Search results for: efficiency test

Authors: Sihem Benmimoune, Abdelbaki Lemgharbi, Ahmed Ait Yahia, Abdelkrim Kameli

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Our study is based on chemical and phytochemical characterization of Artemisia absinthium L and in vitro tests to demonstrate the biological activities of essential oil and natural extract. A qualitative and quantitative comparison of the essential oil extracted by two extraction procedures was performed by analysis of CG/SM and the yield calculation. The method of hydrodistillation has a chemical composition and provides oil content than the best training water vapor. These oils are composed mainly of thujone followed chamazulene and ρ-cymene. The antimicrobial activity of wormwood oil was tested in vitro by two methods (agar diffusion and microdilution) on four plant pathogenic fungi (Aspergillus sp, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium culmorum and Helminthosporium sp). The study of the antifungal effect showed that this oil has an inhibitory effect counterpart the microorganisms tested in particular the strain Botrytis cinerea. Otherwise, this activity depends on the nature of the oil and the germ itself. The antioxidant activity in vitro was studied with the DPPH method. The activity test shows that the oil and extract of Artemisia absinthium have a very low antioxidant capacity compared to the antioxidants used as a reference. The extract has a potentially high antiradical power not from its oil. The quantitative determinations of phenolic compounds by the Folin-Ciocalteu revealed that absinthe is low in total polyphenols and tannins.

Keywords: artemisia absinthium, biological activities, essential oil, extraction processes

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Authors: Rahul Jarariya

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The textile industry uses various types of dyes and discharges a lot of highly coloured wastewater. It impacts the environment like allergic reaction, respiratory, skin problems, irritation to a mucous membrane, the upper respiratory tract has to the fore, Intoxicated dye discharges 40 to 50,000 tons with great concern. Spinel ferrites gained a lot of attention due to their wide application area from biomedical to wastewater treatment. Generally, spinel ferrite is known as M-Fe2O4. Spinel type nanoparticles possess high suspension stability. The synthesis method of Microwave solution combustion (MC) method is effective for nanoscale materials, including oxides, metals, alloys, and sulfides, works as fast and energy-efficient during the process. The review focuses on controlling, nanostructure and doping. The influence of the fuel concentration and the post-treatment temperature on the structural and magnetic properties. The effects of amounts of fuel and phase changes, particle size and shape, and magnetic properties can be characterized by various techniques. Urea is the most commonly used fuel. Ethanol or n-butanol is apt for removing impurities. As a result of the materials gives fine purity. Photocatalysis phenomena act with catalyst dosage to degrade dye from wastewater. Visible light responsive produces a large amount of hydroxyl (•OH) radical made the degradation efficiency of Rh21 type dye. It develops a narrow bandgap to make it suitable for enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: microwave solution combustion method, normal spinel, doped spinels, magnetic property, Rb21

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Authors: Germán Díaz Flórez, Carlos Alberto Olvera Olvera, Domingo José Gómez Meléndez, Francisco Eneldo López Monteagudo

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In recent decades, population growth has exerted great pressure on natural resources. Two of the most scarce and difficult to obtain resources, arable land, and water, are closely interrelated, to the satisfaction of the demand for food production. In Mexico, the agricultural sector uses more than 70% of water consumption. Therefore, maximize the efficiency of current production systems is inescapable. It is essential to utilize techniques and tools that will enable us to the significant savings of water, labor and fertilizer. In this study, we present a production module of hydroponic green forage (HGF), which is a viable alternative in the production of livestock feed in the semi-arid and arid zones. The equipment in addition to having a forage production module, has a climate and irrigation control system that operated with photovoltaics. The climate control, irrigation and power management is based on fuzzy control techniques. The fuzzy control provides an accurate method in the design of controllers for nonlinear dynamic physical phenomena such as temperature and humidity, besides other as lighting level, aeration and irrigation control using heuristic information. In this working, firstly refers to the production of the hydroponic green forage, suitable weather conditions and fertigation subsequently presents the design of the production module and the design of the controller. A simulation of the behavior of the production module and the end results of actual operation of the equipment are presented, demonstrating its easy design, flexibility, robustness and low cost that represents this equipment in the primary sector.

Keywords: fuzzy, climate control system, hydroponic green forage, forage production module

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Authors: Alan (Avi) Kirschenbaum, Carmit Rapaport

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The behavior of bystanders in emergencies and disasters have been examined for over 50 years. Such acts have been cited as contributing to saving lives in terms of providing first responder help until official emergency units can arrive. Several reasons have been suggested for this type of behavior but most focused on a broad segment of individual psychological decision-making processes. Recent theoretical evidence suggests that the external factors for such bystander decisions, mainly disaster community based social contexts factors, are also important. We aim to test these competing arguments. Specifically, we examine alternative explanatory perspectives by focusing on self-efficacy as a proxy for the accepted individual psychological case and contrast it with potential bystander characteristics of the individual as well factors as embedded in the social context of the disaster community. To do so, we will utilize a random sampling of the population from a field study of an urban community in Israel that experienced five years of continuous terror attacks. The results strongly suggest that self-efficacy, as well as external factors: preparedness and having skills for intervention during emergencies along with gender best, predict potential helping behaviors. These results broaden our view of bystander behavior and open a window for enhancing this phenomenon as another element in disaster and crisis management.

Keywords: bystander behavior, disasters emergencies, psychological motivation to help, social context for helping

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Authors: A. P. I. Popoola, O. S. I. Fayomi, V. S. Aigbodion

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Mild steel has found many engineering applications due to its great formability, availability, low cost and good mechanical properties among others. However its functionality and durability is subject of concern due to corrosion deterioration. Based on these Yttrium is selected as reinforcing particles using electroplating process in this work to enhance the corrosion resistance. Bath formulation of zinc-yttrium was prepared at moderated temperature and pH, to coat mild steel sample. Corrosion and wear behaviour were analyzed using electrochemical potentiostat and abrasive test rig. The composition and microstructure of coated films were investigated standard method. The microstructure of the deposited plate obtained from optimum (10%Yttrium) bath revealed fine-grained deposit of the alloy in the presence of condensation product and hence modified the morphology of zinc–yttrium alloy deposit. It is demonstrated that by adding yttria particles, mild steel can be strengthened with improved polarization behaviour and higher resistance to corrosive in sodium chloride solutions. Microhardness of the coating compared to plain mild steel have increased before and after heat treatment, and an increased wear resistance was also obtained from the modified coating of zinc-yttrium.

Keywords: microhardness, zinc-yttrium, coating, mild steel, microstructure, wear, corrosion

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Authors: Aubry Martin, Nehed Amara, Jeff Nyalosaso, Audrey Potdevin, FrançOis ReVeret, Michel Langlet, Genevieve Chadeyron

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Energy-saving lighting devices based on LightEmitting Diodes (LEDs) combine a semiconductor chip emitting in the ultraviolet or blue wavelength region to one or more phosphor(s) deposited in the form of coatings. The most common ones combine a blue LED with the yellow phosphor Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ (YAG:Ce) and a red phosphor. Even if these devices are characterized by satisfying photometric parameters (Color Rendering Index, Color Temperature) and good luminous efficiencies, further improvements can be carried out to enhance light extraction efficiency (increase in phosphor forward emission). One of the possible strategies is to pattern the phosphor coatings. Here, we have worked on different ways to nanostructure the coating surface. On the one hand, we used the colloidal lithography combined with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique to directly pattern the surface of YAG:Tb³⁺ sol-gel derived coatings, YAG:Tb³⁺ being used as phosphor model. On the other hand, we achieved composite architectures combining YAG:Ce coatings and ZnO nanowires. Structural, morphological and optical properties of both systems have been studied and compared to flat YAG coatings. In both cases, nanostructuring brought a significative enhancement of photoluminescence properties under UV or blue radiations. In particular, angle-resolved photoluminescence measurements have shown that nanostructuring modifies photons path within the coatings, with a better extraction of the guided modes. These two strategies have the advantage of being versatile and applicable to any phosphor synthesizable by sol-gel technique. They then appear as promising ways to enhancement luminescence efficiencies of both phosphor coatings and the optical devices into which they are incorporated, such as LED-based lighting or safety devices.

Keywords: phosphor coatings, nanostructuring, light extraction, ZnO nanowires, colloidal lithography, LED devices

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Authors: M. R. Noor El-Din, Marwa R. Mishrif, R. E. Morsi, E. A. El-Sharaky, M. E. Haseeb, Rania T. M. Ghanem

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This paper studies the physical and rheological behaviours of water/in/diesel fuel nanoemulsions prepared by modified low energy method. Twenty of water/in/diesel fuel nanoemulsions were prepared using mixed nonionic surfactants of sorbitan monooleate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate (MTS) at Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) value of 10 and a working temperature of 20°C. The influence of the prepared nanoemulsions on the physical properties such as kinematic viscosity, density, and calorific value was studied. Also, nanoemulsion systems were subjected to rheological evaluation. The effect of water loading percentage (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 wt.%) on rheology was assessed at temperatures range from 20 to 60°C with temperature interval of 10 for time lapse 0, 1, 2 and 3 months, respectively. Results show that all of the sets nanoemulsions exhibited a Newtonian flow character of low-shear viscosity in the range of 132 up to 191 1/s, and followed by a shear-thinning region with yield value (Non-Newtonian behaviour) at high shear rate for all water ratios (5 to 10 wt.%) and at all test temperatures (20 to 60°C) for time ageing up to 3 months. Also, the viscosity/temperature relationship of all nanoemulsions fitted well Arrhenius equation with high correlation coefficients that ascertain their Newtonian behavior.

Keywords: alternative fuel, nanoemulsion, surfactant, diesel fuel

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Authors: Khadija Mushtaq, Muhammad Umar

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The research aims to study the association between job satisfaction, motivation and the five factors of organizational citizenship behavior (i.e. Altruism, Conscientiousness, Sportsmanship, Courtesy and Civic virtue) among Public Sector Employees in Pakistan.In this research Structure Equation Modeling with confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the relationship between two independent and five dependent variables. Data was collected through questionnaire survey from 152 Public Servants Working in Gujrat District-Pakistan in different capacities. Stratified Random Sampling Technique was used to conduct this survey. The results of the study indicate that five factors of OCB have positive significant relation with both motivation and job satisfaction except the relationship of Civic Virtue with Motivation.The research findings implicate that factors other than motivation and job satisfaction may also affect OCB. Likewise, all the five factors of OCB may not be present in all populations. Thus, Managers must concentrate on increasing motivation and job satisfaction to increase OCB. Furthermore, the present research gives a direction to future researchers to use more independent variables (e.g. Culture, leadership, workplace environment, various job attitudes, types of motivation, etc.) on different types of populations with larger sample size in order to find the reasons behind insignificant relationship of civic virtue with Motivation in the research in hand and to generalize the tested model.

Keywords: five factors of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), motivation, job satisfaction, public sector employees in Pakistan

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Authors: Sabuj Kanti Mazumder, Mazlan Abd Ghaffar, Simon Kumar Das

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In this study, we analyzed the effects of water temperature and diet on the growth properties and gastric emptying period of juvenile Malabar blood snapper (Lutjanus malabaricus) over a 30day experimental period. Fish were collected from a local hatchery of Pulau Ketam, Selangor, Malaysia and immediately transferred to flow-through sea water system and subjected to four different temperatures (22, 26, 30, and 34 °C) and two diets (formulated pellet and shrimp). Body weight gain, food consumption, food conversion ratio, food consumption efficiency, specific growth rate, relative growth rate, daily growth rate, and gastric emptying period were significantly influenced by temperature and diet (P<0.05). The best food conversion ratio was with the shrimp group recorded at 30°C (1.33±0.08). The highest growth rate was observed in the shrimp group at 30°C (3.97±0.57% day-1), and the lowest was observed in the formulated pellet group at 22°C (1.63±0.29% day-1). No significant difference was observed between the groups subjected to temperatures of 26 and 30°C. Similarly, the lowest gastric emptying period was detected in the shrimp group at 30°C (16h), where the proportion of meal residues in the stomach decreased from 100% to less than 8% after 12h of starvation. A significantly longer gastric emptying period was observed in the formulated pellet group at 22°C (28h). Overall, the best results were observed on shrimp group subjected to a 30°C temperature. The data obtained from this study suggest that a shrimp diet fed on L. malabaricus at 30°C will optimize the commercial production of this commercially important fish species.

Keywords: aquaculture, diet, digestion rate, growth, Malabar blood snapper

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Authors: Nizar Ahmad

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Peace without community participation will remain a vision, so, this study presents the contribution and efforts made by community base organization in views of local conflict affect population in Pakhtun society. A four conflict affected villages of Malakad Division were selected and a sample size of 278 household respondents were determined through online survey system software out of total 982 households. A Chi-square test was applied to ascertain association between various communication base organizations factors with state of peace in the area. It was found that provision of humanitarian aid, rehabilitation of displaced population, rebuilding of trust in government and peace festivals by communication organization had significant association with state of peace in the area. In contrast provision of training, peace education monitoring and reporting of human rights violation in war zone by local organization was non-significantly related to the state of peace in the area. Community base organization play an active role in building peace in the area but lack capacity, linkages with external actors and outside support. National and international organization actors working in the area of peace and conflict resolution need to focus on the capacity, networking and peace initiatives of local organizations working in fragile context.

Keywords: community base peacebuilding, conflict resolution, terrorism, violence

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Authors: Tien Hui Chiang

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Along with the predominant influence of neo-liberalism, public managerialism is viewed as a panacea for curing the institutionalized weakness caused by the monopoly of the public sector. In the name of efficiency, its outcome-led approach acquires a legitimate status and, in turn, it transforms into the discourse of performativity, reformulating the souls of individual members into the form of docile bodies who are willing to demonstrate their own ability in organizational contributions. The evaluation system and the organizational reconstruction are viewed as the crucial means for achieving this mission. Inevitably, university teachers are confined within a rigid and bureaucratic setting, in which they do not have too much latitude but are subject to the commands of senior administrators. However, the notion of duality highlights the interaction between structural constraints and agency. If the actor discovers the rules or properties of social structure, he/she is able to transform structural constraints into resources for developing creative actions, conceptualized as an agency. This study was designed for examining how duality operates within this hierarchical arrangement formed by public managerialism. Fourteen informants were interviewed from February to August 2014. The findings show that the evaluation system created the culture of neo-academicalism, addressing excellence in research and, in turn, motivating academic-oriented teachers. This correspondence provided a gateway for them to win honor, dignity, and prestige in groups. However, unlike the concept of duality, this agency was operating within the institutionalized context, regulated by structural constraint. Furthermore, complying with the rule/property of social structure was able to secure their advantages.

Keywords: public managerialism, social discourse, neo-academicalism, duality, structural constraint, agency

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Authors: Raka Aldy Nugraha, Kiwah Andanni, Aditya Indra Pratama, Aswin Guntara

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Background: Torus palatinus is a bony protuberance in the hard palate. Sex and race are considered as influencing factors for the development of torus palatinus. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of torus palatinus and its correlation with sex and ethnicity among Western Indonesian Population. Methods: We conducted a descriptive and analytical study employing cross-sectional design in 274 new students of Universitas Indonesia. Data were collected by using consecutive sampling method through questionnaire-filling and direct oral examination. Subject with racial background other than indigenous Indonesian Mongol were excluded from this study. Data were statistically analyzed using chi square test for categorical variables whereas logistic regression model was employed to assess the correlation between variables of interest with prevalence of torus palatinus. Results: Torus palatinus were found in 212 subjects (77.4%), mostly small in size (< 3 mm) and single in number, with percentage of 50.5% and 90.6%, respectively. The prevalence of torus palatinus were significantly higher in women (OR 2.88; 95% CI: 1.53-5.39; p = 0.001), dominated by medium-sized and single tori. There was no significant correlation between ethnicity and the occurrence of torus palatinus among Western Indonesian population. Conclusion: Torus palatinus was prevalent among Western Indonesian population. It showed significant positive correlation with sex, but not with ethnicity.

Keywords: characteristic, ethnicity, Indonesia, mongoloid, prevalence, sex, Torus palatinus

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Authors: Samuel Emeka Anarah, Kingsley Nnaemeka Ogbu, Obasi Arinze

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Quantifying the hydrological response due to changes in climate change is imperative for proper management of water resources within a watershed. The impact of climate change on the hydrology of the Upper Ebony River (UER) watershed, South East Nigeria, was studied using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. A climatological time series analysis from 1985 - 2014 using non-parametric test showed significant negative trends in precipitation and relative humidity trend while minimum and maximum temperature, solar radiation and wind speed showed significant positive trends. Future hypothetical land-use change scenarios (Scenarios 1, 2, 3 and 4) representing urbanization and conversion of forest to agricultural land were combined with future downscaled climate model (CSIRO-Mk3-6-0) and simulated in SWAT model. Relative to the Baseline scenario (2005 - 2014), the results showed a decrease in streamflow by 10.29%, 26.20%, 11.80% and 26.72% for Scenarios 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Model results suggest development of adaptation strategies to cope with the predicted hydrological conditions under future climate change in the watershed.

Keywords: climate change, hydrology, runoff, SWAT model

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Authors: Sajedeh Salehi, Marco Giacalone

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This paper examines the role of existing online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms and their effects on ameliorating access to justice – as a protected right by Art. 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – for consumers in EU. The major focus of this study will be on evaluating ODR as the means of dispute resolution for Business-to-Consumer (B2C) cross-border small claims raised in e-commerce transactions. The authors will elaborate the consequences of implementing ODR methods in the context of recent developments in EU regulatory safeguards on promoting consumer protection. In this analysis, both non-judiciary and judiciary ODR redress mechanisms are considered, however, the significant consideration is given to – obligatory and non-obligatory – judiciary ODR methods. For that purpose, this paper will particularly investigate the impact of the EU ODR platform as well as the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) Regulation 861/2007 and their role on accelerating the access to justice for consumers in B2C e-disputes. Although, considerable volume of research has been carried out on ODR for consumer claims, rather less (or no-) attention has been paid to provide a combined doctrinal and empirical evaluation of ODR’s potential in resolving cross-border small e-disputes, in EU. Hence, the methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) research methods which will be mainly based on the data acquired through the findings of the Small Claims Analysis Net (SCAN) project. This project contributes towards examining the ESCP Regulation implementation and efficiency in providing consumers with a legal watershed through using the ODR for their transnational small claims. The outcomes of this research may benefit both academia and policymakers at national and international level.

Keywords: access to justice, consumers, e-commerce, small e-Disputes

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Authors: Diana Pombo, Maria Loaiza, Mauricio Quijano, Alberto Cadena, Juan Pablo Tello

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In this paper, we present a semi-automatic tool for calculating ejection fraction from an echocardiographic video signal which is derived from a database in DICOM format, of Clinica de la Costa - Barranquilla. Described in this paper are each of the steps and methods used to find the respective calculation that includes acquisition and formation of the test samples, processing and finally the calculation of the parameters to obtain the ejection fraction. Two imaging segmentation methods were compared following a methodological framework that is similar only in the initial stages of processing (process of filtering and image enhancement) and differ in the end when algorithms are implemented (Active Contour and Region Growing Algorithms). The results were compared with the measurements obtained by two different medical specialists in cardiology who calculated the ejection fraction of the study samples using the traditional method, which consists of drawing the region of interest directly from the computer using echocardiography equipment and a simple equation to calculate the desired value. The results showed that if the quality of video samples are good (i.e., after the pre-processing there is evidence of an improvement in the contrast), the values provided by the tool are substantially close to those reported by physicians; also the correlation between physicians does not vary significantly.

Keywords: echocardiography, DICOM, processing, segmentation, EDV, ESV, ejection fraction

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Authors: Anoff Anim, Lila A. M. Mahmoud, Maria Katsikogianni, Sanjit Nayak

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Sustained and controlled delivery of antimicrobial drugs have been largely studied recently using metal organic frameworks (MOFs)and different polymers. However, much attention has not been given to combining both MOFs and biodegradable polymers, which would be a good strategy in providing a sustained gradual release of the drugs. Herein, we report a comparative study of the sustained and controlled release of widely used antibacterial drugs, cephalexin and metronidazole, from zinc-based MOF-5 incorporated in biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly-lactic glycolic acid (PLGA) membranes. Cephalexin and metronidazole were separately incorporated in MOF-5 post-synthetically, followed by their integration into biodegradable PLGA and PCL membranes. The pristine MOF-5 and the loaded MOFs were thoroughly characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TGA and PXRD. Drug release studies were carried out to assess the release rate of the drugs in PBS and distilled water for up to 48 hours using UV-Vis Spectroscopy. Four bacterial strains from both the Gram-positive and Gram-negative types, Staphylococus aureus, Staphylococuss epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumanii, were tested against the pristine MOF, pure drugs, loaded MOFs and the drug-loaded MOF-polymer composites. Metronidazole-loaded MOF-5 composite of PLGA (PLGA-Met@MOF-5) was found to show highest efficiency to inhibit the growth of S. epidermidis compared to the other bacteria strains while maintaining a sustained minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). This study demonstrates that the combination of biodegradable MOF-polymer composites can provide an efficient platform for sustained and controlled release of antimicrobial drugs and can be a potential strategy to integrate them in biomedical devices.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, biodegradable polymers, cephalexin, drug release metronidazole, MOF-5, PCL, PLGA

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Authors: Dmitri Terzi

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The article presents the results of an algorithmic study of a special optimization problem of the transport type (traveling salesman problem): 1) To solve the problem, a new natural algorithm has been developed based on the decomposition of the initial data into convex hulls, which has a number of advantages; it is applicable for a fairly large dimension, does not require a large amount of memory, and has fairly good performance. The relevance of the algorithm lies in the fact that, in practice, programs for problems with the number of traversal points of no more than twenty are widely used. For large-scale problems, the availability of algorithms and programs of this kind is difficult. The proposed algorithm is natural because the optimal solution found by the exact algorithm is not always feasible due to the presence of many other factors that may require some additional restrictions. 2) Another inverse problem solved here is to describe a class of traveling salesman problems that have a predetermined optimal solution. The constructed algorithm 2 allows us to characterize the structure of traveling salesman problems, as well as construct test problems to evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms and other purposes. 3) The appendix presents a software implementation of Algorithm 1 (in MATLAB), which can be used to solve practical problems, as well as in the educational process on operations research and optimization methods.

Keywords: traveling salesman problem, solution construction algorithm, convex hulls, optimality verification

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Authors: O. D. Adegbehingbe, S. D. Eyono Obono

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The education sector is constantly faced with rapid changes in technologies in terms of ensuring that the curriculum is up to date and in terms of making sure that students are aware of these technological changes. This challenge can be seen as the motivation for this study, which is to examine the factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest Information Technologies (ICTs). The aim of this study is divided into two sub-objectives which are: the selection of relevant theories and the design of a conceptual model to support it as well as the empirical testing of the designed model. The first objective is achieved by a review of existing literature on technology adoption theories and models. The second objective is achieved using a survey of computing students in the four universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Data collected from this survey is analyzed using Statistical package for the Social Science (SPSS) using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Pearson correlations. The main hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between the demographics and the prior conditions of the computing students and their awareness of general ICT trends and of Digital Switch Over (DSO) a new technology which involves the change from analog to digital television broadcasting in order to achieve improved spectrum efficiency. The prior conditions of the computing students that were considered in this study are students’ perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived curriculum currency. The results of this study confirm that gender, ethnicity, and high school computing course affect students’ perceived curriculum currency while high school location affects students’ awareness of DSO. The results of this study also confirm that there is a relationship between students prior conditions and their awareness of general ICT trends and DSO in particular.

Keywords: education, information technologies, IDT, awareness

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Authors: Magdy I. A. Alshourbagi

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Background: The National Institute for Deafness and Communication Disorders defines idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss as the idiopathic loss of hearing of at least 30 dB across 3 contiguous frequencies occurring within 3 days.The most common clinical presentation involves an individual experiencing a sudden unilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, a sensation of aural fullness and vertigo. The etiologies and pathologies of ISSNHL remain unclear. Several pathophysiological mechanisms have been described including: vascular occlusion, viral infections, labyrinthine membrane breaks, immune associated disease, abnormal cochlear stress response, trauma, abnormal tissue growth, toxins, ototoxic drugs and cochlear membrane damage. The rationale for the use of hyperbaric oxygen to treat ISSHL is supported by an understanding of the high metabolism and paucity of vascularity to the cochlea. The cochlea and the structures within it require a high oxygen supply. The direct vascular supply, particularly to the organ of Corti, is minimal. Tissue oxygenation to the structures within the cochlea occurs via oxygen diffusion from cochlear capillary networks into the perilymph and the cortilymph. . The perilymph is the primary oxygen source for these intracochlear structures. Unfortunately, perilymph oxygen tension is decreased significantly in patients with ISSHL. To achieve a consistent rise of perilymph oxygen content, the arterial-perilymphatic oxygen concentration difference must be extremely high. This can be restored with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Subject and Methods: A 37 year old man was presented at the clinic with a five days history of muffled hearing and tinnitus of the right ear. Symptoms were sudden onset, with no associated pain, dizziness or otorrhea and no past history of hearing problems or medical illness. Family history was negative. Physical examination was normal. Otologic examination revealed normal tympanic membranes bilaterally, with no evidence of cerumen or middle ear effusion. Tuning fork examination showed positive Rinne test bilaterally but with lateralization of Weber test to the left side, indicating right ear sensorineural hearing loss. Audiometric analysis confirmed sensorineural hearing loss across all frequencies of about 70- dB in the right ear. Routine lab work were all within normal limits. Clinical diagnosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss of the right ear was made and the patient began a medical treatment (corticosteroid, vasodilator and HBO therapy). The recommended treatment profile consists of 100% O2 at 2.5 atmospheres absolute for 60 minutes daily (six days per week) for 40 treatments .The optimal number of HBOT treatments will vary, depending on the severity and duration of symptomatology and the response to treatment. Results: As HBOT is not yet a standard for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, it was introduced to this patient as an adjuvant therapy. The HBOT program was scheduled for 40 sessions, we used a 12-seat multi place chamber for the HBOT, which was started at day seven after the hearing loss onset. After the tenth session of HBOT, improvement of both hearing (by audiogram) and tinnitus was obtained in the affected ear (right). Conclusions: In conclusion, HBOT may be used for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss as an adjuvant therapy. It may promote oxygenation to the inner ear apparatus and revive hearing ability. Patients who fail to respond to oral and intratympanic steroids may benefit from this treatment. Further investigation is warranted, including animal studies to understand the molecular and histopathological aspects of HBOT and randomized control clinical studies.

Keywords: idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (issnhl), hyperbaric oxygen therapy (hbot), the decibel (db), oxygen (o2)

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Authors: W. A. M. Abdel Kawy, Kh. M. Darwish

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Adequate land use selection is an essential step towards achieving sustainable development. The main object of this study is to develop a new scale for land suitability system, which can be compatible with the local conditions. Furthermore, it aims to adapt the conventional land suitability systems to match the actual environmental status in term of soil types, climate and other conditions to evaluate land suitability for newly reclaimed areas. The new system suggests calculation of land suitability considering 20 factors affecting crop selection grouping into five categories; crop-agronomic, land management, development, environmental conditions and socio – economic status. Each factor is summed by each other to calculate the total points. The highest rating for each factor indicates the highest preference for the evaluated crop. The highest rated crops for each group are those with the highest points for the actual suitability. This study was conducted to assess the application efficiency of the new land suitability scale in recently reclaimed sites in Egypt. Moreover, 35 representative soil profiles were examined, and soil samples were subjected to some physical and chemical analysis. Actual and potential suitabilities were calculated by using the new land suitability scale. Finally, the obtained results confirmed the applicability of a new land suitability system to recommend the most promising crop rotation that can be applied in the study areas. The outputs of this research revealed that the integration of different aspects for modeling and adapting a proposed model provides an effective and flexible technique, which contribute to improve land suitability assessment for several crops to be more accurate and reliable.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, land suitability, multi-criteria analysis, new reclaimed areas, soil parameters

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Authors: Siddhi Khaire, Samarth Hawaldar, Baladitya Suri

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As efforts towards quantum communication advance, the need for single photon sources becomes imminent. Due to the extremely low energy of a single microwave photon, efforts to build single photon sources and detectors in the microwave range are relatively recent. We plan to use a Cooper Pair Box (CPB) that has a ‘sweet-spot’ where the two energy levels have minimal separation. Moreover, these qubits have fairly large anharmonicity making them close to ideal two-level systems. If the external gate voltage of these qubits is varied rapidly while passing through the sweet-spot, due to Landau-Zener effect, the qubit can be excited almost deterministically. The rapid change of the gate control voltage through the sweet spot induces a non-adiabatic population transfer from the ground to the excited state. The qubit eventually decays into the emission line emitting a single photon. The advantage of this setup is that the qubit can be excited without any coherent microwave excitation, thereby effectively increasing the usable source efficiency due to the absence of control pulse microwave photons. Since the probability of a Landau-Zener transition can be made almost close to unity by the appropriate design of parameters, this source behaves as an on-demand source of single microwave photons. The large anharmonicity of the CPB also ensures that only one excited state is involved in the transition and multiple photon output is highly improbable. Such a system has so far not been implemented and would find many applications in the areas of quantum optics, quantum computation as well as quantum communication.

Keywords: quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum optics, superconducting qubits, flux qubit, charge qubit, microwave single photon source, quantum information processing

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Authors: Sonali Agarwal

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The investor perception about investment avenues is affected to a great degree by the current happenings, within the country, and on the global stage. The influencing events can range from government policies, bilateral trade agreements, election agendas, to changing exchange rates, appreciation and depreciation of currency, recessions, meltdowns, bankruptcies etc. The current research attempts to discover and unravel the effect of various macroeconomic variables (crude oil price, gold price, silver price and USD exchange rate) on the Indian mutual fund industry in general and the chosen funds (Axis Gold Fund, BSL Gold Fund, Kotak Gold Fund & SBI gold fund) in particular. Cointegration tests and Vector error correction equations prove that the chosen variables have strong effect on the NAVs (net asset values) of the mutual funds. However, the greatest influence is felt from the fund’s own past and current information and it is found that when an innovation of fund’s own lagged NAVs is given, variance caused is high that changes the current NAVs markedly. The study helps to highlight the interplay of macroeconomic variables and their repercussion on mutual fund industry.

Keywords: cointegration, Granger causality, impulse response, macroeconomic variables, mutual funds, stationarity, unit root test, variance decomposition, VECM

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Authors: Sang Ho Lee, Tae Heon Moon, Youn Taik Leem, Kwang Woo Nam

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Knowledge and IT inputs to other industrial production have become more important as a key factor for the competitiveness of national and regional economies, such as knowledge economies in smart cities. Knowledge and IT industries lead the industrial innovation and technical (r)evolution through low cost, high efficiency in production, and by creating a new value chain and new production path chains, which is referred as knowledge and IT dynamics. This study aims to investigate the knowledge and IT dynamics in Korea, which are analyzed through the input-output model and structural path analysis. Twenty-eight industries were reclassified into seven categories; Agriculture and Mining, IT manufacture, Non-IT manufacture, Construction, IT-service, Knowledge service, Non-knowledge service to take close look at the knowledge and IT dynamics. Knowledge and IT dynamics were analyzed through the change of input output coefficient and multiplier indices in terms of technical innovation, as well as the changes of the structural paths of the knowledge and IT to other industries in terms of new production value creation from 1985 and 2010. The structural paths of knowledge and IT explain not only that IT foster the generation, circulation and use of knowledge through IT industries and IT-based service, but also that knowledge encourages IT use through creating, sharing and managing knowledge. As a result, this paper found the empirical investigation on the knowledge and IT dynamics of the Korean economy. Knowledge and IT has played an important role regarding the inter-industrial transactional input for production, as well as new industrial creation. The birth of the input-output production path has mostly originated from the knowledge and IT industries, while the death of the input-output production path took place in the traditional industries from 1985 and 2010. The Korean economy has been in transition to a knowledge economy in the Smart City.

Keywords: knowledge and IT industries, input-output model, structural path analysis, dynamics of knowledge and it, knowledge economy, knowledge city and smart city

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Authors: S. M. Javad Davoodi, Mojtaba Shourian

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Groundwater table close to the ground surface causes major problems in construction and mining operation. One of the methods to control groundwater in such cases is using pumping wells. These pumping wells remove excess water from the site project and lower the water table to a desirable value. Although the efficiency of this method is acceptable, it needs high expenses to apply. It means even small improvement in a design of pumping wells can lead to substantial cost savings. In order to minimize the total cost in the method of pumping wells, a simulation-optimization approach is applied. The proposed model integrates MODFLOW as the simulation model with Firefly as the optimization algorithm. In fact, MODFLOW computes the drawdown due to pumping in an aquifer and the Firefly algorithm defines the optimum value of design parameters which are numbers, pumping rates and layout of the designing wells. The developed Firefly-MODFLOW model is applied to minimize the cost of the dewatering project for the ancient mosque of Kerman city in Iran. Repetitive runs of the Firefly-MODFLOW model indicates that drilling two wells with the total rate of pumping 5503 m3/day is the result of the minimization problem. Results show that implementing the proposed solution leads to at least 1.5 m drawdown in the aquifer beneath mosque region. Also, the subsidence due to groundwater depletion is less than 80 mm. Sensitivity analyses indicate that desirable groundwater depletion has an enormous impact on total cost of the project. Besides, in a hypothetical aquifer decreasing the hydraulic conductivity contributes to decrease in total water extraction for dewatering.

Keywords: groundwater dewatering, pumping wells, simulation-optimization, MODFLOW, firefly algorithm

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Authors: Ali Yasin, Ali Kamran, Muhammad Safdar

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In order to reduce the hefty cost involved in terms of time and project cost, the development and application of advanced numerical tools to address the burn-back analysis problem in solid rocket motor design and development is the need of time. Several advanced numerical schemes have been developed in recent times, but their usage in the design of propellant grain of solid rocket motors is very rare. In this paper, an advanced numerical technique named the Level-Set method has been utilized for the burn-back analysis of star grain to study the effect of geometrical parameters on ballistic performance indicators such as solid loading, neutrality, and sliver percentage. In the level set technique, simple finite difference methods may fail quickly and require more sophisticated non-oscillatory schemes for feasible long-time simulation. For internal ballistic calculations, a simplified equilibrium pressure method is utilized. Preliminary results of the operative conditions, for all the combustion time, of star grain burn-back using level set techniques are compared with published results using CAD technique to test the developed numerical model.

Keywords: solid rocket motor, internal ballistic, level-set technique, star grain

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Authors: Muhammad Adeel Arshad, Faiz-Ul Hassan, Yanfen Cheng

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According to FAO, enteric methane (CH4) production is about 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector. Ruminants produce CH4 as a result of fermentation of feed in the rumen especially from roughages which yield more CH4 per unit of biomass ingested as compared to concentrates. Efficient ruminal fermentation is not possible without abating CO2 and CH4. Methane abatement strategies are required to curb the predicted rise in emissions associated with greater ruminant production in future to meet ever increasing animal protein requirements. Ecology of ruminal methanogenesis and avenues for its mitigation can be identified through various genomic and transcriptomic techniques. Programs such as Hungate1000 and the Global Rumen Census have been launched to enhance our understanding about global ruminal microbial communities. Through Hungate1000 project, a comprehensive reference set of rumen microbial genome sequences has been developed from cultivated rumen bacteria and methanogenic archaea along with representative rumen anaerobic fungi and ciliate protozoa cultures. But still many species of rumen microbes are underrepresented especially uncultivable microbes. Lack of sequence information specific to the rumen's microbial community has inhibited efforts to use genomic data to identify specific set of species and their target genes involved in methanogenesis. Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic study of entire microbial rumen populations offer new perspectives to understand interaction of methanogens with other rumen microbes and their potential association with total gas and methane production. Deep understanding of methanogenic pathway will help to devise potentially effective strategies to abate methane production while increasing feed efficiency in ruminants.

Keywords: Genome sequences, Hungate1000, methanogens, ruminal fermentation

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Authors: Kazi Enamul Hoque

Abstract:

Initiatives on sustainable development are currently aggressively pursued throughout the world. The Malaysian government has developed key policies and strategies for over 30 years to achieve the nation’s policy objectives which are designed to mitigate the issues of security, energy efficiency and environmental impact to meet the rising energy demand. Malaysia’s current focus is on developing effective policies on renewable energy (RE) in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuel and contribute towards mitigating the effects of climate change. In this light mass awareness should be considered as the highest priority to protect the environment and to escape disaster due to climate change. Schools can be the reliable and effective foundation to prepare students to get familiar with environmental issues such as renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Teachers can play a vital role to create awareness among students about the advantages and disadvantages of using different renewable and nonrenewable energy resources. Thus, this study aims to investigate teachers’ knowledge, perceptions and attitudes towards renewable energy through a survey aiming a sustainable energy future. Five hundred sets of questionnaires were distributed to the school teachers in Malaysia. Total 420 questionnaires were returned of which 410 were complete to analyze. Finding shows that teachers are very familiar with the renewable energy like solar, wind and also geothermal. Most teachers were not sure about the Photovoltaics and biodiesel. Furthermore, teachers are also aware that primary energy in Malaysia is imported fossil fuels. Most teachers heard about the renewable energy in Malaysia and only few claims that they did not hear of such things and the others said that they never heard of it. The outcomes of the study will assist the energy policy makers to use teachers to create mass awareness of energy usages for future planning.

Keywords: Malaysia, non-renewable energy, renewable energy, school teacher

Procedia PDF Downloads 418

Authors: Subhasisa Nath, David Waugh, Graham Ormondroyd, Morwenna Spear, Andy Pitman, Paul Mason

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Wood is one of the most sustainable and environmentally favourable materials and is chemically treated in timber industries to maximise durability. To increase the chemical preservative uptake and retention by the wood, current limiting incision technologies are commonly used. This work reports the effects of single pulse CO2 laser-incision and frequency tripled Nd:YAG percussion laser-incision on the characteristics of laser-incised holes in the Radiata Pine. The laser-incision studies were based on changing laser wavelengths, energies and focal planes to conclude on an optimised combination for the laser-incision of Radiata Pine. The laser pulse duration had a dominant effect over laser power in controlling hole aspect ratio in CO2 laser-incision. A maximum depth of ~ 30 mm was measured with a laser power output of 170 W and a pulse duration of 80 ms. However, increased laser power led to increased carbonisation of holes. The carbonisation effect was reduced during laser-incision in the ultra-violet (UV) regime. Deposition of a foamy phase on the laser-incised hole wall was evident irrespective of laser radiation wavelength and energy. A maximum hole depth of ~20 mm was measured in the percussion laser-incision in the UV regime (355 nm) with a pulse energy of 320 mJ. The radial and tangential faces had a significant effect on laser-incision efficiency for all laser wavelengths. The laser-incised hole shapes and circularities were affected by the wood anatomy (earlywoods and latewoods in the structure). Subsequently, the mechanism of laser-incision is proposed by analysing the internal structure of laser-incised holes.

Keywords: CO2 Laser, Nd: YAG laser, incision, drilling, wood, hole characteristics

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Authors: Snezana Mugosa, Zoran Todorovic, Zoran Bukumiric, Ivan Radosavljevic, Natasa Djordjevic

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Introduction: Various studies have shown that the frequency of clopidogrel resistance ranges from 4-40%. The aim of this study was to provide in depth analysis of genetic and non-genetic factors that influence clopidogrel resistance in cardiology patients. Methods: We have conducted a prospective study in 200 hospitalized patients hospitalized at Cardiology Centre of the Clinical Centre of Montenegro. CYP2C19 genetic testing was conducted, and the PREDICT score was calculated in 102 out of 200 patients treated with clopidogrel in order to determine the influence of genetic and non-genetic factors on outcomes of interest. Adverse cardiovascular events and adverse reactions to clopidogrel were assessed during 12 months follow up period. Results: PREDICT score and CYP2C19 enzymatic activity were found to be statistically significant predictors of expressing lack of therapeutic efficacy of clopidogrel by multivariate logistic regression, without multicollinearity or interaction between the predictors (p = 0.002 and 0.009, respectively). Conclusions: Pharmacogenetics analyses that were done in the Montenegrin population of patients for the first time suggest that these analyses can predict patient response to the certain therapy. Stepwise approach could be used in assessing the clopidogrel resistance in cardiology patients, combining the PREDICT score, platelet aggregation test, and genetic testing for CYP2C19 polymorphism.

Keywords: clopidogrel, pharmacogenetics, pharmacotherapy, PREDICT score

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Dr., Suchita Daokar

Abstract:

Background: Successful orthodontic treatment has always relied on anchorage. The stability of the implants depends on bone quantity, mini-implant design, and placement conditions. Out of the various methods of gaining stability, Platelet concentrations are gaining popularity for various reasons. PRF is a minimally invasive method, and there are various studies that has shown its role in enhancing the stability of general implants. However, there is no literature found regarding the effect of PRF in enhancing the stability of the orthodontic implant. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate and assess the efficacy of PRF on the stability of the orthodontic implant. Methods: The study comprised of 9 subjects aged above 18 years of age. The split mouth technique was used; Group A (where implants were coated before insertion) and group B (implant were normally inserted). The stability of the implant was measured using resonance frequency analysis at insertion (T0), 24 hours (T1), 2 weeks (T2), at 4 weeks (T3), at 6 weeks (T4), and 8 weeks (T5) after insertion. Result: Statistically significant findings were found when group A was compared to group B using ANOVA test (p<0.05). The stability of the implant of group A at each time interval was greater than group B. The implant stability was high at T0 and reduces at T2, and increasing through T3 to T5. The stability was highest at T5. Conclusion: A chairside, minimally invasive procedure ofPRF coating on implants have shown promising results in improving the stability of orthodontic implants and providing scope for future studies.

Keywords: Orthodontic implants, stablity, resonance Frequency Analysis, pre

Procedia PDF Downloads 190