneurial while at the same time leaving lighter ecological footprints. Traditionally inspiration for new product development (NPD) has come from the creative in-house staff and from the marketplace. Often NPD offered by this approach has proven to be (far from) optimal for its purpose or highly (resource and energy) efficient. More recently, a bio-inspired NPD approach has surfaced under the banner of biomimetics. Biomimetics refers to inspiration from and translations of designs, systems, processes, and or specific properties that exist in nature. The principles and structures working in nature have evolved over a long period of time enable them to be optimized for the purpose and resource and energy-efficient. These characteristics reflect the raison d'être behind the field of biomimetics. While biological expertise is required to understand and explain such natural and biological principles and structures, engineers are needed to translate biological design and processes into synthetic applications. It can, therefore, hardly be surprising, biomimetics long has gained a solid foothold in both biology and engineering. The commercial adoption of biomimetic applications in new production development (NDP) in industry, however, does not quite reflect a similar growth. Differently put, this situation suggests that something is missing in the biomimetic-NPD-equation, thus acting as a brake towards the wider commercial application of biomimetics and thus the use of eco-materials and design in the industry. This paper closes some of that gap. Before concluding, avenues for future research and implications for practice will be briefly sketched out.

Keywords: biomimetics, eco-materials, NPD, commercialization

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Authors: Sofia F. Franco, Jacob Macdonald

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This paper estimates the value of urban public street trees and their complementary and substitution value with other broader urban amenities and dis-amenities via the residential housing market. We estimate a lower bound value on a city’s tree amenities under instrumental variable and geographic regression discontinuity approaches with an application to Lisbon, Portugal. For completeness, we also explore how urban trees and in particular public street trees impact house prices across the city. Finally, we jointly analyze the planting and maintenance costs and benefits of urban street trees. The estimated value of all public trees in Lisbon is €8.84M. When considering specifically trees planted alongside roads and in public squares, the value is €6.06M or €126.64 per tree. This value is conditional on the distribution of trees in terms of their broader density, with higher effects coming from the overall greening of larger areas of the city compared to the greening of the direct neighborhood. Detrimental impacts are found when the number of trees is higher near street canyons, where they may exacerbate the stagnation of air pollution from traffic. Urban street trees also have important spillover benefits due to pollution mitigation around €6.21 million, or an additional €129.93 per tree. There are added benefits of €26.32 and €28.58 per tree in terms of flooding and heat mitigation, respectively. With significant resources and policies aimed at urban greening, the value obtained is shown to be important for discussions on the benefits of urban trees as compared to mitigation and abatement costs undertaken by a municipality.

Keywords: urban public goods, urban street trees, spatial boundary discontinuities, geospatial and remote sensing methods

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Authors: Isaac Owusu Asante, Yushi Jiang, Hailin Tao

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Live streaming marketing, the new electronic commerce element, became an optional marketing channel following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many sellers have leveraged the features presented by live streaming to increase sales. Studies on live streaming have focused on gaming and consumers’ loyalty to brands through live streaming, using interview questionnaires. This study, however, was conducted to measure real-time observable interactions between consumers and sellers. Based on the affordance theory, this study conceptualized constructs representing the interactive features and examined how they drive consumers’ purchase willingness during live streaming sessions using 1238 datasets from Amazon Live, following the manual observation of transaction records. Using structural equation modeling, the ordinary least square regression suggests that live viewers, new followers, live chats, and likes positively affect purchase willingness. The Sobel and Monte Carlo tests show that new followers, live chats, and likes significantly mediate the relationship between live viewers and purchase willingness. The study introduces a new way of measuring interactions in live streaming commerce and proposes a way to manually gather data on consumer behaviors in live streaming platforms when the application programming interface (API) of such platforms does not support data mining algorithms.

Keywords: livestreaming marketing, live chats, live viewers, likes, new followers, purchase willingness

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Authors: Sridhar A. Malkaram, Tamer E. Fandy

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Purpose: 5-Azacytidine (5AC) and decitabine (DC) are DNA hypomethylating agents. We recently demonstrated that both drugs increase the enzymatic activity of the histone deacetylase enzyme SIRT6. Accordingly, we are comparing the changes H3K9 acetylation changes in the whole genome induced by both drugs using leukemia cells. Description of Methods & Materials: Mononuclear cells from the bone marrow of six de-identified naive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients were cultured with either 500 nM of DC or 5AC for 72 h followed by ChIP-Seq analysis using a ChIP-validated acetylated-H3K9 (H3K9ac) antibody. Chip-Seq libraries were prepared from treated and untreated cells using SMARTer ThruPLEX DNA- seq kit (Takara Bio, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Libraries were purified and size-selected with AMPure XP beads at 1:1 (v/v) ratio. All libraries were pooled prior to sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq 1500. The dual-indexed single-read Rapid Run was performed with 1x120 cycles at 5 pM final concentration of the library pool. Sequence reads with average Phred quality < 20, with length < 35bp, PCR duplicates, and those aligning to blacklisted regions of the genome were filtered out using Trim Galore v0.4.4 and cutadapt v1.18. Reads were aligned to the reference human genome (hg38) using Bowtie v2.3.4.1 in end-to-end alignment mode. H3K9ac enriched (peak) regions were identified using diffReps v1.55.4 software using input samples for background correction. The statistical significance of differential peak counts was assessed using a negative binomial test using all individuals as replicates. Data & Results: The data from the six patients showed significant (Padj<0.05) acetylation changes at 925 loci after 5AC treatment versus 182 loci after DC treatment. Both drugs induced H3K9 acetylation changes at different chromosomal regions, including promoters, coding exons, introns, and distal intergenic regions. Ten common genes showed H3K9 acetylation changes by both drugs. Approximately 84% of the genes showed an H3K9 acetylation decrease by 5AC versus 54% only by DC. Figures 1 and 2 show the heatmaps for the top 100 genes and the 99 genes showing H3K9 acetylation decrease after 5AC treatment and DC treatment, respectively. Conclusion: Despite the similarity in hypomethylating activity and chemical structure, the effect of both drugs on H3K9 acetylation change was significantly different. More changes in H3K9 acetylation were observed after 5 AC treatments compared to DC. The impact of these changes on gene expression and the clinical efficacy of these drugs requires further investigation.

Keywords: DNA methylation, leukemia, decitabine, 5-Azacytidine, epigenetics

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Authors: Marianne Dæhlen

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Periods of apprenticeships are characteristic of many vocational educational training (VET) systems. In many countries, becoming a skilled worker implies that the journey starts with an application for apprenticeships at a company or another relevant training establishment. In Norway, where this study is conducted, VET students start their journey with two years of school-based training before applying for two years of apprenticeship. Previous research has shown that access to apprenticeships differs by family background (socio-economic, immigrant, etc.), gender, school grades, and region. The question we raise in this study is whether the status, reputation, or position of the vocational school contributes to VET students’ access to apprenticeships. Data and methods: Register data containing information about schools’ and VET students’ characteristics will be analyzed in multilevel regression analyses. At the school level, the data will contain information on school size, shares of immigrants and/or share of male/female students, and grade requirements for admission. At the VET-student level, the register contains information on e.g., gender, school grades, educational program/trade, obtaining apprenticeship or not. The data set comprises about 3,000 students. Results: The register data is expected to be received in November 2024 and consequently, any results are not present at the point of this call. The planned article is part of a larger research project granted from the Norwegian Research Council and will, accordingly to the plan, start up in December 2024.

Keywords: apprenticeships, VET-students’ characteristics, vocational schools, quantitative methods

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Authors: Suhas Pednekar, Prashant Chavan, Ramesh Chaughule, Deepak Patkar

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Iron oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are one of the most attractive nanomaterials for various biomedical applications. An important potential medical application of polymer-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) is as imaging agents. Composition, size, morphology and surface chemistry of these nanoparticles can now be tailored by various processes to not only improve magnetic properties but also affect the behavior of nanoparticles in vivo. MNPs are being actively investigated as the next generation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Also, there is considerable interest in developing magnetic nanoparticles and their surface modifications with therapeutic agents. Our study involves the synthesis of biocompatible cancer drug coated with iron oxide nanoparticles and to evaluate their efficacy as MRI contrast agents. A simple and rapid microwave method to prepare Fe3O4 nanoparticles has been developed. The drug was successfully conjugated to the Fe3O4 nanoparticles which can be used for various applications. The relaxivity R2 (reciprocal of the spin-spin relaxation time T2) is an important factor to determine the efficacy of Fe nanoparticles as contrast agents for MRI experiments. R2 values of the coated magnetic nanoparticles were also measured using MRI technique and the results showed that R2 of the Fe complex consisting of Fe3O4, polymer and drug was higher than that of bare Fe nanoparticles and polymer coated nanoparticles. This is due to the increase in hydrodynamic sizes of Fe NPs. The results with various amounts of iron molar concentrations are also discussed. Using MRI, it is seen that the R2 relaxivity increases linearly with increase in concentration of Fe NPs in water.

Keywords: cancer drug, hydrodynamic size, magnetic nanoparticles, MRI

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Authors: A. Vinod Kumar, G. Sunny Deol, Rakesh Kumar, B. Chandra

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Application of fiber reinforcement in road construction is gaining some interest in enhancing soil strength. In this paper, the natural geotextile material obtained from gunny bags was used due to its vast local availability. Construction of flexible pavement on weaker soil such as clay soils is a significant problem in construction as well as in design due to its expansive characteristics. Jute geotextile (JGT) was used on a foundation layer of flexible pavement on rural roads. This problem will be conquered by increasing the subgrade strength by decreasing sub-base layer thickness by improving their overall pavement strength characteristics which ultimately reduces the cost of construction and leads to an economical design. California Bearing Ratio (CBR), unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and triaxial laboratory tests were conducted on two different soil samples, CI and MI. Weaker soil is reinforced with JGT, JGT+Bitumen. JGT+polythene sheet was varied with heights while performing the laboratory tests. Subgrade strength evaluation was investigated by conducting soak CBR test in the laboratory for clayey and silt soils. Laboratory results reveal that reinforced soak CBR value of clayey soil (CI) observed was 10.35%, and silty soil (MI) was 15.6%. This study intends to develop new technique for reinforcing weaker soil with JGT varying parameters for the need of low volume flexible pavements. It was observed that the performance of JGT is inferior when used with bitumen and polyethylene sheets.

Keywords: CBR, jute geotextile, low volume road, weaker soil

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Authors: Timothy Fwa Yerima

Abstract:

This paper evaluates the development of human rights jurisprudence in Africa by the ECOWAS Court of Justice. It traces that though ECOWAS was not established with the aim of promoting and protecting human rights as the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, no doubt, the 1991 ECOWAS Court Protocol and the 1993 ECOWAS Revised Treaty give the ECOWAS Court its human rights mandate. The paper, however, points out that despite the availability of these two Laws, the ECOWAS Court had difficulty in its human rights mandate, in view of the twin problems of lack of access to the Court by private parties and personal jurisdiction of the Court to entertain cases filed by private parties. The paper considers the 2005 Supplementary Protocol, not only as an effective legal framework in West African Sub-Region that tackles these problems in human rights cases but also a strong foundation upon which the Court has been developing human rights jurisprudence in Africa through the interpretation and application of this Law and other sources of Law of the Court. After a thorough analysis of some principles laid down by the ECOWAS Court so far, the paper observes that human rights jurisprudence in Africa is growing rapidly; depicting that though the ECOWAS Court initially had difficulty in its human rights mandate, today it has a bright and visionary landing. The paper concludes that West African Sub-Region will witness a more effective performance of the ECOWAS Court if some of its challenges are tackled.

Keywords: access, African human rights, ECOWAS court of justice, jurisprudence, personal jurisdiction

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Authors: Rafia Asghar, Abdul Hafeez

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The current research was related with natural dyes’ extraction from the powder of Neem (Azadirachta indica) bark and studied characterization of this dye under microwave radiation’s influence. Both cotton fabric and dyeing powder were exposed to microwave rays for different time intervals (2minutes, 4 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes and 10 minutes) using conventional oven. Aqueous, 60% Methanol and Ethyl Acetate solubilized extracts obtained from Neem (Azadirachta indica) bark were also exposed to different time intervals (2minutes, 4 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes and 10 minutes) of microwave rays exposure. Pre, meta and post mordanting with Alum (2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10%) was done to improve color strength of the extracted dye. Exposure of Neem (Azadirachta indica) bark extract and cotton to microwave rays enhanced the extraction process and dyeing process by reducing extraction time, dyeing time and dyeing temperature. Microwave rays treatment had a very strong influence on color fastness and color strength properties of cotton that was dyes using Neem (Azadirachta indica) bark for 30 minutes and dyeing cotton with that Neem bark extract for 75 minutes at 30°C. Among pre, meta and post mordanting, results indicated that 5% concentration of Alum in meta mordanting exhibited maximum color strength.

Keywords: dyes, natural dyeing, ecofriendly dyes, microwave treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 692

Authors: Armanul Hoque Shaon, Md Baizid Mahmud, Askander Nobi, Md. Raju Ahmed, Md. Jiabul Hoque

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In the Internet of Things (IoT), devices are linked to the internet through a wireless network, allowing them to collect and transmit data without the need for a human operator. Agriculture relies heavily on wireless sensors, which are a vital component of the Internet of Things (IoT). This kind of wireless sensor network monitors physical or environmental variables like temperatures, sound, vibration, pressure, or motion without relying on a central location or sink and collaboratively passes its data across the network to be analyzed. As the primary source of plant nutrients, the soil is critical to the agricultural industry's continued growth. We're excited about the prospect of developing an Internet of Things (IoT) solution. To arrange the network, the sink node collects groundwater levels and sends them to the Gateway, which centralizes the data and forwards it to the sensor nodes. The sink node gathers soil moisture data, transmits the mean to the Gateways, and then forwards it to the website for dissemination. The web server is in charge of storing and presenting the moisture in the soil data to the web application's users. Soil characteristics may be collected using a networked method that we developed to improve rice production. Paddy land is running out as the population of our nation grows. The success of this project will be dependent on the appropriate use of the existing land base.

Keywords: IoT based agriculture monitoring, intelligent irrigation, communicating network, rice production

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: C. A. Roberts, S. L. Mascaro, J. R. Gerrish, J. L. Horner

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Management-intensive Grazing (MiG) is a practice that rotates livestock through paddocks in a way that best matches the nutrient requirements of the animal to the yield and quality of the pasture. In the USA, MiG has been taught to livestock producers throughout the state of Missouri in 2- and 3-day workshops called “Missouri Grazing Schools.” The economic impact of these schools was quantified using IMPLAN software. The model included hectares of adoption, animal performance, carrying capacity, and input costs. To date, MiG, as taught in the Missouri Grazing Schools, has been implemented on more than 70,000 hectares in Missouri. The economic impact of these schools is presently $125 million USD per year added to the state economy. This magnitude of impact is the result not only of widespread adoption but also because of increased livestock carrying capacity; in Missouri, a capacity increase of 25 to 30% has been well documented. Additional impacts have been MiG improving forage quality and reducing the cost of feed and fertilizer. The environmental impact of MiG in the state of Missouri is currently being estimated. Environmental impact takes into account the reduction in the application of commercial fertilizers; in MiG systems, nitrogen is supplied by N fixation from legumes, and much of the P and K is recycled naturally by well-distributed manure. The environmental impact also estimates carbon sequestration and methane production; MiG can increase carbon sequestration and reduce methane production in comparison to default grazing practices and feedlot operations in the USA.

Keywords: agricultural education, forage quality, management-intensive grazing, nutrient cycling, stock density, sustainable agriculture

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Authors: Khairul Bariah Sulaiman, Tajul Aris Yang

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Fermentation is well known as an essential process in cocoa beans. Besides to develop the precursor of cocoa flavour, it also induce the colour changes in the beans.The fermentation process is reported to be influenced by duration of pod storage and fermentation. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate colour of Malaysian cocoa beans and how the pods storage and fermentation duration using shallow box technique will effect on it characteristics. There are two factors being studied ie duration of cocoa pod storage (0, 2, 4, and 6 days) and duration of cocoa fermentation (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days). The experiment is arranged in 4 x 6 factorial design with 24 treatments and arrangement is in a Completely Randomised Design (CRD). The produced beans is inspected for colour changes under artificial light during cut test and divided into four groups of colour namely fully brown, purple brown, fully purple and slaty. Cut tests indicated that cocoa beans which are directly dried without undergone fermentation has the highest slaty percentage. However, application of pods storage before fermentation process is found to decrease the slaty percentage. In contrast, the percentages of fully brown beans start to dominate after two days of fermentation, especially from four and six days of pods storage batch. Whereas, almost all batch have percentage of fully purple less than 20%. Interestingly, the percentage of purple brown beans are scattered in the entire beans batch regardless any specific trend. Meanwhile, statistical analysis using General Linear Model showed that the pods storage has a significant effect on the colour characteristic of the Malaysian dried beans compared to fermentation duration.

Keywords: cocoa beans, colour, fermentation, shallow box

Procedia PDF Downloads 493

Authors: Emmanuel Okechukwu Nwafor, Folake Olubunmi Akintayo, Denis Alcides Rezende

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Decision tree models are versatile and interpretable machine learning algorithms widely used for both classification and regression tasks, which can be related to cities, whether physical or digital. The aim of this research is to assess how well decision tree algorithms can predict trip purposes in Makurdi, Nigeria, while also exploring their connection to the strategic digital city initiative. The research methodology involves formalizing household demographic and trips information datasets obtained from extensive survey process. Modelling and Prediction were achieved using Python Programming Language and the evaluation metrics like R-squared and mean absolute error were used to assess the decision tree algorithm's performance. The results indicate that the model performed well, with accuracies of 84% and 68%, and low MAE values of 0.188 and 0.314, on training and validation data, respectively. This suggests the model can be relied upon for future prediction. The conclusion reiterates that This model will assist decision-makers, including urban planners, transportation engineers, government officials, and commuters, in making informed decisions on transportation planning and management within the framework of a strategic digital city. Its application will enhance the efficiency, sustainability, and overall quality of transportation services in Makurdi, Nigeria.

Keywords: decision tree algorithm, trip purpose, intelligent transport, strategic digital city, travel pattern, sustainable transport

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Authors: A. Buruzs, M. F. Hatwágner, A. Torma, L. T. Kóczy

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Recently, an increasing number of researchers have been focusing on working out realistic solutions to sustainability problems. As sustainability issues gain higher importance for organisations, the management of such decisions becomes critical. Knowledge representation is a fundamental issue of complex knowledge based systems. Many types of sustainability problems would benefit from models based on experts’ knowledge. Cognitive maps have been used for analyzing and aiding decision making. A cognitive map can be made of almost any system or problem. A fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) can successfully represent knowledge and human experience, introducing concepts to represent the essential elements and the cause and effect relationships among the concepts to model the behavior of any system. Integrated waste management systems (IWMS) are complex systems that can be decomposed to non-related and related subsystems and elements, where many factors have to be taken into consideration that may be complementary, contradictory, and competitive; these factors influence each other and determine the overall decision process of the system. The goal of the present paper is to construct an efficient IWMS which considers various factors. The authors’ intention is to propose an expert based system design approach for implementing expert decision support in the area of IWMSs and introduces an appropriate methodology for the development and analysis of group FCM. A framework for such a methodology consisting of the development and application phases is presented.

Keywords: factors, fuzzy cognitive map, group decision, integrated waste management system

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Mitakshara Sharma, S. K. Nema

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is metabolic disorder prevalent in pandemic proportions, incurring significant morbidity and mortality due to associated vascular angiopathies. Platelet related thrombogenesis plays key role in pathogenesis of these complications. Most patients with type II DM suffer from preventable vascular complications and early diagnosis can help manage these successfully. These complications are attributed to platelet activation which can be recognised by the increase in Platelet Volume Indices(PVI) viz. Mean Platelet Volume(MPV) and Platelet Distribution Width(PDW). This study was undertaken with the aim of finding a relationship between PVI and vascular complications of Diabetes mellitus, their importance as a causal factor in these complications and use as markers for early detection of impending vascular complications in patients with poor glycaemic status. This is a cross-sectional study conducted for 2 years with total 930 subjects. The subjects were segregated in 03 groups on basis of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C) as: - (a) Diabetic, (b) Non-Diabetic and (c) Subjects with Impaired fasting glucose(IFG) with 300 individuals in IFG and non-diabetic group & 330 individuals in diabetic group. The diabetic group was further divided into two groups: - (a) Diabetic subjects with diabetes related vascular complications (b) Diabetic subjects without diabetes related vascular complications. Samples for HbA1C and platelet indices were collected using Ethylene diamine tetracetic acid(EDTA) as anticoagulant and processed on SYSMEX-XS-800i autoanalyser. The study revealed stepwise increase in PVI from non-diabetics to IFG to diabetics. MPV and PDW of diabetics, IFG and non diabetics were 17.60 ± 2.04, 11.76 ± 0.73, 9.93 ± 0.64 and 19.17 ± 1.48, 15.49 ± 0.67, 10.59 ± 0.67 respectively with a significant p value 0.00 and a significant positive correlation (MPV-HbA1c r = 0.951; PDW-HbA1c r = 0.875). However, significant negative correlation was found between glycaemic levels and total platelet count (PC- HbA1c r =-0.164). MPV & PDW of subjects with and without diabetes related complications were (15.14 ± 1.04) fl & (17.51±0.39) fl and (18.96 ± 0.83) fl & (20.09 ± 0.98) fl respectively with a significant p value 0.00.The current study demonstrates raised platelet indices & reduced platelet counts in association with rising glycaemic levels and diabetes related vascular complications across various study groups & showed that platelet morphology is altered with increasing glycaemic levels. These changes can be known by measurements of PVI which are important, simple, cost effective, effortless tool & indicators of impending vascular complications in patients with deranged glycaemic control. PVI should be researched and explored further as surrogate markers to develop a clinical tool for early recognition of vascular changes related to diabetes and thereby help prevent them. They can prove to be more useful in developing countries with limited resources. This study is multi-parameter, comprehensive with adequately powered study design and represents pioneering effort in India on account of the fact that both Platelet indices (MPV & PDW) along with platelet count have been evaluated together for the first time in Diabetics, non diabetics, patients with IFG and also in the diabetic patients with and without diabetes related vascular complications.

Keywords: diabetes, HbA1C, IFG, MPV, PDW, PVI

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: Makram El Bachawati, Rima Manneh, Thomas Dandres, Carla Nassab, Henri El Zakhem, Rafik Belarbi

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A vegetative roof, also called a garden roof, is a "roofing system that endorses the growth of plants on a rooftop". Garden roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as embellishing the roofing system, enhancing the water management, and reducing the energy consumption and heat island effects. Lebanon is a Middle East country that lacks the use of a sustainable energy system. It imports 98% of its non-renewable energy from neighboring countries and suffers flooding during heavy rains. The objective of this paper is to determine if the implementation of vegetative roofs is effectively better than the traditional roofs for the Lebanese context. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is performed in order to compare an existing extensive green roof to a traditional gravel-asphalted roof. The life cycle inventory (LCI) was established and modeled using the SimaPro 8.0 software, while the environmental impacts were classified using the IMPACT 2002+ methodology. Results indicated that, for the existing extensive green roof, the waterproofing membrane and the growing medium were the highest contributors to the potential environmental impacts. When comparing the vegetative to the traditional roof, results showed that, for all impact categories, the extensive green roof had the less environmental impacts.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, green roofs, vegatative roof, environmental impact

Procedia PDF Downloads 466

Authors: V. Ayishwarya Bharathi, S. M. Hasker, J. Indhu, M. Mohamed Azarudeen, G. Gowthami, R. Vinoth Rajan, N. Vijayarangan

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Identification of water quality conditions in a river system based on limited observations is an essential task for meeting the goals of environmental management. The traditional method of water quality testing is to collect samples manually and then send to laboratory for analysis. However, it has been unable to meet the demands of water quality monitoring today. So a set of automatic measurement and reporting system of water quality has been developed. In this project specifies Water quality parameters collected by multi-parameter water quality probe are transmitted to data processing and monitoring center through GPRS wireless communication network of mobile. The multi parameter sensor is directly placed above the water level. The monitoring center consists of GPRS and micro-controller which monitor the data. The collected data can be monitor at any instant of time. In the pollution control board they will monitor the water quality sensor data in computer using Visual Basic Software. The system collects, transmits and processes water quality parameters automatically, so production efficiency and economy benefit are improved greatly. GPRS technology can achieve well within the complex environment of poor water quality non-monitored, and more specifically applicable to the collection point, data transmission automatically generate the field of water analysis equipment data transmission and monitoring.

Keywords: multiparameter sensor, GPRS, visual basic software, RS232

Procedia PDF Downloads 415