Search results for: random number

Authors: Kuniaki Kudo, Raviraj Solanki, Kaushal Patel, Yash Virani

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This research mainly concerns optimizing UI test automation for large-scale web applications. The test target application is the HHAexchange homecare management WEB application that seamlessly connects providers, state Medicaid programs, managed care organizations (MCOs), and caregivers through one platform with large-scale functionalities. This study focuses on user interface automation testing for the WEB application. The quality assurance team must execute many manual users interface test cases in the development process to confirm no regression bugs. The team automated 346 test cases; the UI automation test execution time was over 17 hours. The business requirement was reducing the execution time to release high-quality products quickly, and the quality assurance automation team modernized the test automation framework to optimize the execution time. The base of the WEB UI automation test environment is Selenium, and the test code is written in Python. Adopting a compilation language to write test code leads to an inefficient flow when introducing scalability into a traditional test automation environment. In order to efficiently introduce scalability into Test Automation, a scripting language was adopted. The scalability implementation is mainly implemented with AWS's serverless technology, an elastic container service. The definition of scalability here is the ability to automatically set up computers to test automation and increase or decrease the number of computers running those tests. This means the scalable mechanism can help test cases run parallelly. Then test execution time is dramatically decreased. Also, introducing scalable test automation is for more than just reducing test execution time. There is a possibility that some challenging bugs are detected by introducing scalable test automation, such as race conditions, Etc. since test cases can be executed at same timing. If API and Unit tests are implemented, the test strategies can be adopted more efficiently for this scalability testing. However, in WEB applications, as a practical matter, API and Unit testing cannot cover 100% functional testing since they do not reach front-end codes. This study applied a scalable UI automation testing strategy to the large-scale homecare management system. It confirmed the optimization of the test case execution time and the detection of a challenging bug. This study first describes the detailed architecture of the scalable test automation environment, then describes the actual performance reduction time and an example of challenging issue detection.

Keywords: aws, elastic container service, scalability, serverless, ui automation test

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Cassandra Hansen, Paul Doherty, Chris Ferner, German Whitley, Holly Torpey

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Wildfire is a natural and inevitable occurrence, yet changing climatic conditions have increased the severity, frequency, and risk to human populations in the wildland/urban interface (WUI) of the Western United States. Rapid dissemination of accurate wildfire information is critical to both the Incident Management Team (IMT) and the affected community. With the advent of increasingly sophisticated information systems, GIS can now be used as a web platform for sharing geographic information in new and innovative ways, such as virtual story map applications. Crowdsourced information can be extraordinarily useful when coupled with authoritative information. Information abounds in the form of social media, emergency alerts, radio, and news outlets, yet many of these resources lack a spatial component when first distributed. In this study, we describe how twenty-eight volunteer GIS professionals across nine Geographic Area Coordination Centers (GACC) sourced, curated, and distributed Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) from authoritative social media accounts focused on disseminating information about wildfires and public safety. The combination of fire progression maps with VGI incident information helps answer three critical questions about an incident, such as: where the first started. How and why the fire behaved in an extreme manner and how we can learn from the fire incident's story to respond and prepare for future fires in this area. By adding a spatial component to that shared information, this team has been able to visualize shared information about wildfire starts in an interactive map that answers three critical questions in a more intuitive way. Additionally, long-term social and technical impacts on communities are examined in relation to situational awareness of the disaster through map layers and agency links, the number of views in a particular region of a disaster, community involvement and sharing of this critical resource. Combined with a GIS platform and disaster VGI applications, this workflow and information become invaluable to communities within the WUI and bring spatial awareness for disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery. This study highlights progression maps as the ultimate storytelling mechanism through incident case studies and demonstrates the impact of VGI and sophisticated applied cartographic methodology make this an indispensable resource for authoritative information sharing.

Keywords: storytelling, wildfire progression maps, volunteered geographic information, spatial and temporal

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Anne Hovgaard Jorgensen

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This study investigates how Muslim fathers in Denmark are struggling to overcome notions of mistrust from teachers and educators. Starting from school-home-cooperation (parent conferences, school-home communication, etc.), the study finds that many Muslim fathers do not feel acknowledged as a resource in the upbringing of their children. To explain these experiences further, the study suggest the notion of ‘mistrusted masculinity’ to grasp the controlling image these fathers meet in various schools and child-care-institutions in the Danish Welfare state. The paper is based on 9 months of fieldwork in a Danish school, a social housing area and in various ‘father groups’ in Denmark. Additional, 50 interviews were conducted with fathers, children, mothers, schoolteachers, and educators. By using Connell's concepts 'hegemonic' and 'marginalized' masculinity as steppingstones, the paper argues that these concepts might entail a too static and dualistic picture of gender. By applying the concepts of 'emergent masculinity' and 'emergent fatherhood' the paper brings along a long needed discussion of how Muslim men in Denmark are struggling to overcome and change the controlling images of them as patriarchal and/or ignorant fathers regarding the upbringing of their children. As such, the paper shows how Muslim fathers are taking action to change this controlling image, e.g. through various ‘father groups’. The paper is inspired by the phenomenological notions of ‘experience´ and in the light of this notion, the paper tells the fathers’ stories about their upbringing of their children and aspirations for fatherhood. These stories share light on how these fathers take care of their children in everyday life. The study also shows that the controlling image of these fathers have affected how some Muslim fathers are actually being fathers. The study shows that fear of family-interventions from teachers or social workers e.g. have left some Muslim fathers in a limbo, being afraid of scolding their children, and being confused of ‘what good parenting in Denmark is’. This seems to have led to a more lassie fair upbringing than these fathers actually wanted. This study is important since anthropologists generally have underexposed the notion of fatherhood, and how fathers engage in the upbringing of their children. Over more, the vast majority of qualitative studies of fatherhood have been on white middleclass fathers, living in nuclear families. In addition, this study is crucial at this very moment due to the major refugee crisis in Denmark and in the Western world in general. A crisis, which has resulted in a vast number of scare campaigns against Islam from different nationalistic political parties, which enforces the negative controlling image of Muslim fathers.

Keywords: fatherhood, Muslim fathers, mistrust, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Najeebullah Soomro, Habib Noorbhai, Mariam Soomro, Ross Sanders

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The demands on cricketers are increasing with more matches being played in a shorter period of time with a greater intensity. A ten year report on injury incidence for Australian elite cricketers between the 2000- 2011 seasons revealed an injury incidence rate of 17.4%.1. In the 2009–10 season, 24 % of Australian fast bowlers missed matches through injury. 1 Injury rates are even higher in junior cricketers with an injury incidence of 25% or 2.9 injuries per 100 player hours reported. 2 Traditionally, injury surveillance has relied on the use of paper based forms or complex computer software. 3,4 This makes injury reporting laborious for the staff involved. The purpose of this presentation is to describe a smartphone based mobile application as a means of improving injury surveillance in cricket. Methods: The researchers developed CricPredict mobile App for the Android platforms, the world’s most widely used smartphone platform. It uses Qt SDK (Software Development Kit) as IDE (Integrated Development Environment). C++ was used as the programming language with the Qt framework, which provides us with cross-platform abilities that will allow this app to be ported to other operating systems (iOS, Mac, Windows) in the future. The wireframes (graphic user interface) were developed using Justinmind Prototyper Pro Edition Version (Ver. 6.1.0). CricPredict enables recording of injury and training status conveniently and immediately. When an injury is reported automated follow-up questions include site of injury, nature of injury, mechanism of injury, initial treatment, referral and action taken after injury. Direct communication with the player then enables assessment of severity and diagnosis. CricPredict also allows the coach to maintain and track each player’s attendance at matches and training session. Workload data can also be recorded by either the player or coach by recording the number of balls bowled or played in a day. This is helpful in formulating injury rates and time lost due to injuries. All the data are stored at a secured password protected data server. Outcomes and Significance: Use of CricPredit offers a simple, user friendly tool for the coaching or medical staff associated with teams to predict, record and report injuries. This system will assist teams to capture injury data with ease thus allowing better understanding of injuries associated with cricket and potentially optimize the performance of such cricketers.

Keywords: injury, cricket, surveillance, smartphones, mobile

Procedia PDF Downloads 459

Authors: P. Crosby, Shiva Krishna Pavuluri, S. Rajkumar

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Purpose: Occupied built-up space can be broadly classified as air-conditioned and naturally ventilated. Regardless of the building type, the objective of all occupied built-up space is to provide a thermally acceptable environment for human occupancy. Considering this aspect, air-conditioned spaces allow a greater degree of flexibility to control and modulate the comfort parameters during the operation phase. However, in the case of naturally ventilated space, a number of design features favoring indoor thermal comfort should be mandatorily conceptualized starting from the design phase. One such primary design feature that requires to be prioritized is, selection of building envelope material, as it decides the flow of energy from outside environment to occupied spaces. Research Methodology: In India and many countries across globe, the standardized material used for building envelope is re-enforced concrete (i.e. M-25 grade concrete). The comfort inside the RC built environment for warm & humid climate (i.e. mid-day temp of 30-35˚C, diurnal variation of 5-8˚C & RH of 70-90%) is unsatisfying to say the least. This study is mainly focused on reviewing the impact of mix design of conventional M25 grade concrete on inside thermal comfort. In this mix design, air entrainment in the range of 2000 to 2100 kg/m3 is introduced to reduce the density of M-25 grade concrete. Thermal performance parameters & indoor comfort indices are analyzed for the proposed mix and compared in relation to the conventional M-25 grade. There are diverse methodologies which govern indoor comfort calculation. In this study, three varied approaches specifically a) Indian Adaptive Thermal comfort model, b) Tropical Summer Index (TSI) c) Air temperature less than 33˚C & RH less than 70% to calculate comfort is adopted. The data required for the thermal comfort study is acquired by field measurement approach (i.e. for the new mix design) and simulation approach by using design builder (i.e. for the conventional concrete grade). Findings: The analysis points that the Tropical Summer Index has a higher degree of stringency in determining the occupant comfort band whereas also providing a leverage in thermally tolerable band over & above other methodologies in the context of the study. Another important finding is the new mix design ensures a 10% reduction in indoor air temperature (IAT) over the outdoor dry bulb temperature (ODBT) during the day. This translates to a significant temperature difference of 6 ˚C IAT and ODBT.

Keywords: Indian adaptive thermal comfort, indoor air temperature, thermal comfort, tropical summer index

Procedia PDF Downloads 322

Authors: Barbara Eschen Danielsen, Morten Niels Baxter, Per Sieverts Nielsen

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Europe is currently in an energy and climate crisis, which requires more sustainable solutions than what has been used to before. Europe uses 40% of its energy in buildings so there has come a significant focus on trying to find and commit to new initiatives to reduce energy consumption in buildings. The European Union has introduced a building standard in 2021 to be upheld by 2030. This new building standard requires a significant reduction of CO2 emissions from both privately and publicly owned buildings. The overall aim is to achieve a zero-emission building stock by 2050. EU is revising the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) as part of the “Fit for 55” package. It was adopted on March 14, 2023. The new directive’s main goal is to renovate the least energy-efficient homes in Europe. There will be a cost for the home owner with a renovation project, but there will also be an improvement in energy efficiency and, therefore, a cost reduction. After the implementation of the EU directive, many homeowners will have to focus their attention on how to make the most effective energy renovations of their homes. The new EU directive will affect almost one million Danish homes (30%), as they do not meet the newly implemented requirements for energy efficiency. The problem for this one mio homeowners is that it is not easy to decide which renovation project they should consider. The houses are build differently and there are many possible solutions. The main focus of this paper is to identify the most impactful solutions and evaluate their impact and evaluating them with a criteria based sustainability indicator framework. The result of the analysis give each homeowner an insight in the various renovation options, including both advantages and disadvantages with the aim of avoiding unnecessary costs and errors while minimizing their CO2 footprint. Given that the new EU directive impacts a significant number of home owners and their homes both in Denmark and the rest of the European Union it is crucial to clarify which renovations have the most environmental impact and most cost effective. We have evaluated the 10 most impactful solutions and evaluated their impact in an indicator framework which includes 9 indicators and covers economic, environmental as well as social factors. We have packaged the result of the analysis in three packages, the most cost effective (short term), the most cost effective (long-term) and the most sustainable. The results of the study secure transparency and thereby provides homeowners with a tool to help their decision-making. The analysis is based on mostly qualitative indicators, but it will be possible to evaluate most of the indicators quantitively in a future study.

Keywords: energy efficiency, building renovation, renovation solutions, building energy performance criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Ya-Chu May Tsai, Ibrahim Yacoub, Eoin Casey

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The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) advises that smoking should not be permitted within 12 hours of surgery. There is little information in the medical literature regarding patients awareness of perioperative smoking cessation recommendations nor their appreciation of how smoking might negatively impact their perioperative course. The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of current smokers presenting to Werribee Mercy Hospital (WMH) and to evaluate if pre-operative provision of both written and verbal pre-operative advice was, 1: Effective in improving patient awareness of the benefits of pre-operative smoking cessation, 2: Associated with an increase in the number of elective surgical patients who stop smoking at least 12 hours pre-operatively. Methods: The initial survey included all patients who presented to WMH for elective surgical procedures from 19 – 30 September 2016 using a standardized questionnaire focused on patients’ smoking history and their awareness of smoking cessation preoperatively. The intervention consisted of a standard pre-operative phone call to all patients advising them of the increased perioperative risks associated with smoking, and advised patients to cease 12 hours prior. In addition, written information on smoking cessation strategies were sent out in mail at least 1 week prior to planned procedure date to all patients. Questionnaire-based study after the intervention was conducted on day of elective procedure from 10 – 21 October 2016 inclusive. Primary outcomes measured were patient’s awareness of smoking cessation and proportion of smokers who quit >12 hours, considered a clinically meaning duration to reduce anaesthetics complications. Comparison of pre and post intervention results were made using SPSS 21.0. Results: In the pre-intervention group (n=156), 36 (22.4%) patients were current smokers, 46 were ex-smokers (29.5%) and 74 were non-smokers (48.1%). Of the smokers, 12 (33%) reported having been informed of smoking cessation prior to operation and 8 (22%) were aware of increased intra- and perioperative adverse events associated with smoking. In the post-intervention group n= 177, 38 (21.5%) patients were current smokers, 39 were ex-smokers (22.0%) and 100 were non-smokers (56.5%). Of the smokers, 32 (88.9%) reported having been informed of smoking cessation prior to operation and 35 (97.2%) reported being aware of increased intra- and perioperative adverse events associated with smoking. The median time since last smoke in the pre-intervention group was 5.5 hours (Q1-Q3 = 2-14) compared with 13 hours (Q1-Q3 = 5-24) in post intervention group. Amongst the smokers, smoking cessation at least 12 hours prior to surgery significantly increased from 27.8% pre-intervention to 52.6% post intervention (P=0.03). Conclusion: A standard preoperative phone call and written instruction on smoking cessation guidelines at time of waitlist placement increase preoperative smoking cessation rates by almost 2-fold.

Keywords: anaesthesia, audit, perioperative medicine, smoking cessation

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Mohamed Malek Khenissi, Mohamed Montassar Ben Slama, Anis Belhaj Mohamed, Moncef Saidi

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Northern Tunisia is well known by its different and complex structural and geological zones that have been the result of a geodynamic history that extends from the early Mesozoic era to the actual period. One of these zones is the salt province, where the Halokinesis process is manifested by a number of NE/SW salt structures such as Jebel Ech-Cheid which represents masses of materials characterized by a high plasticity and low density. The salt masses extrusions that have been developed due to an extension that started from the late Triassic to late Cretaceous. The evolution of salt bodies within sedimentary basins have not only contributed to modify the architecture of the basin, but it also has certain geochemical effects which touch mainly source rocks that surround it. It has been demonstrated that the presence of salt structures within sedimentary basins can influence its temperature distribution and thermal history. Moreover, it has been creating heat flux anomalies that may affect the maturity of organic matter and the timing of hydrocarbon generation. Field samples of the Bahloul source rock (Cenomanan-Tunonian) were collected from different sights from all around Ech Cheid salt structure and evaluated using Rock-eval pyrolysis and GC/MS techniques in order to assess the degree of maturity evolution and the heat flux anomalies in the different zones analyze. The Total organic Carbon (TOC) values range between 1 to 9% and the (Tmax) ranges between 424 and 445°C, also the distribution of the source rock biomarkers both saturated and aromatic changes in a regular fashions with increasing maturity and this are shown in the chromatography results such as Ts/(Ts+Tm) ratios, 22S/(22S+22R) values for C31 homohopanes, ββ/(ββ+αα)20R and 20S/(20S+20R) ratios for C29 steranes which gives a consistent maturity indications and assessment of the field samples. These analyses are carried to interpret the maturity evolution and the heat flux around Ech Cheid salt structure through the geological history. These analyses also aim to demonstrate that the salt structure can have a direct effect on the geothermal gradient of the basin and on the maturity of the Bahloul Formation source rock. The organic matter has reached different stages of thermal maturity, but delineate a general increasing maturity trend. Our study confirms that the J. Ech Cheid salt body have on the first hand: a huge influence on the local distribution of anoxic depocentre at least within Cenomanian-Turonian time. In the second hand, the thermal anomaly near the salt mass has affected the maturity of Bahloul Formation.

Keywords: Bahloul formation, depocentre, GC/MS, rock-eval

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Anirban Dey, Sukanta Kumar Dash, Bishnupada Mandal

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Carbondioxide (CO2) is a major greenhouse gas responsible for global warming and fossil fuel power plants are the main emitting sources. Therefore the capture of CO2 is essential to maintain the emission levels according to the standards. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered as an important option for stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gases and minimizing global warming effects. There are three approaches towards CCS: Pre combustion capture where carbon is removed from the fuel prior to combustion, Oxy-fuel combustion, where coal is combusted with oxygen instead of air and Post combustion capture where the fossil fuel is combusted to produce energy and CO2 is removed from the flue gases left after the combustion process. Post combustion technology offers some advantage as existing combustion technologies can still be used without adopting major changes on them. A number of separation processes could be utilized part of post –combustion capture technology. These include (a) Physical absorption (b) Chemical absorption (c) Membrane separation (d) Adsorption. Chemical absorption is one of the most extensively used technologies for large scale CO2 capture systems. The industrially important solvents used are primary amines like Monoethanolamine (MEA) and Diglycolamine (DGA), secondary amines like diethanolamine (DEA) and Diisopropanolamine (DIPA) and tertiary amines like methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and Triethanolamine (TEA). Primary and secondary amines react fast and directly with CO2 to form stable carbamates while Tertiary amines do not react directly with CO2 as in aqueous solution they catalyzes the hydrolysis of CO2 to form a bicarbonate ion and a protonated amine. Concentrated Piperazine (PZ) has been proposed as a better solvent as well as activator for CO2 capture from flue gas with a 10 % energy benefit compared to conventional amines such as MEA. However, the application of concentrated PZ is limited due to its low solubility in water at low temperature and lean CO2 loading. So following the performance of PZ its derivative 2-Aminoethyl piperazine (AEP) which is a cyclic amine can be explored as an activator towards the absorption of CO2. Vapour liquid equilibrium (VLE) in CO2 capture systems is an important factor for the design of separation equipment and gas treating processes. For proper thermodynamic modeling accurate equilibrium data for the solvent system over a wide range of temperatures, pressure and composition is essential. The present work focuses on the determination of VLE data for (AEP + H2O) system at 40 °C for various composition range.

Keywords: absorption, aminoethyl piperazine, carbondioxide, vapour liquid equilibrium

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Sungho Kim, Jaechoul Shin, Yujin Baek

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In recent years, due to the environmental impacts and time factor, etc., various type of pavement deterioration is increasing rapidly such as crack, pothole, rutting and roughness degradation. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport maintains regular pavement condition of the highway and the national highway using the pavement condition survey equipment and structural survey equipment in Korea. Local governments that maintain local roads, farm roads, etc. are difficult to maintain the pavement condition using the pavement condition survey equipment depending on economic conditions, skills shortages and local conditions such as narrow roads. This study presents a quantitative evaluation method of the pavement condition through the visual inspection to overcome these problems of roads managed by local governments. It is difficult to evaluate rutting and roughness with the naked eye. However, the condition of cracks can be evaluated with the naked eye. Linear cracks (m), area cracks (m²) and potholes (number, m²) were investigated with the naked eye every 100 meters for survey the cracks. In this paper, crack ratio was calculated using the results of the condition of cracks and pavement condition was evaluated by calculated crack ratio. The pavement condition survey equipment also investigated the pavement condition in the same section in order to evaluate the reliability of pavement condition evaluation by the calculated crack ratio. The pavement condition was evaluated through the SPI (Seoul Pavement Index) and calculated crack ratio using results of field survey. The results of a comparison between 'the SPI considering only crack ratio' and 'the SPI considering rutting and roughness either' using the equipment survey data showed a margin of error below 5% when the SPI is less than 5. The SPI 5 is considered the base point to determine whether to maintain the pavement condition. It showed that the pavement condition can be evaluated using only the crack ratio. According to the analysis results of the crack ratio between the visual inspection and the equipment survey, it has an average error of 1.86%(minimum 0.03%, maximum 9.58%). Economically, the visual inspection costs only 10% of the equipment survey and will also help the economy by creating new jobs. This paper advises that local governments maintain the pavement condition through the visual investigations. However, more research is needed to improve reliability. Acknowledgment: The author would like to thank the MOLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport). This work was carried out through the project funded by the MOLIT. The project name is 'development of 20mm grade for road surface detecting roadway condition and rapid detection automation system for removal of pothole'.

Keywords: asphalt pavement maintenance, crack ratio, evaluation of asphalt pavement condition, SPI (Seoul Pavement Index), visual investigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Dammika Bandara Herath

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A group of people who inherits a long history of existence within a particular country may be known as early inhabitants or indigenous peoples. In other words, they have not migrated to the particular territory from another part of the world and at the same time, they have inhabited the territory in issue prior to the time of a major invasion/migration. According to the UN, there are a number of unique attributes of the indigenous peoples: Self-identification as indigenous people,Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies, Distinct social, economic or political systems, Distinct language, culture and beliefs, Form non-dominant groups of society, Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities. Indigenous peoples constitute 5% of the world’s population. They are also known as tribal people, first people, native people, and indigenous people. Various indigenous communities can be found in about 90 countries in the world. Asia is home to approximately 70 % of these indigenous communities who have their own unique socio-cultural identities. Most indigenous communities remain isolated from the mainstream social, cultural, and economic institutions of their homeland. Yet, they inherited their own unique rights and responsible peculiar to their own group. These include: Protecting the socio-cultural heritage of the group, Protecting the unique identity of their community from socio-cultural changes in the mainstream communities,Protecting their land, Diffusing their cultural heritage to the future generation, Co-existing peacefully with other community .However, indigenous peoples encounter a lot of challenges as a result of socio-cultural change and legal restrictions in the world today. To assist the communities to face these challenges, the mass –media can play a significant role and the radio media has a purpose-built mechanism for this mission, known as the indigenous radio. In Sri Lanka, Dambana FM is such a radio channel based on the indigenous radio model. The target audience of this channel is the vedda / indigenous community of Sri Lanka. This study intends to the current role of the indigenous radio based on Dambana FM, of which the target audience is the indigenous community of Dambana. For the purpose of this study, interviews were conducted among fifty randomly selected respondents from the indigenous community of Dambana. As far as the findings of this study are concerned, problems in the quality of the programmed broadcasted and problems of transmission are the key issues faced by the indigenous radio in Sri Lanka. Based on the findings, the researcher seeks to develop a model to enhance the impact of the indigenous radio on its listeners in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: indigenous, communities, radio, vedda, culture

Procedia PDF Downloads 411

Authors: Ella Tyuryumina, Alexey Neznanov

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This study is an attempt to obtain reliable data on the natural history of breast cancer growth. We analyze the opportunities for using classical mathematical models (exponential and logistic tumor growth models, Gompertz and von Bertalanffy tumor growth models) to try to describe growth of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases of human breast cancer. The research aim is to improve predicting accuracy of breast cancer progression using an original mathematical model referred to CoMPaS and corresponding software. We are interested in: 1) modelling the whole natural history of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases; 2) developing adequate and precise CoMPaS which reflects relations between the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases; 3) analyzing the CoMPaS scope of application; 4) implementing the model as a software tool. The foundation of the CoMPaS is the exponential tumor growth model, which is described by determinate nonlinear and linear equations. The CoMPaS corresponds to TNM classification. It allows to calculate different growth periods of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases: 1) ‘non-visible period’ for the primary tumor; 2) ‘non-visible period’ for the secondary distant metastases; 3) ‘visible period’ for the secondary distant metastases. The CoMPaS is validated on clinical data of 10-years and 15-years survival depending on the tumor stage and diameter of the primary tumor. The new predictive tool: 1) is a solid foundation to develop future studies of breast cancer growth models; 2) does not require any expensive diagnostic tests; 3) is the first predictor which makes forecast using only current patient data, the others are based on the additional statistical data. The CoMPaS model and predictive software: a) fit to clinical trials data; b) detect different growth periods of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases; c) make forecast of the period of the secondary distant metastases appearance; d) have higher average prediction accuracy than the other tools; e) can improve forecasts on survival of breast cancer and facilitate optimization of diagnostic tests. The following are calculated by CoMPaS: the number of doublings for ‘non-visible’ and ‘visible’ growth period of the secondary distant metastases; tumor volume doubling time (days) for ‘non-visible’ and ‘visible’ growth period of the secondary distant metastases. The CoMPaS enables, for the first time, to predict ‘whole natural history’ of the primary tumor and the secondary distant metastases growth on each stage (pT1, pT2, pT3, pT4) relying only on the primary tumor sizes. Summarizing: a) CoMPaS describes correctly the primary tumor growth of IA, IIA, IIB, IIIB (T1-4N0M0) stages without metastases in lymph nodes (N0); b) facilitates the understanding of the appearance period and inception of the secondary distant metastases.

Keywords: breast cancer, exponential growth model, mathematical model, metastases in lymph nodes, primary tumor, survival

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Marine Shavlakadze

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Hydroponic greenhouses systems (production of the artificial substrate without soil) are becoming popular in the world. Mostly the system is used to grow vegetables and berries. Different countries are taking action to participate in the development of hydroponic technology and solutions such as EU members, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Scandinavian countries, etc. Many vegetables and berries are grown by hydroponics in Europe. As a result of our research, we have obtained material containing manganese and nitrogen. It became possible to produce this fertilizer by means of one-stage thermal processing, using industrial waste containing manganese (ores and sludges) and mineral substance (ammonium nitrate) that exist in Georgia. The received material is usable as a micro-fertilizer with economic efficiency. It became possible to turn practically water-insoluble manganese dioxide substance into the soluble condition from industrial waste in an indirect way. The ability to use the material as a fertilizer is predetermined by its chemical and phase composition, as the amount of the active component of the material in relation to manganese is 30%. At the same time, the active component elements presented non-ballast sustained action compounds. The studies implemented in Poland and in Georgia by us have shown that the manganese-containing micro-fertilizer- Mn(NO₃)₂ can provide the plant with nitrate nitrogen, which is a form that can be used for plants, providing the economy and simplicity of the application of fertilizers. Given the fact that the application of the manganese-containing micro-fertilizers significantly increases the productivity and improves the quality of the big number of agricultural products, it is necessary to mention that it is recommended to introduce the manganese containing fertilizers into the following cultures: sugar beet, corn, potato, vegetables, vine grape, fruit, berries, and other cultures. Also, as a result of the study, it was established that the material obtained is the predominant fertilizer for vegetable cultures in the soil. Based on the positive results of the research, we consider it expedient to conduct research in hydroponic systems, which will enable us to provide plants the required amount of manganese; we also introduce nitrogen in solution and regulate the solution of pH, which is one of the main problems in hydroponic production. The findings of our research will be used in hydroponic greenhouse farms to increase the fertility of vegetable crops and, consequently, to get bountiful and high-quality harvests, which will promote the development of hydroponic greenhouses in Georgia as well as abroad.

Keywords: hydroponics, micro-fertilizers, manganese-containing materials, industrial wastes

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Kumar Divyendra

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Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) have wide applications in areas such as water quality monitoring, marine wildlife management etc. A typical UWSN system consists of a set of sensors deployed randomly underwater which communicate with each other using acoustic links. RF communication doesn't work underwater, and GPS too isn't available underwater. Additionally Automated Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are deployed to collect data from some special nodes called Cluster Heads (CHs). These CHs aggregate data from their neighboring nodes and forward them to the AUVs using optical links when an AUV is in range. This helps reduce the number of hops covered by data packets and helps conserve energy. We consider the three-dimensional model of the UWSN. Nodes are initially deployed randomly underwater. They attach themselves to the surface using a rod and can only move upwards or downwards using a pump and bladder mechanism. We use graph theory concepts to maximize the coverage volume while every node maintaining connectivity with at least one surface node. We treat the surface nodes as landmarks and each node finds out its hop distance from every surface node. We treat these hop-distances as coordinates and use them for AUV navigation. An AUV intending to move closer to a node with given coordinates moves hop by hop through nodes that are closest to it in terms of these coordinates. In absence of GPS, multiple different approaches like Inertial Navigation System (INS), Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), computer vision-based navigation, etc., have been proposed. These systems have their own drawbacks. INS accumulates error with time, vision techniques require prior information about the environment. We propose a method that makes use of the earth's magnetic field values for navigation and combines it with other methods that simultaneously increase the coverage volume under the UWSN. The AUVs are fitted with magnetometers that measure the magnetic intensity (I), horizontal inclination (H), and Declination (D). The International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) is a mathematical model of the earth's magnetic field, which provides the field values for the geographical coordinateson earth. Researchers have developed an inverse deep learning model that takes the magnetic field values and predicts the location coordinates. We make use of this model within our work. We combine this with with the hop-by-hop movement described earlier so that the AUVs move in such a sequence that the deep learning predictor gets trained as quickly and precisely as possible We run simulations in MATLAB to prove the effectiveness of our model with respect to other methods described in the literature.

Keywords: clustering, deep learning, network backbone, parallel computing

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Anjali Uday, Yuting Wang, Andres Alfonso Pena Olare

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The Discrete Element Method is a promising approach to modeling microscopic behaviors of granular materials. The quality of the simulations however depends on the model parameters utilized. The present study focuses on calibration and validation of the discrete element parameters for Cuxhaven sand based on the experimental data from triaxial and oedometer tests. A sensitivity analysis was conducted during the sample preparation stage and the shear stage of the triaxial tests. The influence of parameters like rolling resistance, inter-particle friction coefficient, confining pressure and effective modulus were investigated on the void ratio of the sample generated. During the shear stage, the effect of parameters like inter-particle friction coefficient, effective modulus, rolling resistance friction coefficient and normal-to-shear stiffness ratio are examined. The calibration of the parameters is carried out such that the simulations reproduce the macro mechanical characteristics like dilation angle, peak stress, and stiffness. The above-mentioned calibrated parameters are then validated by simulating an oedometer test on the sand. The oedometer test results are in good agreement with experiments, which proves the suitability of the calibrated parameters. In the next step, the calibrated and validated model parameters are applied to forecast the micromechanical behavior including the evolution of contact force chains, buckling of columns of particles, observation of non-coaxiality, and sample inhomogeneity during a simple shear test. The evolution of contact force chains vividly shows the distribution, and alignment of strong contact forces. The changes in coordination number are in good agreement with the volumetric strain exhibited during the simple shear test. The vertical inhomogeneity of void ratios is documented throughout the shearing phase, which shows looser structures in the top and bottom layers. Buckling of columns is not observed due to the small rolling resistance coefficient adopted for simulations. The non-coaxiality of principal stress and strain rate is also well captured. Thus the micromechanical behaviors are well described using the calibrated and validated material parameters.

Keywords: discrete element model, parameter calibration, triaxial test, oedometer test, simple shear test

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Inyoung Park, Youngjoo Woo, Euiseong Seo

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With the advent of WebGL, Web apps are now able to provide high quality graphics by utilizing the underlying graphic processing units (GPUs). Despite that the Web apps are becoming common and popular, the current power management schemes, which were devised for the conventional native applications, are suboptimal for Web apps because of the additional layer, the Web browser, between OS and application. The Web browser running on a CPU issues GL commands, which are for rendering images to be displayed by the Web app currently running, to the GPU and the GPU processes them. The size and number of issued GL commands determine the processing load of the GPU. While the GPU is processing the GL commands, CPU simultaneously executes the other compute intensive threads. The actual user experience will be determined by either CPU processing or GPU processing depending on which of the two is the more demanded resource. For example, when the GPU work queue is saturated by the outstanding commands, lowering the performance level of the CPU does not affect the user experience because it is already deteriorated by the retarded execution of GPU commands. Consequently, it would be desirable to lower CPU or GPU performance level to save energy when the other resource is saturated and becomes a bottleneck in the execution flow. Based on this observation, we propose a power management scheme that is specialized for the Web app runtime environment. This approach incurs two technical challenges; identification of the bottleneck resource and determination of the appropriate performance level for unsaturated resource. The proposed power management scheme uses the CPU utilization level of the Window Manager to tell which one is the bottleneck if exists. The Window Manager draws the final screen using the processed results delivered from the GPU. Thus, the Window Manager is on the critical path that determines the quality of user experience and purely executed by the CPU. The proposed scheme uses the weighted average of the Window Manager utilization to prevent excessive sensitivity and fluctuation. We classified Web apps into three categories using the analysis results that measure frame-per-second (FPS) changes under diverse CPU/GPU clock combinations. The results showed that the capability of the CPU decides user experience when the Window Manager utilization is above 90% and consequently, the proposed scheme decreases the performance level of CPU by one step. On the contrary, when its utilization is less than 60%, the bottleneck usually lies in the GPU and it is desirable to decrease the performance of GPU. Even the processing unit that is not on critical path, excessive performance drop can occur and that may adversely affect the user experience. Therefore, our scheme lowers the frequency gradually, until it finds an appropriate level by periodically checking the CPU utilization. The proposed scheme reduced the energy consumption by 10.34% on average in comparison to the conventional Linux kernel, and it worsened their FPS by 1.07% only on average.

Keywords: interactive applications, power management, QoS, Web apps, WebGL

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Yitian Ren, Liyin Shen, Tao Zhou, Xiao Li

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The past urbanization process in China has brought out series of problems, the Chinese government has then positioned small towns in essential roles for implementing the strategy 'The National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)'. As the connector and transfer station of cities and countryside, small towns are important force to narrow the gap between urban and rural area, and to achieve the mission of new-type urbanization in China. The sustainable development of small towns plays crucial role because cities are not capable enough to absorb the surplus rural population. Nevertheless, there are various types of barriers hindering the sustainable development of small towns, which led to the limited development of small towns and has presented a bottleneck in Chinese urbanization process. Therefore, this paper makes deep understanding of these barriers, thus effective actions can be taken to address them. And this paper chooses the perspective of Southwest China (refers to Sichuan province, Yunnan province, Guizhou province, Chongqing Municipality City and Tibet Autonomous Region), cause the urbanization rate in Southwest China is far behind the average urbanization level of the nation and the number of small towns accounts for a great proportion in mainland China, also the characteristics of small towns in Southwest China are distinct. This paper investigates the barriers of sustainable development of small towns which located in Southwest China by using the content analysis method, combing with the field work and interviews in sample small towns, then identified and concludes 18 barriers into four dimensions, namely, institutional barriers, economic barriers, social barriers and ecological barriers. Based on the research above, questionnaire survey and data analysis are implemented, thus the key barriers hinder the sustainable development of small towns in Southwest China are identified by using fuzzy set theory, those barriers are, lack of independent financial power, lack of construction land index, financial channels limitation, single industrial structure, topography variety and complexity, which mainly belongs to institutional barriers and economic barriers. In conclusion part, policy suggestions are come up with to improve the politic and institutional environment of small town development, also the market mechanism are supposed to be introduced to the development process of small towns, which can effectively overcome the economic barriers, promote the sustainable development of small towns, accelerate the in-situ urbanization by absorbing peasants in nearby villages, and achieve the mission of new-type urbanization in China from the perspective of people-oriented.

Keywords: barrier analysis, sustainable development, small town, Southwest China

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Authors: Magali Canovi, Francesca Pucciarelli

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Over the past decade Langhe has developed as a wine tourism destination and has become increasingly popular on an international basis. Wine tourism has been recognized as an important business driver for wineries in Langhe and wine owners have taken advantage of this opportunity through developing a variety of tourism-related activities at their wineries, notably winery visits, wine tastings, cellar-door sales, B&Bs and/or restaurants. In order to promote these tourism-related activities and attract an increasing number of wine tourists, wineries have started to engage in social media. While tourism scholars are now well aware of the benefits social media provides to both travellers and service providers, the existing literature on social media from supplier’s perspective remains limited. Accordingly, this paper aims to fill this gap through providing new insights into how service providers, that is winery owners, exploit social media to promote tourism online. The paper explores the importance and the role of social media as part of wineries’ marketing strategies to promote wine tourism online. The focus lies on understanding, which motives drive winery owners to activate and implement social media activities in promoting wine tourism. A case study approach is adopted, using the North Italian wine region of Langhe in Piedmont. Empirical evidence is provided by a sample of 28 winery owners. An interpretivist approach to research is adopted in order to extend current understandings of social media within the context of wine tourism. In line with the interpretivist perspective, this paper uses discourse analysis (DA) as a methodological approach for analyzing and interpreting winery owners’ accounts. Three key findings emerge from this research. First, there is a general understanding among winery owners what social media represents an opportunity in promoting wine tourism – if not even a must have. Second, the majority of interviewed winery owners are currently applying to some extent social media to promote wine tourism online as well as to interact and engage with tourists directly. Lastly, a varying degree of usage of social media amongst wineries is identified, with some wineries not recognizing social media as a crucial tool in marketing communication strategies. On the other extent, some commonalities in strategies and platforms chosen can be detected by these wineries that actively participate in social media. In conclusion, the main contribution of this paper is that it extends current understandings of social media in the wine tourism context by offering valuable insights into how service providers perceive and engage in social media.

Keywords: langhe, promotion, social media, wine tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: T. Nguyen, H. Rennie, S. Vallance, M. Mackay

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Municipal Associations, also called Unions, Leagues or Federations of municipalities have been established worldwide to represent the interests and needs of urban governments in the face of increasing urban issues. In 2008, the Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN) joined the Asian Coalition of Community Action Program (ACCA program) and introduced the community-based upgrading approach to help Vietnamese cities to address urban upgrading issues. While this community-based upgrading approach has only been implemented in a small number of Vietnamese cities and its replication has faced certain challenges, it is worthy to explore insights on how the Association of cities of Vietnam played its role in implementing some reportedly successful projects. This paper responds to this inquiry and presents results extracted from the author’s PhD study that sets out with a general objective to critically examine how social capital dimensions (i.e., bonding, bridging and linking) were formed, mobilized and maintained in a local collective and community-based upgrading process. Methodologically, the study utilized the given general categorization of bonding, bridging and linking capitals to explore and confirm how social capital operated in the real context of a community-based upgrading process, particularly in the context of Vietnam. To do this, the study conducted two exploratory and qualitative case studies of housing projects in Friendship neighbourhood (Vinh city) and Binh Dong neighbourhood (Tan An city). This paper presents the findings of the Friendship neighbourhood case study, focusing on the role of the Vietnamese municipal association in forming, mobilizing and maintaining bonding, bridging and linking capital for a community-based upgrading process. The findings highlight the essential but uncertain role of ACVN - the organization that has a hybrid legitimacy status - in such a process. The results improve our understanding both practically and theoretically. Practically, the results offer insights into the performance of a municipal association operating in a transitioning socio-political context of Vietnam. Theoretically, the paper questions the necessity of categorizing social capital dimensions (i.e., bonding, bridging and linking) by suggesting a holistic approach of looking at social capital for urban governance issues within the Vietnamese context and perhaps elsewhere.

Keywords: bonding capital, bridging capital, municipal association, linking capital, social capital, housing upgrading

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Authors: Sittampalam Manoharan, Gary Chai, Sanaul Chowdhury, Andrew Golding

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The primary objective of this paper is to present a simplified approach to develop the structural deterioration model using traffic speed deflectometer data for flexible pavements. Maintaining assets to meet functional performance is not economical or sustainable in the long terms, and it would end up needing much more investments for road agencies and extra costs for road users. Performance models have to be included for structural and functional predicting capabilities, in order to assess the needs, and the time frame of those needs. As such structural modelling plays a vital role in the prediction of pavement performance. A structural condition is important for the prediction of remaining life and overall health of a road network and also major influence on the valuation of road pavement. Therefore, the structural deterioration model is a critical input into pavement management system for predicting pavement rehabilitation needs accurately. The Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) is a vehicle-mounted Doppler laser system that is capable of continuously measuring the structural bearing capacity of a pavement whilst moving at traffic speeds. The device’s high accuracy, high speed, and continuous deflection profiles are useful for network-level applications such as predicting road rehabilitations needs and remaining structural service life. The methodology adopted in this model by utilizing time series TSD maximum deflection (D0) data in conjunction with rutting, rutting progression, pavement age, subgrade strength and equivalent standard axle (ESA) data. Then, regression analyses were undertaken to establish a correlation equation of structural deterioration as a function of rutting, pavement age, seal age and equivalent standard axle (ESA). This study developed a simple structural deterioration model which will enable to incorporate available TSD structural data in pavement management system for developing network-level pavement investment strategies. Therefore, the available funding can be used effectively to minimize the whole –of- life cost of the road asset and also improve pavement performance. This study will contribute to narrowing the knowledge gap in structural data usage in network level investment analysis and provide a simple methodology to use structural data effectively in investment decision-making process for road agencies to manage aging road assets.

Keywords: adjusted structural number (SNP), maximum deflection (D0), equant standard axle (ESA), traffic speed deflectometer (TSD)

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Authors: Jeremy Dixon

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Safeguarding adults forms a core part of social work practice. The Government in England and Wales has made efforts to standardise practices through The Care Act 2014. The Act states that local authorities have duties to make inquiries in cases where an adult with care or support needs is experiencing or at risk of abuse and is unable to protect themselves from abuse or neglect. Despite the importance given to safeguarding adults within law there remains little research about how social workers conduct such decisions on the ground. This presentation reports on findings from a pilot research study conducted within two social work teams in a Local Authority in England. The objective of the project was to find out how social workers interpreted safeguarding duties as laid out by The Care Act 2014 with a particular focus on how workers assessed and managed risk. Ethnographic research methods were used throughout the project. This paper focusses specifically on decisions made by workers in the assessment team. The paper reports on qualitative observation and interviews with five workers within this team. Drawing on governmentality theory, this paper analyses the techniques used by workers to manage risk from a distance. A high proportion of safeguarding referrals came from care workers or managers in residential care homes. Social workers conducting safeguarding assessments were aware that they had a duty to work in partnership with these agencies. However, their duty to safeguard adults also meant that they needed to view them as potential abusers. In making judgments about when it was proportionate to refer for a safeguarding assessment workers drew on a number of common beliefs about residential care workers which were then tested in conversations with them. Social workers held the belief that residential homes acted defensively, leading them to report any accident or danger. Social workers therefore encouraged residential workers to consider whether statutory criteria had been met and to use their own procedures to manage risk. In addition social workers carried out an assessment of the workers’ motives; specifically whether they were using safeguarding procedures as a shortcut for avoiding other assessments or as a means of accessing extra resources. Where potential abuse was identified social workers encouraged residential homes to use disciplinary policies as a means of isolating and managing risk. The study has implications for understanding risk within social work practice. It shows that whilst social workers use law to govern individuals, these laws are interpreted against cultural values. Additionally they also draw on assumptions about the culture of others.

Keywords: adult safeguarding, governmentality, risk, risk assessment

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Authors: H. Scholz, P. Kuehne, G. Heckenberger

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Dietary Anion-Cation Balance (DCAB) in grazing systems under German conditions has a tendency to decrease from May until September and often are measured DCAB lower than 100 meq per kg dry matter. Lower DCAB in grass feeding system can change the metabolic status of suckler cows and often are results in acidotic metabolism. Measurement of acid-base excretion in dairy cows has been proved to a method to evaluate the acid-base status. The hypothesis was that metabolic imbalances could be identified by urine measurement in suckler cows. The farm study was conducted during the grazing seasons 2017 and 2018 and involved 7 suckler cow farms in Germany. Suckler cows were grazing during the whole time of the investigation and had no access to other feeding components. Cows had free access to water and salt block and free access to minerals (loose). The dry matter of the grass was determined at 60 °C and were then analysed for energy and nutrient content and for the Dietary Cation-Anion Balance (DCAB). Urine was collected in 50 ml-glasses and analysed for net acid-base excretion (NSBA) and the concentration of creatinine and urea in the laboratory. Statistical analysis took place with ANOVA with fixed effects of farms (1-7), month (May until September), and number of lactations (1, 2, and ≥ 3 lactations) using SPSS Version 25.0 for windows. An alpha of 0.05 was used for all statistical tests. During the grazing periods of years 2017 and 2018, an average DCAB was observed in the grass of 167 meq per kg DM. A very high mean variation could be determined from -42 meq/kg to +439 meq/kg. Reference values in relation to DCAB were described between 150 meq and 400 meq per kg DM. It was found the high chlorine content with reduced potassium level led to this reduction in DCAB at the end of the grazing period. Between the DCAB of the grass and the NSBA in urine of suckler cows was a correlation according to PEARSON of r = 0.478 (p ≤ 0.001) or after SPEARMAN of r = 0.601 (p ≤ 0.001) observed. For the control of urine values of grazing suckler cows, the wide spread of the values poses a challenge of the interpretation, especially since the DCAB is unknown. The influence of several feeding components such as chlorine, sulfur, potassium, and sodium (ions for the DCAB) and dry matter feed intake during the grazing period of suckler cows should be taken into account in further research. The results obtained show that up a decrease in the DCAB is related to a decrease in NSBA in urine of suckler cows. Monitoring of metabolic disturbances should include analysis of urine, blood, milk, and ruminal fluid.

Keywords: dietary anion-cation balance, DCAB, net acid-base excretion, NSBA, suckler cow, grazing period

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Authors: Ahmed Elaksher

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Over the last few years, significant progresses have been made and new approaches have been proposed for efficient collection of 3D spatial data from Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with reduced costs compared to imagery from satellite or manned aircraft. In these systems, a low-cost GPS unit provides the position, velocity of the vehicle, a low-quality inertial measurement unit (IMU) determines its orientation, and off-the-shelf cameras capture the images. Structure from Motion (SfM) and photogrammetry are the main tools for 3D surface reconstruction from images collected by these systems. Unlike traditional techniques, SfM allows the computation of calibration parameters using point correspondences across images without performing a rigorous laboratory or field calibration process and it is more flexible in that it does not require consistent image overlap or same rotation angles between successive photos. These benefits make SfM ideal for UAVs aerial mapping. In this paper, a direct comparison between SfM Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and those generated through traditional photogrammetric techniques was performed. Data was collected by a 3DR IRIS+ Quadcopter with a Canon PowerShot S100 digital camera. Twenty ground control points were randomly distributed on the ground and surveyed with a total station in a local coordinate system. Images were collected from an altitude of 30 meters with a ground resolution of nine mm/pixel. Data was processed with PhotoScan, VisualSFM, Imagine Photogrammetry, and a photogrammetric algorithm developed by the author. The algorithm starts with performing a laboratory camera calibration then the acquired imagery undergoes an orientation procedure to determine the cameras’ positions and orientations. After the orientation is attained, correlation based image matching is conducted to automatically generate three-dimensional surface models followed by a refining step using sub-pixel image information for high matching accuracy. Tests with different number and configurations of the control points were conducted. Camera calibration parameters estimated from commercial software and those obtained with laboratory procedures were comparable. Exposure station positions were within less than few centimeters and insignificant differences, within less than three seconds, among orientation angles were found. DEM differencing was performed between generated DEMs and few centimeters vertical shifts were found.

Keywords: UAV, photogrammetry, SfM, DEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Youlu Huang, Huanjun Jiang

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A large number of old masonry buildings built in the last century still remain in the city. It generates the problems of unsafety, obsolescence, and non-habitability. In recent years, many old buildings have been reconstructed through renovating façade, strengthening, and adding floors. However, most projects only provide a solution for a single problem. It is difficult to comprehensively solve problems of poor safety and lack of building functions. Therefore, a comprehensive functional renovation program of adding reinforced concrete frame story at the bottom via integrally lifting the building and then strengthening the building was put forward. Based on field measurement and YJK calculation software, the seismic performance of an actual three-story masonry structure in Shanghai was identified. The results show that the material strength of masonry is low, and the bearing capacity of some masonry walls could not meet the code requirements. The elastoplastic time history analysis of the structure was carried out by using SAP2000 software. The results show that under the 7 degrees rare earthquake, the seismic performance of the structure reaches 'serious damage' performance level. Based on the code requirements of the stiffness ration of the bottom frame (lateral stiffness ration of the transition masonry story and frame story), the bottom frame story was designed. The integral lifting process of the masonry building was introduced based on many engineering examples. The reinforced methods for the bottom frame structure strengthened by the steel-reinforced mesh mortar surface layer (SRMM) and base isolators, respectively, were proposed. The time history analysis of the two kinds of structures, under the frequent earthquake, the fortification earthquake, and the rare earthquake, was conducted by SAP2000 software. For the bottom frame structure, the results show that the seismic response of the masonry floor is significantly reduced after reinforced by the two methods compared to the masonry structure. The previous earthquake disaster indicated that the bottom frame is vulnerable to serious damage under a strong earthquake. The analysis results showed that under the rare earthquake, the inter-story displacement angle of the bottom frame floor meets the 1/100 limit value of the seismic code. The inter-story drift of the masonry floor for the base isolated structure under different levels of earthquakes is similar to that of structure with SRMM, while the base-isolated program is better to protect the bottom frame. Both reinforced methods could significantly improve the seismic performance of the bottom frame structure.

Keywords: old buildings, adding story, seismic strengthening, seismic performance

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Authors: Alia Aldarmaki, Ahmad Elshennawy

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There is a global shift in healthcare systems’ emphasizing engaging different stakeholders in selecting quality improvement initiatives and incorporating their preferences to improve the healthcare efficiency and outcomes. Although experts bring scientific knowledge based on the scientific model and their personal experience, other stakeholders can bring new insights and information into the decision-making process. This study attempts to explore the impact of incorporating different stakeholders’ preference in identifying the most significant criteria that should be considered in healthcare for electing the improvement projects. A Framework based on a modified Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was built. In addition to, the subject matter experts, doctors/physicians, nurses, administrators, and managers groups contribute to the selection process. The research identifies potential criteria for evaluating projects in healthcare, then utilizes FDM to capture expertise knowledge. The first round in FDM is intended to validate the identified list of criteria from experts; which includes collecting additional criteria from experts that the literature might have overlooked. When an acceptable level of consensus has been reached, a second round is conducted to obtain experts’ and other related stakeholders’ opinions on the appropriate weight of each criterion’s importance using linguistic variables. FDM analyses eliminate or retain the criteria to produce a final list of the critical criteria to select improvement projects in healthcare. Finally, reliability and validity were investigated using Cronbach’s alpha and factor analysis, respectively. Two case studies were carried out in a public hospital in the United Arab Emirates to test the framework. Both cases demonstrate that even though there were common criteria between the experts and the stakeholders, still stakeholders’ perceptions bring additional critical criteria into the evaluation process, which can impact the outcomes. Experts selected criteria related to strategical and managerial aspects, while the other participants preferred criteria related to social aspects such as health and safety and patients’ satisfaction. The health and safety criterion had the highest important weight in both cases. The analysis showed that Cronbach’s alpha value is 0.977 and all criteria have factor loading greater than 0.3. In conclusion, the inclusion of stakeholders’ perspectives is intended to enhance stakeholders’ engagement, improve transparency throughout the decision process, and take robust decisions.

Keywords: Fuzzy Delphi Method, fuzzy number, healthcare, stakeholders

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Eun Mi Ryu, Ah Young An, Ji Yeon Kang, Yeong Soo Shin, Hee Sun Kim

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As the number of fire incidents has been increased, fire incidents significantly damage economy and human lives. Especially when high strength reinforced concrete is exposed to high temperature due to a fire, deterioration occurs such as loss in strength and elastic modulus, cracking, and spalling of the concrete. Therefore, it is important to understand risk of structural safety in building structures by studying structural behaviors and rehabilitation of fire damaged high strength concrete structures. This paper aims at investigating rehabilitation effect on fire damaged high strength concrete beams using experimental and analytical methods. In the experiments, flexural specimens with high strength concrete are exposed to high temperatures according to ISO 834 standard time temperature curve. After heated, the fire damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams having different cover thicknesses and fire exposure time periods are rehabilitated by removing damaged part of cover thickness and filling polymeric mortar into the removed part. From four-point loading test, results show that maximum loads of the rehabilitated RC beams are 1.8~20.9% higher than those of the non-fire damaged RC beam. On the other hand, ductility ratios of the rehabilitated RC beams are decreased than that of the non-fire damaged RC beam. In addition, structural analyses are performed using ABAQUS 6.10-3 with same conditions as experiments to provide accurate predictions on structural and mechanical behaviors of rehabilitated RC beams. For the rehabilitated RC beam models, integrated temperature–structural analyses are performed in advance to obtain geometries of the fire damaged RC beams. After spalled and damaged parts are removed, rehabilitated part is added to the damaged model with material properties of polymeric mortar. Three dimensional continuum brick elements are used for both temperature and structural analyses. The same loading and boundary conditions as experiments are implemented to the rehabilitated beam models and nonlinear geometrical analyses are performed. Structural analytical results show good rehabilitation effects, when the result predicted from the rehabilitated models are compared to structural behaviors of the non-damaged RC beams. In this study, fire damaged high strength concrete beams are rehabilitated using polymeric mortar. From four point loading tests, it is found that such rehabilitation is able to make the structural performance of fire damaged beams similar to non-damaged RC beams. The predictions from the finite element models show good agreements with the experimental results and the modeling approaches can be used to investigate applicability of various rehabilitation methods for further study.

Keywords: fire, high strength concrete, rehabilitation, reinforced concrete beam

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Authors: M. Bagavandas

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Introduction: South Indian stone sculptures are known for their elegance and history. They are available in large numbers in different monuments situated different parts of South India. These art pieces have been studied using iconography details, but this pioneering study introduces a novel method known as iconometry which is a quantitative study that deals with measurements of different parts of icons to find answers for important unanswered questions. The main aim of this paper is to compare iconometric measurements of the sculptures with canonical proportion to determine whether the sculptors of the past had followed any of the canonical proportions prescribed in the ancient text. If not, this study recovers the proportions used for carving sculptures which is not available to us now. Also, it will be interesting to see how these sculptural proportions of different monuments belonging to different dynasties differ from one another in terms these proportions. Methods and Materials: As Indian sculptures are depicted in different postures, one way of making measurements independent of size, is to decode on a suitable measurement and convert the other measurements as proportions with respect to the chosen measurement. Since in all canonical texts of Indian art, all different measurements are given in terms of face length, it is chosen as the required measurement for standardizing the measurements. In order to compare these facial measurements with measurements prescribed in Indian canons of Iconography, the ten facial measurements like face length, morphological face length, nose length, nose-to-chin length, eye length, lip length, face breadth, nose breadth, eye breadth and lip breadth were standardized using the face length and the number of measurements reduced to nine. Each measurement was divided by the corresponding face length and multiplied by twelve and given in angula unit used in the canonical texts. The reason for multiplying by twelve is that the face length is given as twelve angulas in the canonical texts for all figures. Clustering techniques were used to determine whether the sculptors of the past had followed any of the proportions prescribed in the canonical texts of the past to carve sculptures and also to compare the proportions of sculptures of different monuments. About one hundred twenty-seven stone sculptures from four monuments belonging to the Pallava, the Chola, the Pandya and the Vijayanagar dynasties were taken up for this study. These art pieces belong to a period ranging from the eighth to the sixteenth century A.D. and all of them adorning different monuments situated in different parts of Tamil Nadu State, South India. Anthropometric instruments were used for taking measurements and the author himself had measured all the sample pieces of this study. Result: Statistical analysis of sculptures of different centers of art from different dynasties shows a considerable difference in facial proportions and many of these proportions differ widely from the canonical proportions. The retrieved different facial proportions indicate that the definition of beauty has been changing from period to period and region to region.

Keywords: iconometry, proportions, sculptures, statistics

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Authors: Igor V. Savchenko, Dmitrii A. Samoshkin

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The active study of the properties of lanthanides has begun in the late 50s of the last century, when methods for their purification were developed and metals with a relatively low content of impurities were obtained. Nevertheless, up to date, many properties of the rare earth metals (REM) have not been experimentally investigated, or insufficiently studied. Currently, the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of lanthanides have been studied most thoroughly in the low-temperature region and at moderate temperatures (near 293 K). In the high-temperature region, corresponding to the solid phase, data on the thermophysical characteristics of the REM are fragmentary and in some cases contradictory. Analysis of the literature showed that the data on the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of light REM in the liquid state are few in number, little informative (only one point corresponds to the liquid state region), contradictory (the nature of the thermal conductivity change with temperature is not reproduced), as well as the results of measurements diverge significantly beyond the limits of the total errors. Thereby our experimental results allow to fill this gap and to clarify the existing information on the heat transfer coefficients of neodymium and samarium in a wide temperature range from the melting point up to 1770 K. The measurement of the thermal conductivity of investigated metallic melts was carried out by laser flash technique on an automated experimental setup LFA-427. Neodymium sample of brand NM-1 (99.21 wt % purity) and samarium sample of brand SmM-1 (99.94 wt % purity) were cut from metal ingots and then ones were annealed in a vacuum (1 mPa) at a temperature of 1400 K for 3 hours. Measuring cells of a special design from tantalum were used for experiments. Sealing of the cell with a sample inside it was carried out by argon-arc welding in the protective atmosphere of the glovebox. The glovebox was filled with argon with purity of 99.998 vol. %; argon was additionally cleaned up by continuous running through sponge titanium heated to 900–1000 K. The general systematic error in determining the thermal conductivity of investigated metallic melts was 2–5%. The approximation dependences and the reference tables of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity coefficients were developed. New reliable experimental data on the transport properties of the REM and their changes in phase transitions can serve as a scientific basis for optimizing the industrial processes of production and use of these materials, as well as ones are of interest for the theory of thermophysical properties of substances, physics of metals, liquids and phase transformations.

Keywords: high temperatures, laser flash technique, liquid state, metallic melt, rare earth metals, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity

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Authors: Markus Nordlund, Arkadiusz K. Kuczaj

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Philip Morris International (PMI) is developing a range of novel tobacco products with the potential to reduce individual risk and population harm in comparison to smoking cigarettes. One of these products is the Tobacco Heating System 2.2 (THS 2.2), (named as the Electrically Heated Tobacco System (EHTS) in this paper), already commercialized in a number of countries (e.g., Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Portugal and Romania). During use, the patented EHTS heats a specifically designed tobacco product (Electrically Heated Tobacco Product (EHTP)) when inserted into a Holder (heating device). The EHTP contains tobacco material in the form of a porous plug that undergoes a controlled heating process to release chemical compounds into vapors, from which an aerosol is formed during cooling. The aim of this work was to investigate the aerosol formation characteristics for realistic operating conditions of the EHTS as well as for relevant gas mixture compositions measured in the EHTP aerosol consisting mostly of water, glycerol and nicotine, but also other compounds at much lower concentrations. The nucleation process taking place in the EHTP during use when operated in the Holder has therefore been modeled numerically using an extended Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) for multicomponent gas mixtures. Results from the performed simulations demonstrate that aerosol droplets are formed only in the presence of an aerosol former being mainly glycerol. Minor compounds in the gas mixture were not able to reach a supersaturated state alone and therefore could not generate aerosol droplets from the multicomponent gas mixture at the operating conditions simulated. For the analytically characterized aerosol composition and estimated operating conditions of the EHTS and EHTP, glycerol was shown to be the main aerosol former triggering the nucleation process in the EHTP. This implies that according to the CNT, an aerosol former, such as glycerol needs to be present in the gas mixture for an aerosol to form under the tested operating conditions. To assess if these conclusions are sensitive to the initial amount of the minor compounds and to include and represent the total mass of the aerosol collected during the analytical aerosol characterization, simulations were carried out with initial masses of the minor compounds increased by as much as a factor of 500. Despite this extreme condition, no aerosol droplets were generated when glycerol, nicotine and water were treated as inert species and therefore not actively contributing to the nucleation process. This implies that according to the CNT, an aerosol cannot be generated without the help of an aerosol former, from the multicomponent gas mixtures at the compositions and operating conditions estimated for the EHTP, even if all minor compounds are released or generated in a single puff.

Keywords: aerosol, classical nucleation theory (CNT), electrically heated tobacco product (EHTP), electrically heated tobacco system (EHTS), modeling, multicomponent, nucleation

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Authors: Valeria T. Dilcheva, Svetlozara L. Petkova, Ivelin Vladov

Abstract:

Trichinellosis is a food-borne parasitic disease caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella which are zoonotic parasites with cosmopolitan distribution and major socio-economic importance. Human infection is acquired through consumption of undercooked meat from domestic or wild animal. Penetration of Trichinella larvae into striated skeletal muscle cells results in ultrastructural and metabolic changes. Migration of larvae causes the typical symptoms and signs of the disease. The severity of the symptoms depends on the number of ingested Trichinella larvae and the immune response of the host. Eosinophilia is present, with few exceptions, in most cases of human trichinellosis, inasmuch as it is the earliest and most important host response. Even in human asymptomatic cases, increases in eosinophilia of up to 15% have been observed. Eosinophilia appears at an early stage of infection between the second and fifth weeks of infection. By 2005 it was considered that only two species of Trichinella genus were found in the country. After routine trichinelloscopy procedure disseminated single muscle larvae in samples of wild boars and badger were PCR-identified as T. pseudospiralis. The study aimed to observed hematological changes occurring during experimentally induced infection with Trichinella spiralis, T. britovi and T. pseudospiralis in mice. We performed hematological blood profile, tracking 15 blood indicators. In statistical analysis made by Two-way ANOVA, there were significant differences of HGB, MCHC, PLT, Lymph%, Gran% in all three types of trichinellosis compared to control animals. Capsule-forming T. spiralis showed statistically significant differences in HGB, MCHC, Lymph% and PLT compared to the other two species. Non capsule-forming T. pseudospiralis showed statistically significant differences in Lymph%, Gran% relative to the control and in Gran% relative to T. spiralis. It appears rather substantial the process of capsule formation for prolonged immune response and retention of high content of percentage of lymphocytes(Lymph%) and low of granulocyte(Gran%) in T. pseudospiralis, which is contrary to studies for T. spiralis and eosinophilia. Studies and analyzes of some specific blood profile parameters can provide additional data in favor of early diagnosis and adequate treatment as well as provide a better understanding of acute and chronic trichinosis.

Keywords: hematological test, T. britovi, T. spiralis, T. pseudospiralis

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