Search results for: advanced%20process%20control

Authors: Daidai Shen, Jean Claude Thill, Wenjia Zhang

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This study explores the dynamics of synergy and complementarity within city networks, specifically focusing on the headquarters-subsidiary relations of firms. We begin by defining these two types of networks and establishing their pivotal roles in shaping city network structures. Utilizing the mesoscale analytic approach of weighted stochastic block modeling, we discern relational patterns between city pairs and determine connection strengths through statistical inference. Furthermore, we introduce a community detection approach to uncover the underlying structure of these networks using advanced statistical methods. Our analysis, based on comprehensive network data up to 2017, reveals the coexistence of both complementarity and synergy networks within China’s technology-intensive manufacturing cities. Notably, firms in technology hardware and office & computing machinery predominantly contribute to the complementarity city networks. In contrast, a distinct synergy city network, underpinned by the cities of Suzhou and Dongguan, emerges amidst the expansive complementarity structures in technology hardware and equipment. These findings provide new insights into the relational dynamics and structural configurations of city networks in the context of technology-intensive manufacturing, highlighting the nuanced interplay between synergy and complementarity.

Keywords: city system, complementarity, synergy network, higher-order network

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Authors: V. Veena, Suguna Yesodharan, E. P. Yesodharan

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Two Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) i.e., sono- and photo-catalysis mediated by semiconductor oxide catalyst, ZnO has been found effective for the removal of trace amounts of the toxic dye pollutant Indigocarmine (IC) from water. The effect of various reaction parameters such as concentration of the dye, catalyst dosage, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen etc. as well as the addition of oxidisers and presence of salts in water on the rate of degradation has been evaluated and optimised. The degradation follows variable kinetics depending on the concentration of the substrate, the order of reaction varying from 1 to 0 with increase in concentration. The reaction proceeds through a number of intermediates and many of them have been identified using GCMS technique. The intermediates do not affect the rate of degradation significantly. The influence of anions such as chloride, sulphate, fluoride, carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate etc. on the degradation of IC is not consistent and does not follow any predictable pattern. Phosphates and fluorides inhibit the degradation while chloride, sulphate, carbonate and bicarbonate enhance. Adsorption studies of the dye in the absence as well as presence of these anions show that there may not be any direct correlation between the adsorption of the dye on the catalyst and the degradation. Oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide and persulphate enhance the degradation though the combined effect and it is less than the cumulative effect of individual components. COD measurements show that the degradation proceeds to complete mineralisation. The results will be presented and probable mechanism for the degradation will be discussed.

Keywords: AOP, COD, indigocarmine, photocatalysis, sonocatalysis

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Authors: N. Moradi, C. M. Lopez-Vazquez, H. Garcia Hernandez, F. Rubio Rincon, D. Brdanovic, Mark van Loosdrecht

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Advanced oxidation processes have been widely used for disinfection, removal of residual organic material, and for the removal of emerging contaminants from drinking water and wastewater. Yet, the application of these technologies to sludge treatment processes has not gained enough attention, mostly, considering the complexity of the sludge matrix. In this research, ozone and UV/H₂O₂ treatment were applied for the removal of emerging contaminants from a digestate supernatant. The removal of the following compounds was assessed:(i) salicylic acid (SA) (a surrogate of non-stradiol anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)), and (ii) sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamethazine (SMN), and tetracycline (TCN) (the most frequent human and animal antibiotics). The ozone treatment was carried out in a plexiglass bubble column reactor with a capacity of 2.7 L; the system was equipped with a stirrer and a gas diffuser. The UV and UV/H₂O₂ treatments were done using a LED set-up (PearlLab beam device) dosing H₂O₂. In the ozone treatment evaluations, 95 % of the three antibiotics were removed during the first 20 min of exposure time, while an SA removal of 91 % occurred after 8 hours of exposure time. In the UV treatment evaluations, when adding the optimum dose of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂:COD molar ratio of 0.634), 36% of SA, 82% of TCN, and more than 90 % of both SMX and SMN were removed after 8 hours of exposure time. This study concluded that O₃ was more effective than UV/H₂O₂ in removing emerging contaminants from the digestate supernatant.

Keywords: digestate sludge, emerging contaminants, ozone, UV-AOP

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Authors: Lan Zhang, Cailing Zhang

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In recent years, many face anti-spoofing algorithms have high detection accuracy when detecting 2D face anti-spoofing or 3D mask face anti-spoofing alone in the field of face anti-spoofing, but their detection performance is greatly reduced in multidimensional and cross-datasets tests. The rPPG method used for face anti-spoofing uses the unique vital information of real face to judge real faces and face anti-spoofing, so rPPG method has strong stability compared with other methods, but its detection rate of 2D face anti-spoofing needs to be improved. Therefore, in this paper, we improve an rPPG(Remote Photoplethysmography) method(MrPPG) for face anti-spoofing which through color space fusion, using the correlation of pulse signals between real face regions and background regions, and introducing the cyclic neural network (LSTM) method to improve accuracy in 2D face anti-spoofing. Meanwhile, the MrPPG also has high accuracy and good stability in face anti-spoofing of multi-dimensional and cross-data datasets. The improved method was validated on Replay-Attack, CASIA-FASD, Siw and HKBU_MARs_V2 datasets, the experimental results show that the performance and stability of the improved algorithm proposed in this paper is superior to many advanced algorithms.

Keywords: face anti-spoofing, face presentation attack detection, remote photoplethysmography, MrPPG

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Authors: Christos Chaschatzis, Chrysoula Karaiskou, Pantelis Angelidis, Sotirios K. Goudos, Igor Kotsiuba, Panagiotis Sarigiannidis

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Over the past few decades, the rapid growth of the global population has led to the need to increase agricultural production and improve the quality of agricultural goods. There is a growing focus on environmentally eco-friendly solutions, sustainable production, and biologically minimally fertilized products in contemporary society. Precision agriculture has the potential to incorporate a wide range of innovative solutions with the development of machine learning algorithms. YOLOv5 and YOLOv8 are two of the most advanced object detection algorithms capable of accurately recognizing objects in real time. Detecting tree diseases is crucial for improving the food production rate and ensuring sustainability. This research aims to evaluate the efficacy of YOLOv5 and YOLOv8 in detecting the symptoms of Armillaria spp. in sweet cherry trees and determining their health status, with the goal of enhancing the robustness of precision agriculture. Additionally, this study will explore Computer Vision (CV) techniques with machine learning algorithms to improve the detection process’s efficiency.

Keywords: Armillaria spp., machine learning, precision agriculture, smart farming, sweet cherries trees, YOLOv5, YOLOv8

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Authors: Mohammad Alshehri, Fahd Alfarsi

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Efficient supply chains play an essential role in delivering humanitarian supplies and directly impact the success of public aid initiatives globally. Predicting the delivery status of these essential supplies in a timely manner is crucial. Therefore, this study explores the application of various machine learning approaches to predict whether humanitarian deliveries will be made on time, using a comprehensive case-study dataset provided by one of the largest international supplying organisations. We employed several machine learning methods such as regression-based (e.g., logistics regression), tree-based (e.g., decision trees) and ensemble-based (e.g., AdaBoost, XGBoost, and Gradient Boosting) to develop our predictive model. Our findings demonstrate that ensemble algorithms achieved promising results, with F1 scores ranging from 0.90 to 0.98. These high accuracy levels indicate the robustness of ensemble-learning techniques in forecasting delivery status, potentially enabling more proactive and efficient supply chain management in global aid initiatives. The implications of this study suggest that integrating advanced predictive analytics can significantly enhance the reliability of supply chains, ensuring the timely delivery of critical commodities to those in need.

Keywords: humanitarian aids, supply chains, machine learning, delivery status

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Authors: Hatem A. El-Mezayen, Hossam Darwesh

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Background/Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often diagnosed at advanced stage where effective therapies are lacking. Identification of new scoring system is needed to discriminate HCC patients from those with chronic liver disease. Based on the link between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and HCC progression, we aimed to develop a novel score based on combination of VEGF and routine laboratory tests for early prediction of HCC. Methods: VEGF was assayed for HCC group (123), liver cirrhosis group (210) and control group (50) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Data from all groups were retrospectively analyzed including α feto protein (AFP), international normalized ratio (INR), albumin and platelet count, transaminases, and age. Areas under ROC curve were used to develop the score. Results: A novel index named hepatocellular carcinoma-vascular endothelial growth factor score (HCC-VEGF score)=1.26 (numerical constant) + 0.05 ×AFP (U L-1)+0.038 × VEGF(ng ml-1)+0.004× INR –1.02 × Albumin (g l-1)–0.002 × Platelet count × 109 l-1 was developed. HCC-VEGF score produce area under ROC curve of 0.98 for discriminating HCC patients from liver cirrhosis with sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 82% at cut-off 4.4 (ie less than 4.4 considered cirrhosis and greater than 4.4 considered HCC). Conclusion: Hepatocellular carcinoma-VEGF score could replace AFP in HCC screening and follow up of cirrhotic patients.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis, HCV, diagnosis, tumor markers

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Authors: Adam Kok Wey Leong

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The comparison between the Western ways of war and Eastern ways of war has raised contemporary debates on the validity of these arguments. The Western way of war is popularly propounded by Victor Davis Hanson as originating from the Greek hoplite tactics, direct military maneuvers, democratic principles and social freedom and cohesion that has continued to yield military success for the Western powers for centuries. On the other hand, the Eastern way of war has been deemed as relying on indirect tactics, deception, and ruses. This often accepted notion of the divide between Western and Eastern style does not sustain in view of the available classical strategic texts from both sides from the same period that has proposed similar principles of warfare. This paper analyses the similarities between classical strategic texts on war from the Eastern perspective namely Sun Tzu’s Art of War with a similar temporal strategic text from the West which is Sextus Iuluis Frontinus’s Stratagematon, and deduces answers to this core research question - Does the hypothesis of the existence of distinctive Western and Eastern ways of warfare stands? The main thesis advanced by this research is that ways of warfare share universal principles, and it transcends cultural and spatial boundaries. Warfare is a human endeavour, and the same moral actions guide humans from different geo-cultural spheres in warfare’s objectives, which are winning over an enemy in the most economical way and serve as a mean to an end.

Keywords: ways of warfare, strategic culture, strategy, Sun Tzu, frontinus

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Authors: Aram Yakoby, Yossef H. Hatzor, Shmulik Pinkert

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This work presents an applied engineering method for evaluating the stability of underground openings under conditions of uncertainty. The developed method is demonstrated by a comprehensive parametric study on a case of large-diameter vertical borehole stability analysis, with uncertainties regarding the in-situ stress distribution. To this aim, a safety factor analysis is performed for the stability of both supported and unsupported boreholes. In the analysis, we used analytic geomechanical calculations and advanced numerical modeling to evaluate the estimated stress field. In addition, the work presents the development of a boundary condition for the numerical model that fits the nature of the problem and yields excellent accuracy. The borehole stability analysis is studied in terms of (1) the stress ratio in the vertical and horizontal directions, (2) the mechanical properties and geometry of the support system, and (3) the parametric sensitivity. The method's results are studied in light of a real case study of an underground waste disposal site. The conclusions of this study focus on the developed method for capturing the parametric uncertainty, the definition of critical geological depths, the criteria for implementing structural support, and the effectiveness of further in-situ investigations.

Keywords: borehole stability, in-situ stress, parametric study, factor of safety

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Authors: Luqman Afolabi

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This paper measures the impacts of trade and institutions on environmental quality in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To examine the direction and the magnitude of the effects, the study employs the pooled mean group (PMG) estimation technique on the panel data obtained from the World Bank’s World Development and Governance Indicators, between 1996 and 2018. The empirical estimates validate the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis (EKC) for the region, even though there have been inconclusive results on the environment – growth nexus. Similarly, a positive coefficient is obtained on the impact of trade on the environment, while the impact of the institutional indicators produce mixed results. A significant policy implication is that the governments of the SSA countries pursue policies that tend to increase economic growth, so that pollutants may be reduced. Such policies may include the provision of incentives for sustainable growth-driven industries in the region. In addition, the governance infrastructures should be improved in such a way that appropriate penalties are imposed on the pollutants, while advanced technologies that have the potentials to reduce environmental degradation should be encouraged. Finally, it is imperative from these findings that the governments of the region should promote their trade relations and the competitiveness of their local industries in order to keep pace with the global markets.

Keywords: environmental quality, institutional quality sustainable development goals, trade

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Authors: Meryem Imane Babaghayou, Asma Abdelhafidi, Salem Fouad Chabira, Mohammed Sebaa

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A challenge of plastics industries is the realization of materials that resist the degradation in its application environment, and that to guarantee a longer life time therefore an optimal time of use. Blown extruded films of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) supplied by SABIC SAUDI ARABIA blown and extruded in SOFIPLAST company in Setif ALGERIA , have been subjected to climatic ageing in a sub-Saharan facility at Laghouat (Algeria) with direct exposure to sun. Samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques after prescribed amounts of time up to 8 months. It has been shown via these two techniques the impact of UV irradiation on the morphological development of a plastic material, especially the crystallinity degree which increases with exposure time. The reason of these morphological changes is related to photooxidative reactions leading to cross linking in the beginning and to chain scissions for an advanced stage of ageing this last ones are the first responsible. The crystallinity degree change is essentially controlled by the secondary crystallization of the amorphous chains whose mobility is enhanced by the chain scission processes. The diffusion of these short segments integrates the surface of the lamellae increasing in this way their thicknesses. The results presented highlight the complexity of the involved phenomena.

Keywords: Low Density poly (Ethylene), crystallinity, ageing, XRD, DSC

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Authors: Hanit Ohana, Anat Scher

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For decades, attachment research examined how mothers’ attachment styles shape parenting and specific aspects of child development. Only limited research addressed pubertal development from the perspective of attachment relationships. The current study focused on pubertal development at 10 years of age, as defined by Tanner (PDS), and examined the associations with both mothers’ and fathers’ attachment styles (ECR-S). Sixty-nine parents and their children from a medium SES participated in the study. It was found that whereas mothers’ attachment was not related to the child’s puberty development, fathers’ attachment was associated with their daughter’s pubertal development. Specifically, in girls, but not boys, advanced pubertal development was positively correlated with fathers’ avoidance (r = .37, p = 0.05), and negatively correlated with anxiety scores (r = -.36, p = 0.05). This result raises the possibility that for girls, a relationship with fathers may serve as a psychological stressor, and in turn, induce concerns regarding resources and availability of interpersonal support. Such processes may contribute to different reproductive timing and strategies, including delayed and accelerated pubertal development. As more data are collected, we will be able to address with more power the role of parent’s attachment in shaping the pubertal development of their young adolescents. Expanding the understanding of aspects of pubertal development –an important milestone of human development- and the possible linkages with parental attachment is important for researchers and clinicians.

Keywords: attachment style, children, gender, parents, puberty

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Authors: Aml M. El-Sharkawy, Hossam M. Darwesh

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Abstract— Background/Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often diagnosed at advanced stage where effective therapies are lacking. Identification of new scoring system is needed to discriminate HCC patients from those with chronic liver disease. Based on the link between tumor associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) and HCC progression, we aimed to develop a novel score based on combination of TATI and routine laboratory tests for early prediction of HCC. Methods: TATI was assayed for HCC group (123), liver cirrhosis group (210) and control group (50) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Data from all groups were retrospectively analyzed including α feto protein (AFP), international normalized ratio (INR), albumin and platelet count, transaminases, and age. Areas under ROC curve were used to develop the score. Results: A novel index named hepatocellular carcinoma-vascular endothelial growth factor score (HCC-TATI score) = 3.1 (numerical constant) + 0.09 ×AFP (U L-1) + 0.067 × TATI (ng ml-1) + 0.16 × INR – 1.17 × Albumin (g l-1) – 0.032 × Platelet count × 109 l-1 was developed. HCC-TATI score produce area under ROC curve of 0.98 for discriminating HCC patients from liver cirrhosis with sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 82% at cut-off 6.5 (ie less than 6.5 considered cirrhosis and greater than 4.4 considered HCC). Conclusion: Hepatocellular carcinoma-TATI score could replace AFP in HCC screening and follow up of cirrhotic patients.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis, HCV, diagnosis, TATI

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Authors: Robert J. Thomas, Colton Bedke, Andrew Sorensen

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The exemplary mechanical performance and durability of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has led to its rapid emergence as an advanced cementitious material. The uncharacteristically high mechanical strength and ductility of UHPC makes it a promising potential material for defense structures which may be subject to highly dynamic loads like impact or blast. However, the mechanical response of UHPC under dynamic loading has not been fully characterized. In particular, there is a need to characterize the energy absorption of UHPC under high-frequency shear loading. This paper presents preliminary results from a parametric study of the dynamic shear energy absorption of UHPC using the Charpy impact test. UHPC mixtures with compressive strengths in the range of 100-150 MPa exhibited dynamic shear energy absorption in the range of 0.9-1.5 kJ/m. Energy absorption is shown to be sensitive to the water/cement ratio, silica fume content, and aggregate gradation. Energy absorption was weakly correlated to compressive strength. Results are highly sensitive to specimen preparation methods, and there is a demonstrated need for a standardized test method for high frequency shear in cementitious composites.

Keywords: Charpy impact test, dynamic shear, impact loading, ultra-high performance concrete

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Authors: Bruno Pinto Vieira, Marco Antonio Calijorne Soares, Armando Sérgio de Aguiar Filho

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Nowadays, a massive amount of information has been produced by different data sources, including mobile devices and transactional systems. In this scenario, concerns arise on how to maintain or establish data quality, which is now treated as a product to be defined, measured, analyzed, and improved to meet consumers' needs, which is the one who uses these data in decision making and companies strategies. Information that reaches low levels of quality can lead to issues that can consume time and money, such as missed business opportunities, inadequate decisions, and bad risk management actions. The step of selecting, identifying, evaluating, and selecting data sources with significant quality according to the need has become a costly task for users since the sources do not provide information about their quality. Traditional data quality control methods are based on user experience or business rules limiting performance and slowing down the process with less than desirable accuracy. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, it is possible to take advantage of computational resources to overcome challenges and add value to companies and users. In this study, machine learning is applied to data quality analysis on different datasets, seeking to compare the performance of the techniques according to the dimensions of quality assessment. As a result, we could create a ranking of approaches used, besides a system that is able to carry out automatically, data quality assessment.

Keywords: machine learning, data quality, quality dimension, quality assessment

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Authors: Joud Basyouni, Rama Zagzoog, Mashael Al Faleh, Jana Alireza

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AI is changing many fields and speeding up tasks that used to take a long time. It used to take too long to edit photos. However, many AI-powered apps make photo editing, automatic effects, and animations much easier than other manual editing apps with no AI. The mobile app Photoleap edits photos and creates digital art using AI. Editing photos with text prompts is also becoming a standard these days with the help of apps like Photoleap. Now, users can change backgrounds, add animations, turn text into images, and create scenes with AI. This project report discusses the photo editing app's history and popularity. Photoleap resembles Photoshop, Canva, Photos, and Pixlr. The report includes survey questions to assess Photoleap user satisfaction. The report describes Photoleap's features and functions with screenshots. Photoleap uses AI well. Charts and graphs show Photoleap user ratings and comments from the survey. This project found that most Photoleap users liked how well it worked, was made, and was easy to use. People liked changing photos and adding backgrounds. Users can create stunning photo animations. A few users dislike the app's animations, AI art, and photo effects. The project report discusses the app's pros and cons and offers improvements.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, photoleap, images, background, photo editing

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Authors: Andrey V. Samokhin, Nikolay V. Alekseev, Mikhail A. Sinaiskii

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The report presents the results of R&D of plasma-chemical production of W, W-Cu, W-Ni-Fe nanopowders as well as spherical micropowders of these compounds for their use in modern 3D printing technologies. Plasma-chemical synthesis of nanopowdersis based on the reduction of tungsten oxide compounds powders in a stream of hydrogen-containing low-temperature thermal plasma generated in an electric arc plasma torch. The synthesis of W-Cu and W-Ni-Fe nanocompositesiscarried out using the reduction of a mixture of the metal oxides. Using the synthesized tungsten-based nanocomposites powders, spherical composite micropowders with a submicron structure canbe manufactured by spray dryinggranulation of nanopowder suspension and subsequent densification and spheroidization of granules by melting in a low-temperature thermal plasma flow. The DC arc plasma systems are usedfor the synthesis of nanopowdersas well as for the spheroidization of microgranuls. Plasma systems have a capacity of up to 1 kg/h for nanopowder and up to 5 kg/h for spheroidized powder. All synthesized nanopowders consist of aggregated particles with sizes less than 100 nm, and nanoparticles of W-Cu and W-Ni-Fe composites have core (W) –shell (Cu or Ni-Fe) structures. The resulting dense spherical microparticles with a size of 20-60 microns have a submicron structure with a uniform distribution of metals over the particle volume. The produced tungsten-based nano- and spherical micropowderscan be used to develop new materials and manufacture products using advanced modern technologies.

Keywords: plasma, powders, production, tungsten-based

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Authors: Peloriadi Konstantina, Fakis Dimitris, Grammelis Panagiotis

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Methods for carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play a key role in the reduction of industrial CO₂ emissions, especially in the cement industry, which accounts for 7% of global emissions. Cement industries around the world have committed to address this problem by reaching carbon neutrality by the year 2050. The aim of the work to be presented was to contribute to the decarbonization strategy by integrating the 1st generation oxyfuel technology in cement production plants. This technology has been shown to improve fuel efficiency while providing one of the most cost-effective solutions when compared to other capture methods. A validated simulation of the cement plant was thus used as a basis to develop an oxyfuel retrofitted cement process. The process model for the oxyfuel technology is developed on the ASPEN (Advanced System for Process Engineering) PLUSTM simulation software. This process consists of an Air Separation Unit (ASU), an oxyfuel cement plant with coal and alternative solid fuel (ASF) as feedstock, and a carbon dioxide processing unit (CPU). A detailed description and analysis of the CPU will be presented, including the findings of a literature review and simulation results, regarding the effects of flue gas impurities during operation. Acknowledgment: This research has been conducted in the framework of the EU funded AC2OCEM project, which investigates first and the second generation oxyfuel concepts.

Keywords: oxyfuel technology, carbon capture and storage, CO₂ processing unit, cement, aspen plus

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Authors: A. Hegazy, Ahmed Elsayed, Essam El Shenawy, N. Allam, Hala Handal, K. R. Mahmoud

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Highly crystalline, TiO₂ pristine sub-10 nm anatase nanocrystals were fabricated at low temperatures by post hydrothermal treatment of the as-prepared TiO₂ nanoparticles. This treatment resulted in bandgap narrowing and increased photocurrent density value (3.8 mA/cm²) when this material was employed in water splitting systems. The achieved photocurrent values are among the highest reported ones so far for the fabricated nanoparticles at this low temperature. This might be explained by the increased surface defects of the prepared nanoparticles. It resulted in bandgap narrowing that was further investigated using positron annihilation experiments by measuring positron lifetime and Doppler broadening. Besides, homogeneous spherical TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized in large diameter and high surface area and the high percentage of (001) facet by sol-gel method using potassium persulfate (K₂S₂O₈) as an oxidizing agent. The fabricated particles exhibited high exposed surface area, high photoactivity and reduced band gap. Enhanced performance for water splitting applications was displayed by formed TiO₂ nanoparticles. Their morphological and structural properties were studied to optimize their synthesis parameters in an attempt to construct more applicable fuel cells in the industry for hydrogen fuel production.

Keywords: positron annihilation, solar energy, TiO2 nanoparticles, water splitting

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Authors: Mallikarjunachari Gangapuram

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Stimuli-responsive hydrogel nanocomposite membranes are gaining significant attention these days due to their potential applications in various engineering fields. For example, sensors, soft actuators, drug delivery, remote controlled therapy, water treatment, shape morphing, and magnetic refrigeration are few advanced applications of hydrogel nanocomposite membranes. In this work, hydrogel nanocomposite membranes are synthesized by embedding nanometer-sized (diameter - 300 nm) Fe₃O₄ magnetic particles into the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer. To understand the large deformation characteristics of these membranes, a well-known experimental method ball indentation technique is used. Different designing parameters such as membrane thickness, the concentration of magnetic particles and ball diameter on the viscoelastic properties are studied. All the experiments are carried out without and with a static magnetic field. Finite element simulations are carried out to validate the experimental results. It is observed, the creep response decreases and Young’s modulus increases as the thickness and concentration of magnetic particles increases. Image analysis revealed the hydrogel membranes are undergone global deformation for ball diameter 18 mm and local deformation when the diameter decreases from 18 mm to 0.5 mm.

Keywords: ball indentation, hydrogel membranes, nanocomposites, Young's modulus

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Authors: Pierre Brocas, Konstantinos Rizos

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This study was conducted to test the effects of introducing a consistent pace and volume of reading whole narratives on adolescents' reading comprehension with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study was inspired by previous studies conducted on poorer adolescent readers in English schools. The setting was a Free Special Education Needs school in England. Nine male and one female student, between 11-13 years old, across two classrooms participated in the study. All students had a diagnosis of ASD, and all were classified as advanced learners. The classroom teachers introduced reading a whole challenging novel in 12 weeks with consistency as the independent variable. The study used a before-and-after design of testing the participants’ reading comprehension using standardised tests. The participants made a remarkable 1.8 years’ mean progress on the standardised tests of reading comprehension, with three participants making 4+ years progress. The researchers hypothesise that reading novels aloud and at a fast pace in each lesson, that are challenging but appropriate to the participants’ learning level, may have a beneficial effect on the reading comprehension of adolescents with learning difficulties, giving them a more engaged uninterrupted reading experience over a sustained period. However, more studies need to be conducted to test the independent variable across a bigger and more diverse population with a stronger design.

Keywords: autism, reading comprehension, developmental disabilities, narratives

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Authors: Young Kwon Yang, Bo Rang Park, Hyo Eun Lee, Tea Won Kim, Eun Ji Choi, Jin Chul Park

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To develop an artificial intelligence based automatic ventilation system, recent research trends were analyzed and analyzed. This research method is as follows. In the field of architecture and window technology, the use of artificial intelligence, the existing study of machine learning model and the theoretical review of the literature were carried out. This paper collected journals such as Journal of Energy and Buildings, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, and articles published on Web-sites. The following keywords were searched for articles from 2000 to 2016. We searched for the above keywords mainly in the title, keyword, and abstract. As a result, the global artificial intelligence market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.0% from USD127bn in 2015 to USD165bn in 2017. Start-up investments in artificial intelligence increased from the US $ 45 million in 2010 to the US $ 310 million in 2015, and the number of investments increased from 6 to 54. Although AI is making efforts to advance to advanced countries, the level of technology is still in its infant stage. Especially in the field of architecture, artificial intelligence (AI) is very rare. Based on the data of this study, it is expected that the application of artificial intelligence and the application of architectural field will be revitalized through the activation of artificial intelligence in the field of architecture and window.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, window, fine dust, thermal comfort, ventilation system

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Authors: Nguyen Van Anh Le, Mafuyu Kitahara

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In several languages, it is widely acknowledged that vowels are longer before voiced consonants than before voiceless ones such as English. However, in Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean, the distribution of voiced-voiceless stop contrasts and long-short vowel differences are vastly different from English. The purpose of this study is to determine whether these targeted learners' L2 English production and perception change in terms of vowel duration as a function of stop voicing. The production measurements in the database of Asian learners revealed a distinct effect than the one observed in native speakers. There was no evident vowel lengthening patterns. The results of the perceptual experiment with 24 participants indicated that individuals tended to prefer voiceless stops when preceding vowels were shortened, but there was no statistically significant difference between intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced-level learners. However, learners demonstrated distinct perceptual patterns for various vowels and stops. The findings have valuable implications for L2 English speech acquisition. Keywords: voiced/voiceless stops, preceding vowel duration, voiced/voiceless perception, L2 English, L1 Mandarin Chinese, L1 Vietnamese, L1 Japanese, L1 Korean

Keywords: voiced/voiceless stops, preceding vowel duration, voiced/voiceless perception, L2 english

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Authors: Sandy Black, Calum McLaughlin, Alessandro Pranzitelli, Marc Laing

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Multiphase flow structures of two-phase multicomponent fluids were experimentally investigated in a large diameter high-pressure pipeline up to 130 bar at TÜV SÜD’s National Engineering Laboratory Advanced Multiphase Facility. One of the main objectives of the experimental test campaign was to evaluate the impact of pressure on multiphase flow patterns as much of the existing information is based on low-pressure measurements. The experiments were performed in a horizontal and vertical orientation in both 4-inch and 6-inch pipework using nitrogen, ExxsolTM D140 oil, and a 6% aqueous solution of NaCl at incremental pressures from 10 bar to 130 bar. To visualise the detailed structure of the flow of the entire cross-section of the pipe, a fast response X-ray tomography system was used. A wide range of superficial velocities from 0.6 m/s to 24.0 m/s for gas and 0.04 m/s and 6.48 m/s for liquid was examined to evaluate different flow regimes. The results illustrated the suppression of instabilities between the gas and the liquid at the measurement location and that intermittent or slug flow was observed less frequently as the pressure was increased. CFD modellings of low and high-pressure simulations were able to successfully predict the likelihood of intermittent flow; however, further tuning is necessary to predict the slugging frequency. The dataset generated is unique as limited datasets exist above 100 bar and is of considerable value to multiphase flow specialists and numerical modellers.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, high pressure, multiphase, X-ray tomography

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Authors: Zahra Tolou-Ghamari

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Objective: Health care associated with multiresistant pathogens is rising globally. It is well known that nosocomial infections increase hospital stay, morbidity, mortality, and disability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to define the occurrence of nosocomial infections in a tertiary hospital in Isfahan/Iran. Materials and Methods: The data were extracted from the official database of hospital nosocomial infections records that included 9152 vertical rows. For each patient, the reported infections were coded by number as UTI-SUTI; Code 55, VAE-PVAP; Code 56, BSI-LCBI Code 19, SSI-DIP; Code 14, and so on. For continuous variables, mean ± standard deviation and for categorical variables, the frequency was used. Results: The study population was 5542 patients, comprised of males (n=3282) and females (n=2260). With a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 99, the mean age in 5313 patients was 58.5 ± 19.1 years old. The highest reported nosocomial infections (n= 77%) were associated with the ages 30-80 years old. Sites of nosocomial infections in 87% were as: VAE-PVAP; 27.3%, VAE-IVAC; 7.7, UTI-SUTI; 29.5%, BSI-LCBI; 12.9%, SSI-DIP; 9.5% and other individual infection (13%) with the main pathogens klebsiella pneumonia, acinetobacter baumannii and staphylococcus. Conclusions: For an efficient surveillance system, adopting pharmacotherapy used antibiotics in terms of monotherapy or polypharmacy control policy, in addition to advanced infection control programs at regional and national levels in Iran recommended.

Keywords: infection, nosocomial, ventilator, blood stream, Isfahan, Iran

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Authors: Carla Caiazza, Valentina Preziosi, Giovanna Tomaiuolo, Denis O'Sullivan, Vincenzo Guida, Stefano Guido

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In the last decades, wormlike micellar solutions have been extensively used to tune the rheological behavior of home care and personal care products. This and other successful applications underlie the growing attention that both basic and applied research are devoting to these systems, and to their unique rheological and flow properties. One of the key research topics is the occurrence of flow instabilities at high shear rates (such as shear banding), with the possibility of appearance of flow induced structures. In this scenario, microfluidics is a powerful tool to get a deeper insight into the flow behavior of a wormlike micellar solution, as the high confinement of a microfluidic device facilitates the onset of the flow instabilities; furthermore, thanks to its small dimensions, it can be coupled with optical microscopy, allowing a direct visualization of flow structuring phenomena. Here, the flow of a widely used wormlike micellar solution through a glass capillary has been studied, by coupling the microfluidic device with μPIV techniques. The direct visualization of flow-induced structures and the flow visualization analysis highlight a relationship between solution structuring and the onset of discontinuities in the velocity profile.

Keywords: flow instabilities, flow-induced structures, μPIV, wormlike micelles

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Authors: Boukrida Rafiq

Abstract:

Democracy is based on the notion that all citizens have the right to participate in the managing of political affairs and that every citizens input is of equal importance. This basic assumption clearly places emphasis on public participation in maintaining a stable democracy. The level of public participation, however is highly contested with many theorists arguing that too much public participation would overwhelm and ultimately cripple democratic systems. On the other hand, others who favor high levels of participation argue that more citizen involvement leads to greater representation. Regardless of these disagreements over the utopian level of participation, there is widespread agreement amongst scholars that, at the very least, some participation is necessary to maintain democratic systems. The ways in which citizens participate vary greatly and depending on the method used, influence political decision making at varying levels. The method of political participation is a key in controlling public influence over political affairs and therefore is also an integral part of maintaining democracy, whether it be "thin" (low levels of participation) or "Robust" (high levels of participation). High levels of participation or "robust" democracy are argued by some theorists to enhance democracy through providing the opportunity for more issues to be represented during decision making. The notion of widespread participation was first advanced by classical theorists.

Keywords: assumption clearly places emphasis, ultimately cripple, influence political decision making at varying, classical theorists

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Authors: Ahmed O. Apampa, Yinusa A. Jimoh

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The paper examines the mechanism of pozzolan-soil reactions, using a recent study on the chemical stabilization of a Class A-2-7 (3) lateritic soil, with corn cob ash (CCA) as case study. The objectives are to establish a nexus between cation exchange capacity of the soil, the alkaline forming compounds in CCA and percentage CCA addition to soil beyond which no more improvement in strength properties can be achieved; and to propose feasible chemical reactions to explain the chemical stabilization of the lateritic soil with CCA alone. The lateritic soil, as well as CCA of pozzolanic quality Class C were separately analysed for their metallic oxide composition using the X-Ray Fluorescence technique. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soil and the CCA were computed theoretically using the percentage composition of the base cations Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ K⁺ and Na²⁺ as 1.48 meq/100 g and 61.67 meq/100 g respectively, thus indicating a ratio of 0.024 or 2.4%. This figure, taken as the theoretical amount required to just fill up the exchangeable sites of the clay molecules, compares well with the laboratory observation of 1.5% for the optimum level of CCA addition to lateritic soil. The paper went on to present chemical reaction equations between the alkaline earth metals in the CCA and the silica in the lateritic soil to form silicates, thereby proposing an extension of the theory of mechanism of soil stabilization to cover chemical stabilization with pozzolanic ash only. The paper concluded by recommending further research on the molecular structure of soils stabilized with pozzolanic waste ash alone, with a view to confirming the chemical equations advanced in the study.

Keywords: cation exchange capacity, corn cob ash, lateritic soil, soil stabilization

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Authors: Ryoko Yoshida, Jyunpei Yoshida, Hua Fang Yu, Yasushi Sasaki, Tetsuya Nagasaka

Abstract:

Phosphorous is an important element for agriculture and industry and is a non-renewable resource. Especially, yellow phosphorus is an essential material in advanced industrial technology, but phosphorus resources were not produced in Japan at all, and all depend on imports. It has been suggested, however, that the remaining accessible reserves of phosphate ore will be depleted within 50 years. Therefore, alternative resources for phosphate ore must be found. In this research, we have developed a process that enables the production of high-purity yellow phosphorus from domestic unused phosphorus resources such as steelmaking slags. The process consists of two parts: (1) the production of crude phosphoric acid from wastes such as steelmaking slag; (2) producing high-purity yellow phosphorus by low-temperature carbothermic reduction of phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄). The details of the carbothermic reduction of phosphoric acid are presented in this paper. Yellow phosphorus is commercially produced by carbothermic reduction of phosphate ore in an electric arc furnace at more than 1673K. In the newly developed system, gaseous P₄O₁₀ evaporated from H₃PO₄ is successfully reduced to yellow phosphorus by using carbon packed bed at less than 1273K. To meet the depletion of phosphate ore, the proposed process in this study to produce yellow phosphorus by carbothermic reduction of H₃PO₄ that are extracted from dephosphorization slags will be one of the effective and economical solutions.

Keywords: carbothermic reduction, phosphoric acid, dephosphorization slags, yellow phosphorus

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Ismail Karaca, Ridvan Saracoglu, Omer Soner

Abstract:

Fuzzy Logic, an advanced method to support decision-making, is used by various scientists in many disciplines. Fuzzy programming is a product of fuzzy logic, fuzzy rules, and implication. In marine science, fuzzy programming for ships is dramatically increasing together with autonomous ship studies. In this paper, a program to support the decision-making process for ship navigation has been designed. The program is produced in fuzzy logic and rules, by taking the marine accidents and expert opinions into account. After the program was designed, the program was tested by 46 ship accidents reported by the Transportation Safety Investigation Center of Turkey. Wind speed, sea condition, visibility, day/night ratio have been used as input data. They have been converted into a risk factor within the Fuzzy Logic Designer application and fuzzy rules set by marine experts. Finally, the expert's meteorological risk factor for each accident is compared with the program's risk factor, and the error rate was calculated. The main objective of this study is to improve the navigational safety of ships, by using the advance decision support model. According to the study result, fuzzy programming is a robust model that supports safe navigation.

Keywords: calculation of risk factor, fuzzy logic, fuzzy programming for ship, safety navigation of ships

Procedia PDF Downloads 182