Search results for: full reference image quality assessment (FR-IQA)

Authors: Tony R. Walker, N. Devin MacAskill, Andrew Thalhiemer

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Sydney Harbour, Nova Scotia has long been subject to effluent and atmospheric inputs of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from a large coking operation and steel plant that operated in Sydney for nearly a century until closure in 1988. Contaminated effluents from the industrial site resulted in the creation of the Sydney Tar Ponds, one of Canada’s largest contaminated sites. Since its closure, there have been several attempts to remediate this former industrial site and finally, in 2004, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia committed to remediate the site to reduce potential ecological and human health risks to the environment. The Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens cleanup project has become the most prominent remediation project in Canada today. As an integral part of remediation of the site (i.e., which consisted of solidification/stabilization and associated capping of the Tar Ponds), an extensive multiple media environmental effects program was implemented to assess what effects remediation had on the surrounding environment, and, in particular, harbour sediments. Additionally, longer-term natural sediment recovery rates of select contaminants predicted for the harbour sediments were compared to current conditions. During remediation, potential contributions to sediment quality, in addition to remedial efforts, were evaluated which included a significant harbour dredging project, propeller wash from harbour traffic, storm events, adjacent loading/unloading of coal and municipal wastewater treatment discharges. Two sediment sampling methodologies, sediment grab and gravity corer, were also compared to evaluate the detection of subtle changes in sediment quality. Results indicated that overall spatial distribution pattern of historical contaminants remains unchanged, although at much lower concentrations than previously reported, due to natural recovery. Measurements of sediment indicator parameter concentrations confirmed that natural recovery rates of Sydney Harbour sediments were in broad agreement with predicted concentrations, in spite of ongoing remediation activities. Overall, most measured parameters in sediments showed little temporal variability even when using different sampling methodologies, during three years of remediation compared to baseline, except for the detection of significant increases in total PAH concentrations noted during one year of remediation monitoring. The data confirmed the effectiveness of mitigation measures implemented during construction relative to harbour sediment quality, despite other anthropogenic activities and the dynamic nature of the harbour.

Keywords: contaminated sediment, monitoring, recovery, remediation

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Authors: Leandro Marcos Alves Vaz

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In this article, we analyze the different approaches to the topic Magnetism of Matter in physics textbooks of Brazilian schools. For this, we compared the approach to the concepts of the magnetic characteristics of materials (diamagnetism, paramagnetism, ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism) in different sources of information and in different levels of education, from Higher Education to High School. In this sense, we used as reference the theory of the Didactic Transposition of Yves Chevallard, a French educational theorist, who conceived in his theory three types of knowledge – Scholarly Knowledge, Knowledge to be taught and Taught Knowledge – related to teaching practice. As a research methodology, from the reading of the works used in teacher training and those destined to basic education students, we compared the treatment of a higher education physics book, a scientific article published in a Brazilian journal of the educational area, and four high school textbooks, in order to establish in which there is a greater or lesser degree of approximation with the knowledge produced by the scholars – scholarly knowledge – or even with the knowledge to be taught (to that found in books intended for teaching). Thus, we evaluated the level of proximity of the subjects conveyed in high school and higher education, as well as the relevance that some textbook authors give to the theme.

Keywords: Brazilian physics books, didactic transposition, magnetism of matter, teaching of physics

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Authors: Reshu Yadav, Himanshu Joshi, S. K. Tripathi

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Fresh water is a scarce resource which is essential for humans and ecosystems, but its distribution is uneven. Agricultural production accounts for 70% of all surface water supplies. It is projected that against the expansion in the area equipped for irrigation by 0.6% per year, the global potential irrigation water demand would rise by 9.5% during 2021-25. This would, on one hand, have to compete against the sharply rising urban water demand. On the other, it would also have to face the fear of climate change, as temperatures rise and crop yields could drop from 10-30% in many large areas. The huge demand for irrigation combined with fresh water scarcity encourages to explore the reuse of wastewater as a resource. However, the use of such wastewater is often linked to the safety issues when used non judiciously or with poor safeguards while irrigating food crops. Paddy is one of the major crops globally and amongst the most important in South Asia and Africa. In many parts of the world, use of municipal wastewater has been promoted as a viable option in this regard. In developing and fast growing countries like India, regularly increasing wastewater generation rates may allow this option to be considered quite seriously. In view of this, a pilot field study was conducted at the Jagjeetpur Municipal Sewage treatment plant situated in the Haridwar town of Uttarakhand state, India. The objectives of the present study were to study the effect of treated wastewater on the production of various paddy varieties (Sharbati, PR-114, PB-1, Menaka, PB1121 and PB 1509) and emission of GHG gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) as compared to the same varieties grown in the control plots irrigated with fresh water. Of late, the concept of water footprint assessment has emerged, which explains enumeration of various types of water footprints of an agricultural entity from its production to processing stages. Paddy, the most water demanding staple crop of Uttarakhand state, displayed a high green water footprint value of 2966.538 m3/ton. Most of the wastewater irrigated varieties displayed upto 6% increase in production, except Menaka and PB-1121, which showed a reduction in production (6% and 3% respectively), due to pest and insect infestation. The treated wastewater was observed to be rich in Nitrogen (55.94 mg/ml Nitrate), Phosphorus (54.24 mg/ml) and Potassium (9.78 mg/ml), thus rejuvenating the soil quality and not requiring any external nutritional supplements. Percentage increase of GHG gases on irrigation with treated municipal waste water as compared to control plots was observed as 0.4% - 8.6% (CH4), 1.1% - 9.2% (CO2), and 0.07% - 5.8% (N2O). The variety, Sharbati, displayed maximum production (5.5 ton/ha) and emerged as the most resistant variety against pests and insects. The emission values of CH4 ,CO2 and N2O were 729.31 mg/m2/d, 322.10 mg/m2/d and 400.21 mg/m2/d in water stagnant condition. This study highlighted a successful possibility of reuse of wastewater for non-potable purposes offering the potential for exploiting this resource that can replace or reduce existing use of fresh water sources in agricultural sector.

Keywords: greenhouse gases, nutrients, water footprint, wastewater irrigation

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Authors: Temitope L. Baiyegunhi, Christopher Baiyegunhi, Kuiwu Liu, Oswald Gwavava

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Diagenesis is the most important factor that affects or impact the reservoir property. Despite the fact that published data gives a vast amount of information on the geology, sedimentology and lithostratigraphy of the Ecca Group in the Karoo Basin of South Africa, little is known of the diagenesis of the potentially feasible shales and sandstones of the Ecca Group. The study aims to provide a general account of the diagenesis of sandstones and mudstone of the Ecca Group. Twenty-five diagenetic textures and structures are identified and grouped into three regimes or stages that include eogenesis, mesogenesis and telogenesis. Clay minerals are the most common cementing materials in the Ecca sandstones and mudstones. Smectite, kaolinite and illite are the major clay minerals that act as pore lining rims and pore-filling cement. Most of the clay minerals and detrital grains were seriously attacked and replaced by calcite. Calcite precipitates locally in pore spaces and partly or completely replaced feldspar and quartz grains, mostly at their margins. Precipitation of cements and formation of pyrite and authigenic minerals as well as little lithification occurred during the eogenesis. This regime was followed by mesogenesis which brought about an increase in tightness of grain packing, loss of pore spaces and thinning of beds due to weight of overlying sediments and selective dissolution of framework grains. Compaction, mineral overgrowths, mineral replacement, clay-mineral authigenesis, deformation and pressure solution structures occurred during mesogenesis. During rocks were uplifted, weathered and unroofed by erosion, this resulted in additional grain fracturing, decementation and oxidation of iron-rich volcanic fragments and ferromagnesian minerals. The rocks of Ecca Group were subjected to moderate-intense mechanical and chemical compaction during its progressive burial. Intergranular pores, matrix micro pores, secondary intragranular, dissolution and fractured pores are the observed pores. The presence of fractured and dissolution pores tend to enhance reservoir quality. However, the isolated nature of the pores makes them unfavourable producers of hydrocarbons, which at best would require stimulation. The understanding of the space and time distribution of diagenetic processes in these rocks will allow the development of predictive models of their quality, which may contribute to the reduction of risks involved in their exploration.

Keywords: diagenesis, reservoir quality, Ecca Group, Karoo Supergroup

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Authors: Aarushi Agarwal, Tara Singh, Anju Lata Singh, Trayambak Tiwari, Indramani Lal Singh

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The existing interdependent relationship between attention and consciousness has been put to debate since long. To testify the nature, dual-task paradigm has been used to simultaneously manipulate awareness and attention. With central discrimination task which is attentional demanding, participants also perform simple discrimination task in the periphery in near absence of attention. Individual-based analysis of performance accuracy in single and dual condition showed and above chance level performance i.e. more than 80%. In order to widen the understanding of extent of discrimination carried in near absence of attention, natural image and its geometric equivalent shape were presented in the periphery; synthetic objects accounted to lower level of performance than natural objects in dual condition. The gaze plot and heatmap indicate that peripheral performance do not necessarily involve saccade every time, verifying the discrimination in the periphery was in near absence of attention. Thus our studies show an interdependent nature of attention and awareness.

Keywords: attention, awareness, dual task paradigm, natural and geometric images

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Authors: Alexey Yu. Postnikov, Nikolay T. Kazakovskiy, Valery V. Mokrushin, Irina A. Tsareva, Andrey A. Potekhin, Valentina N. Golubeva, Yuliya V. Potekhina, Maxim V. Tsarev

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The development of tritium and deuterium targets for neutron tubes and generators is a part of the activities in All-Russia Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF). These items contain a metal substrate (for example, copper) with a titanium film with a few microns thickness deposited on it. Then these metal films are saturated with tritium, deuterium or their mixtures. The significant problem in neutron tubes and neutron generators is the characterization of substrate surface before a deposition of titanium film on it, and analysis of the deposited titanium film’s surface before hydrogenation and after a saturation of the film with hydrogen isotopes. The performance effectiveness of neutron tube and generator also depends on upon the quality parameters of the surface of the initial substrate, deposited metal film and hydrogenated target. The objective of our work is to study the target prototype samples, that have differ by various approaches to the preliminary chemical processing of a copper substrate, and to analyze the integrity of titanium film after its saturation with deuterium. The research results of copper substrate and the surface of deposited titanium film with the use of electron microscopy, X-ray spectral microanalysis and laser-spark methods of analyses are presented. The causes of surface defects appearance have been identified. The distribution of deuterium and some impurities (oxygen and nitrogen) along the surface and across the height of the hydrogenated film in the target has been established. This allows us to evaluate the composition homogeneity of the samples and consequently to estimate the quality of hydrogenated samples. As the result of this work the propositions on the advancement of production technology and characterization of target’s surface have been presented.

Keywords: tritium and deuterium targets, titanium film, laser-spark methods, electron microscopy

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Authors: Mohammadreza Mojtahedi

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Rapid urbanization presents multifaceted challenges, including environmental degradation and public health concerns. As the inevitability of urban sprawl continues, it becomes essential to devise strategies to alleviate its pressures on natural ecosystems and elevate socio-economic benchmarks within cities. This research investigates urban agriculture's economic contributions, emphasizing its pivotal role in food provisioning and export potential. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach, field survey data was primarily collected via questionnaires. The tool's validity was affirmed by expert opinions, and its reliability secured by achieving a Cronbach's alpha score over 0.70 from 30 preliminary questionnaires. The research encompasses Neishabour's populace of 264,375, extracting a sample size of 384 via Cochran's formula. Findings reveal the significance of urban agriculture in food supply and its potential for exports, underlined by a p-value < 0.05. Neishabour's urban farming can augment the export of organic commodities, fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, and foster product branding. Moreover, it supports the provision of fresh produce, bolstering dietary quality. Urban agriculture further impacts urban development metrics—enhancing environmental quality, job opportunities, income levels, and aesthetics, while promoting rainwater utilization. Popular cultivations include peaches, Damask roses, and poultry, tailored to available spaces. Structural equation modeling indicates urban agriculture's overarching influence, accounting for a 56% variance, predominantly in food sufficiency and export proficiency.

Keywords: urban agriculture, food supply, export potential, urban development, environmental health, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Jocelyn Doucet, Jean-Philippe Laviolette, Ali Eslami

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The end-of-life management and recycling of polymer wastes remains a key environment issue in on-going efforts to increase resource efficiency and attaining GHG emission reduction targets. Half of all the plastics ever produced were made in the last 13 years, and only about 16% of that plastic waste is collected for recycling, while 25% is incinerated, 40% is landfilled, and 19% is unmanaged and leaks in the environment and waterways. In addition to the plastic collection issue, the UN recently published a report on chemicals in plastics, which adds another layer of challenge when integrating recycled content containing toxic products into new products. To tackle these important issues, innovative solutions are required. Chemical recycling of plastics provides new complementary alternatives to the current recycled plastic market by converting waste material into a high value chemical commodity that can be reintegrated in a variety of applications, making the total market size of the output – virgin-like, high value products - larger than the market size of the input – plastic waste. Access to high-quality feedstock also remains a major obstacle, primarily due to material contamination issues. Pyrowave approaches this challenge with its innovative nano-recycling technology, which purifies polymers at the molecular level, removing undesirable contaminants and restoring the resin to its virgin state without having to depolymerise it. This breakthrough approach expands the range of plastics that can be effectively recycled, including mixed plastics with various contaminants such as lead, inorganic pigments, and flame retardants. The technology allows yields below 100ppm, and purity can be adjusted to an infinitesimal level depending on the customer's specifications. The separation of the polymer and contaminants in Pyrowave's nano-recycling process offers the unique ability to customize the solution on targeted additives and contaminants to be removed based on the difference in molecular size. This precise control enables the attainment of a final polymer purity equivalent to virgin resin. The patented process involves dissolving the contaminated material using a specially formulated solvent, purifying the mixture at the molecular level, and subsequently extracting the solvent to yield a purified polymer resin that can directly be reintegrated in new products without further treatment. Notably, this technology offers simplicity, effectiveness, and flexibility while minimizing environmental impact and preserving valuable resources in the manufacturing circuit. Pyrowave has successfully applied this nano-recycling technology to decontaminate polymers and supply purified, high-quality recycled plastics to critical industries, including food-contact compliance. The technology is low-carbon, electrified, and provides 100% traceable resins with properties identical to those of virgin resins. Additionally, the issue of low recycling rates and the limited market for traditionally hard-to-recycle plastic waste has fueled the need for new complementary alternatives. Chemical recycling, such as Pyrowave's microwave depolymerization, presents a sustainable and efficient solution by converting plastic waste into high-value commodities. By employing microwave catalytic depolymerization, Pyrowave enables a truly circular economy of plastics, particularly in treating polystyrene waste to produce virgin-like styrene monomers. This revolutionary approach boasts low energy consumption, high yields, and a reduced carbon footprint. Pyrowave offers a portfolio of sustainable, low-carbon, electric solutions to give plastic waste a second life and paves the way to the new circular economy of plastics. Here, particularly for polystyrene, we show that styrene monomer yields from Pyrowave’s polystyrene microwave depolymerization reactor is 2,2 to 1,5 times higher than that of the thermal conventional pyrolysis. In addition, we provide a detailed understanding of the microwave assisted depolymerization via analyzing the effects of microwave power, pyrolysis time, microwave receptor and temperature on the styrene product yields. Furthermore, we investigate life cycle environmental impact assessment of microwave assisted pyrolysis of polystyrene in commercial-scale production. Finally, it is worth pointing out that Pyrowave is able to treat several tons of polystyrene to produce virgin styrene monomers and manage waste/contaminated polymeric materials as well in a truly circular economy.

Keywords: nanorecycling, nanomaterials, plastic recycling, depolymerization

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Authors: S. Obregon-Cano, R. Moreno-Rojas, E. Cartea-Gonzalez, A. De Haro-Bailon

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The potential of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for screening the total glucosinolate (t-GSL) content, and also, the aliphatic glucosinolates gluconapin (GNA), progoitrin (PRO) and glucobrassicanapin (GBN) in turnip greens and turnip tops was assessed. This crop is grown for edible leaves and stems for human consumption. The reference values for glucosinolates, as they were obtained by high performance liquid chromatography on the vegetable samples, were regressed against different spectral transformations by modified partial least-squares (MPLS) regression (calibration set of samples n= 350). The resulting models were satisfactory, with calibration coefficient values from 0.72 (GBN) to 0.98 (tGSL). The predictive ability of the equations obtained was tested using a set of samples (n=70) independent of the calibration set. The determination coefficients and prediction errors (SEP) obtained in the external validation were: GNA=0.94 (SEP=3.49); PRO=0.41 (SEP=1.08); GBN=0.55 (SEP=0.60); tGSL=0.96 (SEP=3.28). These results show that the equations developed for total glucosinolates, as well as for gluconapin can be used for screening these compounds in the leaves and stems of this species. In addition, the progoitrin and glucobrassicanapin equations obtained can be used to identify those samples with high, medium and low contents. The calibration equations obtained were accurate enough for a fast, non-destructive and reliable analysis of the content in GNA and tGSL directly from NIR spectra. The equations for PRO and GBN can be employed to identify samples with high, medium and low contents.

Keywords: brassica rapa, glucosinolates, gluconapin, NIRS, turnip greens

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Authors: Indika Fernando, Jiangang Fei, Roger Stanley, Hossein Enshaei

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Delicate produce such as fresh fruits are increasingly susceptible to physiological damage during the essential post-harvest operations such as transport and handling. Vibration and shock during the distribution are identified factors for produce damage within post-harvest supply chains. Mechanical damages caused during transit may significantly diminish the quality of fresh produce which may also result in a substantial wastage. Bananas are one of the staple fruit crops and the most sold supermarket produce in Australia. It is also the largest horticultural industry in the state of Queensland where 95% of the total production of bananas are cultivated. This results in significantly lengthy interstate supply chains where fruits are exposed to prolonged vibration and shocks. This paper is focused on determining the shock and vibration levels experienced by packaged bananas during transit from the farm gate to the retail market. Tri-axis acceleration data were captured by custom made accelerometer based data loggers which were set to a predetermined sampling rate of 400 Hz. The devices recorded data continuously for 96 Hours in the interstate journey of nearly 3000 Km from the growing fields in far north Queensland to the central distribution centre in Melbourne in Victoria. After the bananas were ripened at the ripening facility in Melbourne, the data loggers were used to capture the transport and handling conditions from the central distribution centre to three retail outlets within the outskirts of Melbourne. The quality of bananas were assessed before and after transport at each location along the supply chain. Time series vibration and shock data were used to determine the frequency and the severity of the transient shocks experienced by the packages. Frequency spectrogram was generated to determine the dominant frequencies within each segment of the post-harvest supply chain. Root Mean Square (RMS) acceleration levels were calculated to characterise the vibration intensity during transport. Data were further analysed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the Power Spectral Density (PSD) profiles were generated to determine the critical frequency ranges. It revealed the frequency range in which the escalated energy levels were transferred to the packages. It was found that the vertical vibration was the highest and the acceleration levels mostly oscillated between ± 1g during transport. Several shock responses were recorded exceeding this range which were mostly attributed to package handling. These detrimental high impact shocks may eventually lead to mechanical damages in bananas such as impact bruising, compression bruising and neck injuries which affect their freshness and visual quality. It was revealed that the frequency range between 0-5 Hz and 15-20 Hz exert an escalated level of vibration energy to the packaged bananas which may result in abrasion damages such as scuffing, fruit rub and blackened rub. Further research is indicated specially in the identified critical frequency ranges to minimise exposure of fruits to the harmful effects of vibration. Improving the handling conditions and also further study on package failure mechanisms when exposed to transient shock excitation will be crucial to improve the visual quality of bananas within the post-harvest supply chain in Australia.

Keywords: bananas, handling, post-harvest, supply chain, shocks, transport, vibration

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Authors: Rohit T. P., Sahil Athrij, Sasi Gopalan

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Currently, the content entertainment industry is dominated by mobile devices. As the trends slowly shift towards Augmented/Virtual Reality applications the computational demands on these devices are increasing exponentially and we are already reaching the limits of hardware optimizations. This paper proposes a software solution to this problem. By leveraging the capabilities of cloud computing we can offload the work from mobile devices to dedicated rendering servers that are way more powerful. But this introduces the problem of latency. This paper introduces a protocol that can achieve high-performance low latency Augmented/Virtual Reality experience. There are two parts to the protocol, 1) In-flight compression The main cause of latency in the system is the time required to transmit the camera frame from client to server. The round trip time is directly proportional to the amount of data transmitted. This can therefore be reduced by compressing the frames before sending. Using some standard compression algorithms like JPEG can result in minor size reduction only. Since the images to be compressed are consecutive camera frames there won't be a lot of changes between two consecutive images. So inter-frame compression is preferred. Inter-frame compression can be implemented efficiently using WebGL but the implementation of WebGL limits the precision of floating point numbers to 16bit in most devices. This can introduce noise to the image due to rounding errors, which will add up eventually. This can be solved using an improved interframe compression algorithm. The algorithm detects changes between frames and reuses unchanged pixels from the previous frame. This eliminates the need for floating point subtraction thereby cutting down on noise. The change detection is also improved drastically by taking the weighted average difference of pixels instead of the absolute difference. The kernel weights for this comparison can be fine-tuned to match the type of image to be compressed. 2) Dynamic Load distribution Conventional cloud computing architectures work by offloading as much work as possible to the servers, but this approach can cause a hit on bandwidth and server costs. The most optimal solution is obtained when the device utilizes 100% of its resources and the rest is done by the server. The protocol balances the load between the server and the client by doing a fraction of the computing on the device depending on the power of the device and network conditions. The protocol will be responsible for dynamically partitioning the tasks. Special flags will be used to communicate the workload fraction between the client and the server and will be updated in a constant interval of time ( or frames ). The whole of the protocol is designed so that it can be client agnostic. Flags are available to the client for resetting the frame, indicating latency, switching mode, etc. The server can react to client-side changes on the fly and adapt accordingly by switching to different pipelines. The server is designed to effectively spread the load and thereby scale horizontally. This is achieved by isolating client connections into different processes.

Keywords: 2D kernelling, augmented reality, cloud computing, dynamic load distribution, immersive experience, mobile computing, motion tracking, protocols, real-time systems, web-based augmented reality application

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Authors: Adnan Lanjawi

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This paper is carried out to investigate the management of hazardous waste in the chemistry section which belongs to Dubai Police forensic laboratory. The chemicals are the main contributor toward the accumulation of hazardous waste in the section. This is due to the requirement to use it in analysis, such as of explosives, drugs, inorganic and fire debris cases. This leads to negative effects on the environment and to the employees’ health and safety. The research investigates the quantity of chemicals there, the labels, the storage room and equipment used. The target is to reduce the need for disposal by looking at alternative options, such as elimination, substitution and recycling. The data was collected by interviewing the top managers there who have been working in the lab more than 20 years. Also, data was collected by observing employees and how they carry out experiments. Therefore, a survey was made to assess their knowledge about the hazardous waste. The management of hazardous chemicals in the chemistry section needs to be improved. The main findings illustrate that about 110 bottles of reference substances were going to be disposed of in 2014. These bottles were bought for about 100,000 UAE Dirhams (£17,600). This means that the management of substances purchase is not organised. There is no categorisation programme in place, which makes the waste control very difficult. In addition, the findings show that chemical are segregated according to alphabetical order, whereas the efficient way is to separate them according to their nature and property. In addition, the research suggested technology and experiments to follow to reduce the need for using solvents and chemicals in the sample preparation.

Keywords: control, hazard, laboratories, waste,

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Authors: Ibe O. Stephen, Egwuonwu N. Gabriel

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Variations in seismic P-wave velocity and depth resolution resulting from variations in subsurface water saturation were investigated in this study in order to determine the season of the year that gives the most reliable P-wave velocity and depth resolution of the subsurface in Zaria Area, Nigeria. A 2D seismic refraction tomography technique involving an ABEM Terraloc MK6 Seismograph was used to collect data across a borehole of standard log with the centre of the spread situated at the borehole site. Using the same parameters this procedure was repeated along the same spread for at least once in a month for at least eight months in a year for four years. The choice for each survey time depended on when there was significant variation in rainfall data. The seismic data collected were tomographically inverted. The results suggested that the average P-wave velocity ranges of the subsurface in the area are generally higher when the ground was wet than when it was dry. The results also suggested that the overburden of about 9.0 m in thickness, the weathered basement of about 14.0 m in thickness and the fractured basement at a depth of about 23.0 m best fitted the borehole log. This best fit was consistently obtained in the months between March and May when the average total rainfall was about 44.8 mm in the area. The results had also shown that the velocity ranges in both dry and wet formations fall within the standard ranges as provided in literature. In terms of velocity, this study has not in any way clearly distinguished the quality of the results of the seismic data obtained when the subsurface was dry from the results of the data collected when the subsurface was wet. It was concluded that for more detailed and reliable seismic studies in Zaria Area and its environs with similar climatic condition, the surveys are best conducted between March and May. The most reliable seismic data for depth resolution are most likely obtainable in the area between March and May.

Keywords: best season, variations in depth resolution, variations in P-wave velocity, variations in subsurface water saturation, Zaria area

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Authors: Suneel Kumar, Nanda Kumar J. Sreelal Sreedhar, Suchibrata Sen, V. Muralidharan,

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Fan technology is very critical and crucial for any aero engine technology. The fan disc forms a critical part of the fan module. It is an airworthiness requirement to have a metrological qualified quality disc. The current study uses a tactile probing and scanning on an articulated measuring machine (AMM), a bridge type coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and Metrology software for intermediate and final dimensional and geometrical verification during the prototype development of the disc manufactured through forging and machining process. The circumferential dovetails manufactured through the milling process are evaluated based on the evaluated and analysed metrological process. To perform metrological optimization a change of philosophy is needed making quality measurements available as fast as possible to improve process knowledge and accelerate the process but with accuracy, precise and traceable measurements. The offline CMM programming for inspection and optimisation of the CMM inspection plan are crucial portions of the study and discussed. The dimensional measurement plan as per the ASME B 89.7.2 standard to reach an optimised CMM measurement plan and strategy are an important requirement. The probing strategy, stylus configuration, and approximation strategy effects on the measurements of circumferential dovetail measurements of the developmental prototype disc are discussed. The results were discussed in the form of enhancement of the R &R (repeatability and reproducibility) values with uncertainty levels within the desired limits. The findings from the measurement strategy adopted for disc dovetail evaluation and inspection time optimisation are discussed with the help of various analyses and graphical outputs obtained from the verification process.

Keywords: coordinate measuring machine, CMM, aero engine, articulated measuring machine, fan disc

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Authors: Flavia Oliveira de A. M. Cruz, Edison Tostes Faria, Paula Elaine D. Reis

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When the breast is submitted to radiation therapy (RT), the most common effects are pain, skin changes, mobility restrictions, local sensory alteration, and fatigue. These effects, if not managed properly, may reduce the quality of life of cancer patients and may lead to the treatment discontinuation. Therefore, promoting knowledge and guidelines for symptom management remain a high priority for patients and a challenge for health professionals, due to the need to handle side effects in a population with a life-threatening disease. Printed materials are important strategies for supporting educative activities since they help the individual to assimilate and understand the amount of information transmitted. Nurses' behavior can be systematized through the use of an educative manual, which may be effective in promoting information regarding the treatment, self-care and how to control the effects of RT at home. In view of the importance of guaranteeing the validity of the material before its use, the objective of this research was to validate the content and appearance of an educative manual for breast cancer patients undergoing RT. The Theory of Psychometrics was used for the validation process in this descriptive methodological research. A minimum agreement rate (AR) of 80% was considered to guarantee the validity of the material. The data were collected from October to December 2017, by means of two assessments tools, constructed in the form of a Likert scale, with five levels of understanding. These instruments addressed different aspects of the evaluation, in view of two different groups of participants; 17 experts in the theme area of the educative manual, and 12 women that received RT previously to treat breast cancer. The manual was titled 'Orientation Manual: radiation therapy in breast', and was focused on breast cancer patients attended at the Department of Oncology of the Brasília University Hospital (UNACON/HUB). The research project was submitted to the Research Ethics Committee at the School of Health Sciences of the University of Brasília (CAAE: 24592213.1.0000.0030). Only two items of the assessment tool for the experts, one related to the manual's ability to promote behavioral and attitude changes and the other related to the extent of its use for other health services, obtained AR < 80% and were reformulated based on the participants' suggestions and in the literature. All other items were considered appropriate and/or complete appropriate in the three blocks proposed for the experts: objectives - 89%, structure and form - 93%, and relevance - 93%; and good and/or very good in the five blocks of analysis proposed for patients: objectives - 100%, organization - 100%, writing style - 100%, appearance - 100%, and motivation. The appearance and content validation of the educative manual proposed were attended to. The educative manual was considered relevant and pertinent and may contribute to the understanding of the therapeutic process by breast cancer patients during RT, as well as support clinical practice through the nursing consultation.

Keywords: oncology nursing, nursing care, validation studies, educational technology

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Authors: Greg Turner, Bin Lu, Cheer-Sun Yang

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As computing technology advances, smartphone applications can assist in student learning in a pervasive way. For example, the idea of using a mobile apps for the PA Common Trees, Pests, Pathogens, in the field as a reference tool allows middle school students to learn about trees and associated pests/pathogens without bringing a textbook. In the past, some researches study the mobile software Mobile Application Software Development Life Cycle (MADLC) including traditional models such as the waterfall model, or more recent Agile Methods. Others study the issues related to the software development process. Very little research is on the development of three heterogenous mobile systems simultaneously in a small university where the availability of developers is an issue. In this paper, we propose to use a hybride model of Waterfall Model and the Agile Model, known as the Relay Race Methodology (RRM) in practice, to reflect the concept of racing and relaying for scheduling. Based on the development project, we observe that the modeling of the transition between any two phases is manifested naturally. Thus, we claim that the RRM model can provide a de fecto rather than a de jure basis for the core concept in the MADLC. In this paper, the background of the project is introduced first. Then, the challenges are pointed out followed by our solutions. Finally, the experiences learned and the future work are presented.

Keywords: agile methods, mobile apps, software process model, waterfall model

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Authors: Shanshan Guo, Xiaoying Zhu, Dominik Jańczewski, Koon Gee Neoh

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Surface charge and wettability are two prominent physical factors governing cell adhesion and have been extensively studied in the literature. However, a comparison between the two driving forces in terms of their independent and cooperative effects in affecting cell adhesion is rarely explored on a systematic and quantitative level. Herein, we formulate a protocol which allows two-dimensional and independent control over both surface charge and wettability. This protocol enables the unambiguous comparison of the effects of these two properties on cell adhesion. This strategy is implemented by controlling both the relative thickness of polyion layers in the layer-by-layer assembly and the polyion side chain chemical structures. The 2D property matrix spans surface isoelectric point ranging from 5 to 9 and water contact angle from 35º to 70º, with other interferential factors (e.g. roughness) eliminated. The interplay between these two surface variables influences 3T3 fibroblast cell adhesion. The results show that both surface charge and wettability have an effect on its adhesion. The combined effects of positive charge and hydrophilicity led to the highest cell adhesion whereas negative charge and hydrophobicity led to the lowest cell adhesion. Our design strategy can potentially form the basis for studying the distinct behaviors of electrostatic force or wettability driven interfacial phenomena and serving as a reference in future studies assessing cell adhesion to surfaces with known charge and wettability within the property range studied here.

Keywords: cell adhesion, layer-by-layer, surface charge, surface wettability

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Authors: Langhit Kurar, Loren Charles

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Introduction: In light of recent BOAST 12 (August 2016) published guidance on management of ankle fractures, the project aimed to highlight key discrepancies throughout the care trajectory from admission to point of discharge at a district general hospital. Wide breadth of data covering three key domains: accident and emergency, radiology, and orthopaedic surgery were subsequently stratified and recommendations on note documentation, and outpatient follow up were made. Methods: A retrospective twelve month audit was conducted reviewing results of ankle fracture management in 37 patients. Inclusion criterion involved all patients seen at Darent Valley Hospital (DVH) emergency department with radiographic evidence of an ankle fracture. Exclusion criterion involved all patients managed solely by nursing staff or having sustained purely ligamentous injury. Medical notes, including discharge summaries and the PACS online radiographic tool were used for data extraction. Results: Cross-examination of the A & E domain revealed limited awareness of the BOAST 12 recent publication including requirements to document skin integrity and neurovascular assessment. This had direct implications as this would have changed the surgical plan for acutely compromised patients. The majority of results obtained from the radiographic domain were satisfactory with appropriate X-rays taken in over 95% of cases. However, due to time pressures within A & E, patients were often left without a post manipulation XRAY in a backslab. Poorly reduced fractures were subsequently left for a long period resulting in swollen ankles and a time-dependent lag to surgical intervention. This had knocked on implications for prolonged inpatient stay resulting in hospital-acquired co-morbidity including pressure sores. Discussion: The audit has highlighted several areas of improvement throughout the disease trajectory from review in the emergency department to follow up as an outpatient. This has prompted the creation of an algorithm to ensure patients with significant fractures presenting to the emergency department are seen promptly and treatment expedited as per recent guidance. This includes timing for X-rays taken in A & E. Re-audit has shown significant improvement in both documentation at time of presentation and appropriate follow-up strategies. Within the orthopedic domain, we are in the process of creating an ankle fracture pathway to ensure imaging and weight bearing status are made clear to the consulting clinicians in an outpatient setting. Significance/Clinical Relevance: As a result of the ankle fracture algorithm we have adapted the BOAST 12 guidance to shape an intrinsic pathway to not only improve patient management within the emergency department but also create a standardised format for follow up.

Keywords: ankle, fracture, BOAST, radiology

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Authors: Viktorija Voidogaitė

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Catholic education is based on the belief that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. It is also influenced by the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the humble and vulnerable. These principles emphasize the importance of serving the most vulnerable members of the Church community and promoting inclusivity without discrimination. This perspective emphasizes the need to protect the weakest members with compassion. However, realizing such an ideal in practice proves challenging, as the shortcomings and errors prevalent in any society often stem from the actions of Christians within that society. The evolution of these connections is observed throughout the historical development of Catholic education. In some European countries, Catholic education has become elitist, with limited room for inclusivity. This creates a conspicuous gap between the principles of the Evangelical community and elite Catholic schools and gymnasiums. Some schools appear to be most inclined to educate only those students who best align with their profile, leaving those needing assistance on the margins. As we advance into the third decade of the 21st century, there emerges a fundamental consideration: whether individuals who can assist the underprivileged and the infirm are being emphasized. Yet, it remains an open question whether these individuals will also possess the willingness and capability to construct a community or society that is inclusive and accessible to all.

Keywords: inclusion, Catholic education, inclusive education, becoming

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Authors: Reda Abdel-Aziz

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Agricultural activities in Egypt generate annually around 35 million tons of waste. Composting is one of the most promising technologies to turnover waste in a more economical way, for many centuries. Composting has been used as a mean of recycling organic matter back into the soil to improve soil structure and fertility. Field experiments were conducted in two governorates, Giza and Al-Monofia, to find out the effect of compost with different rates of chemical fertilizers on growth and yield of corn (Zea mays L.) during two constitutive seasons of 2012 and 2013. The experiment, laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), was carried out on five farmers’ fields in each governorate. The treatments were: unfertilized control, full dose of NPK (120, 30, and 50 kg/acre, respectively), compost at rate of 20 ton/acre, compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 25% of chemical fertilizer, compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 50% of chemical fertilizer and compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 75% of chemical fertilizer. Results revealed a superiority of the treatment of compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 50% of NPK that caused significant improvement in growth, yield and nutrient uptakes of corn in the two governorates during the two constitutive seasons. Results showed that agricultural waste could be composted into value added soil amendment to enhance efficiency of chemical fertilizer. Composting of agricultural waste could also reduce the chemical fertilizers potential hazard to the environment.

Keywords: agricultural waste, compost, chemical fertilizers, corn production, environment

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Authors: Saleh Mobasseri, Mohammad Mobasseri

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The article refers to the history of the rise of brake system and described it’s importance in passenger’s lives. The disc brake system performance and ABS are also compared with each other by the kinetic and kinematic analysis of the braking system,and evaluate the impact of each parameters is checked on the vehicle stopping distance. Anti−lock braking system (ABS) is one of the most important features that affect on vehicle safety and for this reason much efforts have been made to improve this system. The objectives of the anti−lock system (ABS) are as follows: Preventing the wheels from locking, achieving maximum technical momentum in terms of braking,stability,reducing stopping distances. In this paper,we study the comparative of ABS brake and disc brake.

Keywords: anti−lock braking System (ABS), stopping distances, booster, car stability, force exerted on the brake pedal

Procedia PDF Downloads 390

Authors: Venkatesan Annadurai, Kannan Ethirajalu, Anu Roshini Ramakrishnan

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Copper oxide (CuO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) based coaxial (CuO-ZnO nanorods) heterojunction has been the interest of various research communities for solar cells, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodetectors applications. Copper oxide (CuO) is a p-type material with the band gap of 1.5 eV and it is considered to be an attractive absorber material in solar cells applications due to its high absorption coefficient and long minority carrier diffusion length. Similarly, n-type ZnO nanorods possess many attractive advantages over thin films such as, the light trapping ability and photosensitivity owing to the presence of oxygen related hole-traps at the surface. Moreover, the abundant availability, non-toxicity, and inexpensiveness of these materials make them suitable for potentially cheap, large area, and stable photovoltaic applications. However, the efficiency of the CuO-ZnO nanorods heterojunction based devices is greatly affected by interface defects which generally lead to the poor performance. In spite of having much potential, not much work has been carried out to understand the interface quality and transport mechanism involved across the CuO-ZnO nanorods heterojunction. Therefore, a detailed investigation of CuO-ZnO heterojunction is needed to understand the interface which affects its photovoltaic performance. Herein, we have fabricated the CuO-ZnO nanorods based heterojunction by simple hydrothermal and electrodeposition technique and investigated its interface quality by carrying out temperature (300 –10 K) dependent current-voltage (I-V) measurements under dark and illumination of visible light. Activation energies extracted from the temperature dependent I-V characteristics reveals that recombination and tunneling mechanism across the interfacial barrier plays a significant role in the current flow.

Keywords: heterojunction, electrical transport, nanorods, solar cells

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Authors: Fui Ping Lim, Wen Choong Chua, Toan Thang Phan

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Aim: This study investigates the roles of Cord Lining Stem Cells (CLSCs) as potential therapeutic agents for diabetic wounds. Method: 20 genetically diabetic db/db mice were randomly assigned to two arms; (i) control group received placebo treatment (sham media or cells delivery material), and (ii) active comparator received CLSCs. Two full-thickness wounds, each sized 10mm X 10mm were created, one on each side of the midline on the back of the mice. Digital pictures were taken on day 1, 3, 7, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24, 28. Wound areas were analyzed with ImageJ TM software and calculated as percentage of the original wound. Time to closure was defined as the day the wound bed was completely epithelized and filled with new tissues. Results: The CLSCs-treated wounds, showed a significant increase in the percentage of wound closure and achieved 100% closure of the wound sooner than the control group by an average of 3.7 days. The mice treated with CLSCs have a shorter wound closure time (mean closure day: 19.8 days) as compared to the control group (mean closure day: 23.5 days). Conclusion: Our preliminary findings inferred that CLSCs treated wound achieved higher percentage of wound closure within a shorter duration of time.

Keywords: cord lining stem cell, diabetic wound, stem cell, wound

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Authors: Hsin-Yi Huang

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This study mainly discussed the disease-induced and surgery-induced physical, psychological, and spiritual issues faced by a patient who suffered from emphysema and respiratory failure and had underwent a right-lung transplantation surgery. Nursing care was provided from May 21 to May 29. Based on the observations, interviews, physical examinations, and evaluations that were carried out using Roy’s adaptation model, the following nursing issues were identified: risk of infection, lack of knowledge, and anxiety. Active care was provided and a good nursing relationship with the patient and the patient’s family was established. The four strategies of Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (self-transcendence, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and biofeedback) were employed. Instructions for the appropriate rehabilitation exercises were given, immunosuppressant concentration was monitored, and special measures were taken to prevent infection. The patient was encouraged to express feelings and was provided with sufficient information to alleviate anxiety. With assistance from nursing personnel and the medical team, the patient was successfully discharged from the hospital and thereafter embarked on the path of postoperative recovery. The patient learned about the importance of home self-care and regular follow-up outpatient visits, and patient management was implemented for discharge preparation services. This nursing case study may serve as a reference to nurses managing similar cases in future.

Keywords: anxiety, lung transplantation, Roy's adaptation model, self-efficacy theory

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Authors: Thais Cavalheri Santos, Pedro Jose Gabriel Ferreira, Alexandre Daliberto Frugoli, Lucio Leonardo, Pedro Americo Frugoli

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This paper presents a low cost education proposal to be used in engineering courses. The engineering education in universities of a developing country that is in need of an increasing number of engineers carried out with quality and affordably, pose a difficult problem to solve. In Brazil, the political and economic scenario requires academic managers able to reduce costs without compromising the quality of education. Within this context, the elaboration of a physics principles teaching method with the construction of an electronic balance is proposed. First, a method to develop and construct a load cell through which the students can understand the physical principle of strain gauges and bridge circuit will be proposed. The load cell structure was made with aluminum 6351T6, in dimensions of 80 mm x 13 mm x 13 mm and for its instrumentation, a complete Wheatstone Bridge was assembled with strain gauges of 350 ohms. Additionally, the process involves the use of a software tool to document the prototypes (design circuits), the conditioning of the signal, a microcontroller, C language programming as well as the development of the prototype. The project also intends to use an open-source I/O board (Arduino Microcontroller). To design the circuit, the Fritizing software will be used and, to program the controller, an open-source software named IDE®. A load cell was chosen because strain gauges have accuracy and their use has several applications in the industry. A prototype was developed for this study, and it confirmed the affordability of this educational idea. Furthermore, the goal of this proposal is to motivate the students to understand the several possible applications in high technology of the use of load cells and microcontroller.

Keywords: Arduino, load cell, low-cost education, strain gauge

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Pawan Kumar Pant, Bhanu Gupta, S. R. Kale, S. V. Veeravalli

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In many countries, buses are the principal means of transport, of which a majority are naturally ventilated with open windows. The design of this ventilation has little scientific basis and to address this problem a study has been undertaken involving both experiments and numerical simulations. The flow pattern inside and around of an open window bus with passengers has been investigated in detail. A full scale three-dimensional numerical simulation has been used for a) a bus with closed windows and b) with open windows. In either simulation, the bus had 58 seated passengers. The bus dimensions used were 2500 mm wide × 2500 mm high (exterior) × 10500 mm long and its speed was set at 40 km/h. In both cases, the flow separates at the top front edge forming a vortex and reattaches close to the mid-length. This attached flow separates once more as it leaves the bus. However, the strength and shape of the vortices at the top front and wake region is different for both cases. The streamline pattern around the bus is also different for the two cases. For the bus with open windows, the dominant airflow inside the bus is from the rear to the front of the bus and air velocity at the face level of the passengers was found to be 1/10th of the free stream velocity. These findings are in good agreement with flow visualization experiments performed in a water channel at 10 m/s, and with smoke/tuft visualizations in a wind tunnel with a free-stream velocity of approximately 40 km/h on a 1:25 scaled Perspex model.

Keywords: air flow, moving bus, open windows, vortex, wind tunnel

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Authors: Babak Daneshvar Rouyendegh

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The aim of this study is to develop and describe a new methodology for the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) problem using Intuitionistic Fuzzy Elimination Et Choix Traduisant La REalite (IFELECTRE) model. The proposed models enable Decision-Makers (DMs) on the assessment and use Intuitionistic Fuzzy numbers (IFN). A numerical example is provided to demonstrate and clarify the proposed analysis procedure. Also, an empirical experiment is conducted to validation the effectiveness.

Keywords: Decision-Makers (DMs), Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), Intuitionistic Fuzzy Elimination Et Choix Traduisant La REalite (IFELECTRE), Intuitionistic Fuzzy Numbers (IFN)

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Authors: Hassan Mohammadi Khujin

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Tissue engineering is the science of tissues and complex organs creation using scaffolds, cells and biologically active components. Most cells require scaffolds to grow and proliferate. These temporary support structures for tissue regeneration are later replaced with extracellular matrix produced inside the body. Recent advances in additive manufacturing methods allow production of highly porous, complex three dimensional scaffolds suitable for cell growth and proliferation. The current paper investigates the mechanical properties, including elastic modulus and compressive strength, as well as fluid flow dynamics, including permeability and flow-induced shear stress of scaffolds with four triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) configurations, namely the Schwarz primitive, the Schwarz diamond, the gyroid, and the Neovius structures. Higher porosity in all scaffold types resulted in lower mechanical properties. The permeability of the scaffolds was determined using Darcy's law with reference to geometrical parameters and the pressure drop derived from the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Higher porosity enhanced permeability and reduced wall shear stress in all scaffold designs.

Keywords: highly porous scaffolds, tissue engineering, finite elements analysis, CFD analysis

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Authors: Habib Khodaverdiloo, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Farrokh Asadzadeh, Martinus Th. Van Genuchten

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The soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is known to affect a broad range of soil physical, mechanical and hydraulic properties. Complete descriptions of a PSD curve should provide more information about these properties as opposed to having only information about soil textural class or the soil sand, silt and clay (SSC) fractions. We compared the accuracy of 19 different models of the cumulative PSD in terms of fitting observed data from a large number of Iranian soils. Parameters of the six most promising models were correlated with measured values of the field saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), the mean weight diameter of soil aggregates (MWD), bulk density (ρb), and porosity (∅). These same soil properties were correlated also with conventional PSD parameters (SSC fractions), selected geometric PSD parameters (notably the mean diameter dg and its standard deviation σg), and several other PSD parameters (D50 and D60). The objective was to find the best predictions of several soil physical quality indices and the soil hydraulic properties. Neither SSC nor dg, σg, D50 and D60 were found to have a significant correlation with both Kfs or logKfs, However, the parameters of several cumulative PSD models showed statistically significant correlation with Kfs and/or logKfs (|r| = 0.42 to 0.65; p ≤ 0.05). The correlation between MWD and the model parameters was generally also higher than either with SSC fraction and dg, or with D50 and D60. Porosity (∅) and the bulk density (ρb) also showed significant correlation with several PSD model parameters, with ρb additionally correlating significantly with various geometric (dg), mechanical (D50 and D60), and agronomic (clay and sand) representations of the PSD. The fitted parameters of selected PSD models furthermore showed statistically significant correlations with Kfs,, MWD and soil porosity, which may be viewed as soil quality indices. Results of this study are promising for developing more accurate pedotransfer functions.

Keywords: particle size distribution, soil texture, hydraulic conductivity, pedotransfer functions

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Yalong Jiang, Zheru Chi

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In this paper, we study the factors which determine the capacity of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model and propose the ways to evaluate and adjust the capacity of a CNN model for best matching to a specific pattern recognition task. Firstly, a scheme is proposed to adjust the number of independent functional units within a CNN model to make it be better fitted to a task. Secondly, the number of independent functional units in the capsule network is adjusted to fit it to the training dataset. Thirdly, a method based on Bayesian GAN is proposed to enrich the variances in the current dataset to increase its complexity. Experimental results on the PASCAL VOC 2010 Person Part dataset and the MNIST dataset show that, in both conventional CNN models and capsule networks, the number of independent functional units is an important factor that determines the capacity of a network model. By adjusting the number of functional units, the capacity of a model can better match the complexity of a dataset.

Keywords: CNN, convolutional neural network, capsule network, capacity optimization, character recognition, data augmentation, semantic segmentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 146