Search results for: shape based retrieval

Authors: Rashmi D. G., Aishwarya G., Niharika M. K.

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Purpose: Free recall tasks target cognitive and linguistic processes like episodic memory, lexical access and retrieval. Consequently, the free recall paradigm is suitable for assessing memory deterioration caused by aging; this also depends on linguistic factors, including the use of first and second languages and their relative ability. Hence, the present study aimed to determine if aging has an effect on visual and auditory recall abilities. Method: Twenty young adults (mean age: 25.4±0.99) and older adults (mean age: 63.3±3.51) participated in the study. Participants performed a free recall task under two conditions – related and unrelated and two modalities - visual and auditory where they were instructed to recall as many items as possible with no specific order and time limit. Results: Free recall performance was calculated as the mean number of correctly recalled items. Although younger participants recalled a higher number of items, the performance across conditions and modality was variable. Conclusion: In summary, the findings of the present study revealed an age-related decline in the efficiency of episodic memory, which is crucial to remember recent events.

Keywords: recall, episodic memory, aging, modality

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Authors: V. P. Muhamed Shajudheen, K. Viswanathan, K. Anitha Rani, A. Uma Maheswari, S. Saravana Kumar

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We are reporting a simple and low-cost chemical precipitation method adopted to prepare zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO) using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a capping agent. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was applied on the dried gel sample to record the phase transformation temperature of zinc hydroxide Zn(OH)2 to zinc oxide (ZnO) to obtain the annealing temperature of 800C. The thermal, structure, morphology and optical properties have been employed by different techniques such as DSC-TGA, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy (FTIR), Micro Raman spectroscopy, UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Field Effect Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). X-ray diffraction results confirmed the wurtzite hexagonal structure of ZnO nanoparticles. The two intensive peaks at 160 and 432 cm-1 in the Raman Spectrum are mainly attributed to the first order modes of the wurtzite ZnO nanoparticles. The energy band gap obtained from the UV-Vis absorption spectra, shows a blue shift, which is attributed to increase in carrier concentration (Burstein Moss Effect). Photoluminescence studies of the single crystalline ZnO nanoparticles, show a strong peak centered at 385 nm, corresponding to the near band edge emission in ultraviolet range. The mixed shape of grapes, sphere, hexagonal and rock like structure has been noticed in FESEM. The results showed that PVP is a suitable capping agent for the preparation of ZnO nanoparticles by simple chemical precipitation method.

Keywords: ZnO nanoparticles, simple chemical precipitation route, mixed shape morphology, UV-visible absorption, photoluminescence, Fourier transform infra-Red spectroscopy

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Authors: Namdeo Jadhav, Nitin Salunkhe

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Currently, sericin is being treated as waste of sericulture industry, especially at reeling process. Looking at prospective physicochemical properties, an attempt has been made to explore pharmaceutical applications of sericin waste in fabrication of medicated solid dispersions. Solid dispersions (SDs) of poorly soluble drugs (Lornoxicam, Meloxicam & Felodipine) were prepared by spray drying, solvent evaporation, ball milling and physical kneading in mass ratio of drug: sericin (1:0.5, 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:2.5 and 1:3 w/w) and were investigated by solubility, ATR-FTIR, XRD and DSC, micromeritics and tablettability, surface morphology and in-vitro dissolution. It has been observed that sericin improves solubility of drugs by 8 to 10 times compared to pure drugs. The presence of hydrogen bonding between drugs and sericin was confirmed from the ATR-FTIR spectra. Amongst these methods, spray dried (1:2 w/w) SDs showed fully amorphous state representing molecularly distributed drug as confirmed from XRD and DSC study. Spray dried meloxicam SDs showed better compressibility and compactibility. The microphotograph of spray dried batches of lornoxicam (SDLX) and meloxicam SDs (SDMX) showed bowl shaped, and bowl plus spherical particles respectively, while spray dried felodipine SDs (SDFL) showed spherical shape. The SDLX, SDMX and SDFL (1:2 w/w) displayed better dissolution performance than other methods. Conclusively, hydrophilic matrix of sericin can be used to deliver poor water soluble drugs and its aerodynamic shape may show a great potential for various drug deliveries. If established as pharmaceutical excipient, sericin holds a potential to revolutionise economics of pharmaceutical industry, and sericulture farming, especially of Asian countries.

Keywords: biosericin, poorly soluble drugs, solid dispersion, solubility and dissolution improvement

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Authors: Ji-Hoon Byeon, Kwon-Hee Lee

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Strainer filter serves to block the inflow of impurities while mixed fluid is entering or exiting the piping. The filter of the strainer has a perforated structure, so that the pressure drop and the velocity change necessarily occur when the mixed fluid passes through the filter. It is possible to predict the pressure drop and velocity change of the strainer by numerical analysis by implementing all the perforated plates. However, if the size of the perforated plate exceeds a certain size, it is difficult to perform the numerical analysis, and sometimes we cannot guarantee its accuracy. In this study, we tried to predict the pressure drop and velocity change by using the porous media technique to obtain the equivalent resistance without actual implementation of the perforation shape of the strainer. Ansys-CFX, a commercial software, is used to perform the numerical analysis. The analysis procedure is as follows. Firstly, the unit pattern of the perforated plate is modeled, and the pressure drop is analyzed by varying the velocity by symmetry of the wall surface. Secondly, since the equation for obtaining resistance is a quadratic equation of pressure having unknown velocity, the viscous resistance and the inertia resistance of the perforated plate are obtained from the relationship between pressure and speed. Thirdly, by using the calculated resistance values, the values are substituted into the flat plate implemented as a two-dimensional porous media, and the accuracy is verified by comparing the pressure drop and the velocity change. Fourthly, the pressure drop and velocity change in the whole strainer are analyzed by using the resistance values obtained on the perforated plate in the actual whole strainer model. Using the porous media technique, it is found that pressure drop and velocity change can be predicted in relatively short time without modeling the overall shape of the filter. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Valve Center from the Regional Innovation Center(RIC) Program of Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE).

Keywords: strainer, porous media, CFD, numerical analysis

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Authors: Carlos H. Ferreira, Joana R. Pereira

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In recent decades, calls for sustainable architecture based on environmental policies have been frequent. Despite a vast number of documents, technical procedures, and publications involving these themes, conceptions, and even architectural practice are often distanced from critical and methodological reflection on the relationship between environment and architecture. Among the various issues that we could consider in this relationship, we highlight in this article the relevance of water in the environment and in the architectural design. From documentary references and works carried out, we seek contributions to a better systematization and framing of water in architectural thinking. We distinguish, on the one hand, more conceptual issues that involve the environmental relationship of water, involving its cycle, relevance in the landscape, and infrastructural commitments. On the other hand, we highlight a more operative component, focusing on the place of water in the design process, from its perception in space-shape dimensions to more specific technical requirements that involve the interdisciplinary boundaries of architecture. In both approaches to water in architectural design, we seek to contribute to greater sensitivity and efficiency in the art of designing a more sustainable future.

Keywords: sustainability, environment, water, resilience design

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Authors: Suleiman Musa, Shuaibu Sidi Safiyanu

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This study examined the digital preservation in Nigeria university libraries. A comparison between the university of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU, Zaria). The study utilized primary source of data obtained from two selected institution librarians. Finding revealed varying results in terms of skills acquired by librarians before and after digitization of the two institutions. The study reports that journals publication, text book, CD-ROMS, conference papers and proceedings, theses, dissertations and seminar papers are among the information resources available for digitization. The study further documents that copyright issue, power failure, and unavailability of needed materials are among the challenges facing the digitization of library of the institution. On the basis of the finding, the study concluded that digitization of library enhances efficiency in organization and retrieval of information services. The study therefore recommended that software should be upgraded with backup, training of the librarians on digital process, installation of antivirus and enhancement of technical collaboration between the library and MIS.

Keywords: digitalization, preservation, libraries, comparison

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Authors: ShiQing Gao, XingYi Zhang, YouHe Zhou

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When a floating tilted cylinder pierces a fluid interface, the fulfilment of constant-contact-angle condition along the cylinder results in shift, stretch and distortion of the contact line, thus leading to a capillary interaction. We perform an investigation of the scaling dependence of tilt angle, contact angle, and cylinder radius on the contact line profile and the corresponding capillary interaction by numerical simulation and experiment. Characterized by three characteristic parameters respectively, the dependences for each deformation mode are systematically analyzed. Both the experiment and simulation reveals an invariant structure that is independent of contact angle and radius to characterize the stretch of the contact line for every tilted case. Based on this observation, we then propose a general capillary force scaling law to incredibly grasp all the simulated results, by simply approximating the contact line profile as tilted ellipse.

Keywords: gas-liquid/liquid-fluid interface, colloidal particle, contact line shape, capillary interaction, surface evolver (SE)

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Authors: Rindra Rantoson, Hichem Nouira, Nabil Anwer, Charyar Mehdi-Souzani

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Multiple measurements by means of various data acquisition systems are generally required to measure the shape of freeform workpieces for accuracy, reliability and holisticity. The obtained data are aligned and fused into a common coordinate system within a registration technique involving coarse and fine registrations. Standardized iterative methods have been established for fine registration such as Iterative Closest Points (ICP) and its variants. For coarse registration, no conventional method has been adopted yet despite a significant number of techniques which have been developed in the literature to supply an automatic rough matching between data sets. Two main issues are addressed in this paper: the coarse registration and the fine registration. For coarse registration, two novel automated methods based on the exploitation of discrete curvatures are presented: an enhanced Hough Transformation (HT) and an improved Ransac Transformation. The use of curvature features in both methods aims to reduce computational cost. For fine registration, a new variant of ICP method is proposed in order to reduce registration error using curvature parameters. A specific distance considering the curvature similarity has been combined with Euclidean distance to define the distance criterion used for correspondences searching. Additionally, the objective function has been improved by combining the point-to-point (P-P) minimization and the point-to-plane (P-Pl) minimization with automatic weights. These ones are determined from the preliminary calculated curvature features at each point of the workpiece surface. The algorithms are applied on simulated and real data performed by a computer tomography (CT) system. The obtained results reveal the benefit of the proposed novel curvature-based registration methods.

Keywords: discrete curvature, RANSAC transformation, hough transformation, coarse registration, ICP variant, point-to-point and point-to-plane minimization combination, computer tomography

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Authors: Tom Nakotte, Hongmei Luo

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Lead chalcogenide-based (PbS, PbSe, and PbTe) quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized for the purpose of implementing them in radiation detectors. Pb based materials have long been of interest for gamma and x-ray detection due to its high absorption cross section and Z number. The emphasis of the studies was on exploring how to control charge carrier transport within thin films containing the QDs. The properties of QDs itself can be altered by changing the size, shape, composition, and surface chemistry of the dots, while the properties of carrier transport within QD films are affected by post-deposition treatment of the films. The QDs were synthesized using colloidal synthesis methods and films were grown using multiple film coating techniques, such as spin coating and doctor blading. Current QD radiation detectors are based on the QD acting as fluorophores in a scintillation detector. Here the viability of using QDs in solid-state radiation detectors, for which the incident detectable radiation causes a direct electronic response within the QD film is explored. Achieving high sensitivity and accurate energy quantification in QD radiation detectors requires a large carrier mobility and diffusion lengths in the QD films. Pb chalcogenides-based QDs were synthesized with both traditional oleic acid ligands as well as more weakly binding oleylamine ligands, allowing for in-solution ligand exchange making the deposition of thick films in a single step possible. The PbS and PbSe QDs showed better air stability than PbTe. After precipitation the QDs passivated with the shorter ligand are dispersed in 2,6-difloupyridine resulting in colloidal solutions with concentrations anywhere from 10-100 mg/mL for film processing applications, More concentrated colloidal solutions produce thicker films during spin-coating, while an extremely concentrated solution (100 mg/mL) can be used to produce several micrometer thick films using doctor blading. Film thicknesses of micrometer or even millimeters are needed for radiation detector for high-energy gamma rays, which are of interest for astrophysics or nuclear security, in order to provide sufficient stopping power.

Keywords: colloidal synthesis, lead chalcogenide, radiation detectors, quantum dots

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Authors: Nikola Toshikj, Michel Ramonda, Sylvain Catrouillet, Jean-Jacques Robin, Sebastien Blanquer

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Biodegradable and biocompatible block copolymers have risen as the golden materials in both medical and environmental applications. Moreover, if their architecture is of controlled manner, higher applications can be foreseen. In the meantime, organocatalytic ROP has been promoted as more rapid and immaculate route, compared to the traditional organometallic catalysis, towards efficient synthesis of block copolymer architectures. Therefore, herein we report novel organocatalytic pathway with guanidine molecules (TBD) for supported synthesis of trimethylene carbonate initiated by poly(caprolactone) as pre-polymer. Pristine PTMC-b-PCL-b-PTMC block copolymer structure, without any residual products and clear desired block proportions, was achieved under 1.5 hours at room temperature and verified by NMR spectroscopies and size-exclusion chromatography. Besides, when elaborating block copolymer films, further stability and amelioration of mechanical properties can be achieved via additional reticulation step of precedently methacrylated block copolymers. Subsequently, stimulated by the insufficient studies on the phase-separation/crystallinity relationship in these semi-crystalline block copolymer systems, their intrinsic thermal and morphology properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and atomic force microscopy. Firstly, by DSC measurements, the block copolymers with χABN values superior to 20 presented two distinct glass transition temperatures, close to the ones of the respecting homopolymers, demonstrating an initial indication of a phase-separated system. In the interim, the existence of the crystalline phase was supported by the presence of melting temperature. As expected, the crystallinity driven phase-separated morphology predominated in the AFM analysis of the block copolymers. Neither crosslinking at melted state, hence creation of a dense polymer network, disturbed the crystallinity phenomena. However, the later revealed as sensible to rapid liquid nitrogen quenching directly from the melted state. Therefore, AFM analysis of liquid nitrogen quenched and crosslinked block copolymer films demonstrated a thermodynamically driven phase-separation clearly predominating over the originally crystalline one. These AFM films remained stable with their morphology unchanged even after 4 months at room temperature. However, as demonstrated by DSC analysis once rising the temperature above the melting temperature of the PCL block, neither the crosslinking nor the liquid nitrogen quenching shattered the semi-crystalline network, while the access to thermodynamical phase-separated structures was possible for temperatures under the poly (caprolactone) melting point. Precisely this coexistence of dual crosslinked/crystalline networks in the same copolymer structure allowed us to establish, for the first time, the shape-memory properties in such materials, as verified by thermomechanical analysis. Moreover, the response temperature to the material original shape depended on the block copolymer emplacement, hence PTMC or PCL as end-block. Therefore, it has been possible to reach a block copolymer with transition temperature around 40°C thus opening potential real-life medical applications. In conclusion, the initial study of phase-separation/crystallinity relationship in PTMC-b-PCL-b-PTMC block copolymers lead to the discovery of novel shape memory materials with superior properties, widely demanded in modern-life applications.

Keywords: biodegradable block copolymers, organocatalytic ROP, self-assembly, shape-memory

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Authors: E. Gandomkar, S. Sabbaghi

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In this paper, the effects of variation synthesized methods on morphology and size of silica nanostructure via modifying sol-gel and precipitation method have been investigated. Meanwhile, resulting products have been characterized by particle size analyzer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra. As result, the shape of SiO2 with sol-gel and precipitation methods was spherical but with modifying sol-gel method we have been had nanolayer structure.

Keywords: modified sol-gel, precipitation, nanolayer, Na2SiO3, nanoparticle

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Authors: Aswandi Anas Husin, Cut Rizlani Kholibrina

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Harvesting camphor resin has been carried out since the beginning of civilization on the west coast of Sumatra. Oil or crystals that containing borneol are harvested from the camphor tree (Dryobalanops aromatica). Non-timber forest products are utilized for the manufacture of fragrances, antiseptics, anti-inflammatory, analgesic as well as effective for the treatment of blocked arteries. Based on exploration on the west coast of Sumatra, these endemic tree species were found remaining growing in groups on small spots in the lowlands to the hills. Some populations are found at an altitude of 700 meters above sea level in Kadabuhan, Jongkong and Sultan Daulat in Subulussalam district, Singkohor and Lake Paris in Aceh Singkil district, and Sirandorung and Manduamas in the north of Barus, Central Tapanuli district. These multi-purpose tree species was also identified as being able to adapt to the Singkil Peat Swamp. The decline in tree population has a direct impact on reducing their productivity. Conventionally, the crystals are harvested by cutting and splitting the stem into wooden blocks. In this way about 1.5-2.5 kg of crystals are obtained with various qualities. Camphor retrieval can also be done by making a notch on a standing tree trunk and collecting liquid resin (ombil) that is removed from the injured resin channel. Twigs and leaves also contain borneol. The aromatic content in this section opens opportunities for the supply of borneol through the distillation process. Vegetative propagation technology is needed to overcome the limitations of available seeds. This breeding strategy for vulnerable species starts with gathering genetic material from various provenances which are then used to support the provision of basic populations, breeding populations, multiplication populations and production populations for extensive development of camphor tree plantations

Keywords: camphor, conservation, natural borneol, productivity, vulnerable species

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Authors: Jaspreet Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Rajinder Singh, Prithvipal Singh, Karanjeet Singh Kahlon, Ravinder Singh Sawhney

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Morphological evaluation of Indian languages is one of the burgeoning fields in the area of Natural Language Processing (NLP). The evaluation of a language is an eminent task in the era of information retrieval and text mining. The extraction and classification of knowledge from text can be exploited for sentiment analysis and morphological evaluation. This study coalesce morphological evaluation and sentiment analysis for the task of classification of farmer suicide cases reported in Punjab state of India. The pre-processing of Punjabi text involves morphological evaluation and normalization of Punjabi word tokens followed by the training of proposed model using deep learning classification on Punjabi language text extracted from online Punjabi news reports. The class-wise accuracies of sentiment prediction for four negatively oriented classes of farmer suicide cases are 93.85%, 88.53%, 83.3%, and 95.45% respectively. The overall accuracy of sentiment classification obtained using proposed framework on 275 Punjabi text documents is found to be 90.29%.

Keywords: deep neural network, farmer suicides, morphological processing, punjabi text, sentiment analysis

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Authors: Wenliang Song, Yu Zhang, Hua Jin, Il Kim

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The self-assembly of the polypeptide (PP) into well-defined structures at different length scales is both biomimetic relevant and fundamentally interesting. Although there are various reports of nanostructures fabricated by the self-assembly of various PPs, directed self-assembly of PP into three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical structure has proven to be difficult, despite their importance for biological applications. Herein, an efficient method has been developed through living polymerization of phenylalanine N-Carboxy anhydride (NCA) towards the linear and cyclic polyphenylalanine, and the new invented swelling methodology can form diverse hierarchical polypeptide crystals. The solvent-dependent self-assembly behaviors of these homopolymers were characterized by high-resolution imaging tools such as atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope. The linear and cyclic polypeptide formed 3D nano hierarchical shapes, such as a sphere, cubic, stratiform and hexagonal star in different solvents. Notably, a crystalline packing model was proposed to explain the formation of 3D nanostructures based on the various diffraction patterns, looking forward to give an insight for their dissimilar shape inflection during the self-assembly process.

Keywords: self-assembly, polypeptide, bio-polymer, crystalline polymer

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Authors: Mehmet Akoz

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In this study the clinical, mikrobiological and histopathological diagnoses of subclinic and nonspecific endometritis resulting in repeat breeder. Total of 36 cows, aging between 3-9 years having normal oestrous cycles with no pregnancy following at least 3 unsuccesful inseminations, were used. Biopsy specimens for histopathological and swab for bacteri microbiological cultures were obtanied from endometrium of repeat breeders showing no macroskopic evidence of any defectiveness of genital organs and based on anamneses. Eleven out of 36 cows have positive bacteriological results. While 19 cows have varying degrees of and endometritis, the other 17 cows did not have any pathologic lesions. A total of 19 biopsies in 4 of the I. degree in endometritis, 9 of them II. degree endometritis and 6 were also III. degree endometritis was evaluated. In the majority of cows by the histopathological evaluation results (78.9%) monitored by the second and third-degree endometritis shape, in 83.3% of the isolated microorganisms were identified similar results. Histopathological and microbiological evaluation, along with clinical examination are important for the diagnoses and treatment of repeat breeders, having no resistance with well dissipation to endometrium rifaximina foam formulation was found to be more effective than PGF2α.

Keywords: repeat breeder, dairy cattle, histopathology, PGF2α, rifaximina

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Authors: Robert L. Fine, Zhiyong Yang, Christy Spivey, Bonnie Boardman, Maureen Courtney

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Importance: Barriers to traditional advance care planning (ACP) and advance directive (AD) creation have limited the promise of ACP/AD for individuals and families, the healthcare team, and society. Reengineering ACP by using a web-based, consumer-driven process has recently been suggested. We report early experience with such a process. Objective: Begin to analyze the potential of the creation and use of ACP/ADs as generated by a consumer-friendly, digital process by 1) assessing the likelihood that consumers would create ACP/ADs without structured intervention by medical or legal professionals, and 2) analyzing the responses to determine if the plans can help doctors better understand a person’s goals, preferences, and priorities for their medical treatments and the naming of healthcare agents. Design: The authors chose 900 users of MyDirectives.com, a digital ACP/AD tool, solely based on their state of residence in order to achieve proportional representation of all 50 states by population size and then reviewed their responses, summarizing these through descriptive statistics including treatment preferences, demographics, and revision of preferences. Setting: General United States population. Participants: The 900 participants had an average age of 50.8 years (SD = 16.6); 84.3% of the men and 91% of the women were in self-reported good health when signing their ADs. Main measures: Preferences regarding the use of life-sustaining treatments, where to spend final days, consulting a supportive and palliative care team, attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), autopsy, and organ and tissue donation. Results: Nearly 85% of respondents prefer cessation of life-sustaining treatments during their final days whenever those may be, 76% prefer to spend their final days at home or in a hospice facility, and 94% wanted their future doctors to consult a supportive and palliative care team. 70% would accept attempted CPR in certain limited circumstances. Most respondents would want an autopsy under certain conditions, and 62% would like to donate their organs. Conclusions and relevance: Analysis of early experience with an all-digital web-based ACP/AD platform demonstrates that individuals from a wide range of ages and conditions can engage in an interrogatory process about values, goals, preferences, and priorities for their medical treatments by developing advance directives and easily make changes to the AD created. Online creation, storage, and retrieval of advance directives has the potential to remove barriers to ACP/AD and, thus, to further improve patient-centered end-of-life care.

Keywords: Advance Care Plan, Advance Decisions, Advance Directives, Consumer; Digital, End of Life Care, Goals, Living Wills, Prefences, Universal Advance Directive, Statements

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Authors: Khalid Iqbal

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This work presents a comparison of an anthropomorphic PRESAGE® dosimeter and radiochromic film measurements with a commercial treatment planning system to determine the feasibility of PRESAGE® for 3D dosimetry in breast IMRT. An anthropomorphic PRESAGE® phantom was created in the shape of a breast phantom. A five-field IMRT plan was generated with a commercially available treatment planning system and delivered to the PRESAGE® phantom. The anthropomorphic PRESAGE® was scanned with the Duke midsized optical CT scanner (DMOS-RPC) and the OD distribution was converted to dose. Comparisons were performed between the dose distribution calculated with the Pinnacle3 treatment planning system, PRESAGE®, and EBT2 film measurements. DVHs, gamma maps, and line profiles were used to evaluate the agreement. Gamma map comparisons showed that Pinnacle3 agreed with PRESAGE® as greater than 95% of comparison points for the PTV passed a ± 3%/± 3 mm criterion when the outer 8 mm of phantom data were discluded. Edge artifacts were observed in the optical CT reconstruction, from the surface to approximately 8 mm depth. These artifacts resulted in dose differences between Pinnacle3 and PRESAGE® of up to 5% between the surface and a depth of 8 mm and decreased with increasing depth in the phantom. Line profile comparisons between all three independent measurements yielded a maximum difference of 2% within the central 80% of the field width. For the breast IMRT plan studied, the Pinnacle3 calculations agreed with PRESAGE® measurements to within the ±3%/± 3 mm gamma criterion. This work demonstrates the feasibility of the PRESAGE® to be fashioned into anthropomorphic shape, and establishes the accuracy of Pinnacle3 for breast IMRT. Furthermore, these data have established the groundwork for future investigations into 3D dosimetry with more complex anthropomorphic phantoms.

Keywords: 3D dosimetry, PRESAGE®, IMRT, QA, EBT2 GAFCHROMIC film

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Authors: Shabnam, Jagdeep Kumar

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Because of the impact of their greater surface area and smaller quantum sizes in comparison with other metal atoms or bulk metals, metal nanoparticles, such as those formed of gold, exhibit a variety of unusual chemical and physical properties. The size- and shape-dependent properties of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are particularly notable. Metal nanoparticles have received a lot of attention due to their unique properties and exciting prospective uses in photonics, electronics, biological sensing, and imaging. The latest developments in GNP synthesis are discussed in this review. Green chemistry measures were used to assess the production of gold nanoparticles, with a focus on Process Mass Intensity (PMI). Based on these measurements, opportunities for improving synthetic approaches were found. With PMIs that were often in the thousands, solvent usage was found to be the main obstacle for nanoparticle synthesis, even ones that were otherwise considered to be environmentally friendly. Since ligated metal nanoparticles are the most industrially relevant but least environmentally friendly, their synthesis by arrested precipitation was chosen as the best chance for significant advances. Gold nanoparticles of small sizes and bio-stability are produced biochemically, and they are used in many biological applications.

Keywords: gold, nanoparticles, green synthesis, AuNP

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Authors: Magdalena B. Kaziuk, Waldemar Kosiba

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Background: In the XXI century we have to deal with the epidemic of obesity which is important risk factor for the cardiovascular and kidney diseases. Lipo proteins are directly involved in the atherosclerotic process. Non-high-density lipo protein (non-HDL) began following widespread recognition of its superiority over LDL as a measurement of vascular event risk. Non-HDL includes residual risk which persists in patients after achieved recommended level of LDL. Materials and Methods: The study covered 111 patients (52 females, 59 males, age 51,91±14 years), hospitalized on the intern department. Body composition was assessed using the bioimpendance method and anthropometric measurements. Physical activity data were collected during the interview. The nutritional status and the obesity type were determined with the Waist to Height Ratio and the Waist to Hip Ratio. A function of the kidney was evaluated by calculating the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using MDRD formula. Non-HDL was calculated as a difference between concentration of the Total and HDL cholesterol. Results: 10% of patients were found to be underweight; 23.9 % had correct body weight; 15,08 % had overweight, while the remaining group had obesity: 51,02 %. People with the android shape have higher non-HDL cholesterol versus with the gynoid shape (p=0.003). The higher was non-HDL, the lower eGFR had studied subjects (p < 0.001). Significant correlation was found between high non-HDL and incorrect dietary habits in patients avoiding eating vegetables, fruits and having low physical activity (p < 0.005). Conclusions: Android type of figure raises the residual risk of the heart disease associated with higher levels of non-HDL. Increasing physical activity in these patients reduces the level of non-HDL. Non-HDL seems to be the best predictor among all cholesterol measures for the cardiovascular events and worsening eGFR.

Keywords: obesity, non-HDL cholesterol, glomerular filtration rate, lifestyle

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Authors: Tak-Chung Fu, Ying-Kit Hung, Fu-Lai Chung

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In the field of time series data mining, the concept of the Perceptually Important Point (PIP) identification process is first introduced in 2001. This process originally works for financial time series pattern matching and it is then found suitable for time series dimensionality reduction and representation. Its strength is on preserving the overall shape of the time series by identifying the salient points in it. With the rise of Big Data, time series data contributes a major proportion, especially on the data which generates by sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. According to the nature of PIP identification and the successful cases, it is worth to further explore the opportunity to apply PIP in time series ‘Big Data’. However, the performance of PIP identification is always considered as the limitation when dealing with ‘Big’ time series data. In this paper, two distributed versions of PIP identification based on the Specialized Binary (SB) Tree are proposed. The proposed approaches solve the bottleneck when running the PIP identification process in a standalone computer. Improvement in term of speed is obtained by the distributed versions.

Keywords: distributed computing, performance analysis, Perceptually Important Point identification, time series data mining

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Authors: Mukhamad Fatkhullah, Arfan Fadli, Marini Kristina Situmeang, Siti Hazar Sitorus

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The emergence of a community of people with disabilities along with the various works produced has made great progress to open the public eye to their existence in society. This study focuses attention on a community that is suspected to be one of the pioneers in pursuing the movement. It is Deaf Art Community (DAC), a community of persons with disabilities based in Yogyakarta, with deaf and speech-impaired members who use sign language in everyday communication. Knowing the movement of disabled communities is a good thing, the description of the things behind it then important to know as the basis for initiating similar movements. This research focuses on the question of how community of people with disabilities begin to take shape in different regions and interact with collaborative events. Qualitative method with in-depth interview as data collection techniques was used to describe the process of formation and the emergence of community. The analytical unit in the study initially focuses on the subject in the community, but in the process, it develops to institutional analysis. Therefore some informants were determined purposively and expanded using the snowball technique. The theory used in this research is Phenomenology of Alfred Schutz to be able to see reality from the subject and institutional point of view. The results of this study found that the community is formed because the existing educational institutions (both SLB and inclusion) are less able to empower and make children with disabilities become equal with the society. Through the SLB, the presence of children with disabilities becomes isolated from the society, especially in children of his or her age. Therefore, discrimination and labeling will never be separated from society's view. Meanwhile, facilities for the basic needs of children with disabilities can not be fully provided. Besides that, the guarantee of discrimination, glances, and unpleasant behavior from children without disability does not exist, which then indicates that the existing inclusion schools offer only symbolic acceptance. Thus, both in SLB and Inclusive Schools can not empower children with disabilities. Community-based assistance, in this case, has become an alternative to actually empowering children with disabilities. Not only giving them a place to interact, through the same community, children with disabilities will be guided to discover their talents and develop their potential to be self-reliant in the future.

Keywords: children with disabilities, community-based assessment, community empowerment, social equity

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Authors: Meral Melek Unver

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This paper aims to explore ways to help English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners notice and revise voice in English and raise their awareness of when and how to use active and passive voice to convey meaning in their written and spoken work. Because passive voice is commonly preferred in certain genres such as academic essays and news reports, despite the current trends promoting active voice, it is essential for learners to be fully aware of the meaning, use and form of passive voice to better communicate. The participants in the study are 22 EFL learners taking a one-year intensive English course at a university, who will receive English medium education (EMI) in their departmental studies in the following academic year. Data from students’ written and oral work was collected over a four-week period and the misuse or inaccurate use of passive voice was identified. The analysis of the data proved that they failed to make sensible decisions about when and how to use passive voice partly because the differences between their mother tongue and English and because they were not aware of the fact that active and passive voice would not alternate all the time. To overcome this, a Test-Teach-Test shape lesson, as opposed to a Present-Practice-Produce shape lesson, was designed and implemented to raise their awareness of the decisions they needed to make in choosing the voice and help them notice the meaning and use of passive voice through concept checking questions. The results first suggested that awareness raising activities on the meaning and use of voice in English would be beneficial in having accurate and meaningful outcomes from students. Also, helping students notice and renotice passive voice through carefully designed activities would help them internalize the use and form of it. As a result of the study, a number of activities are suggested to revise and notice passive voice as well as a short questionnaire to help EFL teachers to self-reflect on their teaching.

Keywords: voice in English, test-teach-test, passive voice, English language teaching

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Authors: Melanie Verhovnik

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Media shape the image of crime, peoples’ believes, attitudes and sometimes also behaviors. Media not only gives the impression that crime is increasing, it also suggest that very violent crime is more common than it actually is. It is also no wonder that humans are more afraid of being involved in a crime committed by strangers than committed by somebody they know – because this is the media construct. With the help of three case studies, the paper analyzes how media frames crime and criminals and gives valuable hints as to what better reporting could look like.

Keywords: court reporting, offenders in media, quantitative content analysis, victims in media

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Authors: Roman Klas, František Pochylý, Pavel Rudolf

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This paper is focused on the CFD simulation of the radiaxial pump (i.e. mixed flow pump) with the aim to detect the reasons of Y-Q characteristic instability. The main reasons of pressure pulsations were detected by means of the analysis of velocity and pressure fields within the pump combined with the theoretical approach. Consequently, the modifications of spiral case and pump suction area were made based on the knowledge of flow conditions and the shape of dissipation function. The primary design of pump geometry was created as the base model serving for the comparison of individual modification influences. The basic experimental data are available for this geometry. This approach replaced the more complicated and with respect to convergence of all computational tasks more difficult calculation for the compressible liquid flow. The modification of primary pump consisted in inserting the three fins types. Subsequently, the evaluation of pressure pulsations, specific energy curves and visualization of velocity fields were chosen as the criterion for successful design.

Keywords: CFD, radiaxial pump, spiral case, stability

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Authors: Katri K. Cornelissen, Lise Gulli Brokjob, Kristofor McCarty, Jiri Gumancik, Martin J. Tovee, Piers L. Cornelissen

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Recent research has shown that body size estimation of healthy women is driven by independent attitudinal and perceptual components. The attitudinal component represents psychological concerns about body, coupled to low self-esteem and a tendency towards depressive symptomatology, leading to over-estimation of body size, independent of the Body Mass Index (BMI) someone actually has. The perceptual component is a normal bias known as contraction bias, which, for bodies is dependent on actual BMI. Women with a BMI less than the population norm tend to overestimate their size, while women with a BMI greater than the population norm tend to underestimate their size. Women whose BMI is close to the population mean are most accurate. This is indexed by a regression of estimated BMI on actual BMI with a slope less than one. It is well established that body dissatisfaction, i.e. an attitudinal distortion, leads to body size overestimation in eating disordered individuals. However, debate persists as to whether women with eating disorders may also suffer a perceptual body distortion. Therefore, the current study was set to ask whether women with eating disorders exhibit the normal contraction bias when they estimate their own body size. If they do not, this would suggest differences in the way that women with eating disorders process the perceptual aspects of body shape and size in comparison to healthy controls. 100 healthy controls and 33 women with a history of eating disorders were recruited. Critically, it was ensured that both groups of participants represented comparable and adequate ranges of actual BMI (e.g. ~18 to ~40). Of those with eating disorders, 19 had a history of anorexia nervosa, 6 bulimia nervosa, and 8 OSFED. 87.5% of the women with a history of eating disorders self-reported that they were either recovered or recovering, and 89.7% of them self-reported that they had had one or more instances of relapse. The mean time lapsed since first diagnosis was 5 years and on average participants had experienced two relapses. Participants were asked to fill number of psychometric measures (EDE-Q, BSQ, RSE, BDI) to establish the attitudinal component of their body image as well as their tendency to internalize socio-cultural body ideals. Additionally, participants completed a method of adjustment psychophysical task, using photorealistic avatars calibrated for BMI, in order to provide an estimate of their own body size and shape. The data from the healthy controls replicate previous findings, revealing independent contributions to body size estimation from both attitudinal and perceptual (i.e. contraction bias) body image components, as described above. For the eating disorder group, once the adequacy of their actual BMI ranges was established, a regression of estimated BMI on actual BMI had a slope greater than 1, significantly different to that from controls. This suggests that (some) eating disordered individuals process the perceptual aspects of body image differently from healthy controls. It therefore is necessary to develop interventions which are specific to the perceptual processing of body shape and size for the management of (some) individuals with eating disorders.

Keywords: body image distortion, perception, recovery, relapse, BMI, eating disorders

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Authors: Anuj Srivastava, Kuldeep Kumar

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This paper proposes a numerical study of volute tongue design, which affects the centrifugal compressor operating range and pressure recovery. Increased efficiency has been the traditional importance of compressor design. However, the increased operating range has become important in an age of ever-increasing productivity and energy costs in the turbomachinery industry. Efficiency and overall operating range are the two most important parameters studied to evaluate the aerodynamic performance of centrifugal compressor. Volute is one of the components that have significant effect on these two parameters. Choice of volute tongue geometry has major role in compressor performance, also affects performance map. The author evaluates the trade-off on using pull-back tongue geometry on centrifugal compressor performance. In present paper, three different tongue positions and shapes are discussed. These designs are compared in terms of pressure recovery coefficient, pressure loss coefficient, and stable operating range. The detailed flow structures for various volute geometries and pull back angle near tongue are studied extensively to explore the fluid behavior. The viscous Navier-Stokes equations are used to simulate the flow inside the volute. The numerical calculations are compared with thermodynamic 1-D calculations. Author concludes that the increment in compression ratio accompanies with more uniform pressure distribution in the modified tongue shape and location, a uniform static pressure around the circumferential which build a more uniform flow in the impeller and diffuser. Also, the blockage at the tongue of the volute was causing circumferentially nonuniformed pressure along the volute. This nonuniformity may lead impeller and diffuser to operate unstably. However, it is not the volute that directly controls the stall.

Keywords: centrifugal compressor volute, tongue geometry, pull-back, compressor performance, flow instability

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Authors: Lie-Sian Yap, Ming-Chien Yang

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This study demonstrated a novel injectable hydrogel scaffold composing of Pluronic F127, carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan (CA) and glutaraldehyde (GA) for encapsulating human fetal osteoblastic cells (hFOB) 1.19. The hydrogel was prepared by mixing F127 and GA in CA solution at 4°C. The mechanical properties and cytotoxicity of this hydrogel were determined through rheological measurements and MTT assay, respectively. After encapsulation process, the hFOB 1.19 cells morphology was examined using fluorescent and confocal imaging. The results indicated that the Tgel of this system was around 30°C, where sol-gel transformation occurred within 90s and F127/CA/GA gel was able to remain intact in the medium for more than 1 month. In vitro cell culture assay revealed that F127/CA/GA hydrogels were non-cytotoxic. Encapsulated hFOB 1.19 cells not only showed the spherical shape and formed colonies, but also reduced their size. Moreover, the hFOB 1.19 cells showed that cells remain alive after the encapsulation process. Based on these results, these F127/CA/GA hydrogels can be used to encapsulate cells for tissue engineering applications.

Keywords: carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan, cell encapsulation, hFOB 1.19, Pluronic F127

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Authors: M. Yilmaz, I. Yilmaz, M. Uysal

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The Earth system generates different phenomena that are observable at the surface of the Earth such as mass deformations and displacements leading to plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanism. The dynamic processes associated with the interior, surface, and atmosphere of the Earth affect the three pillars of geodesy: shape of the Earth, its gravity field, and its rotation. Geodesy establishes a characteristic structure in order to define, monitor, and predict of the whole Earth system. The traditional and new instruments, observables, and techniques in geodesy are related to the gravity field. Therefore, the geodesy monitors the gravity field and its temporal variability in order to transform the geodetic observations made on the physical surface of the Earth into the geometrical surface in which positions are mathematically defined. In this paper, the main components of the gravity field modeling, (Free-air and Bouguer) gravity anomalies are calculated via recent global models (EGM2008, EIGEN6C4, and GECO) over a selected study area. The model-based gravity anomalies are compared with the corresponding terrestrial gravity data in terms of standard deviation (SD) and root mean square error (RMSE) for determining the best fit global model in the study area at a regional scale in Turkey. The least SD (13.63 mGal) and RMSE (15.71 mGal) were obtained by EGM2008 for the Free-air gravity anomaly residuals. For the Bouguer gravity anomaly residuals, EIGEN6C4 provides the least SD (8.05 mGal) and RMSE (8.12 mGal). The results indicated that EIGEN6C4 can be a useful tool for modeling the gravity field of the Earth over the study area.

Keywords: free-air gravity anomaly, Bouguer gravity anomaly, global model, land gravity

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Authors: Jerzy Smardzewski

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Structures with negative Poisson's ratios are called auxetic. They are characterized by better mechanical properties than conventional structures, especially shear strength, the ability to better absorb energy and increase strength during bending, especially in sandwich panels. Commonly used paper cores of cellular boards are made of hexagonal cells. With isotropic facings, these cells provide isotropic properties of the entire furniture board. Shelves made of such panels with a thickness similar to standard chipboards do not provide adequate stiffness and strength of the furniture. However, it is possible to transform the shape of hexagonal cells into polyhedral auxetic cells that improve the mechanical properties of the core. The work aimed to transform the hexagonal cells of the paper core into auxetic cells and determine their basic mechanical properties. Using numerical methods, it was decided to design the most favorable proportions of cells distinguished by the lowest Poisson's ratio and the highest modulus of linear elasticity. Standard cores for cellular boards commonly used to produce 34 mm thick furniture boards were used for the tests. Poisson's ratios, bending strength, and linear elasticity moduli were determined for such cores and boards. Then, the cells were transformed into auxetic structures, and analogous cellular boards were made for which mechanical properties were determined. The results of numerical simulations for which the variable parameters were the dimensions of the cell walls, wall inclination angles, and relative cell density were presented in the further part of the paper. Experimental tests and numerical simulations showed the beneficial effect of auxeticization on the mechanical quality of furniture panels. They allowed for the selection of the optimal shape of auxetic core cells.

Keywords: auxetics, honeycomb, panels, simulation, experiment

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Authors: Αlexios Kotsakis, Stefanos Katsavounis, Dimitra Alexiou

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Networks can be utilized to represent project planning problems, using nodes for activities and arcs to indicate precedence relationship between them. For fixed activity duration, a simple algorithm calculates the amount of time required to complete a project, followed by the activities that comprise the critical path. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) generalizes the above model by incorporating uncertainty, allowing activity durations to be random variables, producing nevertheless a relatively crude solution in planning problems. In this paper, based on the findings of the relevant literature, which strongly suggests that a Beta distribution can be employed to model earthmoving activities, we utilize Monte Carlo simulation, to estimate the project completion time distribution and measure the influence of skewness, an element inherent in activities of modern technical projects. We also extract the activity criticality index, with an ultimate goal to produce more accurate planning estimations.

Keywords: beta distribution, PERT, Monte Carlo simulation, skewness, project completion time distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 150