Search results for: current events

Authors: Tiberiu Boros, Angela Ionita, Maria Visan

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Wildfires are one of the frequent and uncontrollable phenomena that currently affect large areas of the world where the climate, geographic and social conditions make it impossible to prevent and control such events. In this paper we introduce the ground concepts that lie behind the SIAFIM (Satellite Image Analysis for Fire Monitoring) project in order to create a context and we introduce a set of newly created tools that are external to the project but inherently in interventions and complex decision making based on geospatial information and spatial data infrastructures.

Keywords: wildfire, forest fire, natural language processing, mobile applications, communication, GPS

Procedia PDF Downloads 579

Authors: Carolina Morales, Ricardo Castro-Huerta, Enrique A. Mundaca

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The edaphic fauna is the main factor involved in the transformation of nutrients and soil decomposition processes. Edaphic organisms are highly sensitive to soil disturbances, which normally causes changes in the composition and abundance of such organisms. Fire is known to be a disturbing factor since it affects the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil and the whole ecosystem. During the summer (December-March) of 2017, Chile suffered the major fire events recorded in its modern history, which affected a vast area and a number of ecosystem types. The objective of this study was first to use remote sensing satellite images and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to assess and identify levels of fire severity in disturbed areas and to compare the responses of the soil mesofauna diversity among such areas. We identified four areas (treatments) with an ascending level of severity, namely: mild, medium, high severity, and free of fire. A non-affected patch of forest was established as a control. Three samples from each treatment were collected in the form of a soil cube (10x10x10 cm). Edaphic mesofauna was obtained from each sample through the Berlese-Tullgren funnel method. Collected specimens were quantified and identified, using the RTU (Recognisable Taxonomic Unit) criterion. Diversity was analysed using inferential statistics to compare Simpson and Shannon-Wiener indexes across treatments. As predicted, the unburned forest patch (control) exhibited higher diversity values than the treatments. Significantly higher diversity values were recorded in those treatments subjected to lower fire severity. We conclude that remote sensing zoning is an adequate tool to identify different levels of fire severity and that an edaphic mesofauna is a group of organisms that qualify as good bioindicators for monitoring soil recovery after fire events.

Keywords: bioindicator, Chile, fire severity level, soil

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Authors: Mehdi Saeidmanesh, Razali Ismail

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Recently, Graphene Nanoribbon Field Effect Transistors (GNR FETs) attract a great deal of attention due to their better performance in comparison with conventional devices. In this paper, channel length Modulation (CLM) effect on the electrical characteristics of GNR FETs is analytically studied and modeled. To this end, the special distribution of the electric potential along the channel and current-voltage characteristic of the device is modeled. The obtained results of analytical model are compared to the experimental data of published works. As a result, it is observable that considering the effect of CLM, the current-voltage response of GNR FET is more realistic.

Keywords: graphene nanoribbon, field effect transistors, short channel effects, channel length modulation

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Authors: Luisa Kynast

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It is obvious that buildings and infrastructure are highly impacted by climate change (CC). Both, design and material of buildings need to be resilient to weather events in order to shelter humans, animals, or goods. As well as buildings and infrastructure are exposed to weather events, the construction process itself is generally carried out outdoors without being protected from extreme temperatures, heavy rain, or storms. The production process is restricted by technical limitations for processing materials with machines and physical limitations due to human beings (“outdoor-worker”). In future due to CC, average weather patterns are expected to change as well as extreme weather events are expected to occur more frequently and more intense and therefore have a greater impact on production processes and on the construction businesses itself. This research aims to examine this impact by analyzing an association between responses to CC and financial performance of businesses within the construction industry. After having embedded the above depicted field of research into the resource dependency theory, a literature review was conducted to expound the state of research concerning a contingent relation between climate change adaptation measures (CCAM) and corporate financial performance for construction businesses. The examined studies prove that this field is rarely investigated, especially for construction businesses. Therefore, reports of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) were analyzed by applying content analysis using the software tool MAXQDA. 58 construction companies – located worldwide – could be examined. To proceed even more systematically a coding scheme analogous to findings in literature was adopted. Out of qualitative analysis, data was quantified and a regression analysis containing corporate financial data was conducted. The results gained stress adaptation measures as a response to CC as a crucial proxy to handle climate change impacts (CCI) by mitigating risks and exploiting opportunities. In CDP reports the majority of answers stated increasing costs/expenses as a result of implemented measures. A link to sales/revenue was rarely drawn. Though, CCAM were connected to increasing sales/revenues. Nevertheless, this presumption is supported by the results of the regression analysis where a positive effect of implemented CCAM on construction businesses´ financial performance in the short-run was ascertained. These findings do refer to appropriate responses in terms of the implemented number of CCAM. Anyhow, still businesses show a reluctant attitude for implementing CCAM, which was confirmed by findings in literature as well as by findings in CDP reports. Businesses mainly associate CCAM with costs and expenses rather than with an effect on their corporate financial performance. Mostly companies underrate the effect of CCI and overrate the costs and expenditures for the implementation of CCAM and completely neglect the pay-off. Therefore, this research shall create a basis for bringing CC to the (financial) attention of corporate decision-makers, especially within the construction industry.

Keywords: climate change adaptation measures, construction businesses, financial implication, resource dependency theory

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Authors: Mohammad Mokhtari, Mehdi Masoodi, Parvaneh Faridi

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history of tsunami generating earthquakes along the Makran Subduction Zone provides evidence of the potential tsunami hazard for the whole coastal area. In comparison with other subduction zone in the world, the Makran region of southern Pakistan and southeastern Iran remains low seismicity. Also, it is one of the least studied area in the northwest of the Indian Ocean regarding tsunami studies. We present a review of studies dealing with the historical /and ongoing palaeotsunamis supported by IGCP of UNESCO in the Makran Subduction Zone. The historical tsunami presented here includes about nine tsunamis in the Makran Subduction Zone, of which over 7 tsunamis occur in the eastern Makran. Tsunami is not as common in the western Makran as in the eastern Makran, where a database of historical events exists. The historically well-documented event is related to the 1945 earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1moment magnitude and tsunami in the western and eastern Makran. There are no details as to whether a tsunami was generated by a seismic event before 1945 off western Makran. But several potentially large tsunamigenic events in the MSZ before 1945 occurred in 325 B.C., 1008, 1483, 1524, 1765, 1851, 1864, and 1897. Here we will present new findings from a historical point of view, immediately, we would like to emphasize that the area needs to be considered with higher research investigation. As mentioned above, a palaeotsunami (geological evidence) is now being planned, and here we will present the first phase result. From a risk point of view, the study shows as preliminary achievement within 20 minutes the wave reaches to Iranian as well Pakistan and Oman coastal zone with very much destructive tsunami waves capable of inundating destructive effect. It is important to note that all the coastal areas of all states surrounding the MSZ are being developed very rapidly, so any event would have a devastating effect on this region. Although several papers published about modelling, seismology, tsunami deposits in the last decades; as Makran is a forgotten subduction zone, more data such as the main crustal structure, fault location, and its related parameter are required.

Keywords: historical tsunami, Indian ocean, makran subduction zone, palaeotsunami

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Authors: Mariana Damova, Stanko Stankov, Emil Stoyanov, Hristo Hristov, Hermand Pessek, Plamen Chernev

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We will present one of the first use cases on the DestinE platform, a joint initiative of the European Commission, European Space Agency and EUMETSAT, providing access to global earth observation, meteorological and statistical data, and emphasize the good practice of intergovernmental agencies acting in concert. Further, we will discuss the importance of space-bound disruptive solutions for improving the balance between the ever-increasing water-related disasters coming from climate change and minimizing their economic and societal impact. The use case focuses on forecasting floods and estimating the impact of flood events on the urban environment and the ecosystems in the affected areas with the purpose of helping municipal decision-makers to analyze and plan resource needs and to forge human-environment relationships by providing farmers with insightful information for improving their agricultural productivity. For the forecast, we will adopt an EO4AI method of our platform ISME-HYDRO, in which we employ a pipeline of neural networks applied to in-situ measurements and satellite data of meteorological factors influencing the hydrological and hydrodynamic status of rivers and dams, such as precipitations, soil moisture, vegetation index, snow cover to model flood events and their span. ISME-HYDRO platform is an e-infrastructure for water resources management based on linked data, extended with further intelligence that generates forecasts with the method described above, throws alerts, formulates queries, provides superior interactivity and drives communication with the users. It provides synchronized visualization of table views, graphviews and interactive maps. It will be federated with the DestinE platform.

Keywords: flood simulation, AI, Earth observation, e-Infrastructure, flood forecasting, flood areas localization, response planning, resource estimation

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Authors: Pedro Luis Ferrer Penalver, Edmundo da Silva Braga

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In this paper, the performance of a simple surge protection for a direct current circuit was simulated. The protection circuit was developed from modified electric macro models of a gas discharge tube and a transient voltage suppressor diode. Moreover, a combination wave generator circuit was used as source of energy surges. The simulations showed that the circuit presented ensures immunity corresponding with test level IV of the IEC 61000-4-5:2014 international standard. The developed circuit can be modified to meet the requirements of any other equipment to be protected. Similarly, the parameters of the combination wave generator can be changed to provide different surge amplitudes.

Keywords: combination wave generator, IEC 61000-4-5, Pspice simulation, surge protection

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Authors: Vaishakh Medikeri

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Energy in this Universe is the most basic characteristic of every particle. Since the birth of life on this planet, there has been a quest undertaken by the living beings to analyze, understand and harness the precious natural facts of the nature. In this quest, one of the greatest undertaken is the process of harnessing the naturally available energy. Scientists around the globe have discovered many ways to harness the freely available energy. But even today we speak of “Power Crisis”. Nikola Tesla once said “Nature has stored up in this universe infinite energy”. Energy is everywhere around us in unlimited quantities; all of it waiting to be harnessed by us. Here in this paper a method has been proposed to harness earth's electric field and transmit the stored electric energy using strong magnetic fields and electric fields. In this paper a new technique has been proposed to harness earth's electric field which is everywhere around the world in infinite quantities. Near the surface of the earth there is an electric field of about 120V/m. This electric field is used to charge a capacitor with high capacitance. Later the energy stored is allowed to pass through a device which converts the DC stored into AC. The AC so produced is then passed through a step down transformer to magnify the incoming current. Later the current passes through the RLC circuit. Later the current can be transmitted wirelessly using the principle of resonant inductive coupling. The proposed apparatus can be placed in most of the required places and any circuit tuned to the frequency of the transmitted current can receive the energy. The new source of renewable energy is of great importance if implemented since the apparatus is not costly and can be situated in most of the required places. And also the receiver which receives the transmitted energy is just an RLC circuit tuned to the resonant frequency of the transmitted energy. By using the proposed apparatus the energy losses can be reduced to a very large extent.

Keywords: capacitor, inductive resonant coupling, RLC circuit, transmission of electricity

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Authors: Nagesh Vangala, Rayudu Mannam

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Soft switching has attracted the interest of various researchers constantly. Many techniques are in vogue to achieve soft switching (ZVS and/or ZCS) in Boost converters. These techniques utilize an auxiliary switch to incorporate the ZCS/ZVS. Such schemes require additional control circuit and induce complexity in design. This paper proposes an elegant fly back approach which guarantees zero current switching of the main Switch without the need for any additional active device. A simple flyback transformer scheme is implemented which absorbs the initial turn ON energy (or the Reverse recovery energy of Boost diode) and delivers to the output.

Keywords: boost converter, complete energy transfer, flyback, zero current switching

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Authors: Gabriela Quintana Vigiola

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Social sustainability is an issue scarcely addressed by different authors, being one of its key factors the psychosocial processes of sense of place, sense of community and appropriation. In Caracas’s barrios (Venezuela) these were developed through sharing the construction of the place and different struggles that brought the neighbours together. However, one of the main problems they face is criminal violence, hence being its social sustainability threatened and affected by it. This matter can be addressed by acknowledging communities’ sense of place and engaging in cultural events.

Keywords: Caracas’ barrios, cultural engagement, developing countries, social sustainability

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Authors: Jérémie Ochin

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Soccer analytics are built on two data sources: the frame-by-frame position of each player on the terrain and the sequences of events, such as ball drive, pass, cross, shot, throw-in... With more than 2000 ball-events per soccer game, their precise and exhaustive annotation, based on a monocular video stream such as a TV broadcast, remains a tedious and costly manual task. State-of-the-art methods for spatio-temporal action detection from a monocular video stream, often based on 3D convolutional neural networks, are close to reach levels of performances in mean Average Precision (mAP) compatibles with the automation of such task. Nevertheless, to meet their expectation of exhaustiveness in the context of data analytics, such methods must be applied in a regime of high recall – low precision, using low confidence score thresholds. This setting unavoidably leads to the detection of false positives that are the product of the well documented overconfidence behaviour of neural networks and, in this case, their limited access to contextual information and understanding of the game: their predictions are highly unstructured. Based on the assumption that professional soccer players’ behaviour, pose, positions and velocity are highly interrelated and locally driven by the player performing a ball-action, it is hypothesized that the addition of information regarding surrounding player’s appearance, positions and velocity in the prediction methods can improve their metrics. Several methods are compared to build a proper representation of the game surrounding a player, from handcrafted features of the local graph, based on domain knowledge, to the use of Graph Neural Networks trained in an end-to-end fashion with existing state-of-the-art 3D convolutional neural networks. It is shown that the inclusion of information regarding surrounding players helps reaching higher metrics.

Keywords: fine-grained action recognition, human action recognition, convolutional neural networks, graph neural networks, spatio-temporal action recognition

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Authors: N. M. Thao, I. Dolguntseva, M. Leijon

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Flow blockages referring to the increase in flow are considered as a vital equipment for marine current energy conversion. However, the shape of these devices will result in extracted energy under the operation. The present work investigates the effect of two configurations of a grating, convergent and divergent that located upstream, to the water flow velocity. Computational Fluid Dynamic simulation studies the flow characteristics by using the ANSYS Fluent solver for these specified arrangements of the grating. The results indicate that distinct features of flow velocity between “convergent” and “divergent” grating placements are up to in confined conditions. Furthermore, the velocity in case of granting is higher than that of the divergent grating.

Keywords: marine current energy, converter, turbine granting, RANS simulation, water flow velocity

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Authors: Arwa Abdelhay, Inshad Jum’h, Abeer Albsoul, Khalideh Alrawashdeh, Dina Al Tarazi

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Treated wastewater reuse has been considered recently as one of the successful management strategies to overcome water shortage in countries suffering from water scarcity. The non-readily biodegradable and recalcitrant pollutants in wastewater cannot be destructed by conventional treatment methods. This paper deals with the electrochemical treatment of dairy wastewater using a promising non-conventional Boron-Doped Diamond (BDD) anode. During the electrochemical process, different operating parameters were investigated, such as electrolysis time, current density, supporting electrolyte, chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity as well as absorbance/color. The experimental work revealed that electrochemical oxidation carried out with no added electrolyte has significantly reduced the COD, turbidity, and color (absorbance) by 72%, 76%, and 78% respectively. Results also showed that raising the current density from 5.1 mA/cm² to 7.7 mA/cm² has boosted COD, and color removal to 82.5%, and 83% respectively. However, the current density did not show any significant effect on the turbidity. Interestingly, it was observed that adding Na₂SO₄ and FeCl₃ as supporting electrolytes brought the COD removal to 91% and 97% respectively. Likewise, turbidity and color removal has been enhanced by the addition of the same supporting electrolytes.

Keywords: boron doped-diamond anode, dairy wastewater, electrochemical oxidation, supporting electrolytes

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Authors: Shaidatul Azdawiyah Abdul Talib, Wan Mohd Razi Idris, Liew Ju Neng, Tukimat Lihan, Muhammad Zamir Abdul Rasid

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Climate change has received great attention worldwide due to the impact of weather causing extreme events. Rainfall and temperature are crucial weather components associated with climate change. In Malaysia, increasing temperatures and changes in rainfall distribution patterns lead to drought and flood events involving agricultural areas, especially rice fields. Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) is the largest rice growing area among the 10 granary areas in Malaysia and has faced floods and droughts in the past due to changing climate. Changes in rainfall and temperature patter affect rice yield. Therefore, trend analysis is important to identify changes in temperature and rainfall patterns as it gives an initial overview for further analysis. Six locations across the MADA area were selected based on the availability of meteorological station (MetMalaysia) data. Historical data (1991 to 2020) collected from MetMalaysia and future climate projection by multi-model ensemble of climate model from CMIP5 (CNRM-CM5, GFDL-CM3, MRI-CGCM3, NorESM1-M and IPSL-CM5A-LR) have been analyzed using Mann-Kendall test to detect the time series trend, together with standardized precipitation anomaly, rainfall anomaly index, precipitation concentration index and temperature anomaly. Future projection data were analyzed based on 3 different periods; early century (2020 – 2046), middle century (2047 – 2073) and late-century (2074 – 2099). Results indicate that the MADA area does encounter extremely wet and dry conditions, leading to drought and flood events in the past. The Mann-Kendall (MK) trend analysis test discovered a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) in annual rainfall (z = 0.40; s = 15.12) and temperature (z = 0.61; s = 0.04) during the historical period. Similarly, for both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) was found for rainfall (RCP 4.5: z = 0.15; s = 2.55; RCP 8.5: z = 0.41; s = 8.05;) and temperature (RCP 4.5: z = 0.84; s = 0.02; RCP 8.5: z = 0.94; s = 0.05). Under the RCP 4.5 scenario, the average temperature is projected to increase up to 1.6 °C in early century, 2.0 °C in the middle century and 2.4 °C in the late century. In contrast, under RCP 8.5 scenario, the average temperature is projected to increase up to 1.8 °C in the early century, 3.1 °C in the middle century and 4.3 °C in late century. Drought is projected to occur in 2038 and 2043 (early century); 2052 and 2069 (middle century); and 2095, 2097 to 2099 (late century) under RCP 4.5 scenario. As for RCP 8.5 scenario, drought is projected to occur in 2021, 2031 and 2034 (early century); and 2069 (middle century). No drought is projected to occur in the late century under the RCP 8.5 scenario. Thus, this information can be used for the analysis of the impact of climate change scenarios on rice growth and yield besides other crops found in MADA area. Additionally, this study, it would be helpful for researchers and decision-makers in developing applicable adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change.

Keywords: climate projection, drought, flood, rainfall, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5, temperature

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Authors: Deepak Nathiya1, Ramesh Roop Rai, Pratima Singh1, Preeti Raj1, Supriya Suman, Balvir Singh Tomar

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Background: Sarcopenia is a catabolic state in liver cirrhosis (LC), accelerated with a breakdown of skeletal muscle to release amino acids which adversely affects survival, health-related quality of life, and response to any underlying disease. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the long-term effect of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) supplementations on parameters associated with improved prognosis in sarcopenic patients with LC, as well as to evaluate its impact on cirrhotic-related events. Methods: We carried out a 24 week, single-center, randomized, open-label, controlled, two cohort parallel-group intervention trial comparing the efficacy of BCAA against lactoalbumin (L-ALB) on 106 sarcopenic liver cirrhotics. The BCAA (intervention) group was treated with 7.2 g BCAA per whereas, the lactoalbumin group was also given 6.3 g of L-Albumin. The primary outcome was to assess the impact of BCAA on parameters of sarcopenia: muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance. The secondary outcomes were to study combined survival and maintenance of liver function changes in laboratory and clinical markers in the duration of six months. Results: Treatment with BCAA leads to significant improvement in sarcopenic parameters: muscle strength, muscle function, and muscle mass. The total cirrhotic-related complications and cumulative event-free survival occurred fewer in the BCAA group than in the L-ALB group. Prognostic markers also improved significantly in the study. Conclusion: The current clinical trial demonstrated that long-term BCAAs supplementation improved sarcopenia and prognostic markers in patients with advanced liver cirrhosis.

Keywords: sarcopenia, liver cirrhosis, BCAA, quality of life

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Authors: Xinrui Zhao

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Connective actions acquired a completely different outlook of a social movement which credited with the rapid developed of social media technologies. New social movements amalgamate and mobilize around hashtags, memes, and personalized action frames. In 2017, the #MeToo movements from America spread to a variety of countries as a hashtag on social media. It attempted to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment movement. It also encouraged Chinese women to participate by devoting and contributing their voices and acts. Furthermore, China’s #MeToo movement shows certain characteristics which are strongly shaped by particular political and cultural backgrounds, that also need to be studied. This paper serves as supplementary materials of connective action studies by addressing the #MeToo movement issues in China, which is rarely mentioned previously in the literature, it also supports a view that suggests that ideological and cultural drivers both strategically contribute to personalized action frames. This paper combines textual analysis methods, collecting attached materials from search engines in China’s social media, portrays the structure of China’s #MeToo movements by showing prominent activists, scholars, organization and the public’s action frame in China’s social media(Weibo, wechat, zhihu, douban). In doing so, it seeks to find how China’s #MeToo movements are organized and reveal diversities of social action approaches among those three subjects, digs out the correlations of their actions related to different social media platforms. This analysis suggests that while facing the government's censorship and moral judgments from the public, China’s #MeToo movement combines with few influential sexual assault and harassment events and is lead by the prominent activists who also are the victims in the events. The debates and critiques among Chinese scholars concerned the outcomes and significance of China’s #MeToo movement are divided into sides. Organizations still show less power in participating China’s movement social media. Public’s participation is varied of platforms which hugely affected by their personal experiences and knowledge.

Keywords: connective action, China, MeToo movement, social media

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Authors: Olivia Bory Devisme, Denis Genon-Catalot, Frederic Alicalapa, Pierre-Olivier Lucas De Peslouan, Jean-Pierre Chabriat

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In the context of climate change, it is essential that island territories gain energy autonomy. Currently mostly dependent on fossil fuels, the island of Reunion lo- cated in the Indian Ocean nevertheless has a high potential for solar energy. As the market for photovoltaic panels has been growing in recent years, the issues of energy losses linked to the multiple conversions from direct current to alternating current are emerging. In order to quantify these advantages and disadvantages by a comparative study, this document present the measurements carried out on a direct current test bench, particularly for lighting, ventilation, air condi- tioning and office equipment for the tertiary sector. All equipment is supplied with DC power from energy produced by photovoltaic panels. A weather sta- tion, environmental indoor sensors, and drivers are also used to control energy. Self-consumption is encouraged in order to manage different priorities between user consumption and energy storage in a lithium iron phosphate battery. The measurements are compared to a conventional electrical architecture (DC-AC- DC) for energy consumption, equipment overheating, cost, and life cycle analysis.

Keywords: DC microgrids, solar energy, smart buildings, storage

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Authors: S. Art-in

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This research was a survey research. The objective of this study was to study current situation and need in learning management for developing the analytical thinking of teachers in basic education of Thailand. The target group consisted of 400 teachers teaching in basic education level. They were selected by multi-stage random sampling. The instrument used in this study was the questionnaire asking current situation and need in learning management for developing the analytical thinking, 5 level rating scale. Data were analyzed by calculating the frequency, mean, standard deviation, percentage and content analysis. The research found that: 1) For current situation, the teachers provided learning management for developing analytical thinking, in overall, in “high” level. The issue with lowest level of practice: the teachers had competency in designing and establishing the learning management plan for developing the students’ analytical thinking. Considering each aspect it was found that: 1.1) the teacher aspect; the issue with lowest level of practice was: the teachers had competency in designing and establishing the learning management plan for developing the students’ analytical thinking, and 1.2) the learning management aspect for developing the students’ analytical thinking, the issue with lowest level of practice was: the learning activities provided opportunity for students to evaluate their analytical thinking process in each learning session. 2) The teachers showed their need in learning management for developing the analytical thinking, in overall, in “the highest” level. The issue with highest level of the need was: to obtain knowledge and competency in model, technique, and method for learning management or steps of learning management for developing the students’ analytical thinking. Considering each aspect it was found that: 2.1) teacher aspect; the issue with highest level of the need was: to obtain knowledge and comprehension in model, technique, and method for learning management or steps of learning management for developing the students’ analytical thinking, and 2.2) learning management aspect for developing the analytical thinking, the issue with highest level of need consisted of the determination of learning activities as problem situation, and the opportunity for students to comprehend the problem situation as well as practice their analytical thinking in order to find the answer.

Keywords: current situation and need, learning management, analytical thinking, teachers in basic education level, Thailand

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Authors: R. B. Mishra, Sudhakar Tripathi

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In this paper, the cable model of dendrites have been considered. The dendrites are cylindrical cables of various segments having variable length and reducing radius from start point at synapse and end points. For a particular event signal being received by a neuron in response only some dendrite are active at a particular instance. Initial current signals with different current flows in dendrite are assumed. Due to overlapping and coupling of active dendrite, they induce currents in the dendrite segments of each other at a particular instance. But how these currents are induced in the various segments of active dendrites due to coupling between these dendrites, It is not presented in the literature. Here the paper presents a model for induced currents in active dendrite segments due to mutual coupling at the starting instance of an activity in dendrite. The model is as discussed further.

Keywords: currents, dendrites, induction, simulation

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Authors: Yiyuan Tao

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Under the impact of global warming together with the intensification of human activities, the hydrological regimes may be altered, and the traditional stationary assumption was no longer satisfied. However, most of the current design standards of water infrastructures were still based on the hypothesis of stationarity, which may inevitably result in severe biases. Many critical impacts of climate on ecosystems, society, and the economy are controlled by extreme events rather than mean values. Therefore, it is of great significance to identify the non-stationarity of precipitation extremes and model the precipitation extremes in a nonstationary framework. The Wei River Basin (WRB), located in a continental monsoon climate zone in China, is selected as a case study in this study. Six extreme precipitation indices were employed to investigate the changing patterns and stationarity of precipitation extremes in the WRB. To identify if precipitation extremes are stationary, the Mann-Kendall trend test and the Pettitt test, which is used to examine the occurrence of abrupt changes are adopted in this study. Extreme precipitation indices series are fitted with non-stationary distributions that selected from six widely used distribution functions: Gumbel, lognormal, Weibull, gamma, generalized gamma and exponential distributions by means of the time-varying moments model generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS), where the distribution parameters are defined as a function of time. The results indicate that: (1) the trends were not significant for the whole WRB, but significant positive/negative trends were still observed in some stations, abrupt changes for consecutive wet days (CWD) mainly occurred in 1985, and the assumption of stationarity is invalid for some stations; (2) for these nonstationary extreme precipitation indices series with significant positive/negative trends, the GAMLSS models are able to capture well the temporal variations of the indices, and perform better than the stationary model. Finally, the differences between the quantiles of nonstationary and stationary models are analyzed, which highlight the importance of nonstationary modeling of precipitation extremes in the WRB.

Keywords: extreme precipitation, GAMLSSS, non-stationary, Wei River Basin

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Authors: Abdou Elhendy

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Numerous study have shown the efficacy of the percutaneous intervention (PCI) and coronary stenting in improving left ventricular function and relieving exertional angina. Furthermore, PCI remains the main line of therapy in acute myocardial infarction. Improvement of procedural techniques and new devices have resulted in an increased number of PCI in those with difficult and extensive lesions, multivessel disease as well as total occlusion. Immediate and late outcome may be compromised by acute thrombosis or the development of fibro-intimal hyperplasia. In addition, progression of coronary artery disease proximal or distal to the stent as well as in non-stented arteries is not uncommon. As a result, complications can occur, such as acute myocardial infarction, worsened heart failure or recurrence of angina. In a stent, restenosis can occur without symptoms or with atypical complaints rendering the clinical diagnosis difficult. Routine invasive angiography is not appropriate as a follow up tool due to associated risk and cost and the limited functional assessment. Exercise and pharmacologic stress testing are increasingly used to evaluate the myocardial function, perfusion and adequacy of revascularization. Information obtained by these techniques provide important clues regarding presence and severity of compromise in myocardial blood flow. Stress echocardiography can be performed in conjunction with exercise or dobutamine infusion. The diagnostic accuracy has been moderate, but the results provide excellent prognostic stratification. Adding myocardial contrast agents can improve imaging quality and allows assessment of both function and perfusion. Stress radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging is an alternative to evaluate these patients. The extent and severity of wall motion and perfusion abnormalities observed during exercise or pharmacologic stress are predictors of survival and risk of cardiac events. According to current guidelines, stress echocardiography and radionuclide imaging are considered to have appropriate indication among patients after PCI who have cardiac symptoms and those who underwent incomplete revascularization. Stress testing is not recommended in asymptomatic patients, particularly early after revascularization, Coronary CT angiography is increasingly used and provides high sensitive for the diagnosis of coronary artery stenosis. Average sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of in stent stenosis in pooled data are 79% and 81%, respectively. Limitations include blooming artifacts and low feasibility in patients with small stents or thick struts. Anatomical and functional cardiac imaging modalities are corner stone for the assessment of patients after PCI and provide salient diagnostic and prognostic information. Current imaging techniques cans serve as gate keeper for coronary angiography, thus limiting the risk of invasive procedures to those who are likely to benefit from subsequent revascularization. The determination of which modality to apply requires careful identification of merits and limitation of each technique as well as the unique characteristic of each individual patient.

Keywords: coronary artery disease, stress testing, cardiac imaging, restenosis

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Authors: Fatemeh Abdollahi, Munn-Sann Lye, Jamshid Yazdani Charati, Mehran Zarghami

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Fathers are at risk of depression during the postpartum period. Some studies have been reported maternal depression is the key predictor of paternal postpartum depression (PPD). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and predictors of parental PPD and its association with maternal PPD. In a cross-sectional study, via a stratified random and convenience sampling method, participants referring to health centers during 2-8 weeks postpartum were recruited from March to October 2017. Paternal PPD and its relation to maternal PPD and other related factors were assessed using multiple logistic regression. Participants were 591 literate couples who referred to Mazandaran province primary health centers during to study period. Couples were screened for depression using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Fathers provided information on socio-demographic characteristics, life events, neonatal stressor, perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), and general health status using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) as well. Data on mothers ‘demographic characteristics and obstetrics factors was also gathered. Overall, 93 fathers (15.7%) and 188 mothers (31.8%) reported depressive symptoms above the cut-off EPDS score of 12. In the multiple logistic regression model, older age [OR=1.20, (95%CI: 1.05- 1.36)], maternal depressive symptoms [OR=1.15, (95%CI: 1.04-1.27)], higher GHQ scores [OR=1.21, (95%CI: 1.11-1.33)] and increased recent life events [OR=1.42, (95%CI: 1.01-1.2.00)] were related to paternal PPD. A significant inverse association was found between number of children and paternal PPD [OR=0.20, (95%CI: 0.07-0.53)]. Depressive symptoms, especially in first-time fathers following the birth of a child, are not uncommon. Maternal depressive symptoms and paternal well-being were strong predictors of parental PPD. Creating opportunities for men to access special health care services, parental education to help adapting to parenthood, screening programs, and psychiatric/psychosocial interventions to decrease the suffering of depression for both depressed parents are recommended.

Keywords: depression, men, postpartum, risk factors, women

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Authors: Márcia Afonso, Cristina Fael, Marisa Dinis-Almeida

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Population growth in cities has led to an increase in the infrastructures construction, including buildings and roadways. This aspect leads directly to the soils waterproofing. In turn, changes in precipitation patterns are developing into higher and more frequent intensities. Thus, these two conjugated aspects decrease the rainwater infiltration into soils and increase the volume of surface runoff. The practice of green and sustainable urban solutions has encouraged research in these areas. The porous asphalt pavement, as a green infrastructure, is part of practical solutions set to address urban challenges related to land use and adaptation to climate change. In this field, permeable pavements with porous asphalt mixtures (PA) have several advantages in terms of reducing the runoff generated by the floods. The porous structure of these pavements, compared to a conventional asphalt pavement, allows the rainwater infiltration in the subsoil, and consequently, the water quality improvement. This green infrastructure solution can be applied in cities, particularly in streets or parking lots to mitigate the floods effects. Over the years, the pores of these pavements can be filled by sediment, reducing their function in the rainwater infiltration. Thus, double layer porous asphalt (DLPA) was developed to mitigate the clogging effect and facilitate the water infiltration into the lower layers. This study intends to deepen the knowledge of the performance of DLPA when subjected to clogging. The experimental methodology consisted on four evaluation phases of the DLPA infiltration capacity submitted to three precipitation events (100, 200 and 300 mm/h) in each phase. The evaluation first phase determined the behavior after DLPA construction. In phases two and three, two 500 g/m² clogging cycles were performed, totaling a 1000 g/m² final simulation. Sand with gradation accented in fine particles was used as clogging material. In the last phase, the DLPA was subjected to simple sweeping and vacuuming maintenance. A precipitation simulator, type sprinkler, capable of simulating the real precipitation was developed for this purpose. The main conclusions show that the DLPA has the capacity to drain the water, even after two clogging cycles. The infiltration results of flows lead to an efficient performance of the DPLA in the surface runoff attenuation, since this was not observed in any of the evaluation phases, even at intensities of 200 and 300 mm/h, simulating intense precipitation events. The infiltration capacity under clogging conditions decreased about 7% on average in the three intensities relative to the initial performance that is after construction. However, this was restored when subjected to simple maintenance, recovering the DLPA hydraulic functionality. In summary, the study proved the efficacy of using a DLPA when it retains thicker surface sediments and limits the fine sediments entry to the remaining layers. At the same time, it is guaranteed the rainwater infiltration and the surface runoff reduction and is therefore a viable solution to put into practice in permeable pavements.

Keywords: clogging, double layer porous asphalt, infiltration capacity, rainfall intensity

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Authors: Chao Wang

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Under rapid innovation of information technology, the media plays a very important role in the dissemination of information, and it has a totally different analogy generations face. However, the involvement of narrative images provides more possibilities of narrative text. "Images" through the process of aperture, a camera shutter and developable photosensitive processes are manufactured, recorded and stamped on paper, displayed on a computer screen-concretely saved. They exist in different forms of files, data, or evidence as the ultimate looks of events. By the interface of media and network platforms and special visual field of the viewer, class body space exists and extends out as thin as sebum layer, extremely soft and delicate with real full tension. The physical space of sebum layer of confuses the fact that physical objects exist, needs to be established under a perceived consensus. As at the scene, the existing concepts and boundaries of physical perceptions are blurred. Sebum layer physical simulation shapes the “Topical-Similarity" immersing, leading the contemporary social practice communities, groups, network users with a kind of illusion without the presence, i.e. a non-real illusion. From the investigation and discussion of literatures, digital movies editing manufacture and produce the variability characteristics of time (for example, slices, rupture, set, and reset) are analyzed. Interactive eBook has an unique interaction in "Waiting-Greeting" and "Expectation-Response" that makes the operation of image narrative structure more interpretations functionally. The works of digital editing and interactive technology are combined and further analyze concept and results. After digitization of Interventional Imaging and interactive technology, real events exist linked and the media handing cannot be cut relationship through movies, interactive art, practical case discussion and analysis. Audience needs more rational thinking about images carried by the authenticity of the text.

Keywords: sebum layer, topical and similarity, interactive technology, image narrative

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Authors: Desmond Okorie, Emmanuel Prince

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Availability of portable water has been a global challenge especially to the developing continents/nations such as Africa/Nigeria. The World Health Organization WHO has produced the guideline for drinking water quality GDWQ which aims at ensuring water safety from source to consumer. Portable water parameters test include physical (colour, odour, temperature, turbidity), chemical (PH, dissolved solids) biological (algae, plytoplankton). This paper discusses the use of wireless sensor networks to monitor water quality using efficient and effective sensors that have the ability to sense, process and transmit sensed data. The integration of wireless sensor network to a portable sensing device offers the feasibility of sensing distribution capability, on site data measurements and remote sensing abilities. The current water quality tests that are performed in government water quality institutions in Benue State Nigeria are carried out in problematic locations that require taking manual water samples to the institution laboratory for examination, to automate the entire process based on wireless sensor network, a system was designed. The system consists of sensor node containing one PH sensor, one temperature sensor, a microcontroller, a zigbee radio and a base station composed by a zigbee radio and a PC. Due to the advancement of wireless sensor network technology, unexpected contamination events in water environments can be observed continuously. local area network (LAN) wireless local area network (WLAN) and internet web-based also commonly used as a gateway unit for data communication via local base computer using standard global system for mobile communication (GSM). The improvement made on this development show a water quality monitoring system and prospect for more robust and reliable system in the future.

Keywords: local area network, Ph measurement, wireless sensor network, zigbee

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Authors: Hans Tjio, Wee Meng Seng

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The interaction of contract and property has always been a concern in corporate and commercial law, where there are internal structures created that may not match the externally perceived image generated by the labels attached to those structures. We will focus, in particular, on the priority structures created by affirmative asset partitioning, which have increasingly come under challenge by those attempting to negotiate around them. The most prominent has been the AT1 bonds issued by Credit Suisse which were wiped out before its equity when the troubled bank was acquired by UBS. However, this should not have come as a surprise to those whose “bonds” had similarly been “redeemed” upon the occurrence of certain reference events in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan during their Minibond crisis linked to US sub-prime defaults. These were derivatives classified as debentures and sold as such. At the same time, we are again witnessing “liabilities” seemingly ranking higher up the balance sheet ladder, finding themselves lowered in events of default. We will examine the mechanisms holders of perpetual securities or preference shares have tried to use to protect themselves. This is happening against a backdrop that sees a rise in the strength of private credit and inter-creditor conflicts. The restructuring regime of the hybrid scheme in Singapore now, while adopting the absolute priority rule in Chapter 11 as the quid pro quo for creditor cramdown, does not apply to shareholders and so exempts them from cramdown. Complicating the picture further, shareholders are not exempted from cramdown in the Dutch scheme, but it adopts a relative priority rule. At the same time, the important UK Supreme Court decision in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana [2022] UKSC 25 has held that directors’ duties to take account of creditor interests are activated only when a company is almost insolvent. All this has been complicated by digital assets created by businesses. Investors are quite happy to have them classified as property (like a thing) when it comes to their transferability, but then when the issuer defaults to have them seen as a claim on the business (as a choice in action), that puts them at the level of a creditor. But these hidden interests will not show themselves on an issuer’s balance sheet until it is too late to be considered and yet if accepted, may also prevent any meaningful restructuring.

Keywords: asset partitioning, creditor priority, restructuring, BTI v Sequana, digital assets

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Authors: Orly Redlich

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In the age of social distance, which has been added to an individual and competitive worldview, it has become important to find a way to promote closeness and personal touch. The sense of social belonging and the existence of positive interaction with others have recently become a considerable necessity. Therefore, this theoretical paper will review one of the familiar and common concepts among different cultures around the world – birthday. This paper has a theoretical contribution that deepens the understanding of the birthday concept. Birthday rituals are historical and universal events, which noted since the prehistoric eras. In ancient history, birthday rituals were solely reserved for kings and nobility members, but over the years, birthday celebrations have evolved into a worldwide tradition. Some of the familiar birthday customs and symbols are currently common among most cultures, while some cultures have adopted for themselves unique birthday customs, which characterized their values and traditions. The birthday concept has a unique significance in Judaism as well, historically, religiously, and socially: It is considered as a lucky day and a private holiday for the celebrant. Therefore, the present paper reviews diverse birthday customs around the world in different cultures, including Judaism, and marks important birthdays throughout history. The paper also describes how the concept of birthday appears over the years in songs, novels, and art, and presents quotes from distinguished sages. The theoretical review suggests that birthday has a special meaning as a time-mark in the cycle of life, and as a socialization means in human development. Moreover, the birthday serves as a symbol of belonging and group cohesiveness, a day in which the celebrant's sense of belonging and sense of importance are strengthened and nurtured. Thus, the reappearance of these elements in a family or group interaction during the birthday ceremony allows the celebrant to absorb positive impressions about himself. In view of the extensive theoretical review, it seems that the unique importance of birthdays can serve as the foundation for intervention programs that may affect the participants’ sense of belonging and empowerment. In the group aspect, perhaps it can also yield therapeutic factors within a group. Concrete recommendations are presented at the end of the paper.

Keywords: birthday, universal events, positive interaction, group cohesiveness, rituals

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Authors: Molly Meadows

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Following the presidency of Donald J. Trump, Americans have become hyperaware of ethnocentrisms that plague the culture. The president's egoist ethics encouraged a divide between what the citizens of the US identified as just or unjust. In the race for global supremacy and leading ideology, fears have arisen, exacerbated by the ethnocentricity of the country's leader, pointing to the possible harmful ethical standards of competing nations. Due to the concept of ethical absolutism, an international code of ethics would not be possible, and the changes needed to eliminate the stigma surrounding other cultures of thought would need to come from the governing body of the US. As the current leading global ideology, the US would need its government to embody a transformational leadership style in order to unite the motivations of the citizens and encourage intercultural tolerance.

Keywords: ethics, transformational leadership, American politics, egoism, cultural intelligence, ethical relativism

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez Cadena

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This paper discusses how the fictional versions of women of the past contribute to advance today’s ideas of social justice, personal freedom and emancipation as well as to highlight the creative challenge of constructing people and events on fictional narratives on television that incorporate multiple and simultaneous layers of meaning and complexity. This project builds on existing scholarship on audiovisual texts by exploring an influential but under-studied director. In two Mexican television series, Patricia Arriaga Jordan, an award-winning television producer, scriptwriter and director, constructs the life of two outstanding women that have played an influential role in national history and captured Mexican’s popular imagination for generations: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Malinche. Malinche (2018) tells the story of an extraordinary indigenous woman, Malintzin, during the Spanish Conquest (1511-1550) that is considered to have played a key role in the fall of the Aztec empire by acting as translator, negotiator and cultural mediator for the Spanish conquerors. Juana Ines (2016) portrays Sor Juana, a poet, essayist, playwright, theologian, philosopher, nun, of XVII century colonial Mexico, one of the brightest minds of her time, and now recognized as the first feminist of the Americas who wrote on the rights of women to an education, religious authority and feminist advocacy. Both series, as fictional narratives that recreate defining historical periods, specific events and relevant characters in the History of Mexico can be read as an example of what is called texts of cultural memory. A cultural memory text is a narrative that bonds the concepts of history, identity and belonging, and that is realized and disseminated through symbolic systems such as written documents, visual images, and dramatic representation. Cultural memory, through its narratives of historical fiction, emphasizes memory processes (historiography) and its implications and artifacts (cultural memory) mainly through the medial frameworks of remembering, which are the medial process by which memories (narratives, documents) participate in public knowledge and become collective memory. Historical fiction on television not only creates a portrayal of the past related to the real lives of protagonists, but it also significantly contributes to understand the past as an ever-evolving entity that highlights both, the necessary connection with the present as part of a developing sense of collective identity and belonging, as well as the relevance of the medium in which the past is represented and that ultimately supports the process of historical awareness. Through the emblematic recreation of national heroines and historical events in the unique context of historical drama on television, those texts constitute a venue where concepts of the past and the traditionally established ideas about history and heroines are highlighted, questioned and transformed.

Keywords: cultural memory, historical fiction, Mexico, television, women directors

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Authors: Rahman Dashti, Ehsan Gord

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In this paper, an improved impedance based fault location method is proposed. In this method, online fault locating is performed using voltage and current information at the beginning of the feeder. Determining precise fault location in a short time increases reliability and efficiency of the system. The proposed method utilizes information about main component of voltage and current at the beginning of the feeder and distributed generation unit (DGU) in order to precisely locate different faults in acceptable time. To evaluate precision and accuracy of the proposed method, a 13-node is simulated and tested using MATLAB.

Keywords: distribution network, fault section determination, distributed generation units, distribution protection equipment

Procedia PDF Downloads 400