Search results for: weld repair rate in joint and linear basis

Authors: Turkan Sultan Yasar Ismail, Mehmet Cetin, M. Danial Ismail, Hakan Sevik

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Nowadays, there is a need for the real world to be translated to the virtual environment by three-dimensional visualisation for restoration and promotional modelling of historic sites in protected areas. Visualisation models have also become the very important basis for the creation of three-dimensional Geographic Information System. The protection of historical and cultural heritage and documenting in Turkey as well as all over the world is an important issue. This heritage is a bridge between the past and the future of humanity. Many historical and cultural heritages suffer neglect and for reasons arising from natural causes. This is to determine the current status of the work and documenting information from the selected buildings. This process is important for their conservation and renovation work that might be done in the future. Kastamonu city is one of the historical cities in Turkey with a number of heritage buildings. However, Tufekciler Village is not visited and famous even though it includes several historical buildings and peaceful landscape. Digital terrestrial photogrammetry is one of the most important methods used in the documentation of cultural and historical heritage. Firstly, measurements were made primarily around creating polygon mesh and 3D model drawings of the structures to be modelled on images with the move to digital media such as picture size and by subsequent visualisation process. Secondly, a restoration project is offered to the village with the concept of eco-tourism with all scales such as, interior space to landscape design.

Keywords: eco-tourism, restoration, sustainability, cultural village

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: Megan Alkazoff, Charles Ruffner

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Tallgrass prairies and sand savannas, once covering northern to central Illinois, are ecosystems in need of restoration and conservation in the Midwestern United States. The Nature Conservancy manages five sites containing fragments of remaining tallgrass prairies and sand savannas within the Kankakee Sands using techniques such as prescribed burning and invasive species removal. The objective of this study was to conduct a ten-year resampling of transects established on these five sites during previous studies to assess whether the management tools applied there are helping maintain the tallgrass prairie and sand savannas. During the summer of 2020, permanent transect lines were sampled using a quadrat to determine the % Cover Class of each species rooted in the quadrat. Data gathered was analyzed using linear regression to illustrate the relationship between fire occurrence and species composition on the landscape. The fire frequency had a highly significant effect (P= 0.0025) on the species richness of all sites. The frequency of fire had a non-significant effect (P>0.05) on the Floristic Quality Index, percent C value 4-10, and bare-ground percentage of a site. These results suggest that fire on the landscape, both wild and prescribed, have increased biodiversity on all five sites but has not affected the Floristic Quality Index, percent C value 4-10, and the percentage of bare-ground on the sites.

Keywords: fire, floristic quality assessment, sand savanna, species richness, tallgrass prairie

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Swetasree Roy, Subaran Roy

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The contemporary literature documents globalization affects the stability of a country in three ways i) it increases peace ii) it decreases the likelihood of civil unrest, and iii) it creates employment. In this paper, we show that unemployment amongst youth plays a significant role in the effect of globalization and the internal stability of a country. Using recent data on globalization for 88 countries (2000-2014), we examine whether the presence of a large section of youth exacerbates the negative effects of globalization, thereby increasing chances of civil unrest. Using recent measures of globalization, we find globalization affect adversely on the stability of a country. Our results indicate that globalization in the presence of a high youth unemployment rate can create more instability in an economy. Results are robust in the presence of other socio-economic variables.

Keywords: globalization, youth bulge, civil unrest, unemployment

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Meng-Yu Tsai, Jui-hun Chang, Wen-Feng Hung, Jing-Dong Chou

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The objective of this paper was to use gravitrap to survey the mosquito density in Kaohsiung. Gravitrap is one of the tools for surveillance the mosquito density. Gravitrap not only monitor the mosquito density but also decrease the mosquito density. Kaohsiung Environment Protection Bureau (KEPB) used gravitrap to monitor the mosquito density in 2016. KEPB put gravitrap in five districts which had the more confirmed dengue cases in 2015. The results indicated that (1)the highest positive rate (PR) of gravitrap was in Gushan district, the PR of gravitrap in Gushan district was 19.25%. (2) the lowest PR of gravitrap was in Sanmin district, the PR of gravitrap in Sanmin district was 8.55%. (3) compared these two districts, the most important factor to influence of PR of gravitrap was the knowledge of dengue prevention. Therefore, the PR of gravitrap was one of the references for making dengue prevention policy.

Keywords: continuous assessment, course integration, curricular reform, student feedback

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Omar A. Abuobidalla, Mingyuan Chen, Satyaveer S. Chauhan

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Railroad transportation of hazardous materials freights is important to the North America economics that supports the national’s supply chain. This paper introduces various extensions of the dynamic hazardous materials trip plan problems. The problem captures most of the operational features of a real-world railroad transportations systems that dynamically initiates a set of blocks and assigns each shipment to a single block path or multiple block paths. The dynamic hazardous materials trip plan policies have distinguishing features that are integrating the blocking plan, and the block activation decisions. We also present a non-linear mixed integer programming formulation for each variant and present managerial insights based on a hypothetical railroad network. The computation results reveal that the dynamic car scheduling policies are not only able to take advantage of the capacity of the network but also capable of diminishing the population, and environment risks by rerouting the active blocks along the least risky train services without sacrificing the cost advantage of the railroad. The empirical results of this research illustrate that the issue of integrating the blocking plan, and the train makeup of the hazardous materials freights must receive closer attentions.

Keywords: dynamic car scheduling, planning and scheduling hazardous materials freights, airborne hazardous materials, gaussian plume model, integrated blocking and routing plans, box model

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Tianjie Zhang, Bingqian Cheng, Peng Zeng

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Engineering science and technology progress and innovation have become an important engine to promote social development. The reform exploration of "new engineering" in China has drawn extensive attention around the world, with its connotation as "to cultivate future diversified, innovative and outstanding engineering talents by taking ‘fostering character and civic virtue’ as the guide, responding to changes and shaping the future as the construction concept, and inheritance and innovation, crossover and fusion, coordination and sharing as the principal approach". In this context, Tianjin University, as a traditional Chinese university with advantages in engineering, further launched the CCII (Coherent-Collaborative-Interdisciplinary-Innovation) program, raising the cultivation idea of integrating new liberal arts education, multidisciplinary engineering education and personalized professional education. As urban planning practice in China has undergone the evolution of "physical planning -- comprehensive strategic planning -- resource management-oriented planning", planning education has also experienced the transmutation process of "building foundation -- urban scientific foundation -- multi-disciplinary integration". As a characteristic and advantageous discipline of Tianjin University, the major of Urban and Rural Planning, in accordance with the "CCII Program of Tianjin University", aims to build China's top and world-class major, and implements the following educational reform measures: 1. Adding corresponding English courses, such as advanced course on GIS Analysis, courses on comparative studies in international planning involving ecological resources and the sociology of the humanities, etc. 2. Holding "Academician Forum", inviting international academicians to give lectures or seminars to track international frontier scientific research issues. 3. Organizing "International Joint Workshop" to provide students with international exchange and design practice platform. 4. Setting up a business practice base, so that students can find problems from practice and solve them in an innovative way. Through these measures, the Urban and Rural Planning major of Tianjin University has formed a talent training system with multi-disciplinary cross integration and orienting to the future science and technology.

Keywords: China, higher education reform, innovation, new engineering education, rural and urban planning, Tianjin University

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Medya Fathi

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Moving toward sustainable development is among today’s critical issues worldwide that make all industries, particularly construction, pay increasing attention to a healthy environment and a society with a prosperous economy. One of the solutions is to improve buildings’ energy performance by cutting energy consumption and related carbon emissions, eventually improving the quality of life. Unfortunately, the energy demand for buildings is rising. For instance, in Europe, the building sector accounts for 19% of the global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, the main contributor to global warming in the last 50 years, and 36% of the total CO2 emissions, according to European Commission 2019. The crisis of energy use demands expanding knowledge and understanding of the potential benefits of energy-efficient buildings. In this regard, the present paper aims to critically review the existing body of knowledge on improving energy efficiency in buildings and detail the significant research contributions. Peer-reviewed journal articles published in the last decade in reputed journals were reviewed using the database Scopus and keywords of Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Energy Performance, Energy Consumption, Energy Efficiency, and Buildings. All contributions will be classified by journal type, publication time, country/region, building occupancy type, applied strategies, and findings. This study will provide an essential basis for researchers working on missing areas and filling the existing gaps in the body of knowledge.

Keywords: sustainability, energy performance, energy efficiency, buildings, review

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Babak Qasemi-Panahi, Gholamali Moghaddam, Seyed-Abbas Rafat, Hossein Daghigh Kia, Mansoureh Movahedin, Reza Hadavi

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The objective of this study was to determine the effects of IGF-I on ovine oocytes maturation and subsequent development of embryos derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF). In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes and in vitro culture (IVC) of embryos was conducted with or without 100 ng/mL IGF-1. In the IGF-I treated group, mean percentage of oocyte maturation was significantly higher than the control group (57.67 ± 3.04 versus 49.81 ± 3.04%, respectively, P < 0.05). However, in comparison with control group, there was no significant effect of IGF-1 on rates of cleavage, morula, and blastocyst formation (85% versus 84%; 63% versus 65%, and 40% to 39%, respectively). These data demonstrate that IGF-I has a positive effect on ovine oocyte maturation rate, but it has not the significant outcome on embryo development.

Keywords: ovine, IGF-I, IVM, ICSI

Procedia PDF Downloads 668

Authors: Mónica Catarina Soares

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Neoliberal rationality is currently changing the ways concepts like freedom or equality are framed. As an omnipresent and context-sensitive paradigm, homo oeconomicus is continuously taking place in realms of life previously insulated from economic and market-driven principles. This presentation is based on the argument that, more than ever, this paradigm is nowadays framing institutional and everyday discourses in regard to social problems. Although neoliberal rationality is based on the putative ideological basis that everyone is equal, equality seems to be reshaped by specific meanings apprehended by this rationality. In this sense, an illusion of equality seems to be relevant to legitimize different social inequalities (e.g., access to health care or to habitation). Political psychology has studied how ideology is relevant to legitimize market and unequal systems, but still the specific relation between markets, (in)equality and neoliberal languages is not widely addressed. The goal is to discuss the smithereens of the neoliberal rationality when it comes to legitimizing social inequalities by contesting the arguments of meritocracy, progressive freedom and minimal guarantees obeying to market-rules and principles. This analysis can be helpful to grasp for instance the continuously dismantlement of the welfare-state in different countries of the global north and how it is turning the regulation/emancipation tension inside out. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the breaking up of a paradigm that is still too big to capture, too depoliticized and chameleonic to fully acknowledge the biopolitics of power that is helping to create it.

Keywords: discourses, legitimacy, neoliberal rationality, social inequality

Procedia PDF Downloads 205

Authors: Shaina Nagpal, Amit Gupta

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In this work, all optical Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) generated single sideband with suppressed carrier is presented to provide better efficiency. The generation of single sideband and enhanced carrier power signal using the SBS technique is further used to strengthen the low shifted sideband and to suppress the upshifted sideband. These generated single sideband signals are able to work at high frequency ranges. Also, generated single sideband is validated over 90 km transmission using single mode fiber with acceptable bit error rate. The results for an equivalent are then compared so that the acceptable technique is chosen and also the required quality for the optimum performance of the system is reported.

Keywords: stimulated Brillouin scattering, radio over fiber, upper side band, quality factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 214

Authors: Oyekan Kolawole Jamiu

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The right to life is a moral principle based on the belief that a human being has the right to life and, in particular, should not be unjustly killed by another human being. However, the most worrisome security challenge in Nigeria which has cut short the lives of innocent Nigerians is the activities of the dreaded terrorist group known as Boko Haram (which means Western Education is a sin). Between 2004 till date, over 15000 people have been gruesomely murdered by this terrorist group. However, despite the facts that suspected terrorists are arrested and paraded almost on a daily basis, cases of terrorism in our courts in Nigeria today have not been expeditiously dealt with by the judiciary. This paper examines the concept of right to life. The right to life is an inherent right for each and every person. From his or her birth; the individual is considered a living being that must be protected. The right to life connotes also right to live and grow in a healthy environment where there is appropriate health care, qualitative education and adequate security of lives and property. The paper also examines the fight against terrorism and the duty of the government to protect right to life of every individual even in the midst of the fight against terrorism. The paper further reviews the Terrorism Act 2011(as amended) and the clogs in the wheel of prosecution of suspected terrorists. The paper concludes that since terrorism is a new security challenge, to prevent conflict of interest, only one security agency should be trained and saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting suspected terrorist, Law should be enacted to compel intelligent gathering and sharing of information among security agencies and in addition, a special court should be established to deal expeditiously with cases of terrorism in Nigeria.

Keywords: terrorism, intelligent gathering, right to life, prosecution

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: A. Kesraoui, M. Seffen

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Applications of adsorption onto activated carbon for water treatment are well known. The process has been demonstrated to be widely effective for removing dissolved organic substances from wastewaters, but this treatment has a major drawback is the high operating cost. The main goal of our research work is to improve the retention capacity of Tunisian biomass for the depollution of industrial wastewater and retention of pollutants considered toxic. The biosorption process is based on the retention of molecules and ions onto a solid surface composed of biological materials. The evaluation of the potential use of these materials is important to propose as an alternative to the adsorption process generally expensive, used to remove organic compounds. Indeed, these materials are very abundant in nature and are low cost. Certainly, the biosorption process is effective to remove the pollutants, but it presents a slow kinetics. The improvement of the biosorption rates is a challenge to make this process competitive with respect to oxidation and adsorption onto lignocellulosic fibers. In this context, the alternating current appears as a new alternative, original and a very interesting phenomenon in the acceleration of chemical reactions. Our main goal is to increase the retention acceleration of dyes (indigo carmine, methylene blue) and phenol by using a new alternative: alternating current. The adsorption experiments have been performed in a batch reactor by adding some of the adsorbents in 150 mL of pollutants solution with the desired concentration and pH. The electrical part of the mounting comprises a current source which delivers an alternating current voltage of 2 to 15 V. It is connected to a voltmeter that allows us to read the voltage. In a 150 mL capacity cell, we plunged two zinc electrodes and the distance between two Zinc electrodes has been 4 cm. Thanks to alternating current, we have succeeded to improve the performance of activated carbon by increasing the speed of the indigo carmine adsorption process and reducing the treatment time. On the other hand, we have studied the influence of the alternating current on the biosorption rate of methylene blue onto Luffa cylindrica fibers and the hybrid material (Luffa cylindrica-ZnO). The results showed that the alternating current accelerated the biosorption rate of methylene blue onto the Luffa cylindrica and the Luffa cylindrica-ZnO hybrid material and increased the adsorbed amount of methylene blue on both adsorbents. In order to improve the removal of phenol, we performed the coupling between the alternating current and the biosorption onto two adsorbents: Luffa cylindrica and the hybrid material (Luffa cylindrica-ZnO). In fact, the alternating current has succeeded to improve the performance of adsorbents by increasing the speed of the adsorption process and the adsorption capacity and reduce the processing time.

Keywords: adsorption, alternating current, dyes, modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Bela Sulistyaguna, Yuli Chomsatu Samrotun, Endang Masitoh Wahyuningsih

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The purpose of this research was to analyze the influence of company size, liquidity, profitability, leverage, company age, industry type, board of director, board of commissioner, audit committee and public ownership on the corporate social responsibility disclosure. The grand theories of this research are agency theory, stakeholders theory, and legitimacy theory. Analysis of data using multiple linear regression method with SPSS 22.0 for mac. The sample consists of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and disclosed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reports from 2013 to 2018. The final sample of this research was 19 companies that obtained by purposive sampling. The results of the research showed that, simultaneously, company size, liquidity, profitability, leverage, company age, industry type, board of director, board of commissioner, audit committee and public ownership has an influence on the corporate social responsibility disclosure. Partially, the results showed that liquidity and leverage has an influence on the corporate social responsibility disclosure. Meanwhile, company size, profitability, company age, industry type, board of director, board of commissioner, audit committee and public ownership has no influence on corporate social responsibility disclosure.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, CSR disclosure, Indonesia

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Nebila Lichiheb, LaToya Myles, William Pendergrass, Bruce Hicks, Dawson Cagle

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Atmospheric transport of hazardous materials in urban areas is increasingly under investigation due to the potential impact on human health and the environment. In response to health and safety concerns, several dispersion models have been developed to analyze and predict the dispersion of hazardous contaminants. The models of interest usually rely on meteorological information obtained from the meteorological models of NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS). However, due to the complexity of the urban environment, NWS forecasts provide an inadequate basis for dispersion computation in urban areas. A dense meteorological network in Washington, DC, called DCNet, has been operated by NOAA since 2003 to support the development of urban monitoring methodologies and provide the driving meteorological observations for atmospheric transport and dispersion models. This study focuses on the comparison of wind observations from the DCNet station on the U.S. Department of Commerce Herbert C. Hoover Building against the North American Mesoscale (NAM) model outputs for the period 2017-2019. The goal is to develop a simple methodology for modifying NAM outputs so that the dispersion requirements of the city and its urban area can be satisfied. This methodology will allow us to quantify the prediction errors of the NAM model and propose adjustments of key variables controlling dispersion model calculation.

Keywords: meteorological data, Washington D.C., DCNet data, NAM model

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Thoetchai Peeraphatdit, Peter A. Brady, Suraj Kapa, Samuel J. Asirvatham, Niyada Naksuk

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Background: Serum electrolyte abnormalities are a common cause of an acquired prolonged QT syndrome, especially, in the coronary care unit (CCU) setting. Optimal electrolyte ranges among the CCU patients have not been sufficiently investigated. Methods: We identified 8,498 consecutive CCU patients who were admitted to the CCU at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, the USA, from 2004 through 2013. Association between first serum electrolytes and baseline corrected QT intervals (QTc), as well as in-hospital mortality, was tested using multivariate linear regression and logistic regression, respectively. Serum potassium 4.0- < 4.5 mEq/L, ionized calcium (iCa) 4.6-4.8 mg/dL, and magnesium 2.0- < 2.2 mg/dL were used as the reference levels. Results: There was a modest level-dependent relationship between hypokalemia ( < 4.0 mEq/L), hypocalcemia ( < 4.4 mg/dL), and a prolonged QTc interval; serum magnesium did not affect the QTc interval. Association between the serum electrolytes and in-hospital mortality included a U-shaped relationship for serum potassium (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.53 and OR 1.91for serum potassium 4.5- < 5.0 and ≥ 5.0 mEq/L, respectively) and an inverted J-shaped relationship for iCa (adjusted OR 2.79 and OR 2.03 for calcium < 4.4 and 4.4- < 4.6 mg/dL, respectively). For serum magnesium, the mortality was greater only among patients with levels ≥ 2.4 mg/dL (adjusted OR 1.40), compared to the reference level. Findings were similar in sensitivity analyses examining the association between mean serum electrolytes and mean QTc intervals, as well as in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: Serum potassium 4.0- < 4.5 mEq/L, iCa ≥ 4.6 mg/dL, and magnesium < 2.4 mg/dL had a neutral effect on QTc intervals and were associated with the lowest in-hospital mortality among the CCU patients.

Keywords: calcium, electrocardiography, long-QT syndrome, magnesium, mortality, potassium

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: Michael Kenomore, Mohamed Hassan, Amjad Shah, Hom Dhakal

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Shale gas reservoirs have been of greater importance compared to shale oil reservoirs since 2009 and with the current nature of the oil market, understanding the technical and economic performance of shale gas reservoirs is of importance. Using the Barnett shale as a case study, an economic model was developed to quantify the effect of finding and development costs and gas prices on the basins in the Barnett shale using net present value as an evaluation parameter. A rate of return of 20% and a payback period of 60 months or less was used as the investment hurdle in the model. The Barnett was split into four basins (Strawn Basin, Ouachita Folded Belt, Forth-worth Syncline and Bend-arch Basin) with analysis conducted on each of the basin to provide a holistic outlook. The dataset consisted of only horizontal wells that started production from 2008 to at most 2015 with 1835 wells coming from the strawn basin, 137 wells from the Ouachita folded belt, 55 wells from the bend-arch basin and 724 wells from the forth-worth syncline. The data was analyzed initially on Microsoft Excel to determine the estimated ultimate recoverable (EUR). The range of EUR from each basin were loaded in the Palisade Risk software and a log normal distribution typical of Barnett shale wells was fitted to the dataset. Monte Carlo simulation was then carried out over a 1000 iterations to obtain a cumulative distribution plot showing the probabilistic distribution of EUR for each basin. From the cumulative distribution plot, the P10, P50 and P90 EUR values for each basin were used in the economic model. Gas production from an individual well with a EUR similar to the calculated EUR was chosen and rescaled to fit the calculated EUR values for each basin at the respective percentiles i.e. P10, P50 and P90. The rescaled production was entered into the economic model to determine the effect of the finding and development cost and gas price on the net present value (10% discount rate/year) as well as also determine the scenario that satisfied the proposed investment hurdle. The finding and development costs used in this paper (assumed to consist only of the drilling and completion costs) were £1 million, £2 million and £4 million while the gas price was varied from $2/MCF-$13/MCF based on Henry Hub spot prices from 2008-2015. One of the major findings in this study was that wells in the bend-arch basin were least economic, higher gas prices are needed in basins containing non-core counties and 90% of the Barnet shale wells were not economic at all finding and development costs irrespective of the gas price in all the basins. This study helps to determine the percentage of wells that are economic at different range of costs and gas prices, determine the basins that are most economic and the wells that satisfy the investment hurdle.

Keywords: shale gas, Barnett shale, unconventional gas, estimated ultimate recoverable

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Feran Asur

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In cities, plants; with its visual and functional effects, it helps to provide balance between human and environmental system. It is possible to develop alternative solutions to eliminate visual pollution by evaluating the potential properties of plant materials with other inanimate materials such as color, texture, form, size, etc. characteristics and other inanimate materials such as highlighter, background forming, harmonizing and concealer. In cold climates, the number of ornamental plant species that grow in warmer climates is less. For this reason, especially in the landscaping works of urban spaces, it is difficult to create the desired visuality with aesthetically qualified plants that are suitable for the ecology of the area, without creating monotony, with color variety. In this study, the importance of plant and plant compositions in the solution of visual problems in urban environments in cold climatic conditions is emphasized. The potential of ornamental plants that can be used for this purpose in preventing visual pollution is given. It has been shown how to use prominent features of these ornamental plants such as size, form, texture, vegetation periods to improve visual landscape in urban spaces in a long time. In addition to the design group disciplines that have activity on planning or application basis in the city and its surroundings, landscape architecture discipline can provide visual improvement of the studies to be carried out in detail in terms of planting design.

Keywords: residential landscape, planting, urban space, visual improvement

Procedia PDF Downloads 120

Authors: Woolfrey K., Woolfrey M., Bolton C. L., Warchuk D.

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Objectives: Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease of adults worldwide. Despite total knee arthroplasty (TKA) demonstrating high levels of success, 20% of patients report dissatisfaction with their result. VOXX Wellness Stasis Socks are embedded with a proprietary pattern of neuro-receptor activation points that have been proven to activate a precise neuro-response, according to the pattern theory of haptic perception, which stimulates improvements in pain and function. The use of this technology in TKA patients may prove beneficial as an adjunct to recovery as many patients suffer from deficits to their proprioceptive system caused by ligamentous damage and alterations to mechanoreceptors during the procedure. We hypothesized that VOXX Wellness Stasis Socks are a safe, cost-effective, and easily scalable strategy to support TKA patients through their recovery. Design: Double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial. Participants: Patients scheduled to receive TKA were considered eligible for inclusion in the trial. Interventions: Intervention group (I): VOXX Wellness Stasis socks containing receptor point-activation technology. Control group (C): VOXX Wellness Stasis socks without receptor point-activation technology. Sock use during the waking hours x 6 weeks. Main Outcome Measures: Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaire completed at baseline, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks to assess pain, stiffness, and physical function. Results: Data analysis using SPSS software. P-values, effect sizes, and confidence intervals are reported to assess clinical relevance of the finding. Physical status classifications were compared using t-test. Within-subject and between-subject differences in the mean WOMAC were analyzed by ANOVA. Effect size was analyzed using Cramer’s V. Consistent improvement in WOMAC scores for pain and stiffness at 2 weeks post op in the I over the C group. The womac scores assessing physical function showed a consistent improvement at both 2 and 6 weeks post op in the I group compared to C group. Conclusions: VOXX proved to be a low cost, safe intervention in TKA to help patients improve with regard to pain, stiffness, and physical function. Disclosures: None

Keywords: osteoarthritis, RCT, pain management, total knee arthroplasty

Procedia PDF Downloads 518

Authors: Li Guo, Jianhong Wang, Dian Huang, Shengzhong Feng

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Computing networks as a new network architecture has shown great promise in boosting the utilization of different resources, such as computing, caching, and communications. To maximise the efficiency of resource orchestration in computing network control systems (CNCSs), this work proposes a dynamic orchestration strategy of a different resource based on task requirements from computing power requestors (CPRs). Specifically, computing power providers (CPPs) in CNCSs could share information with each other through communication channels on the basis of blockchain technology, especially their current idle resources. This dynamic process is modeled as a cooperative game in which CPPs have the same target of maximising long-term rewards by improving the resource utilization ratio. Meanwhile, the task requirements from CPRs, including size, deadline, and calculation, are simultaneously considered in this paper. According to task requirements, the proposed orchestration strategy could schedule the best-fitting resource in CNCSs, achieving the maximum long-term rewards of CPPs and the best quality of experience (QoE) of CRRs at the same time. Based on the EdgeCloudSim simulation platform, the efficiency of the proposed strategy is achieved from both sides of CPRs and CPPs. Besides, experimental results show that the proposed strategy outperforms the other comparisons in all cases.

Keywords: computing network control systems, resource orchestration, dynamic scheduling, blockchain, cooperative game

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Ruangdech Sirikit

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The purposes of this research were to study the variables affecting the quality assessment of mathematics subject in Thailand by using value-added analysis on TIMSS 2011. The data used in this research is the secondary data from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), collected from 6,124 students in 172 schools from Thailand, studying only mathematics subjects. The data were based on 14 assessment tests of knowledge in mathematics. There were 3 steps of data analysis: 1) To analyze descriptive statistics 2) To estimate competency of students from the assessment of their mathematics proficiency by using MULTILOG program; 3) analyze value added in the model of quality assessment using Value-Added Model with Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) and 2 levels of analysis. The research results were as follows: 1. Student level variables that had significant effects on the competency of students at .01 levels were Parental care, Resources at home, Enjoyment of learning mathematics and Extrinsic motivation in learning mathematics. Variable that had significant effects on the competency of students at .05 levels were Education of parents and self-confident in learning mathematics. 2. School level variable that had significant effects on competency of students at .01 levels was Extra large school. Variable that had significant effects on competency of students at .05 levels was medium school.

Keywords: quality assessment, value-added model, TIMSS, mathematics, Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 272

Authors: Sanda-Maria Ardeleanu, Ana Crăciunescu

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This paper is sustained by our previous research on discursive strategies, whichdemonstrated that tourismhas developed and employed apromotional languageper se. We have studied this concept within the framework of audio-visual advertising by analyzing its discursive structures at the level of three main strategies (textual, visual, and both textual and visual) and confirmed the applicability of the promotional language per se within the field. Tourism, at large, represents a largely potential interdisplinary field, which allowed us to use qualitative methods of research such as Discourse Analysis (DA). Due to further research which showed that in the third phase of qualitative research methodologies, scholars in tourism recognized semiotics and DA as potential paths to follow, but which were insufficiently explored at the time, we soon realized that the natural next step to take is to bring together common qualitative methodologies for both fields, such as the method of observation, the triangulation, Discourse Analysis, etc. Therefore and in the light of fast transformations of the medium that intermediates the message, in this paper, we are going to focus on the manifestations of the promotional language in social media texts, which advertise for the urban industry of accommodation in Romania. We shall constitute a corpus of study as the basis for our research methodology and, through the empirical method of observation and DA, we propose to recognize or discover new patterns developed at textual (mainly) and visual level or the mix of the two, known as strategies of the promotional language of tourism.

Keywords: discourse analysis, promotional language of tourism, social media, urban accommodation industry, tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Jisun Lee, Jay Hyoun Kwon

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As an alternative way to compensate the INS (inertial navigation system) error in non-GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) environment, geophysical database referenced navigation is being studied. In this study, both gravity gradient and terrain data were combined to complement the weakness of sole geophysical data as well as to improve the stability of the positioning. The main process to compensate the INS error using geophysical database was constructed on the basis of the EKF (Extended Kalman Filter). In detail, two type of combination method, centralized and decentralized filter, were applied to check the pros and cons of its algorithm and to find more robust results. The performance of each navigation algorithm was evaluated based on the simulation by supposing that the aircraft flies with precise geophysical DB and sensors above nine different trajectories. Especially, the results were compared to the ones from sole geophysical database referenced navigation to check the improvement due to a combination of the heterogeneous geophysical database. It was found that the overall navigation performance was improved, but not all trajectories generated better navigation result by the combination of gravity gradient with terrain data. Also, it was found that the centralized filter generally showed more stable results. It is because that the way to allocate the weight for the decentralized filter could not be optimized due to the local inconsistency of geophysical data. In the future, switching of geophysical data or combining different navigation algorithm are necessary to obtain more robust navigation results.

Keywords: Extended Kalman Filter, geophysical database referenced navigation, gravity gradient, terrain

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Chen Bo, Wen Zengping

Abstract:

Based on the results of previous studies, we focus on the research of real ground motion selection and scaling method for structural performance-based seismic evaluation using nonlinear dynamic analysis. The input of earthquake ground motion should be determined appropriately to make them compatible with the site-specific hazard level considered. Thus, an optimized selection and scaling method are established including the use of not only Monte Carlo simulation method to create the stochastic simulation spectrum considering the multivariate lognormal distribution of target spectrum, but also a spectral shape parameter. Its applications in structural fragility analysis are demonstrated through case studies. Compared to the previous scheme with no consideration of the uncertainty of target spectrum, the method shown here can make sure that the selected records are in good agreement with the median value, standard deviation and spectral correction of the target spectrum, and greatly reveal the uncertainty feature of site-specific hazard level. Meanwhile, it can help improve computational efficiency and matching accuracy. Given the important infection of target spectrum’s uncertainty on structural seismic fragility analysis, this work can provide the reasonable and reliable basis for structural seismic evaluation under scenario earthquake environment.

Keywords: ground motion selection, scaling method, seismic fragility analysis, spectral shape

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Authors: Harish Rajak, Preeti Patel

Abstract:

The application of histone deacetylase inhibitors is a well-known strategy in prevention of cancer which shows acceptable preclinical antitumor activity due to its ability of growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of cancer cell. Molecular docking were performed using Histone Deacetylase protein (PDB ID:1t69) and prepared series of hydroxamic acid based HDACIs. On the basis of docking study, it was predicted that compound 1 has significant binding interaction with HDAC protein and three hydrogen bond interactions takes place, which are essential for antitumor activity. On docking, most of the compounds exhibited better glide score values between -8 to -10 which is close to the glide score value of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid. The pharmacophore hypotheses were developed using e-pharmacophore script and phase module. The 3D-QSAR models provided a good correlation between predicted and actual anticancer activity. Best QSAR model showed Q2 (0.7974), R2 (0.9200) and standard deviation (0.2308). QSAR visualization maps suggest that hydrogen bond acceptor groups at carbonyl group of cap region and hydrophobic groups at ortho, meta, para position of R9 were favorable for HDAC inhibitory activity. We established structure activity correlation using docking, pharmacophore modeling and atom based 3D QSAR model for hydroxamic acid based HDACIs.

Keywords: HDACIs, QSAR, e-pharmacophore, docking, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid

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Authors: Saw Thiha, Jay Rajasekera

Abstract:

A boom in video conferencing generated millions of hours of video data daily to be analyzed. However, such enormous data pose certain scalability issues to be analyzed efficiently, let alone do it in real-time, as online conferences can involve hundreds of people and can last for hours. This paper proposes an efficient online proctoring solution that can analyze the online conferences real-time on edge devices such as Android, iOS, and desktops. Since the computation can be done upfront on the devices where online conferences take place, it can scale well without requiring intensive resources such as GPU servers and complex cloud infrastructure. According to the linear models, face orientation does indeed impact the perceived eye openness. Also, the proposed z score facial landmark standardization was proven to be functional in detecting face orientation and contributed to classifying eye blinks with single eyelid distance computation while achieving a better f1 score and accuracy than the Eye Aspect Ratio (EAR) threshold method. Last but not least, the authors implemented the solution natively in the MediaPipe framework and open-sourced it along with the reproducible experimental results on GitHub. The solution provides face orientation, eye blink, facial activity, and translation detections out of the box and is highly customizable and extensible.

Keywords: android, desktop, edge computing, blink, face orientation, facial activity and translation, MediaPipe, open source, real-time, video conference, web, iOS, Z score facial landmark standardization

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Authors: Ahmed Rashed

Abstract:

Sarcoptic mange is generally recognized as one of the most serious diseases in camels in Libya. It is an extremely pruritic and contagious skin condition caused by Sarcoptes scabiei var cameli. Thirteen camels (camelis dromedaries), showing progressive infection with S.scabiei mites in skin scrapings, were chosen randomly from different affected herds at AL-Assa camel project. Ten camels were treated with ivermectin (22,23-dihydroavermectin B1, Ivomec, Merck) at a dose rate of 0.2 mg./kg.body weight. Scratching and rubbing had completely disappeared in the treated camels one week after the second injection. Two weeks after the second injection motile mites were found on only one camel, and three weeks after the second injection, no motile mites were detected. Motile mites were observed in the three untreated camels up to the end of the trial.

Keywords: ivermecti, Sarcoptes scabiei, camels, scrapings

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Authors: Belete B. Beyene, Ayenew M. Mihirteu, Misganaw T. Ayana, Amogne W. Yibeltal

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Modification of synthetic porphyrins is one of the promising strategies in an attempt to get molecules with desired properties and applications. Here in, we report synthesis, photophysical characterization and antibacterial activity of 5, 10, 15, 20-tetrakis-(4- methoxy carbonyl phenyl) porphyrin M(II); where M = Co, Fe, Ni, Zn. Metallation of the ligand was confirmed by using UV–Vis spectroscopy and ESI-Ms measurement, in which the number of Q bands in absorption spectra of the ligand decreased from four to one or two as a result of metal insertion to the porphyrin core. The antibacterial activity study of the complexes toward two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Streptococcus pyogenes (s. pyogenes)) and two Gram-negative (Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae)) bacteria by disc diffusion method showed a promising inhibitory activity. The complexes exhibited highest activities at highest concentration and were better than the activity of free base ligand, the salts, and blank solution. This could be explained on the basis of Overton's concept of cell permeability and Tweed's Chelation theory. An increased lipo-solubility enhances the penetration of the complexes into the lipid membrane and interferes with the normal activities of the bacteria. Our study, therefore, showed that the growth inhibitory effect of these metalloporphyrins is generally in order of ZnTPPCOOMe > NiTPPCOOMe > CoTPPCOOMe> FeTPPCOOMe, which may be attributed to the better lipophilicity and binding of the complex with the cellular components.

Keywords: porphyrins, metalloporphyrins, spectral property, antibacterial activity, synthesis

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Authors: Balarabe Z. Ahmad, Anne-Lorène Vernay

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The emergence of electricity in Nigeria was dated back to 1896. The power plants have the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electric power. Whereas current dispatch is about 4,000 MW, access to electrification is about 60%, with consumption at 0.14 MWh/capita. The government embarked on energy reforms to mitigate energy poverty. The reform targeted the provision of electricity access to 75% of the population by 2020 and 90% by 2030. Growth of total electricity demand by a factor of 5 by 2035 had been projected. This means that Nigeria will require almost 530 TWh of electricity which can be delivered through generators with a capacity of 65 GW. Analogously, the geographical location of Nigeria has placed it in an advantageous position as the source of solar energy; the availability of a high sunshine belt is obvious in the country. The implication is that the far North, where energy poverty is high, equally has about twice the solar radiation as against southern Nigeria. Hence, the chance of generating solar electricity is 66% possible at 11850 x 103 GWh per year, which is one hundred times the current electricity consumption rate in the country. Harvesting these huge potentials may be a mirage if the entrepreneurs in the solar panel business are left with the conventional business models that are not uncertainty resilient. Currently, business entities in RE in Nigeria are uncertain of; accessing the national grid, purchasing potentials of cooperating organizations, currency fluctuation and interest rate increases. Uncertainties such as the security of projects and government policy are issues entrepreneurs must navigate to remain sustainable in the solar panel industry in Nigeria. The aim of this paper is to identify how entrepreneurial firms consider uncertainties in developing workable business models for commercializing solar energy projects in Nigeria. In an attempt to develop a novel business model, the paper investigated how entrepreneurial firms assess and navigate uncertainties. The roles of key stakeholders in helping entrepreneurs to manage uncertainties in the Nigeria RE sector were probed in the ongoing study. The study explored empirical uncertainties that are peculiar to RE entrepreneurs in Nigeria. A mixed-mode of research was embraced using qualitative data from face-to-face interviews conducted on the Solar Energy Entrepreneurs and the experts drawn from key stakeholders. Content analysis of the interview was done using Atlas. It is a nine qualitative tool. The result suggested that all stakeholders are required to synergize in developing an uncertainty resilient business model. It was opined that the RE entrepreneurs need modifications in the business recommendations encapsulated in the energy policy in Nigeria to strengthen their capability in delivering solar energy solutions to the yawning Nigerians.

Keywords: uncertainties, entrepreneurial, business model, solar-panel

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Authors: Khadiga Kahwa, Aniza Ismail

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Depression, anxiety, and stress are associated with decreased role functioning, productivity, and quality of life. International students are more prone to psychological distress as they face many stressors while studying abroad. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students, their help-seeking behavior, and their awareness of the available on-campus mental support services. A cross-sectional study with a purposive sampling method was performed on 280 international students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) between the age of 18 and 35 years. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire was used anonymously to assess the mental health of students. Socio-demographic, help-seeking behavior, and awareness data were obtained. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA test, and multiple linear regression were used to explore associated factors. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students were 58.9%, 71.8%, and 53.9%, respectively. Age was significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Ethnicity showed a significant association with depression and stress. No other factors were found to be significantly associated with psychological distress. Only 9.6% of the international students had sought help from on-campus mental support services. Students who were aware of the presence of such services were only 21.4% of the participants. In conclusion, this study addressed the gap in the literature on the mental health of international students and provided data that could be used in intervention programs to improve the mental health of the increasing number of international students in Malaysia.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, stress, help-seeking behavior, students

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Authors: Davit Shahnazaryan, Diogo Gomes, Mher Safaryan

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Many symbolic computations and manipulations required in the analysis of partial differential equations (PDE) or systems of PDEs are tedious and error-prone. These computations arise when determining conservation laws, entropies or integral identities, which are essential tools for the study of PDEs. Here, we discuss a new Mathematica package for the symbolic analysis of PDEs that automate multiple tasks, saving time and effort. Methodologies: During the research, we have used concepts of linear algebra and partial differential equations. We have been working on creating algorithms based on theoretical mathematics to find results mentioned below. Major Findings: Our package provides the following functionalities; finding symmetry group of different PDE systems, generation of polynomials invariant with respect to different symmetry groups; simplification of integral quantities by integration by parts and null Lagrangian cleaning, computing general forms of expressions by integration by parts; finding equivalent forms of an integral expression that are simpler or more symmetric form; determining necessary and sufficient conditions on the coefficients for the positivity of a given symbolic expression. Conclusion: Using this package, we can simplify integral identities, find conserved and dissipated quantities of time-dependent PDE or system of PDEs. Some examples in the theory of mean-field games and semiconductor equations are discussed.

Keywords: partial differential equations, symbolic computation, conserved and dissipated quantities, mathematica

Procedia PDF Downloads 149