Search results for: GHRM performance appraisal

Authors: Edmar N. Franquera, Renato C. Mabesa, Rene Rafael C. Espino, Edralina P. Serrano, Eduardo P. Paningbatan Jr.

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The potential of growing lettuce with different colored plastic mulch silver (control), red, orange, yellow and green was evaluated using two lettuce varieties, Looseleaf and Romaine. The experiment was laid out on split plot design following the Randomized Complete Block Design. The Looseleaf variety had better performance in terms of plant fresh weight, leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, root length, plant height and yield. However, better response was observed in Romaine in terms of leaf diameter, leaf length, root dry weight and root fresh weight. The color of the mulch reflected different qualities of light and hence the quality of absorbed light by the lettuce plants. A higher Far red and red ratio (FR:R) was obtained from green plastic mulch which was followed by the red plastic mulch. The different colored plastic mulch affected the growth and developmental responses of leaf lettuce morphological and leaf anatomical characteristics. Data in all growth morphological and yield parameters showed that those grown with red plastic mulch had better response and had longer stomates than those lettuce grown with the other colored plastic mulch. The soil temperature 10 cm below the plastic mulch was significantly influenced by the color of the mulch. The red plastic mulch had the highest soil temperature recorded while the lowest soil temperature recorded was within the yellow plastic mulch.

Keywords: anatomical, lettuce, morpholological, plastic mulch

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Authors: Eva Tvrdá, Barbora Babečková, Michal Ďuračka, Róbert Kirchner, Július Árvay

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This study was designed to assess the in vitro effects of Origanum vulgare L. (oregano) extract on the testicular steroidogenesis. We focused on identifying major biomolecules present in the oregano extract, as well as to investigate its in vitro impact on the secretion of cholesterol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone and androstenedione by murine testicular fragments. The extract was subjected to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) which identified cyranosid, daidzein, thymol, rosmarinic and trans-caffeic acid among the predominant biochemical components of oregano. For the in vitro experiments, testicular fragments from 20 sexually mature Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were incubated in the absence (control group) or presence of the oregano extract at selected concentrations (10, 100 and 1000 μg/mL) for 24 h. Cholesterol levels were quantified using photometry and the hormones were assessed by ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay). Our data revealed that the release of cholesterol and androstenedione (but not dehydroepiandrosterone and testosterone) by the testicular fragments was significantly impacted by the oregano extract in a dose-dependent fashion. Supplementation of the extract resulted in a significant decline of cholesterol (P < 0.05 in case of 100 μg/mL; P < 0.01 with respect 100 μg/mL extract), as well as androstenedione (P < 0.01 with respect to 100 and 1000 μg/mL extract). Our results suggest that the biomolecules present in Origanum vulgare L. could exhibit a dose-dependent impact on the secretion of male steroids, playing a role in the regulation of testicular steroidogenesis.

Keywords: mice, Origanum vulgare L., steroidogenesis, testes

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Authors: Chia Jui Hsieh, Jyh Cheng Chen, Chih Wei Kuo, Ruei Teng Wang, Woei Chyn Chu

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Compressed sensing (CS) based computed tomographic (CT) reconstruction algorithm utilizes total variation (TV) to transform CT image into sparse domain and minimizes L1-norm of sparse image for reconstruction. Different from the traditional CS based reconstruction which only calculates x-coordinate and y-coordinate TV to transform CT images into sparse domain, we propose a multi-directional TV to transform tomographic image into sparse domain for low-dose reconstruction. Our method considers all possible directions of TV calculations around a pixel, so the sparse transform for CS based reconstruction is more accurate. In 2D CT reconstruction, we use eight-directional TV to transform CT image into sparse domain. Furthermore, we also use 26-directional TV for 3D reconstruction. This multi-directional sparse transform method makes CS based reconstruction algorithm more powerful to reduce noise and increase image quality. To validate and evaluate the performance of this multi-directional sparse transform method, we use both Shepp-Logan phantom and a head phantom as the targets for reconstruction with the corresponding simulated sparse projection data (angular sampling interval is 5 deg and 6 deg, respectively). From the results, the multi-directional TV method can reconstruct images with relatively less artifacts compared with traditional CS based reconstruction algorithm which only calculates x-coordinate and y-coordinate TV. We also choose RMSE, PSNR, UQI to be the parameters for quantitative analysis. From the results of quantitative analysis, no matter which parameter is calculated, the multi-directional TV method, which we proposed, is better.

Keywords: compressed sensing (CS), low-dose CT reconstruction, total variation (TV), multi-directional gradient operator

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Authors: Meshal Al-Samhan, Abdullah Al-Marshed

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Recently, there has been a tremendous increase in interest in nanotechnology applications and nanomaterials in the oilfield. In the last decade, the global increase in oil production resulted in large amounts of produced water, causing a significant problem for all producing countries and companies. This produced water deserves special attention and a study of its characteristics to understand and determine how it can be treated and later used for suitable applications such as water injection for Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR) without harming the environment. This work aims to investigate the prepared compatible mixed water (seawater and effluent water) response to nanoparticles for EOR water injection. The evaluation of different mix seawater/effluent water ratios (60/40,70/30) for their characteristics prior to nanofluid preparation using Inductive Couple Plasma (ICP) analysis, potential zeta test, and OLI software (the OLI Systems is a recognised leader in aqueous chemistry). This step of the work revealed the suitability of the water mix with a lower effluent-water ratio. Also, OLI predicted that the 60:40 mix needs to be balanced around temperatures of 70 ºC to avoid the mass accumulation of calcium sulfate and strontium sulfate. Later the prepared nanofluid was tested for interfacial tension (IFT) and wettability restoration in the sandstone rock; the Al2O3 nanofluid at 0.06 wt% concentration reduced the IFT by more than 16% with moderate water wet contact angle. The study concluded that the selected nanoparticle Al2O3 had demonstrated excellent performance in decreasing the interfacial tension with respect to the selected water mix type (60/40) at low nanoparticles wt%.

Keywords: nano AL2O3, sanstone, nanofluid, IFT, wettability

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Authors: Dana J. Abed, Mu'tasim S. Abdel-Jaber, Nasim K. Shatarat

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In this paper, an experimental study on twelve square columns was conducted to investigate the influence of cross-sectional size on axial compressive capacity of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) wrapped square reinforced concrete (RC) short columns subjected to eccentric loadings. The columns were divided into three groups with three cross sections (200×200×1200, 250×250×1500 and 300×300×1800 mm). Each group was tested under two different eccentricities: 10% and 20% of the width of samples measured from the center of the column cross section. Four columns were developed in each arrangement. Two columns in each category were left unwrapped as control samples, and two were wrapped with one layer CFRP perpendicular to the specimen surface. In general; CFRP sheets has enhanced the performance of the strengthened columns compared to the control columns. It was noticed that the percentage of compressive capacity enhancement was decreased by increasing the cross-sectional size, and increasing loading eccentricity generally leads to reduced load bearing capacity in columns. In the same group specimens, when the eccentricity increased the percentage of enhancement in load carrying capacity was increased. The study concludes that the optimum use of the CFRP sheets for axial strength enhancement is for smaller cross-section columns under higher eccentricities.

Keywords: CFRP, columns, eccentric loading, cross-sectional

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Authors: Mukul Anand

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Quality oriented affordable shelter for all has always been the key issue in the housing sector of our country. Homelessness is the acute form of housing need. It is a paradox that in spite of innumerable government initiated programmes for affordable housing, certain section of society is still devoid of shelter. About nineteen million (18.78 million) households grapple with housing shortage in Urban India in 2012. In Indian scenario there is major mismatch between the people for whom the houses are being built and those who need them. The prime force faced by public authorities in facilitation of quality housing for all is high cost of construction. The present paper will comprehend executable techniques for dilution of cost factor in housing the homeless. The key actors responsible for delivery of cheap housing stock such as capacity building, resource optimization, innovative low cost building material and indigenous skeleton housing system will also be incorporated in developing these techniques. Time performance, which is an important angle of above actors, will also be explored so as to increase the effectiveness of low cost housing. Along with this best practices will be taken up as case studies where both conventional techniques of housing and innovative low cost housing techniques would be cited. Transportation consists of approximately 30% of total construction budget. Thus use of alternative local solutions depending upon the region would be covered so as to highlight major components of low cost housing. Government is laid back regarding base line information on use of innovative low cost method and technique of resource optimization. Therefore, the paper would be an attempt to bring to light simpler solutions for achieving low cost housing.

Keywords: construction, cost, housing, optimization, shelter

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Authors: Yoftahe Nigussie

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This report presents a final year project pertaining to the design of Fire tube boiler for the purpose of producing saturated steam. The objective of the project is to produce saturated steam for different purpose with a capacity of 2000kg/h at 12bar design pressure by performing a design of a higher performance fire tube boiler that considered the requirements of cost minimization and parameters improvement. This is mostly done in selection of appropriate material for component parts, construction materials and production methods in different steps of analysis. In the analysis process, most of the design parameters are obtained by iterating with related formulas like selection of diameter of tubes with overall heat transfer coefficient optimization, and the other selections are also as like considered. The number of passes is two because of the size and area of the tubes and shell. As the analysis express by using heavy oil fuel no6 with a higher heating value of 44000kJ/kg and lower heating value of 41300kJ/kg and the amount of fuel consumed 140.37kg/hr. and produce 1610kw of heat with efficiency of 85.25%. The flow of the fluid is a cross flow because of its own advantage and the arrangement of the tube in-side the shell is welded with the tube sheet, and the tube sheet is attached with the shell and the end by using a gasket and weld. The design of the shell, using European Standard code section, is as like pressure vessel by considering the weight, including content and the supplementary accessories such as lifting lugs, openings, ends, man hole and supports with detail and assembly drawing.

Keywords: steam generation, external treatment, internal treatment, steam velocity

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Authors: Kavitha A.S., L.Govindaraju

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Reinforced earth walls offer excellent solution to many problems associated with earth retaining structures especially under seismic conditions. Use of cohesive soils as backfill material reduces the cost of reinforced soil walls if proper drainage measures are taken. This paper presents a numerical study on the application of a new technique called sandwich technique in reinforced earth walls. In this technique, a thin layer of granular soil is placed above and below the reinforcement layer to initiate interface friction and the remaining portion of the backfill is filled up using the existing insitu cohesive soil. A 6 m high reinforced earth wall has been analysed as a two-dimensional plane strain finite element model. Three types of reinforcing elements such as geotextile, geogrid and metallic strips were used. The horizontal wall displacements and the tensile loads in the reinforcement were used as the criteria to evaluate the results at the end of construction and dynamic excitation phases. Also to verify the effectiveness of sandwich layer on the performance of the wall, the thickness of sand fill surrounding the reinforcement was varied. At the end of construction stage it is found that the wall with sandwich type backfill yielded lower displacements when compared to the wall with cohesive soil as backfill. Also with sandwich backfill, the reinforcement loads reduced substantially when compared to the wall with cohesive soil as backfill. Further, it is found that sandwich technique as backfill and geogrid as reinforcement is a good combination to reduce the deformations of geosynthetic reinforced walls during seismic loading.

Keywords: geogrid, geotextile, reinforced earth, sandwich technique

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Authors: Ahmed Salim, A. El Bouari, M. Tahiri, O. Tanane

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This research aims to develop and comprehensively characterize a cost-effective activated carbon derived from date residues, with a focus on optimizing its physicochemical properties to achieve superior performance in a variety of applications. The samples were synthesized via a chemical activation process utilizing phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) as the activating agent. Activated carbon, produced through this method, functions as a vital adsorbent for the removal of contaminants, with a specific focus on methylene blue, from industrial wastewater. This study meticulously examined the influence of various parameters, including carbonization temperature and duration, on both the combustion properties and adsorption efficiency of the resultant material. Through extensive analysis, the optimal conditions for synthesizing the activated carbon were identified as a carbonization temperature of 600°C and a duration of 2 hours. The activated carbon synthesized under optimized conditions demonstrated an exceptional carbonization yield and methylene blue adsorption efficiency of 99.71%. The produced carbon was subsequently characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Its effectiveness in the adsorption of methylene blue from contaminated water was then evaluated. A comprehensive assessment of the adsorption capacity was conducted by varying parameters such as carbon dosage, contact time, initial methylene blue concentration, and pH levels.

Keywords: environmental pollution, adsorbent, activated carbon, phosphoric acid, date Kernels, pollutants, adsorption

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Authors: Abimbola M. Enitan, J. Adeyemo

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Anaerobic modeling is a useful tool to describe and simulate the condition and behaviour of anaerobic treatment units for better effluent quality and biogas generation. The present investigation deals with the anaerobic treatment of brewery wastewater with varying organic loads. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) of the influent and effluent of the bioreactor were determined at various retention times to generate data for kinetic coefficients. The bio-kinetic coefficients in the modified Stover–Kincannon kinetic and methane generation models were determined to study the performance of anaerobic digestion process. At steady-state, the determination of the kinetic coefficient (K), the endogenous decay coefficient (Kd), the maximum growth rate of microorganisms (µmax), the growth yield coefficient (Y), ultimate methane yield (Bo), maximum utilization rate constant Umax and the saturation constant (KB) in the model were calculated to be 0.046 g/g COD, 0.083 (dˉ¹), 0.117 (d-¹), 0.357 g/g, 0.516 (L CH4/gCODadded), 18.51 (g/L/day) and 13.64 (g/L/day) respectively. The outcome of this study will help in simulation of anaerobic model to predict usable methane and good effluent quality during the treatment of industrial wastewater. Thus, this will protect the environment, conserve natural resources, saves time and reduce cost incur by the industries for the discharge of untreated or partially treated wastewater. It will also contribute to a sustainable long-term clean development mechanism for the optimization of the methane produced from anaerobic degradation of waste in a close system.

Keywords: brewery wastewater, methane generation model, environment, anaerobic modeling

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Authors: Saad Nawaz, Yu Gang, Miao Haibin

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Titanium alloys are attractive materials for aerospace industry due to their exceptional strength to weight ratio that is maintained at elevated temperatures and their good corrosion resistance. Major applications of titanium alloys were military aerospace industry, but since last decade the trend has now shifted towards commercial industry. On the other hand, titanium alloys are notorious for being poor thermal conductor that leads to them being difficult materials for machining. In this experimental study, Stellram Indexable milling cutter XDLT09-D41 is used for rough down milling of Ti6Al4V for small depth of cut under different combinations of parameters and application of high-pressure coolant. The machining performance was evaluated in terms of tool wear, tool life, and thermal crack. The tool wear was mostly observed at the tool tip and at bottom part of tool thermal deformations were observed which propagated with respect to time. Flank wear due to scratching of the cutting chips and diffusion wear because of high thermal stresses were observed specially at the bottom of the cutting tool. It was found that maximum tool life was obtained at the speed of 40m/min, feed rate of 358mm/min and depth of cut of 0.8mm. In the end, it was concluded that machining of Ti6Al4V is a thermally dominant process which leads to high thermal stresses in machining zone that results in increasing tool wear rate and deformation propagation.

Keywords: tool wear, cutting speed, flank wear , tool life

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Authors: Feicheng Liu, Weiming Liao, Jianjing Zhang

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A pile-supported embankment with geosynthetic-reinforced mat (PSGR embankment) has been considered as an effective solution to reduce the total and differential settlement of the embankment constructed over soft soil. In this paper, a new simplified method proposed firstly incorporates the load transfer between piles and surrounding soil and the settlement of pile, and also considers arching effect in embankment fill, membrane effect of geosynthetic reinforcement, and subsoil resistance, to evaluate the behavior of PSGR embankment. Subsoil settlement is assumed to consist of two parts:(1) the settlement of subsoil surface between piles equivalent to that of pile caps assuming the geosynthetic reinforcement without deformation yet; (2) the subsoil subsiding along with the geosynthetic deforming, and the deflected geosynthetic being considered as centenary. The force equilibrium, including loads acting on the upper surface of geosynthetic, subsoil resistance, as well as the stress-strain relationship of the geosynthetic reinforcement at the edge of pile cap, is established, thus the expression of subsoil resistance is deduced, and subsequently the tension of geosynthetic and stress concentration ratio between piles can be calculated. The proposed method is validated through observed data from three field tests and also compared with other eight analytical solutions available in the literature. In addition, a sensitive analysis is provided to demonstrate the influence of with/without considering pile-soil interaction for evaluating the performance of PSGR embankment.

Keywords: pile-supported embankment, geosynthetic, analytical solution, soil arching effect, the settlement of pile, sensitive analysis

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Authors: Miesam Golzadeh Gangraj, Abbas Ganbari Niaki, Lila Bahrami

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The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of one session of Karate training (Kumite, speed Kata and strength Kata) on viscosity, fibrinogen and plasma lipid profile in young Karate player women. To this end, 40 individuals with required condition were selected and randomly placed in four groups. 10 mL forearm venous blood was taken before and immediately after a session of training for measuring variables. Data were analyzed using statistical methods (covariance, by consideration of group factor) and Bonfferoni post hoc test and the significant difference was determined in P ≤ 0.05. The variation of plasma fibrinogen concentration was not meaningful. The variation of plasma viscosity concentration was not meaningful in groups and between groups. The variation of cortisol concentration was meaningful before and after and between control and experimental groups; however, no difference was observed between three experimental groups. The variation of complete cholesterol, neither tri-glyceride nor intense lipoprotein, was meaningful and significant difference was just seen between control and Kumite groups. The results show that despite meaningful changes in fibrinogen levels, plasma viscosity has not been much affected that might be due to lack of variation in other effective variables such as TG, HDL and hematocrit. Based on the results of present study, it seems that the use of speed Kata seems to be more appropriate to increase the performance of Karate player than strength Karate.

Keywords: female karate player, viscosity, fibrinogen, cortisol, lactate di-dehydrogenase

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Authors: Jonathan Doku

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The study's goal was to evaluate construction site safety management in Ghana. The construction sector has long been seen as a high-risk business. It entails a variety of hazardous and challenging labor duties, such as lifting and working at a height, among others. The accident rate is a standard indicator for comparing the safety performance of construction projects. Because of its high-risk and fast-changing work environment, the construction business is regarded as one of the industries with the highest accident rates in the world. Many mishaps and work-related diseases have occurred there, and construction workers are particularly vulnerable to catastrophic calamities such as falls, collapses, and burial. The study's main goals were to discover characteristics that have a substantial impact on construction site safety, to evaluate the safety management methods utilized on construction sites, and to assess the obstacles associated with construction site safety management. The study was conducted using a quantitative research method and a purposive sampling strategy. Google forms were used to distribute self-administered surveys to 85 responders. 72 of the 85 questionnaires were completed and submitted for analysis, accounting for 84.7 percent of the total. The variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics, mean score ranking, and Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient to ensure the scale's reliability. The formal safety organization structure and the Safety checklist were identified as the key practices of safety management on site as part of the study goals. In addition, it was discovered that the most serious problem with safety management is ineffective supervision. To guarantee efficient monitoring and proper implementation of health and safety rules on building sites, management must be on the ball.

Keywords: construction, safety, risk, management

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Authors: L. Yu, W. K. Li, S. K. Ong, A. Y. C. Nee

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In this paper, a scalable augmented reality framework for handheld devices is presented. The presented framework is enabled by using a server-client data communication structure, in which the search for tracking targets among a database of images is performed on the server-side while pixel-wise 3D tracking is performed on the client-side, which, in this case, is a handheld mobile device. Image search on the server-side adopts a residual-enhanced image descriptors representation that gives the framework a scalability property. The tracking algorithm on the client-side is based on a gravity-aligned feature descriptor which takes the advantage of a sensor-equipped mobile device and an optimized intensity-based image alignment approach that ensures the accuracy of 3D tracking. Automatic content streaming is achieved by using a key-frame selection algorithm, client working phase monitoring and standardized rules for content communication between the server and client. The recognition accuracy test performed on a standard dataset shows that the method adopted in the presented framework outperforms the Bag-of-Words (BoW) method that has been used in some of the previous systems. Experimental test conducted on a set of video sequences indicated the real-time performance of the tracking system with a frame rate at 15-30 frames per second. The presented framework is exposed to be functional in practical situations with a demonstration application on a campus walk-around.

Keywords: augmented reality framework, server-client model, vision-based tracking, image search

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Authors: Mona Misfer Alshardan, Djamal Ziani

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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the organizations tickets to the global market. With the implementation of ERP, organizations can manage and coordinate all functions, processes, resources and data from different departments by a single software. However, many organizations consider the cost of traditional ERP to be expensive and look for alternative affordable solutions within their budget. One of these alternative solutions is providing ERP over a software as a service (SaaS) model. This alternative could be considered as a cost effective solution compared to the traditional ERP system. A key feature of any SaaS system is the multi-tenancy architecture where multiple customers (tenants) share the system software. However, different organizations have different requirements. Thus, the SaaS developers accommodate each tenant’s unique requirements by allowing tenant-level customization or configuration. While customization requires source code changes and in most cases a programming experience, the configuration process allows users to change many features within a predefined scope in an easy and controlled manner. The literature provides many techniques to accomplish the configuration process in different SaaS systems. However, the nature and complexity of SaaS ERP needs more attention to the details regarding the configuration process which is merely described in previous researches. Thus, this research is built on strong knowledge regarding the configuration in SaaS to define specifically the configuration borders in SaaS ERP and to design a configuration service with the consideration of the different configuration aspects. The proposed architecture will ensure the easiness of the configuration process by using wizard technology. Also, the privacy and performance are guaranteed by adopting the databases isolation technique.

Keywords: configuration, software as a service, multi-tenancy, ERP

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Authors: Cora Fernandez Dacosta, John A. Posada, Andrea Ramirez

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The biodegradable family of polymers polyhydroxyalkanoates are interesting substitutes for convectional fossil-based plastics. However, the manufacturing and environmental impacts associated with their production via intracellular bacterial fermentation are strongly dependent on the raw material used and on energy consumption during the extraction process, limiting their potential for commercialization. Industrial wastewater is studied in this paper as a promising alternative feedstock for waste valorization. Based on results from laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, a conceptual process design, techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment are developed for the large-scale production of the most common type of polyhydroxyalkanoate, polyhydroxbutyrate. Intracellular polyhydroxybutyrate is obtained via fermentation of microbial community present in industrial wastewater and the downstream processing is based on chemical digestion with surfactant and hypochlorite. The economic potential and environmental performance results help identifying bottlenecks and best opportunities to scale-up the process prior to industrial implementation. The outcome of this research indicates that the fermentation of wastewater towards PHB presents advantages compared to traditional PHAs production from sugars because the null environmental burdens and financial costs of the raw material in the bioplastic production process. Nevertheless, process optimization is still required to compete with the petrochemicals counterparts.

Keywords: circular economy, life cycle assessment, polyhydroxyalkanoates, waste valorization

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Authors: Yashi Ye

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Principles play vital roles in shaping the school culture and promoting teachers' professional learning by exerting their leadership. In the changing time of the 21st century, the creative leadership of school leaders is increasingly important in cultivating the professional learning communities of teachers for eventually improving student performance in every continent. This study examines under what conditions and how principal creative leadership contributes to teachers’ professional learning and school culture. Data collected from 632 teachers in 30 primary and middle schools in the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing in mainland China are analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping tests. A moderated mediation model of principle creative leadership effects is used to analyze professional teacher learning and school culture in which the mediator will be school culture and the moderator will be power distance orientation. The results indicate that principal creative leadership has significant direct and indirect effects on teachers' professional learning. A positive correlation between principal creative leadership, professional teacher learning, and school culture is observed. Further model testing found that teacher power distance orientation moderated the significant effect of principal creative leadership on school culture. When teachers perceived higher power distance in teacher-principal relations, the effects of principal creative leadership were stronger than for those who perceived low power distance. The results indicate the “culture change” in the young generation of teachers in China, and further implications to understanding the cultural context in the field of educational leadership are discussed.

Keywords: power distance orientation, principal creative leadership, school culture, teacher professional learning

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Authors: K. Uyanga, W. Daoud

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Hydrogels have attracted much academic and industrial attention due to their unique properties and potential biomedical and non-biomedical applications. Limitations on extending their applications have resulted from the synthesis of hydrogels using toxic materials and complex irreproducible processing techniques. In order to promote environmental sustainability, hydrogel efficiency, and wider application, this study focused on the synthesis of composite hydrogels matrices from an edible non-toxic crosslinker-citric acid (CA) using a simple low energy processing method based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and chitosan (CSN) natural polymers. Composite hydrogels were developed by chemical crosslinking. The results demonstrated that CMC:2CSN:CA exhibited good performance properties and super-absorbency 21× its original weight. This makes it promising for biomedical applications such as chronic wound healing and regeneration, next generation skin substitute, in situ bone regeneration and cell delivery. On the other hand, CMC:CSN:CA exhibited durable well-structured internal network with minimum swelling degrees, water absorbency, excellent gel fraction, and infra-red reflectance. These properties make it a suitable composite hydrogel matrix for warming effect and controlled and efficient release of loaded materials. CMC:2CSN:CA and CMC:CSN:CA composite hydrogels developed also exhibited excellent chemical, morphological, and thermal properties.

Keywords: citric acid, fumaric acid, tartaric acid, zinc nitrate hexahydrate

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Authors: Pablo Cardozo Herrera

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In a dynamic market of Information Technology (IT) Service and with high quality demands and high performance requirements in decreasing costs, it is imperative that IT companies invest organizational effort in order to increase the effectiveness of their Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) processes through the improvement of ITSM project management and through solid support to the strategic decision-making process of IT directors. In this article, the author presents an analysis of common issues of IT companies around the world, with strategic needs of information unmet that provoke their ITSM processes and projects management that do not achieve the effectiveness and efficiency expected of their results. In response to the issues raised, the author proposes a framework consisting of an innovative theoretical framework model of ITSM management and a technological solution aligned to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) good practices guidance and ISO/IEC 20000-1 requirements. The article describes a research that proves the proposed framework is able to integrate, manage and coordinate in a holistic way, measurable and auditable, all ITSM processes and projects of IT organization and utilize the effectiveness assessment achieved for their strategic decision-making process increasing the process maturity level and improving the capacity of an efficient management.

Keywords: innovation in IT services, ITSM processes, ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000-1, IT service management, IT service excellence

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Authors: É. Kónya, E. Szabó, I. Bata-Vidács, T. Deák, M. Ottucsák, N. Adányi, A. Székács

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Spice paprika is a major spice commodity in the European Union (EU), produced locally and imported from non-EU countries, reported not only for chemical and microbiological contamination, but also for fraud. The effective interaction between producers’ quality management practices and government and EU activities is described on the example of spice paprika production and control in Hungary, a country of leading spice paprika producer and per capita consumer in Europe. To demonstrate the importance of various contamination factors in the Hungarian production and EU trade of spice paprika, several aspects concerning food safety of this commodity are presented. Alerts in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the EU between 2005 and 2013, as well as Hungarian state inspection results on spice paprika in 2004 are discussed, and quality non-compliance claims regarding spice paprika among EU member states are summarized in by means of network analysis. Quality assurance measures established along the spice paprika production technology chain at the leading Hungarian spice paprika manufacturer, Kalocsai Fűszerpaprika Zrt. are surveyed with main critical control points identified. The structure and operation of the Hungarian state food safety inspection system is described. Concerted performance of the latter two quality management systems illustrates the effective interaction between internal (manufacturer) and external (state) quality control measures.

Keywords: spice paprika, quality control, reporting mechanisms, RASFF, vulnerable points, HACCP

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Authors: Ahmet Helvaci, Selcuk Dogan

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Reed in especially almost all the lakes in Western Anatolia grows naturally. Due to the abundance of reed, pyrolysis of reed is very economical and practical application. In this study, it is aimed to determine the optimum conditions for the pyrolysis of the reed which is a cheap and abundant raw material and to evaluate pyrolysis products. For this purpose, reed was used obtained from Eber Lake located in the borders of Bolvadin county of Afyonkarahisar. Optimum pyrolysis conditions have been determined by examining the effects of changes in pyrolysis temperature and pyrolysis time. The evaluation of the obtained liquid and solid pyrolysis products has been investigated. Especially evaluability of solid carbon black production of tires has been investigated. Tire samples were prepared with carbon black samples obtained as a result of the pyrolysis process at different temperatures. Then, performance tests were made and compared with reference carbon blacks, used in the market and standards. At the same time, surface area measurement analysis of carbon black samples was made and compared again with reference carbon blacks. In addition, the fuel values of liquid products were also determined by calorimeter. It has been determined that the best surface area (about 370 m²/g) for carbon black samples, for tire production is 40 minutes at 500ᵒC. It was also found that the best result for evaluation studies in tire production was carbon black samples obtained at 450ᵒC pyrolysis temperature. In addition, it was seen that the calorimetry results of the liquid product obtained during 60 minutes of pyrolysis were quite good (around 5500 kcal/kg).

Keywords: evaluation of products, optimization, pyrolysis, reed

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Authors: Ghada Mohamed Rashad, Doaa Ayoub Elimy, Mohamed Hussein Elgendy, Ahmed Mohamed Fathi Elshiwi, Mahmoud Ghazy

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Background: Flat feet cause changes in foot mobility, foot posture, and load distribution under the foot which influences dynamic balance, that is essential in activities of daily living and for optimal performance in sports activity. Purpose: To investigate the effect of flat feet on dynamic balance including overall stability index (OAI), anteroposterior stability index (APSI) and mediolateral stability index (MLSI). Study Design: The design of the study was an experimental design. Subjects: Forty subjects from both sexes were selected from the Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, their mean age (23.55 ± 1.74 ) years, divided into two groups, group A (8 males and 12 females) with flat feet, and group B (9 males and 11 females) with normal feet. Methods: The Navicular Drop Test was used to determine if the feet were pronated and Biodex Balance System was used to assess dynamic balance at level 8 and level 4 for both groups. Results: There was no significant difference in dynamic balance including (OSI, APSI and MLSI) of the Biodex at stability level (8) (most stable) (p = 0.56). While there was a significant difference between both groups in all dependent variables at stability level (4) (less stable level) (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: It may be concluded that flat feet have an effect on dynamic balance and there is balance affection in subjects with flat feet.

Keywords: flat feet, dynamic balance, postural stability, types of flat feet, eversion strength

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Authors: T. Tommasi, E. Batuecas, G. Mancini, G. Saracco, D. Fino

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Extra virgin olive-oil (EVO) production is an important economic activity for several countries, especially in the Mediterranean area such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Tunisia. The two major by-products from olive oil production, solid-liquid Olive Pomace (OP) and the Olive Mill Waste Waters (OMWW), are still mainly disposed on soil, in spite of the existence of legislation which already limits this practice. The present study compares the environmental impacts associated with two different scenarios for the management of waste from olive oil production through a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The two alternative scenarios are: (I) Anaerobic Digestion and (II) current Disposal on soil. The analysis was performed through SimaPro software and the assessment of the impact categories was based on International Life Cycle Data and Cumulative Energy Demand methods. Both the scenarios are mostly related to the cultivation and harvesting phase and are highly dependent on the irrigation practice and related energy demand. Results from the present study clearly show that as the waste disposal on soil causes the worst environmental performance of all the impact categories here considered. Important environmental benefits have been identified when anaerobic digestion is instead chosen as the final treatment. It was consequently demonstrated that anaerobic digestion should be considered a feasible alternative for olive mills, to produce biogas from common olive oil residues, reducing the environmental burden and adding value to the olive oil production chain.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, waste management, agro-food waste, biogas

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Authors: Ahmed I. Al-Amoud

Abstract:

A laboratory and field study were conducted on subsurface drip irrigation systems. In the first laboratory study, eight subsurface drip irrigation lines available locally, were selected and a number of experiments were made to evaluate line hydraulic characteristics to insure it's suitability for drip irrigation design requirements and high performance to select the best for field experiments. The second study involves field trials on mature date palm trees to study the effect of subsurface drip irrigation system on the yield and water consumption of date palms, and to compare that with the traditional surface drip irrigation system. Experiments were conducted in Alwatania Agricultural Project, on 50 mature palm trees (17 years old) of Helwa type with 10 meters spacing between rows and between trees. A high efficiency subsurface line (Techline) was used based on the results of the first study. Irrigation scheduling was made through a soil moisture sensing device to ensure enough soil water levels in the soil. Experiment layouts were installed during 2001 season, measurements continued till end of 2008 season. Results have indicated that there is an increase in the yield and a considerable saving in water compared to the conventional drip irrigation method. In addition there were high increases in water use efficiency using the subsurface system. The subsurface system proves to be durable and highly efficient for irrigating date palm trees.

Keywords: drip irrigation, subsurface drip irrigation, date palm trees, date palm water use, date palm yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: Sana Eid, Ahmad S. Darwish, Tarek Lemaoui, Maguy Abi Jaoude, Fawzi Banat, Shadi W. Hasan, Inas M. AlNashef

Abstract:

Addressing the growing challenge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution in water bodies, this study introduces natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) as a pioneering solution for the efficient extraction of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), one of the most persistent and concerning PFAS pollutants. Among the tested NADESs, trioctylphosphine oxide: lauric acid (TOPO:LauA) in a 1:1 molar ratio was distinguished as the most effective, achieving an extraction efficiency of approximately 99.52% at a solvent-to-feed (S:F) ratio of 1:2, room temperature, and neutral pH. This efficiency is achieved within a notably short mixing time of only one min, which is significantly less than the time required by conventional methods, underscoring the potential of TOPO:LauA for rapid and effective PFAS remediation. TOPO:LauA maintained consistent performance across various operational parameters, including a range of initial PFOA concentrations (0.1 ppm to 1000 ppm), temperatures (15 °C to 100 °C), pH values (3 to 9), and S:F ratios (2:3 to 1:7), demonstrating its versatility and robustness. Furthermore, its effectiveness was consistently high over seven consecutive extraction cycles, highlighting TOPO:LauA as a sustainable, environmentally friendly alternative to hazardous organic solvents, with promising applications for reliable, repeatable use in combating persistent water pollutants such as PFOA.

Keywords: deep eutectic solvents, natural deep eutectic solvents, perfluorooctanoic acid, water remediation

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Authors: Sukhwinder K. Bhullar, M. B. G. Jun

Abstract:

The developments in biomedical industry have demanded the development of biocompatible, high performance materials to meet higher engineering specifications. The general requirements of such materials are to provide a combination of high stiffness and strength with significant weight savings, resistance to corrosion, chemical resistance, low maintenance, and reduced costs. Auxetic materials which come under the category of smart materials offer huge potential through measured enhancements in mechanical properties. Unique deformation mechanism, providing cushioning on indentation, automatically adjustable with its strength and thickness in response to forces and having memory returns to its neutral state on dissipation of stresses make them good candidate in biomedical industry. As simple extension and compression of tissues is of fundamental importance in biomechanics, therefore, to study the elastic behaviour of auxetic soft tissues implant is targeted in this paper. Therefore development and characterization of auxetic soft tissue implant is studied in this paper. This represents a real life configuration where soft tissue such as meniscus in knee replacement, ligaments and tendons often are taken as transversely isotropic. Further, as composition of alternating polydisperse blocks of soft and stiff segments combined with excellent biocompatibility make polyurethanes one of the most promising synthetic biomaterials. Hence selecting auxetic polyurathylene foam functional characterization is performed and compared with conventional polyurathylene foam.

Keywords: auxetic materials, deformation mechanism, enhanced mechanical properties, soft tissues

Procedia PDF Downloads 459

Authors: Prathiksha Kamath, Pratibha Jamkhandi, Prateek Ghanti, Priyanshu Gupta, M. Lakshmi Neelima

Abstract:

Combining Image Captioning and Visual Question Answering (VQA) tasks have emerged as a new and exciting research area. The image captioning task involves generating a textual description that summarizes the content of the image. VQA aims to answer a natural language question about the image. Both these tasks include computer vision and natural language processing (NLP) and require a deep understanding of the content of the image and semantic relationship within the image and the ability to generate a response in natural language. There has been remarkable growth in both these tasks with rapid advancement in deep learning. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of recent progress in combining image captioning and visual question-answering (VQA) tasks. We first discuss both image captioning and VQA tasks individually and then the various ways in which both these tasks can be integrated. We also analyze the challenges associated with these tasks and ways to overcome them. We finally discuss the various datasets and evaluation metrics used in these tasks. This paper concludes with the need for generating captions based on the context and captions that are able to answer the most likely asked questions about the image so as to aid the VQA task. Overall, this review highlights the significant progress made in combining image captioning and VQA, as well as the ongoing challenges and opportunities for further research in this exciting and rapidly evolving field, which has the potential to improve the performance of real-world applications such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, and image search.

Keywords: image captioning, visual question answering, deep learning, natural language processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Seyedmirsajad Mokhtarimousavi, Danial Talebi, Hamidreza Asgari

Abstract:

Assigning aircrafts’ activities to appropriate gates is one the most challenging issues in airport authorities’ multiple criteria decision making. The potential financial loss due to imbalances of demand and supply in congested airports, higher occupation rates of gates, and the existing restrictions to expand facilities provide further evidence for the need for an optimal supply allocation. Passengers walking distance, towing movements, extra fuel consumption (as a result of awaiting longer to taxi when taxi conflicts happen at the apron area), etc. are the major traditional components involved in GAP models. In particular, the total cost associated with gate assignment problem highly depends on the airport terminal layout. The study herein presents a well-elaborated literature review on the topic focusing on major concerns, applicable variables and objectives, as well as proposing a three-objective mathematical model for the gate assignment problem. The model has been tested under different concourse layouts in order to check its performance in different scenarios. Results revealed that terminal layout pattern is a significant parameter in airport and that the proposed model is capable of dealing with key constraints and objectives, which supports its practical usability for future decision making tools. Potential solution techniques were also suggested in this study for future works.

Keywords: airport management, terminal layout, gate assignment problem, mathematical modeling

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Authors: Shatha Ghareeb, Rawaa Al-Jumeily, Thar Baker

Abstract:

In Abu Dhabi, there are many different education curriculums where sector of private schools and quality assurance is supervising many private schools in Abu Dhabi for many nationalities. As there are many different education curriculums in Abu Dhabi to meet expats’ needs, there are different requirements for registration and success. In addition, there are different age groups for starting education in each curriculum. In fact, each curriculum has a different number of years, assessment techniques, reassessment rules, and exam boards. Currently, students that transfer curriculums are not being placed in the right year group due to different start and end dates of each academic year and their date of birth for each year group is different for each curriculum and as a result, we find students that are either younger or older for that year group which therefore creates gaps in their learning and performance. In addition, there is not a way of storing student data throughout their academic journey so that schools can track the student learning process. In this paper, we propose to develop a computational framework applicable in multicultural countries such as UAE in which multi-education systems are implemented. The ultimate goal is to use cloud and fog computing technology integrated with Artificial Intelligence techniques of Machine Learning to aid in a smooth transition when assigning students to their year groups, and provide leveling and differentiation information of students who relocate from a particular education curriculum to another, whilst also having the ability to store and access student data from anywhere throughout their academic journey.

Keywords: admissions, algorithms, cloud computing, differentiation, fog computing, levelling, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 144