Search results for: shape based retrieval

Authors: Edson Ephraim Sanga

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This paper stems to explore possible places used for recreation in unplanned settlements in order to avail knowledge on how to create and shape urban spaces essential for recreation and leisure. The context of unplanned settlements is spatially characterized compactness and congestions of buildings developed by residents without professional inputs. These characteristics surpass greenery landscapes such as parks and squares essential for health, happiness and wellbeing. The lack of recreational greenery landscape arises a question on how possible can recreation take places in the settlements? This study used qualitative methods mainly observation and in-depth interview to explore the recreational situation in Manzese informal settlements as an instrumental case and found that ordinary spaces are re-configured into recreational spaces and used as ‘parks’ and ‘squares’ in the settlements. The spaces are diverse and complex as they possess different spatial characteristics based on their physical attributes and the way they are used and interpreted by respective users. This paper argues that the re-configuration processes of ordinary spaces should not be taken for granted because they portray the appropriation of spaces from quotidian dimensions in a particular context.

Keywords: ordinary spaces, recreation, unplanned settlement, urban spaces

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Authors: Annamarija Paula

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Modern psychology is divided into three distinct domains: cognition, affect, and conation. Historically, psychology devalued the importance of studying the effect in order to explain human behavior as it supposedly lacked both rational thought and a scientific foundation. As a result, affect remained the least studied domain for years to come. However, the last 30 years have marked a significant change in perspective, claiming that not only is affect highly adaptive, but it also plays a crucial role in cognitive processes. Affective states have a crucial impact on human behavior, which led to fundamental advances in the study of affective states on perception and judgment. Positive affect and negative affect are distinct entities and have different effects on social information processing. In addition, emotions of the same valence are manifested in distinct and unique physiological reactions indicating that not all forms of positive or negative affect are the same or serve the same purpose. The effect plays a vital role in perception and judgments, which impacts the validity and reliability of memory retrieval. The research paper analyzes key findings from the past three decades of observational and empirical research on affective states and cognition. The paper also addresses the limitations connected to the findings and proposes suggestions for possible future research.

Keywords: memory, affect, perception, judgement, mood congruency effect

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Authors: Colette Faucher

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In modern asymmetric conflicts, the Armed Forces generally have to intervene in countries where the internal peace is in danger. They must make the local population an ally in order to be able to deploy the necessary military actions with its support. For this purpose, psychological operations (PSYOPs) are used to shape people’s behaviors and emotions by the modification of their attitudes in acting on their perceptions. PSYOPs aim at elaborating and spreading a message that must be read, listened to and/or looked at, then understood by the info-targets in order to get from them the desired behavior. A message can generate in the info-targets, reasoned thoughts, spontaneous emotions or reflex behaviors, this effect partly depending on the means of conveyance used to spread this message. In this paper, we focus on psychological operations that generate emotions. We present a method based on the Intergroup Emotion Theory, that determines, from the characteristics of the conveyed message and of the people from the population directly reached by the means of conveyance (direct info-targets), the emotion likely to be triggered in them and we simulate the propagation of the effects of such a message on indirect info-targets that are connected to them through the social networks that structure the population.

Keywords: military psychological operations, social identity, social network, emotion propagation

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Authors: Ghazal Faraj, Andras Micsik

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The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) is an extensible ontology that provides integrated access to heterogeneous and digital datasets. The CIDOC-CRM offers a “semantic glue” intended to promote accessibility to several diverse and dispersed sources of cultural heritage data. That is achieved by providing a formal structure for the implicit and explicit concepts and their relationships in the cultural heritage field. The COURAGE (“Cultural Opposition – Understanding the CultuRal HeritAGE of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries”) project aimed to explore methods about socialist-era cultural resistance during 1950-1990 and planned to serve as a basis for further narratives and digital humanities (DH) research. This project highlights the diversity of flourished alternative cultural scenes in Eastern Europe before 1989. Moreover, the dataset of COURAGE is an online RDF-based registry that consists of historical people, organizations, collections, and featured items. For increasing the inter-links between different datasets and retrieving more relevant data from various data silos, a shared federated ontology for reconciled data is needed. As a first step towards these goals, a full understanding of the CIDOC CRM ontology (target ontology), as well as the COURAGE dataset, was required to start the work. Subsequently, the queries toward the ontology were determined, and a table of equivalent properties from COURAGE and CIDOC CRM was created. The structural diagrams that clarify the mapping process and construct queries are on progress to map person, organization, and collection entities to the ontology. Through mapping the COURAGE dataset to CIDOC-CRM ontology, the dataset will have a common ontological foundation with several other datasets. Therefore, the expected results are: 1) retrieving more detailed data about existing entities, 2) retrieving new entities’ data, 3) aligning COURAGE dataset to a standard vocabulary, 4) running distributed SPARQL queries over several CIDOC-CRM datasets and testing the potentials of distributed query answering using SPARQL. The next plan is to map CIDOC-CRM to other upper-level ontologies or large datasets (e.g., DBpedia, Wikidata), and address similar questions on a wide variety of knowledge bases.

Keywords: CIDOC CRM, cultural heritage data, COURAGE dataset, ontology alignment

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Authors: Rick Denley

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Urban planning today faces unprecedented challenges as cities strive for sustainability in response to climate change, rapid population growth, and the increasing demand for green infrastructure. In this context, effective leadership becomes as essential as innovative design and technology. Rick Denley’s keynote, Resilient Leadership in Sustainable Urban Planning: Embracing Change to Shape Future Cities, focuses on equipping urban planners, academics, and industry leaders with the leadership tools necessary to guide their teams and projects through complex transitions. His session addresses the essential role of leadership in driving sustainable urban transformations, adapting to changing environmental demands, and fostering collaborative approaches to green infrastructure initiatives. Rick’s keynote is grounded in his Change Growth Formula, a practical framework he has developed over years of leading corporate transformations and advising on resilience and growth. His talk will focus on how urban planning professionals can cultivate adaptability, inspire innovative thinking, and lead their teams to achieve impactful urban projects that prioritize sustainable landscapes, water management, and green spaces. Attendees will gain actionable insights on building a resilient mindset, leveraging collaborative partnerships, and aligning urban planning initiatives with environmental goals. This session is aligned with the conference’s objectives to share interdisciplinary knowledge, explore innovative solutions, and address critical challenges in urban landscape and urban planning. Rick’s approach combines insights from leadership theory with real-world applications in urban planning, making his talk relevant for professionals seeking both inspiration and practical tools to lead sustainable transformations.

Keywords: resilient leadership, change management, collaborative planning, adaptive leadership, community engagement, leadership in urban design

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Authors: Boutahar Lhoucine, El Bikri Khalid, Benamar Rhali

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In this paper, the non-linear free axisymmetric vibration of a thin annular plate made of functionally graded material (FGM) has been studied by using the energy method and a multimode approach. FGM properties vary continuously as well as non-homogeneity through the thickness direction of the plate. The theoretical model is based on the classical plate theory and the Von Kármán geometrical non-linearity assumptions. An approximation has been adopted in the present work consisting of neglecting the in-plane deformation in the formulation. Hamilton’s principle is used to derive the governing equation of motion. The problem is solved by a numerical iterative procedure in order to obtain more accurate results for vibration amplitudes up to 1.5 times the plate thickness. The numerical results are given for the first axisymmetric non-linear mode shape for a wide range of vibration amplitudes and they are presented either in tabular form or in graphical form to show the effect that the vibration amplitude and the variation in material properties have significant effects on the frequencies and the bending stresses in large amplitude vibration of the functionally graded annular plate.

Keywords: non-linear vibrations, annular plates, large amplitudes, functionally graded material

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Authors: Simone F. Medeiros, Isabela F. Santos, Rodolfo M. Moraes, Jaspreet K. Kular, Marcus A. Johns, Ram Sharma, Amilton M. Santos

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Tissue engineering aims to develop alternatives to treat damaged tissues by promoting their regeneration. Its basic principle is to place cells on a scaffold capable of promoting cell functions, and for this purpose, polymeric nanoparticles have been successfully used due to the ability of some macro chains to mimic the extracellular matrix and influence cell functions. In general, nanoparticles require surface chemical modification to achieve cell adhesion, and recent advances in their synthesis include methods for modifying the ligand density and distribution onto nanoparticles surface. However, this work reports the development of biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles capable of promoting cellular adhesion without any surface chemical modification by ligands. Biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles based on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBHV) were synthesized by solvent evaporation method. The produced nanoparticles were small in size (85 and 125 nm) and colloidally stable against time in aqueous solution. Morphology evaluation showed their spherical shape with small polydispersity. Human osteoblast-like cells (MG63) were cultured in the presence of PHBHV nanoparticles, and growth kinetics were compared to those grown on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). Cell attachment on non-tissue culture polystyrene (non-TCPS) pre-coated with nanoparticles was assessed and compared to attachment on TCPS. These findings reveal the potential of PHBHV nanoparticles for cell adhesion and growth, without requiring a matrix ligand to support cells, to be used as scaffolds, in tissue engineering applications.

Keywords: tissue engineering, PHBHV, stem cells, cellular attachment

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Authors: Y. Boudjadja, A. Amira, A. Saoudel, A. Varilci, S. P. Altintas, C. Terzioglu

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In this work, we report the effect of Y3+ doping on structural, mechanical and electrical properties of Bi-2202 phase. Samples of Bi2Sr1.9Ca0.1-xYxCu2O7+δ with x = 0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1 are elaborated in air by conventional solid state reaction and characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) combined with EDS spectroscopy, density, Vickers micro-hardness and resistivity measurements. A good correlation between the variations of the bulk density and the Vickers micro-hardness with doping is obtained. The SEM photograph shows that the samples are composed of grains with a flat shape that characterizes the Bi-based cuprates. Quantitative EDS analysis confirms the reduction of Ca content and the increase of Y content when x is increased. The variation of resistivity with temperature shows that only samples with x = 0, 0.025 and 0.05 present an onset transition to the superconducting state. The higher onset transition temperature is obtained for x = 0.025 and is about 93.62 K. The transition is wide and is realized in two steps confirming then the presence of the low Tc Bi-2201 phase in the samples. For x = 0.075 and 0.1, a transition to a semiconducting state is seen at low temperatures. Some physical parameters are extracted from these curves and discussed.

Keywords: Bi-2202 phase, doping, structure, mechanical and electrical properties

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Authors: Rohit Dey, Sailendra Karra

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This paper aims at solving the problem of multi-target searching in a Global Positioning System (GPS) denied environment using swarm robots with limited sensing and communication abilities. Typically, existing swarm-based search algorithms rely on the presence of a global coordinate system (vis-à-vis, GPS) that is shared by the entire swarm which, in turn, limits its application in a real-world scenario. This can be attributed to the fact that robots in a swarm need to share information among themselves regarding their location and signal from targets to decide their future course of action but this information is only meaningful when they all share the same coordinate frame. The paper addresses this very issue by eliminating any dependency of a search algorithm on the need of a predetermined global coordinate frame by the unification of the relative coordinate of individual robots when within the communication range, therefore, making the system more robust in real scenarios. Our algorithm assumes that all the robots in the swarm are equipped with range and bearing sensors and have limited sensing range and communication abilities. Initially, every robot maintains their relative coordinate frame and follow Levy walk random exploration until they come in range with other robots. When two or more robots are within communication range, they share sensor information and their location w.r.t. their coordinate frames based on which we unify their coordinate frames. Now they can share information about the areas that were already explored, information about the surroundings, and target signal from their location to make decisions about their future movement based on the search algorithm. During the process of exploration, there can be several small groups of robots having their own coordinate systems but eventually, it is expected for all the robots to be under one global coordinate frame where they can communicate information on the exploration area following swarm search techniques. Using the proposed method, swarm-based search algorithms can work in a real-world scenario without GPS and any initial information about the size and shape of the environment. Initial simulation results show that running our modified-Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) without global information we can still achieve the desired results that are comparable to basic PSO working with GPS. In the full paper, we plan on doing the comparison study between different strategies to unify the coordinate system and to implement them on other bio-inspired algorithms, to work in GPS denied environment.

Keywords: bio-inspired search algorithms, decentralized control, GPS denied environment, swarm robotics, target searching, unifying coordinate systems

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Authors: Manish Chand, Subhrojit Bagchi, R. Kumar

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A new dry tube (DT) has been installed in the tank of KAMINI research reactor, Kalpakkam India. This tube will be used for neutron activation analysis of small to large samples and testing of neutron detectors. DT tube is 375 cm height and 7.5 cm in diameter, located 35 cm away from the core centre. The experimental thermal flux at various axial positions inside the tube has been measured by irradiating the flux monitor (¹⁹⁷Au) at 20kW reactor power. The measured activity of ¹⁹⁸Au and the thermal cross section of ¹⁹⁷Au (n,γ) ¹⁹⁸Au reaction were used for experimental thermal flux measurement. The flux inside the tube varies from 10⁹ to 10¹⁰ and maximum flux was (1.02 ± 0.023) x10¹⁰ n cm⁻²s⁻¹ at 36 cm from the bottom of the tube. The Au and Zr foils without and with cadmium cover of 1-mm thickness were irradiated at the maximum flux position in the DT to find out the irradiation specific input parameters like sub-cadmium to epithermal neutron flux ratio (f) and the epithermal neutron flux shape factor (α). The f value was 143 ± 5, indicates about 99.3% thermal neutron component and α value was -0.2886 ± 0.0125, indicates hard epithermal neutron spectrum due to insufficient moderation. The measured flux profile has been validated using theoretical model of KAMINI reactor through Monte Carlo N-Particle Code (MCNP). In MCNP, the complex geometry of the entire reactor is modelled in 3D, ensuring minimum approximations for all the components. Continuous energy cross-section data from ENDF-B/VII.1 as well as S (α, β) thermal neutron scattering functions are considered. The neutron flux has been estimated at the corresponding axial locations of the DT using mesh tally. The thermal flux obtained from the experiment shows good agreement with the theoretically predicted values by MCNP, it was within ± 10%. It can be concluded that this MCNP model can be utilized for calculating other important parameters like neutron spectra, dose rate, etc. and multi elemental analysis can be carried out by irradiating the sample at maximum flux position using measured f and α parameters by k₀-NAA standardization.

Keywords: neutron flux, neutron activation analysis, neutron flux shape factor, MCNP, Monte Carlo N-Particle Code

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Authors: Qasim A. El Dwairi, Saleh M. Banihani, Ayat S. Banihani, Ziad M. Bataineh

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Neurons in the spinal trigeminal nucleus of the camel were studied by Golgi impregnation. Neurons were classified based on differences in size and shape of their cell bodies, density of their dendritic trees, morphology and distribution of their appendages. In the spinal trigeminal nucleus of the camel, at least twelve types of neurons were identified. These neurons include, stalked, islets, octubus-like, lobulated, boat-like, pyramidal, multipolar, round, oval and elongated neurons. They have large number of different forms of appendages not only for their dendrites but also for their cell bodies. Neurons with unique large dilatations especially at their dendritic branching points were found. The morphological features of these neurons were described and compared with their counterparts in other species. Finding of large number of neuronal types with different size and shapes and large number of different forms of appendages for cell bodies and dendrites together with the presence of cells with unique features such as large dilated parts for dendrites may indicate to a very complex information processing for pain and temperature at the level of the spinal trigeminal nucleus in the camel that traditionally live in a very hard environment (the desert).

Keywords: camel, golgi, neurons , spinal trigeminal nucleus

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Authors: Arafan Traore, Teiji Watanabe

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Conakry, the capital city of the Republic of Guinea, has experienced a rapid urban expansion and population increased in the last two decades, which has resulted in remarkable local weather and climate change, raise energy demand and pollution and treating social, economic and environmental development. In this study, the spatiotemporal variation of the land surface temperature (LST) is retrieved to characterize the effect of urban growth on the thermal environment and quantify its relationship with biophysical indices, a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a normalized difference built up Index (NDBI). Landsat data TM and OLI/TIRS acquired respectively in 1986, 2000 and 2016 were used for LST retrieval and Land use/cover change analysis. A quantitative analysis based on the integration of a remote sensing and a geography information system (GIS) has revealed an important increased in the LST pattern in the average from 25.21°C in 1986 to 27.06°C in 2000 and 29.34°C in 2016, which was quite eminent with an average gain in surface temperature of 4.13°C over 30 years study period. Additionally, an analysis using a Pearson correlation (r) between (LST) and the biophysical indices, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a normalized difference built-up Index (NDBI) has revealed a negative relationship between LST and NDVI and a strong positive relationship between LST and NDBI. Which implies that an increase in the NDVI value can reduce the LST intensity; conversely increase in NDBI value may strengthen LST intensity in the study area. Although Landsat data were found efficient in assessing the thermal environment in Conakry, however, the method needs to be refined with in situ measurements of LST in the future studies. The results of this study may assist urban planners, scientists and policies makers concerned about climate variability to make decisions that will enhance sustainable environmental practices in Conakry.

Keywords: Conakry, land surface temperature, urban heat island, geography information system, remote sensing, land use/cover change

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Authors: Mawloud Mosbah, Bachir Boucheham

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We present here the results for a comparative study of some techniques, available in the literature, related to the relevance feedback mechanism in the case of a short-term learning. Only one method among those considered here is belonging to the data mining field which is the K-Nearest Neighbours Algorithm (KNN) while the rest of the methods is related purely to the information retrieval field and they fall under the purview of the following three major axes: Shifting query, Feature Weighting and the optimization of the parameters of similarity metric. As a contribution, and in addition to the comparative purpose, we propose a new version of the KNN algorithm referred to as an incremental KNN which is distinct from the original version in the sense that besides the influence of the seeds, the rate of the actual target image is influenced also by the images already rated. The results presented here have been obtained after experiments conducted on the Wang database for one iteration and utilizing colour moments on the RGB space. This compact descriptor, Colour Moments, is adequate for the efficiency purposes needed in the case of interactive systems. The results obtained allow us to claim that the proposed algorithm proves good results; it even outperforms a wide range of techniques available in the literature.

Keywords: CBIR, category search, relevance feedback, query point movement, standard Rocchio’s formula, adaptive shifting query, feature weighting, original KNN, incremental KNN

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Authors: Jaidev Tripathy

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A human generation’s lifestyle, behaviors, habits, and actions are governed heavily by homogenous mindsets. But the current scenario is witnessing a rapid gap in this homogeneity as a result of an intervention, or rather, the dominance of the digital revolution in the human lifestyle. The current mindset for mass production, employment, multi-tasking, rapid involvement, and stiff competition to stay above the rest has led to a major shift in human consciousness. Architecture, as an entity, is being perceived differently. The screens are replacing the skies. The pace at which operation and evolution is taking place has increased. It is paradoxical, that time seems to be moving faster despite the intention to save time. Parallelly, there is an evident shift in architectural typologies spanning across different generations. The architecture of today is now seems influenced heavily from here and there. Mass production of buildings and over-exploitation of resources giving shape to uninspiring algorithmic designs, ambiguously catering to multiple user groups, has become a prevalent theme. Borrow-and-steal replaces influence, and the diminishing depth in today’s designs reflects a lack of understanding and connection. The digitally dominated world, perceived as an aid to connect and network, is making humans less capable of real-life interactions and understanding. It is not wrong, but it doesn’t seem right either. The engagement level between human beings and the built environment is a concern which surfaces. This leads to a question: Does human engagement drive architecture, or does architecture drive human engagement? This paper attempts to relook at architecture's capacity and its relativity with pace to influence the conscious decisions of a human being. Secondary research, supported with case examples, helps in understanding the translation of human engagement with the built environment through physicality of architecture. The procedure, or theme, is pace and the role of slowness in the context of human behaviors, thus bridging the widening gap between the human race and the architecture themselves give shape to, avoiding a possible future dystopian world.

Keywords: junkspace, pace, perception, slowness

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Authors: Kim Quy Le, Duan Fei, Jia Wei Chew, Jun Zeng, Maria Fabiola Leyva

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In line with the sustainable development goal, molded fiber products play important roles in reducing plastic-based packaging. To fabricate molded fiber products, besides using conventional meshing tools, 3D printing is employed to manufacture the molded fiber screen. 3D printing technique allows printing molded fiber screens with complex geometry, flexible in pore size and shape. The 3D printed molded fiber screens are in the progress of investigation to improve the de-watering efficiency, fiber collection, mechanical strength, etc. In addition, the fiber distribution on the screen is also necessary to access the quality of the screen. Besides using experimental methods to capture the fiber distribution on screen, simulation also offers using tools to access the uniformity of fiber. In this study, the fiber was simulated using the multi-sphere model to simulate the fibers. The interaction of the fibers was able to mimic by employing the discrete element method. The fiber distribution was captured and compared to the experiment. The simulation results were able to reveal the fiber deposition layer upon layer and explain the formation of uneven thickness on the tilted area of molded fiber screen.

Keywords: 3D printing, multi-jet fusion, molded fiber screen, discrete element method

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Authors: Michał Gęca, Konrad Pietrykowski, Grzegorz Barański

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The water pump in the compression-ignition internal combustion engine transports a hot coolant along a system of ducts from the engine block to the radiator where coolant temperature is lowered. This part needs to maintain a constant volumetric flow rate. Its power should be regulated to avoid a significant drop in pressure if a coolant flow decreases. The internal combustion engine cooling system uses centrifugal pumps for suction. The paper investigates 4 constructions of engine pumps. The pumps are from diesel engine of a maximum power of 75 kW. Each of them has a different rotor shape, diameter and width. The test stand was created and the geometry inside the all 4 engine blocks was mapped. For a given pump speed on the inverter of the electric engine motor, the valve position was changed and volumetric flow rate, pressure, and power were recorded. Pump speed was regulated from 1200 RPM to 7000 RPM every 300 RPM. The volumetric flow rates and pressure drops for the pump speeds and efficiencies were specified. Accordingly, the operations of each pump were mapped. Our research was to select a pump for the aircraft compression-ignition engine. There was calculated a pressure drop at a given flow on the block and radiator of the designed aircraft engine. The water pump should be lightweight and have a low power demand. This fact shall affect the shape of a rotor and bearings. The pump volumetric flow rate was assumed as 3 kg/s (previous AVL BOOST research model) where the temperature difference was 5°C between the inlet (90°C) and outlet (95°C). Increasing pump speed above the boundary flow power defined by pressure and volumetric flow rate does not increase it but pump efficiency decreases. The maximum total pump efficiency (PCC) is 45-50%. When the pump is driven by low speeds with a 90% closed valve, its overall efficiency drops to 15-20%. Acknowledgement: This work has been realized in the cooperation with The Construction Office of WSK "PZL-KALISZ" S.A." and is part of Grant Agreement No. POIR.01.02.00-00-0002/15 financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development.

Keywords: aircraft engine, diesel engine, flow, water pump

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Authors: Ahmed Assem Abd El Rahim

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BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is enormously common health problem& most of subjects experience it at some point of their life. Kinesio-taping is one of therapy methods introduced for studied cases with nonspecific low back pain. OBJECTIVES: to look at how Kinesio-taping affects studied cases with non-specific low back pain in terms of discomfort, range of motion, & back muscular strength. SUBJECTS: 40 mechanical LBP patients aged 20-40 years had been assigned haphazardly into two groups, They had been selected from outpatient clinic, KasrAl-AiniHospital, Cairo university. Methods: GroupA: 20 patients received the I-shape KT longitudinally & conventional physiotherapy program. Group B:20 studied cases received application of the KT Horizontally & conventional physiotherapy program. pain had been measured by visual analog scale, Range of motion had been measured by Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), & strength had been measured by an isokinetic dynamometer before & after therapy. Therapy sessions had been three times weekly for four weeks. RESULTS: Groups (A & B) discovered decrease in pain& disability and rise in their flexion, extension ROM & peak torque of trunk extensor after end of 4 weeks of program. mean values of pain scale after therapy had been 3.7 and 5.04 in groups A & B. mean values of Disability scale after treatment had been 7.87.and 9.35 in groups A & B. mean values of ROM of flexion had been 28.06, and 24.53 in groups A & B. mean values of ROM of extension had been 13.43 & 10.73 in groups A & B. mean values of Peak torque of lumbar extensors were 65.43 and 63.22 in groups A & B. Though, participants who received the I-shape KT longitudinally as well as conventional physiotherapy program (group A), discovered more reduction in pain& disability and more improvement in ROM of flexion, extension, and Peak torque of lumbar extensors value (P<0.001) after therapy program CONCLUSION: Therapeutic longitudinal Kinesio-taping application with conventional physiotherapy will be more valuable than Therapeutic horizontal Kinesio-taping application with conventional physiotherapy when treating nonspecific low back pain studied cases.

Keywords: Kinesio taping, function, low back pain, muscle power

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Authors: Cagri Mollamahmutoglu, Ali Mercan, Aykut Levent

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Studies concerning the microstructures are becoming more important as the utilization of various micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) are increasing. Thus in recent years, thermal buckling and vibration analysis of microstructures have been subject to many investigations that are utilizing different numerical methods. In this study, thermal effects on mechanical response of a functionally graded (FG) Timoshenko micro-beam are presented in the framework of a mixed finite element formulation. Size effects are taken into consideration via modified couple stress theory. The mixed formulation is based on a function which in turn is derived via Gateaux Differential scientifically. After the resolution of all field equations of the beam, a potential operator is carefully constructed. Then this operator is used for the manufacturing of the functional. Usual procedures of finite element approximation are utilized for the derivation of the mixed finite element equations once the potential is obtained. Resulting finite element formulation allows usage of C₀ type simple linear shape functions and avoids shear-locking phenomena, which is a common shortcoming of the displacement-based formulations of moderately thick beams. The developed numerical scheme is used to obtain the effects of thermal loads on the static bending, free vibration and buckling of FG Timoshenko micro-beams for different power-law parameters, aspect ratios and boundary conditions. The versatility of the mixed formulation is presented over other numerical methods such as generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM). Another attractive property of the formulation is that it allows direct calculation of the contribution of micro effects on the overall mechanical response.

Keywords: micro-beam, functionally graded materials, thermal effect, mixed finite element method

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Authors: Jemal Ebrahim Dessie, Lukács Zsolt

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High-strength aluminum alloys have drawn a lot of attention because of the expanding demand for lightweight vehicle design in the automotive sector. Due to poor formability at room temperature, warm and hot forming have been advised. However, warm and hot forming methods need more steps in the production process and an advanced tooling system. In contrast, since ordinary tools can be used, forming sheets at room temperature in the W temper condition is advantageous. However, springback of supersaturated sheets and their thinning are critical challenges and must be resolved during the use of this technique. In this study, AA6082-T6 aluminum alloy was solution heat treated at different oven temperatures and times using a specially designed and developed furnace in order to optimize the W-temper heat treatment temperature. A U-shaped bending test was carried out at different time periods between W-temper heat treatment and forming operation. Finite element analysis (FEA) of U-bending was conducted using AutoForm aiming to validate the experimental result. The uniaxial tensile and unload test was performed in order to determine the kinematic hardening behavior of the material and has been optimized in the Finite element code using systematic process improvement (SPI). In the simulation, the effect of friction coefficient & blank holder force was considered. Springback parameters were evaluated by the geometry adopted from the NUMISHEET ’93 benchmark problem. It is noted that the change of shape was higher at the more extended time periods between W-temper heat treatment and forming operation. Die radius was the most influential parameter at the flange springback. However, the change of shape shows an overall increasing tendency on the sidewall as the increase of radius of the punch than the radius of the die. The springback angles on the flange and sidewall seem to be highly influenced by the coefficient of friction than blank holding force, and the effect becomes increases as increasing the blank holding force.

Keywords: aluminum alloy, FEA, springback, SPI, U-bending, W-temper

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Authors: Nour Hassan Ismail, Abdelmonem Nassar, Khaled Baz

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Semiconductor crystals smaller than about 10 nm, known as quantum dots, have properties that differ from large samples, including a band gap that becomes larger for smaller particles. These properties create several applications for quantum dots. In this paper, new shapes of quantum dot arrays are used to enhance the photo physical properties of gold nano-particles. This paper presents a study of the effect of nano-particles shape, array, and size on their absorption characteristics.

Keywords: quantum dots, nano-particles, LSPR

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Authors: P. Panwalkar, K. Veravalli, R. Gwynn, M. Tofighi, R. Clement, A. Mofidi

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When operating on tibial plateau fracture especially medial tibial plateau, it has regularly been said “where do I put my thumb to reduce the fracture”. This refers to the ideal placement of the buttress device to hold the fracture till union. The aim of this study was to see if one can identify this sweet spot using a CT scan. Methods: Forty-five tibial plateau fractures with medial plateau involvement were identified and included in the study. The preoperative CT scans were analysed and the medial plateau involvement pattern was classified based on modified radiological classification by Yukata et-al of stress fracture of medial tibial plateau. The involvement of part of plateau was compared with position of buttress plate position which was classified as medial posteromedial or both. Presence and position of the buttress was compared with ability to achieve and hold the reduction of the fracture till union. Results: Thirteen fractures were type-1 fracture, 19 fractures were type-2 fracture and 13 fractures were type-3 fracture. Sixteen fractures were buttressed correctly according to the potential deformity and twenty-six fractures were not buttressed and three fractures were partly buttressed correctly. No fracture was over butressed! When the fracture was buttressed correctly the rate of the malunion was 0%. When fracture was partly buttressed 33% were anatomically united and 66% were united in the plane of buttress. When buttress was not used, 14 were malunited, one malunited in one of the two planes of deformity and eleven anatomically healed (of which 9 were non displaced!). Buttressing resulted in statistically significant lower mal-union rate (x2=7.8, p=0.0052). Conclusion: The classification based on involvement of medial condyle can identify the placement of buttress plate in the tibial plateau. The correct placement of the buttress plate results in predictably satisfactory union. There may be a correlation between injury shape of the tibial plateau and the fracture type.

Keywords: knee, tibial plateau, trauma, CT scan, surgery

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Authors: Litim Tarek, Taamallah Ouahiba

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This work relates to the physico-geometrical aspect of the surface layers of 16NC6 steel having undergone the burnishing treatment by hard steel ball. The results show that the optimal effects of burnishing are closely linked to the shape and the material of the active part of the device as well as to the surface plastic deformation ability of the material to be treated. Thus the roughness is improved by more than 70%, and the consolidation rate is increased by 30%. In addition, modeling of the rational traction curves provides a work hardening coefficient of up to 0.3 in the presence of burnishing.

Keywords: 16NC6 steel, burnishing, hardening, roughness

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Authors: Kharina Budiman, Adinda Syifa Azhari, Eleonora Agustine

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Industrial activities get increase in this globalization era, one of the major impacts of industrial activities is a problem to the environment. This can happen because at the industrial production term will bring out pollutant in the shape of solid, liquid or gas. Normally this pollutant came from some dangerous materials for environment. However not every industry produces the same amount of pollutant, every industry produces different kind of pollution. To compare the pollution impact of industrial activities, soil sample has been taken around the animal feed industry and the fertilizer industry. This study applied the rock magnetic method and used Bartington MS2B to measured magnetic susceptibility (χ) as the physical parameter. This study tested soil samples using the value of susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) and Frequency Dependent (χ FD). Samples only taken in the soil surface with 0-5 cm depth and sampling interval was 20 cm. The animal feed factory has susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) = 111,9 – 325,7 and Frequency Dependent (χ FD) = 0,8 – 3,57 %. And the fertilizer factory has susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) = 187,1 – 494,8 and Frequency Dependent (χ FD) = 1,37 – 2,46 %. Based on the results, the highest value of susceptibility low frequency (χ lf) is the fertilizer factory, but the highest value of Frequency Dependent (FD) is the animal feed factory.

Keywords: industrial, pollution, magnetic susceptibility, χlf, χfd, animal feed industry and fertilizer industry

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Authors: Gina Longo

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Social media, internet technology, and affordable travel have created avenues like tourism and internet chatrooms for Western women to meet foreign partners without paid, third-party intermediaries in regions like the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where men from mid-level developing countries meet and marry Western women and try to relocate. Foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens have an expedited track to naturalization. U.S. immigration officials require that “green card” petitioning couples demonstrate that their relationships are “valid and subsisting” (i.e., for love) and not fraudulent (i.e., for immigration papers). These requirements are ostensibly gender- and racially-neutral, but migration itself is not; black and white women petitioners who seek partners from these regions and solicit advice from similar others about the potential obstacles to their petitions’ success online. Using an online ethnography and textual analysis of conversation threads on a large on-line immigration forum where U.S. petitioners exchange such information, this study examines how gendered and racialized standards of legitimacy are applied to family and sexuality and used discursively online among women petitioners differently to achieve “genuineness” and define “red flags” indicating potential marriage fraud. This paper argues that forum-women members police immigration requests even before cases reach an immigration officer, and use this social media platform to reconstruct gendered and racialized hierarchies of U.S. citizenship. Women petitioners use the formal criteria of U.S. immigration in ways that reveal gender and racial ideologies, expectations for conformity to a gendered hegemonic family ideal, and policing of women’s sexual agency, fertility, and desirability. These intersectional norms shape their online discussions about the suitability of marriages and of the migration of non-citizen male partners of color to the United States.

Keywords: marriage fraud, migration, online forums, women

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Authors: Hitender Sehrawat

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COVID-19 has been a game-changer for many industries and businesses across the globe. In this article, the impact of COVID-19 is discussed, specifically on films, television, and digital media industry. Based on the review of the newspaper articles, three case studies are presented. One case study is on the impact of COVID-19 on Bollywood, the second case study is on the impact of COVID-19 on Hollywood, and third case study is on the impact of COVID-19 on television and digital media industry. It is argued that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on Bollywood and Hollywood, whereas it has impacted the television and digital media industry in a positive way. COVID-19 has brought about disruption in the lives and businesses of people, and the film and television industry is not an exception. Although there are negative impacts of COVID-19 on Bollywood and Hollywood, it has positive impacts on television and the digital media industry. Maybe the disruption of the traditional film industry by the digital media industry will be the normal for a long time to come. However, measures need to be thought about a revival of the Bollywood and Hollywood for the many livelihoods they cater to. Bollywood and Hollywood are not just film industries, but the core identities of India and the United States. What shape film industry will take in the future would be interesting to see. This article opens up avenues for more in-depth empirical research in this area in the future.

Keywords: films, COVID-19, television, media industry

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Authors: Daniel Tscharnuter, Eliza Truszkiewicz, Gerald Pinter

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High-quality surfaces of plastic parts can be achieved in a very cost-effective manner using in-mold processes, where e.g. scratch resistant or high gloss polymer films are pre-formed and subsequently receive their support structure by injection molding. The pre-forming may be done by high-pressure forming. In this process, a polymer sheet is heated and subsequently formed into the mold by pressurized air. Due to the heat transfer to the cooled mold the polymer temperature drops below its glass transition temperature. This ensures that the deformed microstructure is retained after depressurizing, giving the sheet its final formed shape. The development of a forming process relies heavily on the experience of engineers and trial-and-error procedures. Repeated mold design and testing cycles are however both time- and cost-intensive. It is, therefore, desirable to study the process using reliable computer simulations. Through simulations, the construction of the mold and the effect of various process parameters, e.g. temperature levels, non-uniform heating or timing and magnitude of pressure, on the deformation of the polymer sheet can be analyzed. Detailed knowledge of the deformation is particularly important in the forming of polymer films with integrated electro-optical functions. Care must be taken in the placement of devices, sensors and electrical and optical paths, which are far more sensitive to deformation than the polymers. Reliable numerical prediction of the deformation of the polymer sheets requires sophisticated material models. Polymer films are often either transversely isotropic or orthotropic due to molecular orientations induced during manufacturing. The anisotropic behavior affects the resulting strain field in the deformed film. For example, parts of the same shape but different strain fields may be created by varying the orientation of the film with respect to the mold. The numerical simulation of the high-pressure forming of such films thus requires material models that can capture the nonlinear anisotropic mechanical behavior. There are numerous commercial polymer grades for the engineers to choose from when developing a new part. The effort required for comprehensive material characterization may be prohibitive, especially when several materials are candidates for a specific application. We, therefore, propose a class of models for compressible hyperelasticity, which may be determined from basic experimental data and which can capture key features of the mechanical response. Invariant-based hyperelastic models with a reduced number of invariants are formulated in a semi-numerical way, such that the models are determined from a single uniaxial tensile tests for isotropic materials, or two tensile tests in the principal directions for transversely isotropic or orthotropic materials. The simulation of the high pressure forming of an orthotropic polymer film is finally done using an orthotropic formulation of the hyperelastic model.

Keywords: hyperelastic, anisotropic, polymer film, thermoforming

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Authors: David Guillermo Piedrahita Marquez, Hector Suarez Mahecha, Jairo Humberto Lopez

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The propolis are substances obtained from the beehive have an action against pathogens, prooxidant substances and free radicals because of its polyphenols content, this has motivated the use of these compounds in the food and pharmaceutical industries. However, due to their organoleptic properties and their ability to react with other compounds, their application has been limited; therefore, the objective of this research was to propose a mechanism to protect propolis and mitigate side effects granted by its components. To achieve the stated purpose ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEP) from three samples from Santander were obtained and their antioxidant and antimicrobial activity were evaluated in order to choose the extract with the biggest potential. Subsequently mixtures of the extract with maltodextrin were prepared by spray drying varying concentration and temperature, finally the yield, the physicochemical, and antioxidant properties of the products were measured. It was concluded that Socorro propolis was the best for the production of microencapsulated due to their activity against pathogenic strains, for its large percentage of DPPH radical inactivation and for its high phenolic content. In spray drying, the concentration of bioactive had a greater impact than temperature and the conditions set allowed a good performance and the production of particles with high antioxidant potential and little chance of proliferation of microorganisms. Also, it was concluded that the best conditions that allowed us to obtain the best particles were obtained after drying a mixture 1:2 ( EEP: Maltodextrin), besides the concentration is the most important variable in the spray drying process, at the end we obtained particles of different sizes and shape and the uniformity of the surface depend on the temperature. After watching the previously mentioned microparticles by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) it was concluded that most of the particles produced during the spray dry process had a spherical shape and presented agglomerations due to the moisture content of the ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEP), the morphology of the microparticles contributed to the stability of the final product and reduce the loss of total phenolic content.

Keywords: spray drying, propolis, maltodextrin, encapsulation, scanning electron microscopy

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Authors: Reza E. Sedgh, Rajesh P. Dhakal

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Shear walls have been used extensively as the main lateral force resisting systems in multi-storey buildings. The recent development in performance based design urges practicing engineers to conduct nonlinear static or dynamic analysis to evaluate seismic performance of multi-storey shear wall buildings by employing distinct analytical models suggested in the literature. For practical purpose, application of macroscopic models to simulate the global and local nonlinear behavior of structural walls outweighs the microscopic models. The skill level, computational time and limited access to RC specialized finite element packages prevents the general application of this method in performance based design or assessment of multi-storey shear wall buildings in design offices. Hence, this paper organized to verify capability of nonlinear shell element in commercially available package (Sap2000) in simulating results of some specimens under monotonic and cyclic loads with very oversimplified available cyclic material laws in the analytical tool. The selection of constitutive models, the determination of related parameters of the constituent material and appropriate nonlinear shear model are presented in detail. Adoption of proposed simple model demonstrated that the predicted results follow the overall trend of experimental force-displacement curve. Although, prediction of ultimate strength and the overall shape of hysteresis model agreed to some extent with experiment, the ultimate displacement(significant strength degradation point) prediction remains challenging in some cases.

Keywords: analytical model, nonlinear shell element, structural wall, shear behavior

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Authors: Offer E. Edelstein, Iris Vered, Orly Sarid

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Background: Physical activity (PA) is considered as a major factor in bone density preservation and fracture prevention. Yet, gaps in understanding exist regarding how ethnocultural backgrounds might shape attitudes, intentions, and actual PA participation. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for predicting PA, the aims of the current study were: i) to compare attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, intentions and knowledge, across two ethnocultural groups; ii) to evaluate the fit of the model across two ethnocultural groups of women: Israeli-born Jews and Ethiopian immigrants. Methods: Two hundred women (one hundred from each group), aged > 65, completed valid and reliable questionnaires assessing knowledge, TPB components, and actual PA. Results: The level of knowledge on osteoporosis was relatively low in both groups. Intention to participate in PA was the only variable that directly predicted actual PA. Intention to participate in PA served as a mediator among attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, and actual PA. The TPB components mediated the link between knowledge and intention to participate in PA. Conclusion: It is important to understand and augment interventions that enhance PA, in the community, and with sensitivity concerning each ethnocultural group.

Keywords: attitudes, ethnocultural groups, knowledge, physical activity

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Authors: A. W. Fareezal, R. Rosazley, M. A. Izzati, M. Z. Shazana, I. Rushdan

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Kenaf cellulose CNT paper production was for lightweight, high strength and excellent flexibility electrical purposes. Aqueous dispersions of kenaf cellulose and varied weight percentage of CNT were combined with the assistance of PEI solution by using ultrasonic probe. The solution was dried using vacuum filter continued with air drying in condition room for 2 days. Circle shape conductive paper was characterized with Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and therma gravimetric analysis (TGA).

Keywords: cellulose, CNT paper, PEI solution, electrical conductive paper

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