Search results for: fine suspended sediments
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1559

Search results for: fine suspended sediments

569 Evaluation of the Effect Rare Earth Metal on the Microstructure and Properties of Zn-ZnO-Y2O3 Coating of Mild Steel

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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568 Performance Analysis of Domotics System as Real-Time Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring

Authors: Dauda A. Oladosu, Kamorudeen A Olaiya, Abdurahman Bello

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The deployment of smart meters by utility providers to gather fine grained spatiotemporal consumption data has grossly influenced the consumers’ emotion and behavior towards energy utilization. The quest for reduction in power consumption is now a subject of concern and one the methods adopted by the consumers to achieve this is Non-intrusive Load (appliance) Monitoring. Hence, this work presents performance Analysis of Domotics System as a tool for load monitoring when integrated with Consumer Control Unit of residential building. The system was developed with basic elements which enhance remote sensing, DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-frequency) recognition and cryptic messaging when specific task was performed. To demonstrate its applicability and suitability, this prototype was used consistently for six months at different load demands and the utilities consumed were documented. The results obtained shows good response when phone dialed, and the packet delivery of feedback SMS was quite satisfactory, making the implemented system to be of good quality with affordable cost and performs the desired functions. Besides, comparative analysis showed notable reduction in energy consumption and invariably lessened electrical bill of the consumer.

Keywords: automation, domotics, energy, load, remote, schedule

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567 Analysis of Composite Health Risk Indicators Built at a Regional Scale and Fine Resolution to Detect Hotspot Areas

Authors: Julien Caudeville, Muriel Ismert

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Analyzing the relationship between environment and health has become a major preoccupation for public health as evidenced by the emergence of the French national plans for health and environment. These plans have identified the following two priorities: (1) to identify and manage geographic areas, where hotspot exposures are suspected to generate a potential hazard to human health; (2) to reduce exposure inequalities. At a regional scale and fine resolution of exposure outcome prerequisite, environmental monitoring networks are not sufficient to characterize the multidimensionality of the exposure concept. In an attempt to increase representativeness of spatial exposure assessment approaches, risk composite indicators could be built using additional available databases and theoretical framework approaches to combine factor risks. To achieve those objectives, combining data process and transfer modeling with a spatial approach is a fundamental prerequisite that implies the need to first overcome different scientific limitations: to define interest variables and indicators that could be built to associate and describe the global source-effect chain; to link and process data from different sources and different spatial supports; to develop adapted methods in order to improve spatial data representativeness and resolution. A GIS-based modeling platform for quantifying human exposure to chemical substances (PLAINE: environmental inequalities analysis platform) was used to build health risk indicators within the Lorraine region (France). Those indicators combined chemical substances (in soil, air and water) and noise risk factors. Tools have been developed using modeling, spatial analysis and geostatistic methods to build and discretize interest variables from different supports and resolutions on a 1 km2 regular grid within the Lorraine region. By example, surface soil concentrations have been estimated by developing a Kriging method able to integrate surface and point spatial supports. Then, an exposure model developed by INERIS was used to assess the transfer from soil to individual exposure through ingestion pathways. We used distance from polluted soil site to build a proxy for contaminated site. Air indicator combined modeled concentrations and estimated emissions to take in account 30 polluants in the analysis. For water, drinking water concentrations were compared to drinking water standards to build a score spatialized using a distribution unit serve map. The Lden (day-evening-night) indicator was used to map noise around road infrastructures. Aggregation of the different factor risks was made using different methodologies to discuss weighting and aggregation procedures impact on the effectiveness of risk maps to take decisions for safeguarding citizen health. Results permit to identify pollutant sources, determinants of exposure, and potential hotspots areas. A diagnostic tool was developed for stakeholders to visualize and analyze the composite indicators in an operational and accurate manner. The designed support system will be used in many applications and contexts: (1) mapping environmental disparities throughout the Lorraine region; (2) identifying vulnerable population and determinants of exposure to set priorities and target for pollution prevention, regulation and remediation; (3) providing exposure database to quantify relationships between environmental indicators and cancer mortality data provided by French Regional Health Observatories.

Keywords: health risk, environment, composite indicator, hotspot areas

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566 Analysis and Study of Phytoplankton and the Environmental Characteristics of Tarkwa Bay, Lagos, South-Western, Nigeria

Authors: Bukola Dawodu, Charles Onyema

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The phytoplankton and environmental characteristics of Tarkwa Bay, Lagos in South-western Nigeria were investigated from January to June 2012. Environmental characteristics within the Bay were largely determined by floodwater inflow in the wet months (April – June) and increased tidal marine conditions in the dry months (January – March). Similarly, rainfall distribution and possibly tidal seawater inflow were the key factors that govern the variation in phytoplankton distribution, species diversity, chlorophyll a concentration and environmental characteristics of the bay. Values for physico-chemical parameters were indicative of high levels of fluctuations inwards from the East mole towards Tarkwa Bay (e.g. T.S.S > 11mg/L, T.D.S > 33541.0mg/L, D.O. < 5.4). Chlorophyll A values did not show any discernable pattern and correlated negatively with total dissolved solids and total suspended solids (r = -0.27 and -0.04) as both were inconsistent throughout the study period. Four phytoplankton divisions were observed throughout the sampling period with the Bacillariophyta (diatoms) being the dominant group followed by Dinophyta (dinoflagellates), Cyanophyta (the blue-green algae) and Chlorophyta (the green algae). A total of twenty-one species from nine genera were recorded during the period of study. Diatoms formed the most abundant group making fifteen species from five genera. The centric forms dominated over the pennates in the diatom group with Skeletonema sp. Chaetoceros spp. and Coscinodiscus spp. being the dominant centric diatoms while Navicula spp. was the more dominant pennate form. The Dinoflagellates were represented by six species from one genus, the blue-green algae with five species from two genera while the green algae had one species from one genus. Comparatively, total biomass was more in the dry months (Jan. - Mar.) and decreased in the 'wet months' (Apr. – Jun.). Species diversity (S), Shannon Wiener index (Hs), Margalef Index (d) and Equitability Index (j) values were higher during the dry months while reduced value marked the wet months possibly as a result of dilution of rain effects. Outcomes of bio-indices variations were reflections of the degree of occurrence and abundance of species linked to seasons operating in the study site.

Keywords: coastal waters, phytoplankton, species abundance, ecosystems

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565 The Effects of Different Parameters of Wood Floating Debris on Scour Rate Around Bridge Piers

Authors: Muhanad Al-Jubouri

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A local scour is the most important of the several scours impacting bridge performance and security. Even though scour is widespread in bridges, especially during flood seasons, the experimental tests could not be applied to many standard highway bridges. A computational fluid dynamics numerical model was used to solve the problem of calculating local scouring and deposition for non-cohesive silt and clear water conditions near single and double cylindrical piers with the effect of floating debris. When FLOW-3D software is employed with the Rang turbulence model, the Nilsson bed-load transfer equation and fine mesh size are considered. The numerical findings of single cylindrical piers correspond pretty well with the physical model's results. Furthermore, after parameter effectiveness investigates the range of outcomes based on predicted user inputs such as the bed-load equation, mesh cell size, and turbulence model, the final numerical predictions are compared to experimental data. When the findings are compared, the error rate for the deepest point of the scour is equivalent to 3.8% for the single pier example.

Keywords: local scouring, non-cohesive, clear water, computational fluid dynamics, turbulence model, bed-load equation, debris

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564 Analysis of the Air Pollution Behavior Registered at MACAM Net Using DOAS, Associated with High Pollution Episodes

Authors: Francisca Rojas Martínez, T. Pedro Oyola

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The combination of the geographical and meteorological conditions of the Santiago basin are unfavorable for the circulation of atmospheric pollution, especially in the autumn and winter months. The problem of environmental pollution in the Metropolitan Region has been studied since the 1960s because the city has presented high pollution levels for most of the year, levels that have even been compared with those in cities in developed countries, This implies serious consequences for the health of the population. Two of the most important gasses present in the contamination are NO2, and O3, the highest concentrations of nitrogen dioxide are measured during the winter, in addition, it is considered as a great contribution to the fine fraction of particulate matter and as a precursor of tropospheric ozone. On the other hand, tropospheric ozone is a pollutant of photochemical origin and is strongly enhanced by solar radiation, which is why its presence in the atmosphere is more significant in the spring and summer. The measurements were made at 3 different places in Santiago, and were used different equipment; a DOAS for gasses measures, SIMCA for Black Carbon Measure and the MACAM net for particulate matter and meteorological condition. The results shows an important relation between height and presence of pollution gasses, and additionally, pollution episodes are in common low temperature (< 10 °C) and high relative humidity (> 80%), which are factors that allows the air suspension of particulate matter and focus NH4+ and NO3-.

Keywords: black carbon, DOAS, episodes, high pollution, simca

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563 Art Market in Oran: Emergence and Contraintes

Authors: Hirreche Baghdad Mohamed

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Our research is linked to cultural policies because the initiation to taste and beauty is a matter for all cultural and educational institutions. It's done by a downstream process (programs, actions, lessons, etc.) that begins at a young age in order to inscribe aesthetic values in memories, imaginations, and practices. Preparing future art lovers probably takes a lot of time. Upstream, continuity is ensured by the "cultural industries" which make cultural products available to actors in the "art market" through professional training, production, dissemination, and sales processes. It turns out that the cultural industries borrow from the "classical" industries the same processes and logic: product, production, marketing, diffusion, profit and profits, supply and demand, the market, the creation of wealth, the entrepreneurship. Today, culture has become a product almost like the others. In the cultural industries system, we protect the rights of authors (owners) and the rights of intermediaries (entrepreneurs of culture), and we provide consumers with an accessible product that meets their needs and expectations. We aim to present an inventory and to reveal, through the speeches of the actors themselves, the processes and modes of operation and deployment of the plastic arts market by showing how it is perceived, imagined, and lived in the city of 'Oran from the 2000s to the present day. However, it is possible to clarify this field of research by looking at previous periods; and even to make comparisons with other regions in Algeria in order to give meaning to practices in various contexts.

Keywords: Oran, Algeria, fine art, art market

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562 Performance of an Improved Fluidized System for Processing Green Tea

Authors: Nickson Kipng’etich Lang’at, Thomas Thoruwa, John Abraham, John Wanyoko

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Green tea is made from the top two leaves and buds of a shrub, Camellia sinensis, of the family Theaceae and the order Theales. The green tea leaves are picked and immediately sent to be dried or steamed to prevent fermentation. Fluid bed drying technique is a common drying method used in drying green tea because of its ease in design and construction and fluidization of fine tea particles. Major problems in this method are significant loss of chemical content of the leaf and green appearance of tea, retention of high moisture content in the leaves and bed channeling and defluidization. The energy associated with the drying technology has been shown to be a vital factor in determining the quality of green tea. As part of the implementation, prototype dryer was built that facilitated sequence of operations involving steaming, cooling, pre-drying and final drying. The major findings of the project were in terms of quality characteristics of tea leaves and energy consumption during processing. The optimal design achieved a moisture content of 4.2 ± 0.84%. With the optimum drying temperature of 100 ºC, the specific energy consumption was 1697.8 kj.Kg-1 and evaporation rate of 4.272 x 10-4 Kg.m-2.s-1. The energy consumption in a fluidized system can be further reduced by focusing on energy saving designs.

Keywords: evaporation rate, fluid bed dryer, maceration, specific energy consumption

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561 Hybrid Genetic Approach for Solving Economic Dispatch Problems with Valve-Point Effect

Authors: Mohamed I. Mahrous, Mohamed G. Ashmawy

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Hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is proposed in this paper to determine the economic scheduling of electric power generation over a fixed time period under various system and operational constraints. The proposed technique can outperform conventional genetic algorithms (CGAs) in the sense that HGA make it possible to improve both the quality of the solution and reduce the computing expenses. In contrast, any carefully designed GA is only able to balance the exploration and the exploitation of the search effort, which means that an increase in the accuracy of a solution can only occure at the sacrifice of convergent speed, and vice visa. It is unlikely that both of them can be improved simultaneously. The proposed hybrid scheme is developed in such a way that a simple GA is acting as a base level search, which makes a quick decision to direct the search towards the optimal region, and a local search method (pattern search technique) is next employed to do the fine tuning. The aim of the strategy is to achieve the cost reduction within a reasonable computing time. The effectiveness of the proposed hybrid technique is verified on two real public electricity supply systems with 13 and 40 generator units respectively. The simulation results obtained with the HGA for the two real systems are very encouraging with regard to the computational expenses and the cost reduction of power generation.

Keywords: genetic algorithms, economic dispatch, pattern search

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560 Mechanical Properties and Chloride Diffusion of Ceramic Waste Aggregate Mortar Containing Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag

Authors: H. Higashiyama, M. Sappakittipakorn, M. Mizukoshi, O. Takahashi

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Ceramic waste aggregates (CWAs) were made from electric porcelain insulator wastes supplied from an electric power company, which were crushed and ground to fine aggregate sizes. In this study, to develop the CWA mortar as an eco–efficient, ground granulated blast–furnace slag (GGBS) as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) was incorporated. The water–to–binder ratio (W/B) of the CWA mortars was varied at 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6. The cement of the CWA mortar was replaced by GGBS at 20 and 40% by volume (at about 18 and 37% by weight). Mechanical properties of compressive and splitting tensile strengths, and elastic modulus were evaluated at the age of 7, 28, and 91 days. Moreover, the chloride ingress test was carried out on the CWA mortars in a 5.0% NaCl solution for 48 weeks. The chloride diffusion was assessed by using an electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). To consider the relation of the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient and the pore size, the pore size distribution test was also performed using a mercury intrusion porosimetry at the same time with the EPMA. The compressive strength of the CWA mortars with the GGBS was higher than that without the GGBS at the age of 28 and 91 days. The resistance to the chloride ingress of the CWA mortar was effective in proportion to the GGBS replacement level.

Keywords: ceramic waste aggregate, chloride diffusion, GGBS, pore size distribution

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559 Survey of Related Field for Artificial Intelligence Window Development

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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558 Organic Geochemistry and Oil-Source Correlation of Cretaceous Sediments in the Kohat Basin, Pakistan

Authors: Syed Mamoon Siyar, Fayaz Ali, Sajjad Ahmad, Samina Jahandad, George Kontakiotis, Hammad T. Janjuhah, Assimina Antonarakou, Waqas Naseem

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The Cretaceous Chichali Formation in the Chanda-01, Chanda-02, Chanda-03 and Mela-05 wells and the oil samples from Chanda-01 and Chanda-01 wells located in the Kohat Basin, Pakistan, were analyzed with the objectives of evaluating the hydrocarbon generation potential, source, thermal maturity and depositional of organic matter, and oil-source correlation by employing geochemical screening techniques and biomarker studies. The total organic carbon (TOC) values in Chanda-02, Chanda-03 and Mela-05 indicate, in general, poor to fair, fair and fair to good source rock potential with low genetic potential, respectively. The nature of organic matter has been determined by standard cross plots of Rock Eval pyrolysis parameters, indicating that studied cuttings from the Chichali Formation dominantly contain type III kerogen at present and show maturity for oil generation in the studied wells. The organic petrographic study also confirmed the vitrinite (type III) as a major maceral in the investigated Chichali Shales and its reflectance values show maturity for oil. The different ratios of non-biomarkers and biomarkers i.e., steranes, terpenes and aromatics parameters, indicate the marine source of organic matter deposited in the anoxic environment for the Chichali Formation in Chanda-01 and Chanda-02 wells and mixed source input of organic matter deposited in suboxic conditions for oil in the same wells. The CPI, and different biomarkers parameters such as C29 S/S+R, ββ/αα+ββ), M29/H30, Ts/Ts+Tm, H31 (S/S+R) and aromatic compounds methyl phenanthrene index (MPI) and organic petrographic analysis (vitrinite reflectance) suggest mature stage of oil generation for Chichali Shales and oil samples in the study area with little high thermal maturity in case of oils. Based on source and thermal maturity biomarkers and non-biomarkers parameters, the produced oils have no correlation with the Cretaceous Chichali Formation in the studied Chanda-01 and Chanda-02 wells in Kohat Basin, Pakistan, but it has been suggested that these oils have been generated by the strata containing high terrestrial organic input compare to Chichali Shales.

Keywords: Organic geochemistry, Chichali Shales and crude oils, Kohat Basin, Pakistan

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557 Evaluation of Eco Cement as a Stabilizer of Clayey Sand

Authors: Jeeja Menon, M. S. Ravikumar

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With the advent of green technology and the concept of zero energy buildings, there is an emerging trend in the utilization of indigenous materials like soil as a construction material. However, fine soils like clays and sand have undesirable properties and stabilization of these soils is essential before it is used to develop a building unit. Eco cement or Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), a waste byproduct formed during the manufacture of iron has cementitious properties and has the potential of replacing cement which is the most common stabilizer used for improving the geotechnical properties of soil. This paper highlights the salient observations obtained by the investigations into the effect of GGBS as a stabilizer for clayey sand. The index and engineering properties of the soil on the addition of different percentages (0%, 2%, 4%, 5% & 6% of the dry weight of the soil) of GGBS are tested to arrive at the optimum binder content. The criteria chosen for evaluation are the unconfined compressive strength values of different soil- binder composition. The test results indicate that there are significant strength improvements by the addition of GGBS in the soil, and the optimum GGBS content was determined as 5%. Moreover, utilizing waste binders for developing an ecofriendly, less energy induced building units as well as for stabilizing soil will also contribute to the solid waste management, which is the current environmental crisis of the world.

Keywords: eco cement, GGBS, index properties, stabilization, unconfined compressive strength

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556 Particle Size Analysis of Itagunmodi Southwestern Nigeria Alluvial Gold Ore Sample by Gaudin Schumann Method

Authors: Olaniyi Awe, Adelana R. Adetunji, Abraham Adeleke

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Mining of alluvial gold ore by artisanal miners has been going on for decades at Itagunmodi, Southwestern Nigeria. In order to optimize the traditional panning gravity separation method commonly used in the area, a mineral particle size analysis study is critical. This study analyzed alluvial gold ore samples collected at identified five different locations in the area with a view to determine the ore particle size distributions. 500g measured of as-received alluvial gold ore sample was introduced into the uppermost sieve of an electrical sieve shaker consisting of sieves arranged in the order of decreasing nominal apertures of 5600μm, 3350μm, 2800μm, 355μm, 250μm, 125μm and 90μm, and operated for 20 minutes. The amount of material retained on each sieve was measured and tabulated for analysis. A screen analysis graph using the Gaudin Schuman method was drawn for each of the screen tests on the alluvial samples. The study showed that the percentages of fine particle size -125+90 μm fraction were 45.00%, 36.00%, 39.60%, 43.00% and 36.80% for the selected samples. These primary ore characteristic results provide reference data for the alluvial gold ore processing method selection, process performance measurement and optimization.

Keywords: alluvial gold ore, sieve shaker, particle size, Gaudin Schumann

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555 Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Isotopes of Plutonium in PM₂.₅

Authors: C. G. Mendez-Garcia, E. T. Romero-Guzman, H. Hernandez-Mendoza, C. Solis, E. Chavez-Lomeli, E. Chamizo, R. Garcia-Tenorio

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Plutonium is present in different concentrations in the environment and biological samples related to nuclear weapons testing, nuclear waste recycling and accidental discharges of nuclear plants. This radioisotope is considered the most radiotoxic substance, particularly when it enters the human body through inhalation of powders insoluble or aerosols. This is the main reason of the determination of the concentration of this radioisotope in the atmosphere. Besides that, the isotopic ratio of ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu provides information about the origin of the source. PM₂.₅ sampling was carried out in the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico (MZVM) from February 18th to March 17th in 2015 on quartz filter. There have been significant developments recently due to the establishment of new methods for sample preparation and accurate measurement to detect ultra trace levels as the plutonium is found in the environment. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a technique that allows measuring levels of detection around of femtograms (10-15 g). The AMS determinations include the chemical isolation of Pu. The Pu separation involved an acidic digestion and a radiochemical purification using an anion exchange resin. Finally, the source is prepared, when Pu is pressed in the corresponding cathodes. According to the author's knowledge on these aerosols showed variations on the ²³⁵U/²³⁸U ratio of the natural value, suggesting that could be an anthropogenic source altering it. The determination of the concentration of the isotopes of Pu can be a useful tool in order the clarify this presence in the atmosphere. The first results showed a mean value of activity concentration of ²³⁹Pu of 280 nBq m⁻³ thus the ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu was 0.025 corresponding to the weapon production source; these results corroborate that there is an anthropogenic influence that is increasing the concentration of radioactive material in PM₂.₅. According to the author's knowledge in Total Suspended Particles (TSP) have been reported activity concentrations of ²³⁹⁺²⁴⁰Pu around few tens of nBq m⁻³ and 0.17 of ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu ratios. The preliminary results in MZVM show high activity concentrations of isotopes of Pu (40 and 700 nBq m⁻³) and low ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu ratio than reported. These results are in the order of the activity concentrations of Pu in weapons-grade of high purity.

Keywords: aerosols, fallout, mass spectrometry, radiochemistry, tracer, ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu ratio

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554 Green Catalytic Conversion of Some Aromatic Alcohols to Acids by NiO₂ Nanoparticles ‎‎(NPNPs) in Water

Authors: Abdel Ghany F. Shoair, Mai M. A. H. Shanab

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The basic aqueous systems NiSO4.6H₂O / K₂S₂O₈ (PH= 14) or NiSO₄.6H₂O / KBrO₃ (PH = 11.5) were ‎investigated ‎for the ‎catalytic conversion benzyl alcohol and ‎some para-substituted benzyl ‎alcohols to their ‎corresponding ‎acids in 75-97 % yield at room ‎temperature. The active species ‎was isolated and characterized by scanning ‎electron ‎microscopy (SEM), ‎‎transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray ‎powder diffraction, EDX and ‎‎FT-IR ‎techniques and identified as NiO₂ nanoparticles (NPNPs). The SEM and ‎TEM images of nickel peroxide samples show a fine spherical-like ‎aggregation of ‎NiO₂ molecules with a nearly homogeneous partial size and confirm the ‎aggregation's size ‎to ‎be in the range of 2-3 nm. The yields, turnover (TO) and turn ‎over frequencies (TOF) were calculated. ‎It was noticed ‎that the aromatic alcohols ‎containing para-substituted electron donation groups gave better ‎‎yields than ‎those having electron-withdrawing groups. The optimum conditions for this ‎‎catalytic reaction ‎were studied using benzyl alcohol as a model. The mechanism ‎of the ‎catalytic conversion reaction was ‎suggested, in which the produced ‎(NPNPs) convert alcohols ‎to acids in two steps through the formation of the ‎‎corresponding aldehyde. The produced ‎NiO, because of this conversion, is ‎converted again to (NPNPs) by ‎an excess of K₂S₂O₈ or KBrO₃. This ‎catalytic cycle continues ‎until all the substrate is oxidized.

Keywords: Nickel, oxidation, catalysts, benzyl alcohol

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553 JaCoText: A Pretrained Model for Java Code-Text Generation

Authors: Jessica Lopez Espejel, Mahaman Sanoussi Yahaya Alassan, Walid Dahhane, El Hassane Ettifouri

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Pretrained transformer-based models have shown high performance in natural language generation tasks. However, a new wave of interest has surged: automatic programming language code generation. This task consists of translating natural language instructions to a source code. Despite the fact that well-known pre-trained models on language generation have achieved good performance in learning programming languages, effort is still needed in automatic code generation. In this paper, we introduce JaCoText, a model based on Transformer neural network. It aims to generate java source code from natural language text. JaCoText leverages the advantages of both natural language and code generation models. More specifically, we study some findings from state of the art and use them to (1) initialize our model from powerful pre-trained models, (2) explore additional pretraining on our java dataset, (3) lead experiments combining the unimodal and bimodal data in training, and (4) scale the input and output length during the fine-tuning of the model. Conducted experiments on CONCODE dataset show that JaCoText achieves new state-of-the-art results.

Keywords: java code generation, natural language processing, sequence-to-sequence models, transformer neural networks

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552 Lightweight Hardware Firewall for Embedded System Based on Bus Transactions

Authors: Ziyuan Wu, Yulong Jia, Xiang Zhang, Wanting Zhou, Lei Li

Abstract:

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly evolving field involving a large number of interconnected embedded devices. In the design of embedded System-on-Chip (SoC), the key issues are power consumption, performance, and security. However, the easy-to-implement software and untrustworthy third-party IP cores may threaten the safety of hardware assets. Considering that illegal access and malicious attacks against SoC resources pass through the bus that integrates IPs, we propose a Lightweight Hardware Firewall (LHF) to protect SoC, which monitors and disallows the offending bus transactions based on physical addresses. Furthermore, under the LHF architecture, this paper refines two types of firewalls: Destination Hardware Firewall (DHF) and Source Hardware Firewall (SHF). The former is oriented to fine-grained detection and configuration, whose core technology is based on the method of dynamic grading units. In addition, we design the SHF based on static entries to achieve lightweight. Finally, we evaluate the hardware consumption of the proposed method by both Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and IC. Compared with the exciting efforts, LHF introduces a bus latency of zero clock cycles for every read or write transaction implemented on Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGAs. Meanwhile, the DC synthesis results based on TSMC 90nm show that the area is reduced by about 25% compared with the previous method.

Keywords: IoT, security, SoC, bus architecture, lightweight hardware firewall, FPGA

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551 Statistical Comparison of Machine and Manual Translation: A Corpus-Based Study of Gone with the Wind

Authors: Yanmeng Liu

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This article analyzes and compares the linguistic differences between machine translation and manual translation, through a case study of the book Gone with the Wind. As an important carrier of human feeling and thinking, the literature translation poses a huge difficulty for machine translation, and it is supposed to expose distinct translation features apart from manual translation. In order to display linguistic features objectively, tentative uses of computerized and statistical evidence to the systematic investigation of large scale translation corpora by using quantitative methods have been deployed. This study compiles bilingual corpus with four versions of Chinese translations of the book Gone with the Wind, namely, Piao by Chunhai Fan, Piao by Huairen Huang, translations by Google Translation and Baidu Translation. After processing the corpus with the software of Stanford Segmenter, Stanford Postagger, and AntConc, etc., the study analyzes linguistic data and answers the following questions: 1. How does the machine translation differ from manual translation linguistically? 2. Why do these deviances happen? This paper combines translation study with the knowledge of corpus linguistics, and concretes divergent linguistic dimensions in translated text analysis, in order to present linguistic deviances in manual and machine translation. Consequently, this study provides a more accurate and more fine-grained understanding of machine translation products, and it also proposes several suggestions for machine translation development in the future.

Keywords: corpus-based analysis, linguistic deviances, machine translation, statistical evidence

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550 Prospects and Problems of Islamic Banking: A Case Study of Aurangabad District

Authors: Shabina Khan, Rukhsana Tabassum Syeda

Abstract:

Islamic banking is a finance system based on the principles of Shariah law. Charging interest is prohibited in Islam. Instead of charging interest the lender shares some part of profit or loss with the borrower, there is a great need for Islamic banking after the collapse of leading Wall Street institutions notably Lehman Brothers and other global finance institution, economic recession, Islamic banking have emerged as an alternative to conventional banking. Islamic banking is growing at the rate of more than 15% not only in Muslim countries, but also in secular and modern industrialized countries like U.K. Japan, France, Singapore, Hongkong. India with a total population of about 184 million about $ 1.5% Muslim deposit interest is lying unclaimed in different Indian banks, as there are no banks based on shariah laws approved by the RBI. When we take the example of Kerala state in India, almost 26.2% population is Muslim. Thus thousands of crore of rupees earned in interest is suspended accounts. In Kerala alone Rs. 40,000 crore and in Jammu and Kashmir Rs. 50,000 crore as interest earned on deposit of Muslim are lying unclaimed. By 2050, Indian Muslim population would be the largest in the world. It will surpass Indonesia. The Muslim population is likely to exceed 18% i.e. 310 mn. Muslim population will increase four percentage points from 14% to 18%. This paper studies the problems and prospects of Islamic banking in India. India has 29 states and Maharashtra is one of them. In the Maharashtra state is Aurangabad district. According to census 2011, Aurangabad city population is 51.07% is Hindu .Muslim is the second most popular religion with approximately 30.79. There are branches of Islamic banking run by Anjuman e Islam in many parts of India by the name of Al- Khair Baitul Mal which is a nongovernment organization. Its branch is in Aurangabad. The main objectives of this study are: 1. To find the scope of Islamic banking. 2. To study and analyze the prospects and problems of such organizations in Aurangabad district. 3. To create awareness about Islamic banking. 4. To study the functions of the organizations based on Islamic banking rules. 5. To encourage non-Muslims to invest in Islamic banking. The methodology used will be primary as well as secondary data. This is helping the weaker section of the society to obtain sources for trade and business. This paper finds that there is sufficient scope of Islamic banking in the region.

Keywords: Aurangabad, conventional banking, Islamic banking, Riba (interest)

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549 Bridging Urban Planning and Environmental Conservation: A Regional Analysis of Northern and Central Kolkata

Authors: Tanmay Bisen, Aastha Shayla

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This study introduces an advanced approach to tree canopy detection in urban environments and a regional analysis of Northern and Central Kolkata that delves into the intricate relationship between urban development and environmental conservation. Leveraging high-resolution drone imagery from diverse urban green spaces in Kolkata, we fine-tuned the deep forest model to enhance its precision and accuracy. Our results, characterized by an impressive Intersection over Union (IoU) score of 0.90 and a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.87, underscore the model's robustness in detecting and classifying tree crowns amidst the complexities of aerial imagery. This research not only emphasizes the importance of model customization for specific datasets but also highlights the potential of drone-based remote sensing in urban forestry studies. The study investigates the spatial distribution, density, and environmental impact of trees in Northern and Central Kolkata. The findings underscore the significance of urban green spaces in met-ropolitan cities, emphasizing the need for sustainable urban planning that integrates green infrastructure for ecological balance and human well-being.

Keywords: urban greenery, advanced spatial distribution analysis, drone imagery, deep learning, tree detection

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548 Application of Enzyme-Mediated Calcite Precipitation for Surface Control of Gold Mining Tailing Waste

Authors: Yogi Priyo Pradana, Heriansyah Putra, Regina Aprilia Zulfikar, Maulana Rafiq Ramadhan, Devyan Meisnnehr, Zalfa Maulida Insani

Abstract:

This paper studied the effects and mechanisms of fine-grained tailing by Enzyme-Mediated Calcite Precipitation (EMCP). Grouting solution used consists of reagents (CaCl₂ and (CO(NH₂)₂) and urease enzymes which react to produce CaCO₃. In sample preparation, the test tube is used to investigate the precipitation rate of calcite. The grouting solution added is 75 mL for one mold sample. The solution was poured into a mold sample up to as high as 5 mm from the top surface of the tailing to ensure the entire surface is submerged. The sample is left open in a cylinder for up to 3 days for curing. The direct mixing method is conducted so that the cementation process occurs by evenly distributed. The relationship between the results of the UCS test and the calcite precipitation rate likely indicates that the amount of calcite deposited in treated tailing could control the strength of the tailing. The sample results are analyzed using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) to evaluate metal and metalloid content. Calcium carbonate deposited in the tailing is expected to strengthen the bond between tailing granules, which are easily slipped on the banks of the tailing dam. The EMCP method is expected to strengthen tailing in erosion-control surfaces.

Keywords: tailing, EMCP, UCS, AAS

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547 Extraction and Antibacterial Studies of Oil from Three Mango Kernel Obtained from Makurdi, Nigeria

Authors: K. Asemave, D. O. Abakpa, T. T. Ligom

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The ability of bacteria to develop resistance to many antibiotics cannot be undermined, given the multifaceted health challenges in the present times. For this reason, a lot of attention is on botanicals and their products in search of new antibacterial agents. On the other hand, mango kernel oils (MKO) can be heavily valorized by taking advantage of the myriads bioactive phytochemicals it contains. Herein, we validated the use of MKO as bioactive agent against bacteria. The MKOs for the study were extracted by soxhlet means with ethanol and hexane for 4 h from 3 different mango kernels, namely; 'local' (sample A), 'julie' (sample B), and 'john' (sample C). Prior to the extraction, ground fine particles of the kernels were obtained from the seed kernels dried in oven at 100 °C for 8 h. Hexane gave higher yield of the oils than ethanol. It was also qualitatively confirmed that the mango kernel oils contain some phytochemicals such as phenol, quinone, saponin, and terpenoid. The results of the antibacterial activities of the MKO against both gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) at different concentrations showed that the oils extracted with ethanol gave better antibacterial properties than those of the hexane. More so, the bioactivities were best with the local mango kernel oil. Indeed this work has completely validated the previous claim that MKOs are effective antibacterial agents. Thus, these oils (especially the ethanol-derived ones) can be used as bacteriostatic and antibacterial agents in say food, cosmetics, and allied industries.

Keywords: bacteria, mango, kernel, oil, phytochemicals

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546 Characteristics and Key Exploration Directions of Gold Deposits in China

Authors: Bin Wang, Yong Xu, Honggang Qu, Rongmei Liu, Zhenji Gao

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Based on the geodynamic environment, basic geological characteristics of minerals and so on, gold deposits in China are divided into 11 categories, of which tectonic fracture altered rock, mid-intrudes and contact zone, micro-fine disseminated and continental volcanic types are the main prospecting kinds. The metallogenic age of gold deposits in China is dominated by the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. According to the geotectonic units, geological evolution, geological conditions, spatial distribution, gold deposits types, metallogenic factors etc., 42 gold concentration areas are initially determined and have a concentrated distribution feature. On the basis of the gold exploration density, gold concentration areas are divided into high, medium and low level areas. High ones are mainly distributed in the central and eastern regions. 93.04% of the gold exploration drillings are within 500 meters, but there are some problems, such as less and shallower of drilling verification etc.. The paper discusses the resource potentials of gold deposits and proposes the future prospecting directions and suggestions. The deep and periphery of old mines in the central and eastern regions and western area, especially in Xinjiang and Qinghai, will be the future key prospecting one and have huge potential gold reserves. If the exploration depth is extended to 2,000 meters shallow, the gold resources will double.

Keywords: gold deposits, gold deposits types, gold concentration areas, prospecting, resource potentiality

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545 Using Geopolymer Technology on Stabilization and Reutilization the Expansion Behavior Slag

Authors: W. H. Lee, T. W. Cheng, K. Y. Lin, S. W. Huang, Y. C. Ding

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Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) Slag and electric arc furnace (EAF) slag is the by-product of iron making and steel making. Each of slag with produced over 100 million tons annually in Taiwan. The type of slag has great engineering properties, such as, high hardness and density, high compressive strength, low abrasion ratio, and can replace natural aggregate for building materials. However, no matter BOF or EAF slag, both have the expansion problem, due to it contains free lime. The purpose of this study was to stabilize the BOF and EAF slag by using geopolymer technology, hoping can prevent and solve the expansion problem. The experimental results showed that using geopolymer technology can successfully solve and prevent the expansion problem. Their main properties are analyzed with regard to their use as building materials. Autoclave is used to study the volume stability of these specimens. Finally, the compressive strength of geopolymer mortar with BOF/FAF slag can be reached over 21MPa after curing for 28 days. After autoclave testing, the volume expansion does not exceed 0.2%. Even after the autoclave test, the compressive strength can be grown to over 35MPa. In this study have success using these results on ready-mixed concrete plant, and have the same experimental results as laboratory scale. These results gave encouragement that the stabilized and reutilized BOF/EAF slag could be replaced as a feasible natural fine aggregate by using geopolymer technology.

Keywords: BOF slag, EAF slag, autoclave test, geopolymer

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544 Comparing Stability Index MAPping (SINMAP) Landslide Susceptibility Models in the Río La Carbonera, Southeast Flank of Pico de Orizaba Volcano, Mexico

Authors: Gabriel Legorreta Paulin, Marcus I. Bursik, Lilia Arana Salinas, Fernando Aceves Quesada

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In volcanic environments, landslides and debris flows occur continually along stream systems of large stratovolcanoes. This is the case on Pico de Orizaba volcano, the highest mountain in Mexico. The volcano has a great potential to impact and damage human settlements and economic activities by landslides. People living along the lower valleys of Pico de Orizaba volcano are in continuous hazard by the coalescence of upstream landslide sediments that increased the destructive power of debris flows. These debris flows not only produce floods, but also cause the loss of lives and property. Although the importance of assessing such process, there is few landslide inventory maps and landslide susceptibility assessment. As a result in México, no landslide susceptibility models assessment has been conducted to evaluate advantage and disadvantage of models. In this study, a comprehensive study of landslide susceptibility models assessment using GIS technology is carried out on the SE flank of Pico de Orizaba volcano. A detailed multi-temporal landslide inventory map in the watershed is used as framework for the quantitative comparison of two landslide susceptibility maps. The maps are created based on 1) the Stability Index MAPping (SINMAP) model by using default geotechnical parameters and 2) by using findings of volcanic soils geotechnical proprieties obtained in the field. SINMAP combines the factor of safety derived from the infinite slope stability model with the theory of a hydrologic model to produce the susceptibility map. It has been claimed that SINMAP analysis is reasonably successful in defining areas that intuitively appear to be susceptible to landsliding in regions with sparse information. The validations of the resulting susceptibility maps are performed by comparing them with the inventory map under LOGISNET system which provides tools to compare by using a histogram and a contingency table. Results of the experiment allow for establishing how the individual models predict the landslide location, advantages, and limitations. The results also show that although the model tends to improve with the use of calibrated field data, the landslide susceptibility map does not perfectly represent existing landslides.

Keywords: GIS, landslide, modeling, LOGISNET, SINMAP

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543 Analysis of the 2023 Karnataka State Elections Using Online Sentiment

Authors: Pranav Gunhal

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This paper presents an analysis of sentiment on Twitter towards the Karnataka elections held in 2023, utilizing transformer-based models specifically designed for sentiment analysis in Indic languages. Through an innovative data collection approach involving a combination of novel methods of data augmentation, online data preceding the election was analyzed. The study focuses on sentiment classification, effectively distinguishing between positive, negative, and neutral posts while specifically targeting the sentiment regarding the loss of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the win of the Indian National Congress (INC). Leveraging high-performing transformer architectures, specifically IndicBERT, coupled with specifically fine-tuned hyperparameters, the AI models employed in this study achieved remarkable accuracy in predicting the INC’s victory in the election. The findings shed new light on the potential of cutting-edge transformer-based models in capturing and analyzing sentiment dynamics within the Indian political landscape. The implications of this research are far-reaching, providing invaluable insights to political parties for informed decision-making and strategic planning in preparation for the forthcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the nation.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, twitter, Karnataka elections, congress, BJP, transformers, Indic languages, AI, novel architectures, IndicBERT, lok sabha elections

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542 Efficient Numerical Simulation for LDC

Authors: Badr Alkahtani

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In this poster, numerical solutions of two-dimensional and three-dimensional lid driven cavity are presented by solving the steady Navier-Stokes equations at high Reynolds numbers where it becomes difficult. Lid driven cavity is where the a fluid contained in a cube and the upper wall is moving. In two dimensions, we use the streamfunction-vorticity formulation to solve the problem in a square domain. A numerical method is employed to discretize the problem in the x and y directions with a spectral collocation method. The problem is coded in the MATLAB programming environment. Solutions at high Reynolds numbers are obtained up to Re=20000 on a fine grid of 131 * 131. Also in this presentation, the numerical solutions for the three-dimensional lid-driven cavity problem are obtained by solving the velocity-vorticity formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations (which is the first time that this has been simulated with special boundary conditions) for various Reynolds numbers. A spectral collocation method is employed to discretize the y and z directions and a finite difference method is used to discretize the x direction. Numerical solutions are obtained for Reynolds number up to 200. , The work prepared here is to show the efficiency of methods used to simulate the physical problem where accurate simulations of lid driven cavity are obtained at high Reynolds number as mentioned above. The result for the two dimensional problem is far from the previous researcher result.

Keywords: lid driven cavity, navier-stokes, simulation, Reynolds number

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541 Expectations of Unvaccinated Health Workers in Greece and the Question of Trust: A Qualitative Study of Vaccine Hesitancy

Authors: Sideri Katerina, Chanania Eleni

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The reasons why people remain unvaccinated, especially health workers, are complex. In Greece, 2 percent of health workers (around 7,000) remain unvaccinated, despite the fact that for this group of people vaccination against COVID-19 is mandatory. In April 2022, the Greek health minister repeated that unvaccinated health care workers will remain suspended from their jobs ‘for as long as the pandemic lasts,’ explaining that the suspension of the workers in question was ‘entirely their choice’ and that health professionals who do not believe in vaccines ‘do not believe in their own science.’ Although policy circles around the world often link vaccine hesitancy to ignorance of science or misinformation, various recently published qualitative studies show that vaccine hesitancy is the result of a combination of factors, which include distrust towards elites and the system of innovation and distrust towards government. In a similar spirit, some commentators warn that labeling hesitancy as “anti-science” is bad politics. In this paper, we worked within the tradition of STS taking the view that people draw upon personal associations to enact and express civic concern with an issue, the enactment of public concern involves the articulation of threats to actors’ way of life, personal values, relationships, lived experiences, broader societal values and institutional structures. To this effect, we have conducted 27 in depth interviews with unvaccinated Greek health workers and we are in the process of conducting 20 more interviews. We have so far found that rather than a question of believing in ‘facts’ vaccine hesitancy reflects deep distrust towards those charged with the making of decisions and pharmaceutical companies and that emotions (rather than rational thinking) play a crucial role in the formation of attitudes and the making of decisions. We need to dig deeper so as to understand the causes of distrust towards technical government and the ways in which public(s) conceive of and want to be part in the politics of innovation. We particularly address the question of the effectiveness of mandatory vaccination of health workers and whether such top-down regulatory measures further polarize society, to finally discuss alternative regulatory approaches and governance structures.

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy, innovation, trust in vaccines, sociology of vaccines, attitude drivers towards scientific information, governance

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540 Nelder-Mead Parametric Optimization of Elastic Metamaterials with Artificial Neural Network Surrogate Model

Authors: Jiaqi Dong, Qing-Hua Qin, Yi Xiao

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Some of the most fundamental challenges of elastic metamaterials (EMMs) optimization can be attributed to the high consumption of computational power resulted from finite element analysis (FEA) simulations that render the optimization process inefficient. Furthermore, due to the inherent mesh dependence of FEA, minuscule geometry features, which often emerge during the later stages of optimization, induce very fine elements, resulting in enormously high time consumption, particularly when repetitive solutions are needed for computing the objective function. In this study, a surrogate modelling algorithm is developed to reduce computational time in structural optimization of EMMs. The surrogate model is constructed based on a multilayer feedforward artificial neural network (ANN) architecture, trained with prepopulated eigenfrequency data prepopulated from FEA simulation and optimized through regime selection with genetic algorithm (GA) to improve its accuracy in predicting the location and width of the primary elastic band gap. With the optimized ANN surrogate at the core, a Nelder-Mead (NM) algorithm is established and its performance inspected in comparison to the FEA solution. The ANNNM model shows remarkable accuracy in predicting the band gap width and a reduction of time consumption by 47%.

Keywords: artificial neural network, machine learning, mechanical metamaterials, Nelder-Mead optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 113