Search results for: status of test automation

Authors: Vanessa Roulet, Marc Turini, Juliane Hey, Stéphanie Bord-Romeu, Emilie Bonzom, Mahmoud Badawi, Mohammed-Amine Chakir, Valérie Simon, Vanessa Viotti, Jérémie Gautier, Françoise Le Boulaire, Catherine Coignard, Claire Vincent, Sandrine Greaume, Isabelle Voisin

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Background: Beckman Coulter, Inc. has recently developed fully automated assays for the detection of HBsAg on a new immunoassay platform. The objective of this European multicenter study was to evaluate the performance of the ACCESS HBsAg and ACCESS HBsAg Confirmatory assays† on the recently CE-marked DxI 9000 ACCESS Immunoassay Analyzer. Methods: The clinical specificity of the ACCESS HBsAg and HBsAg Confirmatory assays was determined using HBsAg-negative samples from blood donors and hospitalized patients. The clinical sensitivity was determined using presumed HBsAg-positive samples. Sample HBsAg status was determined using a CE-marked HBsAg assay (Abbott ARCHITECT HBsAg Qualitative II, Roche Elecsys HBsAg II, or Abbott PRISM HBsAg assay) and a CE-marked HBsAg confirmatory assay (Abbott ARCHITECT HBsAg Qualitative II Confirmatory or Abbott PRISM HBsAg Confirmatory assay) according to manufacturer package inserts and pre-determined testing algorithms. False initial reactive rate was determined on fresh hospitalized patient samples. The sensitivity for the early detection of HBV infection was assessed internally on thirty (30) seroconversion panels. Results: Clinical specificity was 99.95% (95% CI, 99.86 – 99.99%) on 6047 blood donors and 99.71% (95%CI, 99.15 – 99.94%) on 1023 hospitalized patient samples. A total of six (6) samples were found false positive with the ACCESS HBsAg assay. None were confirmed for the presence of HBsAg with the ACCESS HBsAg Confirmatory assay. Clinical sensitivity on 455 HBsAg-positive samples was 100.00% (95% CI, 99.19 – 100.00%) for the ACCESS HBsAg assay alone and for the ACCESS HBsAg Confirmatory assay. The false initial reactive rate on 821 fresh hospitalized patient samples was 0.24% (95% CI, 0.03 – 0.87%). Results obtained on 30 seroconversion panels demonstrated that the ACCESS HBsAg assay had equivalent sensitivity performances compared to the Abbott ARCHITECT HBsAg Qualitative II assay with an average bleed difference since first reactive bleed of 0.13. All bleeds found reactive in ACCESS HBsAg assay were confirmed in ACCESS HBsAg Confirmatory assay. Conclusion: The newly developed ACCESS HBsAg and ACCESS HBsAg Confirmatory assays from Beckman Coulter have demonstrated high clinical sensitivity and specificity, equivalent to currently marketed HBsAg assays, as well as a low false initial reactive rate. †Pending achievement of CE compliance; not yet available for in vitro diagnostic use. 2023-11317 Beckman Coulter and the Beckman Coulter product and service marks mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Beckman Coulter, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Keywords: dxi 9000 access immunoassay analyzer, hbsag, hbv, hepatitis b surface antigen, hepatitis b virus, immunoassay

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Authors: David Abrahams

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In October 2016 South Africa deposited its ‘instrument of withdrawal’ from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Rome Statute is the founding document of the treaty-based International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has jurisdiction to hear cases where crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide have been committed, on the basis of individual criminal responsibility. It is therefore not surprising that one of the ICCs mandates is to ensure that the sufferings, due to gross human rights violations towards the civilian population is, in principle, brought to an end by punishing those individuals responsible, thus providing justice to the victims. The ICC is unable to effectively fulfill its mandate and thus depends, in part on the willingness of states to assist the Court in its functions. This requires states to ratify the Statute and to domesticate its provisions, depending on whether it is a monist or dualist state. South Africa ratified the Statute in November 2000, and domesticated the Statute in 2002 by virtue of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002. South Africa thus remains under an obligation to cooperate with the ICC until the final date of withdrawal, which is October 2017. An AU Summit was hosted by South Africa during June 2015. Omar Al-Bashir, whom the prosecutor of the ICC has indicted on two separate occasions, was invited to the summit. South Africa made an agreement with the AU that it will honour its obligations in terms of its Diplomatic and Immunities Privileges Act of 2001, by granting immunity to all heads of state, including that of Sudan. This decision by South Africa has raised a plethora of questions regarding the status and hierarchy of international laws versus regional laws versus domestic laws. In particular, this paper explores whether a state’s international law treaty obligations may be suspended in favour of, firstly, regional peace (thus safeguarding the security of the civilian population against further atrocities and other gross violations of human rights), and secondly, head of state immunity. This paper also reflects on the effectiveness of the trias politca in South Africa in relation the manner in which South African courts have confirmed South Africa’s failure in fulfilling its obligations in terms of the Rome Statute. A secondary question which will also be explored, is whether the Rome Statute is currently an effective tool in dealing with gross violations of human rights, particularly in a regional African context, given the desire by a number of African states currently party to the Statute, to engage in a mass exodus from the Statute. Finally, the paper concludes with a proposal that there can be no justice for victims of gross human rights violations unless states are serious in playing an instrumental role in bringing an end to impunity in Africa, and that withdrawing from the ICC without an alternative, effective system in place, will simply perpetuate impunity.

Keywords: African Union, diplomatic immunity, impunity, international criminal court, South Africa

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Authors: Amer A. Hasan, Mehri Igci, Ersin Borazan, Rozhgar A. Khailany, Emine Bayraktar, Ahmet Arslan

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Gastric cancer (GC) has high morbidity and fatality rate in various countries and is still one of the most frequent and deadly diseases. Novel mitogenic and motogenic Gastrokine1 (GKN1) and Gastrokine 2 (GKN2) genes that are highly expressed in the normal stomach epithelium and plays an important role in maintaining the integrity and homeostasis of stomach mucosal epithelial cells. Significant loss of copy number and mRNA transcript of GKN1 and GKN2 gene expression were frequently observed in all types of gastric cancer. In this study, 47 paired samples that were grouped according to the types of gastric cancer and the clinical characteristics of the patients, including gender and average of age were investigated with gene expression analysis and mutation screening by monetering RT-PCR, SSCP and nucleotide sequencing techniques. Both GKN1 and GKN2 genes were observed significantly reduced found by (Wilcoxon signed rank test; p<0.05). As a result of gene screening, no mutation (no different genotype) was detected. It is considered that gene mutations are not the cause of inactivation of gastrokines. In conclusion, the mRNA expression level of GKN1 and GKN2 genes statistically was decreased regardless the gender, age or cancer type of patients. Reduced of gastrokine genes seems to occur at the initial steps of cancer development. In order to understand the investigation between gastric cancer and diagnostic biomarker; further analysis is necessary.

Keywords: gastric cancer, diagnostic biomarker, nucleotide sequencing, semi-quantitative RT-PCR

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Authors: Delphine Duval, Morgan Mangeas, Charlie Huveneers, Adam Barnett, Laurent Vigliola

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The global number of shark bites has increased over the past four decades with, however, high regional variability both in space and time. A systematic review, aligned with the 2020 PRISMA guidelines, explored the peer-reviewed literature published between 1960 and 2023 to identify factors potentially explaining trends in human-shark interactions. Results revealed that variations in the frequency of human-shark interactions could be explained by a plethora of factors, including changes in prey availability, environmental conditions, human and shark population density and behavior, as well as habitat destruction. However, to our best knowledge, only five studies have conducted statistical assessments of the relative contribution of these factors. The increased number in human-shark interactions and the frequent clusters of shark bites within short timeframes offer opportunities to test the causative factors that may explain trends in unprovoked shark bites. it study aims to evaluate the impact of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the number of human-shark interactions, using data from the Global Shark Attack File and the World Database on Protected Areas. Results indicate contrasting effects of MPAs at different spatial scales. Enhancing our understanding of the factors contributing to shark bites is essential for improving risk reduction policies for humans and conservation plans for shark populations.

Keywords: unprovoked shark interactions, marine protected areas, attack risk, human-wildlife interaction

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Authors: Fatemeh Yazdanmehr, Iulian Nistor

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The scope of the current study is the evaluation of the electric field effect on electrostatic desalting mathematical modeling with laboratory data. This research study was focused on developing a model for an existing operation desalting unit of one of the Iranian heavy oil field with a 75 MBPD production capacity. The high temperature of inlet oil to dehydration unit reduces the oil recovery, so the mathematical modeling of desalter operation parameters is very significant. The existing production unit operating data has been used for the accuracy of the mathematical desalting plant model. The inlet oil temperature to desalter was decreased from 110 to 80°C, and the desalted electrical field was increased from 0.75 to 2.5 Kv/cm. The model result shows that the desalter parameter changes meet the water-oil specification and also the oil production and consequently annual income is increased. In addition to that, changing desalter operation conditions reduces environmental footprint because of flare gas reduction. Following to specify the accuracy of selected electrostatic desalter electrical field, laboratory data has been used. Experimental data are used to ensure the effect of electrical field change on desalter. Therefore, the lab test is done on a crude oil sample. The results include the dehydration efficiency in the presence of a demulsifier and under electrical field (0.75 Kv) conditions at various temperatures. Comparing lab experimental and electrostatic desalter mathematical model results shows 1-3 percent acceptable error which confirms the validity of desalter specification and operation conditions changes.

Keywords: desalter, electrical field, demulsification, mathematical modeling, water-oil separation

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Authors: Fares Khalfallah, Zakaria Boumerzoug, Selvarajan Rajakumar, Elhadj Raouache

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The ceramic-aluminum bond is strongly present in industrial tools, due to the need to combine the properties of metals, such as ductility, thermal and electrical conductivity, with ceramic properties like high hardness, corrosion and wear resistance. In recent years, some joining techniques have been developed to achieve a good bonding between these materials such as brazing, diffusion bonding, ultrasonic joining and friction welding. In this work, AA1100 aluminum alloy rods were welded with Alumina 99.9 wt% ceramic rods, by friction welding. The effect of friction pressure on mechanical and structural properties of welded joints was studied. The welding was performed by direct friction welding machine. The welding samples were rotated at a constant rotational speed of 900 rpm, friction time of 4 sec, forging strength of 18 MPa, and forging time of 3 sec. Three different friction pressures were applied to 20, 34 and 45 MPa. The three-point bending test and Vickers microhardness measurements were used to evaluate the strength of the joints and investigate the mechanical properties of the welding area. The microstructure of joints was examined by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that bending strength increased, and then decreased after reaching a maximum value, with increasing friction pressure. The SEM observation shows that the increase in friction pressure led to the appearance of cracks in the microstructure of the interface area, which is decreasing the bending strength of joints.

Keywords: welding of ceramic to aluminum, friction welding, alumina, AA1100 aluminum alloy

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Seham A. S. Mohamed, Sarah R. Baker, Christopher Deery, Mario V. Vettore

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Background: The link between oral health conditions and school performance and attendance remain unclear among Middle Eastern children. The association has been studied extensively in the Western region; however, several concerns have been raised regarding the reliability and validity of measures, low quality of studies, inadequate inclusion of potential confounders, and the lack of a conceptual framework. These limitations have meant that, to date, there has been no detailed understanding of the association or of the key social, clinical, behavioural and parental factors which may impact the association. Aim: To examine the association between oral health conditions and children’s school performance and attendance at Grade 2 in Muharraq city in the Kingdom of Bahrain using Heilmann et al.’s (2015) life course framework for oral health. Objectives: To (1) describe the prevalence of oral health conditions among 7-8 years old schoolchildren in the city of Muharraq; (2) analyse the social, biological, behavioural, and parental pathways that link early and current life exposures with children’s current oral health status; (3) examine the association between oral health conditions and school performance and attendance among schoolchildren; (4) explore the early and current life course social, biological, behavioural and parental factors associated with children’s school outcomes. Design: A time-ordered-cross-sectional study was conducted with 466 schoolchildren aged 7-8 years and their parents from Muharraq city in KoB. Data were collected through parents’ self-administered questionnaires, children’s face-face interviews, and dental clinical examinations. Outcome variables, including school performance and school attendance data, were obtained from the parents and school records. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Dental caries, the consequence of dental caries (PUFA/pufa), and enamel developmental defects (EDD) prevalence were 93.4%, 25.7%, and 17.2%, respectively. The findings from the SEM showed that children born in families with high SES were less likely to suffer from dentine dental caries (β= -0.248) and more likely to earn high school performance (β= 0.136) at 7-8 years of age in Muharraq. From the current life course of children, the dental plaque was associated significantly and directly with enamel caries (β= 0.094), dentine caries (β= 0.364), treated teeth (filled or extracted because of dental caries) (β= 0.121), and indirectly associated with dental pain (β= 0.057). Further, dentine dental caries was associated significantly and directly with low school performance (β= -0.155). At the same time, the dental plaque was indirectly associated with low school performance via dental caries (β = −0.044). Conversely, treated teeth were associated directly with high school performance (β= 0.100). Notably, none of the OHCs, biological, SES, behavioural, or parental conditions was related to school attendance in children. Conclusion: The life course approach was adequate to examine the role of OHCs on children’s school performance and attendance. Birth and current (7-8-year-olds) social factors were significant predictors of poor OH and poor school performance.

Keywords: dental caries, life course, Bahrain, school outcomes

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Authors: Zahra Ali Abbasi, Syed Muhammad Saqib Saleem

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This research explores the relationship between social media and awareness about climate change amongst the university students of Lahore, Pakistan. The aim is to understand how the people of Pakistan perceive climate change, especially on the social media. A deductive and quantitative method is applied on the research to find out the awareness of climate change in the people using social media. For this purpose, a survey method is used, to analyze the response from 167 online respondents through stratified random sampling technique. The relation between multiple variables including awareness about important climatic events like Paris agreement, GreenTube, Smog in Lahore, Floods in Pakistan and other eminent incidents of climate change and social media are calculated by analyzing social media as a source to impart information about climate change. The results show that as people get aware of climate change, they post about different national and international events/incidents of climate which reveal a significant relationship between respondents' awareness about climate change and their posting and sharing of content about climate change. Another test indicates that respondents’ post/share/comment (impart) information about climate change when there is a shift in the climate both globally and nationally. However, the significance of both these correlations has been found to be negligible. Social media being an independent platform holds greater influencing power, hence, as consumers of the environment the users hold the responsibility of producing and sharing content at a global platform about climate. However, matters of politics, economy and religion seem to have overshadowed the significance of climate.

Keywords: climate change, diffusion of innovation, environment, social media, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Tinomuvonga Manenji Zhou, Eubert Mahofa, Tatenda Crispen Madzokere

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The nanostructured formulation can increase fertilizer efficacy and uptake ratio of the soil nutrients in agriculture production and save fertilizer resources. Controlled release modes have properties of both release rate and release pattern of nutrients, for fertilizers that are soluble in water might be correctly controlled. Nanoparticles can reduce the rate at which fertilizer nutrients are in the soil by leaching. A slow release NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer was synthesized using exfoliated bentonite as filler material. A simple, scalable method was used to synthesize the nitrogen-phosphorus hydroxyapatite nano fertilizer, where calcium hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and urea were used as precursor material, followed by the incorporation of potassium through a liquid grinding method. The product obtained was an NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer. A quantitative analysis was done to determine the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the hybrid fertilizer. AAS was used to determine the percentage of potassium in the fertilizer. An accelerated water test was conducted to compare the nutrient release behavior of nutrients between the synthesized NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer and commercial NPK fertilizer. The rate of release of Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium was significantly lower in the synthesized NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer than in the convectional NPK fertilizer. The synthesized fertilizer was characterized using XRD. NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer encapsulated in exfoliated bentonite thus prepared can be used as an environmentally friendly fertilizer formulation which could be extended to solve one of the major problems faced in the global fertilization of low nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium use efficiency in agriculture.

Keywords: NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer, bentonite, encapsulation, low release

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Tarik Ozmen

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The soccer players need good dynamic balance and jumping performance for dribbling, crossing rival, and to be effective in high balls during soccer game. The quadriceps angle (Q-angle) is used to assess biomechanics of the patellofemoral joint in the musculoskeletal medicine. The Q angle is formed by the intersection of two lines drawing from the anterior superior iliac spine to the centre of the patella and to the midline of the tibia tuberosity. Studies have shown that the Q angle is inversely associated with quadriceps femoris strength. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationship between dynamic balance, jumping performance and Q-angle in soccer players. Thirty male soccer players (mean ± SD: age, 15.23 ± 0.56 years, height, 170 ± 8.37 cm, weight, 61.36 ± 6.04 kg) participated as volunteer in this study. Dynamic balance of the participants were evaluated at directions of anterior (A), posteromedial (PM) and posterolateral (PL) with Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT). Each participant was instructed to reach as far as with the non-dominant leg in each of the 3 directions while maintaining dominant leg stance. Leg length was used to normalize excursion distances by dividing the distance reached by leg length and then multiplying the result by 100. The jumping performance was evaluated by squat jump using a contact mat. A universal (standard) goniometer was used to measure the Q angle in standing position. The Q angle was not correlated with directions of SEBT (A: p = 0.32, PM: p = 0.06, PL: p = 0.37). The squat jump height was not correlated with Q-angle (p = 0.21). The findings of this study suggest that there are no significant relationships between dynamic balance, jumping performance and Q-angle in soccer players. Further studies should investigate relationship between balance ability, athletic performance and Q-angle with larger sample size in soccer players.

Keywords: balance, jump height, Q angle, soccer

Procedia PDF Downloads 433

Authors: Rodolfo Alfonso, David Alonso, Albin Garcia, Jose Luis Alonso

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Recently a new kilovoltage radiotherapy unit model Xstrahl 200 - donated to the INOR´s Department of Radiotherapy (DR-INOR) in the framework of a IAEA's technical cooperation project- has been commissioned. This unit is able to treat shallow and low deep laying lesions, as it provides 8 discrete beam qualities, from 40 to 200 kV. As part of the patient-specific quality assurance program established at DR-INOR for external beam radiotherapy, it has been recommended to implement in vivo dose measurements (IVD), as they allow effectively discovering eventual errors or failures in the radiotherapy process. For that purpose a radio-photoluminescence (RPL) dosimetry system, model XXX, -also donated to DR-INOR by the same IAEA project- has been studied and commissioned. Main dosimetric parameters of the RPL system, such as reproducibility, linearity, and filed size influence were assessed. In a similar way, the response of radiochromic EBT3 type film was investigated for purposes of IVD. Both systems were calibrated in terms of entrance surface dose. Results of the dosimetric commissioning of RPL and EBT3 for IVD, and their pre-clinical implementation through end-to-end test cases are presented. The RPL dosimetry seems more recommendable for hyper-fractionated schemes with larger fields and curved patient contours, as those in chest wall irradiations, where the use of more than one dosimeter could be required. The radiochromic system involves smaller corrections with field size, but it sensibility is lower; hence it is more adequate for hypo-fractionated treatments with smaller fields.

Keywords: glass dosimetry, in vivo dosimetry, kilovotage radiotherapy, radiochromic dosimetry

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Aydin Sipahioglu, Gokhan Celik

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Helicopter routing problem (HRP) is finding good tours for helicopter so as to pick up and deliver personnel or material among specified nodes, mutually. It can be encountered in case of being lots of supply and demand points for different commodities and requiring delivering commodities with helicopter. For instance, to deliver personnel or material from shore to oil rig is a good example. In fact, HRP is a branch of vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery (VRPPD). However, it has additional constraints such that fuel capacity, performance of helicopter in different altitude and temperature, and the number of maximum takeoff and landing allowed. This kind of pickup and delivery problems can be classified into 3 groups, basically. 1-1 (one to one), M-M (many to many) and 1-M-1 (one to many to one). 1-1 means each commodity has only one supply and one demand point. M-M means there can be more than one supply and demand points for each kind of commodity. 1-M-1 means commodities at depot are delivered to demand points and commodities at customers are delivered to depot. In this case helicopter takes off from its own base, complete its tour and return to its own base. In this study, we define 1-M-M-1 type HRP. That means helicopter takes off from its home base, deliver commodities among the nodes as well as between depot and customers and return to its home base. These problems have NP-hard nature. Therefore, obtaining a good solution in a reasonable time is not easy. In this study, a model is offered for 1-M-M-1 type HRP. It is shown on small scale test instances that the model can find the optimal solution.

Keywords: helicopter routing problem, vehicle routing with pickup and delivery, integer programming

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Authors: Gurjeet Singh, M. K. Pradhan, Ajay Verma

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The plastic industry plays very important role in the economy of any country. It is generally among the leading share of the economy of the country. Since metals and their alloys are very rarely available on the earth. So to produce plastic products and components, which finds application in many industrial as well as household consumer products is beneficial. Since 50% plastic products are manufactured by injection moulding process. For production of better quality product, we have to control quality characteristics and performance of the product. The process parameters plays a significant role in production of plastic, hence the control of process parameter is essential. In this paper the effect of the parameters selection on injection moulding process has been described. It is to define suitable parameters in producing plastic product. Selecting the process parameter by trial and error is neither desirable nor acceptable, as it is often tends to increase the cost and time. Hence optimization of processing parameter of injection moulding process is essential. The experiments were designed with Taguchi’s orthogonal array to achieve the result with least number of experiments. Here Plastic material polypropylene is studied. Tensile strength test of material is done on universal testing machine, which is produced by injection moulding machine. By using Taguchi technique with the help of MiniTab-14 software the best value of injection pressure, melt temperature, packing pressure and packing time is obtained. We found that process parameter packing pressure contribute more in production of good tensile plastic product.

Keywords: injection moulding, tensile strength, poly-propylene, Taguchi

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Mohammad Shabani

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The physical activities depending on the nature of the mechanical stresses they induce on bone sometimes have brought about different results. The purpose of this study was to compare bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine between the high-level cyclists and sedentary. Materials and Methods: In the present study, 73 cyclists senior (age: 25.81 ± 4.35 years; height: 179.66 ± 6.31 cm; weight: 71.55 ± 6.31 kg) and 32 sedentary subjects (age: 28.28 ± 4.52 years; height: 176.56 ± 6.2 cm; weight: 74.47 ± 8.35 kg) participated voluntarily. All cyclists belonged to the different teams from the International Cycling Union and they trained competitively for 10 years. BMD of the lumbar spine of the subjects was measured using DXA X-ray (Lunar). Descriptive statistics calculations were performed using computer software data processing (Statview 5, SAS Institute Inc. USA). The comparison of two independent distributions (BMD high level cyclists and sedentary) was made by the Student T Test standard. Probability 0.05 (p≤0 / 05) was adopted as significance. Results: The result of this study showed that the BMD values of the lumbar spine of sedentary subjects were significantly higher for all measured segments. Conclusion and Discussion: Cycling is firstly a common sport and on the other hand endurance sport. It is now accepted that weight bearing exercises have an osteogenic effect compared to non-weight bearing exercises. Thus, endurance sports such as cycling, compared to the activities imposing intense force in short time, seem not to really be osteogenic. Therefore, it can be concluded that cycling provides low stimulates osteogenic because of specific biomechanical forces of the sport and its lack of impact.

Keywords: BMD, lumbar spine, high level cyclist, cycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Mohamed Fathy Heweage, Xiao Wen, Ayman Mokhtar, Ahmed Eldamarawy

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In this paper, we are interested in modeling, simulation, and measurement of the laser spot position with a quadrant detector. We enhance detection and tracking of semi-laser weapon decoding system based on microcontroller. The system receives the reflected pulse through quadrant detector and processes the laser pulses through a processing circuit, a microcontroller decoding laser pulse reflected by the target. The seeker accuracy will be enhanced by the decoding system, the laser detection time based on the receiving pulses number is reduced, a gate is used to limit the laser pulse width. The model is implemented based on Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) technique with two microcontroller units (MCU). MCU1 generates laser pulses with different codes. MCU2 decodes the laser code and locks the system at the specific code. The codes EW selected based on the two selector switches. The system is implemented and tested in Proteus ISIS software. The implementation of the full position determination circuit with the detector is produced. General system for the spot position determination was performed with the laser PRF for incident radiation and the mechanical system for adjusting system at different angles. The system test results show that the system can detect the laser code with only three received pulses based on the narrow gate signal, and good agreement between simulation and measured system performance is obtained.

Keywords: four quadrant detector, pulse code detection, laser guided weapons, pulse repetition frequency (PRF), Atmega 32 microcontrollers

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Authors: Tanvir Ahmed, Musfira Rahman, Rumpa Chowdhury

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We performed laboratory experiments to assess the suitability of using medical waste incineration fly ash in cement as a construction material based on the engineering properties of fly ash-cement matrix and the leaching potential of toxic heavy metals from the stabilized mix. Fly ash-cement samples were prepared with different proportions of fly ash (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by weight) in the laboratory controlled conditions. The solidified matrix exhibited a compressive strength from 3950 to 4980 psi when fly ash is mixed in varying proportions. The 28-day compressive strength has been found to decrease with the increase in fly ash content, but it meets the minimum requirement of compressive strength for cement-mortar. Soundness test results for cement-mortar mixes having up to 15% fly ash. Final and initial setting times of cement have been found to generally increase with fly ash content. Water requirement (for normal consistency) also increased with the increase in fly ash content in cement. Based on physical properties of the cement-mortar matrix it is recommended that up to 10% (by weight) medical waste incineration fly ash can be incorporated for producing cement-mortar of optimum quality. Leaching behaviours of several targeted heavy metals (As, Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, Hg and Zn) were analyzed using Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) on fly ash and solidified fly ash-cement matrix. It was found that the leached concentrations of As, Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn were reduced by 80.13%, 89.47%, 33.33% and 23.9% respectively for 10% fly ash incorporated cement-mortar matrix compared to that of original fly ash. The leached concentrations of heavy metals were from the matrix were far below the EPA land disposal limits. These results suggest that the solidified fly ash incorporated cement-mortar matrix can effectively confine and immobilize the heavy metals contained in the fly ash.

Keywords: cement-mortar, fly ash, leaching, waste management

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Fayza Al Hammadi, Ayman Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Aayah Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Salah Al Yami

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Background: When we further take Arabic grammatical issues into account in accordance with applied linguistic investigations on Arabic as Second Language (ASL) learners, a fundamental issue arises at this point as to the production of speech in Arabic: Oral grammatical errors committed by ASL learners. Aims: Using manual rating as well as computational analytic methodology to test a corpus of recorded speech by Second Language (ASL) learners of Arabic, this study aims to find the areas of difficulties in learning Arabic grammar. More specifically, it examines how and why ASL learners make grammatical errors in their oral speech. Methods: Tape recordings of four (4) Arabic as Second Language (ASL) learners who ranged in age from 23 to 30 were naturally collected. All participants have completed an intensive Arabic program (two years) and 20 minute-speech was recorded for each participant. Having the collected corpus, the next procedure was to rate them against Arabic standard grammar. The rating includes four processes: Description, analysis and assessment. Conclusions: Outcomes made from the issues addressed in this paper can be summarized in the fact that ASL learners face many grammatical difficulties when studying Arabic word order, tenses and aspects, function words, subject-verb agreement, verb form, active-passive voice, global and local errors, processes-based errors including addition, omission, substitution or a combination of any of them.

Keywords: grammar, error, oral, Arabic, second language, learner, applied linguistics.

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Authors: Teklebrhan Kidane

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The aim of this study is to investigate the species diversity and relative abundance of migratory waterbirds in Abijata Lake, an Important Bird Area and potential Ramsar site located in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The study was carried out, using line transect method along the shoreline and open area of the Lake. The data was analyzed with different diversity indices; t-Test and descriptive statistics. Thirty-two migratory waterbird species grouped into twelve families consisting of globally threatened birds were identified and recorded. Family Scolopacidae (12 species) had the highest number of species. The lowest number of species was observed under the families Ciconidae, Accipitridae, Laridae and Falconidae with one species each. The recorded bird species comprised 19 Palearctic, 5 Intra-African, 2 local migrants as well as 6 resident Palearctic migratory waterbird species. The dry season had higher species diversity (H'=1.01) compared to the wet season (H'=0.76). The highest and lowest diversity of migratory waterbirds were recorded during January (H'= 1.28) and June (H'= 0.52), respectively. However, the highest evenness (E) of bird species was recorded during wet season (E=0.21) and lower during the dry season (E=0.09). The computed seasonal effect reveals that there is significant effect of seasons on species diversity (t=2.80, P < 0.05), but the effect of seasons on individuals of migratory bird species was not significant (t=1.42, P > 0.05). Even though Lake Abijata is the sanctuary of several migratory waterbirds, anthropogenic activities are rigorously threatening their survival. Therefore, it needs an urgent conservation concern.

Keywords: migration, important bird area, species diversity, wetland birds

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Vemula Amalakrishna, S. Pushpavanam

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Change and motion characterize and persistently reshape the world around us, on scales from molecular to global. The subtle interplay between change (Reaction) and motion (Diffusion) gives rise to an astonishing intricate spatial or temporal pattern. These pattern formation in nature has been intellectually appealing for many scientists since antiquity. Periodic precipitation patterns, also known as Liesegang patterns (LP), are one of the stimulating examples of such self-assembling reaction-diffusion (RD) systems. LP formation has a great potential in micro and nanotechnology. So far, the research on LPs has been concentrated mostly on how these patterns are forming, retrieving information to build a universal mathematical model for them. Researchers have developed various theoretical models to comprehensively construct the geometrical diversity of LPs. To the best of our knowledge, simulation studies of LPs assume an arbitrary value of RD parameters to explain experimental observation qualitatively. In this work, existing models were studied to understand the mechanism behind this phenomenon and challenges pertaining to models were understood and explained. These models are not computationally effective due to the presence of discontinuous precipitation rate in RD equations. To overcome the computational challenges, smoothened Heaviside functions have been introduced, which downsizes the computational time as well. Experiments were performed using a conventional LP system (AgNO₃-K₂Cr₂O₇) to understand the effects of different gels and temperatures on formed LPs. The model is extended for real parameter values to compare the simulated results with experimental data for both 1-D (Cartesian test tubes) and 2-D(cylindrical and Petri dish).

Keywords: reaction-diffusion, spatio-temporal patterns, nucleation and growth, supersaturation

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Authors: Ya-Ju Ju, Li-Chen Yang, Yi-Chun Du, Rong-Ju Cherng

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Introduction: It is estimated that 5-6% of school-aged children may be diagnosed to have developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Children with DCD are characterized with motor skill difficulty which cannot be explained by any medical or intellectual reasons. Such motor difficulties limit children’s participation to sports activity, further affect their physical fitness, cardiopulmonary function and balance, and may lead to obesity. The purpose of the project was to develop an exergaming system for children with DCD aiming to improve their physical fitness, cardiopulmonary function and balance ability. Methods: This study took five steps to build up the system: system planning, tasks selection, tasks programming, system integration and usability test. The system basically adopted virtual reality technique to integrate self-developed training programs. The training programs were developed to brainstorm among team members and after literature review. The selected tasks for training in the system were a combination of fundamental movement tor skill. Results and Discussion: Based on the theory of motor development, we design the training task from easy ones to hard ones, from single tasks to dual tasks. The tasks included walking, sit to stand, jumping, kicking, weight shifting, side jumping and their combination. Preliminary study showed that the tasks presented an order of development. Further study is needed to examine its effect on motor skill and cardiovascular fitness in children with DCD.

Keywords: virtual reality, virtual reality system, developmental coordination disorder, children

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Authors: Anjum-Zubair, Muhammad, Muhammad Shoaib Alam, Muhammad Samee Mubarik, Iftikhar Ahmad

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The aim of present research was to evaluate the effect of dietary protein (soybean) formulated feed on the growth performance of carp fish seed (Rohu, Mori, Grass, and Gulfam) in ponds under polyculture system. Keeping in view the protein requirements of these four carps, they were fed with formulated feed contains 30% of crude protein. The fingerlings were fed once on daily basis at 5% of their wet body weight. A 90 days experiment was conducted in two cemented ponds situated at Fish Seed Hatchery and Research Centre, Rawal Town, Islamabad, Pakistan. Pond1 contain major carps i.e. Rohu and Mori while pond 2 was stocked with Chinese carps i.e. Grass carp and Gulfam. Random sampling of five individuals of each species was done fortnightly to measure the body weight and total body length. Maximum growth was observed in fingerling of Grass carp followed by Mori, Rohu and Gulfam. Total fish production was recorded as Grass 623.45 gm followed by Mori 260.3 gm, Rohu 243.08 gm and Gulfam 181.165 gm respectively. Significantly results were obtained among these four fish species when the corresponding data was subjected to statistical analysis by using two sample t-test. The survival rate was 100%. Study shows that soybean as plant based protein can be easily used as substitute to fish meal without any adverse effect on fish health and fish production.

Keywords: carps, fry growth, poly culture, soybean meal

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Authors: L. Freeborn

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Recent years have seen an increasing number of neuroimaging studies related to language learning as imaging techniques such as fMRI and EEG have become more widely accessible to researchers. By using a variety of structural and functional neuroimaging techniques, these studies have already made considerable progress in terms of our understanding of neural networks and processing related to first and second language acquisition. However, the methodological designs employed in neuroimaging studies to test language learning have been questioned by applied linguists working within the field of second language acquisition (SLA). One of the major criticisms is that tasks designed to measure language learning gains rarely have a communicative function, and seldom assess learners’ ability to use the language in authentic situations. This brings the validity of many neuroimaging tasks into question. The fundamental reason why people learn a language is to communicate, and it is well-known that both first and second language proficiency are developed through meaningful social interaction. With this in mind, the SLA field is in agreement that second language acquisition and proficiency should be measured through learners’ ability to communicate in authentic real-life situations. Whilst authenticity is not always possible to achieve in a classroom environment, the importance of task authenticity should be reflected in the design of language assessments, teaching materials, and curricula. Tasks that bear little relation to how language is used in real-life situations can be considered to lack construct validity. This paper first describes the typical tasks used in neuroimaging studies to measure language gains and proficiency, then analyses to what extent these tasks can validly assess these constructs.

Keywords: neuroimaging studies, research design, second language acquisition, task validity

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Authors: Olubajo Olumide Olu

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This paper studies the effect of Metakaolin (MK) and Rice husk ash (RHA) on the compressive strength of ternary cement mortar at replacement level up to 30%. The compressive strength test of the blended cement mortars were conducted using Tonic Technic compression and machine. Nineteen ternary cement mortars were prepared comprising of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), Rice husk ash (RHA) and Metakaolin (MK) at different proportion. Ternary mortar prisms in which Portland cement was replaced by up to 30% were tested at various age; 2, 7, 28 and 60 days. Result showed that the compressive strength of the cement mortars increased as the curing days were lengthened for both OPC and the blended cement samples. The ternary cement’s compressive strengths showed significant improvement compared with the control especially beyond 28 days. This can be attributed to the slow pozzolanic reaction resulting from the formation of additional CSH from the interaction of the residual CH content and the silica available in the Metakaolin and Rice husk ash, thus providing significant strength gain at later age. Results indicated that the addition of metakaolin with rice husk ash kept constant was found to lead to an increment in the compressive strength. This can either be attributed to the high silica/alumina contribution to the matrix or the C/S ratio in the cement matrix. Whereas, increment in the rice husk ash content while metakaolin was held constant led to an increment in the compressive strength, which could be attributed to the reactivity of the rice husk ash followed by decrement owing to the presence of unburnt carbon in the RHA matrix. The best compressive strength results were obtained at 10% cement replacement (5% RHA, 5% MK); 15% cement replacement (10% MK and 5% RHA); 20% cement replacement (15% MK and 5% RHA); 25% cement replacement (20% MK and 5% RHA); 30% cement replacement (10%/20% MK and 20%/10% RHA). With the optimal combination of either 15% and 20% MK with 5% RHA giving the best compressive strength of 40.5MPa.

Keywords: metakaolin, rice husk ash, compressive strength, ternary mortar, curing days

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Authors: Suraj Sharma

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Green infrastructure (GI) offers a contemporary approach for reducing the risk of flooding, improve water quality, and harvesting stormwater for sustainable use. GI promotes landscape planning to enhance sustainable development and urban resilience. However, the existing literature is lacking in ensuring the comprehensive assessment of GI performance in terms of ecosystem function and services for social, ecological, and economical system resilience. We propose a robust indicator set and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) for quantitative and qualitative analysis for sustainable water management to assess the capacity of urban resilience. Green infrastructure in urban resilience water management system (GIUR-WMS) supports decision-making for GI planning through scenario comparisons with urban resilience capacity index. To demonstrate the GIUR-WMS, we develop five scenarios for five sectors of Chandigarh (12, 26, 14, 17, and 34) to test common type of GI (rain barrel, rain gardens, detention basins, porous pavements, and open spaces). The result shows the open spaces achieve the highest green infrastructure urban resilience index of 4.22/5. To implement the open space scenario in urban sites, suitable vacant can be converted to green spaces (example: forest, low impact recreation areas, and detention basins) GIUR-WMS is easy to replicate, customize and apply to cities of different sizes to assess environmental, social and ecological dimensions.

Keywords: green infrastructure, assessment, urban resilience, water management system, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation

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Authors: Kolawole F. Farinloye, Samson O. Ojo

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Two Columbiformes species were recently introduced to the newly established Awba Dam Tourism Centre [ADTC], hence there is need to investigate the effect of seasonal variation on these species with respect to hematological composition. Blood samples were obtained from superficial ulna vein of the 128 apparently healthy C. livia and C. guinea into tubes containing EDTA as anticoagulant. Thin blood smears (TBS) were prepared, stained and viewed under microscope. Values of Red Blood Cell (RBC) count, White Blood Cell (WBC) count, cholesterol (CH), Uric Acid (UA), Protein (PR), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Haemoglobin Content (HB), Blood Volume (BV), Plasma Glucose (PG) and Length/Width (L/W) ratio of red blood cells were assessed. The procedure was carried out on a seasonal basis (wet and dry seasons of 2013-2014). Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Lymphocyte count for C. livia was F3, 161 = 13.15, while for C. guinea was F3, 178 = 13.15. Heterophil, H/L ratio and Muscle score values for both species were (rs = -0.38, rs = -0.44), (rs = 0.51, rs = 0.31) (4, 3) respectively. Analyses also demonstrated a low WBC to RBC ratio (0.004: 25.3) in both species during the wet season compared to dry season, respectively. L/W varied significantly among sampling seasons i.e. wet (19.1% of BV, 12.6% of BV, 0.1% of BV) and dry (18.9% of BV, 12.7% of BV, 0.08% of BV). The level of HB in wet season (19.20±8.46108) is lower compared to dry season (19.70±8.48762). T-test also showed (wet=15.625, 0.111), (dry=12.125, 0.146) respectively, hence there is no association between species and haematological parameters. Species introduced were found to be haematologically stable. Although there were slight differences in seasonal composition, however this can be attributed to seasonal variation; suggesting little or no effect of seasons on their blood composition.

Keywords: seasonal variation, Columbiformes, Awba Dam tourism centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan

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Authors: Jaspinder Kaur, Jatinder Pal Singh

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Introduction- Delusional parasitosis is a rare psychotic illness characterized by a fixed belief of manifesting a parasite in a body when in reality, it was not. Also known as Ekbom syndrome or delusional infestations, or acarophobia. Although the patient has no primary skin pathology, but all skin findings were secondary to skin manipulation by the patient itself, which is why up to 90% of patients first seek consultation from a dermatologist. Most commonly, it was seen in older people with female to male ratio is 2:1. For treatment, the patient first need to be investigated to rule all other possible causes, as Delusional parasitosis can be caused by Vitamin B12 deficiency, pellagra, hepatic and renal disease, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and leprosy. When all possible causes ruled out, psychiatric referral to be done. Rule out other psychiatric comorbidities, and treatment should be done accordingly. Patient with delusional parasitosis responds well to second generation antipsychotics and need to continuous medication over years, and relapse is likely if treatment is stopped. Case Presentation- A 79-year-old female, belonging to lower socio-economic status, presented with complaints of itching sensation with erythematous patches over the scalp and multiple scratch excoriations lesion over the scalp, face and neck from the past 7-8 months. She had a feeling of small insect crawling under her skin and scalp area. To reduce the itching and kill the insect, she would scratch and squeeze her skin repeatedly. When the family tried to give her explanation that there was no insect in her body, she would not get convinced, rather got angry and abuse family members for not believing her. Gradually, her sleep would remain disturbed, she would be seen awake at night, seen to be scratching her skin, pull her scalp hair, even squeeze out her healed lesions. She collected her skin debris, scalp hairs and look out for insect. Because of her continuous illness, the patient started to remain sad and had crying spells. Her appetite decreased. She became socially isolated and stopped doing her activities of daily living. Family member’s first consulted dermatologist, investigated thoroughly with routine investigations, autoimmune and malignancy workup. As all investigations were normal, following which patient was referred for psychiatric evaluation. The patient was started on Tablet Olanzapine 2.5 mg, gradually increased to 7.5 mg. Over 1 month, there was reduction in itching, skin pricking. Lesions were gradually healed, and the patient continued to take other dermatological medications and ointment and was in regular follow up with psychiatric liaison from past 2 months with 70-80 % improvement in her symptoms. Conclusion- Delusional parasitosis is a psychiatric disorder of insidious onset, seen commonly in middle and old age people. Both psychiatric and dermatology consultation liaison will help the patient for an early diagnosis and adequate treatment. If a primary psychiatric diagnosis, the patient respond well to second generation antipsychotics but always require a further evaluation and treatment management if it is secondary to some physical or other psychiatric comorbidity.

Keywords: delusional parasitosis, delusional infestations, rare, primary psychiatric diagnosis, antipsychotic agents

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Authors: Maria Amodeo, Pasquale Arpaia, Marco Buzio, Vincenzo Di Capua, Francesco Donnarumma

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Different deep neural network architectures have been compared and tested to predict magnetic hysteresis in the context of pulsed electromagnets for experimental physics applications. Modelling quasi-static or dynamic major and especially minor hysteresis loops is one of the most challenging topics for computational magnetism. Recent attempts at mathematical prediction in this context using Preisach models could not attain better than percent-level accuracy. Hence, this work explores neural network approaches and shows that the architecture that best fits the measured magnetic field behaviour, including the effects of hysteresis and eddy currents, is the nonlinear autoregressive exogenous neural network (NARX) model. This architecture aims to achieve a relative RMSE of the order of a few 100 ppm for complex magnetic field cycling, including arbitrary sequences of pseudo-random high field and low field cycles. The NARX-based architecture is compared with the state-of-the-art, showing better performance than the classical operator-based and differential models, and is tested on a reference quadrupole magnetic lens used for CERN particle beams, chosen as a case study. The training and test datasets are a representative example of real-world magnet operation; this makes the good result obtained very promising for future applications in this context.

Keywords: deep neural network, magnetic modelling, measurement and empirical software engineering, NARX

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Authors: Mohd Tahseen Islam Talukder, Sheikh Adnan Enam, Latifa Akter Lithi, Soebur Rahman

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Composite structures have made significant advances in construction applications during the last few decades. Composite structures are composed of structural steel shapes and reinforced concrete combined with shear connectors, which benefit each material's unique properties. Significant research has been conducted on different types of connectors’ behavior and shear capacity. Moreover, the AISC 360-16 “Specification for Steel Structural Buildings” consists of a formula for channel shear connectors' shear capacity. This research compares the behavior of C type and L type shear connectors using Finite Element Analysis. Experimental results from published literature are used to validate the finite element models. The 3-D Finite Element Model (FEM) was built using ABAQUS 2017 to investigate non-linear capabilities and the ultimate load-carrying potential of the connectors using push-out tests. The changes in connector dimensions were analyzed using this non-linear model in parametric investigations. The parametric study shows that by increasing the length of the shear connector by 10 mm, its shear strength increases by 21%. Shear capacity increased by 13% as the height was increased by 10 mm. The thickness of the specimen was raised by 1 mm, resulting in a 2% increase in shear capacity. However, the shear capacity of channel connectors was reduced by 21% due to an increase of thickness by 2 mm.

Keywords: finite element method, channel shear connector, angle shear connector, ABAQUS, composite structure, shear connector, parametric study, ultimate shear capacity, push-out test

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Authors: Ru-Yin Yang, Chi Wu, Cheng-Yu Tsai, Yin-Tzu Lin, Wen-Te Liu

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Background: Sleep breathing disorder (SDB) is a condition demonstrated by recurrent episodes of the airway obstruction leading to intermittent hypoxia and quality fragmentation during sleep time. However, the procedures for SDB severity examination remain complicated and costly. Objective: The objective of this study is to establish a simplified examination method for SDB by the respiratory impendence pattern sensor combining the signal processing and machine learning model. Methodologies: We records heart rate variability by the electrocardiogram and respiratory pattern by impendence. After the polysomnography (PSG) been done with the diagnosis of SDB by the apnea and hypopnea index (AHI), we calculate the episodes with the absence of flow and arousal index (AI) from device record. Subjects were divided into training and testing groups. Neuron network was used to establish a prediction model to classify the severity of the SDB by the AI, episodes, and body profiles. The performance was evaluated by classification in the testing group compared with PSG. Results: In this study, we enrolled 66 subjects (Male/Female: 37/29; Age:49.9±13.2) with the diagnosis of SDB in a sleep center in Taipei city, Taiwan, from 2015 to 2016. The accuracy from the confusion matrix on the test group by NN is 71.94 %. Conclusion: Based on the models, we established a prediction model for SDB by means of the wearable sensor. With more cases incoming and training, this system may be used to rapidly and automatically screen the risk of SDB in the future.

Keywords: sleep breathing disorder, apnea and hypopnea index, body parameters, neuron network

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Authors: Bassma A. Abdelhaleem, Mamdouh A. Abdulrhman, Nagwa I. Mohamed

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Malnutrition in children is an increasing problem worldwide which may result in both short and long-term irreversible negative health outcomes. Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) affects more than 18 million children each year, mostly living in low-income settings. SAM contributes to 45% of all deaths in children less than five years of age. Honey is a natural sweetener, containing mainly monosaccharides (up to 80%), disaccharides (3–5%), water (17–20%), and a wide range of minor constituents such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, enzymes, and phytochemicals, mainly phenolic acids, and flavonoids. Honey has been used in many cultures around the world due to its known nutritional and medicinal benefits including the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Despite its use since ancient times yet little is known about its potential benefits for malnourished children. Honey has the potential to be an affordable solution for malnourished low-income children as it is nutrient-dense and calorie dense food, easily absorbed, highly palatable, enhances appetite, and boosts immunity. This study assessed the effect of clover honey supplementation on the anthropometric measurements and lipid profile of malnourished infants and children. A prospective interventional clinical trial was conducted between November 2019 to November 2020, on 40 malnourished infants and children divided into two groups: Group A (20 children; 11 males and 9 females) received honey in a dose of 1.75ml/kg/dose, twice weekly for 12 weeks and Group B (20 children; 6 males and 14 females) received placebo. Written informed consent was obtained for parents/guardians. Patients were recruited from the Pediatric Nutrition Clinic at Ain Shams University. Anthropometric measurements (weight, height, body mass index, head circumference, and mid-arm circumference) and fasting serum cholesterol levels were measured at baseline and after 3 months. The 3-month honey consumption had a statistically highly significant effect on increasing weight, height, and body mass index and lowering fasting serum cholesterol levels in primary malnourished infants and children. Weight, height, body mass index, and fasting serum cholesterol level before honey consumption were (9.49 ± 2.03, 81.45 ± 8.31, 14.24 ± 2.15, 178.00 ± 20.91) and after 3 months of honey consumption were (10.91 ± 2.11, 84.80 ± 8.23, 15.07 ± 2.05, 162.45 ± 19.73) respectively with P-value < 0.01. Our results showed a significant desirable effect of honey consumption on changes in nutritional status based on weight, height, and body mass index, and has a favourable effect on lowering fasting serum cholesterol levels. These results propose the use of honey as an affordable solution to improve malnutrition, particularly in low-income countries. However, further research needs to weigh benefits against potential harms including the risk of botulinum toxin that is historically associated with honey consumption in early childhood.

Keywords: clinical trial, dyslipidemia, honey, malnutrition

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