Search results for: higher order thinking skills

Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Muhammad Alkhunayn, Ayah Al Yaari, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Fatehi Eissa

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Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) (also known as dyspraxia) causes a child to speak less well than expected in social conversations. We propose that the smart speaking technology could help improve sound production mechanism at both phonetic and phonological levels, which leads to better articulation of an utterance. The participants are twelve privately beginner pupils aged between 6-12 years old and diagnosed with DCD (apraxia) divided into two groups: Experimental group (n=6) and control group (called apraxic control group) (n=6). A total of fifty typically developing and achieving (TD) pupils participated as control group 2 in both groups and were preassigned into two groups (27 pupils with the treatment group and 23 with the apraxic control group). Weekly quizzes were given to all participants each week for four continuous months and results were analyzed by psychoneurolinguists and a statistician. Although being taught by the same speech-language therapist (SLT), treatment group along with TD groups were taught a full-time speaking course with sociolinguistic themes covering both phonetic and phonological properties. The course lasted for a whole semester whereby smart speaking aids have become dominant while apraxic control group and its TD group were not. Compared with apraxic control group and its TD subgroup, results show obvious changes in speaking behavioral mechanism of the DCD experimental group and its TD subgroup. Improvement could be taken from the scores where the zero marks disappeared in the fourth week (end of the first month of treatment). Good marks (5 +/10) were seen starting from the eighth week and culminating with full marks in the week number 15 of treatment where some participants scored full mark. This study concludes to support the primacy of the smart educational technology for speaking purposes and also shows that such aids can expand the range of academic performance differential categories. Further research is required to evaluate the current demonizing of smart educational aids and weighting more reasonably the relationship specificity that speaking aids can offer to other language skills, as well as their limitations.

Keywords: smart educational technology, speaking aids, pupils with SCD, apraxia

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Authors: Jayden R. Hunter, Brett A. Gordon, Stephen R. Bird, Amanda C. Benson

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The World Health Organisation recognises the workplace as an important setting for exercise promotion, with potential benefits including improved employee health and fitness, and reduced worker absenteeism and presenteeism. Despite these potential benefits to both employee and employer, there is a lack of evidence supporting the long-term effectiveness of workplace exercise programs. There is, therefore, a need for better-informed programs that cater to employee exercise preferences. Specifically, workplace exercise programs should address any time, motivation, internal and external barriers to participation reported by sub-groups of employees. This study sought to compare exercise participation to perceived barriers and facilitators to workplace exercise engagement of university employees. This information is needed to design and implement wider-reaching programs aiming to maximise long-term employee exercise adherence and subsequent health, fitness and productivity benefits. An online survey was advertised at an Australian university with the potential to reach 3,104 full-time employees. Along with exercise participation (International physical activity questionnaire) and behaviour (stage of behaviour change in relation to physical activity questionnaire), perceived barriers (corporate exercise barriers scale) and facilitators to workplace exercise participation were identified. The survey response rate was 8.1% (252 full-time employees; 95% white-collar; 60% female; 79.4% aged 30–59 years; 57% professional and 38% academic). Most employees reported meeting (43.7%) or exceeding (42.9%) exercise guidelines over the previous week (i.e. ⩾30 min of moderate-intensity exercise on most days or ⩾ 25 min of vigorous-intensity exercise on at least three days per week). Reported exercise behaviour over the previous six months showed that 64.7% of employees were in maintenance, 8.3% were in action, 10.9% were in preparation, 12.4% were in contemplation, and 3.8% were in the pre-contemplation stage of change. Perceived barriers towards workplace exercise participation were significantly higher in employees not attaining weekly exercise guidelines compared to employees meeting or exceeding guidelines, including a lack of time or reduced motivation (p < 0.001; partial eta squared = 0.24 (large effect)), exercise attitude (p < 0.05; partial eta squared = 0.04 (small effect)), internal (p < 0.01; partial eta squared = 0.10 (moderate effect)) and external (p < 0.01; partial eta squared = 0.06 (moderate effect)) barriers. The most frequently reported exercise facilitators were personal training (particularly for insufficiently active employees; 33%) and group exercise classes (20%). The most frequently cited preferred modes of exercise were walking (70%), swimming (50%), gym (48%), and cycling (45%). In conclusion, providing additional means of support such as individualised gym, swimming and cycling programs with personal supervision and guidance may be particularly useful for employees not meeting recommended moderate-vigorous volumes of exercise, to help overcome reported exercise barriers in order to improve participation, health, and fitness. While individual biopsychosocial factors should be considered when making recommendations for interventions, the specific barriers and facilitators to workplace exercise participation identified by this study can inform the development of workplace exercise programs aiming to broaden employee engagement and promote greater ongoing exercise adherence. This is especially important for the uptake of less active employees who perceive greater barriers to workplace exercise participation than their more active colleagues.

Keywords: exercise barriers, exercise facilitators, physical activity, workplace health

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Authors: Markus Meyer, Bastian Maucher, Rolf Witzmann

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The ever increasing amount of distributed generation in low voltage distribution grids (mainly PV and micro-CHP) can lead to reverse load flows from low to medium/high voltage levels at times of high feed-in. Reverse load flow leads to rising voltages that may even exceed the limits specified in the grid codes. Furthermore, the share of electrical loads connected to low voltage distribution grids via switched power supplies continuously increases. In combination with inverter-based feed-in, this results in high harmonic levels reducing overall power quality. Especially high levels of third-order harmonic currents can lead to neutral conductor overload, which is even more critical if lines with reduced neutral conductor section areas are used. This paper illustrates a possible concept for smart grids in order to increase the feed-in capacity, improve power quality and to ensure safe operation of low voltage distribution grids at all times. The key feature of the concept is a hierarchically structured control strategy that is run on a superordinated controller, which is connected to several distributed grid analyzers and inverters via broad band powerline (BPL). The strategy is devised to ensure both quick response time as well as the technically and economically reasonable use of the available inverters in the grid (PV-inverters, batteries, stepless line voltage regulators). These inverters are provided with standard features for voltage control, e.g. voltage dependent reactive power control. In addition they can receive reactive power set points transmitted by the superordinated controller. To further improve power quality, the inverters are capable of active harmonic filtering, as well as voltage balancing, whereas the latter is primarily done by the stepless line voltage regulators. By additionally connecting the superordinated controller to the control center of the grid operator, supervisory control and data acquisition capabilities for the low voltage distribution grid are enabled, which allows easy monitoring and manual input. Such a low voltage distribution grid can also be used as a virtual power plant.

Keywords: distributed generation, distribution grid, power quality, smart grid, virtual power plant, voltage control

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Authors: P. Sathyakala, G. Sai Sundara Krishnan

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The objective of this paper is to derive an exergy model for a solar water heater with honey comb structure in order to identify the element which has larger irreversibility in the system. This will help us in finding the means to reduce the wasted work potential so that the overall efficiency of the system can be improved by finding the ways to reduce those wastages.

Keywords: exergy, energy balance, entropy balance, work potential, degradation, honey comb, flat plate collector

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Authors: Othman Y. Alothman

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The study aims to investigate the effects of blend ratio, VA content and temperature on the rheological properties of PPEVA blends. The results show that all pure polymers and their blends show typical shear thinning behaviour. All neat polymers exhibit power-low type flow behaviour, with the viscosity order as EVA328 > EVA206 > PP in almost all frequency ranges. As temperature increases, the viscosity of all polymers decreases as expected, and the viscosity becomes more sensitive to the addition of EVA. Two different regions can be observed on the flow curve of some of the polymers and their blends, which is thought to be due to slip-stick transition or melt fracture.

Keywords: polypropylene, ethylene vinyl acetate, blends, rheological properties

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Askarizadeh

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The foundation of all marketing is composed by relations. Thus, all marketing activities concentrated to establish, develop and maintain successful relational exchanges. By building strong relational bonds, relationship marketing improves customer loyalty resulting in improved firm performance. Relationship marketing is a strategically important tool to use to obtain and secure the result of customer’s loyalty, which leads to higher competitiveness and also enhanced satisfaction among the customers. The study revealed that there subsist significant relationships between customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is recognized that with improvement of customer satisfaction a firm will find customers that are more loyal. Based it, firm managers are advised to satisfy and better manage their relationships through quality product and service offerings to their customers as a competitive policy in the marketplace. These offerings are required to meet or surpass consumers’ expectations.

Keywords: customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, trend, relationship marketing

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Authors: K. R. Phaneesh, Anirudh Bhat, G. Mukherjee, K. T. Kashyap

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Extensive Monte Carlo Potts model simulations were performed on 2D square lattice to investigate the effects of simulated higher temperatures effects on grain growth kinetics. A range of simulation temperatures (KTs) were applied on a matrix of size 10002 with Q-state 64, dispersed with a wide range of second phase particles, ranging from 0.001 to 0.1, and then run to 100,000 Monte Carlo steps. The average grain size, the largest grain size and the grain growth exponent were evaluated for all particle fractions and simulated temperatures. After evaluating several growth parameters, the critical temperature for a square lattice, with eight nearest neighbors, was found to be KTs = 0.4.

Keywords: average grain size, critical temperature, grain growth exponent, Monte Carlo steps

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Authors: J. O. Yeboah, K Aboraa, K. Kodom

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The chemical and physical characteristics of rainwater harvested from a typical rooftop were progressively studied. The samples of rainwater collected were analyzed for pH, major ion concentrations, TDS, turbidity, conductivity. All the physicochemical constituents fell within the WHO guideline limits at some points as rainfall progresses except the pH. All the components of rainwater quality measured during the study showed higher concentrations during the early stages of rainfall and reduce as time progresses. There was a downward trend in terms of pH as rain progressed, with 18% of the samples recording pH below the WHO limit of 6.5-8.0. It was observed that iron concentration was above the WHO threshold value of 0.3 mg/l on occasions of heavy rains. The results revealed that most of physicochemical characteristics of rainwater samples were generally below the WHO threshold, as such, the rainwater characteristics showed satisfactory conditions in terms of physicochemical constituents.

Keywords: conductivity, pH, physicochemical, rainwater quality, TDS

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Authors: Hassiba Benguergoura, Kamal Chanane, Sâad Moulay

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Pervaporation (PV), a membrane-based separation technology, has gained much attention because of its energy saving capability and low-cost, especially for separation of azeotropic or close-boiling liquid mixtures. There are two crucial issues for industrial application of pervaporation process. The first is developing membrane material and tailoring membrane structure to obtain high pervaporation performances. The second is modeling pervaporation transport to better understand of the above-mentioned structure–pervaporation relationship. Many models were proposed to predict the mass transfer process, among them, solution-diffusion model is most widely used in describing pervaporation transport including preferential sorption, diffusion and evaporation steps. For modeling pervaporation transport, the permeation flux, which depends on the solubility and diffusivity of components in the membrane, should be obtained first. Traditionally, the solubility was calculated according to the Flory–Huggins theory. Separation of the benzene (Bz)/cyclohexane (Cx) mixture is industrially significant. Numerous papers have been focused on the Bz/Cx system to assess the PV properties of membrane materials. Membranes with both high permeability and selectivity are desirable for practical application. Several new polymers have been prepared to get both high permeability and selectivity. Styrene-butadiene rubbers (SBR), dense membranes cross-linked by chloromethylation were used in the separation of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures. The impact of chloromethylation reaction as a new method of cross-linking SBR on the pervaporation performance have been reported. In contrast to the vulcanization with sulfur, the cross-linking takes places on styrene units of polymeric chains via a methylene bridge. The partial pervaporative (PV) fluxes of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures in styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) were predicted using Fick's first law. The predicted partial fluxes and the PV separation factor agreed well with the experimental data by integrating Fick's law over the benzene concentration. The effects of feed concentration and operating temperature on the predicted permeation flux by this proposed model are investigated. The predicted permeation fluxes are in good agreement with experimental data at lower benzene concentration in feed, but at higher benzene concentration, the model overestimated permeation flux. The predicted and experimental permeation fluxes all increase with operating temperature increasing. Solvent sorption levels for benzene/ cyclohexane mixtures in a SBR membrane were determined experimentally. The results showed that the solvent sorption levels were strongly affected by the feed composition. The Flory- Huggins equation generates higher R-square coefficient for the sorption selectivity.

Keywords: benzene, cyclohexane, pervaporation, permeation, sorption modeling, SBR

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Authors: Muhammad Waleed Asfandyar, Akhtar Ahmed, Syed Adib-ul-Hasan Rizvi

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Objective: To evaluate the ability of serum concentration of prostate specific antigen between two cutting points considering it as a predictor of skeletal metastasis on bone scintigraphy in men with prostate cancer. Settings: This study was carried out in department of Nuclear Medicine at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) Karachi, Pakistan. Materials and Method: From August 2013 to November 2013, forty two (42) consecutive patients with prostate cancer who underwent technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (Tc-99mMDP) whole body bone scintigraphy were prospectively analyzed. The information was collected from the scintigraphic database at a Nuclear medicine department Sindh institute of urology and transplantation Karachi Pakistan. Patients who did not have a serum PSA concentration available within 1 month before or after the time of performing the Tc-99m MDP whole body bone scintigraphy were excluded from this study. A whole body bone scintigraphy scan (from the toes to top of the head) was performed using a whole-body Moving gamma camera technique (anterior and posterior) 2–4 hours after intravenous injection of 20 mCi of Tc-99m MDP. In addition, all patients necessarily have a pathological report available. Bony metastases were determined from the bone scan studies and no further correlation with histopathology or other imaging modalities were performed. To preserve patient confidentiality, direct patient identifiers were not collected. In all the patients, Prostate specific antigen values and skeletal scintigraphy were evaluated. Results: The mean age, mean PSA, and incidence of bone metastasis on bone scintigraphy were 68.35 years, 370.51 ng/mL and 19/42 (45.23%) respectively. According to PSA levels, patients were divided into 5 groups < 10ng/mL (10/42), 10-20 ng/mL (5/42), 20-50 ng/mL (2/42), 50-100 (3/42), 100- 500ng/mL (3/42) and more than 500ng/mL (0/42) presenting negative bone scan. The incidence of positive bone scan (%) for bone metastasis for each group were O1 patient (5.26%), 0%, 03 patients (15.78%), 01 patient (5.26%), 04 patients (21.05%), and 10 patients (52.63%) respectively. From the 42 patients 19 (45.23%) presented positive scintigraphic examination for the presence of bone metastasis. 1 patient presented bone metastasis on bone scintigraphy having PSA level less than 10ng/mL, and in only 1 patient (5.26%) with bone metastasis PSA concentration was less than 20 ng/mL. therefore, when the cutting point adopted for PSA serum concentration was 10ng/mL, a negative predictive value for bone metastasis was 95% with sensitivity rates 94.74% and the positive predictive value and specificities of the method were 56.53% and 43.48% respectively. When the cutting point of PSA serum concentration was 20ng/mL the observed results for Positive predictive value and specificity were (78.27% and 65.22% respectively) whereas negative predictive value and sensitivity stood (100% and 95%) respectively. Conclusion: Results of our study allow us to conclude that serum PSA concentration of higher than 20ng/mL was the most accurate cutting point than a serum concentration of PSA higher than 10ng/mL to predict metastasis in radionuclide bone scintigraphy. In this way, unnecessary cost can be avoided, since a considerable part of prostate adenocarcinomas present low serum PSA levels less than 20 ng/mL and for these cases radionuclide bone scintigraphy could be unnecessary.

Keywords: bone scan, cut off value, prostate specific antigen value, scintigraphy

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Authors: Linda Richter

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Background and Significance: The influence of parents on their children’s attitudes and behaviors is immense, even as children grow out of what one might assume to be their most impressionable years and into teenagers. This study specifically examines the potential that parents have to prevent or reduce the risk of adolescent substance use, even in the face of considerable environmental influences to use nicotine, alcohol, or drugs. Methodology: The findings presented are based on a nationally representative survey of 1,014 teens aged 12-17 living in the United States. Data were collected using an online platform in early 2018. About half the sample was female (51%), 49% was aged 12-14, and 51% was aged 15-17. The margin of error was +/- 3.5%. Demographic data on the teens and their families were available through the survey platform. Survey items explored adolescent respondents’ exposure to addictive substances; the extent to which their sources of information about these substances are reliable or credible; friends’ and peers’ substance use; their own intentions to try substances in the future; and their relationship with their parents. Key Findings: Exposure to nicotine, alcohol, or other drugs and misinformation about these substances were associated with a greater likelihood that adolescents have friends who use drugs and that they have intentions to try substances in the future, which are known to directly predict actual teen substance use. In addition, teens who reported a positive relationship with their parents and having parents who are involved in their lives had a lower likelihood of having friends who use drugs and of having intentions to try substances in the future. This relationship appears to be mediated by parents’ ability to reduce the extent to which their children are exposed to substances in their environment and to misinformation about them. Indeed, the findings indicated that teens who reported a good relationship with their parents and those who reported higher levels of parental monitoring had significantly higher odds of reporting a lower number of risk factors than teens with a less positive relationship with parents or less monitoring. There also were significantly greater risk factors associated with substance use among older teens relative to younger teens. This shift appears to coincide directly with the tendency of parents to pull back in their monitoring and their involvement in their adolescent children’s lives. Conclusion: The survey findings underscore the importance of resisting the urge to completely pull back as teens age and demand more independence since that is exactly when the risks for teen substance use spike and young people need their parents and other trusted adults to be involved more than ever. Particularly through the cultivation of a healthy, positive, and open relationship, parents can help teens receive accurate and credible information about substance use and also monitor their whereabouts and exposure to addictive substances. These findings, which come directly from teens themselves, demonstrate the importance of continued parental engagement throughout children’s lives, regardless of their age and the disincentives to remaining involved and connected.

Keywords: adolescent, parental monitoring, prevention, substance use

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Authors: Bishnupriya Sahoo, Prasad K. Bhaskaran

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Tropical cyclone is one among the worst natural hazards that results in a trail of destruction causing enormous damage to life, property, and coastal infrastructures. In a global perspective, the Indian Ocean is considered as one of the cyclone prone basins in the world. Specifically, the frequency of cyclogenesis in the Bay of Bengal is higher compared to the Arabian Sea. Out of the four maritime states in the East coast of India, Odisha is highly susceptible to tropical cyclone landfall. Historical records clearly decipher the fact that the frequency of cyclones have reduced in this basin. However, in the recent decades, the intensity and size of tropical cyclones have increased. This is a matter of concern as the risk and vulnerability level of Odisha coast exposed to high wind speed and gusts during cyclone landfall have increased. In this context, there is a need to assess and evaluate the severity of coastal risk, area of exposure under risk, and associated vulnerability with a higher dimension in a multi-risk perspective. Changing climate can result in the emergence of a new hazard and vulnerability over a region with differential spatial and socio-economic impact. Hence there is a need to have coastal vulnerability projections in a changing climate scenario. With this motivation, the present study attempts to estimate the destructiveness of tropical cyclones based on Power Dissipation Index (PDI) for those cyclones that made landfall along Odisha coast that exhibits an increasing trend based on historical data. The study also covers the futuristic scenarios of integral coastal vulnerability based on the trends in PDI for the Odisha coast. This study considers 11 essential and important parameters; the cyclone intensity, storm surge, onshore inundation, mean tidal range, continental shelf slope, topo-graphic elevation onshore, rate of shoreline change, maximum wave height, relative sea level rise, rainfall distribution, and coastal geomorphology. The study signifies that over a decadal scale, the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) depends largely on the incremental change in variables such as cyclone intensity, storm surge, and associated inundation. In addition, the study also performs a critical analysis on the modulation of PDI on storm surge and inundation characteristics for the entire coastal belt of Odisha State. Interestingly, the study brings to light that a linear correlation exists between the storm-tide with PDI. The trend analysis of PDI and its projection for coastal Odisha have direct practical applications in effective coastal zone management and vulnerability assessment.

Keywords: Bay of Bengal, coastal vulnerability index, power dissipation index, tropical cyclone

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Authors: Polo G. Yohn Edison, Rocha F. Pedricto

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This work presents a study about a retaining structure designed for the duplication of the rail FEPASA on the 74th km between Santos and São Paulo. This structure, an anchored retaining wall, was instrumented in the anchors heads with strain gauges in order to monitor its loads. The load measurements occurred during the performance test, locking and also after the works were concluded. A decrease on anchors loads is noticed at the moment immediately after the locking, during construction and after the works finished. It was observed that a loss of load in the anchors occurred to a maximum of 54%.

Keywords: instrumentation, strain gauges, retaining wall, anchors

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Authors: Ahmed AlNouss, Salim Ahmed

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Process control refers to the techniques to control the variables in a process in order to maintain them at their desired values. Advanced process control (APC) is a broad term within the domain of control where it refers to different kinds of process control and control related tools, for example, model predictive control (MPC), statistical process control (SPC), fault detection and classification (FDC) and performance assessment. APC is often used for solving multivariable control problems and model predictive control (MPC) is one of only a few advanced control methods used successfully in industrial control applications. Advanced control is expected to bring many benefits to the plant operation; however, the extent of the benefits is plant specific and the application needs a large investment. This requires an analysis of the expected benefits before the implementation of the control. In a real plant simulation studies are carried out along with some experimentation to determine the improvement in the performance of the plant due to advanced control. In this research, such an exercise is undertaken to realize the needs of APC application. The main objectives of the paper are as follows: (1) To apply MPC to a number of simulations set up to realize the need of MPC by comparing its performance with that of proportional integral derivatives (PID) controllers. (2) To study the effect of controller parameters on control performance. (3) To develop appropriate performance index (PI) to compare the performance of different controller and develop novel idea to present tuning map of a controller. These objectives were achieved by applying PID controller and a special type of MPC which is dynamic matrix control (DMC) on the multi-tanks process simulated in loop-pro. Then the controller performance has been evaluated by changing the controller parameters. This performance was based on special indices related to the difference between set point and process variable in order to compare the both controllers. The same principle was applied for continuous stirred tank heater (CSTH) and continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) processes simulated in Matlab. However, in these processes some developed programs were written to evaluate the performance of the PID and MPC controllers. Finally these performance indices along with their controller parameters were plotted using special program called Sigmaplot. As a result, the improvement in the performance of the control loops was quantified using relevant indices to justify the need and importance of advanced process control. Also, it has been approved that, by using appropriate indices, predictive controller can improve the performance of the control loop significantly.

Keywords: advanced process control (APC), control loop, model predictive control (MPC), proportional integral derivatives (PID), performance indices (PI)

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Authors: Adamu Usman, Grace Stanley Balami

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Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. R. Br.) is a cereal cultivated in arid and semi-arid areas of the world. It supports more than 100 million people around the world. Parasitic weed (Striga hermonthica Del. Benth) is a major constraint to its production. Estimated yield losses are put at 10 - 95% depending on variety, ecology and cultural practices. Potentials in selection of traits in pearl millets for grain yield have been reported and it depends on genotypic variability and heritability among landraces. Variability and heritability among cultivars could offer opportunities for improvement. The study was conducted to determine the genetic variability among cultivars and estimate broad sense heritability among grain yield and related traits. F1 breeding populations were generated with 9 parental cultivars, viz; Ex-Gubio, Ex-Monguno, Ex-Baga as males and PEO 5984, Super-SOSAT, SOSAT-C88, Ex-Borno and LCIC9702 as females through Line × Tester mating during 2017 dry season at Lushi Irrigation Station, Bauchi Metropolitan in Bauchi State, Nigeria. The F1 population and the parents were evaluated during cropping season of 2018 at Bauchi and Maiduguri. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. Results showed significant difference among cultivars and among traits indicating variability. Number of plants at emergence, days to 50% flowering, days to 100% flowering, plant height, panicle length, number of plants at harvest, Striga count at 90 days after sowing, panicle weight and grain yield were significantly different. Significant variability offer opportunity for improvement as superior individuals can be isolated. Genotypic variance estimates of traits were largely greater than environmental variances except in plant height and 1000 seed weight. Environmental variances were low and in some cases negligible. The phenotypic variances of all traits were higher than genotypic variances. Similarly phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). High heritability was found in days to 50% flowering (90.27%), Striga count at 90 days after sowing (90.07%), number of plants at harvest (87.97%), days to 100% flowering (83.89%), number of plants at emergence (82.19%) and plant height (73.18%). Greater heritability estimates could be due to presence of additive gene. The result revealed wider variability among genotypes and traits. Traits having high heritability could easily respond to selection. High value of GCV, PCV and heritability estimates indicate that selection for these traits are possible and could be effective.

Keywords: variability, heritability, phenotypic, genotypic, striga

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Authors: Taieb Kherafa Noureddine

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The paper presents a new approach regarding the management in sports that is based on the principles of reengineering. Applying that modern and pure management system, called reengineering, in sports activity, we hope to get better and better results, in order to increase both the health state and the performances of trained athletes. The paper also presents the similarities between BPR (Business Process Reengineering) and sports managements, as well as the proposed solution for a proper implementation of such model of management. The five components of the basic BPR model are presented, together with their features for sports management.

Keywords: business process reengineering, great sports events, sports management, training activities

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Authors: Vedat Senol, Gursoy Turan, Anders Helmersson, Vortechz Andersson

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In developing a mathematical model of a real structure, the simulation results of the model may not match the real structural response. This is a general problem that arises during dynamic motion of the structure, which may be modeled by means of parameter variations in the stiffness, damping, and mass matrices. These changes in parameters need to be estimated, and the mathematical model is updated to obtain higher control performances and robustness. In this study, a linear fractional transformation (LFT) is utilized for uncertainty modeling. Further, a general approach to the design of an H∞ control of a magneto-rheological damper (MRD) for vibration reduction in a building with mass, damping, and stiffness uncertainties is presented.

Keywords: uncertainty modeling, structural control, MR Damper, H∞, robust control

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Authors: Labane Chrif

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A nonlinear approach to the automatic pitch attitude control problem for aircraft transportation is presented. A nonlinear model describing the longitudinal equations of motion in strict feedback form is derived. Backstepping is utilized for the construction of a globally stabilizing controller with a number of free design parameters. The controller is evaluated using the aircraft transportation. The adaptation scheme proposed allowed us to design an explicit controller with a minimal knowledge of the aircraft aerodynamics. Finally, the simulation results will show that backstepping controller have better dynamic performance, simpler design, higher precision, easier implement, etc. At the same time, the control effect will be significantly improved. In addition, backstepping control is superior in short transition, good stability, anti-disturbance and good control.

Keywords: nonlinear control, backstepping, aircraft control, Lyapunov function, longitudinal model

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Authors: Expedito J. S. Parente Jr., Italo C. Rios, Joao Paulo C. Marques, Rosana M. A. Saboya, F. Murilo T. Luna, Célio L. Cavalcante Jr.

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Increasing constraints of environmental regulation around the world have led to higher demand for biodegradable products. Vegetable oils present some properties that may favor their use as biolubricants; however, there are others, such as resistance to oxidation and pour point, which affect possible commercial applications. In this study, the physicochemical properties of biolubricants synthesized from different vegetable oils were evaluated and compared with petroleum-based lubricant and pure vegetable oil. Chemical modifications applied to the original vegetable oil improved their oxidative stability and pour point significantly. The addition of commercial antioxidants to the bio-based lubricants was evaluated, yielding values of oxidative stability close to those of mineral basestock oil.

Keywords: biolubricant, vegetable oil, oxidative stability, pour point, antioxidants

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Authors: Z. Ghorannevis, E. Akbarnejad, B. Aghazadeh, M. Ghoranneviss

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) modified with semiconductor nanocrystalline particles may find wide applications due to their unique properties. Here Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles were successfully grown on Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWNTs) via a magnetron sputtering method for the first time. The CdS/MWNTs sample was characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopies (SEM/TEM) and four point probe. The obtained images show clearly the decoration of the MWNTs by the CdS nanoparticles, and the XRD measurements indicate the CdS structure as hexagonal type. Moreover, the physical properties of the CdS/MWNTs were compared with the physical properties of the CdS nanoparticles grown on the silicon. Electrical measurements of CdS and CdS/MWNTs reveal that CdS/MWNTs has lower resistivity than the CdS sample which may be due to the higher carrier concentrations.

Keywords: CdS, MWNTs, HRTEM, magnetron sputtering

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Authors: Ntokozo Mthembu

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Access to relevant health indicates people’s likelihood of survival, including craft of indigenous healing and its related practitioners- izinyanga. However, the emergence of a dreaded novel corona virus - COVID-19 that has engulfed almost the whole world has necessitated the need to revisit the state of traditional healers in South Africa. This circumstance tended to expose the reality of social settings in various social structures and related policies including the manner coloniality reveal its ugly head when it comes treatment between western and African based therapeutic practices in this country. In attempting to gain a better understanding of such experiences, primary and secondary sources were consulted when collecting data that perusal of various literature in this instance including face-to-face interviews with traditional healers working on the street of Tshwane Municipality in South Africa. Preliminary findings revealed that the emergence of this deadly virus coincided with the moment when the government agenda was focussed on fulfilment of its promise of addressing the past inequity practices, including the transformation of medical sector. This scenario can be witnessed by the manner in which government and related agencies such as health department keeps on undermining indigenous healing practice irrespective of its historical record in terms of healing profession and fighting various diseases before times of father of medicine, Imhotep. Based on these preliminary findings, it is recommended that the government should hasten the incorporation of African knowledge systems especially medicine to offer alternatives and diverse to assess the underutilised indigenous African therapeutic approach and relevant skills that could be useful in combating ailments such as COVID 19. Perhaps, the plural medical systems should be recognized and related policies are formulated to guarantee mutual respect among citizens and the incorporation of healing practices in South African health sector, Africa and in the broader global community.

Keywords: indigenous healing practice, inyanga, COVID-19, therapeutic, urban, experience

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Authors: M. T. Amina, A. A. Alazba, U. Manzoor

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Solar disinfection (SODIS) is a viable method for household water treatment and is recommended by the World Health Organization as cost effective approach that can be used without special skills. The efficiency of both SODIS and solar collector disinfection (SOCODIS) system was evaluated using four different sources of water including stored rainwater, storm water, ground water and treated sewage. Samples with naturally occurring microorganisms were exposed to sunlight for about 8-9 hours in 2-L polyethylene terephthalate bottles under similar experimental conditions. Total coliform (TC), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) were used as microbial water quality indicators for evaluating the disinfection efficiency at different sunlight intensities categorized as weak, mild and strong weathers. Heterotrophic bacteria showed lower inactivation rates compared to E. coli and TC in both SODIS and SOCODIS system. The SOCODIS system at strong weather was the strongest disinfection system in this study and the complete inactivation of HPC was observed after 8-9 hours of exposure with SODIS being ineffective for HPC. At moderate weathers, however, the SOCODIS system did not show complete inactivation of HPC due to very high concentrations (up to 5x10^7 CFU/ml) in both storm water and treated sewage. SODIS even remained ineffective for the complete inactivation of E. coli due to its high concentrations of about 2.5x10^5 in treated sewage compared with other waters even after 8-9 hours of exposure. At weak weather, SODIS was not effective at all while SOCODIS system, though incomplete, showed good disinfection efficiency except for HPC and to some extent for high E. coli concentrations in storm water. Largest reduction of >5 log occurred for TC when used stored rainwater even after 6 hours of exposure in the case of SOCODIS system at strong weather. The lowest E. coli and HPC reduction of ~2 log was observed in SODIS system at weak weather. Further tests with varying pH and turbidity are required to understand the effects of reaction parameters that could be a step forward towards maximizing the disinfection efficiency of such systems for the complete inactivation of naturally occurring E. coli or HPC at moderate or even at weak weathers.

Keywords: efficiency, microbial, SODIS, SOCODIS, weathers

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Authors: Soner Cubuk, Ozge Yilmaz, Ece Kok Yetimoglu, M. Vezir Kahraman

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In this work, a polymer based highly selective fluorescence sensor membrane was prepared by the photopolymerization technique for the determination Cd(II) ion. Sensor characteristics such as effects of pH, response time and foreign ions on the fluorescence intensity of the sensor were also studied. Under optimized conditions, the polymeric sensor shows a rapid, stable and linear response for 4.45x10-⁹ mol L-¹ - 4.45x10-⁸ mol L-¹ Cd(II) ion with the detection limit of 6.23x10-¹⁰ mol L-¹. In addition, sensor membrane was selective which is not affected by common foreign metal ions. The concentrations of the foreign ions such as Pb²+, Co²+, Ag+, Zn²+, Cu²+, Cr³+ are 1000-fold higher than Cd(II) ions. Moreover, the developed polymeric sensor was successfully applied to the determination of cadmium ions in food and water samples. This work was supported by Marmara University, Commission of Scientific Research Project.

Keywords: cadmium(II), fluorescence, photopolymerization, polymeric sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 552

Authors: C. Silvestros, K. Mellou, T. Georgakopoulou, A. Koustenis, E. Kokkinou, C. Botsi, A. Terzidis

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'PHILOS – Emergency health response to refugee crisis' is a programme of the Greek Ministry of Health, implemented by the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention (HCDCP) funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) of EU’s DG Migration and Home Affairs. One of the main objectives of the program is the immunization coverage of the target – population to assure the prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases. The program foresees vaccination needs assessment of children hosted at camps at the mainland and implementation of interventions to cover the vaccination gaps in co-operation with the Ministry of Health. The National Immunization Advisory Committee in Greece recommended that MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella), PCV (Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) and HEXA (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b) vaccines should be performed in priority. Recording was completed at 24 camps (May - June 2017); 3381 children (0-18 years) were recorded. The median number of children hosted at each camp was 95 (range: 5-553). For 68% of the children, the WHO vaccination booklet was available. 44%, 48.5% and 61% of the children were vaccinated with at least one dose of PCV, HEXA, and MMR, respectively. The proportion of vaccinated children for the three vaccines mentioned above is significantly lower for the remaining doses; PCV (second dose 8%, third dose 1.3%), HEXA (second dose 13%, third dose 2.7%, forth dose 0.1%) and MMR (second dose 23%). None of the 37 (10 from Afghanistan, 3 from Bangladesh, 23 from Pakistan, 1 from Syria) recorded unaccompanied children did not have a WHO vaccination booklet and were considered unvaccinated. There is no differentiation in vaccination coverage among different ethnicities. Massive catch up vaccination was performed at 4 camps, and 671 vaccinations were performed (245 PCV, 307 HEXA, and 119 MMR). Similar interventions are planned for all camps of the country. Recording reveled gaps in vaccination coverage of the population, mainly because of the mobility of the population, the influx of refugees- which is still ongoing- and new births. Mass vaccination campaigns are considered vital in order to increase vaccination coverage, and continuous efforts are needed in order all children living at the camps to have full access to the National Childhood Immunization Program.

Keywords: vaccine preventable, refugee–migrants camps, vaccination coverage, PCV, MMR, HEXA

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Neetika Mahajan, Awanish Shukla

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Entrepreneurship is key a driver to economic development. It opens opportunities for business startups and has potential to expand employment opportunities for many. Entrepreneurship gives ‘Purpose thriving’ approach towards society with new technologies and zeal to develop and compete in the market. There are many more advantages of entrepreneurship like freedom to scope of work and independence in setting own goals. Women contribute to nearly 50 percent of India’s population, constitute nearly 10 percent of a total number of entrepreneurs in India. Women are found to be better risk calculators, more ambitious and less prone to self-confidence. However, It is a hard fact that life has not been easy for women aspiring professional success. Gender parity is the biggest threat faced by female aspirant seeking new businesses. More challenges like socio-cultural barriers, insufficient financial assistance, etc. have been faced by the women of our country. To uplift the status of women in the society, a number of initiatives have been taken up by the Government of India. Initiatives like National Mission for Empowerment of Women by (Ministry of Women And Child Development) and SKILL INDIA aim to increase the technical skills and knowledge of women for tapping employment opportunities and self-confidence. Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) Scheme and Mahila Coir Yojana are proposed by the Ministry of MSMEs aiming to facilitate employment opportunities for women and entrepreneurship development. This paper will aim to bring out the gaps and barriers, which are still resisting the potential women come upfront and start a new business irrespective of a number of initiatives being put by government of India. The aim is also to identify focus areas where further intervention is required and proposing suitable interventions. The methodology to take forward this research will include primary and secondary data collection from on ground survey to track various kind of challenges faced by aspirant women entrepreneurs. Insight will be put towards initiations by the government of India towards women empowerment and assistance to entrepreneurship. Scientific quantitative tools will be used to analyze collected information. The final output of the research shall focus on achieving the respective aims and objectives.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, government programs and schemes, key challenges, economic development

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Iñaki Iturria, Pasquale Russo, Montserrat Nacher-Vázquez, Giuseppe Spano, Paloma López, Miguel Angel Pardo

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Introduction: It is known that some Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) present an interesting probiotic effect. Probiotic bacteria stimulate host resistance to microbial pathogens and thereby aid in immune response, and modulate the host's immune responses to antigens with a potential to down-regulate hypersensitivity reactions. Therefore, probiotic therapy is valuable against intestinal infections and may be beneficial in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Several in vitro tests are available to evaluate the probiotic potential of a LAB strain. However, an in vivo model is required to understand the interaction between the host immune system and the bacteria. During the last few years, zebrafish (Danio rerio) has gained interest as a promising vertebrate model in this field. This organism has been extensively used to study the interaction between the host and the microbiota, as well as the host immune response under several microbial infections. In this work, we report on the use of the zebrafish model to investigate in vivo the colonizing ability and the immunomodulatory effect of probiotic LAB. Methods: Lactobacillus strains belonging to different LAB species were fluorescently tagged and used to colonize germ-free zebrafish larvae gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Some of the strains had a well-documented probiotic effect (L. acidophilus LA5); while others presented an exopolysaccharide (EPS) producing phenotype, thus allowing evaluating the influence of EPS in the colonization and immunomodulatory effect. Bacteria colonization was monitored for 72 h by direct observation in real time using fluorescent microscopy. CFU count per larva was also evaluated at different times. The immunomodulatory effect was assessed analysing the differential expression of several innate immune system genes (MyD88, NF-κB, Tlr4, Il1β and Il10) by qRT- PCR. The anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated using a chemical enterocolitis zebrafish model. The protective effect against a pathogen was also studied. To that end, a challenge test was developed using a fluorescently tagged pathogen (Vibrio anguillarum-GFP+). The progression of the infection was monitored up to 3 days using a fluorescent stereomicroscope. Mortality rates and CFU counts were also registered. Results and conclusions: Larvae exposed to EPS-producing bacteria showed a higher fluorescence and CFU count than those colonized with no-EPS phenotype LAB. In the same way, qRT-PCR results revealed an immunomodulatory effect on the host after the administration of the strains with probiotic activity. A downregulation of proinflammatory cytoquines as well as other cellular mediators of inflammation was observed. The anti-inflammatory effect was found to be particularly marked following exposure to LA% strain, as well as EPS producing strains. Furthermore, the challenge test revealed a protective effect of probiotic administration. As a matter of fact, larvae fed with probiotics showed a decrease in the mortality rate ranging from 20 to 35%. Discussion: In this work, we developed a promising model, based on the use of gnotobiotic zebrafish coupled with a bacterial fluorescent tagging in order to evaluate the probiotic potential of different LAB strains. We have successfully used this system to monitor in real time the colonization and persistence of exogenous LAB within the gut of zebrafish larvae, to evaluate their immunomodulatory effect and for in vivo competition assays. This approach could bring further insights into the complex microbial-host interactions at intestinal level.

Keywords: gnotobiotic, immune system, lactic acid bacteria, probiotics, zebrafish

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: Evgeny A. Ermakov, Lyudmila P. Smirnova, Valentina N. Buneva

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Schizophrenia associated with dysregulation of neurotransmitter processes in the central nervous system and disturbances in the humoral immune system resulting in the formation of antibodies (Abs) to the various components of the nervous tissue. Abs to different neuronal receptors and DNA were detected in the blood of patients with schizophrenia. Abs hydrolyzing DNA were detected in pool of polyclonal autoantibodies in autoimmune and infectious diseases, such catalytic Abs were named abzymes. It is believed that DNA-hydrolyzing abzymes are cytotoxic, cause nuclear DNA fragmentation and induce cell death by apoptosis. Abzymes with DNAase activity are interesting because of the mechanism of formation and the possibility of use as diagnostic markers. Therefore, in our work we have set following goals: to determine the level anti-DNA Abs in the serum of patients with schizophrenia and to study DNA-hydrolyzing activity of IgG of patients with schizophrenia. Materials and methods: In our study there were included 41 patients with a verified diagnosis of paranoid or simple schizophrenia and 24 healthy donors. Electrophoretically and immunologically homogeneous IgGs were obtained by sequential affinity chromatography of the serum proteins on protein G-Sepharose and gel filtration. The levels of anti-DNA Abs were determined using ELISA. DNA-hydrolyzing activity was detected as the level of supercoiled pBluescript DNA transition in circular and linear forms, the hydrolysis products were analyzed by agarose electrophoresis followed by ethidium bromide stain. To correspond the registered catalytic activity directly to the antibodies we carried out a number of strict criteria: electrophoretic homogeneity of the antibodies, gel filtration (acid shock analysis) and in situ activity. Statistical analysis was performed in ‘Statistica 9.0’ using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Results: The sera of approximately 30% of schizophrenia patients displayed a higher level of Abs interacting with single-stranded (ssDNA) and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) compared with healthy donors. The average level of Abs interacting with ssDNA was only 1.1-fold lower than that for interacting with dsDNA. IgG of patient with schizophrenia were shown to possess DNA hydrolyzing activity. Using affinity chromatography, electrophoretic analysis of isolated IgG homogeneity, gel filtration in acid shock conditions and in situ DNAse activity analysis we proved that the observed activity is intrinsic property of studied antibodies. We have shown that the relative DNAase activity of IgG in patients with schizophrenia averaged 55.4±32.5%, IgG of healthy donors showed much lower activity (average of 9.1±6.5%). It should be noted that DNAase activity of IgG in patients with schizophrenia with a negative symptoms was significantly higher (73.3±23.8%), than in patients with positive symptoms (43.3±33.1%). Conclusion: Anti-DNA Abs of patients with schizophrenia not only bind DNA, but quite efficiently hydrolyze the substrate. The data show a correlation with the level of DNase activity and leading symptoms of patients with schizophrenia.

Keywords: anti-DNA antibodies, abzymes, DNA hydrolysis, schizophrenia

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Authors: Wisam H. Muragaa, Kamaruzzaman Seman, Mohd Fadzli Marhusin

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Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new norm of networks. It is designed to facilitate the way of managing, measuring, debugging and controlling the network dynamically, and to make it suitable for the modern applications. Generally, measurement methods can be divided into two categories: Active and passive methods. Active measurement method is employed to inject test packets into the network in order to monitor their behaviour (ping tool as an example). Meanwhile the passive measurement method is used to monitor the traffic for the purpose of deriving measurement values. The measurement methods, both active and passive, are useful for the collection of traffic statistics, and monitoring of the network traffic. Although there has been a work focusing on measuring traffic statistics in SDN environment, it was only meant for measuring packets and bytes rates for non-web traffic. In this study, a feasible method will be designed to measure the number of packets and bytes in a certain time, and facilitate obtaining statistics for both web traffic and non-web traffic. Web traffic refers to HTTP requests that use application layer; while non-web traffic refers to ICMP and TCP requests. Thus, this work is going to be more comprehensive than previous works. With a developed module on POX OpenFlow controller, information will be collected from each active flow in the OpenFlow switch, and presented on Command Line Interface (CLI) and wireshark interface. Obviously, statistics that will be displayed on CLI and on wireshark interfaces include type of protocol, number of bytes and number of packets, among others. Besides, this module will show the number of flows added to the switch whenever traffic is generated from and to hosts in the same statistics list. In order to carry out this work effectively, our Python module will send a statistics request message to the switch requesting its current ports and flows statistics in every five seconds; while the switch will reply with the required information in a message called statistics reply message. Thus, POX controller will be notified and updated with any changes could happen in the entire network in a very short time. Therefore, our aim of this study is to prepare a list for the important statistics elements that are collected from the whole network, to be used for any further researches; particularly, those that are dealing with the detection of the network attacks that cause a sudden rise in the number of packets and bytes like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).

Keywords: mininet, OpenFlow, POX controller, SDN

Procedia PDF Downloads 216

Authors: Argyris B. Karapetsas, Rozi M. Laskaraki, Aikaterini A. Karapetsa, Maria Bampou, Valentini N. Vamvaka

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The main aim of the current protocol is the contribution of neuropsychology in both assessment and rehabilitation settings for children with dyslexia. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significant role of neuropsychological assessment including both Psychometric and electrophysiological tests as well as to investigate the effectiveness of an Auditory Training program, designed via Music designed for children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD). Materials: In our study, participated 45 third-, and fourth-grade students with DD and a matched control group (n=45). Method: At the first phase of the protocol, children underwent a clinical assessment, including both electrophysiological, i.e. Event Related Potentials (ERPs) esp. P300 waveform, and psychometric tests, being conducted in Laboratory of Neuropsychology, at University of Thessaly, in Volos, Greece. Assessment’s results confirmed statistically significant lower performance for children with DD for all tests, compared to the typical readers of the control group. After evaluation, a subgroup of children with DD participated in a Rehabilitation Program including digitized musical auditory training activities. Results: The electrophysiological recordings after the intervention revealed shorter, almost similar, P300 latency values for children with DD to those of the control group, indicating the beneficial effects of the Intervention, thus enabling children develop reading skills and become successful readers. Discussion: Similar research data confirm the crucial role of neuropsychology in both diagnosis and treatment of common disorders, observed in children. Indeed, as for DD, there is growing evidence that brain activity dysfunction does occur, as it is confirmed by neuropsychological assessment and also musical auditory training may have remedial effects. Conclusions: The outcomes of the current study suggest that due to the neurobiological origin of DD, neuropsychology may give the means in both neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation, enabling professionals to cope with cerebral dysfunction and recovery more efficiently.

Keywords: diagnosis, dyslexia, ERPs, Music, neuropsychology, rehabilitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: K. S. Chai, S. H. Chan

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In this paper, the earth retaining wall anchored by discrete deadman anchor to support excavations in sand is modelled and analysed by finite element analysis. A study is conducted to examine how deadman anchorage system helps in reducing the deflection of earth retaining wall. A simplified numerical model is suggested in order to reduce the simulation duration. A comparison between 3-D and 2-D finite element analyses is illustrated.

Keywords: finite element, earth retaining wall, deadman anchor, sand

Procedia PDF Downloads 461