Search results for: efficiency factor

Authors: Mehwish Durrani, Rubina Nazli, Muhammad Abubakr, Muhammad Shafiq

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Objectives: To evaluate the high socio-economic status, urbanization, and decrease ambulation can lead to early osteoporosis in women reporting from Peshawar region. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study was done. Sample size was 100 subjects, using 30% proportion of osteoporosis, 95% confidence level, and 9% margin of error under WHO software for sample size determination. Place and Duration of study: This study was carried out in the tertiary referral health care facilities of Peshawar viz PGMI Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Ethical approval for the study was taken from the Institutional Ethical Research board (IERD) at Post Graduate Medical Institute, Hayatabad Medical Complex, and Peshawar.The study was done in six months time period. Patients and Methods: Levels of CTX1 as a marker of bone degradation in radiographically assessed perimenopausal women was determined. These females were randomly selected and screened for osteoporosis. Hemoglobin in gm/dl, ESR by Westergren method as millimeter in 1 hour, Serum Ca mg/dl, Serum alkaline Phosphatase international units per liter radiographic grade of osteoporosis according to Singh index as 1-6 and CTX 1 level in pg/ml. Results: High levels of CTX1 was observed in perimenopausal osteoporotic women which were radiographically diagnosed as osteoporotic patients. The High socio-economic class also predispose to osteoporosis. Decrease ambulation another risk factor showed significant association with the increased levels of CTX1. Conclusion: The results of this study propose that minimum ambulation and high socioeconomic class both had significance association with the increase levels of serum CTX1, which in turn will lead to osteoporosis and to its complications.

Keywords: osteoporosis, CTX1, perimenopausal women, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Khyberpuktoonkhwa

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Authors: Rahul Jarariya

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The textile industry uses various types of dyes and discharges a lot of highly coloured wastewater. It impacts the environment like allergic reaction, respiratory, skin problems, irritation to a mucous membrane, the upper respiratory tract has to the fore, Intoxicated dye discharges 40 to 50,000 tons with great concern. Spinel ferrites gained a lot of attention due to their wide application area from biomedical to wastewater treatment. Generally, spinel ferrite is known as M-Fe2O4. Spinel type nanoparticles possess high suspension stability. The synthesis method of Microwave solution combustion (MC) method is effective for nanoscale materials, including oxides, metals, alloys, and sulfides, works as fast and energy-efficient during the process. The review focuses on controlling, nanostructure and doping. The influence of the fuel concentration and the post-treatment temperature on the structural and magnetic properties. The effects of amounts of fuel and phase changes, particle size and shape, and magnetic properties can be characterized by various techniques. Urea is the most commonly used fuel. Ethanol or n-butanol is apt for removing impurities. As a result of the materials gives fine purity. Photocatalysis phenomena act with catalyst dosage to degrade dye from wastewater. Visible light responsive produces a large amount of hydroxyl (•OH) radical made the degradation efficiency of Rh21 type dye. It develops a narrow bandgap to make it suitable for enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: microwave solution combustion method, normal spinel, doped spinels, magnetic property, Rb21

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Germán Díaz Flórez, Carlos Alberto Olvera Olvera, Domingo José Gómez Meléndez, Francisco Eneldo López Monteagudo

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In recent decades, population growth has exerted great pressure on natural resources. Two of the most scarce and difficult to obtain resources, arable land, and water, are closely interrelated, to the satisfaction of the demand for food production. In Mexico, the agricultural sector uses more than 70% of water consumption. Therefore, maximize the efficiency of current production systems is inescapable. It is essential to utilize techniques and tools that will enable us to the significant savings of water, labor and fertilizer. In this study, we present a production module of hydroponic green forage (HGF), which is a viable alternative in the production of livestock feed in the semi-arid and arid zones. The equipment in addition to having a forage production module, has a climate and irrigation control system that operated with photovoltaics. The climate control, irrigation and power management is based on fuzzy control techniques. The fuzzy control provides an accurate method in the design of controllers for nonlinear dynamic physical phenomena such as temperature and humidity, besides other as lighting level, aeration and irrigation control using heuristic information. In this working, firstly refers to the production of the hydroponic green forage, suitable weather conditions and fertigation subsequently presents the design of the production module and the design of the controller. A simulation of the behavior of the production module and the end results of actual operation of the equipment are presented, demonstrating its easy design, flexibility, robustness and low cost that represents this equipment in the primary sector.

Keywords: fuzzy, climate control system, hydroponic green forage, forage production module

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Authors: Shingo Murakami, Shinichi Enoki

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In structures, stress concentration is a factor of fatigue fracture. Basically, the stress concentration is a phenomenon that should be avoided. However, it is difficult to avoid the stress concentration. Therefore, relaxation of the stress concentration is important. The stress concentration arises from notches and circular holes. There is a relaxation method that a composite patch covers a notch and a circular hole. This relaxation method is used to repair aerial wings, but it is not systematized. Composites are more expensive than single materials. Accordingly, we propose the relaxation method that a single material patch covers a notch and a circular hole, and aim to systematize this relaxation method. We performed FEA (Finite Element Analysis) about an object by using a three-dimensional FEA model. The object was that a patch adheres to a plate with a circular hole. And, a uniaxial tensile load acts on the patched plate with a circular hole. In the three-dimensional FEA model, it is not easy to model the adhesion layer. Basically, the yield stress of the adhesive is smaller than that of adherents. Accordingly, the adhesion layer gets to plastic deformation earlier than the adherents under the yield stress of adherents. Therefore, we propose the three-dimensional FEA model which is applied a nonlinear elastic region to the adhesion layer. The nonlinear elastic region was calculated by a bilinear approximation. We compared the analysis results with the tensile test results to confirm whether the analysis model has usefulness. As a result, the analysis results agreed with the tensile test results. And, we confirmed that the analysis model has usefulness. As a result that the three-dimensional FEA model was used to the analysis, it was confirmed that an out-of-plane deformation occurred to the patched plate with a circular hole. The out-of-plane deformation causes stress increase of the patched plate with a circular hole. Therefore, we investigate that the out-of-plane deformation affects relaxation of the stress concentration in the plate with a circular hole on this relaxation method. As a result, it was confirmed that the out-of-plane deformation inhibits relaxation of the stress concentration on the plate with a circular hole.

Keywords: stress concentration, patch, out-of-plane deformation, Finite Element Analysis

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Authors: Anik Sarminingsih, Krishna V. Pradana

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The failure of flood control system can be caused by various factors, such as not considering the uncertainty of designed flood causing the capacity of the flood control system is exceeded. The presence of the uncertainty factor is recognized as a serious issue in hydrological studies. Uncertainty in hydrological analysis is influenced by many factors, starting from reading water elevation data, rainfall data, selection of method of analysis, etc. In hydrological modeling selection of models and parameters corresponding to the watershed conditions should be evaluated by the hydraulic model in the river as a drainage channel. River cross-section capacity is the first defense in knowing the reliability of the flood control system. Reliability of river capacity describes the potential magnitude of flood risk. Case study in this research is Wulan River in Central Java. This river occurring flood almost every year despite some efforts to control floods such as levee, floodway and diversion. The flood-affected areas include several sub-districts, mainly in Kabupaten Kudus and Kabupaten Demak. First step is analyze the frequency of discharge observation from Klambu weir which have time series data from 1951-2013. Frequency analysis is performed using several distribution frequency models such as Gumbel distribution, Normal, Normal Log, Pearson Type III and Log Pearson. The result of the model based on standard deviation overlaps, so the maximum flood discharge from the lower return periods may be worth more than the average discharge for larger return periods. The next step is to perform a hydraulic analysis to evaluate the reliability of river capacity based on the flood discharge resulted from several methods. The selection of the design flood discharge of flood control system is the result of the method closest to bankfull capacity of the river.

Keywords: design flood, hydrological model, reliability, uncertainty, Wulan river

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Authors: Ezat Vahidian, Babak Eshrati

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Introduction: Elder abuse, a very complex issue with diverse definitions and names, has been very slow to capture the public eye and public policy since it is manifested at many levels. It requires the involvement of different types of professionals. While elder abuse is not a new phenomenon, the speed of population ageing world-wide is likely to lead to an increase in its incidence and prevalence. Elder abuse has devastating consequences for older persons such as poor quality of life, psychological distress, and loss of property and security. It is also associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Elder abuse is a problem that manifests itself in both rich and poor countries and at all levels of society. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of elder abuse and effects of social factor on it in Markazi Province. Materials and methods: The society of the study was all of the elders in Markazi Province that were available by geographical address in the table of rural and urban household societies. The study was cross sectional and multi phases in sampling the first one was classification according rural and urban area and the second one was cluster sampling with equal cluster. Estimation of samples were 472 persons and increased by design effect to 1110 persons. Collection data was done by questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS and chi 2 exam. Results: This study showed 70 persons were abused (42/8% male and 57/2% female) mean of ages was 74/7 years. 64% were marred and 31% were widows. There were not any significant meaningful association between elder abuse and area of living (pv=0.299),occupation (p.v=0.104), education (pv=0.358) and age (P.value=0.104) there were significant meaningful association between physical impairment (pv=0.08), and movement impairment (P.value=0.008). Conclusion: Results verify that maltreatment occurred in the aged persons. Analysis of data indicated that elder abuse exist in every socioeconomic group with any context of education in urban area and rural area and in men and women. Prevalence of elder abuse was 6.3% (70 persons) that verify the data of developed countries with limited sample.

Keywords: elder abuse, education, occupation, area of living

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Authors: Aubry Martin, Nehed Amara, Jeff Nyalosaso, Audrey Potdevin, FrançOis ReVeret, Michel Langlet, Genevieve Chadeyron

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Energy-saving lighting devices based on LightEmitting Diodes (LEDs) combine a semiconductor chip emitting in the ultraviolet or blue wavelength region to one or more phosphor(s) deposited in the form of coatings. The most common ones combine a blue LED with the yellow phosphor Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ (YAG:Ce) and a red phosphor. Even if these devices are characterized by satisfying photometric parameters (Color Rendering Index, Color Temperature) and good luminous efficiencies, further improvements can be carried out to enhance light extraction efficiency (increase in phosphor forward emission). One of the possible strategies is to pattern the phosphor coatings. Here, we have worked on different ways to nanostructure the coating surface. On the one hand, we used the colloidal lithography combined with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique to directly pattern the surface of YAG:Tb³⁺ sol-gel derived coatings, YAG:Tb³⁺ being used as phosphor model. On the other hand, we achieved composite architectures combining YAG:Ce coatings and ZnO nanowires. Structural, morphological and optical properties of both systems have been studied and compared to flat YAG coatings. In both cases, nanostructuring brought a significative enhancement of photoluminescence properties under UV or blue radiations. In particular, angle-resolved photoluminescence measurements have shown that nanostructuring modifies photons path within the coatings, with a better extraction of the guided modes. These two strategies have the advantage of being versatile and applicable to any phosphor synthesizable by sol-gel technique. They then appear as promising ways to enhancement luminescence efficiencies of both phosphor coatings and the optical devices into which they are incorporated, such as LED-based lighting or safety devices.

Keywords: phosphor coatings, nanostructuring, light extraction, ZnO nanowires, colloidal lithography, LED devices

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Authors: Sabuj Kanti Mazumder, Mazlan Abd Ghaffar, Simon Kumar Das

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In this study, we analyzed the effects of water temperature and diet on the growth properties and gastric emptying period of juvenile Malabar blood snapper (Lutjanus malabaricus) over a 30day experimental period. Fish were collected from a local hatchery of Pulau Ketam, Selangor, Malaysia and immediately transferred to flow-through sea water system and subjected to four different temperatures (22, 26, 30, and 34 °C) and two diets (formulated pellet and shrimp). Body weight gain, food consumption, food conversion ratio, food consumption efficiency, specific growth rate, relative growth rate, daily growth rate, and gastric emptying period were significantly influenced by temperature and diet (P<0.05). The best food conversion ratio was with the shrimp group recorded at 30°C (1.33±0.08). The highest growth rate was observed in the shrimp group at 30°C (3.97±0.57% day-1), and the lowest was observed in the formulated pellet group at 22°C (1.63±0.29% day-1). No significant difference was observed between the groups subjected to temperatures of 26 and 30°C. Similarly, the lowest gastric emptying period was detected in the shrimp group at 30°C (16h), where the proportion of meal residues in the stomach decreased from 100% to less than 8% after 12h of starvation. A significantly longer gastric emptying period was observed in the formulated pellet group at 22°C (28h). Overall, the best results were observed on shrimp group subjected to a 30°C temperature. The data obtained from this study suggest that a shrimp diet fed on L. malabaricus at 30°C will optimize the commercial production of this commercially important fish species.

Keywords: aquaculture, diet, digestion rate, growth, Malabar blood snapper

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Authors: Firas S. Azzeh

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Background: Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that is necessary for normal growth and development. Hyperuricemia is commonly detected in subjects with abnormal purine metabolism. Prolonged hyperuricemia is an important risk factor for damaged joint and often associated with gout. Objectives: To compare the effect of high dose of vitamin C supplements on uric acid treatment between hyperuricemic and gouty patients in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as finding out the effect of vitamin C on serum creatinine level and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Subjects and Methods: This comparative study started on April 2013 and lasted tells March 2014. A convenience sample of 30 adults was recruited in this study from Doctor Abdulrahman Taha Bakhsh Hospital in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). Eligible persons were assigned into two study groups; hyperuricemic (n=15) and gouty (n=15) groups. Subjects have been accepted for participating in the study after completing the consent form. Each participant consumed 500 mg/day vitamin C chew able tablets. All participants have been followed-up for 2 months. Twelve hours fasting blood samples have been collected 3 times from each participant during the study period; at the beginning before and retested after each month of the study period. Uric acid, serum creatinine and GFR were measured. Results: For gouty group, uric acid increased insignificantly after 2 months by about +0.3 mg/dl. On the other hand, hyperuricemic group showed decrease (P ≤ 0.05) in uric acid after 2 months of study period by about -0.78 mg/dl. Serum creatinine level insignificantly decreased for all participants during the study period, which leaded to insignificant increase in GFR for all participants. Conclusion: Supplementation with 500 mg/day vitamin C for 2 months significantly reduced serum uric acid for hyperuricemic patients and insignificantly increased serum uric acid for gouty patients. The ineffectiveness of vitamin C supplements on patients with established gout could be related to a number of potential reasons.

Keywords: vitamin c, Hyperuricemia, gout, creatinine, GFR

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Authors: Tien Hui Chiang

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Along with the predominant influence of neo-liberalism, public managerialism is viewed as a panacea for curing the institutionalized weakness caused by the monopoly of the public sector. In the name of efficiency, its outcome-led approach acquires a legitimate status and, in turn, it transforms into the discourse of performativity, reformulating the souls of individual members into the form of docile bodies who are willing to demonstrate their own ability in organizational contributions. The evaluation system and the organizational reconstruction are viewed as the crucial means for achieving this mission. Inevitably, university teachers are confined within a rigid and bureaucratic setting, in which they do not have too much latitude but are subject to the commands of senior administrators. However, the notion of duality highlights the interaction between structural constraints and agency. If the actor discovers the rules or properties of social structure, he/she is able to transform structural constraints into resources for developing creative actions, conceptualized as an agency. This study was designed for examining how duality operates within this hierarchical arrangement formed by public managerialism. Fourteen informants were interviewed from February to August 2014. The findings show that the evaluation system created the culture of neo-academicalism, addressing excellence in research and, in turn, motivating academic-oriented teachers. This correspondence provided a gateway for them to win honor, dignity, and prestige in groups. However, unlike the concept of duality, this agency was operating within the institutionalized context, regulated by structural constraint. Furthermore, complying with the rule/property of social structure was able to secure their advantages.

Keywords: public managerialism, social discourse, neo-academicalism, duality, structural constraint, agency

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Authors: Sahand Golmohammadi, Sana Hosseini Shirazi

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Because the status and mechanical parameters of discontinuities in the rock mass are included in the calculations, various methods of rock engineering classification are often used as a starting point for the design of different types of structures. The Q-system is one of the most frequently used methods for stability analysis and determination of support systems of underground structures in rock, including tunnel. In this method, six main parameters of the rock mass, namely, the rock quality designation (RQD), joint set number (Jn), joint roughness number (Jr), joint alteration number (Ja), joint water parameter (Jw) and stress reduction factor (SRF) are required. In this regard, in order to achieve a reasonable and optimal design, identifying the effective parameters for the stability of the mentioned structures is one of the most important goals and the most necessary actions in rock engineering. Therefore, it is necessary to study the relationships between the parameters of a system and how they interact with each other and, ultimately, the whole system. In this research, it has attempted to determine the most effective parameters (key parameters) from the six parameters of rock mass in the Q-system using the rock engineering system (RES) method to improve the relationships between the parameters in the calculation of the Q value. The RES system is, in fact, a method by which one can determine the degree of cause and effect of a system's parameters by making an interaction matrix. In this research, the geomechanical data collected from the water conveyor tunnel of Azad Dam were used to make the interaction matrix of the Q-system. For this purpose, instead of using the conventional methods that are always accompanied by defects such as uncertainty, the Q-system interaction matrix is coded using a technique that is actually a statistical analysis of the data and determining the correlation coefficient between them. So, the effect of each parameter on the system is evaluated with greater certainty. The results of this study show that the formed interaction matrix provides a reasonable estimate of the effective parameters in the Q-system. Among the six parameters of the Q-system, the SRF and Jr parameters have the maximum and minimum impact on the system, respectively, and also the RQD and Jw parameters have the maximum and minimum impact on the system, respectively. Therefore, by developing this method, we can obtain a more accurate relation to the rock mass classification by weighting the required parameters in the Q-system.

Keywords: Q-system, rock engineering system, statistical analysis, rock mass, tunnel

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Authors: Samir Ali-arous, Mohamed Beddane, Khaled Djelouah

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This study investigated the insect diversity of olive (Olea europaea Linnaeus (Oleaceae)) groves grown in an arid climate in Algeria. In this context, several sampling methods were used within two orchards differently managed. Fifty arthropod species belonging to diverse orders and families were recorded. Hymenopteran species were quantitatively the most abundant, followed by species associated with Heteroptera, Aranea, Coleoptera and Homoptera orders. Regarding functional feeding groups, phytophagous species were dominant in the weeded and the unweeded orchard; however, higher abundance was recorded in the weeded site. Predators were ranked second, and pollinators were more frequent in the unweeded olive orchard. Two-factor Anova with repeated measures had revealed high significant effect of the weed management system, measures repetition and interaction with measurement repetition on arthropod’s abundances (P < 0.05). Likewise, generalized linear models showed that N/S ratio varied significantly between the two weed management approaches, in contrast, the remaining diversity indices including the Shannon index H’ had no significant correlation. Moreover, diversity parameters of arthropod’s communities in each agro-system highlighted multiples significant correlations (P <0.05). Rarefaction and extrapolation (R/E) sampling curves, evidenced that the survey and monitoring carried out in both sites had a optimum coverage of entomofauna present including scarce and transient species. Overall, calculated diversity and similarity indices were greater in the unweeded orchard than in the weeded orchard, demonstrating spontaneous flora's key role in entomofaunal diversity. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has defined correlations between arthropod’s abundances and naturally occurring plants in olive orchards, including beneficials.

Keywords: Algeria, olive, insects, diversity, wild plants

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Authors: Sajedeh Salehi, Marco Giacalone

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This paper examines the role of existing online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms and their effects on ameliorating access to justice – as a protected right by Art. 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – for consumers in EU. The major focus of this study will be on evaluating ODR as the means of dispute resolution for Business-to-Consumer (B2C) cross-border small claims raised in e-commerce transactions. The authors will elaborate the consequences of implementing ODR methods in the context of recent developments in EU regulatory safeguards on promoting consumer protection. In this analysis, both non-judiciary and judiciary ODR redress mechanisms are considered, however, the significant consideration is given to – obligatory and non-obligatory – judiciary ODR methods. For that purpose, this paper will particularly investigate the impact of the EU ODR platform as well as the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) Regulation 861/2007 and their role on accelerating the access to justice for consumers in B2C e-disputes. Although, considerable volume of research has been carried out on ODR for consumer claims, rather less (or no-) attention has been paid to provide a combined doctrinal and empirical evaluation of ODR’s potential in resolving cross-border small e-disputes, in EU. Hence, the methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) research methods which will be mainly based on the data acquired through the findings of the Small Claims Analysis Net (SCAN) project. This project contributes towards examining the ESCP Regulation implementation and efficiency in providing consumers with a legal watershed through using the ODR for their transnational small claims. The outcomes of this research may benefit both academia and policymakers at national and international level.

Keywords: access to justice, consumers, e-commerce, small e-Disputes

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Authors: Anoff Anim, Lila A. M. Mahmoud, Maria Katsikogianni, Sanjit Nayak

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Sustained and controlled delivery of antimicrobial drugs have been largely studied recently using metal organic frameworks (MOFs)and different polymers. However, much attention has not been given to combining both MOFs and biodegradable polymers, which would be a good strategy in providing a sustained gradual release of the drugs. Herein, we report a comparative study of the sustained and controlled release of widely used antibacterial drugs, cephalexin and metronidazole, from zinc-based MOF-5 incorporated in biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly-lactic glycolic acid (PLGA) membranes. Cephalexin and metronidazole were separately incorporated in MOF-5 post-synthetically, followed by their integration into biodegradable PLGA and PCL membranes. The pristine MOF-5 and the loaded MOFs were thoroughly characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TGA and PXRD. Drug release studies were carried out to assess the release rate of the drugs in PBS and distilled water for up to 48 hours using UV-Vis Spectroscopy. Four bacterial strains from both the Gram-positive and Gram-negative types, Staphylococus aureus, Staphylococuss epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumanii, were tested against the pristine MOF, pure drugs, loaded MOFs and the drug-loaded MOF-polymer composites. Metronidazole-loaded MOF-5 composite of PLGA (PLGA-Met@MOF-5) was found to show highest efficiency to inhibit the growth of S. epidermidis compared to the other bacteria strains while maintaining a sustained minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). This study demonstrates that the combination of biodegradable MOF-polymer composites can provide an efficient platform for sustained and controlled release of antimicrobial drugs and can be a potential strategy to integrate them in biomedical devices.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, biodegradable polymers, cephalexin, drug release metronidazole, MOF-5, PCL, PLGA

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Authors: Abduladim Maitieg, Mark Johnson

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Developing a coastal oil spill management plan for the Misratah coast is the motivating factor for building a database for coastal and marine systems and energy resources. Wind direction and speed, currents, bathymetry, coastal topography and offshore dynamics influence oil spill deposition in coastal water. Therefore, oceanographic and climatological data can be used to understand oil slick movement and potential oil deposits on shoreline area and the behaviour of oil spill trajectories on the sea surface. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the coastal and marine physical factors under strong wave conditions and various bathymetric and coastal topography gradients in the western coastal area of Libya on the movement of oil slicks. The movement of oil slicks was computed using a GNOME simulation model based on current and wind speed/direction. The results in this paper show that (1) Oil slick might reach the Misratah shoreline area in two days in the summer and winter. Seasons. (2 ) The North coast of Misratah is the potential oil deposit area on the Misratah coast. (3) Tarball pollution was observed along the North coast of Misratah. (4) Two scenarios for the summer and the winter season were run, along the western coast of Libya . (5) The eastern coast is at a lower potential risk due to the influence of wind and current energy in the Gulf of Sidra. (6) The Misratah coastline is more vulnerable to oil spill movement in the summer than in winter seasons. (7) Oil slick takes from 2 to 5 days to reach the saltmarsh in the eastern Misratah coast. (8) Oil slick moves 300 km in 30 days from the spill resource location near the Libyan western border to the Misratah coast.(9) Bathymetric features have a profound effect on oil spill movement. (9)Oil dispersion simulations using GNOME are carried out taking into account high-resolution wind and current data.

Keywords: oil spill movement, coastal and marine physical factors, coast area, Libyan

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Authors: Junyu Chen, Peng Xu

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In the context of global efforts to enhance building energy efficiency, accurate thermal load forecasting is crucial for both device sizing and predictive control. Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems are widely used in buildings around the world, yet VRF zonal load prediction has received limited attention. Due to differences between VRF zones in building-level prediction methods, zone-level load forecasting could significantly enhance accuracy. Given that modern VRF systems generate high-quality data, this paper introduces transfer learning to leverage this data and further improve prediction performance. This framework also addresses the challenge of predicting load for building zones with no historical data, offering greater accuracy and usability compared to pure white-box models. The study first establishes an initial variable set of VRF zonal building loads and generates a foundational white-box database using EnergyPlus. Key variables for VRF zonal loads are identified using methods including SRRC, PRCC, and Random Forest. XGBoost and LSTM are employed to generate pre-trained black-box models based on the white-box database. Finally, real-world data is incorporated into the pre-trained model using transfer learning to enhance its performance in operational buildings. In this paper, zone-level load prediction was integrated with transfer learning, and a framework was proposed to improve the accuracy and applicability of VRF zonal load prediction.

Keywords: zonal load prediction, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system, transfer learning, energyplus

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Authors: Kim Kennedy, Daren Gibson, Stephanie Flukes, Chandra Diwakarla, Lisa Spalding, Leanne Pilkington, Andrew Redfern

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Introduction: It is well known that patients with Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) are at increased risk of subsequent head and neck cancers due to various aetiologies. Aim: We sought to determine the factors contributing to an increased risk of subsequent HNC primaries, and also to evaluate whether Aboriginal patients are at increased risk. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of 320 HNC patients from a single centre in Western Australia, identifying 80 Aboriginal patients and 240 non-Aboriginal patients matched on a 1:3 ratio by site, histology, rurality, and age. We collected patient data including smoking and alcohol consumption, tumour and treatment data, and data on subsequent HNC primaries. Results: A subsequent HNC primary was seen in 37 patients (11.6%) overall. There was no significant difference in the rate of second primary HNCs between Aboriginal patients (12.5%) and nonAboriginal patients (11.2%) (p=0.408). Subsequent HNCs, were strongly associated with smoking and alcohol consumption however, with 95% of patients with a second primary being ever-smokers, and 54% of patients with a second primary having a history of excessive alcohol consumption. In the 37 patients with multiple HNC primaries, there were a total of 57 HNCs, with 29 patients having two primaries, six patients having 3 HNC primaries, one patient with four, and one with six. 54 out of the 57 cancers were in ever smokers (94.7%). There were only two multiple HNC primaries in a never smoker, non-drinker, and these cases were of unknown etiology with HPV/p16 status unknown in both cases. In the whole study population, there were 32 HPV-positive HNCs, and 67 p16-positive HNCs, with only two 2 nd HNCs in a p16-positive case, giving a rate of 3% in the p16+ population, which is actually much lower than the rate of second primaries seen in the overall population (11.6%), and was highest in the p16-negative population (15.7%). This suggests that p16-positivity is not a strong risk factor for subsequent primaries, and in fact p16-negativity appeared to be associated with increased risk, however this data is limited by the large number of patients without documented p16 status (45.3% overall, 12% for oropharyngeal, and 59.6% for oral cavity primaries had unknown p16 status). Summary: Subsequent HNC primaries were strongly associated with smoking and alcohol excess. Second and later HNC primaries did not appear to occur at increased rates in Aboriginal patients compared with non-Aboriginal patients, and p16-positivity did not predict increased risk, however p16-negativity was associated with an increased risk of subsequent HNCs.

Keywords: head and neck cancer, multiple primaries, aboriginal, p16 status, smoking, alcohol

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Authors: Magdalena Rusady Goey, Gordon Strathdee, Neil Perkins

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Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most frequent type of childhood malignancy, accounting for 25% of all cases. TWIST2, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, has been implicated in ALL development. Prior studies found that TWIST2 undergoes epigenetic silencing in more than 50% cases of ALL through promoter hypermethylation and suggested that re-expression of TWIST2 may inhibit cell growth/survival of leukaemia cell lines. TWIST2 has also been implicated as a regulator of NF-kappaB activity, which is constitutively active in leukaemia. Here, we use a lentiviral transductions system to confirm the importance of TWIST2 in controlling leukaemia cell growth and to investigate whether this is achieved through altered regulation of NF-kappaB activity. Method: Re-expression of TWIST2 in leukaemia cell lines was achieved using lentiviral-based transduction. The lentiviral vector also expresses enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), allowing transduced cells to be tracked using flow cytometry. Analysis of apoptosis and cell proliferation were done using annexinV and VPD450 staining, respectively. Result and Discussion: TWIST2-expressing cells were rapidly depleted from a mixed population in ALL cell lines (NALM6 and Reh), indicating that TWIST2 inhibited cell growth/survival of ALL cells. In contrast, myeloid cell lines (HL60 and K562) were comparatively insensitive to TWIST2 re-expression. Analysis of apoptosis and cell proliferation found no significant induction of apoptosis, but did find a rapid induction of proliferation arrest in TWIST2-expressing Reh and NALM6 cells. Initial experiment with NF-kappaB inhibitor demonstrated that inhibition of NF-kappaB has similar impact on cell proliferation in the ALL cell lines, suggesting that TWITST2 may induce cell proliferation arrest through inhibition of NF-kappaB. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that epigenetic inactivation of TWIST2 in primary ALL leads to increased proliferation, potentially by altering the regulation of NF-kappaB.

Keywords: leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, NF-kappaB, TWIST2, lentivirus

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Authors: O. D. Adegbehingbe, S. D. Eyono Obono

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The education sector is constantly faced with rapid changes in technologies in terms of ensuring that the curriculum is up to date and in terms of making sure that students are aware of these technological changes. This challenge can be seen as the motivation for this study, which is to examine the factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest Information Technologies (ICTs). The aim of this study is divided into two sub-objectives which are: the selection of relevant theories and the design of a conceptual model to support it as well as the empirical testing of the designed model. The first objective is achieved by a review of existing literature on technology adoption theories and models. The second objective is achieved using a survey of computing students in the four universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Data collected from this survey is analyzed using Statistical package for the Social Science (SPSS) using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Pearson correlations. The main hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between the demographics and the prior conditions of the computing students and their awareness of general ICT trends and of Digital Switch Over (DSO) a new technology which involves the change from analog to digital television broadcasting in order to achieve improved spectrum efficiency. The prior conditions of the computing students that were considered in this study are students’ perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived curriculum currency. The results of this study confirm that gender, ethnicity, and high school computing course affect students’ perceived curriculum currency while high school location affects students’ awareness of DSO. The results of this study also confirm that there is a relationship between students prior conditions and their awareness of general ICT trends and DSO in particular.

Keywords: education, information technologies, IDT, awareness

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Authors: Siddhi Khaire, Samarth Hawaldar, Baladitya Suri

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As efforts towards quantum communication advance, the need for single photon sources becomes imminent. Due to the extremely low energy of a single microwave photon, efforts to build single photon sources and detectors in the microwave range are relatively recent. We plan to use a Cooper Pair Box (CPB) that has a ‘sweet-spot’ where the two energy levels have minimal separation. Moreover, these qubits have fairly large anharmonicity making them close to ideal two-level systems. If the external gate voltage of these qubits is varied rapidly while passing through the sweet-spot, due to Landau-Zener effect, the qubit can be excited almost deterministically. The rapid change of the gate control voltage through the sweet spot induces a non-adiabatic population transfer from the ground to the excited state. The qubit eventually decays into the emission line emitting a single photon. The advantage of this setup is that the qubit can be excited without any coherent microwave excitation, thereby effectively increasing the usable source efficiency due to the absence of control pulse microwave photons. Since the probability of a Landau-Zener transition can be made almost close to unity by the appropriate design of parameters, this source behaves as an on-demand source of single microwave photons. The large anharmonicity of the CPB also ensures that only one excited state is involved in the transition and multiple photon output is highly improbable. Such a system has so far not been implemented and would find many applications in the areas of quantum optics, quantum computation as well as quantum communication.

Keywords: quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum optics, superconducting qubits, flux qubit, charge qubit, microwave single photon source, quantum information processing

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Authors: Reihane Mehrparvar

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Human age could exceed further by altering gene expression through food intaking, although as a consequence of recent century eating patterns, human life-span getting shorter by emerging irregulating in autophagy mechanism, insulin, leptin, gut microbiota which are important etiological factors of type-2 diabetes, obesity, infertility, cancer, metabolic and autoimmune diseases. However, restricted calorie intake and vigorous exercise might be beneficial for losing weight and metabolic regulation in a short period but could not be implementable in the long term as a way of life. Therefore, the lack of a dietary program that is compatible with the genes of the body is essential. Sweet and high-glycemic-index (HGI) foods were associated with type-2 diabetes and cancer morbidity. The neuropsychological perspective characterizes the inclination of sweet and HGI-food consumption as addictive behavior; hence this process engages preference of gut microbiota, neural node, and dopaminergic functions. Moreover, meal composition is not the only factor that affects body hemostasis. In this narrative review, it is believed to attempt to investigate how the body responded to different food intakes and represent an accurate model based on current evidence. Eating frequently and ingesting unassimilable protein and carbohydrates may not be compatible with human genes and could cause impairments in the self-renovation mechanism. This trajectory indicates our body is more adapted to starvation and eating animal meat and marrow. Here has been recommended a model that takes into account three important factors: frequent eating, meal composition, and circadian rhythm, which may offer a promising intervention for obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular, autoimmune disorder, type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance, infertility, and cancer through intensifying autophagy-mechanism and eliminate medical costs.

Keywords: metabolic disease, anti-aging, type-2 diabetes, autophagy

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Authors: Angkrit Phitchayangkoon, Ar-Aishah Dadeh

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Background: A key aim of triage is to identify the patients with high risk of cardiac arrest because they require intensive monitoring, resuscitation facilities, and early intervention. We aimed to identify the predicting factors such as initial vital signs, serum pH, serum lactate level, initial capillary blood glucose, and Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) which affect the occurrence of cardiac arrest in an emergency department (ED). Methods: We conducted a retrospective data review of ED patients in an emergency department (ED) from 1 August 2014 to 31 July 2016. Significant variables in univariate analysis were used to create a multivariate analysis. Differentiation of predicting factors between cardiac arrest patient and non-cardiac arrest patients for occurrence of cardiac arrest in an emergency department (ED) was the primary outcome. Results: The data of 527 non-trauma patients with Emergency Severity Index (ESI) 1-3 were collected. The factors found to have a significant association (P < 0.05) in the non-cardiac arrest group versus the cardiac arrest group at the ED were systolic BP (mean [IQR] 135 [114,158] vs 120 [90,140] mmHg), oxygen saturation (mean [IQR] 97 [89,98] vs 82.5 [78,95]%), GCS (mean [IQR] 15 [15,15] vs 11.5 [8.815]), normal sinus rhythm (mean 59.8 vs 30%), sinus tachycardia (mean 46.7 vs 21.7%), pH (mean [IQR] 7.4 [7.3,7.4] vs 7.2 [7,7.3]), serum lactate (mean [IQR] 2 [1.1,4.2] vs 7 [5,10.8]), and MEWS score (mean [IQR] 3 [2,5] vs 5 [3,6]). A multivariate analysis was then performed. After adjusting for multiple factors, ESI level 2 patients were more likely to have cardiac arrest in the ER compared with ESI 1 (odds ratio [OR], 1.66; P < 0.001). Furthermore, ESI 2 patients were more likely than ESI 1 patients to have cardiovascular disease (OR, 1.89; P = 0.01), heart rate < 55 (OR, 6.83; P = 0.18), SBP < 90 (OR, 3.41; P = 0.006), SpO2 < 94 (OR, 4.76; P = 0.012), sinus tachycardia (OR, 4.32; P = 0.002), lactate > 4 (OR, 10.66; P = < 0.001), and MEWS > 4 (OR, 4.86; P = 0.028). These factors remained predictive of cardiac arrest at the ED. Conclusion: The factors related to cardiac arrest in the ED are ESI 1 patients, ESI 2 patients, patients diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, SpO2 < 94, lactate > 4, and a MEWS > 4. These factors can be used as markers in the event of simultaneous arrival of many patients and can help as a pre-state for patients who have a tendency to develop cardiac arrest. The hemodynamic status and vital signs of these patients should be closely monitored. Early detection of potentially critical conditions to prevent critical medical intervention is mandatory.

Keywords: cardiac arrest, predicting factor, emergency department, emergency patient

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Authors: S. M. Javad Davoodi, Mojtaba Shourian

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Groundwater table close to the ground surface causes major problems in construction and mining operation. One of the methods to control groundwater in such cases is using pumping wells. These pumping wells remove excess water from the site project and lower the water table to a desirable value. Although the efficiency of this method is acceptable, it needs high expenses to apply. It means even small improvement in a design of pumping wells can lead to substantial cost savings. In order to minimize the total cost in the method of pumping wells, a simulation-optimization approach is applied. The proposed model integrates MODFLOW as the simulation model with Firefly as the optimization algorithm. In fact, MODFLOW computes the drawdown due to pumping in an aquifer and the Firefly algorithm defines the optimum value of design parameters which are numbers, pumping rates and layout of the designing wells. The developed Firefly-MODFLOW model is applied to minimize the cost of the dewatering project for the ancient mosque of Kerman city in Iran. Repetitive runs of the Firefly-MODFLOW model indicates that drilling two wells with the total rate of pumping 5503 m3/day is the result of the minimization problem. Results show that implementing the proposed solution leads to at least 1.5 m drawdown in the aquifer beneath mosque region. Also, the subsidence due to groundwater depletion is less than 80 mm. Sensitivity analyses indicate that desirable groundwater depletion has an enormous impact on total cost of the project. Besides, in a hypothetical aquifer decreasing the hydraulic conductivity contributes to decrease in total water extraction for dewatering.

Keywords: groundwater dewatering, pumping wells, simulation-optimization, MODFLOW, firefly algorithm

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Authors: Muhammad Adeel Arshad, Faiz-Ul Hassan, Yanfen Cheng

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According to FAO, enteric methane (CH4) production is about 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector. Ruminants produce CH4 as a result of fermentation of feed in the rumen especially from roughages which yield more CH4 per unit of biomass ingested as compared to concentrates. Efficient ruminal fermentation is not possible without abating CO2 and CH4. Methane abatement strategies are required to curb the predicted rise in emissions associated with greater ruminant production in future to meet ever increasing animal protein requirements. Ecology of ruminal methanogenesis and avenues for its mitigation can be identified through various genomic and transcriptomic techniques. Programs such as Hungate1000 and the Global Rumen Census have been launched to enhance our understanding about global ruminal microbial communities. Through Hungate1000 project, a comprehensive reference set of rumen microbial genome sequences has been developed from cultivated rumen bacteria and methanogenic archaea along with representative rumen anaerobic fungi and ciliate protozoa cultures. But still many species of rumen microbes are underrepresented especially uncultivable microbes. Lack of sequence information specific to the rumen's microbial community has inhibited efforts to use genomic data to identify specific set of species and their target genes involved in methanogenesis. Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic study of entire microbial rumen populations offer new perspectives to understand interaction of methanogens with other rumen microbes and their potential association with total gas and methane production. Deep understanding of methanogenic pathway will help to devise potentially effective strategies to abate methane production while increasing feed efficiency in ruminants.

Keywords: Genome sequences, Hungate1000, methanogens, ruminal fermentation

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Authors: Sadiah Baharom, Che Nidzam Che Ahmad, Saipol Barin Ramli, Asmayati Yahaya, Sopia Md Yassin

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The early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Malaysia aspire to develop children who are intellectually, emotionally, physically and spiritually balanced. This aspiration can only materialise if the early childhood program developed comprehensive and is of high quality comparable to international standards. As such, there is a pressing need to assess the quality of the program in an all-encompassing manner. The overall research project aims at developing a comprehensive and integrated model of high-quality Malaysian ECCE. One of the major objectives of this project is to assess and evaluate the scope and quality of the existing ECCE programs in Malaysia. To this end, a specific aspect of this objective is to develop and validate an instrument to assess and evaluate the ECCE curriculum of the country. Thus this paper describes the development and validation of an instrument to explore the quality of early childhood care and education curriculum currently implemented in the country’s ECCE centres. The generation of the constructs and items were based on a set of criteria mapped against existing ECCE practice, document analyses, expert interviews and panel discussions. The items went through expert validation and were field tested on 597 ECCE teachers. The data obtained went through an exploratory factor analysis to validate the constructs of the instrument followed by reliability studies on internal consistency based on the Cronbach Alpha values. The final set of items for the ECCE curriculum instrument, earmarked for the main study, consists of four constructs namely philosophy and core values, curriculum content, curriculum review and unique features. Each construct consists of between 21 to 3 items with a total of 36 items in all. The reliability coefficients for each construct range from 0.65 to 0.961. These values are within the acceptable limits for a reliable instrument to be used in the main study.

Keywords: early childhood and care education, instrument development, reliability studies, validity studies

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Authors: Kazi Enamul Hoque

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Initiatives on sustainable development are currently aggressively pursued throughout the world. The Malaysian government has developed key policies and strategies for over 30 years to achieve the nation’s policy objectives which are designed to mitigate the issues of security, energy efficiency and environmental impact to meet the rising energy demand. Malaysia’s current focus is on developing effective policies on renewable energy (RE) in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuel and contribute towards mitigating the effects of climate change. In this light mass awareness should be considered as the highest priority to protect the environment and to escape disaster due to climate change. Schools can be the reliable and effective foundation to prepare students to get familiar with environmental issues such as renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Teachers can play a vital role to create awareness among students about the advantages and disadvantages of using different renewable and nonrenewable energy resources. Thus, this study aims to investigate teachers’ knowledge, perceptions and attitudes towards renewable energy through a survey aiming a sustainable energy future. Five hundred sets of questionnaires were distributed to the school teachers in Malaysia. Total 420 questionnaires were returned of which 410 were complete to analyze. Finding shows that teachers are very familiar with the renewable energy like solar, wind and also geothermal. Most teachers were not sure about the Photovoltaics and biodiesel. Furthermore, teachers are also aware that primary energy in Malaysia is imported fossil fuels. Most teachers heard about the renewable energy in Malaysia and only few claims that they did not hear of such things and the others said that they never heard of it. The outcomes of the study will assist the energy policy makers to use teachers to create mass awareness of energy usages for future planning.

Keywords: Malaysia, non-renewable energy, renewable energy, school teacher

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Authors: Subhasisa Nath, David Waugh, Graham Ormondroyd, Morwenna Spear, Andy Pitman, Paul Mason

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Wood is one of the most sustainable and environmentally favourable materials and is chemically treated in timber industries to maximise durability. To increase the chemical preservative uptake and retention by the wood, current limiting incision technologies are commonly used. This work reports the effects of single pulse CO2 laser-incision and frequency tripled Nd:YAG percussion laser-incision on the characteristics of laser-incised holes in the Radiata Pine. The laser-incision studies were based on changing laser wavelengths, energies and focal planes to conclude on an optimised combination for the laser-incision of Radiata Pine. The laser pulse duration had a dominant effect over laser power in controlling hole aspect ratio in CO2 laser-incision. A maximum depth of ~ 30 mm was measured with a laser power output of 170 W and a pulse duration of 80 ms. However, increased laser power led to increased carbonisation of holes. The carbonisation effect was reduced during laser-incision in the ultra-violet (UV) regime. Deposition of a foamy phase on the laser-incised hole wall was evident irrespective of laser radiation wavelength and energy. A maximum hole depth of ~20 mm was measured in the percussion laser-incision in the UV regime (355 nm) with a pulse energy of 320 mJ. The radial and tangential faces had a significant effect on laser-incision efficiency for all laser wavelengths. The laser-incised hole shapes and circularities were affected by the wood anatomy (earlywoods and latewoods in the structure). Subsequently, the mechanism of laser-incision is proposed by analysing the internal structure of laser-incised holes.

Keywords: CO2 Laser, Nd: YAG laser, incision, drilling, wood, hole characteristics

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Authors: Molla Tadesse Lakew

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This study was intended to identify the factors influencing the use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing in Fogera district. The use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing and factors influencing mobile phone use were specific objectives of the study. Three kebeles from the Fogera district were selected purposively based on their vegetable production potential. A simple random sampling technique (lottery method) was used to select 153 vegetable producer farmers. Interview schedule and key informants interviews were used to collect primary data. For analyzing the data, descriptive statistics like frequency and percentage, two independent t-tests, and chi-square were used. Furthermore, econometric analysis (binary logistic model) was used to assess the factors influencing mobile phone use for vegetable market information. Contingency coefficient and variance inflation factor were used to check multicollinearity problems between the independent variables. Of 153 respondents, 82 (61.72%) were mobile phone users, while 71 (38.28 %) were mobile phone nonusers. Moreover, the main use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing includes communicating at a distance to save time and minimizing transport costs, getting vegetable marketing price information, identifying markets and buyers to sell the vegetable, deciding when to sell the vegetable, negotiating with buyers for better vegetable prices and for searching of the fast market to avoid from losing of product through perishing. The model result indicated that the level of education, size of land, income, access to credit, and age were significant variables affecting the use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing. It could be recommended to encourage adult education or give training for farmers on how to operate mobile phones and create awareness for the elderly rural farmers as they are able to use the mobile phone for their vegetable marketing. Moreover, farmers should be aware that mobile phones are very important for those who own very small land to get maximum returns from their production. Lastly, providing access to credit and improving and diversifying income sources for the farmers to have mobile phones were recommended to improve the livelihood of farmers.

Keywords: mobile phone, farmers, vegetable marketing, Fogera District

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Authors: B. Laurita

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The importance of Water Harvesting (WH) as an effective mean to deal with water scarcity is universally recognized. The collection and storage of rainwater, floodwater or quick runoff and their conversion to productive uses can ensure water availability for domestic and agricultural use, enabling a lower exploitation of the aquifer, preventing erosion events and providing significant ecosystem services. At the same time, it has been proven that it can reduce the insurgence of water conflicts if supported by a cooperative process of planning and management. On the other hand, the construction of water harvesting structures changes the hydrological regime, affecting upstream-downstream dynamics and changing water allocation, often causing contentions. Furthermore, dynamics existing between water harvesting and water conflict are not properly investigated yet. Thus, objective of this study is to analyze the relations between water harvesting and the insurgence of water conflicts, providing a solid theoretical basis and foundations for future studies. Two search engines were selected in order to perform the study: Google Scholar and Scopus. Separate researches were conducted on the mutual influences between water conflicts and the four main water harvesting techniques: rooftop harvesting, surface harvesting, underground harvesting, runoff harvesting. Some of the aforementioned water harvesting techniques have been developed and implemented on scales ranging from the small, household-sided ones, to gargantuan dam systems. Instead of focusing on the collisions related to large-scale systems, this review is aimed to look for and collect examples of the effects that the implementation of small water harvesting systems has had on the access to the water resource and on water governance. The present research allowed to highlight that in the studies that have been conducted up to now, water harvesting, and in particular those structures that allow the collection and storage of water for domestic use, is usually recognized as a positive, palliative element during contentions. On the other hand, water harvesting can worsen and, in some cases, even generate conflicts for water management. This shows the necessity of studies that consider both benefits and negative influences of water harvesting, analyzing its role respectively as triggering or as mitigating factor of conflicting situations.

Keywords: arid areas, governance, water conflicts, water harvesting

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Authors: Deepak Singh, Rail Kuliev

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The abstract highlights the critical importance of optimizing data integration and management strategies in the upstream oil and gas industry. With its complex and dynamic nature generating vast volumes of data, efficient data integration and management are essential for informed decision-making, cost reduction, and maximizing operational performance. Challenges such as data silos, heterogeneity, real-time data management, and data quality issues are addressed, prompting the proposal of several strategies. These strategies include implementing a centralized data repository, adopting industry-wide data standards, employing master data management (MDM), utilizing real-time data integration technologies, and ensuring data quality assurance. Training and developing the workforce, “reskilling and upskilling” the employees and establishing robust Data Management training programs play an essential role and integral part in this strategy. The article also emphasizes the significance of data governance and best practices, as well as the role of technological advancements such as big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). To illustrate the practicality of these strategies, real-world case studies are presented, showcasing successful implementations that improve operational efficiency and decision-making. In present study, by embracing the proposed optimization strategies, leveraging technological advancements, and adhering to best practices, upstream oil and gas companies can harness the full potential of data-driven decision-making, ultimately achieving increased profitability and a competitive edge in the ever-evolving industry.

Keywords: master data management, IoT, AI&ML, cloud Computing, data optimization

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