Search results for: rapid application development (RAD)

Authors: Artsiom Zinchanka

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The world faces now one of the largest migration crisis and the European Union meets challenges in accepting the flow of migrants that could not be handled finally at this step. This crisis is complicated with many factors, such as military conflict in the Middle East; absence of the appropriate conditions in the refugees’ camps; but also with the complicity of the migration flow consisting of the Sub-Saharan migrants. This type of migrants leave their homelands for many reasons including poverty, not appropriate level of social and economic conditions, absence of infrastructure and access to the education and medical care. In practice, when the restrictive approach directed to limit the flow of illicit migration and to send illicit migrants back to their homelands is not always working, the approach directed to the root causes of the migration crisis can be more effective in settling the crisis. The Cotonou Agreement and the following treaties concluded between the European Union, and Sub-Saharan states show that the European Union considers the development of human rights and appropriate social and economic conditions in the Sub-Saharan states as one of the most important factors addressing the migration crisis. The preventive approach as the efforts of the European Union to develop appropriate social and economic conditions in Sub-Saharan states is considered in this article, as well as its evolution and current condition. This article also considers pros and cons of this approach and the obstacles that this approach faces. The research methods include review of literature and documents, analytical and descriptive methods.

Keywords: migration crisis, preventive approach, Sub-Saharan States, the European Union

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Authors: Wendong Yang, Changhai Wang, Valeria Arrighi

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Low ink sintering temperature is desired for flexible electronics, as it would widen the application of the ink on temperature-sensitive substrates where the selection of silver precursor is very critical. In this paper, four types of organic silver precursors, silver carbonate, silver oxalate, silver tartrate and silver itaconate, were synthesized using an ion exchange method, firstly. Various characterization methods were employed to investigate their physical phase, chemical composition, morphologies and thermal decomposition behavior. It was found that silver oxalate had the ideal thermal property and showed the lowest decomposition temperature. An ink was then formulated by complexing the as-prepared silver oxalate with ethylenediamine in organic solvents. Results show that a favorable conductive film with a uniform surface structure consisting of silver nanoparticles and few voids could be produced from the ink at a sintering temperature of 150 °C.

Keywords: conductive ink, electrical property, film, organic silver

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Authors: Cedric Leong, Parth Desai, Parth Patel

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The purpose of this project was to develop a neural network based on qualitative team data to predict alliance scores to determine winners of matches in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). The game for the competition changes every year with different objectives and game objects, however the idea was to create a prediction system which can be reused year by year using some of the statistics that are constant through different games, making our system adaptable to future games as well. Aerial Assist is the FRC game for 2014, and is played in alliances of 3 teams going against one another, namely the Red and Blue alliances. This application takes any 6 teams paired into 2 alliances of 3 teams and generates the prediction for the final score between them.

Keywords: artifical neural network, prediction system, qualitative team data, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)

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Authors: Yun-na Wu, Zhen Wang

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Due to the economic downturn and the deterioration of the living environment, the development of residential buildings as high energy consuming building is gradually changing from “extensive” to green building in China. So, the evaluation system of green building is continuously improved, but the current evaluation work has the following problems: (1) There are differences in the cost of the actual investment and the purchasing power of residents, also construction target of green residential building is single and lacks multi-objective performance development. (2) Green building evaluation lacks regional characteristics and cannot reflect the different regional residents demand. (3) In the process of determining the criteria weight, the experts’ judgment matrix is difficult to meet the requirement of consistency. Therefore, to solve those problems, questionnaires which are about the green residential building for Ningxia area are distributed, and the results of questionnaires can feedback the purchasing power of residents and the acceptance of the green building cost. Secondly, combined with the geographical features of Ningxia minority areas, the evaluation criteria system of green residential building is constructed. Finally, using the improved group AHP method and the grey clustering method, the criteria weight is determined, and a real case is evaluated, which is located in Xing Qing district, Ningxia. A conclusion can be obtained that the professional evaluation for this project and good social recognition is basically the same.

Keywords: evaluation, green residential building, grey clustering method, group AHP

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Authors: Hariz Halilovich

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Based on conventional and digital ethnography, this paper discusses the ways Bosnian refugees utilise digital technologies and new media to recreate, synchronise and sustain their identities and memories in the aftermath of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and genocide and in the contexts of their new emplacements and home-making practices in diaspora. In addition to discussing representations of displacement and emplacement in the ‘digital age’, the paper also aims to make a contribution to the understanding and application of digital ethnography as an emerging method of inquiry in anthropology and related social science disciplines. While some researchers see digital ethnography as an exclusively online–based research, the author of this paper argues that it is critical to understand the online world in the context of the real world—made of real people, places, and social relations.

Keywords: Bosnia, cyber villages, digital diaspora, refugees

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Authors: Rishabh Nagpal, Riya Uchagaonkar, Venkata Naga Narasimha Ashish Mernedi, Ahmed Hambaba

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The rapid evolution of technology in the communication sector continually seeks to bridge the gap between different communities, notably between the deaf community and the hearing world. This project develops a comprehensive American Sign Language (ASL) recognition system, leveraging the advanced capabilities of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and vision transformers (ViTs) to interpret and translate ASL in real-time. The primary objective of this system is to provide an effective communication tool that enables seamless interaction through accurate sign language interpretation. The architecture of the proposed system integrates dual networks -VGG16 for precise spatial feature extraction and vision transformers for contextual understanding of the sign language gestures. The system processes live input, extracting critical features through these sophisticated neural network models, and combines them to enhance gesture recognition accuracy. This integration facilitates a robust understanding of ASL by capturing detailed nuances and broader gesture dynamics. The system is evaluated through a series of tests that measure its efficiency and accuracy in real-world scenarios. Results indicate a high level of precision in recognizing diverse ASL signs, substantiating the potential of this technology in practical applications. Challenges such as enhancing the system’s ability to operate in varied environmental conditions and further expanding the dataset for training were identified and discussed. Future work will refine the model’s adaptability and incorporate haptic feedback to enhance the interactivity and richness of the user experience. This project demonstrates the feasibility of an advanced ASL recognition system and lays the groundwork for future innovations in assistive communication technologies.

Keywords: sign language, computer vision, vision transformer, VGG16, CNN

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Authors: A. Somaya Madkour, B. Abeer sheta, C. Fatma Badr El Dine, D. Yasser Elwakeel, E. Nermine AbdAllah

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Criminal offenders have a fundamental goal not to leave any traces at the crime scene. Some may suppose that items recovered underwater will have no forensic value, therefore, they try to destroy the traces by throwing items in water. These traces are subjected to the destructive environmental effects. This can represent a challenge for Forensic experts investigating finger marks. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to determine the optimal method for latent fingerprints development on non-porous surfaces submerged in aquatic environments at different time interval. The two factors analyzed in this study were the nature of aquatic environment and length of submerged time. In addition, the quality of developed finger marks depending on the used method was also assessed. Therefore, latent fingerprints were deposited on metallic, plastic and glass objects and submerged in fresh or sea water for one, two, and ten days. After recovery, the items were subjected to cyanoacrylate fuming, black powder and small particle reagent processing and the prints were examined. Each print was evaluated according to fingerprint quality assessment scale. The present study demonstrated that the duration of submersion affects the quality of finger marks; the longer the duration, the worse the quality.The best results of visualization were achieved using cyanoacrylate either in fresh or sea water. This study has also revealed that the exposure to sea water had more destructive influence on the quality of detected finger marks.

Keywords: fingerprints, fresh water, sea, non-porous

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Authors: Precious Ehiomogue, Ifechukwude Israel Ahuchaogu, Isiguzo Edwin Ahaneku

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Vermicompost is the product of the decomposition process using various species of worms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vemicast. This process is called vermicomposting, while the rearing of worms for this purpose is called vermiculture. Several works have verified the adsorption of toxic metals using vermicompost but the application is still scarce for the retention of organic compounds. This research brings to knowledge the effectiveness of earthworm waste (vermicompost) for the remediation of crude oil contaminated soils. The remediation methods adopted in this study were two soil washing methods namely, batch and column process which represent laboratory and in-situ remediation. Characterization of the vermicompost and crude oil contaminated soil were performed before and after the soil washing using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Atomic adsorption spectrometry (AAS). The optimization of washing parameters, using response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box-Behnken Design was performed on the response from the laboratory experimental results. This study also investigated the application of machine learning models [Artificial neural network (ANN), Adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). ANN and ANFIS were evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R²) and mean square error (MSE)]. Removal efficiency obtained from the Box-Behnken design experiment ranged from 29% to 98.9% for batch process remediation. Optimization of the experimental factors carried out using numerical optimization techniques by applying desirability function method of the response surface methodology (RSM) produce the highest removal efficiency of 98.9% at absorbent dosage of 34.53 grams, adsorbate concentration of 69.11 (g/ml), contact time of 25.96 (min), and pH value of 7.71, respectively. Removal efficiency obtained from the multilevel general factorial design experiment ranged from 56% to 92% for column process remediation. The coefficient of determination (R²) for ANN was (0.9974) and (0.9852) for batch and column process, respectively, showing the agreement between experimental and predicted results. For batch and column precess, respectively, the coefficient of determination (R²) for RSM was (0.9712) and (0.9614), which also demonstrates agreement between experimental and projected findings. For the batch and column processes, the ANFIS coefficient of determination was (0.7115) and (0.9978), respectively. It can be concluded that machine learning models can predict the removal of crude oil from polluted soil using vermicompost. Therefore, it is recommended to use machines learning models to predict the removal of crude oil from contaminated soil using vermicompost.

Keywords: ANFIS, ANN, crude-oil, contaminated soil, remediation and vermicompost

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Authors: Sh. Foroughi, V. Karamzadeh, M. Packirisamy

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This paper presents design and analysis of an electrothermally symmetrical actuated microgripper applicable for performing micro assembly or biological cell manipulation. Integration of micro-optics with microdevice leads to achieve extremely precise control over the operation of the device. Geometry, material, actuation, control, accuracy in measurement and temperature distribution are important factors which have to be taken into account for designing the efficient microgripper device. In this work, analyses of four different geometries are performed by means of COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 with implementing Finite Element Methods. Then, temperature distribution along the fingertip, displacement of gripper site as well as optical efficiency vs. displacement and electrical potential are illustrated. Results show in addition to the industrial application of this device, the usage of that as a cell manipulator is possible.

Keywords: electro thermal actuator, MEMS, microgripper, MOEMS

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Authors: Z. Jovanovic, Z. Masonicic, S. Dragutinovic, Z. Sakota

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In this paper, a methodology for noise reduction of motor vehicles in use is presented. The methodology relies on synergic model of noise generation as a function of time. The arbitrary number of motor vehicle noise sources act in concert yielding the generation of the overall noise level of motor vehicle thereafter. The number of noise sources participating in the overall noise level of motor vehicle is subjected to the constraint of the calculation of the acoustic potential of each noise source under consideration. It is the prerequisite condition for the calculation of the acoustic potential of the whole vehicle. The recast form of pertinent set of equations describing the synergic model is laid down and solved by dint of Gauss method. The bunch of results emerged and some of them i.e. those ensuing from model application to MDD FAP Priboj motor vehicle in use are particularly elucidated.

Keywords: noise abatement, MV noise sources, noise source identification, muffler

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Authors: Norah Almubairik, Wadha Almattar, Amani Alqarni

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Social media applications are increasingly being used in our everyday communications. These applications utilise end-to-end encryption mechanisms, which make them suitable tools for criminals to exchange messages. These messages are preserved in the volatile memory until the device is restarted. Therefore, volatile forensics has become an important branch of digital forensics. In this study, the WormHex tool was developed to inspect the memory dump files of Windows and Mac-based workstations. The tool supports digital investigators to extract valuable data written in Arabic and English through web-based WhatsApp and Twitter applications. The results verify that social media applications write their data into the memory regardless of the operating system running the application, with there being no major differences between Windows and Mac.

Keywords: volatile memory, REGEX, digital forensics, memory acquisition

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Authors: Ahlam Said Al Azkawi, Nallusamy Sivakumar, Saif Nasser Al Bahri

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Diverse approaches and pathways are under development with the determination to develop cellulosic biofuels and other bio-products eventually at commercial scale in “bio-refineries”; however, the key challenge is mainly the high level of complexity in processing the feedstock which is complicated and energy consuming. To overcome the complications in utilizing the naturally occurring lignocellulose biomass, using waste paper as a feedstock for bio-production may solve the problem. Besides being abundant and cheap, bioprocessing of waste paper has evolved in response to the public concern from rising landfill cost from shrinking landfill capacity. Cardboard (CB) is one of the major components of municipal solid waste and one of the most important items to recycle. Although 50-70% of cardboard constitute is known to be cellulose and hemicellulose, the presence of lignin around them cause hydrophobic cross-link which physically obstructs the hydrolysis by rendering it resistant to enzymatic cleavage. Therefore, pretreatment is required to disrupt this resistance and to enhance the exposure of the targeted carbohydrates to the hydrolytic enzymes. Several pretreatment approaches have been explored, and the best ones would be those can influence cellulose conversion rates and hydrolytic enzyme performance with minimal or less cost and downstream processes. One of the promising strategies in this field is the application of surfactants, especially non-ionic surfactants. In this study, triton-X 100 was used as surfactants to treat cardboard prior enzymatic hydrolysis and compare it with acid treatment using 0.1% H2SO4. The effect of the surfactant enhancement was evaluated through its effect on hydrolysis rate in respect to time in addition to evaluating the structural changes and modification by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and through compositional analysis. Further work was performed to produce ethanol from CB treated with triton-X 100 via separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The hydrolysis studies have demonstrated enhancement in saccharification by 35%. After 72 h of hydrolysis, a saccharification rate of 98% was achieved from CB enhanced with triton-X 100, while only 89 of saccharification achieved from acid pre-treated CB. At 120 h, the saccharification % exceeded 100 as reducing sugars continued to increase with time. This enhancement was not supported by any significant changes in the cardboard content as the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content remained same after treatment, but obvious structural changes were observed through SEM images. The cellulose fibers were clearly exposed with very less debris and deposits compared to cardboard without triton-X 100. The XRD pattern has also revealed the ability of the surfactant in removing calcium carbonate, a filler found in waste paper known to have negative effect on enzymatic hydrolysis. The cellulose crystallinity without surfactant was 73.18% and reduced to 66.68% rendering it more amorphous and susceptible to enzymatic attack. Triton-X 100 has proved to effectively enhance CB hydrolysis and eventually had positive effect on the ethanol yield via SSF. Treating cardboard with only triton-X 100 was a sufficient treatment to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production.

Keywords: cardboard, enhancement, ethanol, hydrolysis, treatment, Triton-X 100

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Authors: Tizi Hayet, Berrama Tarek, Bounif Nadia

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Phenol and its derivatives are organic compounds utilized in the chemical industry. They are introduced into the environment by accidental spills and illegal release of industrial and municipal wastewater. Phenols are organic intermediaries that considered as potential pollutants. Adsorption is one of the purification and separation techniques used in this area. Algeria produces annually 131000 tones of fig; therefore, a large amount of fig leaves is generated, and the conversion of this waste into adsorbent allows the valorization of agricultural residue. The main purpose of this present work is to describe an application of the statistical method for modeling and optimization of the conditions of the phenol (Ph) adsorption from agricultural by-product locally available (fig leaves). The best experimental performance of Ph elimination on the adsorbent was obtained with: Adsorbent concentration (X2) = 0.2 g L-1; Initial concentration (X3) = 150 mg L-1; Speed agitation (X1) = 300 rpm.

Keywords: low-cost adsorbents, fig leaves, full factorial design, phenol, biosorption

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Authors: Anuradha Gupta, Neelam Bansal, Varinder Uppal

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The present investigation was made on 35 Indian buffalo fetuses ranging from 0.9 cm to 104 cm curved crown rump length (CVRL). The gross anatomical study revealed that all structures were developed at 13 cm CVRL (87 days) in group I. At 0.9 cm CVRL (32 days) the heart was unseptated and tubular and was clearly divided into common atrial chamber dorsally and primitive ventricle in 1.2 cm CVRL fetus (34 days). Septum primum appeared at 1.9 cm CVRL (37 days), truncal ridges at 2.5 cm CVRL (39 days) and foramen ovale in 3.0 cm CVRL (42 days) buffalo foetuses. At 7.6 cm CVRL (62 days) endocardial cushions fused to form left and right atrioventricular openings and four chambered heart was formed in 8.7 cm CVRL (66 days). Endocardium and epicardium was thicker in atria as compared to ventricles in all the age groups. Myocardium of atria was thin as compared to ventricles in all the age groups and was loosely arranged. Immature hyaline cartilage was first appeared at base of aorta in 62 cm CVRL (213 days) fetuses. Intercalated discs were seen in group III and aorta, pulmonary artery, coronary artery were well appreciated in 3.2 cm CVRL (43 days). Neutral and acid mucopolysaccharides were comparatively more in atria than ventricles. Basic proteins showed strong reaction in atrium and ventricle, and intense in conduction system. Lipids and phospholipids were more in myocardium and conduction system than endocardium and epicardium. All the histochemical moieties were comparatively more in tunica intima than media and adventitia of all the great vessels of heart.

Keywords: buffalo, fetal development, histochemistry, heart

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Authors: Ilma Ulfatul Janah, Ibnu Rizky Briwantara, Muhammad Afif

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The agricultural sector is one of the sectors that contribute to national development. The benefit of the agricultural sector can be felt directly by the majority of Indonesian people. Indonesia is one of the agricultural countries and most of the people working in the agricultural sector. Hence, the agricultural sector’s become the second sector which has contributed greatly to the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after the manufacture sector. Based on the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) from 2015 to 2019, one of the targets to be achieved by the Indonesian government is rice’s self-sufficient. Rice is the main food commodities which as most people in Indonesia, and it is making Indonesian government attempt self-sufficient in rice. Indonesia as an agricultural country becomes one of the countries that have a lower percentage of food security than other ASEAN countries. Rice self-sufficiency can be created through agricultural productivity and the availability of a market for the output. There are some problems still to be faced by the farmers such as farmer exchange rate is low. The low exchange rate of farmers showed that the level of the welfare’s Indonesian farmers is still low. The aims of this paper are to resolve problems related to food security and improve the welfare of the national rice farmers. The method by using materials obtained from the analysis of secondary data with the descriptive approach and conceptual framework. Integrated Farmers barn raising rice production is integrated and managed by the government coupled with the implementation of technology in the form of systems connected and accessible to farmers, namely 'SIBUNGTAN'.

Keywords: agriculture, self-sufficiency, technology, productivity

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Authors: María Canal-Rodríguez, María Arnaiz, Natalia Rey-Raap, Ana Arenillas, Jon Ajuria

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The constant demand of electrical energy, as well as the increase in environmental concern, lead to the necessity of investing in clean and eco-friendly energy sources that implies the development of enhanced energy storage devices. Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and Electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) are the most widespread energy systems. Batteries are able to storage high energy densities contrary to capacitors, which main strength is the high-power density supply and the long cycle life. The combination of both technologies gave rise to Li-ion capacitors (LICs), which offers all these advantages in a single device. This is achieved combining a capacitive, supercapacitor-like positive electrode with a faradaic, battery-like negative electrode. Due to the abundance and affordability, dual carbon-based LICs are nowadays the common technology. Normally, an Active Carbon (AC) is used as the EDLC like electrode, while graphite is the material commonly employed as anode. LICs are potential systems to be used in applications in which high energy and power densities are required, such us kinetic energy recovery systems. Although these devices are already in the market, some drawbacks like the limited power delivered by graphite or the energy limiting nature of AC must be solved to trigger their used. Focusing on the anode, one possibility could be to replace graphite with Hard Carbon (HC). The better rate capability of the latter increases the power performance of the device. Moreover, the disordered carbonaceous structure of HCs enables storage twice the theoretical capacity of graphite. With respect to the cathode, the ACs are characterized for their high volume of micropores, in which the charge is storage. Nevertheless, they normally do not show mesoporous, which are really important mainly at high C-rates as they act as transport channels for the ions to reach the micropores. Usually, the porosity of ACs cannot be tailored, as it strongly depends on the precursor employed to get the final carbon. Moreover, they are not characterized for having a high electrical conductivity, which is an important characteristic to get a good performance in energy storage applications. A possible candidate to substitute ACs are carbon aerogels (CAs). CAs are materials that combine a high porosity with great electrical conductivity, opposite characteristics in carbon materials. Furthermore, its porous properties can be tailored quite accurately according to with the requirements of the application. In the present study, CAs with controlled porosity were obtained from polymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde by microwave heating. Varying the synthesis conditions, mainly the amount of precursors and pH of the precursor solution, carbons with different textural properties were obtained. The way the porous characteristics affect the performance of the cathode was studied by means of a half-cell configuration. The material with the best performance was evaluated as cathode in a LIC versus a hard carbon as anode. An analogous full LIC made by a high microporous commercial cathode was also assembled for comparison purposes.

Keywords: li-ion capacitors, energy storage, tailored porosity, carbon aerogels

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Authors: Ronaldo de Lima Cardoso, Thiago V. C. Marcos, Felipe J. da Costa, Antonio C. da Oliveira, Paulo G. P. Toro

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The 14-X is a strategic project of the Brazil Air Force Command to develop a technological demonstrator of a hypersonic air-breathing propulsion system based on supersonic combustion programmed to flight in the Earth's atmosphere at 30 km of altitude and Mach number 10. The 14-X is under development at the Laboratory of Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonic Prof. Henry T. Nagamatsu of the Institute of Advanced Studies. The program began in 2007 and was planned to have three stages: development of the wave rider configuration, development of the scramjet configuration and finally the ground tests in the hypersonic shock tunnel T3. The install configuration of the model based in the scramjet of the 14-X in the test section of the hypersonic shock tunnel was made to proportionate and test the flight conditions in the inlet of the combustion chamber. Experimental studies with hypersonic shock tunnel require special techniques to data acquisition. To measure the pressure along the experimental model geometry tested we used 30 pressure transducers model 122A22 of PCB®. The piezoeletronic crystals of a piezoelectric transducer pressure when to suffer pressure variation produces electric current (PCB® PIEZOTRONIC, 2016). The reading of the signal of the pressure transducers was made by oscilloscope. After the studies had begun we observed that the pressure inside in the combustion chamber was lower than expected. One solution to improve the pressure inside the combustion chamber was install an obstacle to providing high temperature and pressure. To confirm if the combustion occurs was selected the spectroscopy emission technique. The region analyzed for the spectroscopy emission system is the edge of the obstacle installed inside the combustion chamber. The emission spectroscopy technique was used to observe the emission of the OH*, confirming or not the combustion of the mixture between atmospheric air in supersonic speed and the hydrogen fuel inside of the combustion chamber of the model. This paper shows the results of experimental studies of the supersonic combustion induced by shock wave performed at the Hypersonic Shock Tunnel T3 using the scramjet 14-X model. Also, this paper provides important data about the combustion studies using the model based on the engine of 14-X (second stage of the 14-X Program). Informing the possibility of necessaries corrections to be made in the next stages of the program or in other models to experimental study.

Keywords: 14-X, experimental study, ground tests, scramjet, supersonic combustion

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Authors: H. V. Smit, V. H. J. de Wet

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South African municipalities are dealing with aging and dilapidated infrastructure while faced with challenges in the form of expanding informal settlements, vandalism, theft, and a lack of maintenance which place even more pressure on existing infrastructure. The existing infrastructure was never designed to cater to these challenges, and this becomes evident when evaluating the current state of many municipal sewer pump stations. A need has thus arisen to develop a sewer pump station design concept that will address these challenges and allow for a long-term sustainable solution. This article deals with the design concepts which have been developed for sewer pump stations for an effective reduction in maintenance, improved grit handling, improvement to the operation and maintenance working conditions, and the adoption of high-security design philosophy.

Keywords: high security, low maintenance, municipal application, sewer pump station

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Authors: Fatima Boutaleb

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Entrepreneurship proves to be crucial for the economic growth and development, since it contributes to job creation and the improvement of the overall productivity thus generating a positive impact upon society at various levels. Promoting entrepreneurship stimulates therefore economic diversity that is key to the betterment and/or maintaining of the standard of living. In fact, recent research suggests that entrepreneurship contributes to development by creating businesses and jobs, stimulating innovation, creating social capital across borders, and channeling political and financial capital. However, different research studies indicate that among the main factors impeding the entrepreneurship are politico-economic as socio-cultural problems, with an intensity for those related to young people and to women. In the MENA region, discrimination inherent in gender is alarming: Only one woman in eight runs her own business against 1 in 3 men. In most countries, young women and young men are facing problems involving access to finance, inadequate infrastructure, lack of support and, in general, an ecosystem that is rather unfavorable. According to the International Labor Organization, North Africa and the Middle East has the highest unemployment rate in all other regions of the world. In other hand, nearly a quarter of the population under 30 is unemployed and youth unemployment costs more than $40 billion each year to the region. In the current context, the situations in the Middle East and North Africa region are singular, both in terms of demographic trends and socio-economic issues around the employment of a large and better trained youth, but still strongly affected by unemployment and under-employment. According to a study published in 2015 by McKinsey, the world gain 26% of additional GDP (47% in the MENA region), more than 28 trillion dollars by 2025, if women came to participate, as well as men, to the economy. Promoting entrepreneurship represents an excellent alternative for the countries whose productive fabric fails to integrate the contingent of young people entering the job market each year. The MENA region, presenting entrepreneurial activity rates below those of other regions in terms of comparable development, has undoubtedly leeway at this level, even though the region displays large national heterogeneity, namely in the priority given to the promotion of entrepreneurship. The objective of this article is therefore to examine the women entrepreneurial vocation in the MENA region, to see to what extent research on the determinant of gender can provide information on the trend of the emerging entrepreneurial activity whether driven by necessity or by opportunity and, on this basis, to submit public policy proposals for the improvement of the mechanisms of inclusion among the youth women people. The objective is not to analyze the causality models but rather to identify the entrepreneurial construct specific to the MENA region via the analysis of GEM data from 2017 to 2019 among adults belonging to 10 countries of the MENA region. Notably, the study shows that inclusion of young women may be enhanced. These disadvantaged segments frequently intend to become entrepreneurs, but they tend not to enact their vocational intentions.

Keywords: economic development, entrepreneurial activity, GEM, gender, informal sector

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Authors: Fares A. Mayia, Mahmoud A. Yamany, Mushabbab A. Asiri

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In recent years, non-invasive Focused Ultrasound (FU) has been utilized for generating bubbles (cavities) to ablate target tissue by mechanical fractionation. Intensities >10 kW/cm² are required to generate the inertial cavities. The generation, rapid growth, and collapse of these inertial cavities cause tissue fractionation and the process is called Histotripsy. The ability to fractionate tissue from outside the body has many clinical applications including the destruction of the tumor mass. The process of tissue fractionation leaves a void at the treated site, where all the affected tissue is liquefied to particles at sub-micron size. The liquefied tissue will eventually be absorbed by the body. Histotripsy is a promising non-invasive treatment modality. This paper presents a technique for generating inertial cavities at lower intensities (< 1 kW/cm²). The technique (patent pending) is based on amplitude modulation (AM), whereby a low frequency signal modulates the amplitude of a higher frequency FU wave. Cavitation threshold is lower at low frequencies; the intensity required to generate cavitation in water at 10 kHz is two orders of magnitude lower than the intensity at 1 MHz. The Amplitude Modulation technique can operate in both continuous wave (CW) and pulse wave (PW) modes, and the percentage modulation (modulation index) can be varied from 0 % (thermal effect) to 100 % (cavitation effect), thus allowing a range of ablating effects from Hyperthermia to Histotripsy. Furthermore, changing the frequency of the modulating signal allows controlling the size of the generated cavities. Results from in vitro work demonstrate the efficacy of the new technique in fractionating soft tissue and solid calcium carbonate (Chalk) material. The technique, when combined with MR or Ultrasound imaging, will present a precise treatment modality for ablating diseased tissue without affecting the surrounding healthy tissue.

Keywords: focused ultrasound therapy, histotripsy, inertial cavitation, mechanical tissue ablation

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Authors: Athanasios Raftopoulos

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In this paper, an attempt is made to explain the evolution or development of human’s representational arsenal from its humble beginnings to its modern abstract symbols. Representations are physical entities that represent something else. To represent a thing (in a general sense of “thing”) means to use in the mind or in an external medium a sign that stands for it. The sign can be used as a proxy of the represented thing when the thing is absent. Representations come in many varieties, from signs that perceptually resemble their representative to abstract symbols that are related to their representata through conventions. Relying the distinction among indices, icons, and symbols, it is explained how symbolic representations gradually emerged from indices and icons. To understand the development or evolution of our representational arsenal, the development of the cognitive capacities that enabled the gradual emergence of representations of increasing complexity and expressive capability should be examined. The examination of these factors should rely on a careful assessment of the available empirical neuroscientific and paleo-anthropological evidence. These pieces of evidence should be synthesized to produce arguments whose conclusions provide clues concerning the developmental process of our representational capabilities. The analysis of the empirical findings in this paper shows that Homo Erectus was able to use both icons and symbols. Icons were used as external representations, while symbols were used in language. The first step in the emergence of representations is that a sensory-motor purely causal schema involved in indices is decoupled from its normal causal sensory-motor functions and serves as a representation of the object that initially called it into play. Sensory-motor schemes are tied to specific contexts of the organism-environment interactions and are activated only within these contexts. For a representation of an object to be possible, this scheme must be de-contextualized so that the same object can be represented in different contexts; a decoupled schema loses its direct ties to reality and becomes mental content. The analysis suggests that symbols emerged due to selection pressures of the social environment. The need to establish and maintain social relationships in ever-enlarging groups that would benefit the group was a sufficient environmental pressure to lead to the appearance of the symbolic capacity. Symbols could serve this need because they can express abstract relationships, such as marriage or monogamy. Icons, by being firmly attached to what can be observed, could not go beyond surface properties to express abstract relations. The cognitive capacities that are required for having iconic and then symbolic representations were present in Homo Erectus, which had a language that started without syntactic rules but was structured so as to mirror the structure of the world. This language became increasingly complex, and grammatical rules started to appear to allow for the construction of more complex expressions required to keep up with the increasing complexity of social niches. This created evolutionary pressures that eventually led to increasing cranial size and restructuring of the brain that allowed more complex representational systems to emerge.

Keywords: mental representations, iconic representations, symbols, human evolution

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Authors: S. Werrlich, E. Eichstetter, K. Nitsche, G. Notni

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a strong growing research topic in different training domains such as medicine, sports, military, education and industrial use cases like assembly and maintenance tasks. AR claims to improve the efficiency and skill-transfer of training tasks. This paper gives a comprehensive overview of evaluations using AR for assembly and maintenance training tasks published between 1992 and 2017. We search in a structured way in four different online databases and get 862 results. We select 17 relevant articles focusing on evaluating AR-based training applications for assembly and maintenance tasks. This paper also indicates design guidelines which are necessary for creating a successful application for an AR-based training. We also present five scientific limitations in the field of AR-based training for assembly tasks. Finally, we show our approach to solve current research problems using Design Science Research (DSR).

Keywords: assembly, augmented reality, survey, training

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Authors: Vitalijus Leibenka

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After 2014 the world of Russia’s actions in annexing Crimea has seen a hybrid war that has helped Russia achieve its goals. The world and NATO nations have pointed out that hybrid action can help achieve not only military but also economic and political goals. One of the weapons of action in hybrid warfare is information warfare tools, the use of which helps to carry out actions in the context of hybrid warfare as a whole. In addition, information war tools can be used alone, over time and for long-term purposes. Although forms of information war, such as propaganda and disinformation, have been used in the past, in old conflicts and wars, new forms of information war have emerged as a result of technological development, making the dissemination of information faster and more efficient. The world understands that information is becoming a weapon, but not everyone understands that both information war and information warfare differ in their essence and full content. In addition, the damage and impact of the use of information war, which may have worse consequences than a brief military conflict, is underestimated. Lithuania is also facing various interpretations of the information war. Some believe that the information attack is an information war and the understanding of the information war is limited to a false message in the press. Others, however, deepen and explain the essence of the information war. Society has formed in such a way that not all people are able to assess the threats of information war, to separate information war from information attack. Recently, the Lithuanian government has been taking measures in the context of the information war, making decisions that allow the development of the activities of the state and state institutions in order to create defense mechanisms in the information war. However, this is happening rather slowly and incompletely. Every military conflict, related to Lithuania in one way or another, forces Lithuanian politicians to take up the theme of information warfare again. As a result, a national cyber security center is being set up, and Russian channels spreading lies are banned. However, there is no consistent development and continuous improvement of action against information threats. Although a sufficiently influential part of society (not a political part) helps to stop the spread of obscure information by creating social projects such as “Demaskuok” and “Laikykis ten su Andriumi tapinu”, it goes without saying that it will not become a key tool in the fight against information threats. Therefore, in order to achieve clean dissemination of information in Lithuania, full-fledged and substantial political decisions are necessary, the adoption of which would change the public perception of the information war, its damage, impact and actions that would allow to combat the spread. Political decisions should cover the educational, military, economic and political areas, which are one of the main and most important in the state, which would allow to fundamentally change the situation against the background of information war.

Keywords: information war, information warfare, hybrid war, hybrid warfare, NATO, Lithuania, Russia

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Authors: Paula Costa, Ana Picado, Filomena Pinto, Justina Catarino

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Environmental impact associated with large scale shale gas development is of major concern to the public, policy makers and other stakeholders. To assess this impact on the atmosphere, it is important to monitoring ambient air quality prior to and during all shale gas operation stages. Baseline observations can provide a standard of the pre-shale gas development state of the environment. The lack of baseline concentrations was identified as an important knowledge gap to assess the impact of emissions to the air due to shale gas operations. In fact baseline monitoring of air quality are missing in several regions, where there is a strong possibility of future shale gas exploration. This makes it difficult to properly identify, quantify and characterize environmental impacts that may be associated with shale gas development. The implementation of a baseline air monitoring program is imperative to be able to assess the total emissions related with shale gas operations. In fact, any monitoring programme should be designed to provide indicative information on background levels. A baseline air monitoring program should identify and characterize targeted air pollutants, most frequently described from monitoring and emission measurements, as well as those expected from hydraulic fracturing activities, and establish ambient air conditions prior to start-up of potential emission sources from shale gas operations. This program has to be planned for at least one year accounting for ambient variations. In the literature, in addition to GHG emissions of CH4, CO2 and nitrogen oxides (NOx), fugitive emissions from shale gas production can release volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The VOCs include a.o., benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylenes, hexanes, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane, styrene. The concentrations of six air pollutants (ozone, particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), and lead) whose regional ambient air levels are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are often discussed. However, the main concern in the emissions to air associated to shale gas operations, seems to be the leakage of methane. Methane is identified as a compound of major concern due to its strong global warming potential. The identification of methane leakage from shale gas activities is complex due to the existence of several other CH4 sources (e.g. landfill, agricultural activity or gas pipeline/compressor station). An integrated monitoring study of methane emissions may be a suitable mean of distinguishing the contribution of different sources of methane to ambient levels. All data analysis needs to be carefully interpreted taking, also, into account the meteorological conditions of the site. This may require the implementation of a more intensive monitoring programme. So, it is essential the development of a low-cost sampling strategy, suitable for establishing pre-operations baseline data as well as an integrated monitoring program to assess the emissions from shale gas operation sites. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 640715.

Keywords: air emissions, baseline, green house gases, shale gas

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Authors: M. Cardenas-Garcia, P. P. Gonzalez-Perez

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Intercellular communication is a necessary condition for cellular functions and it allows a group of cells to survive as a population. Throughout this interaction, the cells work in a coordinated and collaborative way which facilitates their survival. In the case of cancerous cells, these take advantage of intercellular communication to preserve their malignancy, since through these physical unions they can send signs of malignancy. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays an important role in the formation of intercellular communications, being also involved in a large number of cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, cell survival, and cell death. The modeling and simulation of cellular signaling systems have found valuable support in a wide range of modeling approaches, which cover a wide spectrum ranging from mathematical models; e.g., ordinary differential equations, statistical methods, and numerical methods– to computational models; e.g., process algebra for modeling behavior and variation in molecular systems. Based on these models, different simulation tools have been developed from mathematical ones to computational ones. Regarding cellular and molecular processes in cancer, its study has also found a valuable support in different simulation tools that, covering a spectrum as mentioned above, have allowed the in silico experimentation of this phenomenon at the cellular and molecular level. In this work, we simulate and explore the complex interaction patterns of intercellular communication in cancer cells using the Cellulat bioinformatics tool, a computational simulation tool developed by us and motivated by two key elements: 1) a biochemically inspired model of self-organizing coordination in tuple spaces, and 2) the Gillespie’s algorithm, a stochastic simulation algorithm typically used to mimic systems of chemical/biochemical reactions in an efficient and accurate way. The main idea behind the Cellulat simulation tool is to provide an in silico experimentation environment that complements and guides in vitro experimentation in intra and intercellular signaling networks. Unlike most of the cell signaling simulation tools, such as E-Cell, BetaWB and Cell Illustrator which provides abstractions to model only intracellular behavior, Cellulat is appropriate for modeling both intracellular signaling and intercellular communication, providing the abstractions required to model –and as a result, simulate– the interaction mechanisms that involve two or more cells, that is essential in the scenario discussed in this work. During the development of this work we made evident the application of our computational simulation tool (Cellulat) for the modeling and simulation of intercellular communication between normal and cancerous cells, and in this way, propose key molecules that may prevent the arrival of malignant signals to the cells that surround the tumor cells. In this manner, we could identify the significant role that has the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in cellular communication, and therefore, in the dissemination of cancer cells. We verified, using in silico experiments, how the inhibition of this signaling pathway prevents that the cells that surround a cancerous cell are transformed.

Keywords: cancer cells, in silico approach, intercellular communication, key molecules, modeling and simulation

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Authors: Mohd Shazad, K. K. Gupta

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Vector borne diseases are a serious global concern. Aedes aegypti, the primary vector for viruses that cause dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever, chikungunya and yellow fever is widespread over large areas of the tropics and subtropics. In last decade, diseases transmitted by Aedes aegypti are of serious concern. In past decade, number of cases of dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, and chikungunya has increased multifold. Present research work focused on impact of ethanol extract of Ocimum sanctum on dengue vector Aedes aegypti. 0-24 hr. old fourth instar larvae of lab-bred population of Aedes aegypti were exposed to ethanol leaf extract of Ocimum with concentrations ranging from 50 ppm to 400 ppm. Survival and development and the treated larvae and reproductive behaviour of the adults emerged from the treated larvae was evaluated. Our results indicated larvicidal potential of the leaf ethanol extract. The influence of the extract was dose dependent. 77.2% mortality was observed in the larvae exposed to 400 ppm for 24 hr. Treatment at lower concentrations revealed delayed toxicity. The larvae survived after treatment showed severe developmental anomalies. Consequently, there was the significant increase in duration of fourth instar larva. The L4 treated with 400-ppm extract moulted after 4.6 days; this was in sharp contrast to control where the larval period of the fourth instar lasts three days. The treated fourth instar larvae in many cases transformed into larva-pupa intermediates with the combination of larva, pupa characters. The larva-pupa intermediates had reduced life span and failed to moult successfully. The adults emerged from the larvae treated with lower doses had reduced reproductive potential. The females exhibited longer preoviposition period, reduced oviposition rate, abnormal oviposition behaviour and decreased fertility. Our studies indicated the possibility of the presence of JH mimic or JH analogue in the leaf ethanol extract of Ocimum. The present research work explored the potentials of Ocimum sanctum, also known as the queen of herbs, in integrated vector management programme of Aedes aegypti, which is a serious threat to human health.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, development, mortality, Ocimum sanctum reproduction

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Authors: Lubna Azmi, Ila Shukla, Shyam Sundar Gupta, Padam Kant, Ch. V. Rao

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Gastric ulcer is a major global health threat, and it is the leading cause of stomach cancer death worldwide. Helicobacter pylori bacteriumis the most important etiologic factor for gastric ulcer. This infection is highly pervasive in South Asian developing countries, especially in India, Nepal, Srilanka etc. due to diversification in geographic area. Pathophysiology of gastric mucosal damage associated with non-invasive bacterium has not justified in detail, but it leads to change in histopathology, immunochemistry of the gastric and duodenal reason of host. The mechanism responsible for bacteria tissue tropism and mucosal damage in stomach variance during the disease is not clearly described and understood scientifically in treatment and control of pathogenic organisms. Polyphenols are secondary metabolites of plants and are generally involved in defense against aggression by pathogens. 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxychromen-4-one and 1-hydroxy-5,7-dimethoxy-2-naphthalene-carboxaldehyde are polyphenolic compound obtained from popular Indian medicinal plants ghavpatta (ArgeriaspeciosaLinn.f) andBael (Aeglemarmelos) have long been used in traditional Ayurvedic Indian medicine for various diseases. They have promising effects on ulcer, as detailed investigation has made in our laboratory. Therefore, the aim of present study is to explore membrane –dependent morphogenesis of H. pylori and associated apoptosis-mediated cell death. Based on this we analyzed immune gene expression in stomach of experimental animals with H. pylori, using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR). This revealed rapid induction of prostaglandin, interferon I (INF-I), interferon II (INF-II) and INF-I associated genes in the infected animal. Ultrastructural changes associated with H. pylori will be taken for advanced studies. This investigation shows that the biomarkers eradicate H. pylori bacterium caused gastric ulcer which is a major risk factor for gastric cancer.

Keywords: gastric ulcer, Helicobacter pylori, immunochemistry, polyphenols

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Authors: Kah-Hyong Chang, Xin Liu, Jia Hao Cheong, Saisundar Sankaranarayanan, Dexing Pang, Hongzhao Zheng

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A digital baseband Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is developed for a microchip transponder to transmit signals and temperature levels from biomedical monitoring devices. The transmission protocol is adapted from the ISO/IEC 11784/85 standard. The module has a decimation filter that employs only a single adder-subtractor in its datapath. The filtered output is coded with cyclic redundancy check and transmitted through backscattering Load Shift Keying (LSK) modulation to a reader. Fabricated using the 0.18-μm CMOS technology, the module occupies 0.116 mm² in chip area (digital baseband: 0.060 mm², decimation filter: 0.056 mm²), and consumes a total of less than 0.9 μW of power (digital baseband: 0.75 μW, decimation filter: 0.14 μW).

Keywords: biomedical sensor, decimation filter, radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) baseband, temperature sensor

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Authors: Chinedu Peter, Dashrath Singh

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Membrane computing is a computability model which abstracts its structures and functions from the biological cell. The main ingredient of membrane computing is the notion of a membrane structure, which consists of several cell-like membranes recurrently placed inside a unique skin membrane. The emergence of several variants of membrane computing gives rise to the notion of a P system. The paper presents a variant of P systems for arithmetic operations on non-negative integers based on the weak priorities for rule application. Consequently, we obtain deterministic P systems. Two membranes suffice. There are at most four objects for multiplication and five objects for division throughout the computation processes. The model is simple and has a potential for possible extension to non-negative integers and real numbers in general.

Keywords: P system, binary operation, determinism, weak rule priority

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Authors: Ziad Abdallah, Mohamad Oueidat, Ali El-Zaart

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Image Multi-label Classification (IMC) assigns a label or a set of labels to an image. The big demand for image annotation and archiving in the web attracts the researchers to develop many algorithms for this application domain. The existing techniques for IMC have two drawbacks: The description of the elementary characteristics from the image and the correlation between labels are not taken into account. In this paper, we present an algorithm (MIML-HOGLPP), which simultaneously handles these limitations. The algorithm uses the histogram of gradients as feature descriptor. It applies the Label Priority Power-set as multi-label transformation to solve the problem of label correlation. The experiment shows that the results of MIML-HOGLPP are better in terms of some of the evaluation metrics comparing with the two existing techniques.

Keywords: data mining, information retrieval system, multi-label, problem transformation, histogram of gradients

Procedia PDF Downloads 358