Search results for: copy number variation

Authors: Ramandeep Kaur, Tarsem Singh Dhillon, Rajinder Kumar Dhall, Ruma Devi

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French bean (Phaseolous vulgaris L.) is an economically potential legume vegetable grown at high altitude (>1000 ft.). More recently, its cultivation in Northern Indian plans is gaining popularity but there is severe reduction in its yield and quality due to low temperature during extreme winter conditions of December-January in open field conditions. Therefore, present study was undertaken to evaluate 29 indeterminate French bean genotypes for various yield and quality traits in poly-net house with the objective to identify best performing genotypes during winter conditions. The significant variation was observed among all the genotypes for all the studied traits. The green pod yield was significantly higher in genotype Lakshmi (992.33 g/plant) followed by Star-I (955.50 g/plant) and FBK-4 (911.17 g/plant). However, the genotypes FBK-10 (105.50 days) and Lakshmi (106.83 days) took least number of days to first harvest and were significantly better than all other genotypes (109.00-136.83 days). The maximum numbers of 10 pickings were recorded in genotype Lakshmi whereas maximum harvesting span as also observed in Lakshmi (60.50 days) which was significantly higher than all other genotypes (31.17-56.50 days). Regarding quality traits, maximum dry matter was observed in FBK-13 (13.87%), protein content in FBK-1 (9.67%), sugar content in FBK-5 (9.60%) and minimum fiber content in FBK-12 (0.69%). It is hereby concluded that high productivity and better quality of French bean (genotypes: Lakshmi, Star-I, FBK-4) was produced in poly-net house conditions of Punjab, India and these pods fetches premium price in the market as there is no availability of green pods at that time in high altitudes. Hence, there is a great scope of cultivation of indeterminate French bean under poly-net house conditions in Punjab.

Keywords: earliness, pod, protected environment, quality, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Techale B., Hongxu Dong, Mihrete Getinet, Aregash Gabizew, Andrew H. Paterson, Kassahun Bantte

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The genetic architecture of drought tolerance is expected to involve multiple loci that are unlikely to all segregate for alternative alleles in a single bi-parental population. Therefore, the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) that are expressed in diverse genetic backgrounds of multiple bi-parental populations provides evidence about both background-specific and common genetic variants. The purpose of this study was to map QTL related to drought tolerance using three connected mapping populations of different genetic backgrounds to gain insight into the genomic landscape of this important trait in elite Ethiopian germplasm. The three bi-parental populations, each with 207 F₂:₃ lines, were evaluated using an alpha lattice design with two replications under two moisture stress environments. Drought tolerance related traits were analyzed separately for each population using composite interval mapping, finding a total of 105 QTLs. All the QTLs identified from individual populations were projected on a combined consensus map, comprising a total of 25 meta QTLs for seven traits. The consensus map allowed us to deduce locations of a larger number of markers than possible in any individual map, providing a reference for genetic studies in different genetic backgrounds. The mQTL identified in this study could be used for marker-assisted breeding programs in sorghum after validation. Only one trait, reduced leaf senescence, showed a striking bias of allele distribution, indicating substantial standing variation among present varieties that might be employed in improving drought tolerance of Ethiopian and other sorghums.

Keywords: Drought tolerance , Mapping populations, Meta QTL, QTL mapping, Sorghum

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Yoon Kyung Song, Seung Won Han, Sang Hyun Hwang, Do Hoon Lee

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Laboratory tests is a significant part for the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment of diseases. Blood collection is a simple process, but can be a potential cause of pre-analytical errors. Vacuum blood collection tubes used to collect and store the blood specimens is necessary for accurate test results. The purpose of this study was to validate Improve serum separator tube(SST) (Guanzhou Improve Medical Instruments Co., Ltd, China) for routine clinical chemistry laboratory testing. Blood specimens were collected from 100 volunteers in three different serum vacuum tubes (Greiner SST , Becton Dickinson SST , Improve SST). The specimens were evaluated for 16 routine chemistry tests using TBA-200FR NEO (Toshiba Medical Co. JAPAN). The results were statistically analyzed by paired t-test and Bland-Altman plot. For stability test, the initial results for each tube were compared with results of 72 hours preserved specimens. Their clinical availability was evaluated by biological Variation of Ricos data bank. Paired t-test analysis revealed that AST, ALT, K, Cl showed statistically same results but calcium (CA), phosphorus(PHOS), glucose(GLU), BUN, uric acid(UA), cholesterol(CHOL), total protein(TP), albumin(ALB), total bilirubin(TB), ALP, creatinine(CRE), sodium(NA) were different(P < 0.05) between Improve SST and Greiner SST. Also, CA, PHOS, TP, TB, AST, ALT, NA, K, Cl showed statistically the same results but GLU, BUN, UA, CHOL, ALB, ALP, CRE were different between Improve SST and Becton Dickinson SST. All statistically different cases were clinically acceptable by biological Variation of Ricos data bank. Improve SST tubes showed satisfactory results compared with Greiner SST and Becton Dickinson SST. We concluded that the tubes are acceptable for routine clinical chemistry laboratory testing.

Keywords: blood collection, Guanzhou Improve, SST, vacuum tube

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Laurentius J. M. Rumokoy, Jimmy Posangi, Wisje Lusia Toar, Julio Lopez Aban

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The threat of pathogen infection agents to the neonates is a major health problem to the new born life livestock. Neonate losses became an important case in the world as well as in Indonesia. This condition can be triggered by an infection with nematode in conjunction with a failure of immunoglobulin passive transfer. The study was conducted to evaluate the role of the curcuma combined with IgG colostrum on the development of parasites in the gut of CD1 mice. Animal experiments were divided in four groups (G) based on the treatment: G1 (infection only); G2 (curcuma+infection), G3 (IgG + infection) and G4 (curcuma+IgG+infection). The parameters measured were EPG (eggs per gram) and female in the intestine. The results obtained showed that the treatment has no a significant influence on the number of eggs per gram of feces in the group infected compared to the control group without receiving IgG nor curcuma. However, the EGP response tended to decrease at day 6 in G3 and G4 with a minimum number at zero eggs. This performant showed that the immunoglobulin-G and curcuma substances could slightly decreased the number of eggs in animal infected with Strongyloides. The results obtained showed also that the treatment has no significant difference (P > 0.05) on female larva in the gut of MCD1 experimental. In other side, we found that the best performance to inhibit the female quantity in the gut was the treatment with IgG and infection of parasite in G3. In this treatment, the minimum number was five female only in the gut. The results described IgG response was better than the curcuma single use in reducing the female parasite in the gut. This positive response of IgG compared to other controls group was associated with the function of colostrum antibodies.

Keywords: parasites, livestock, curcuma, colostrums

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Hany Elsaid Fawaz Abdallah

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This study presents a new artificial neural network(ANN) model to predict the Nusselt Number and pressure drop for the turbulent flow in a triangular corrugated plate heat exchanger for forced air and turbulent water flow. An experimental investigation was performed to create a new dataset for the Nusselt Number and pressure drop values in the following range of dimensionless parameters: The plate corrugation angles (from 0° to 60°), the Reynolds number (from 10000 to 40000), pitch to height ratio (from 1 to 4), and Prandtl number (from 0.7 to 200). Based on the ANN performance graph, the three-layer structure with {12-8-6} hidden neurons has been chosen. The training procedure includes back-propagation with the biases and weight adjustment, the evaluation of the loss function for the training and validation dataset and feed-forward propagation of the input parameters. The linear function was used at the output layer as the activation function, while for the hidden layers, the rectified linear unit activation function was utilized. In order to accelerate the ANN training, the loss function minimization may be achieved by the adaptive moment estimation algorithm (ADAM). The ‘‘MinMax’’ normalization approach was utilized to avoid the increase in the training time due to drastic differences in the loss function gradients with respect to the values of weights. Since the test dataset is not being used for the ANN training, a cross-validation technique is applied to the ANN network using the new data. Such procedure was repeated until loss function convergence was achieved or for 4000 epochs with a batch size of 200 points. The program code was written in Python 3.0 using open-source ANN libraries such as Scikit learn, TensorFlow and Keras libraries. The mean average percent error values of 9.4% for the Nusselt number and 8.2% for pressure drop for the ANN model have been achieved. Therefore, higher accuracy compared to the generalized correlations was achieved. The performance validation of the obtained model was based on a comparison of predicted data with the experimental results yielding excellent accuracy.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, corrugated channel, heat transfer enhancement, Nusselt number, pressure drop, generalized correlations

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Authors: Zainab A. Alaghbri, Labiba A., Esam A.

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Tuberculosis (TB) is the fourth leading cause of death in Yemen and is considered a major priority by the Ministry of Public Health. The war in Yemen has led to the emergence of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. These circumstances may lead to exacerbate the situation of tuberculosis. This study aims to describe the trend and incidence of TB in north and east governorates, Yemen 2019-2021 and provide recommendations for interventions. A descriptive analysis was conducted during July to September 2022. Data of TB cases were obtained from the national tuberculosis program as soft copy. The Data included the TB case collected and diagnosed during 2019-2021. The data contains the following variables: Sex, age, governorates, smear-positive cases, extra-pulmonary cases, and treatment outcomes. 16791 TB cases were notified for an overall case notification rate 65.5/100000 for all forms (smear positive and Extra-pulmonary), There was a slightly declined in 2020 and 2021 by 1%. Both the pulmonary smear positive and Extra pulmonary rates were slightly decreased from 8.8 to 7.7 and 13.5 to 12.8 / 100, 000 populations respectively. For Tuberculosis cases by type of patient, the incidence of extra-pulmonary was the highest (12,9, 11.3 and 12,2/100000) over the three years. However, the incidence of pulmonary failure was the lowest. The majority of cases were in the age group 25-34. The overall treatment success rate for smear-positive patients was 88%. Of the 627 patients with documented unsuccessful outcomes (e.g., failure, death, and default), 165 (23%) died, 52 (8.3%) failed treatment, and 410 (65%) defaulted. Overall, the magnitude of tuberculosis decreased over the periods reviewed. The proportion of Extra-pulmonary TB was the highest. The success rate achieved after treatment was below the levels established by the WHO End Tuberculosis Strategy (90%). Failure to complete treatment may be responsible for the low success rate. Monitoring and addressing the risk factors that were associated with treatment outcomes and duration may help improve the likelihood of achieving favorable outcomes among cases of smear-positive pulmonary TB.

Keywords: tuberculosis, trend, incidence, yemen

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Authors: A.N. Moulay Khatir, A. Guen-Bouazza, B. Bouazza

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SOI-Multifin-FET shows excellent transistor characteristics, ideal sub-threshold swing, low drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) without pocket implantation and negligible body bias dependency. In this work, we analyzed this combination by a three-dimensional numerical device simulator to investigate the influence of fins number on corner effect by analyzing its electrical characteristics and potential distribution in the oxide and the silicon in the section perpendicular to the flow of the current for SOI-single-fin FET, three-fin and five-fin, and we provide a comparison with a Trigate SOI Multi-FinFET structure.

Keywords: SOI, FinFET, corner effect, dual-gate, tri-gate, Multi-Fin FET

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Authors: Rajesh Bhatt, Dilip Kumar Maiti

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The incompressible shear flow past a square cylinder placed parallel to a plane wall of side length A in presence of upstream rectangular cylinder of height 0.5A and width 0.25A in an inline tandem arrangement are numerically investigated using finite volume method. The discretized equations are solved by an implicit, time-marching, pressure correction based SIMPLE algorithm. This study provides the qualitative insight in to the dependency of basic structure (i.e. vortex shedding or suppression) of flow over the downstream square cylinder and the upstream rectangular cylinder (and hence the aerodynamic characteristics) on inter-cylinder spacing (S) and Reynolds number (Re). The spacing between the cylinders is varied systematically from S = 0.5A to S = 7.0A so the sensitivity of the flow structure between the cylinders can be inspected. A sudden jump in strouhal number is observed, which shows the transition of flow pattern in the wake of the cylinders. The results are presented at Re = 100 and 200 in term of Strouhal number, RMS and mean of lift and drag coefficients and contour plots for different spacing.

Keywords: square cylinder, vortex shedding, isolated, tandem arrangement, spacing distance

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Authors: Viktor Novikov, Yuri Ruzhin

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The studies completed to-date on a relation of the Earth's seismicity and solar processes provide the fuzzy and contradictory results. For verification of an idea that solar flares can trigger earthquakes, we have analyzed a case of a powerful surge of solar flash activity early in September 2017 during approaching the minimum of 24th solar cycle was accompanied by significant disturbances of space weather. On September 6, 2017, a group of sunspots AR2673 generated a large solar flare of X9.3 class, the strongest flare over the past twelve years. Its explosion produced a coronal mass ejection partially directed towards the Earth. We carried out a statistical analysis of the catalogs of earthquakes USGS and EMSC for determination of the effect of solar flares on global seismic activity. New evidence of earthquake triggering due to the Sun-Earth interaction has been demonstrated by simple comparison of behavior of Earth's seismicity before and after the strong solar flare. The global number of earthquakes with magnitude of 2.5 to 5.5 within 11 days after the solar flare has increased by 30 to 100%. A possibility of electric/electromagnetic triggering of earthquake due to space weather disturbances is supported by results of field and laboratory studies, where the earthquakes (both natural and laboratory) were initiated by injection of electrical current into the Earth crust. For the specific case of artificial electric earthquake triggering the current density at a depth of earthquake, sources are comparable with estimations of a density of telluric currents induced by variation of space weather conditions due to solar flares. Acknowledgment: The work was supported by RFBR grant No. 18-05-00255.

Keywords: solar flare, earthquake activity, earthquake triggering, solar-terrestrial relations

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Authors: Mechlouch Ridha Fethi

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This paper presents a recent mathematical model in political sciences concerning democracy. The model is represented by a logarithmic equation linking the Relative Index of Democracy (RID) to Participation Ratio (PR). Firstly the meanings of the different parameters of the model were presented; and the variation curve of the RID according to PR with different critical areas was discussed. Secondly, the model was applied to a virtual group where we show that the model can be applied depending on the gender. Thirdly, it was observed that the model can be extended to different language models of democracy and that little use to assess the state of democracy for some International organizations like UNO.

Keywords: democracy, mathematic, modelization, quantification

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Authors: Bernt O. Myrvold

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Lignosulfonates (LS) find widespread use as dispersants, binders, anti-oxidants, and fillers. In most of these applications LS is used in formulation together with a number of other components. To better understand the interactions between LS and water and possibly other components in a formulation, the Hansen solubility parameters have been determined for some LS. The Hansen solubility parameter splits the total solubility parameter into three components, the dispersive, polar and hydrogen bonding part. The Hansen solubility parameter was determined by comparing the solubility in a number of solvents and solvent mixtures. We have found clear differences in the solubility parameters, with softwood LS being closer to water than hardwood LS.

Keywords: Hansen solubility parameter, lignosulfonate (LS), solubility, solvent

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Authors: Bülent Kantar, Numan Ünaldı

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This paper presents a new method which includes robust and invisible digital watermarking on images that is colored. Colored images are used as watermark. Frequency region is used for digital watermarking. Discrete wavelet transform and discrete stationary wavelet transform are used for frequency region transformation. Low, medium and high frequency coefficients are obtained by applying the two-level discrete wavelet transform to the original image. Low frequency coefficients are obtained by applying one level discrete stationary wavelet transform separately to all frequency coefficient of the two-level discrete wavelet transformation of the original image. For every low frequency coefficient obtained from one level discrete stationary wavelet transformation, watermarks are added. Watermarks are added to all frequency coefficients of two-level discrete wavelet transform. Totally, four watermarks are added to original image. In order to get back the watermark, the original and watermarked images are applied with two-level discrete wavelet transform and one level discrete stationary wavelet transform. The watermark is obtained from difference of the discrete stationary wavelet transform of the low frequency coefficients. A total of four watermarks are obtained from all frequency of two-level discrete wavelet transform. Obtained watermark results are compared with real watermark results, and a similarity result is obtained. A watermark is obtained from the highest similarity values. Proposed methods of watermarking are tested against attacks of the geometric and image processing. The results show that proposed watermarking method is robust and invisible. All features of frequencies of two level discrete wavelet transform watermarking are combined to get back the watermark from the watermarked image. Watermarks have been added to the image by converting the binary image. These operations provide us with better results in getting back the watermark from watermarked image by attacking of the geometric and image processing.

Keywords: watermarking, DWT, DSWT, copy right protection, RGB

Procedia PDF Downloads 516

Authors: Madhur Verma, Meena Rajput, Kamal Kishore

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Background: The general view that obesity is a problem of prosperous Western countries has been repealed with substantial evidence showing that middle-income countries like India are now at the heart of a fat explosion. Neck circumference has evolved as a promising index to measure obesity, because of the convenience of its use, even in culture sensitive population. Objectives: To determine whether neck circumference (NC) was associated with overweight and obesity and contributed to the prediction like other classical anthropometric indices. Methodology: Cross-sectional study consisting of 1080 adults (> 19 years) selected through Multi-stage random sampling between August 2013 and September 2014 using the pretested semi-structured questionnaire. After recruitment, the demographic and anthropometric parameters [BMI, Waist & Hip Circumference (WC, HC), Waist to hip ratio (WHR), waist to height ratio (WHtR), body fat percentage (BF %), neck circumference (NC)] were recorded & calculated as per standard procedures. Analysis was done using appropriate statistical tests. (SPSS, version 21.) Results: Mean age of study participants was 44.55+15.65 years. Overall prevalence of overweight & obesity as per modified criteria for Asian Indians (BMI ≥ 23 kg/m2) was 49.62% (Females-51.48%; Males-47.77%). Also, number of participants having high WHR, WHtR, BF%, WC & NC was 827(76.57%), 530(49.07%), 513(47.5%), 537(49.72%) & 376(34.81%) respectively. Variation of NC, BMI & BF% with age was non- significant. In both the genders, as per the Pearson’s correlational analysis, neck circumference was positively correlated with BMI (men, r=0.670 {p < 0.05}; women, r=0.564 {p < 0.05}), BF% (men, r=0.407 {p < 0.05}; women, r= 0.283 {p < 0.05}), WC (men, r=0.598{p < 0.05}; women, r=0.615 {p < 0.05}), HC (men, r=0.512{p < 0.05}; women, r=0.523{p < 0.05}), WHR (men, r= 0.380{p > 0.05}; women, r=0.022{p > 0.05}) & WHtR (men, r=0.318 {p < 0.05}; women, r=0.396{p < 0.05}). On ROC analysis, NC showed good discriminatory power to identify obesity with AUC (AUC for males: 0.822 & females: 0.873; p- value < 0.001) with maximum sensitivity and specificity at a cut-off value of 36.55 cms for males & 34.05cms for females. Conclusion: NC has fair validity as a community-based screener for overweight and obese individuals in the study context and has also correlated well with other classical indices.

Keywords: neck circumference, obesity, anthropometric indices, body fat percentage

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Authors: Abdelhadi Lotfi, Abdelkader Benyettou

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In this work, a training algorithm for probabilistic neural networks (PNN) is presented. The algorithm addresses one of the major drawbacks of PNN, which is the size of the hidden layer in the network. By using a cross-validation training algorithm, the number of hidden neurons is shrunk to a smaller number consisting of the most representative samples of the training set. This is done without affecting the overall architecture of the network. Performance of the network is compared against performance of standard PNN for different databases from the UCI database repository. Results show an important gain in network size and performance.

Keywords: classification, probabilistic neural networks, network optimization, pattern recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Henriette Scholtz

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Excessive executive directors’ remuneration remains a major concern for many stakeholders and are some of the factors to blame for the recent global financial crisis. The objective of this study was to examine whether certain firm characteristics are an effective way of protecting shareholders’ interests with respect to executive directors’ remuneration. To achieve this, an ordinary least squares model was used to test the relationship between the remuneration of executive directors and a number of firm and corporate governance characteristics to determine whether these characteristics have an influence on executive directors’ remuneration of large listed companies in South Africa. It was found that corporate governance reforms relating to institutional ownership, shareholder voting on the remuneration policy and the number of remuneration committee meetings acts as an effective governance tool to protect shareholder’s interests with regard to executive remuneration. There is no evidence that the number of non-executive directors on the remuneration committee has an influence on the executive directors’ remuneration.

Keywords: executive directors’ remuneration, agency theory, corporate governance, remuneration committee, directors’ shareholding, institutional ownership

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: I. Wiemann, N. Weiß, E. Schlücker, M. Wensing

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A very promising alternative to compression or cryogenics is the chemical storage of hydrogen by liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC). These carriers enable high energy density and allow, at the same time, efficient and safe storage under ambient conditions without leakage losses. Another benefit of this storage medium is the possibility of transporting it using already available infrastructure for the transport of fossil fuels. Efficient use of LOHC is related to precise process control, which requires a number of sensors in order to measure all relevant process parameters, for example, to measure the level of hydrogen loading of the carrier. The degree of loading is relevant for the energy content of the storage carrier and simultaneously represents the modification in the chemical structure of the carrier molecules. This variation can be detected in different physical properties like permittivity, viscosity, or density. E.g., each degree of loading corresponds to different viscosity values. Conventional measurements currently use invasive viscosity measurements or near-line measurements to obtain quantitative information. This study investigates permittivity changes resulting from changes in hydrogenation degree (chemical structure) and temperature. Based on calibration measurements, the degree of loading and temperature of LOHC can thus be determined by comparatively simple permittivity measurements in a cavity resonator. Subsequently, viscosity and density can be calculated. An experimental setup with a heating device and flow test bench was designed. By varying temperature in the range of 293,15 K -393,15 K and flow velocity up to 140 mm/s, corresponding changes in the resonation frequency were determined in the hundredths of the GHz range. This approach allows inline process monitoring of hydrogenation of the liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC).

Keywords: hydrogen loading, LOHC, measurement, permittivity, viscosity

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Authors: Okafor E. Ijeoma, Isimi C. Yetunde, Okoh E. Judith, Kunle O. Olobayo, Emeje O. Martins

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Starch has gained interest as a renewable and environmentally compatible polymer due to the increase in its use. However, starch by itself could not be satisfactorily applied in industrial processes due to some inherent disadvantages such as its hydrophilic character, poor mechanical properties, its inability to withstand processing conditions such as extreme temperatures, diverse pH, high shear rate, freeze-thaw variation and dimensional stability. The range of physical properties of parent starch can be enlarged by chemical modification which invariably enhances their use in a number of applications found in industrial processes and food manufacture. In this study, Manihot esculentus starch was subjected to modification by oxidation. Fourier Transmittance Infra- Red (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies were used to confirm the synthesis while Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X- Ray Diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the new polymer. DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) free radical assay was used to determine the antioxidant property of the oxidized starch. Our results show that the modification had no significant effect on the foaming capacity as well as on the emulsion capacity. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that oxidation did not alter the predominantly circular-shaped starch granules, while the X-ray pattern of both starch, native and modified were similar. FTIR results revealed a new band at 3007 and 3283cm-1. Differential scanning calorimetry returned two new endothermic peaks in the oxidized starch with an improved gelation capacity and increased enthalpy of gelatinization. The IC50 of oxidized starch was notably higher than that of the reference standard, ascorbic acid.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, DPPH, M. esculentus, oxidation, starch

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Authors: Michal Kielbik, Izabela Szulc-Kielbik, Anna Brzostek, Jaroslaw Dziadek, Magdalena Klink

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The goal of many research groups in the world is to find new components that are important for survival of mycobacteria in the host cells. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses a number of enzymes degrading cholesterol that are considered to be an important factor for its survival and persistence in host macrophages. One of them - cholesterol oxidase (ChoD), although not being essential for cholesterol degradation, is discussed as a virulence compound, however its involvement in macrophages’ response to Mtb is still not sufficiently determined. The recognition of tubercle bacilli antigens by pathogen recognition receptors is crucial for the initiation of the host innate immune response. An important receptor that has been implicated in the recognition and/or uptake of Mtb is Toll-like receptor type 2 (TLR2). Engagement of TLR2 results in the activation and phosphorylation of intracellular signaling proteins including IRAK-1 and -4, TRAF-6, which in turn leads to the activation of target kinases and transcription factors responsible for bactericidal and pro-inflammatory response of macrophages. The aim of these studies was a detailed clarification of the role of Mtb cholesterol oxidase as a virulence factor affecting the TLR2 signaling pathway in human macrophages. As human macrophages the THP-1 differentiated cells were applied. The virulent wild-type Mtb strain (H37Rv), its mutant lacking a functional copy of gene encoding cholesterol oxidase (∆choD), as well as complimented strain (∆choD–choD) were used. We tested the impact of Mtb strains on the expression of TLR2-depended signaling proteins (mRNA level, cytosolic level and phosphorylation status). The cytokine and bactericidal response of THP-1 derived macrophages infected with Mtb strains in relation to TLR2 signaling pathway dependence was also determined. We found that during the 24-hours of infection process the wild-type and complemented Mtb significantly reduced the cytosolic level and phosphorylation status of IRAK-4 and TRAF-6 proteins in macrophages, that was not observed in the case of ΔchoD mutant. Decreasement of TLR2-dependent signaling proteins, induced by wild-type Mtb, was not dependent on the activity of proteasome. Blocking of TLR2 expression, before infection, effectively prevented the induced by wild-type strain reduction of cytosolic level and phosphorylation of IRAK-4. None of the strains affected the surface expression of TLR2. The mRNA level of IRAK-4 and TRAF-6 genes were significantly increased in macrophages 24 hours post-infection with either of tested strains. However, the impact of wild-type Mtb strain on both examined genes was significantly stronger than its ΔchoD mutant. We also found that wild-type strain stimulated macrophages to release high amount of immunosuppressive IL-10, accompanied by low amount of pro-inflammatory IL-8 and bactericidal nitric oxide in comparison to mutant lacking cholesterol oxidase. The influence of wild-type Mtb on this type of macrophages' response strongly dependent on fully active IRAK-1 and IRAK-4 signaling proteins. In conclusion, Mtb using cholesterol oxidase causes the over-activation of TLR2 signaling proteins leading to the reduction of their cytosolic level and activity resulting in the modulation of macrophages response to allow its intracellular survival. Supported by grant: 2014/15/B/NZ6/01565, National Science Center, Poland

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, cholesterol oxidase, macrophages, TLR2-dependent signaling pathway

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Authors: Chih-Mei Wang, Jon-Chao Hong, Jian-Hong Ye, Jing-Yun Fan, Chiao-Fei Lin

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The value of a certificate is to implement the criteria for evaluating work ability. Some professional certificates may make people feel good, but they are not useful in the workplace. To address this issue, this study is based on the expectancy-value model to take financial certificates as an example to explore how participants perceived the value of obtaining certification related to their usage perception of career promotion and salary increase. A total of 339 valid samples were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling; the results showed that the number of professional certificates was not significantly correlated with career promotion, but the number of professional certificates is negatively related to salary and benefits (S&B), while career promotion and S&B were positively related to job performance. The results show that the number of professional certificates does not play a significant role in the expectancy-value model. Therefore, professional certifications related to a basic level of finance was not expected to obtain in Taiwan's financial industry, and it is important to study the usefulness of some other certificates in other competitive industry.

Keywords: career promotion, certificate, compensation and benefits, goal-directed behaviors, Job performance

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Authors: Yang Jian-Hong, Zhang Ren-Cheng, Huang Li

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Arc fault is one of the main inducements of electric fires. Arc Fault Detection Device (AFDD) can detect arc fault effectively. Arc fault detections and unhooking standards are the keys to AFDD practical application. First, an arc fault continuous production system was developed, which could count the arc half wave number. Then, Combining with the UL1699 standard, ignition probability curve of cotton and unhooking time of various currents intensity were obtained by experiments. The combustion degree of arc fault could be expressed effectively by arc area. Experiments proved that electric fires would be misjudged or missed only using arc half wave number as AFDD unhooking basis. At last, Practical tests were carried out on the self-developed AFDD system. The result showed that actual AFDD unhooking time was the sum of arc half wave cycling number, Arc wave identification time and unhooking mechanical operation time And the first two shared shorter time. Unhooking time standard depended on the shortest mechanical operation time.

Keywords: arc fault detection device, arc area, arc half wave, unhooking time, arc fault

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Authors: Amamra Ryma, Djebar Mohamed Reda, Moumeni Ouissem, Otmani Hadjer, Berrebbah Houria

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The problem of environmental contamination by the excessive use of organics cannot be neglected. Extensive application is usually companied with serious problems and health risk. It is established that many chemicals, in common use, can produce some toxic effects on biological systems through their mode of action or by production of free radicals that damage all cell compounds. Deltamethrin, a widely used type II pyrethroid pesticide, is one of the most common contaminants in freshwater aquatic system. In this study, we investigate the effects of deltamethrin exposure on the induction of oxidative stress to the freshwater ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia. After the treatment of paramecium cells with increasing concentrations of insecticide, we followed up the growth kinetics, generation time and the percentage response. Also, we studied the variation in biomarkers of stress such as: GSH content, GST, GPX and CAT activities. Our results showed a significant decrease in the proliferation of cells correlated by the decrease in generation number and the increase in generation time. Also, we noted an inhibition in the percentage response. The monitoring of biomarkers revealed depletion in GSH content in a proportional and dose dependent manner accompanied by an increase in the GST activity. In parallel, a strong induction in the CAT and GPX activities was noted specially for the highest dose. In summary, under the current experimental conditions, deltamethrin is highly toxic to the freshwater ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia. Exposure to low concentrations showed significant adverse on growth accompanied with the induction of oxidative damage supported by the decrease in GSH content and the intensification of the antioxidant enzymes.

Keywords: deltamethrin, Paramecium tetraurelia, growth, oxidative stress, biomarkers, antioxidant

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Authors: Changmin Jiang

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In this paper, we build a theoretical model to investigate the relationship between two recent trends in airline frequent-flyer programs (FFPs): the adoption of the “coalition” business model with other commercial partners, and the separation from airlines’ operations. We show that commercial partners benefit from teaming up with FFP, while increasing the number of commercial partners will increase the total profit; it reduces the average profit of the parties involved. Furthermore, we show that the number of commercial partners of an FFP is negatively related with the benefit to keep the FFP in-house.

Keywords: frequent flyer program, coalition, commercial partners, spin-off

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: Karwan K. Abdalrahman

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Due to the impacts of the internet and social media, new words and expressions enter the Kurdish language, and a number of familiarized words get new meanings. The case is especially true when the technique of transliteration is taken into consideration. Through transliteration, a number of selected words widely used on social media are entering the Kurdish media discourse. In addition, a selected number of Kurdish words get new cultural and psychological meanings. The significance of this study is to delve into the process of word formation in the Kurdish language and explore how new words and expressions are formed by social media users and got public recognition. First, the study investigates the English words that enter the Kurdish language through different social media platforms. All of these words are transliterated and are used in spoken and written discourses. Second, there are a specific number of Kurdish words that got new meanings in social media. As for these words, there are psychological and cultural factors that make people use these expressions for specific political reasons. It can be argued that they have an indirect political message along with their new linguistic usages. This is a qualitative study analyzing video content that was published in the last two years on social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube. The collected data was analyzed based on the themes discussed above. The findings of the research can be summarized as follows: the widely used transliterated words have entered both the spoken and written discourses. Authors in online and offline newspapers, TV presenters, literary writers, columnists are using these new expressions in their writings. As for the Kurdish words with new meanings, they are also widely used for psychological, cultural, and political reasons.

Keywords: Kurdish language, social media, new meanings, transliteration, vocabulary

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Authors: Haytam Kasem

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The problem of quick and easy reversible attachment has become of great importance in different fields of technology. For the reason, during the last decade, a new emerging field of adhesion science has been developed. Essentially inspired by some animals and insects, which during their natural evolution have developed fantastic biological attachment systems allowing them to adhere and run on walls and ceilings of uneven surfaces. Potential applications of engineering bio-inspired solutions include climbing robots, handling systems for wafers in nanofabrication facilities, and mobile sensor platforms, to name a few. However, despite the efforts provided to apply bio-inspired patterned adhesive-surfaces to the biomedical field, they are still in the early stages compared with their conventional uses in other industries mentioned above. In fact, there are some critical issues that still need to be addressed for the wide usage of the bio-inspired patterned surfaces as advanced biomedical platforms. For example, surface durability and long-term stability of surfaces with high adhesive capacity should be improved, but also the friction and adhesion capacities of these bio-inspired microstructures when contacting rough surfaces. One of the well-known prototypes for bio-inspired attachment systems is biomimetic wall-shaped hierarchical microstructure for gecko-like attachments. Although physical background of these attachment systems is widely understood, the influence of counter-face roughness and its relationship with the friction force generated when sliding against wall-shaped hierarchical microstructure have yet to be fully analyzed and understood. To elucidate the effect of the counter-face roughness on the friction of biomimetic wall-shaped hierarchical microstructure we have replicated the isotropic topography of 12 different surfaces using replicas made of the same epoxy material. The different counter-faces were fully characterized under 3D optical profilometer to measure roughness parameters. The friction forces generated by spatula-shaped microstructure in contact with the tested counter-faces were measured on a home-made tribometer and compared with the friction forces generated by the spatulae in contact with a smooth reference. It was found that classical roughness parameters, such as average roughness Ra and others, could not be utilized to explain topography-related variation in friction force. This has led us to the development of an integrated roughness parameter obtained by combining different parameters which are the mean asperity radius of curvature (R), the asperity density (η), the deviation of asperities high (σ) and the mean asperities angle (SDQ). This new integrated parameter is capable of explaining the variation of results of friction measurements. Based on the experimental results, we developed and validated an analytical model to predict the variation of the friction force as a function of roughness parameters of the counter-face and the applied normal load, as well.

Keywords: friction, bio-mimetic micro-structure, counter-face roughness, analytical model

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Authors: Eric Wilson Santos Cabral, Marta Monteiro Da Costa Cruz, Rodrigo Pirola Pestana, Vivian Andréa Parreira

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In the transportation sector in Brazil, there is a great challenge that is the maintenance of profit in the face of the great variation in the price of diesel. This directly affects the variable cost of transport companies. Within the railways, part of the great challenges is to overcome the annual budget, cargo and ore transported, thus reducing costs compared to previous years, becoming more efficient each year. Within this scenario, the railway companies are looking for effective measures, aiming at reducing the ratio of liter of diesel consumed by KTKB (Kilometer Gross Ton multiplied by thousand). This ratio represents the indicator of energy efficiency of some railroads in Brazil and in other countries. In this study, we sought to analyze the behavior of the energy efficiency indicator on two parts: The first, with the application of technologies used in locomotives, such as the start-stop system of the diesel engine and the system of tracking and monitoring of fuel. The second, evaluation of the behavior of the variation of the type of cargo transported (loading mix). The study focused on locomotive technology will be carried out using statistical analysis, behavioral evaluation in different operating conditions, such as maneuvers for trains, service trains and freight trains. The analysis will also cover the evaluation of the loading mix made using statistical analysis of the existing railroad database, comparing the energy efficiency per loading mine and type of product. With the completion of this study, the railway undertakings should be able to better target decision-making in order to achieve substantial reductions in transport costs.

Keywords: railway transport, energy efficiency, railway technology, fuel consumption

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Authors: Wasfi Al Salamat, Shaker Al-Kharouf

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This study aims to examine the determinants of financial stability for 13 commercial banks listed on the Amman stock exchange (ASE) over the period (2007-2016) after controlling for the independent variables: return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), earnings per share (EPS), growth in gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate and debt ratio to measure the financial stability by three main variables: capital adequacy, non-performing loans and the number of returned checks. The balanced panel data statistical approach has been used for data analysis. Results are estimated by using multiple regression models. The empirical results suggested that there is statistically significant negative effect of inflation rate and debt ratio on the capital adequacy while there is statistically significant positive effect of growth in gross domestic product on capital adequacy. In contrast, there is statistically significant negative effect of return on equity and growth in gross domestic product on the non-performing loans while there is statistically significant positive effect of inflation rate on non-performing loans. Finally, there is statistically significant negative effect of growth in gross domestic product on the number of returned checks while there is statistically significant positive effect of inflation rate on the number of returned checks.

Keywords: capital adequacy, financial stability, non-performing loans, number of returned checks, ASE

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Authors: L. Sierra, N. Gambetta, M. A. Garcia-Benau, M. Orta

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Financial scandals and financial crisis have led to an international debate on the value of auditing. In recent years there have been significant legislative reforms aiming to increase markets’ confidence in audit services. In particular, there has been a significant debate on the need to improve the communication of auditors with audit reports users as a way to improve its informative value and thus, to improve audit quality. The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has proposed changes to the audit report standards. The International Standard on Auditing 701, Communicating Key Audit Matters (KAM) in the Independent Auditor's Report, has introduced new concepts that go beyond the auditor's opinion and requires to disclose the risks that, from the auditor's point of view, are more significant in the audited company information. Focusing on the companies included in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 index, this study aims to focus on the analysis of the determinants of the number of KAM disclosed by the auditor in the audit report and moreover, the analysis of the determinants of the different type of KAM reported during the period 2013-2015. To test the hypotheses in the empirical research, two different models have been used. The first one is a linear regression model to identify the client’s characteristics, industry sector and auditor’s characteristics that are related to the number of KAM disclosed in the audit report. Secondly, a logistic regression model is used to identify the determinants of the number of each KAM type disclosed in the audit report; in line with the risk-based approach to auditing financial statements, we categorized the KAM in 2 groups: Entity-level KAM and Accounting-level KAM. Regarding the auditor’s characteristics impact on the KAM disclosure, the results show that PwC tends to report a larger number of KAM while KPMG tends to report less KAM in the audit report. Further, PwC reports a larger number of entity-level risk KAM while KPMG reports less account-level risk KAM. The results also show that companies paying higher fees tend to have more entity-level risk KAM and less account-level risk KAM. The materiality level is positively related to the number of account-level risk KAM. Additionally, these study results show that the relationship between client’s characteristics and number of KAM is more evident in account-level risk KAM than in entity-level risk KAM. A highly leveraged company carries a great deal of risk, but due to this, they are usually subject to strong capital providers monitoring resulting in less account-level risk KAM. The results reveal that the number of account-level risk KAM is strongly related to the industry sector in which the company operates assets. This study helps to understand the UK audit market, provides information to auditors and finally, it opens new research avenues in the academia.

Keywords: FTSE 100, IAS 701, key audit matters, auditor’s characteristics, client’s characteristics

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Authors: Sireesha Tamada, Debraj Bhattacharjee, Pranab K. Dan, Prabha Bhola

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The most important component in an automotive transmission system is the gearbox which controls the speed of the vehicle. In an automatic transmission, the right positioning of actuators ensures efficient transmission mechanism embodiment, wherein the challenge lies in formulating the number of actuators associated with modelling a gearbox. Data with respect to actuation and gear shifting sequence has been retrieved from the available literature, including patent documents, and has been used in this proposed heuristics based methodology for modelling actuation sequence in a gear box. This paper presents a methodological approach in designing a gearbox for the purpose of obtaining an optimal shifting sequence. The computational model considers factors namely, the number of stages and gear teeth as input parameters since these two are the determinants of the gear ratios in an epicyclic gear train. The proposed transmission schematic or stick diagram aids in developing the gearbox layout design. The number of iterations and development time required to design a gearbox layout is reduced by using this approach.

Keywords: automatic transmission, gear-shifting, multi-stage planetary gearbox, rank ordered clustering

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Authors: Jian Huang, Weixin Qian, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying

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Cobalt-gadolinium catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was prepared by impregnation method with commercial silica gel, and its texture properties were characterized by BET, XRD, and TPR. The catalytic performance of the catalyst was tested in a fixed bed reactor. The results showed that the addition of gadolinium to the cobalt catalyst might decrease the size of cobalt particles, and increased the dispersion of catalytic active cobalt phases. The carbon number distributions for the catalysts was calculated by ASF equation.

Keywords: Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, cobalt-based catalysts, gadolinium, carbon number distributions

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Authors: Khalid Javed, Rashid Mahmood

Abstract:

The constitution empowers the Federal Government to collect taxes on income other than agricultural income, taxes on capital value, customs, excise duties and sales taxes. The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) and its subordinate departments administer the tax system. Each of the three principal taxes has a different history and different set of issues. For a large number of income tax payers the core of the business process is pre-audit and assessment by a tax official. This process gives considerable discretion to tax officials, with potential for abuse. Moreover, this process is also not tenable as the number of taxpayers increase. The report is focused on a total overhaul of the process and organization of income tax. Sales tax is recent and its process and organization is adjusted to the needs of an expanding tax base. These are based on self-assessment and selective audit. Similarly, in customs the accent is on accelerating and broadening the changes begun in recent years. Before long, central excise will be subsumed in sales tax. During the nineties, despite many changes in the tax regime and introduction of withholding and presumptive taxes, Federal Government tax to GDP ratio has varied narrowly around eleven percent. The tax base has grown but still remains narrow and skewed. The number of income tax filers is around one million.

Keywords: central board of revenue, GDP, sale tax, income tax

Procedia PDF Downloads 420