Search results for: transport parameters

Authors: M. Zeitoun, K. Abdallah, M. Rashwan

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Introduction: A growing body of evidence indicates that apelin, a relatively recent member of the adipokines family, has a potential anti-atherogenic effect. An association between low serum apelin state and coronary artery disease (CAD) was previously reported; however, the relationship between apelin and the atherosclerotic burden was unclear. Objectives: Our aim was to explore the correlation of serum apelin level with coronary calcium score (CCS) as a quantitative marker of coronary atherosclerosis. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study enrolled 100 consecutive subjects referred for cardiac multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) for assessment of CAD (mean age 54 ± 9.7 years, 51 male and 49 females). Clinical parameters, glycemic and lipid profile, high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), serum creatinine and complete blood count were assessed. Serum apelin levels were determined using a commercially available Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) Kit. High-resolution non-contrast CT images were acquired by a 64-raw MDCT and CCS was calculated using the Agatston scoring method. Results: Forty-three percent of the studied subjects had positive coronary artery calcification (CAC). The mean CCS was 79 ± 196.5 Agatston units. Subjects with detectable CAC had significantly higher fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, and WBCs count than subjects without detectable CAC (p < 0.05). Most importantly, subjects with detectable CAC had significantly lower serum apelin level than subjects without CAC (1.3 ± 0.4 ng/ml vs. 2.8 ± 0.6 ng/ml, p < 0.001). In addition, there was a statistically significant inverse correlation between serum apelin levels and CCS (r = 0.591, p < 0.001); on multivariate analysis this correlation was found to be independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and hs-CRP. Conclusion:To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an independent association between apelin and CCS in patients with suspected CAD. Apelin emerges as a possible novel biomarker for CAD, but this result remains to be proved prospectively.

Keywords: HbA1c, apelin, adipokines, coronary calcium score (CCS), coronary artery disease (CAD)

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Authors: Irena Baranowska-Bosiacka, Mateusz Bosiacki, Patrycja Kupnicka, Anna Lubkowska, Dariusz Chlubek

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Physical activity and a balanced diet are among the key factors of "healthy ageing". Physical effort, including swimming in cold water (including bathing in natural water reservoirs), is widely recognized as a hardening factor, with a positive effect on the mental and physical health. At the same time, there is little scientific evidence to verify this hypothesis. In the literature to date, it is possible to obtain data on the impact of these factors on selected physiological and biochemical parameters of the blood, at the same time there are no results of research on the effect of immersing in cold water on mineral metabolism, especially bones, hence it seems important to perform such an analysis in relation to the key elements such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P). Taking the above into account, a hypothesis was put forward about the possibility of a positive effect of exercise in cold water on mineral metabolism and bone density in aging rats. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of an 8-week swimming training on mineral metabolism and bone density in aging rats in response to exercise in cold water (5oC) in comparison to swimming in thermal comfort (36oC) and sedentary (control) rats of both sexes. The examination of the concentration of the examined elements in the bones was carried out using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The mineral density of the femurs of the rats was measured using the Hologic Horizon DEXA System® densitometer. The results of our study showed that swimming in cold water affects bone mineral metabolism in aging rats by changing the Ca, Mg, P concentration and at the same time increasing their bone density. In males, a decrease in Mg concentration and no changes in bone density were observed. In the light of the research results, it seems that swimming in cold water may be a factor that positively modifies the bone aging process by improving the mechanisms affecting their density.

Keywords: swimming in cold water, adaptation to cold water, bone mineral metabolism, aging

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Authors: Shivangi Somvanshi

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Poor crop productivity in salt-affected environment in the country is due to insufficient and untimely canal supply to agricultural land and inefficient field water management practices. This could further degrade due to inadequate maintenance of canal network, ongoing secondary soil salinization and waterlogging, worsening of groundwater quality. Large patches of low productivity in irrigation commands are occurring due to waterlogging and salt-affected soil, particularly in the scarcity rainfall year. Satellite remote sensing has been used for mapping of areas of low crop productivity, waterlogging and salt in irrigation commands. The spatial results obtained for these problems so far are less reliable for further use due to rapid change in soil quality parameters over the years. The existing spatial databases of canal network and flow data, groundwater quality and salt-affected soil were obtained from the central and state line departments/agencies and were integrated with GIS. Therefore, an integrated methodology based on remote sensing and GIS has been developed in ArcGIS environment on the basis of canal supply status, groundwater quality, salt-affected soils, and satellite-derived vegetation index (NDVI), salinity index (NDSI) and waterlogging index (NSWI). This methodology was tested for identification and delineation of area of low productivity in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district (Uttar Pradesh). It was found that the area affected by this problem lies mainly in Dankaur and Jewar blocks of the district. The problem area was verified with ground data and was found to be approximately 78% accurate. The methodology has potential to be used in other irrigation commands in the country to obtain reliable spatial data on low crop productivity.

Keywords: remote sensing, GIS, salt affected soil, crop productivity, Gautam Buddha Nagar

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Authors: A. S. Lunev, A. A. Larenkov, O. E. Klementyeva, G. E. Kodina

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Background and aims: 68Ga-citrate is one of prospective radiopharmaceutical for PET-imaging of inflammation and infection. 68Ga-citrate is 67Ga-citrate analogue using since 1970s for SPECT-imaging. There's known rebinding reaction occurs past Ga-citrate injection and gallium (similar iron Fe3+) binds with blood transferrin. Then radiolabeled protein complex is delivered to pathological foci (inflammation/infection sites). But excessive gallium bindings with transferrin are cause of slow blood clearance, long accumulation time in foci (24-72 h) and exception of application possibility of the short-lived gallium-68 (T½ = 68 min). Injection of additional chemical agents (e.g. Fe3+ compounds) competing with radioactive gallium to the blood transferrin joining (blocking of its metal binding capacity) is one of the ways to solve formulated problem. This phenomenon can be used for correction of 68Ga-citrate pharmacokinetics for increasing of the blood clearance and accumulation in foci. The aim of real studying is research of effect of stable Fe-citrate on 68Ga-citrate tissue distribution. Materials and methods: 68Ga-citrate without/with extra injection of stable Fe-citrate (III) was injected nonlinear mice with inflammation models (aseptic soft tissue inflammation, lung infection, osteomyelitis). PET/X-RAY Genisys4 (Sofie Bioscience, USA) was used for non-invasive PET imaging (for 30, 60, 120 min past injection 68Ga-citrate) with subsequent reconstruction of imaging and their analysis (value of clearance, distribution volume). Scanning time is 10 min. Results and conclusions: I. v. injection of stable Fe-citrate blocks the metal-binding capability of transferrin serum and allows decreasing gallium-68 radioactivity in blood significantly and increasing accumulation in inflammation (3-5 time). It allows receiving more informative PET-images of inflammation early (for 30-60 min after injection). Pharmacokinetic parameters prove it. Noted there is no statistically significant difference between 68Ga-citrate accumulation for different inflammation model because PET imaging is indication of pathological processes and is not their identification.

Keywords: 68Ga-citrate, Fe-citrate, PET imaging, mice, inflammation, infection

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Authors: Sharique Ahmed, Khushtar Anwar Salman

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Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) is a major plasma serine protease inhibitor (SERPIN). Hereditary AAT deficiency is one of the common diseases in some part of the world. AAT is mainly produced in the liver and functions to protect the lung against proteolytic damage (e.g., from neutrophil elastase) acting as the major inhibitor for neutrophil elastase. α (1)-Antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is an under recognized genetic condition that affects approximately 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 5,000 individuals and predisposes to liver disease and early-onset emphysema. Not only does α-1-antitrypsin deficiency lead to disabling syndrome of pulmonary emphysema, there are other disorders too which include ANCA (antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody) positive Wegener's granulomatosis, diffuse bronchiectasis, necrotizing panniculitis in α-1-antitrypsin phenotype (S), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and steroid dependent asthma. Augmentation therapy with alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) from human plasma has been available for specific treatment of emphysema due to AAT deficiency. Apart from this several observations have also suggested a role for endogenous suppressors of HIV-1, alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) has been identified to be one of those. In view of its varied important role in humans, serum from a mammalian source was chosen for the isolation and purification. Studies were performed on the homogeneous fraction. This study suggests that the buffalo serum α-1-antritrypsin has characteristics close to ovine, dog, horse and more importantly to human α-1-antritrypsin in terms of its hydrodynamic properties such as molecular weight, carbohydrate content, etc. The similarities in the hydrodynamic properties of buffalo serum α-1-antitrypsin with other sources of mammalian α-1-antitrypsin mean that it can be further studied and be a potential source for "augmentation therapy", as well as a source of AAT replacement therapy to raise serum levels above the protective threshold. Other parameters like the amino acid sequence, the effect of denaturants, and the thermolability or thermostability of the inhibitor will be the interesting basis of future studies on buffalo serum alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT).

Keywords: α-1-antitrypsin, augmentation therapy , hydrodynamic properties, serine protease inhibitor

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Authors: Behrang Ekrami, Amin Tamadon, Iman Razeghian Jahromi, Darioush Moghadas, Mehdi Ghahremani-Seno, Mostafa Ghaderi-Zefrehei, Ahmad Sodagar Amiri, Taheri Reza

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Persian fallow deer (Dama dama mesopotamica) is belonging to the family Cervidae and is only found in a few protected areas in the northwest, north, and southwest of Iran. The aims of this study were analysis of inbreeding and morphometric parameters of semen in male Persian fallow deer to investigate the cause of reduced fertility of this endangered species in Dasht-e-Naz National Refuge, Sari, Iran. The Persian fallow deer semen was collected from four adult bucks randomly during the breeding and non-breeding season from five dehorned and horned deer's by an artificial vagina. Twelve blood samples was taken from Persian fallow deer and mitochondrial DNA was extracted, amplified, extracted, sequenced and then were considered for genetic analysis. The Persian fallow deer semen, both with normal and abnormal spermatozoa, is similar to that of domestic ruminants but very smaller and difficult to observe at the primary observation. The post-mating season collected ejaculates contained abnormal spermatozoa, debris and secretion of accessory glands in horned bucks and accessory glands secretion free of any spermatozoa in dehorned or early velvet budding bucks. Microscopic evaluation in all four bucks during the mating season showed the mean concentration of 9×106 spermatozoa/ml. The mean ± SD of age, testes length and testes width was 4.60 ± 1.52 years, 3.58 ± 0.32 and 1.86 ± 0.09 cm, respectively. The results identified 1120 loci (assuming each nucleotide as locus) in which 377 were polymorphic. In conclusion, reduced fertility of male Persian fallow deer may be caused by inbreeding of the protected herd in a limited area of Dasht-e-Naz National Refuge.

Keywords: Persian fallow deer, genetic analysis, spermatozoa, reproductive characteristics

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Authors: Wafa Jahouach-Rabai, Khouloud Ouerghi, Zohra Azzouz-Berriche, Faouzi Hosni

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Widely used organic products in the pharmaceutical industry have been detected in environmental systems, essentially carboxylic acids. In this purpose, the degradation efficiency of these contaminants was evaluated using an advanced oxidation process (AOP), namely ionization process as an alternative to conventional water treatment technologies. This process permitted the generation of radical reactions to directly degrade organic pollutants in wastewater. In fact, gamma irradiation of aqueous solutions produces several reactive radicals, essentially hydroxyl radical (OH), to destroy recalcitrant pollutants. Different concentrations of aqueous solutions of Fumaric acid (FA) were considered in this study (0.1-1 mmol/L), which were treated by irradiation doses from 1 to 15 kGy with 6.1 kGy/h rate by ionizing system in pilot scale (⁶⁰Co irradiator). Variations of main parameters influencing degradation efficiency versus absorbed doses were released in the aim to optimize total mineralization of considered pollutants. Preliminary degradation pathway until complete mineralization into CO₂ has been suggested based on detection of residual degradation derivatives using different techniques, namely high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). Results revealed total destruction of treated compound, which improve the efficiency of this process in water remediation. We investigated the reactivity of hydroxyl radicals generated by irradiation on dicarboxylic acid (FA) in aqueous solutions, leading to its degradation into other smaller molecules. In fact, gamma irradiation of FA leads to the formation of hydroxylated intermediates such as hydroxycarbonyl radical which were identified by EPR spectroscopy. Finally, pilot plant irradiation facilities improved the applicability of radiation technology on large scale.

Keywords: AOP, radiolysis, fumaric acid, gamma irradiation, hydroxyl radical, EPR, HPLC

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Authors: Vikneswaran Murugaiyah, Sultan Ayesh Mohammed Saghir, Kisantini Murugesu, Mohd. Zaini Asmawi, Amirin Sadikun

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Gynura procumbens is a popular medicinal plant used as a folk medicine in Southeast Asia to treat kidney diseases, diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia. The present study aims to investigate the antihyperlipidemic potential of phenolic acids rich fraction (PARF) from G. procumbens in chemically-induced acute and high fat diet-induced chronic hyperlipidemic rats. Ethanolic extract of G. procumbens leaves exhibited significant reductions in total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) levels (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively) of poloxamer 407-induced rats compared to hyperlipidemic control after 58 h of treatment. Upon bioactivity guided fractionation the antihyperlipidemic activity was found to be concentrated in the PARF, which significantly reduced the TC and TG levels (P < 0.001). HPLC analysis revealed that 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid; 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and chlorogenic acid are the major compounds in the PARF. Likewise, chlorogenic acid (60 mg/kg) exhibited significant reductions in TC and TG levels of hyperlipidemic rats (P < 0.001). Both chlorogenic acid and PARF significantly reduced LDL, VLDL and atherogenic index (P<0.01), while PARF increased the HDL (P < 0.01) compared to hyperlipidemic control. Both were found to be not cytotoxic against normal and cancer cell lines. In addition, LD50 of orally administered PARF was more than 5,000 mg/kg. Further investigation in high fat diet-induced chronic hyperlipidemic rats revealed that chronic administration of PARF dose-dependently restored the increase in lipids parameters. In summary, the phenolic acids rich fraction of G. procumbens leaves showed promising antihyperlipidemic effect in both chemically- and diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats that warrants further elucidation on its mechanisms of action.

Keywords: Antihyperlipidemic, Gynura procumbens, phenolic acids, chlorogenic acid, poloxamer-407, high fat diet

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Authors: Heiko Weiß, Andreas Meister, Christoph Ament, Nils Dreifke

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Linear actuators are deployed in a wide range of applications. This paper presents the modeling and system identification of a variable excited linear direct drive (LDD). The LDD is designed based on linear hybrid stepper technology exhibiting the characteristic tooth structure of mover and stator. A three-phase topology provides the thrust force caused by alternating strengthening and weakening of the flux of the legs. To achieve best possible synchronous operation, the phases are commutated sinusoidal. Despite the fact that these LDDs provide high dynamics and drive forces, noise emission limits their operation in calm workspaces. To overcome this drawback an additional excitation of the magnetic circuit is introduced to LDD using additional enabling coils instead of permanent magnets. The new degree of freedom can be used to reduce force variations and related noise by varying the excitation flux that is usually generated by permanent magnets. Hence, an identified simulation model is necessary to analyze the effects of this modification. Especially the force variations must be modeled well in order to reduce them sufficiently. The model can be divided into three parts: the current dynamics, the mechanics and the force functions. These subsystems are described with differential equations or nonlinear analytic functions, respectively. Ordinary nonlinear differential equations are derived and transformed into state space representation. Experiments have been carried out on a test rig to identify the system parameters of the complete model. Static and dynamic simulation based optimizations are utilized for identification. The results are verified in time and frequency domain. Finally, the identified model provides a basis for later design of control strategies to reduce existing force variations.

Keywords: force variations, linear direct drive, modeling and system identification, variable excitation flux

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Authors: Leonard Chimaobi Agim, Charles Arinzechukwu Igwe, Emmanuel Uzoma Onweremadu, Gabreil Osuji

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Soil erosion has been linked to stream sedimentation, ecosystem degradation, and loss of soil nutrients. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of some organic amendment on sediment yield, splash loss, and runoff of soils of selected parent materials in southeastern Nigeria. A total of 20 locations, five from each of four parent materials namely: Asu River Group (ARG), Bende Ameki Group (BAG), Coastal Plain Sand (CPS) and Falsebedded Sandstone (FBS) were used for the study. Collected soil samples were analyzed with standard methods for the initial soil properties. Rainfall simulation at an intensity of 190 mm hr-1was conducted for 30 minutes on the soil samples at both the initial stage and after amendment to obtain erosion parameters. The influence of parent material on sediment yield, splash loss and runoff based on rainfall simulation was tested for using one way analyses of variance, while the influence of organic material and their combinations were a factorially fitted in a randomized complete block design. The organic amendments include; goat dropping (GD), poultry dropping (PD), municipal solid waste (MSW) and their combinations (COA) applied at four rates of 0, 10, 20 and 30 t ha-1 respectively. Data were analyzed using analyses of variance suitable for a factorial experiment. Significant means were separated using LSD at 5 % probability levels. Result showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) lower values of sediment yield, splash loss and runoff following amendment. For instance, organic amendment reduced sediment yield under wet and dry runs by 12.91 % and 26.16% in Ishiagu, 40.76% and 45.67%, in Bende, 16.17% and 50% in Obinze and 22.80% and 42.35% in Umulolo respectively. Goat dropping and combination of amendment gave the best results in reducing sediment yield.

Keywords: organic amendment, parent material, rainfall simulation, soil erosion

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Authors: Adham M. Salah, Tariq A. Nagem, Raed A. Abd-Alhameed, James M. Noras

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Recently, the demand for wireless communications systems to cover more than one frequency band (multi-band) with high data rate has been increased for both fixed and mobile services. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology is one of the significant solutions for attaining these requirements and to achieve the maximum channel capacity of the wireless communications systems. The main issue associated with MIMO antennas especially in portable devices is the compact space between the radiating elements which leads to limit the physical separation between them. This issue exacerbates the performance of the MIMO antennas by increasing the mutual coupling between the radiating elements. In other words, the mutual coupling will be stronger if the radiating elements of the MIMO antenna are closer. This paper presents a low–profile dual-band (2×1) MIMO antenna that works at 2.4GHz, 5.3GHz and 5.8GHz for wireless local area networks (WLAN) applications. A neutralization line (NL) technique for enhancing the isolation has been used by introducing a strip line with a length of λg/4 at the isolation frequency (2.4GHz) between the radiating elements. The overall dimensions of the antenna are 33.5 x 36 x 1.6 mm³. The fabricated prototype shows a good agreement between the simulated and measured results. The antenna impedance bandwidths are 2.38–2.75 GHz and 4.4–6 GHz for the lower and upper band respectively; the reflection coefficient and mutual coupling are better than -25 dB in both lower and higher bands. The MIMO antenna performance characteristics are reported in terms of the scattering parameters, envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), total active reflection coefficient, capacity loss, antenna gain, and radiation patterns. Analysis of these characteristics indicates that the design is appropriate for the WLAN terminal applications.

Keywords: ECC, neutralization line, MIMO antenna, multi-band, mutual coupling, WLAN

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Authors: Mahshid Davoodpoor, Zahra Shamohammadi Ghahsareh, Saeid Razfar, Alaleh Dabbaghi

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Nowadays, air pollution has become a topic of great concern all over the world. One of the main sources of air pollution is automobile exhaust gas, which introduces a large number of toxic gases, including CO, unburned hydrocarbons (HCs), NOx, and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), into the air. The application of three-way catalysts (TWCs) is still the most effective strategy to mitigate the emission of these pollutants. Due to the stringent environmental regulations which continuously become stricter, studies on the TWCs are ongoing despite several years of research and development. This arises from the washcoat complexity and the several numbers of parameters involved in the redox reactions. The main objectives of these studies are the optimization of washcoat formulation and the investigation of different coating modes. Perovskite (ABO₃), as a promising class of materials, has unique features that make it versatile to use as an alternative to commonly mixed oxides in washcoats. High catalytic activity for oxidation reactions and its relatively high oxygen storage capacity are important properties of perovskites in catalytic applications. Herein, La₀.₈Ba₀.₂FeO₃ perovskite material was synthesized using the co-precipitation method and characterized by XRD, ICP, and BET analysis. The effect of synthesis conditions, including B site metal (Fe and Co), metal precursor concentration, and dopant (Ba), were examined on the phase purity of the products. The selected perovskite sample was used as one of the components in the TWC formulation to evaluate its catalytic performance through Light-off, oxygen storage capacity, and emission analysis. Results showed a remarkable increment in oxygen storage capacity and also revealed that T50 and emission of CO, HC, and NOx reduced in the presence of perovskite structure which approves the enhancement of catalytic performance for the new washcoat formulation. This study shows the brilliant future of advanced oxide structures in the TWCs.

Keywords: Perovskite, three-way catalyst, PGMs, PGMs reduction

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Authors: Muhammed Shahriar Haque

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As an offshoot of journalistic discourse, the documentary should be objective in nature without harbouring any preconceived notion to foster ulterior motifs. When it comes to a social issue like rape in South Asian countries, as media in recent times is inundated with this violent act in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, how does one document it in terms of objectivity and subjectivity? The objective of this study is twofold: to document the history of documentaries, and to critically analyze South Asian rape/flesh trade-documentaries. The overall goal is to trace the (re/de)construction of objectivity-subjectivity in documentaries. This paper adopts a qualitative approach to documentarist discourse through the lens of critical discourse analysis (CDA). Data was gathered for 10 documentaries on the theme of rape and/or flesh trade from eight South Asian countries, predominantly the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region. The documentaries were primarily categorised by using three frameworks based on six modes, six subgenres, and four basic approaches of documentary. Subsequently, the findings were critiqued from CDA perspective. The outcome suggests that there a two schools of thoughts regarding documentaries. According to journalistic ethics, news and/or documentaries should be objective in orientation and focus on informing the audience and/common people. The empirical findings tend to challenge ethical parameters of objectivity. At times, it seems that journalistic discourse is discursively (re)constructed to give an augmented simulation of objectivity. Based on the findings it may be recommended that if documentaries steer away from empirical facts and indulge in poetic naivety, their credibility could be questioned. A research of this nature is significant as it raises questions with regard to ethical and moral conscience of documentary filmmakers. Furthermore, it looks at whether they uphold journalistic integrity or succumb to their bias, and thereby depict subjective views, which could be tainted with political and/or propagandist ulterior motifs.

Keywords: discursive (re/de)construction, documentaries, journalistic integrity, rape/flesh trade

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Authors: Ermias A. Tegegn, Million Meshesha

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a major cause of death for most African countries. Ethiopia is one of the seriously affected countries in sub Saharan Africa. Previously in Ethiopia, having HIV/AIDS was almost equivalent to a death sentence. With the introduction of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), HIV/AIDS has become chronic, but manageable disease. The study focused on a data mining technique to predict future living status of HIV/AIDS patients at the time of drug regimen change when the patients become toxic to the currently taking ART drug combination. The data is taken from University of Gondar Hospital ART program database. Hybrid methodology is followed to explore the application of data mining on ART program dataset. Data cleaning, handling missing values and data transformation were used for preprocessing the data. WEKA 3.7.9 data mining tools, classification algorithms, and expertise are utilized as means to address the research problem. By using four different classification algorithms, (i.e., J48 Classifier, PART rule induction, Naïve Bayes and Neural network) and by adjusting their parameters thirty-two models were built on the pre-processed University of Gondar ART program dataset. The performances of the models were evaluated using the standard metrics of accuracy, precision, recall, and F-measure. The most effective model to predict the status of HIV patients with drug regimen substitution is pruned J48 decision tree with a classification accuracy of 98.01%. This study extracts interesting attributes such as Ever taking Cotrim, Ever taking TbRx, CD4 count, Age, Weight, and Gender so as to predict the status of drug regimen substitution. The outcome of this study can be used as an assistant tool for the clinician to help them make more appropriate drug regimen substitution. Future research directions are forwarded to come up with an applicable system in the area of the study.

Keywords: HIV drug regimen, data mining, hybrid methodology, predictive model

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Authors: Robert Prohaska, Arnaud Konan, Kenneth Kelly, Adam Ragatz, Adam Duran

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In an effort to evaluate the in-use performance of electrified Power Take-off (PTO) usage on bucket utility trucks operating under real-world conditions, data from 20 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles operating in California, USA were collected, compiled, and analyzed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Fleet Test and Evaluation team. In this paper, duty-cycle statistical analyses of class 5, medium-duty quick response trucks and class 8, heavy-duty material handler trucks are performed to examine and characterize vehicle dynamics trends and relationships based on collected in-use field data. With more than 100,000 kilometers of driving data collected over 880+ operating days, researchers have developed a robust methodology for identifying PTO operation from in-field vehicle data. Researchers apply this unique methodology to evaluate the performance and utilization of the conventional and electric PTO systems. Researchers also created custom representative drive-cycles for each vehicle configuration and performed modeling and simulation activities to evaluate the potential fuel and emissions savings for hybridization of the tractive driveline on these vehicles. The results of these analyses statistically and objectively define the vehicle dynamic and kinematic requirements for each vehicle configuration as well as show the potential for further system optimization through driveline hybridization. Results are presented in both graphical and tabular formats illustrating a number of key relationships between parameters observed within the data set that relates specifically to medium- and heavy-duty utility vehicles operating under real-world conditions.

Keywords: drive cycle, heavy-duty (HD), hybrid, medium-duty (MD), PTO, utility

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Authors: Terkimbi Vange, Obed Abimiku, Lateef Lekan Bello, Lucky Omoigui

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In 2014 and 2015, eight maize inbred lines resistant to Striga hermonthica (Del) Benth were crossed in 8 x 8 half diallel (Griffing method 11, model 1). The eight parent inbred lines were planted out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications at two different Striga infested environments (Lafia and Makurdi) during the late cropping season. The objectives were to determine the combining ability of Striga resistant maize inbred lines and identify suitable inbreds for hybrids development. The lines were used to estimate general combining ability (GCA), and specific combining ability (SCA) effects for Striga related parameters such as Striga shoot counts, Striga damage rating (SDR), plant height and grain yield and other agronomic traits. The result of combined ANOVA revealed that mean squares were highly significant for all traits except Striga damage rating (SDR1) at 8WAS and Striga emergence count (STECOI) at 8WAS. Mean squares for SCA were significantly low for all traits. TZSTR190 was the highest yielding parent, and TZSTR166xTZST190 was the highest yielding hybrid (cross). Parent TZSTR166, TZEI188, TZSTR190 and TZSTR193 shows significant (p < 0.05) positive GCA effects for grain yield while the rest had negative GCA effects for grain yield. Parent TZSTR166, TZEI188, TZSTR190, and TZSTR193 could be used for initiating hybrid development. Also, TZSTR166xTZSTR190 cross was the best specific combiner followed by TZEI188xTZSTR193, TZEI80xTZSTR193, and TZSTR190xTZSTR193. TZSTR166xTZSTR190 and TZSTR190xTZSTR193 had the highest SCA effects. However, TZEI80 and TZSTR190 manifested a high positive SCA effect with TZSTR166 indicating that these two inbreds combined better with TZSTR166.

Keywords: combining ability, Striga hermonthica, resistance, grain yield

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Authors: Nora Mohammed Al-Kehayez

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This present investigation was performed to study the effect of low fat yogurt on serum and liver lipids profile of male albino rats (weighing 100 g+or- 5 gram) when fed balanced or high fat high cholesterol diets and given yogurt ad libitum compared with control groups. Rats were divided into 4 groups, each group contains 6 rats. The groups of rats were fed as follows: Group(1) was fed balanced diet + water(control). Group(2) was fed balanced diet + low fat yogurt. Group(3) was fed high fat high cholesterol diet + water(Control). Group(4) was fed high fat high cholesterol diet + low fat yogurt. The obtained results could be summarized as follows: When rats were given low fat yogurt and fed balanced or high fat high cholesterol diets a significantly greater weight gains resulted in comparison with the control groups given water instead of yogurt. The data on the weights of liver and heart expressed' as percentage increased the body weight in case of rats which were fed balanced diet with low fat yogurt while in case of rats which were fed high fat high cholesterol diet with low fat yogurt the increment scenes to be less. Results of serum cholesterol levels in serum of rats were given balanced or high fat high cholesterol diets and consuming low fat yogurt was showed a significant reduction values. However the low fat yogurt produced the highest significant decrease values. The values of serum cholesterol go hand in hand with serum lipoprotein fractions in rats given low fat yogurt with both balanced or high fat high cholesterol diets. An increase of high density lipoprotein HDL-C and a decrease of low density lipoprotein LDL-C values were obtained. When rats ingested low fat yogurt a significant decrease in serum and liver triglycerides content was obtained wether with balanced or high fat high cholesterol diets. Rats consuming high fat high cholesterol diets with water showed a significant increase in liver total lipids, total cholesterol and phospholipides levels in comparison with the same liver parameters in rats given balanced diet with water. Supplement with low fat yogurt significantly suppressed these effects.

Keywords: yogurt, lipids profile, albino, rats

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Authors: B. S. Abdelwahed, B. B. Belkassem

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Beam-column joints are a critical part in reinforced concrete RC frames designed for inelastic response to several external loads. Investigating the behaviour of the exterior RC beam-column joints has attracted many researchers in the past decades due to its critical influence on the overall behaviour of RC moment-resisting frames subjected to lateral loads. One of the most critical zones in moment-resistant frames is the knee joints because of restraints associated with providing limited anchorage length to the beam and column longitudinal reinforcement in it and consequentially causes a lot of damage in such building frames. Previous numerical simulations focussed mainly on the exterior and interior joints, for knee joint further work is still needed to investigate its behaviour and discuss its affecting parameters. Structural response for an RC knee beam-column joint is performed in this study using LS-DYNA. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) models of an RC knee beam-column joint are described and verified with experimental results available in literature; this is followed by a parametric study to investigate the influence of the concrete compressive strength, the presence of lateral beams and increasing beam reinforcement ratio. It is shown that the concrete compressive strength has a significant effect on shear capacity, load-deflection characteristics and failure modes of an RC knee beam-column joints but to a certain limit, the presence of lateral beams increased the joint confinement and reduced the rate of concrete degradation in the joint after reaching ultimate joint capacity, added to that an increase in the maximum load resistance. Increasing beam reinforcement ratio is found to improve the flexural resistance of the anchored beam bars and increase the joint maximum load resistance.

Keywords: beam reinforcement ratio, joint confinement, numerical simulation, reinforced concrete beam-column joints, structural performance

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Authors: Camila Lozano-Vivas, Camila Quevedo-Villamil, Ingrid Munoz-Quijano, Diego Loaiza

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Colombia's limited oil reserves make the finding of new fields of extraction or the potentiate of the existing ones a more important task to do every day; the exploration projects that allow to have a better knowledge of the oil basins are essential. The upper Magdalena Valley basin - VSM, whose reserves are limited, has been one of the first basins for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Colombia. The Hondita and Lomagorda formations were deposited in the Late Cretaceous Middle Albian to the Coniacian and are characterized by being the hydrocarbon-generating rocks in the VSM basin oil system along with the Shale de Bambucá; therefore multiple studies have been made. In the oil industry, geochemical properties are used to understand the origin, migration, accumulation, and alteration of hydrocarbons and, in general, the evolution of the basin containing them. One of the most important parameters to understand this evolution is the formation temperature of the oil system. For this reason, a microthermometric study of fluid inclusions was carried out to recognize formation temperatures and to determine certain basic physicochemical variables, homogenization temperature, pressure, density and salinity of the fluid at the time of entrapment, providing evidence on the history of different events in different geological environments in the evolution of a sedimentary basin. Prior to this study, macroscopic and microscopic petrographic analyses of the samples collected in the field were performed. The results of the mentioned properties of the fluid inclusions in the different samples analyzed have salinities ranging from 20.22% to 26.37% eq. by weight NaCl, similar densities found in the ranges of 1.05 to 1.16 g/cc and an average homogenization temperature at 142.92°C, indicating that, at the time of their entanglement, the rock was in the window of generation of medium hydrocarbons –light with fragile characteristics of the rock that would make it useful to treat them as naturally fractured reservoirs.

Keywords: homogenization temperature, fluid inclusions, microthermometry, salinity

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Sara Santos, Cristina Saraiva, Sónia Saraiva

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the welfare of reared broilers using scoring systems at the slaughterhouse. The welfare of broilers from 70 different flocks was assessed in three different slaughterhouses, regarding 373043 animals, although not in equal proportions in each slaughterhouse due to the difference in the amount of flocks slaughtered per day because of different company size. Twenty-one flocks were evaluated in slaughterhouse A (30%), thirty in slaughterhouse B (42,9%) and nineteen in slaughterhouse C (27,1%). The parameters evaluated were feather cleanness, foot pad dermatitis, hock burn, breast burn and causes of carcass condemnation. Feather cleanness was scored into three classes: 0=clean; 1=moderately dirty and 2=dirty feathers. Foot pad dermatitis, hock burn and breast ulcer were graded in three classes: 0=no lesions, 1=moderate lesions and 2=severe lesions. Causes of carcass condemnation were divided into emaciation, ascites, colour alteration and febrile state, arthritis, aerosaculitis, dermatitis, peritonitis, myositis, cellulitis, extensive trauma and technopathies as mechanical trauma, insufficient bleeding and deficient plucking. Broilers evaluated had a body weight ranging between 0,909kg and 2,588kg (median 1,522kg) and age between 25 days and 45 days (median 33 days). Rejection rate of flocks ranged between 0,1% and 10,48% (median 1,4029%) and footpad dermatitis total score between 2 and 197, resulting in 20 flocks presenting moderate lesions and 15 flocks with severe lesions. Moderate hock burn was associated with severe foot pad dermatitis and with breast burn. The associations between these lesions suggest that the development of contact dermatitis is caused by a common cause, the prolonged contact with litter of poor quality. In conclusion, contact dermatitis lesions, mostly foot pad dermatitis, feather hygiene conditions and rejection rate were the main restrictions of good welfare and considered important indicators for the follow-up on the farm conditions.

Keywords: broiler, dermatitis, welfare, slaughterhouse

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Sonia Barbouchi, Meriem Samcha

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Scale deposition during water injection into aquifer of oil reservoirs is a serious problem experienced in the oil production industry. One of the primary causes of scale formation and injection well plugging is mixing two waters which are incompatible. Considered individually, the waters may be quite stable at system conditions and present no scale problems. However, once they are mixed, reactions between ions dissolved in the individual waters may form insoluble products. The purpose of this study is to identify the causes of well plugging in a southern Tunisian oilfield, where fresh water has been injected into the producing wells to counteract the salinity of the formation waters and inhibit the deposition of halite. X-ray diffraction (XRD) mineralogical analysis has been carried out on scale samples collected from the blocked well. Two samples collected from both formation water and injected water were analysed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, ion chromatography and other standard laboratory techniques. The results of complete waters analysis were the typical input parameters, to determine scaling tendency. Saturation indices values related to CaCO3, CaSO4, BaSO4 and SrSO4 scales were calculated for the water mixtures at different share, under various conditions of temperature, using a computerized scale prediction model. The compatibility study results showed that mixing the two waters tends to increase the probability of barite deposition. XRD analysis confirmed the compatibility study results, since it proved that the analysed deposits consisted predominantly of barite with minor galena. At the studied temperatures conditions, the tendency for barite scale is significantly increasing with the increase of fresh water share in the mixture. The future scale inhibition and removal strategies to be implemented in the concerned oilfield are being derived in a large part from the results of the present study.

Keywords: compatibility study, produced water, scaling, water injection

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Kazumasa Kawasaki, Isamu Tsuji, Hiroshi Gunbara

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A face gear drive is actually composed of a spur or helical pinion that is in mesh with a face gear and transfers power and motion between intersecting or skew axes. Due to the peculiarity of the face gear drive in shunt and confluence drive, it shows potential advantages in the application in the helicopter transmission. The advantages of such applications are the possibility of the split of the torque that appears to be significant where a pinion drives two face gears to provide an accurate division of power and motion. This mechanism greatly reduces the weight and cost compared to conventional design. Therefore, this has been led to revived interest and the face gear drive has been utilized in substitution for bevel and hypoid gears in limited cases. The face gear drive with a spur or a helical pinion is newly designed in order to determine an effective meshing area under the design parameters and specific design dimensions. The face gear has two unique dimensions which control the face width of the tooth, and the outside and inside diameters of the face gear. On the other hand, it is necessary to modify the tooth surfaces of face gear drive in order to avoid the influences of alignment errors on the tooth contact patterns in practical use. In this case, the pinion tooth surfaces are usually modified in the conventional method. However, it is hard to control the tooth contact pattern intentionally and adjust the position of the pinion axis in meshing of the gear pair. Therefore, a method of the modification of the tooth surfaces of the face gear is proposed. Moreover, based on tooth contact analysis, the tooth contact pattern and transmission errors of the designed face gear drive are analyzed, and the influences of alignment errors on the tooth contact patterns and transmission errors are investigated. These results showed that the tooth contact patterns and transmission errors were controllable and the face gear drive which is insensitive to alignment errors can be obtained.

Keywords: alignment error, face gear, gear design, helicopter transmission, tooth contact analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 438

Authors: Nur-E-Jannat Tinu

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Water is absolutely vital not only for the survival of human beings but also for plants, animals, and all other living organisms. Water bodies, such as lakes, rivers, ponds, and estuaries, are the source of water supply in domestic, industrial, agriculture, and aquaculture purposes. The Buriganga River flows through the south and west of Dhaka city. The water quality of this river has become a matter of concern due to anthropogenic intervention of vital pollutants such as industrial effluents, urban sewage, and solid wastes in this area. Buriganga River is at risk to contamination from untreated municipal wastes, industrial discharges, runoff from organic and inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and oil emission around the river. The residential and commercial establishments along the river discharge wastewater either directly into the river or through drains and canals into the river. However, several regulatory measures and policies have been enforced by the Government to protect the river Buriganga from pollution, in most cases to no affect. Water quality assessment reveals that the water is also not appropriate for irrigation purposes. The physical parameters (pH, TDS, EC, Temperature, DO, COD, BOD) indicated that the water is too poor to be useable for agricultural, drinking, or other purposes. Chemical concentrations showed significant seasonal variations with high-level concentrations during the monsoon season, presumably due to extreme seasonal surface runoff. A comparative study of Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) indicated a considerable increase over the last five years A change in trend was observed from 2020 June-July, probably due to monsoon and post-monsoon. EC values decreased from 775 to 665 mmho/cm during this period. DO increased significantly from the mid-post-monsoon months to the early monsoon period. The pH value of river water is strongly alkaline, ranging between 6.5 and 7.79. This indicates that ecological organic compounds cause the water to become alkaline after the monsoon and monsoon seasons. As the water pollution level is very high, an effective remediation and pollution control plan should be considered.

Keywords: precipitation, spatial distribution, effluent, remediation

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Dipti Chand, Riya Saboo

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OBJECTIVES: Early and correct diagnosis may present a significant clinical challenge in diagnosis of patients presenting to Emergency Department with Acute Dyspnoea. The common cause of acute dyspnoea and respiratory distress in Emergency Department are Decompensated Heart Failure (HF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Asthma, Pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Pulmonary Embolism (PE), and other causes like anaemia. The aim of the study was to measure NT-pro Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) and exhaled End-Tidal Carbon dioxide (ETCO2) in patients presenting with dyspnoea. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This prospective, cross-sectional and observational study was performed at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, between October 2019 and October 2021 in patients admitted to the Medicine Intensive Care Unit. Three groups of patients were compared: (1) HFrelated acute dyspnoea group (n = 52), (2) pulmonary (COPD/PE)-related acute dyspnoea group (n = 31) and (3) sepsis with ARDS-related dyspnoea group (n = 13). All patients underwent initial clinical examination with a recording of initial vital parameters along with on-admission ETCO2 measurement, NT-proBNP testing, arterial blood gas analysis, lung ultrasound examination, 2D echocardiography, chest X-rays, and other relevant diagnostic laboratory testing. RESULTS: 96 patients were included in the study. Median NT-proBNP was found to be high for the Heart Failure group (11,480 pg/ml), followed by the sepsis group (780 pg/ml), and pulmonary group had an Nt ProBNP of 231 pg/ml. The mean ETCO2 value was maximum in the pulmonary group (48.610 mmHg) followed by Heart Failure (31.51 mmHg) and the sepsis group (19.46 mmHg). The results were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: NT-proBNP has high diagnostic accuracy in differentiating acute HF-related dyspnoea from pulmonary (COPD and ARDS)-related acute dyspnoea. The higher levels of ETCO2 help in diagnosing patients with COPD.

Keywords: NT PRO BNP, ETCO2, dyspnoea, lung USG

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Arash Rafiei, Carroll Moore

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Leaching process as the first stage of hydrometallurgy is a multidisciplinary system including material properties, chemistry, reactor design, mechanics and fluid dynamics. Therefore, doing leaching system optimization by pure scientific methods need lots of times and expenses. In this work, a mixture of two titanium ores and one titanium slag are used for extracting titanium for leaching stage of TiO2 pigment production procedure. Optimum titanium extraction can be obtained from following strategies: i) Maximizing titanium extraction without selective digestion; and ii) Optimizing selective titanium extraction by balancing between maximum titanium extraction and minimum impurity digestion. The main difference between two strategies is due to process optimization framework. For the first strategy, the most important stage of production process is concerned as the main stage and rest of stages would be adopted with respect to the main stage. The second strategy optimizes performance of more than one stage at once. The second strategy has more technical complexity compared to the first one but it brings more economical and technical advantages for the leaching system. Obviously, each strategy has its own optimum operational zone that is not as same as the other one and the best operational zone is chosen due to complexity, economical and practical aspects of the leaching system. Experimental design has been carried out by using Taguchi method. The most important advantages of this methodology are involving different technical aspects of leaching process; minimizing the number of needed experiments as well as time and expense; and concerning the role of parameter interactions due to principles of multifactor-at-time optimization. Leaching tests have been done at batch scale on lab with appropriate control on temperature. The leaching tank geometry has been concerned as an important factor to provide comparable agitation conditions. Data analysis has been done by using reactor design and mass balancing principles. Finally, optimum zone for operational parameters are determined for each leaching strategy and discussed due to their economical and practical aspects.

Keywords: titanium leaching, optimization, experimental design, performance analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Aurelija Burinskienė, Dalė Dzemydienė, Arūnas Miliauskas

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This research aims at developing the approach for more effective freight delivery and transportation process management. The road congestions and the identification of causes are important, as well as the context information recognition and management. The measure of many parameters during the transportation period and proper control of driver work became the problem. The number of vehicles per time unit passing at a given time and point for drivers can be evaluated in some situations. The collection of data is mainly used to establish new trips. The flow of the data is more complex in urban areas. Herein, the movement of freight is reported in detail, including the information on street level. When traffic density is extremely high in congestion cases, and the traffic speed is incredibly low, data transmission reaches the peak. Different data sets are generated, which depend on the type of freight delivery network. There are three types of networks: long-distance delivery networks, last-mile delivery networks and mode-based delivery networks; the last one includes different modes, in particular, railways and other networks. When freight delivery is switched from one type of the above-stated network to another, more data could be included for reporting purposes and vice versa. In this case, a significant amount of these data is used for control operations, and the problem requires an integrated methodological approach. The paper presents an approach for providing e-services for drivers by including the assessment of the multi-component infrastructure needed for delivery of freights following the network type. The construction of such a methodology is required to evaluate data flow conditions and overloads, and to minimize the time gaps in data reporting. The results obtained show the possibilities of the proposing methodological approach to support the management and decision-making processes with functionality of incorporating networking specifics, by helping to minimize the overloads in data reporting.

Keywords: transportation networks, freight delivery, data flow, monitoring, e-services

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Taiheng Zhang, Hongbin Zhao

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Compressed air energy storage become increasingly vital for solving intermittency problem of some renewable energies. In this study, a new hybrid system on a combination of compressed air energy storage (CAES), solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), gas turbine (GT), and organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is proposed. In the new system, excess electricity during off-peak time is utilized to compress air. Then, the compressed air is stored in compressed air storage tank. During peak time, the compressed air enters the cathode of SOFC directly instead of combustion chamber of traditional CAES. There is no air compressor consumption of SOFC-GT in peak demand, so SOFC- GT can generate power with high-efficiency. In addition, the waste heat of exhaust from GT is recovered by applying an ORC. Three different organic working fluid (R123, R601, R601a) of ORC are chosen to evaluate system performance. Based on Aspen plus and Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software, energy and exergoeconomic analysis are used to access the viability of the combined system. Besides, the effect of two parameters (fuel flow and ORC turbine inlet pressure) on energy efficiency is studied. The effect of low-price electricity at off-peak hours on thermodynamic criteria (total unit exergy cost of products and total cost rate) is also investigated. Furthermore, for three different organic working fluids, the results of round-trip efficiency, exergy efficiency, and exergoeconomic factors are calculated and compared. Based on thermodynamic performance and exergoeconomic performance of different organic working fluids, the best suitable working fluid will be chosen. In conclusion, this study can provide important guidance for system efficiency improvement and viability.

Keywords: CAES, SOFC, ORC, energy and exergoeconomic analysis, organic working fluids

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Yimei Huang, Harvey Lui, Jianhua Zhao, Zhenguo Wu, Haishan Zeng

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Conventional laser treatment of skin diseases and cosmetic surgery is based on the principle of one-photon absorption selective photothermolysis which relies strongly on the difference in the light absorption between the therapeutic target and its surrounding tissue. However, when the difference in one-photon absorption is not sufficient, collateral damage would occur due to indiscriminate and nonspecific tissue heating. To overcome this problem, we developed a spatially selective photothermolysis method based on multiphoton absorption in which the heat generation is restricted to the focal point of a tightly focused near-infrared femtosecond laser beam aligned with the target of interest. A multimodal optical microscope with co-registered reflectance confocal imaging (RCM), two-photon fluorescence imaging (TPF), and second harmonic generation imaging (SHG) capabilities was used to perform and monitor the spatially selective photothermolysis. Skin samples excised from the shaved backs of euthanized NODSCID mice were used in this study. Treatments were performed by focusing and scaning the laser beam in the dermis with a 50µm×50µm target area. Treatment power levels of 200 mW to 400 mW and modulated pulse trains of different duration and period were experimented. Different treatment parameters achieved different degrees of spatial confinement of tissue alterations as visualized by 3-D RCM/TPF/SHG imaging. At 200 mW power level, 0.1 s pulse train duration, 4.1 s pulse train period, the tissue damage was found to be restricted precisely to the 50µm×50µm×10µm volume, where the laser focus spot had scanned through. The overlying epidermis/dermis tissue and the underneath dermis tissue were intact although there was light passing through these regions.

Keywords: multiphoton absorption photothermolysis, reflectance confocal microscopy, second harmonic generation microscopy, spatially selective photothermolysis, two-photon fluorescence microscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 515

Authors: Rajeev Kumar, Angad Singh Kushwaha, Amritanshu Pandey, S. K. Srivastava

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Photonic crystals (PCs) have attracted much attention due to its electromagnetic properties and potential applications. In PCs, there is certain range of wavelength where electromagnetic waves are not allowed to pass are called photonic band gap (PBG). A localized defect mode will appear within PBG, due to change in the interference behavior of light, when we create a defect in the periodic structure. We can also create different types of defect structures by inserting or removing a layer from the periodic layered structure in two and three-dimensional PCs. We can design microcavity, waveguide, and perfect mirror by creating a point defect, line defect, and palanar defect in two and three- dimensional PC structure. One-dimensional and two-dimensional PCs with defects were reported theoretically and experimentally by Smith et al.. in conventional photonic band gap structure. In the present paper, we have presented the defect mode tunability in tilted non-graded photonic crystal (NGPC) and linearly graded photonic crystal (LGPC) using lead sulphide (PbS) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) in the infrared region. A birefringent defect layer is created in NGPC and LGPC using potassium titany phosphate (KTP). With the help of transfer matrix method, the transmission properties of proposed structure is investigated for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarization. NGPC and LGPC without defect layer is also investigated. We have found that a photonic band gap (PBG) arises in the infrared region. An additional defect layer of KTP is created in NGPC and LGPC structure. We have seen that an additional transmission mode appers in PBG region. It is due to the addition of defect layer. We have also seen the effect, linear gradation in thickness, angle of incidence, tilt angle, and thickness of defect layer, on PBG and additional transmission mode. We have observed that the additional transmission mode and PBG can be tuned by changing the above parameters. The proposed structure may be used as channeled filter, optical switches, monochromator, and broadband optical reflector.

Keywords: defect modes, graded photonic crystal, photonic crystal, tilt angle

Procedia PDF Downloads 376

Authors: Raouf Ahmed Mohamed Hassan

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In Egypt, the excess sewage sludge from wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is rapidly increasing due to the continuous increase of population, urban planning and industrial developments. Also, cane bagasses constitute an important component of Urban Solid Waste (USW), especially at the south of Egypt, which are difficult to degrade under normal composting conditions. These wastes need to be environmentally managed to reduce the negative impacts of its application or disposal. In term of biogas recovery, the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge or bagasse separately is inefficient, due to the presence of nutrients and minerals. Also, the Carbone-Nitrogen Ratio (C/N) play an important role, sewage sludge has a ratio varies from 6-16, where cane bagasse has a ratio around 150, whereas the suggested optimum C/N ratio for anaerobic digestion is in the range of 20 to 30. The anaerobic co-digestion is presented as a successful methodology that combines several biodegradable organic substrates able to decrease the amount of output wastes by biodegradation, sharing processing facilities, reducing operating costs, while enabling recovery of biogas. This paper presents the study of co-digestion of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants as a type of organic wastes and bagasse as agriculture wastes. Laboratory-scale mesophilic and thermophilic digesters were operated with varied hydraulic retention times. Different percentage of sludge and bagasse are investigated based on the total solids (TS). Before digestion, the bagasse was subjected to grinding pretreatment and soaked in distilled water (water pretreatment). The effect of operating parameters (mixing, temperature) is investigated in order to optimize the process in the biogas production. The yield and the composition of biogas from the different experiments were evaluated and the cumulative curves were estimated. The conducted tests did show that there is a good potential to using the co-digestion of wastewater sludge and bagasse for biogas production.

Keywords: co-digestion, sewage sludge, bagasse, mixing, mesophilic, thermophilic

Procedia PDF Downloads 513