Search results for: total error rate

Authors: Mohamed S. Sasi

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The research project aim is to study the hydrolysis of 8-diethylphosphate-1-naphthalenol with hydroxylamine in water. 8-diethylphosphate-1-naphthalenol, 1 was successfully synthesized and its rate of reaction with hydroxylamine was studied at 60°C. Pseudo first order behavior was observed. The rate of P-O cleavage of 1 at 60°C (7.43 x 10-3 M-1s-1) was found to be 178 fold and 7 fold slower than diethyl 8-dimethylamino-1-naphthyl phosphate, 3 at 60°C (1.32 M-1s-1) and diethyl 8-amino-1-naphthyl phosphate, 2 at 90 °C (5.5 x 10-2 M-1s-1) respectively. The rate of P-O cleavage of 1 with hydroxylamine was found to be faster than that of 4-chlorophenyl-1-cyclopropylphosphate triester, 5 where the reaction was too slow to observe at 60°C.

Keywords: phosphate esters, intramolecular hydrogen bonding

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Authors: Ilker Ali Ozkan

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In this study, an artificial neural network model has been developed to estimate chronic kidney failure which is a common disease. The patients’ age, their blood and biochemical values, and 24 input data which consists of various chronic diseases are used for the estimation process. The input data have been subjected to preprocessing because they contain both missing values and nominal values. 147 patient data which was obtained from the preprocessing have been divided into as 70% training and 30% testing data. As a result of the study, artificial neural network model with 25 neurons in the hidden layer has been found as the model with the lowest error value. Chronic kidney failure disease has been able to be estimated accurately at the rate of 99.3% using this artificial neural network model. The developed artificial neural network has been found successful for the estimation of chronic kidney failure disease using clinical data.

Keywords: estimation, artificial neural network, chronic kidney failure disease, disease diagnosis

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Authors: Sara Boulmai̇z

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In order to study the microbiological quality of chawarma sold in Biskra, a sampling through some fastfoods of the city was done, the parameters studied are highlighted according to the criteria required by the country's trade management. Microbiological analyzes revealed different levels of contamination by microorganisms. The 10 samples were of an overall view of unsatisfactory quality, and according to the standards, no sample was satisfactory. The range of total aerobic mesophilic flora found is between 105 and 1.2 × 10 7 CFU / g, that of fecal coliforms is 104 to 2.4 × 10 5 CFU / g. The suspected pathogenic staphylococci were between 3.103 and 2.7.106 CFU / g. Salmonellae were absent in all samples, whereas sulphite-reducing anaerobes were present in a single sample. The rate of E. cloacae was between 103 and 6.104 CFU / g. As for fungi and safe mice, their rate was 103 to 107 CFU / g. The study of the sensitivity of antibiotics showed multi-resistance to all the antibiotics tested, although there is a sensitivity towards others. All strains of Staphylococcus aureus tested demonstrated resistance against erythromycin, 30% against streptomycin, and 10% against tetracycline. While the strains of E. cloacae were resistant in all strains to amoxicillin, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and erythromycin, while they were sensitive to fosfomycin, sulfamethoxazole trimethoperine, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline. While against chlorophenicol and ofloxacin, the sensitivity was dominant, although there was intermediate resistance. In this study demonstrates that foodborne illnesses remain a problem that arises in addition to the increasingly observed bacterial resistance and that, after all, healthy eating is a right.

Keywords: chawarma, microbiological quality, pathogens., street food

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Authors: P. Venu, Joeju M. Issac

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Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a systematic technique that creates a platform where the customer responses can be positively converted to design attributes. The accuracy of a QFD process heavily depends on the data that it is handling which is captured from customers or QFD team members. Customized computer programs that perform Quality Function Deployment within a stipulated time have been used by various companies across the globe. These programs heavily rely on storage and retrieval of the data on a common database. This database must act as a perfect source with minimum missing values or error values in order perform actual prioritization. This paper introduces a missing/error data handler module which uses Genetic Algorithm and Fuzzy numbers. The prioritization of customer requirements of sesame oil is illustrated and a comparison is made between proposed data handler module-based deployment and manual deployment.

Keywords: hybrid data handler, QFD, prioritization, module-based deployment

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Authors: Paramjit Kaur, Harish Kundra

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In the recent years, swarm intelligence based firefly algorithm has become a great focus for the researchers to solve the real time optimization problems. Here, firefly algorithm is used for the application of satellite image classification. For experimentation, Alwar area is considered to multiple land features like vegetation, barren, hilly, residential and water surface. Alwar dataset is considered with seven band satellite images. Firefly Algorithm is based on the attraction of less bright fireflies towards more brightener one. For the evaluation of proposed concept accuracy assessment parameters are calculated using error matrix. With the help of Error matrix, parameters of Kappa Coefficient, Overall Accuracy and feature wise accuracy parameters of user’s accuracy & producer’s accuracy can be calculated. Overall results are compared with BBO, PSO, Hybrid FPAB/BBO, Hybrid ACO/SOFM and Hybrid ACO/BBO based on the kappa coefficient and overall accuracy parameters.

Keywords: image classification, firefly algorithm, satellite image classification, terrain classification

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Authors: Yi-Hsiu Lai

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The present study aimed to elucidate the lexical-semantic processing for Chinese as second language (CSL) learners. Twenty L1 speakers of Chinese and twenty CSL learners in Taiwan participated in a picture naming task and a category fluency task. Based on their Chinese proficiency levels, these CSL learners were further divided into two sub-groups: ten CSL learners of elementary Chinese proficiency level and ten CSL learners of intermediate Chinese proficiency level. Instruments for the naming task were sixty black-and-white pictures: thirty-five object pictures and twenty-five action pictures. Object pictures were divided into two categories: living objects and non-living objects. Action pictures were composed of two categories: action verbs and process verbs. As in the naming task, the category fluency task consisted of two semantic categories – objects (i.e., living and non-living objects) and actions (i.e., action and process verbs). Participants were asked to report as many items within a category as possible in one minute. Oral productions were tape-recorded and transcribed for further analysis. Both error types and error frequency were calculated. Statistical analysis was further conducted to examine these error types and frequency made by CSL learners. Additionally, category effects, pictorial effects and L2 proficiency were discussed. Findings in the present study helped characterize the lexical-semantic process of Chinese naming in CSL learners of different Chinese proficiency levels and made contributions to Chinese vocabulary teaching and learning in the future.

Keywords: lexical-semantic processing, Mandarin Chinese, naming, category effects

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Authors: Shinhao Yang, Hsiao-Chien Huang, Chin-Hsiang Luo

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The leakage of protective clothing is an important issue in the occupational health field. There is no quantitative method for measuring the leakage of personal protective equipment. This work aims to measure the quantitative leakage of the personal protective equipment by using the fluorochrome aerosol tracer. The fluorescent aerosols were employed as airborne particulates in a controlled chamber with ultraviolet (UV) light-detectable stickers. After an exposure-and-leakage test, the protective equipment was removed and photographed with UV-scanning to evaluate areas, color depth ratio, and aerosol deposition and shielding effects of the areas where fluorescent aerosols had adhered to the body through the protective equipment. Thus, this work built a calculation software for quantitative leakage ratio of protective clothing based on fluorescent illumination depth/aerosol concentration ratio, illumination/Fa ratio, aerosol deposition and shielding effects, and the leakage area ratio on the segmentation. The results indicated that the two-repetition total leakage rate of the X, Y, and Z type protective clothing for subject T were about 3.05, 4.21, and 3.52 (mg/m2). For five-repetition, the leakage rate of T were about 4.12, 4.52, and 5.11 (mg/m2).

Keywords: fluorochrome, deposition, shielding effects, digital image processing, leakage ratio, personal protective equipment

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Authors: Magdalena Barbara Kaziuk, Waldemar Kosiba

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Background: Obesity, particularly abdominal type, lead to accelerated progress of atherosclerosis and thus affects the functioning of various human organs. Non-HDL cholesterol includes residual risk of the cardiovascular diseases which persists in patients after achieved recommended level of LDL cholesterol. The maintenance of normal body mass index plays a particularly important role in both the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Materials and Methods: The study covered 96 patients (55 females, 42 males, age 66,9 +/-10,2 years). The nutritional status was determined with the Waist to Height Ratio (WHtR) and the Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR). A function of the kidney was evaluated by calculating the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the MDRD formula. Non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL) is simply the difference between the total cholesterol concentration and the HDL cholesterol concentration. Results: The higher was level of non-HDL cholesterol, the lower eGFR had studied subjects (p<0.001). Significant correlation was found between higher WHtR and lower the eGFR (p=0.002). Also underweight (30% of patient) led to obtaining lower values of eGFR in subjects over 65 years old. The poorer nutrition the lower was glomerular filtration rate. Conclusions: Nutritional statuses of patients have a significant impact on the level of kidney function. Not only accumulated excess fat in the abdominal area, but also its deficiency affects the deterioration in renal filtration. Higher level of non-HDL not only raises the residual risk of the heart disease but also influences on kidney by worsening eGFR. Proper diet in connection with physical activity should lead to achieving good nutrition in these patients and protect their kidney function.

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

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Authors: B. Siva Kumar Reddy, B. Lakshmi

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Cognitive Radio is a turning out technology that empowers viable usage of the spectrum. Energy Detector-based Sensing is the most broadly utilized spectrum sensing strategy. Besides, it is a lot of generic as receivers does not like any information on the primary user's signals, channel data, of even the sort of modulation. This paper puts forth the execution of energy detection sensing for AM (Amplitude Modulated) signal at 710 KHz, FM (Frequency Modulated) signal at 103.45 MHz (local station frequency), Wi-Fi signal at 2.4 GHz and WiMAX signals at 6 GHz. The OFDM/OFDMA based WiMAX physical layer with convolutional channel coding is actualized utilizing USRP N210 (Universal Software Radio Peripheral) and GNU Radio based Software Defined Radio (SDR). Test outcomes demonstrated the BER (Bit Error Rate) augmentation with channel noise and BER execution is dissected for different Eb/N0 (the energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio) values.

Keywords: BER, Cognitive Radio, GNU Radio, OFDM, SDR, WiMAX

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Authors: Elieder P. Romanzini, Lutti M. Delevatti, Rhaony G. Leite, Ricardo A. Reis, Euclides B. Malheiros

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Brazilian beef cattle production systems are an important profitability source for the national gross domestic product. The main characteristic of these systems is forage utilization as the exclusive feed source. Forage utilization had been causing on owners the false feeling of low production costs. However, this low cost is followed to low profit causing a lot times worst animal index what can result in activities changes or until land sold. Aiming to evaluate economic impacts into Brazilian beef cattle systems were evaluated four nitrogen fertilizer (N) application levels (0, 90, 180 and 270 kg per hectare [kg.ha-1]). Research was developed during 2015 into Forage Crops and Grasslands section of São Paulo State University, “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (Unesp) (Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil). Pastures were seeded with Brachiaria brizantha Stapf. ‘Marandu’ (Palisade grass) handled using continuous grazing system, with variable stocking rate, sward height maintained at 25 cm. The economic evaluation was developed in rearing e finishing phases. We evaluated the cash flows inside each phase on different N levels. Economic valuations were considering: cost-effective operating (CEO), cost-total operating (CTO), gross revenue (GR), operating profit (OP) and net income (NI), every measured in US$. Complementary analyses were developed, profitability was calculated by [OP/GR]. Pay back (measured in years) was calculated considering average capital stocktaking pondered by area in use (ACS) divided by [GR-CEO]. And the internal rate of return (IRR) was calculated by 100/(pay back). Input prices were prices during 2015 and were obtained from Anuário Brasileiro da Pecuária, Centro de Estudos Avançados em Economia Aplicada and quotation in the same region of animal production (northeast São Paulo State) during the period above mentioned. Values were calculated in US$ according exchange rate US$1.00 equal R$3.34. The CEO, CTO, GR, OP and NI per hectare for each N level were respectively US$1,919.66; US$2,048.47; US$2,905.72; US$857.25 and US$986.06 to 0 kg.ha-1; US$2,403.20; US$2,551.80; US$3,530.19; US$978.39 and US$1,126.99 to 90 kg.ha-1; US$3,180.42; US$3,364.81; US$4,985.03; US$1,620.23 and US$1,804.62 to 180 kg.ha-1andUS$3,709.14; US$3,915.15; US$5,554.95; US$1,639.80 and US$1,845.81 to 270 kg.ha-1. Relationship to another economic indexes, profitability, pay back and IRR, the results were respectively 29.50%, 6.44 and 15.54% to 0 kg.ha-1; 27.72%, 6.88 and 14.54% to 90 kg.ha-1; 32.50%, 4.08 and 24.50% to 180 kg.ha-1 and 29.52%, 3.42 and 29.27% to 270 kg.ha-1. Values previously presented in this evaluation allowing to affirm that the best result was obtained to N level 270 kg.ha-1. These results among all N levels evaluated could be explained by improve occurred on stocking rate caused by increase on N level. However, a crucial information about high N level application into pastures is the efficiency of N utilization (associated to environmental impacts) that normally decrease with the increase on N level. Hence, considering all situations (efficiency of N utilization and economic results) into tropical pastures used to beef cattle production could be recommended N level equal to 180kg.ha-1, which had better profitability and cause lesser environmental impacts, proved by other studies developed in the same area.

Keywords: Brachiaria brizantha, cost-total operating, gross revenue, profitability

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Authors: Muhammad Ilyas, Awais Khan, Syed Ali Raza Shah

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DC motors are widely used in industries to provide mechanical power in speed and torque. The position and speed control of DC motors is getting the interest of the scientific community in robotics, especially in the robotic arm, a flexible joint manipulator. The current research work is based on position control of DC motors using experimental investigations in LabVIEW. The linear control strategy is applied to track the position and speed of the DC motor with comparative analysis in the LabVIEW platform and simulation analysis in MATLAB. The tracking error in hardware setup based on LabVIEW programming is slightly greater than simulation analysis in MATLAB due to the inertial load of the motor during steady-state conditions. The controller output shows the input voltage applied to the dc motor varies between 0-8V to ensure minimal steady error while tracking the position and speed of the DC motor.

Keywords: DC motor, labview, proportional integral derivative control, position tracking, speed tracking

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Authors: Sperisa Distantina, Rieke Ulfha Noviyanti, Sri Sutriyani, Fadilah Fadilah, Mujtahid Kaavessina

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In this research, carrageenan extracted from seaweed Eucheuma cottonii was mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and then crosslinked using glutaraldehyde (GA). The obtained hydrogel films were applied to control the drug release rate of paracetamol. The aim of this research was to develop a mathematical model that can be used to describe the mass transfer rate of paracetamol from the hydrogel film into buffer solution. The effect of weight ratio carrageenan-PVA (5: 0, 1: 0.5, 1: 1, 1: 2, 0: 5) on the parameters of the mathematical model was investigated also. Based on the experimental data, the proposed mathematical model could describe the mass transfer rate of paracetamol. The weight ratio of carrageenan-PVA greatly affected the amount of paracetamol absorbed in the hydrogel film and the mass transfer rate of paracetamol.

Keywords: carrageenan-PVA, crosslinking, glutaraldehyde, hydrogel, paracetamol, mass transfer

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Authors: Ju-Hong Lee, Ching-Wei Liao

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Adaptive beamforming using antenna array of sensors is useful in the process of adaptively detecting and preserving the presence of the desired signal while suppressing the interference and the background noise. For conventional adaptive array beamforming, we require a prior information of either the impinging direction or the waveform of the desired signal to adapt the weights. The adaptive weights of an antenna array beamformer under a steered-beam constraint are calculated by minimizing the output power of the beamformer subject to the constraint that forces the beamformer to make a constant response in the steering direction. Hence, the performance of the beamformer is very sensitive to the accuracy of the steering operation. In the literature, it is well known that the performance of an adaptive beamformer will be deteriorated by any steering angle error encountered in many practical applications, e.g., the wireless communication systems with massive antennas deployed at the base station and user equipment. Hence, developing effective signal processing techniques to deal with the problem due to steering angle error for array beamforming systems has become an important research work. In this paper, we present an effective signal processing technique for constructing an adaptive beamformer against the steering angle error. The proposed array beamformer adaptively estimates the actual direction of the desired signal by using the presumed steering vector and the received array data snapshots. Based on the presumed steering vector and a preset angle range for steering mismatch tolerance, we first create a matrix related to the direction vector of signal sources. Two projection matrices are generated from the matrix. The projection matrix associated with the desired signal information and the received array data are utilized to iteratively estimate the actual direction vector of the desired signal. The estimated direction vector of the desired signal is then used for appropriately finding the quiescent weight vector. The other projection matrix is set to be the signal blocking matrix required for performing adaptive beamforming. Accordingly, the proposed beamformer consists of adaptive quiescent weights and partially adaptive weights. Several computer simulation examples are provided for evaluating and comparing the proposed technique with the existing robust techniques.

Keywords: adaptive beamforming, robustness, signal blocking, steering angle error

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Authors: Shahin A. Abdel-Naby, James P. Colgan, Michael S. Pindzola

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A time-dependent close-coupling method is developed to calculate a total, double and triple autoionization rates for hollow atomic ions of four-electron systems. This work was motivated by recent observations of the four-electron Auger process in near K-edge photoionization of C+ ions. The time-dependent close-coupled equations are solved using lattice techniques to obtain a discrete representation of radial wave functions and all operators on a four-dimensional grid with uniform spacing. Initial excited states are obtained by relaxation of the Schrodinger equation in imaginary time using a Schmidt orthogonalization method involving interior subshells. The radial wave function grids are partitioned over the cores on a massively parallel computer, which is essential due to the large memory requirements needed to store the coupled-wave functions and the long run times needed to reach the convergence of the ionization process. Total, double, and triple autoionization rates are obtained by the propagation of the time-dependent close-coupled equations in real-time using integration over bound and continuum single-particle states. These states are generated by matrix diagonalization of one-electron Hamiltonians. The total autoionization rates for each L excited state is found to be slightly above the single autoionization rate for the excited configuration using configuration-average distorted-wave theory. As expected, we find the double and triple autoionization rates to be much smaller than the total autoionization rates. Future work can be extended to study electron-impact triple ionization of atoms or ions. The work was supported in part by grants from the American University of Sharjah and the US Department of Energy. Computational work was carried out at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) in Berkeley, California, USA.

Keywords: hollow atoms, autoionization, auger rates, time-dependent close-coupling method

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Authors: Lie-Fen Lin, Tzu-Hsuan Lin, Ching-Heng Lin

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Hospice care for terminally ill patients provides not only a better quality of life but also cost-saving benefits. However, the utilization of home-based hospice care (HBH care) remains low even for countries covered by National Health Insurance (NHI) programs in Taiwan. In the current commercial insurance policy, only hospital-based hospice benefits were covered. It may have an influence on the insureds chosen to receive end-of-life care in a hospitalized manner. Thus, how to propose a feasible method to advocate HBH care utilization rate of public health policies is an important issue. A total of 130,219 cancer decedents in the year 2011-2013 from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan were included in this study. By adding a day volume pays benefits of HBH care as a commercial insurance rider, will provide alternative benefits for the insureds. A multiple-state Markov chain model was incorporated to estimate the transition intensities of patients in different states at the end of their lives (Non-hospice, HBH, hospital-based hospice), and the premiums were estimated. HBH care insurance benefits provide financial support and reduce the burden of care for patients. The rate-making of this product is very sensitive while the utilization rate is rising, especially for high ages. The proposed HBH care insurance is a feasible way to reduce the financial burden, enhance the care quality and family satisfaction of insureds. Meanwhile, insurance companies can participate in advocating a good medical policy to enhance the social image. In addition, the medical costs of NHI can reduce effectively.

Keywords: home-based hospice care, commercial insurance, Markov chain model, the day volume pays

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Authors: Mohamud Ali Ibrahim, Ali Bayat, Ali Bolat

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Defoliant spraying is an important link in the mechanized cotton harvest because adequate and uniform spraying can improve defoliation quality and reduce cotton trash content. In defoliant application, application volume and spraying technology are extremely important. In this study, the effectiveness of defoliant application to cotton plant that has come to harvest with two different application volumes and three different types of nozzles with a standard field crop sprayer was determined. Experiments were carried in two phases as field area trials and laboratory analysis. Application rates were 250 l/ha and 400 L/ha, and spraying nozzles were (1) Standard flat fan nozzle (TP8006), (2) Air induction nozzle (AI 11002-VS), and (3) Dual Pattern nozzle (AI307003VP). A tracer (BSF) and defoliant were applied to mature cotton with approximately 60% open bolls and samplings for BSF deposition and spray coverage on the cotton plant were done at two plant height (upper layer, lower layer) of plant. Before and after spraying, bolls open and leaves rate on cotton plants were calculated, and filter papers were used to detect BSF deposition, and water sensitive papers (WSP) were used to measure the coverage rate of spraying methods used. Spectrofluorophotometer was used to detect the amount of tracer deposition on targets, and an image process computer programme was used to measure coverage rate on WSP. In analysis, conclusions showed that air induction nozzle (AI 11002-VS) achieved better results than the dual pattern and standard flat fan nozzles in terms of higher depositions, coverages, and leaf defoliations, and boll opening rates. AI nozzles operating at 250 L/ha application rate provide the highest deposition and coverage rate on applications of the defoliant; in addition, BSF as an indicator of the defoliant used reached on leaf beneath in merely this spray nozzle. After defoliation boll opening rate was 85% on the 7th and 12th days after spraying and falling rate of leaves was 76% at application rate of 250 L/ha with air induction (AI1102) nozzle.

Keywords: cotton defoliant, air induction nozzle, dual pattern nozzle, standard flat fan nozzle, coverage rate, spray deposition, boll opening rate, leaves falling rate

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Authors: Boukhiar Aissa, Iguergaziz Nadia, Halladj Fatima, Lamrani Yasmina, Benamara Salem

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Determining the alcohol content in alcoholic fermentation bioprocess has a great importance. In fact, it is a key indicator for monitoring this fermentation bioprocess. Several methodologies (chemical, spectrophotometric, chromatographic...) are used to the determination of this parameter. However, these techniques are very long and require: rigorous preparations, sometimes dangerous chemical reagents, and/or expensive equipment. In the present study, the date juice is used as a substrate of alcoholic fermentation. The extracted juice undergoes an alcoholic fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The study of the possible use of refractometry as a sole means for the in situ control of this process revealed a good correlation (R2 = 0.98) between initial and final ° Brix: ° Brix f = 0.377× ° Brixi. In addition, we verified the relationship between the variation in final and initial ° Brix (Δ ° Brix) and alcoholic rate produced (A exp): CΔ° Brix / A exp = 1.1. This allows the tracing of abacus isoresponses that permit to determine the alcoholic and residual sugar rates with a mean relative error (MRE) of 5.35%.

Keywords: refractometry, alcohol, residual sugar, fermentation, brix, date, juice

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Authors: Emad A. Mohammed

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The concept of hydraulic flow units (HFU) has been used for decades in the petroleum industry to improve the prediction of permeability. This concept is strongly related to the flow zone indicator (FZI) which is a function of the reservoir rock quality index (RQI). Both indices are based on reservoir porosity and permeability of core samples. It is assumed that core samples with similar FZI values belong to the same HFU. Thus, after dividing the porosity-permeability data based on the HFU, transformations can be done in order to estimate the permeability from the porosity. The conventional practice is to use the power law transformation using conventional HFU where percentage of error is considerably high. In this paper, neural network technique is employed as a soft computing transformation method to predict permeability instead of power law method to avoid higher percentage of error. This technique is based on HFU identification where Amaefule et al. (1993) method is utilized. In this regard, Kozeny and Carman (K–C) model, and modified K–C model by Hasan and Hossain (2011) are employed. A comparison is made between the two transformation techniques for the two porosity-permeability models. Results show that the modified K-C model helps in getting better results with lower percentage of error in predicting permeability. The results also show that the use of artificial intelligence techniques give more accurate prediction than power law method. This study was conducted on a heterogeneous complex carbonate reservoir in Oman. Data were collected from seven wells to obtain the permeability correlations for the whole field. The findings of this study will help in getting better estimation of permeability of a complex reservoir.

Keywords: permeability, hydraulic flow units, artificial intelligence, correlation

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Authors: Liu Li, Kim Seng Lee, Li Lu

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The high-energy-density Li-rich layered materials are promising cathode materials for the next-generation high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The relatively low rate capability is one of the major problems that limit their practical application. In this work, Li-rich layered Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 cathode material synthesized by coprecipitation method is further modified by F doping or surface treatment to enhance its cycling stability as well as rate capability.

Keywords: Li-ion battery, Li-rich layered cathode material, phase transformation, cycling stability, rate capacility

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Authors: Prince Vivek, Vijay Kumar Bharti, Deepak Kumar, Rohit Kumar, Kapil Nehra, Dhananjay Singh, Om Prakash Chaurasia, Bhuvnesh Kumar

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High altitude native people still rely heavily on animal transport for logistic support at eastern and northern Himalayas regions. The prevalent mountainous terrains and rugged region are not suitable for the motorized vehicle to use in logistic transport. Therefore, people required high endurance pack animals for load carrying and riding. So far to the best of our knowledge, no studies have been taken to evaluate the effect of loads on the physiology of ponies in high altitude region. So, in this view, we evaluated variation in physiological, hematological, biochemical, and cytokines indices of Zanskar ponies during load carrying at high altitude. Total twelve (12) of Zanskar ponies, mare, age 4-6 years selected for this study, Feed was offered at 2% of body weight, and water ad libitum. Ponies were divided into three groups; group-A (without load), group-B (60 kg), and group-C (80 kg) of backpack loads. The track was very narrow and slippery with gravel, uneven with a rocky surface and has a steep gradient of 4 km uphill at altitude 3291 to 3500m. When we evaluate these parameters, it is understood that the heart rate, pulse rate, and respiration rate was significantly increased in 80 kg group among the three groups. The hematology parameters viz. hemoglobin significantly increased in 80 kg group on 1st day after load carrying among the three groups which was followed by control and 60 kg whereas, PCV, lymphocytes, monocytes percentage significantly increased however, ESR and eosinophil % significantly decreased in 80 kg group after load carrying on 7th day after load carrying among the three groups which were followed by control and 60 kg group. In biochemical parameters viz. LA, LDH, TP, hexokinase (HK), cortisol (CORT), T3, GPx, FRAP and IL-6 significantly increased in 80 kg group on the 7th day after load carrying among the three groups which were followed by control and 60 kg group. The ALT, ALB, GLB, UR, and UA significantly increased in 80 kg group on the 7th day before and after load carrying among the three groups which were followed by control and 60 kg group. The CRT, AST, and CK-MB were significantly increased in 80 kg group on the 1st and 7th day after load carrying among the three groups which were followed by control and 60 kg group. It has been concluded that, heart rate, respiration rate, hematological indices like PCV, lymphocytes, monocytes, Hb and ESR, biochemical indices like lactic acid, LDH, TP, HK, CORT, T3, ALT, AST and CRT, ALB, GLB, UR, UA, GPx, FRAP and IL-6 are important biomarkers to assess effect of load on animal physiology and endurance. Further, this result has revealed the strong correlation of change in biomarkers level with performance in ponies during load carry. Hence, these parameters might be used for the performance of endurance of Zanskar ponies in the high mountain region.

Keywords: biochemical, endurance, high altitude, load, ponies

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Authors: Yi-Jiun Chou, Ying-Hsuan Li, Yi-Jung Liu, Hsin-Yu Chiang, Hsuan-Ching Wang

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Background: Patients received therapeutic hypothermia (TH) after resuscitation from cardiac arrest are more dependent on continue and intensive nursing care. It involves many difficult steps, especially achieving target body temperature. To our best knowledge, there is no consensus or recommended standards on nursing practice of TH. Aim: The aim of this study is to increase the completion rate of nursing care at therapeutic hypothermia. Methods: We took five measures: (1) Amendment of nursing standards of therapeutic hypothermia; (2) Amendment of TH checklist items to nursing records; (3) Establishment of monitor procedure; (4) Design each period of TH care reminder cards; (5) Providing in-service training sections of TH for ICU nursing staff. Outcomes: The completion rate of nursing care at therapeutic hypothermia increased from 78.1% to 89.3%. Conclusion: The project team not only increased the completion rate but also improved patient safety and quality of care.

Keywords: therapeutic hypothermia, nursing, critical care, quality of care

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Authors: Joshua Bradley, Matthew Buns

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This study aimed to identify the effect of concurrent nutritional supplementation on soccer performance as players ingested either carbohydrate CHO (52 g of Cytocarb Maltodextrin) or a combined carbohydrate and protein PRO (Muscle Milk Pro Series 17g CHO + 50 g PRO liquid) supplement. Twelve male, junior college soccer players (age: 18 ± 6 years, wt. 73.3 ± 8.6 kg) completed three trials wearing global positioning systems (GPS) to measure total running distance and sprinting distance during soccer simulation games. The first match simulation was a baseline match with no supplementation. One hour prior to the second match, simulation players were randomly assigned to one of two supplemental groups CHO or CHO + PRO. A repeated measures ANOVA with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction revealed a statistically significant increase in the total distance run for the CHO supplementation group in comparison to the CHO + PRO group (10.19 ± .200 km vs. 9.77± .194km, p = .035). Although the total running distance was meaningfully influenced by the supplementation, the pattern of response for total sprinting distance was not influenced by supplementation. There was a decline in sprinting distance and total running distance from first half to second half, both for the control (M = -0.01 km, SD = 0.17) and CHO supplementation group (-0.04 km, SD = .19), although these differences were not statistically meaningful. There was a positive correlation between sprinting distance and total distance, which was statistically significant (r = -.514, n = 36, p = .01) In conclusion, supplementation influenced the pattern of activity and demonstrated between-trial differences.

Keywords: GPS, nutrition, simulation, supplementation

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Authors: Shahin A. Abdel-Naby, Asad T. Hassan

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Electron-ion recombination data are needed for plasma modeling. The recombination processes include radiative recombination (RR), dielectronic recombination (DR), and trielectronic recombination (TR). When a free electron is captured by an ion with simultaneous excitation of its core, a doubly-exited intermediate state may be formed. The doubly excited state relaxes either by electron emission (autoionization) or by radiative decay (photon emission). DR process takes place when the relaxation occurs to a bound state by photon emission. Reliable laboratory astrophysics data (theory and experiment) for DR rate coefficients are needed to determine the charge state distribution in photoionized sources such as X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei. DR rate coefficients for NIII and OIV ions are calculated using state-of-the-art multi-configuration Breit-Pauli atomic structure AUTOSTRUCTURE collisional package within the generalized collisional-radiative framework. Level-resolved calculations for RR and DR rate coefficients from the ground and metastable initial states are produced in an intermediate coupling scheme associated with Δn = 0 (2→2) and Δn = 1 (2 →3) core-excitations. DR cross sections for these ions are convoluted with the experimental electron-cooler temperatures to produce DR rate coefficients. Good agreements are found between these rate coefficients and the experimental measurements performed at the CRYRING heavy-ion storage ring for both ions.

Keywords: atomic data, atomic process, electron-ion collision, plasmas

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Authors: Kudzanayi Chiteka, Wellington Makondo

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The whole world is on the drive to go green owing to the negative effects of burning fossil fuels. Therefore, there is immediate need to identify and utilise alternative renewable energy sources. Among these energy sources solar energy is one of the most dominant in Zimbabwe. Solar power plants used to generate electricity are entirely dependent on solar radiation. For planning purposes, solar radiation values should be known in advance to make necessary arrangements to minimise the negative effects of the absence of solar radiation due to cloud cover and other naturally occurring phenomena. This research focused on the prediction of Global Horizontal Irradiation values for the sixth day given values for the past five days. Artificial intelligence techniques were used in this research. Three models were developed based on Support Vector Machines, Radial Basis Function, and Feed Forward Back-Propagation Artificial neural network. Results revealed that Support Vector Machines gives the best results compared to the other two with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 2%, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.05kWh/m²/day root mean square (RMS) error of 0.15kWh/m²/day and a coefficient of determination of 0.990. The other predictive models had prediction accuracies of MAPEs of 4.5% and 6% respectively for Radial Basis Function and Feed Forward Back-propagation Artificial neural network. These two models also had coefficients of determination of 0.975 and 0.970 respectively. It was found that prediction of GHI values for the future days is possible using artificial intelligence-based predictive models.

Keywords: solar energy, global horizontal irradiation, artificial intelligence, predictive models

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Authors: Sizar Abed Mohammed, Zahraa Ghazi Sadeeq

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The use of the classic method, least squares (OLS) to estimate the linear regression parameters, when they are available assumptions, and capabilities that have good characteristics, such as impartiality, minimum variance, consistency, and so on. The development of alternative statistical techniques to estimate the parameters, when the data are contaminated with outliers. These are powerful methods (or resistance). In this paper, three of robust methods are studied, which are: Maximum likelihood type estimate M-estimator, Modified Maximum likelihood type estimate MM-estimator and Least Trimmed Squares LTS-estimator, and their results are compared with OLS method. These methods applied to real data taken from Duhok company for manufacturing furniture, the obtained results compared by using the criteria: Mean Squared Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and Mean Sum of Absolute Error (MSAE). Important conclusions that this study came up with are: a number of typical values detected by using four methods in the furniture line and very close to the data. This refers to the fact that close to the normal distribution of standard errors, but typical values in the doors line data, using OLS less than that detected by the powerful ways. This means that the standard errors of the distribution are far from normal departure. Another important conclusion is that the estimated values of the parameters by using the lifeline is very far from the estimated values using powerful methods for line doors, gave LTS- destined better results using standard MSE, and gave the M- estimator better results using standard MAPE. Moreover, we noticed that using standard MSAE, and MM- estimator is better. The programs S-plus (version 8.0, professional 2007), Minitab (version 13.2) and SPSS (version 17) are used to analyze the data.

Keywords: Robest, LTS, M estimate, MSE

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Amiya Kumar Pati, Spandan Sahu, Kishanjit Kumar Khatua

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River is our main source of water which is a form of open channel flow and the flow in the open channel provides with many complex phenomena of sciences that needs to be tackled such as the critical flow conditions, boundary shear stress, and depth-averaged velocity. The development of society, more or less solely depends upon the flow of rivers. The rivers are major sources of many sediments and specific ingredients which are much essential for human beings. A river flow consisting of small and shallow channels sometimes divide and recombine numerous times because of the slow water flow or the built up sediments. The pattern formed during this process resembles the strands of a braid. Braided streams form where the sediment load is so heavy that some of the sediments are deposited as shifting islands. Braided rivers often exist near the mountainous regions and typically carry coarse-grained and heterogeneous sediments down a fairly steep gradient. In this paper, the apparent shear stress formulae were suitably modified, and the Energy Concept Method (ECM) was applied for the prediction of discharges at the junction of a two-flow braided compound channel. The Energy Concept Method has not been applied for estimating the discharges in the braided channels. The energy loss in the channels is analyzed based on mechanical analysis. The cross-section of channel is divided into two sub-areas, namely the main-channel below the bank-full level and region above the bank-full level for estimating the total discharge. The experimental data are compared with a wide range of theoretical data available in the published literature to verify this model. The accuracy of this approach is also compared with Divided Channel Method (DCM). From error analysis of this method, it is observed that the relative error is less for the data-sets having smooth floodplains when compared to rough floodplains. Comparisons with other models indicate that the present method has reasonable accuracy for engineering purposes.

Keywords: critical flow, energy concept, open channel flow, sediment, two-flow braided compound channel

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: M. R. Jokanović, V. M. Tomović, M. T. Jović, S. B. Škaljac, B. V. Šojić, P. M. Ikonić, T. A. Tasić

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Proximate (moisture, protein, total fat, total ash) and mineral (K, P, Na, Mg, Ca, Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn) composition of chicken giblets (heart, liver and gizzard) were investigated. Phosphorous content, as well as proximate composition, were determined according to recommended ISO methods. The content of all elements, except phosphorus, of the giblets tissues were determined using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), after dry ashing mineralization. Regarding proximate composition heart was the highest in total fat content, and the lowest in protein content. Liver was the highest in protein and total ash content, while gizzard was the highest in moisture and the lowest in total fat content. Regarding mineral composition liver was the highest for K, P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn, while heart was the highest for Na content. The contents of almost all investigated minerals in analysed giblets tissues of chickens from Vojvodina were similar to values reported in the literature, i.e. in national food composition databases of other countries.

Keywords: chicken giblets, proximate composition, mineral composition, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)

Procedia PDF Downloads 427

Authors: Maria Bonolo Mathevula

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Background: Children are important members of communities playing major role in the future of any given country (Pera, Fails, Gelsomini, &Garzotto, 2018). Visual Perceptual Skills (VPSs) in children are important health aspect of early childhood development through the Foundation Phases in school. Subsequently, children should undergo visual screening before commencement of schooling for early diagnosis ofVPSs anomalies because the primary role of VPSs is to capacitate children with academic performance in general. Aim : The aim of this study was to determine the anomalies of visual VPSs amongst school children in Foundation Phase. The study’s objectives were to determine the prevalence of VPSs anomalies amongst school children in Foundation Phase; Determine the relationship between children’s academic and VPSs anomalies; and to investigate the relationship between VPSs anomalies and refractive error. Methodology: This study was a mixed method whereby triangulated qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (questionnaire and clinical data) was used. This was, therefore, descriptive by nature. The study’s target population was school children in Foundation Phase. The study followed purposive sampling method. School children in Foundation Phase were purposively sampled to form part of this study provided their parents have given a signed the consent. Data was collected by the use of standardized interviews; questionnaire; clinical data card, and TVPS standard data card. Results: Although the study is still ongoing, the preliminary study outcome based on data collected from one of the Foundation Phases have suggested the following:While VPSs anomalies is not prevalent, it, however, have indirect relationship with children’s academic performance in Foundation phase; Notably, VPSs anomalies and refractive error are directly related since majority of children with refractive error, specifically compound hyperopic astigmatism, failed most subtests of TVPS standard tests. Conclusion: Based on the study’s preliminary findings, it was clear that optometrists still have a lot to do in as far as researching on VPSs is concerned. Furthermore, the researcher recommends that optometrist, as the primary healthcare professionals, should also conduct the school-readiness pre-assessment on children before commencement of their grades in Foundation phase.

Keywords: foundation phase, visual perceptual skills, school children, refractive error

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Hamidreza Hoshyarmanesh, Benjamin Durante, Alex Irwin, Sanju Lama, Kourosh Zareinia, Garnette R. Sutherland

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This study reports on a proposed method to evaluate the accuracy and precision of Excalibur I, a neurosurgery-specific haptic hand controller, designed and developed at Project neuroArm. Having an efficient and successful robot-assisted telesurgery is considerably contingent on how accurate and precise a haptic hand controller (master/local robot) would be able to interpret the kinematic indices of motion, i.e., position and orientation, from the surgeon’s upper limp to the slave/remote robot. A proposed test rig is designed and manufactured according to standard ASTM F2554-10 to determine the accuracy and precision range of Excalibur I at four different locations within its workspace: central workspace, extreme forward, far left and far right. The test rig is metrologically characterized by a coordinate measuring machine (accuracy and repeatability < ± 5 µm). Only the serial linkage of the haptic device is examined due to the use of the Structural Length Index (SLI). The results indicate that accuracy decreases by moving from the workspace central area towards the borders of the workspace. In a comparative study, Excalibur I performs on par with the PHANToM PremiumTM 3.0 and more accurate/precise than the PHANToM PremiumTM 1.5. The error in Cartesian coordinate system shows a dominant component in one direction (δx, δy or δz) for the movements on horizontal, vertical and inclined surfaces. The average error magnitude of three attempts is recorded, considering all three error components. This research is the first promising step to quantify the kinematic performance of Excalibur I.

Keywords: accuracy, advanced metrology, hand controller, precision, robot-assisted surgery, tele-operation, workspace

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Hamed A. El-Serehy, Khaled A. Al-Rasheid, Fahad A Al-Misned

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The meiofaunal population fluctuation, microbial dynamic and the composition of the sedimentary organic matter were investigated seasonally in the Egyptian shores along the northern part of Red Sea. Total meiofaunal population densities were extremely low with an annual average of 109 ±26 ind./10 cm2 and largely dominated by nematodes (on annual average from 52% to 94% of total meiofaunal density). The benthic microbial population densities ranged from 0.26±0.02 x 108 to 102.67±18.62 x 108/g dry sediment. Total sedimentary organic matter concentrations varied between 5.8 and 11.6 mg/g and the organic carbon, which was measured as summation of the carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, accounted for only a small fraction of being 32 % of the total organic matter. Chlorophyll a attained very low values and fluctuated between 2 and 11 µg/g. The very low chlorophyll a concentration in the Egyptian coasts along the Red Sea can suggest that the sedimentary organic matter along the Egyptian coasts is dominated by organic detrital and heterotrophic bacteria on one hand, and do not promote carbon transfer towards the higher trophic level on the other hand. However, the present study indicates that the existing of well diversified meiofaunal group, with a total of ten meiofaunal taxa, can serve as food for higher trophic levels in the Red Sea marine ecosystem.

Keywords: bacteria, meiofauna, intertidal sediments, Red Sea

Procedia PDF Downloads 407