Search results for: block toppling failure

Authors: Jagroop Singh Sidhu, Buta Singh

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A low computational deblocking filter including three frequency related modes (smooth mode, intermediate mode, and non-smooth mode for low-frequency, mid-frequency, and high frequency regions, respectively) is proposed. The suggested approach requires zero additions, zero subtractions, zero multiplications (for intermediate region), no divisions (for non-smooth region) and no comparison. The suggested method thus keeps the computation lower and thus suitable for image coding systems based on blocks. Comparison of average number of operations for smooth, non-smooth, intermediate (per pixel vector for each block) using filter suggested by Chen and the proposed method filter suggests that the proposed filter keeps the computation lower and is thus suitable for fast processing algorithms.

Keywords: blocking artifacts, computational complexity, non-smooth, intermediate, smooth

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Authors: M. N. Nwodo, Y. P. Cheng, N. H. Minh

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In the process of recovering oil in weak sandstone formations, the strength of sandstones around the wellbore is weakened due to the increase of effective stress/load from the completion activities around the cavity. The weakened and de-bonded sandstone may be eroded away by the produced fluid, which is termed sand production. It is one of the major trending subjects in the petroleum industry because of its significant negative impacts, as well as some observed positive impacts. For efficient sand management therefore, there has been need for a reliable study tool to understand the mechanism of sanding. One method of studying sand production is the use of the widely recognized Discrete Element Method (DEM), Particle Flow Code (PFC3D) which represents sands as granular individual elements bonded together at contact points. However, there is limited knowledge of the particle-scale behavior of the weak sandstone, and the parameters that affect sanding. This paper aims to investigate the reliability of using PFC3D and a simple Darcy flow in understanding the sand production behavior of a weak sandstone. An isotropic tri-axial test on a weak oil sandstone sample was first simulated at a confining stress of 1MPa to calibrate and validate the parallel bond models of PFC3D using a 10m height and 10m diameter solid cylindrical model. The effect of the confining stress on the number of bonds failure was studied using this cylindrical model. With the calibrated data and sample material properties obtained from the tri-axial test, simulations without and with fluid flow were carried out to check on the effect of Darcy flow on bonds failure using the same model geometry. The fluid flow network comprised of every four particles connected with tetrahedral flow pipes with a central pore or flow domain. Parametric studies included the effects of confining stress, and fluid pressure; as well as validating flow rate – permeability relationship to verify Darcy’s fluid flow law. The effect of model size scaling on sanding was also investigated using 4m height, 2m diameter model. The parallel bond model successfully calibrated the sample’s strength of 4.4MPa, showing a sharp peak strength before strain-softening, similar to the behavior of real cemented sandstones. There seems to be an exponential increasing relationship for the bigger model, but a curvilinear shape for the smaller model. The presence of the Darcy flow induced tensile forces and increased the number of broken bonds. For the parametric studies, flow rate has a linear relationship with permeability at constant pressure head. The higher the fluid flow pressure, the higher the number of broken bonds/sanding. The DEM PFC3D is a promising tool to studying the micromechanical behavior of cemented sandstones.

Keywords: discrete element method, fluid flow, parametric study, sand production/bonds failure

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Authors: Massimo Ferrari, Maria Sole Pagliari

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Pollution is a classic example of economic externality: agents who produce it do not face direct costs from emissions. Therefore, there are no direct economic incentives for reducing pollution. One way to address this market failure would be directly taxing emissions. However, because emissions are global, governments might as well find it optimal to wait let foreign countries to tax emissions so that they can enjoy the benefits of lower pollution without facing its direct costs. In this paper, we first document the empirical relation between pollution and economic output with static and dynamic regression methods. We show that there is a negative relation between aggregate output and the stock of pollution (measured as the stock of CO₂ emissions). This relationship is also highly non-linear, increasing at an exponential rate. In the second part of the paper, we develop and estimate a two-country, two-sector model for the US and the euro area. With this model, we aim at analyzing how the public sector should respond to higher emissions and what are the direct costs that these policies might have. In the model, there are two types of firms, brown firms (which produce a polluting technology) and green firms. Brown firms also produce an externality, CO₂ emissions, which has detrimental effects on aggregate output. As brown firms do not face direct costs from polluting, they do not have incentives to reduce emissions. Notably, emissions in our model are global: the stock of CO₂ in the economy affects all countries, independently from where it is produced. This simplified economy captures the main trade-off between emissions and production, generating a classic market failure. According to our results, the current level of emission reduces output by between 0.4 and 0.75%. Notably, these estimates lay in the upper bound of the distribution of those delivered by studies in the early 2000s. To address market failure, governments should step in introducing taxes on emissions. With the tax, brown firms pay a cost for polluting hence facing the incentive to move to green technologies. Governments, however, might also adopt a beggar-thy-neighbour strategy. Reducing emissions is costly, as moves production away from the 'optimal' production mix of brown and green technology. Because emissions are global, a government could just wait for the other country to tackle climate change, ripping the benefits without facing any costs. We study how this strategic game unfolds and show three important results: first, cooperation is first-best optimal from a global prospective; second, countries face incentives to deviate from the cooperating equilibria; third, tariffs on imported brown goods (the only retaliation policy in case of deviation from the cooperation equilibrium) are ineffective because the exchange rate would move to compensate. We finally study monetary policy under when costs for climate change rise and show that the monetary authority should react stronger to deviations of inflation from its target.

Keywords: climate change, general equilibrium, optimal taxation, monetary policy

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Authors: Fatemeh Sadeghi, Peyman Sheikhzadeh

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Introduction: Block Sequential Regularized Expectation Maximization (BSREM) reconstruction algorithm was recently developed to suppress excessive noise by applying a relative difference penalty. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of various strengths of noise penalization factor in the BSREM algorithm under different acquisition duration and lesion sizes in order to determine an optimum penalty factor by considering both quantitative and qualitative image evaluation parameters in clinical uses. Materials and Methods: The NEMA IQ phantom and 15 clinical whole-body patients with prostate cancer were evaluated. Phantom and patients were injected withGallium-68 Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen(68 Ga-PSMA)and scanned on a non-time-of-flight Discovery IQ Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography(PET/CT) scanner with BGO crystals. The data were reconstructed using BSREM with a β-value of 100-500 at an interval of 100. These reconstructions were compared to OSEM as a widely used reconstruction algorithm. Following the standard NEMA measurement procedure, background variability (BV), recovery coefficient (RC), contrast recovery (CR) and residual lung error (LE) from phantom data and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-background ratio (SBR) and tumor SUV from clinical data were measured. Qualitative features of clinical images visually were ranked by one nuclear medicine expert. Results: The β-value acts as a noise suppression factor, so BSREM showed a decreasing image noise with an increasing β-value. BSREM, with a β-value of 400 at a decreased acquisition duration (2 min/ bp), made an approximately equal noise level with OSEM at an increased acquisition duration (5 min/ bp). For the β-value of 400 at 2 min/bp duration, SNR increased by 43.7%, and LE decreased by 62%, compared with OSEM at a 5 min/bp duration. In both phantom and clinical data, an increase in the β-value is translated into a decrease in SUV. The lowest level of SUV and noise were reached with the highest β-value (β=500), resulting in the highest SNR and lowest SBR due to the greater noise reduction than SUV reduction at the highest β-value. In compression of BSREM with different β-values, the relative difference in the quantitative parameters was generally larger for smaller lesions. As the β-value decreased from 500 to 100, the increase in CR was 160.2% for the smallest sphere (10mm) and 12.6% for the largest sphere (37mm), and the trend was similar for SNR (-58.4% and -20.5%, respectively). BSREM visually was ranked more than OSEM in all Qualitative features. Conclusions: The BSREM algorithm using more iteration numbers leads to more quantitative accuracy without excessive noise, which translates into higher overall image quality and lesion detectability. This improvement can be used to shorter acquisition time.

Keywords: BSREM reconstruction, PET/CT imaging, noise penalization, quantification accuracy

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Authors: Mohammed M. Mahdy Tawfeek

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Objective: The aim of this work is to compare the outcome of photoactivated chromophore for keratitis-cross linking (PACK-CXL) window absorption (WA) alone with combined PACK-CXL WA and standard anti-microbial therapy (SAT) for the treatment of infectious keratitis. Patients and Methods: This is a randomized prospective comparative clinical trial. Thirty eyes with clinically suspected infectious keratitis were randomly assigned into two equal groups of 15 eyes each: Group (A) was treated by PACK-CXL WA alone and group (B) was treated by PACK-CXL WA combined with SAT. Identification of organisms was made by lab study before treatment. Corneal healing was evaluated by corneal examination and anterior segment OCT (AS-OCT). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and the study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University. The work has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for studies involving humans. Results: Complete healing and resolution (Successful treatment) were observed in 10 eyes (66.7%) of a group (A) and 14 eyes (93.3%) of group (B) and failure was observed in 5 eyes (33.3%) of a group (A) and one eye (6.67%) of group (B). They were statistically significant (P =0.042 and 0.003) in a comparison between both groups regarding success and failure of treatment, respectively. Complete corneal healing was reported in the third month postoperatively in 10 eyes (66.7%) of group (A) and 14 eyes (93.3%) of group (B). Complications were absent in 12 patients (80%) in group (A) and 14 patients (93.3%) of group (B); however, perforation and impending perforation were found in 3 patients of group (A) and only one patient of group (B). Conclusion: PACK-CXL is a promising, non-invasive treatment option for infectious keratitis, especially when performed with the window absorption (WA) technique, either alone or combined with SAT. It has a synergistic effect with a standard antimicrobial treatment that gives good outcome results in the treatment of infectious keratitis. Also, it avoids the antibiotics resistance that has become rapidly spreading worldwide.

Keywords: corneal cross linking, infectious keratitis, PACK-CXL, window absorption

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Authors: G. Vishnu, T. V. Bharat

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Rainfall plays a major role in the stability of natural slopes in tropical and subtropical regions. These slopes usually have high slope angles and are stable during the dry season. The critical rainfall intensity that might trigger a landslide may not be the highest rainfall. In addition to geological discontinuities and anthropogenic factors, water content, suction, and hydraulic conductivity also play a role. A thorough geotechnical investigation with the principles of unsaturated soil mechanics is required to predict the failures in these cases. The study discusses three landslide events that had occurred in residual hills of Guwahati, India. Rainfall data analysis, history image analysis, land use, and slope maps of the region were analyzed and discussed. The landslide occurred on June (24, 26, and 28) 2020, on the respective sites, but the highest rainfall was on June (6 and 17) 2020. The factors that lead to the landslide occurrence is the combination of critical events initiated with rainfall, causing a reduction in suction. The sites consist of a mixture of rocks and soil. The slope failure occurs due to the saturation of the soil layer leading to loss of soil strength resulting in the flow of the entire soil rock mass. The land-use change, construction activities, other human and natural activities that lead to faster disintegration of rock mass may accelerate the landslide events. Landslides in these slopes are inevitable, and the development of an early warning system (EWS) to save human lives and resources is a feasible way. The actual time of failure of a slope can be better predicted by considering all these factors rather than depending solely on the rainfall intensities. An effective EWS is required with less false alarms in these regions by proper instrumentation of slope and appropriate climatic downscaling.

Keywords: early warning system, historic image analysis, slope instrumentation, unsaturated soil mechanics

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Authors: Rahim Ada, Ahmet Tamkoç

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The research was conducted in the “Randomized Complete Block Design” with three replications in research field of Agricultural Faculty, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. In study, a total of 9 Cephalaria syriaca promised lines (9, 37, 38, 42, Beyaz 4, 5 Beyaz, 13 Beyaz, 27 Beyaz, Başaklar 2), which were taken from Sivas population, and 1 population were evaluated in two growing seasons (2012-13 and 2013-14). According to the results, the highest plant height, first branch height, first head height, number of branches per plant, number of head per plant, head diameter,1000 seed weight, seed yield, oil content and oil yield were obtained respectively from Başaklar 2 (68.37 cm), Başaklar 2 (37.80 cm), Başaklar 2 (54.83 cm), 37 (7.73 number/plant), 42 (18.03 number/plant), 9 (10.30 mm), Başaklar 2 (19.33 g), 27 Beyaz (1254.2 kg ha-1), Başaklar 2 (28.77%), and 27 Beyaz (357.9 kg ha-1).

Keywords: Cephalaria syriaca, yield, oil, population

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Authors: Laabidi Mounira, Zayani Rafk, Bouallegue Ridha

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Filter Bank Multicarrier with Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (FBMC/OQAM) is presently known as a sustainable alternative to conventional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for signal transmission over multi-path fading channels. Like all multicarrier systems, FBMC/OQAM suffers from high Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR). Due to the symbol overlap inherent in the FBMC/OQAM system, the direct application of conventional OFDM PAPR reduction scheme is far from being effective. This paper suggests a novel scheme termed Multi-Blocks Selective Mapping (MB-SLM) whose simulation results show that its performance in terms of PAPR reduction is almost identical to that of OFDM system.

Keywords: FBMC/OQAM, multi-blocks, OFDM, PAPR, SLM

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Authors: Roisul H. Galib, Prabhakar R. Bandaru

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In 2D material based device, an interface between 2D materials and substrates often limits the heat flow through the device. In this paper, we quantify the total thermal resistance of a graphene-based device by series resistance model and show that the thermal resistance at the interface of graphene and substrate contributes to more than 50% of the total resistance. Weak Van der Waals interactions at the interface and dissimilar phonon vibrational modes create this thermal resistance, allowing less heat to flow across the interface. We compare our results with commonly used materials and interfaces, demonstrating the role of the interface as a potential application for heat guide or block in a 2D material-based device.

Keywords: 2D material, graphene, thermal conductivity, thermal conductance, thermal resistance

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Authors: In Kyong Yi, Yun Jeong Chae, Jihoon Hwang, Sook-Young Lee, Jong-Yeop Kim

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Background: Pentax airway scope (AWS) is a recently developed video laryngoscope for use in both normal and difficult airways, providing a good laryngeal view. The purpose of this randomized noninferior study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Pentax-AWS regarding intubation time, laryngeal view and ease of intubation in pediatric patients with normal airway, compared to Macintosh laryngoscope. Method: A total of 136 pediatric patients aged 1 to 10 with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I or II undergoing general anesthesia required orotracheal intubation were randomly allocated into two groups: Macintosh laryngoscope (n =68) and Pentax AWS (n=68). Anesthesia was induced with propofol, rocuronium, and sevoflurane. The primary outcome was intubation time. Cormack-Lehane laryngeal view grade, application of optimal laryngeal external manipulation (OELM), intubation difficulty scale (IDS), intubation failure rate and adverse events were also measured. Result: No significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding intubation time (Macintosh; 23[22-26] sec vs. Pentax; 23.5[22-27.75] sec, p=0.713). As for the laryngeal view grade, the Pentax group showed less number of grade 2a or higher grade cases compared to the Macintosh group (1/2a/2b/3; 52.9%/41.2%/4.4%/1.5% vs. 98.5%/1.5%/0%/0%, p=0.000). No optimal laryngeal external manipulation application was required in the Pentax group (38.2% vs. 0%, p=0.000). Intubation difficulty scale resulted in lower values for Pentax group (0 [0-2] vs. 0 [0-0.55], p=0.001). Failure rate was not different between the two groups (1.5% vs. 4.4%, p=0.619). Adverse event-wise, slightly higher incidence of bleeding (1.5% vs. 5.9%, p=0.172) and teeth injury (0% vs. 5.9%, p=0.042) occurred in the Pentax group. Conclusion: In conclusion, Pentax-AWS provided better laryngeal view, similar intubation time and similar success rate compared with Macintosh laryngoscope in children with normal airway. However, the risk of teeth injury might increase and warrant special attention.

Keywords: Pentax-AWS, pediatric, video laryngoscope, intubation

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Authors: Min-Su Song, Haeng-Bok Kil, Eui-Rim Jeong

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This paper proposes a new method to reduce the overhead by pilots for single carrier frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) transmission. In the conventional SC-FDE transmission structure, the overhead by transmitting pilot is heavy because the pilot are transmitted at every SC-FDE block. The proposed SC-FDE structure has fewer pilots and many SC-FCE blocks are transmitted between pilots. The channel estimation and equalization is performed at the pilot period and the channels between pilots are estimated through linear interpolation. This reduces the pilot overhead by reducing the pilot transmission compared with the conventional structure, and enables reliable channel estimation and equalization.

Keywords: channel estimation, linear interpolation, pilot overhead, SC-FDE

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Authors: Oğuzhan Urhan

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In this paper, an improved motion estimation (ME) approach based on weighted constrained one-bit transform is proposed for block-based ME employed in video encoders. Binary ME approaches utilize low bit-depth representation of the original image frames with a Boolean exclusive-OR based hardware efficient matching criterion to decrease computational burden of the ME stage. Weighted constrained one-bit transform (WC‑1BT) based approach improves the performance of conventional C-1BT based ME employing 2-bit depth constraint mask instead of a 1-bit depth mask. In this work, the range of constraint mask is further extended to increase ME performance of WC-1BT approach. Experiments reveal that the proposed method provides better ME accuracy compared existing similar ME methods in the literature.

Keywords: fast motion estimation; low-complexity motion estimation, video coding

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Authors: Dana A. Al Qudah, Alexandra I. Critea, Rizik M. H. Al Sayyed, Amer Obeidah

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Online advertisement is one of the major incomes for many companies; it has a role in the overall business flow and affects the consumer behavior directly. Unfortunately most users tend to block their ads or ignore them. MyAds is a social adaptive hypermedia system for online advertising and its main goal is to explore how to make online ads more acceptable. In order to achieve such a goal, various technologies and techniques are used. This paper presents a theoretical framework as well as the system architecture for MyAds that was designed based on a set of hypotheses and an exploratory study. The system then was implemented and a pilot experiment was conducted to validate it. The main outcomes suggest that the system has provided personalized ads for users. The main implications suggest that the system can be used for further testing and validating.

Keywords: adaptive hypermedia, e-advertisement, social, hypotheses, exploratory study, framework

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Authors: Petr Šimek

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This work deals with the problem of synchronization of bus frames during transmission using USB (Universal Serial Bus). The principles for synchronization between USB and the non-deterministic CAN (Controller Area Network) bus will be described here. Furthermore, the work deals with ensuring the time sequence of communication frames when receiving from multiple communication bus channels. The structure of a general object for storing frames from different types of communication buses, such as CAN and LIN (Local Interconnect Network), will be described here. Finally, an evaluation of the communication throughput of bus frames for USB High speed will be performed. The creation of this architecture was based on the analysis of the communication of control units with a large number of communication buses. For the design of the architecture, a test HW with a USB-HS interface was used, which received previously known messages, which were compared with the received result. The result of this investigation is the block architecture of the control program for test HW ensuring correct data transmission via the USB bus.

Keywords: analysis, CAN, interface, LIN, synchronization, USB

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Authors: Xie Xiaobin, Zhang Yan, Shi Yipeng, Sun Wenying, Chen Shuang, Cai Zhipeng, Zhang Hong, Zhang Lixia, Xie Like

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Objective: The objective of this research is to compare the efficacy of the late in-situ surgical revision augmented with continuous infusion and needle revision on failed trabeculectomy blebs. Methods From December 2018 to December 2021, a prospective randomized controlled trial was performed on 44 glaucoma patients with failed bleb ≥ 6months with medically uncontrolled in Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. They were randomly divided into two groups. 22 eyes of 22 patients underwent the late in-situ surgical revision with continuous anterior chamber infusion in the study group, and 22 of 22 patients were treated with needle revision in the control group. Main outcome measures include preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP), the number of anti-glaucoma medicines, the operation success rate, and the postoperative complications. Results The postoperative IOP values decreased significantly from the baseline in both groups (both P<0.05). IOP was significantly lower in the study group than in the control group at one week, 1, and 3 months postoperatively (all P<0.05). IOP reductions in the study group were substantially more prominent than in the control group at all postoperative time points (all P<0.05). The complete success rate in the study group was significantly higher than in the control group (71.4% vs. 33.3%, P<0.05), while the complete failure rate was significantly lower in the study group (0% vs. 28.5%, P<0.05). According to Cox’s proportional hazards regression analysis, high IOP at baseline was independently associated with increased risks of complete failure (adjusted hazard ratio=1.141, 95% confidence interval=1.021-1.276, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative complications between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: Both in-situ surgical and needle revision have acceptable success rates and safety for the late failed trabeculectomy blebs, while the former is likely to have a higher level of efficacy over the latter. Needle revision may be insufficient for eyes with low target IOP.

Keywords: glaucoma, trabeculectomy blebs, in-situ surgical revision, needle revision

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Authors: John Vergara, Giuseppe Palmese

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Fundamental studies aimed at elucidating the key contributions to corrosion performance are needed to make progress toward effective and environmentally compliant corrosion control. Epoxy/amine systems are typically employed as barrier coatings for corrosion control. However, the hardening agents used for coating applications can be very complex, making fundamental studies of water and oxygen permeability challenging to carry out. Creating model building blocks for epoxy/amine coatings is the first step in carrying out these studies. We will demonstrate the synthesis and characterization of model amine building blocks from saturated fatty acids and simple amines such as diethylenetriamine (DETA) and Bis(3-aminopropyl)amine. The structure-property relationship of thermosets made from these model amines and Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGBEA) will be discussed.

Keywords: building block, amine, synthesis, characterization

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Authors: Sophio Kobauri, Vladimir P. Torchilin, David Tugushi, Ramaz Katsarava

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Nanotherapy is an actual newest mode of treatment numerous diseases using nanoparticles (NPs) loading with different pharmaceuticals. NPs of biodegradable polymeric micelles (PMs) are gaining increased attention for their numerous and attractive abilities to be used in a variety of applications in the various fields of medicine. The present paper deals with the synthesis of a class of biodegradable micelle-forming polymers, namely ABA triblock-copolymer in which A-blocks represent amino-poly(ethylene glycol) (H₂N-PEG) and B-block is biodegradable amino acid-based poly(ester amide) constituted of α-amino acid – L-phenylalanine. The obtained copolymer formed micelles of 70±4 nm size at 10 mg/mL concentration.

Keywords: amino acids, biodegradable poly (ester amide), amphiphilic triblock-copolymer, micelles

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Authors: Pranay Mathur, Carlo Michelassi, Simi Karatha, Gilda Pedoto

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Industrial plant uptime is top most importance for reliable, profitable & sustainable operation. Trip and failed start has major impact on plant reliability and all plant operators focussed on efforts required to minimise the trips & failed starts. The performance of these CTQs are measured with 2 metrics, MTBT(Mean time between trips) and SR (Starting reliability). These metrics helps to identify top failure modes and identify units need more effort to improve plant reliability. Baker Hughes Trip reduction program structured to reduce these unwanted trip 1. Real time machine operational parameters remotely available and capturing the signature of malfunction including related boundary condition. 2. Real time alerting system based on analytics available remotely. 3. Remote access to trip logs and alarms from control system to identify the cause of events. 4. Continuous support to field engineers by remotely connecting with subject matter expert. 5. Live tracking of key CTQs 6. Benchmark against fleet 7. Break down to the cause of failure to component level 8. Investigate top contributor, identify design and operational root cause 9. Implement corrective and preventive action 10. Assessing effectiveness of implemented solution using reliability growth models. 11. Develop analytics for predictive maintenance With this approach , Baker Hughes team is able to support customer in achieving their Reliability Key performance Indicators for monitored units, huge cost savings for plant operators. This Presentation explains these approach while providing successful case studies, in particular where 12nos. of LNG and Pipeline operators with about 140 gas compressing line-ups has adopted these techniques and significantly reduce the number of trips and improved MTBT

Keywords: reliability, availability, sustainability, digital infrastructure, weibull, effectiveness, automation, trips, fail start

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Authors: Eva Masson, Andrea Kübler

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Anxiety disorders (AD) are the most prevalent psychological disorders. However, far from most affected individuals are diagnosed and receive treatment. This gap is probably due to the diagnosis criteria, relying on symptoms (according to the DSM-5 definition) with no objective biomarker. Approach-avoidance conflict tasks are one common approach to simulate such disorders in a lab setting, with most of the paradigms focusing on the relationships between behavior and neurophysiology. Approach-avoidance conflict tasks typically place participants in a situation where they have to make a decision that leads to both positive and negative outcomes, thereby sending conflicting signals that trigger the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS). Furthermore, behavioral validation of such paradigms adds credibility to the tasks – with overt conflict behavior, it is safer to assume that the task actually induced a conflict. Some of those tasks have linked asymmetrical frontal brain activity to induced conflicts and the BIS. However, there is currently no consensus for the direction of the frontal activation. The authors present here a modified version of the T-Maze paradigm, a motivational conflict desktop task, in which behavior is recorded simultaneously to the recording of high-density EEG (HD-EEG). Methods: In this within-subject design, HD-EEG and behavior of 35 healthy participants was recorded. EEG data was collected with a 128 channels sponge-based system. The motivational conflict desktop task consisted of three blocks of repeated trials. Each block was designed to record a slightly different behavioral pattern, to increase the chances of eliciting conflict. This variety of behavioral patterns was however similar enough to allow comparison of the number of trials categorized as ‘overt conflict’ between the blocks. Results: Overt conflict behavior was exhibited in all blocks, but always for under 10% of the trials, in average, in each block. However, changing the order of the paradigms successfully introduced a ‘reset’ of the conflict process, therefore providing more trials for analysis. As for the EEG correlates, the authors expect a different pattern for trials categorized as conflict, compared to the other ones. More specifically, we expect an elevated alpha frequency power in the left frontal electrodes at around 200ms post-cueing, compared to the right one (relative higher right frontal activity), followed by an inversion around 600ms later. Conclusion: With this comprehensive approach of a psychological mechanism, new evidence would be brought to the frontal asymmetry discussion, and its relationship with the BIS. Furthermore, with the present task focusing on a very particular type of motivational approach-avoidance conflict, it would open the door to further variations of the paradigm to introduce different kinds of conflicts involved in AD. Even though its application as a potential biomarker sounds difficult, because of the individual reliability of both the task and peak frequency in the alpha range, we hope to open the discussion for task robustness for neuromodulation and neurofeedback future applications.

Keywords: anxiety, approach-avoidance conflict, behavioral inhibition system, EEG

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Authors: Adebayo B., Omotehinse A. O.

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The performance and characteristics of blocks produced from dredged sample was investigated. Blocks were produced using appropriate mixes of dredged sample and sharp sand. Some geotechnical properties (moisture content, grain size distribution) of the dredged sample (Igbokoda dredged sample) were determined using the British Standard. The physico-mechanical properties (water absorption, density and compressive strength) of blocks produced were evaluated. The dredged sample is classified as a silty material. Seven replacement levels of sharp sand were considered in the study (SS- Sharp Sand and DS – Dredged Sample) was done with constant amount of cement. 1- 85 % DS and 15 % SS, 2- 70 % DS and 30 % SS, 3- 55 % DS and 45 % SS, 4- 50 % DS and 50 % SS, 5- 45 % DS and 55 % SS, 6- 30 % DS and 70 % SS, 7- 15 % DS and 85 % SS and 8 – IS 100 % with cement; 9 – SS 100 % with cement) of different ages (7 days, 14 days, 21 days and 28 days) for the production of blocks. The compressive strength of the blocks produced ranges between 0.52 MPa to 3.0 MPa and considering the mixes, the highest compressive strength was found in mix of 15 % DS and 85 % SS.

Keywords: dredge sample, silt, sharp sand, block, cement

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Authors: Ewedafe Simon Uzezi

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In this paper we presented a method based on Domain Decomposition (DD) for parallelization of 1-D Sugarcane Equation on parallel platform with parallel paradigms on Master-Slave platform using Message Passing Interface (MPI). The 1-D Sugarcane Equation was discretized using explicit method of discretization requiring evaluation nof temporal and spatial distribution of temperature. This platform gives better predictions of the effects of temperature distribution of the sugarcane problem. This work presented parallel overheads with overlapping communication and communication across parallel computers with numerical results across different block sizes with scalability. However, performance improvement strategies from the DD on various mesh sizes were compared experimentally and parallel results show speedup and efficiency for the parallel algorithms design.

Keywords: sugarcane, parallelization, explicit method, domain decomposition, MPI

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Authors: Louis Ngai Yuen Wong, Varun Maruvanchery

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The Bukit Timah Granite, which is a major rock formation in Singapore, encompasses different rock types such as granite, adamellite, and granodiorite with various hybrid rocks. The present study focuses on the Central Singapore Granite found in the Mandai area. Even within this small aerial extent, lithological variations with respect to the composition, texture as well as the grain size have been recognized in this igneous body. Over the years, the research effort on the Bukit Timah Granite has been focused on achieving a better understanding of its engineering properties in association with civil engineering projects. To our best understanding, a few types of research attempted to systematically investigate the influence of grain size, mineral composition, texture etc. on the strength of Bukit Timah Granite rocks in a comprehensive manner. In typical local industry practices, the different lithological varieties are not differentiated, but all are grouped under Bukit Timah Granite during core logging and the subsequent determination of engineering properties. To address such a major gap in the local engineering geological practice, a preliminary study is conducted on the variations of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) in seven distinctly different lithological varieties found in the Bukit Timah Granite. Other physical properties including Young’s modulus, P-wave velocity and dry density determined from laboratory testing will also be discussed. The study is supplemented by a petrographical thin section examination. In addition, the specimen failure mode is classified and further correlated with the lithological varieties by carefully observing the details of crack initiation, propagation and coalescence processes in the specimens undergoing loading tests using a high-speed camera. The outcome of this research, which is the first of its type in Singapore, will have a direct implication on the sampling and design practices in the field of civil engineering and particularly underground space development in Singapore.

Keywords: Bukit Timah Granite, lithological variety, thin section study, high speed video, failure mode

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Authors: Gautam, Gurcharan Singh, Mandeep Kaur, Yogesh Aggarwal, Sanjeev Naval

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The present ground reality scenario of suffering of humanity shows the evidence of failure to take wrong decisions to shape the civilization with Irresponsibilities in the history. A strong positive will of right responsibilities make the right civilization structure which affects itself and the whole world. Present suffering of humanity shows and reflect the failure of past decisions taken to shape the true culture with right social structure of society, due to unplanned system of Indian civilization and its rapid disaster of population make the failure to face all kind of problems which make the society sufferer. Our India is still suffering from disaster like earthquake, floods, droughts, tsunamis etc. and we face the uncountable disaster of deaths from the beginning of humanity at the present time. In this research paper our focus is to make a Disaster Resistance Structure having the solution of dense populated urban cities area by high vertical expansion HYBRID STRUCTURE. Our efforts are to analyse the Reinforced Concrete Hybrid Structure at different seismic zones, these concrete frames were analyzed using the response spectrum method to calculate and compare the different seismic displacement and drift. Seismic analysis by this method generally is based on dynamic analysis of building. Analysis results shows that the Reinforced Concrete Building at seismic Zone V having maximum peak story shear, base shear, drift and node displacement as compare to the analytical results of Reinforced Concrete Building at seismic Zone III and Zone IV. This analysis results indicating to focus on structural drawings strictly at construction site to make a HYBRID STRUCTURE. The study case is deal with the 10 story height of a vertical expansion Hybrid frame structure at different zones i.e. zone III, zone IV and zone V having the column 0.45x0.36mt and beam 0.6x0.36mt. with total height of 30mt, to make the structure more stable bracing techniques shell be applied like mage bracing and V shape bracing. If this kind of efforts or structure drawings are followed by the builders and contractors then we save the lives during earthquake disaster at Bhuj (Gujarat State, India) on 26th January, 2001 which resulted in more than 19,000 deaths. This kind of Disaster Resistance Structure having the capabilities to solve the problems of densely populated area of cities by the utilization of area in vertical expansion hybrid structure. We request to Government of India to make new plans and implementing it to save the lives from future disasters instead of unnecessary wants of development plans like Bullet Trains.

Keywords: history, irresponsibilities, unplanned social structure, humanity, hybrid structure, response spectrum analysis, DRIFT, and NODE displacement

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Authors: Amirul Adlan, Robert McCulloch, Scott Evans, Michael Parry, Jonathan Stevenson, Lee Jeys

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Background and Objectives: The gastrocnemius myofascial flap is used to manage soft-tissue defects over the anterior aspect of the knee in the context of a patient presenting with a sinus and periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) or extensor mechanism failure. The aim of this study was twofold: firstly, to evaluate the outcomes of gastrocnemius flaps performed by appropriately trained orthopaedic surgeons in the context of PJI and, secondly, to evaluate the infection-free survival of this patient group. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 30 patients who underwent gastrocnemius flap reconstruction during staged revision total knee arthroplasty for prosthetic joint infection (PJI). All flaps were performed by an orthopaedic surgeon with orthoplastics training. Patients had a mean age of 68.9 years (range 50–84) and were followed up for a mean of 50.4 months (range 2–128 months). A total of 29 patients (97 %) were categorized into Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) local extremity grade 3 (greater than two compromising factors), and 52 % of PJIs were polymicrobial. The primary outcome measure was flap failure, and the secondary outcome measure was a recurrent infection. Results: Flap survival was 100% with no failures or early returns to theatre for flap problems such as necrosis or haematoma. Overall infection-free survival during the study period was 48% (13 of 27 infected cases). Using limb salvage as the outcome, 77% (23 of 30 patients) retained the limb. Infection recurrence occurred in 48% (10 patients) in the type B3 cohort and 67% (4 patients) in the type C3 cohort (p = 0.65). Conclusion: The surgical technique for a gastrocnemius myofascial flap is reliable and reproducible when performed by appropriately trained orthopaedic surgeons, even in high-risk groups. However, the risks of recurrent infection and amputation remain high within our series due to poor host and extremity factors.

Keywords: gastrocnemius flap, limb salvage, revision arthroplasty, outcomes

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Authors: Celal Dudak, Aslı Utku, Burak Yağlioğlu

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Uninterrupted and continuous satellite communication through the whole orbit time is becoming more indispensable every day. Data relay systems are developed and built for various high/low data rate information exchanges like TDRSS of USA and EDRSS of Europe. In these missions, a couple of task-dedicated communication satellites exist. In this regard, for Turkey a data relay system is attempted to be defined exchanging low data rate information (i.e. TTC) for Earth-observing LEO satellites appointing commercial GEO communication satellites all over the world. First, justification of this attempt is given, demonstrating duration enhancements in the link. Discussion of preference of RF communication is, also, given instead of laser communication. Then, preferred communication GEOs – including TURKSAT4A already belonging to Turkey- are given, together with the coverage enhancements through STK simulations and the corresponding link budget. Also, a block diagram of the communication system is given on the LEO satellite.

Keywords: communication, GEO satellite, data relay system, coverage

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Authors: Saba Rahman, Arvind K. Jain, S. D. Bharti, T. K. Datta

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Chimneys are generally tall and slender structures with circular cross-sections, due to which they are highly prone to wind forces. Wind exerts pressure on the wall of the chimneys, which produces unwanted forces. Vortex-induced oscillation is one of such excitations which can lead to the failure of the chimneys. Therefore, vortex-induced oscillation of chimneys is of great concern to researchers and practitioners since many failures of chimneys due to vortex shedding have occurred in the past. As a consequence, extensive research has taken place on the subject over decades. Many laboratory experiments have been performed to verify the theoretical models proposed to predict vortex-induced forces, including aero-elastic effects. Comparatively, very few proto-type measurement data have been recorded to verify the proposed theoretical models. Because of this reason, the theoretical models developed with the help of experimental laboratory data are utilized for analyzing the chimneys for vortex-induced forces. This calls for reliability analysis of the predictions of the responses of the chimneys produced due to vortex shedding phenomena. Although several works of literature exist on the vortex-induced oscillation of chimneys, including code provisions, the reliability analysis of chimneys against failure caused due to vortex shedding is scanty. In the present study, the reliability analysis of chimneys against vortex shedding failure is presented, assuming the uncertainty in vortex shedding phenomena to be significantly more than other uncertainties, and hence, the latter is ignored. The vortex shedding is modeled as a stationary random process and is represented by a power spectral density function (PSDF). It is assumed that the vortex shedding forces are perfectly correlated and act over the top one-third height of the chimney. The PSDF of the tip displacement of the chimney is obtained by performing a frequency domain spectral analysis using a matrix approach. For this purpose, both chimney and random wind forces are discretized over a number of points along with the height of the chimney. The method of analysis duly accounts for the aero-elastic effects. The double barrier threshold crossing level, as proposed by Vanmarcke, is used for determining the probability of crossing different threshold levels of the tip displacement of the chimney. Assuming the annual distribution of the mean wind velocity to be a Gumbel type-I distribution, the fragility curve denoting the variation of the annual probability of threshold crossing against different threshold levels of the tip displacement of the chimney is determined. The reliability estimate is derived from the fragility curve. A 210m tall concrete chimney with a base diameter of 35m, top diameter as 21m, and thickness as 0.3m has been taken as an illustrative example. The terrain condition is assumed to be that corresponding to the city center. The expression for the PSDF of the vortex shedding force is taken to be used by Vickery and Basu. The results of the study show that the threshold crossing reliability of the tip displacement of the chimney is significantly influenced by the assumed structural damping and the Gumbel distribution parameters. Further, the aero-elastic effect influences the reliability estimate to a great extent for small structural damping.

Keywords: chimney, fragility curve, reliability analysis, vortex-induced vibration

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Authors: Francisco Fernandez de Castro

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The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) model gives monetary transfers to beneficiary families on the condition that they take specific education and health actions. According to the economic rationale of CCTs the poor need incentives to invest in their human capital because they are trapped by a lack of information and misleading beliefs. If left to their own decision, the poor will not be able to choose what is in their best interests. The basic assumption of the CCT model is that the poor need incentives to take care of their own education and health-nutrition. Due to the incentives (income cash transfers and conditionalities), beneficiary families are supposed to attend doctor visits and health talks. Children would stay in the school. These incentivized behaviors would produce outcomes such as better health and higher level of education, which in turn will reduce poverty. Based on a grounded theory approach to conduct a two-year period of qualitative data collection in northern Mexico, this study shows that this explanation is incomplete. In addition to the information failure and inadequate beliefs, there are structural barriers in everyday life of households that make health-nutrition and education investments difficult. In-depth interviews and observation work showed that the program takes for granted local conditions in which beneficiary families should fulfill their co-responsibilities. Data challenged the program’s assumptions and unveiled local obstacles not contemplated in the program’s design. These findings have policy and research implications for the CCT agenda. They bring elements for late programming due to the gap between the CCT strategy as envisioned by policy designers, and the program that beneficiary families experience on the ground. As for research consequences, these findings suggest new avenues for scholarly work regarding the causal mechanisms and social processes explaining CCT outcomes.

Keywords: conditional cash transfers, incentives, poverty, structural barriers

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Authors: A. A. James, A. O. Adesanya, M. R. Odekunle, D. G. Yakubu

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This paper examines the development of one step, five hybrid point method for the solution of first order initial value problems. We adopted the method of collocation and interpolation of power series approximate solution to generate a continuous linear multistep method. The continuous linear multistep method was evaluated at selected grid points to give the discrete linear multistep method. The method was implemented using a constant order predictor of order seven over an overlapping interval. The basic properties of the derived corrector was investigated and found to be zero stable, consistent and convergent. The region of absolute stability was also investigated. The method was tested on some numerical experiments and found to compete favorably with the existing methods.

Keywords: interpolation, approximate solution, collocation, differential system, half step, converges, block method, efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Ntandazo Dlatu, Benjamin Longo-Mbenza, Andre Renzaho, Ruffin Appalata, Yolande Yvonne Valeria Matoumona Mavoungou, Mbenza Ben Longo, Kenneth Ekoru, Blaise Makoso, Gedeon Longo Longo

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Background: The gap between complexities related to the integration of Tuberculosis /HIV control and evidence-based knowledge motivated the initiation of the study. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore correlations between national TB management guidelines, multiple deprivation indexes, quantiles, components and levels of Tuberculosis control programme using mathematical modeling in rural O.R. Tambo District Health Facilities, South Africa. Methods: The study design used mixed secondary data analysis and cross-sectional analysis between 2009 and 2013 across O.R Tambo District, Eastern Cape, South Africa using univariate/ bivariate analysis, linear multiple regression models, and multivariate discriminant analysis. Health inequalities indicators and component of an impediment to the tuberculosis control programme were evaluated. Results: In total, 62 400 records for TB notification were analyzed for the period 2009-2013. There was a significant but negative between Financial Year Expenditure (r= -0.894; P= 0.041) Seropositive HIV status(r= -0.979; P= 0.004), Population Density (r = -0.881; P= 0.048) and the number of TB defaulter in all TB cases. It was shown unsuccessful control of TB management program through correlations between numbers of new PTB smear positive, TB defaulter new smear-positive, TB failure all TB, Pulmonary Tuberculosis case finding index and deprivation-concentration-dispersion index. It was shown successful TB program control through significant and negative associations between declining numbers of death in co-infection of HIV and TB, TB deaths all TB and SMIAD gradient/ deprivation-concentration-dispersion index. The multivariate linear model was summarized by unadjusted r of 96%, adjusted R2 of 95 %, Standard Error of estimate of 0.110, R2 changed of 0.959 and significance for variance change for P=0.004 to explain the prediction of TB defaulter in all TB with equation y= 8.558-0.979 x number of HIV seropositive. After adjusting for confounding factors (PTB case finding the index, TB defaulter new smear-positive, TB death in all TB, TB defaulter all TB, and TB failure in all TB). The HIV and TB death, as well as new PTB smear positive, were identified as the most important, significant, and independent indicator to discriminate most deprived deprivation index far from other deprivation quintiles 2-5 using discriminant analysis. Conclusion: Elimination of poverty such as overcrowding, lack of sanitation and environment of highest burden of HIV might end the TB threat in O.R Tambo District, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Furthermore, ongoing adequate budget comprehensive, holistic and collaborative initiative towards Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) is necessary for complete elimination of TB in poor O.R Tambo District.

Keywords: tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, success, failure, control program, health inequalities, South Africa

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Authors: Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael

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Addis Ababa City Administration is engaged in a massive facelift of the inner-city. The paper, therefore, aims to analyze the challenges of the current urban regeneration effort by paying special attention to Lideta and Basha Wolde Chilot projects. To this end, the paper has adopted a documentary research strategy to collect the data and Institutionalist perspective as well as the concept of urban regeneration to analyze the data. The sources were selected based on relevance and recency. Academic research outputs were used primarily. However, where much scholastic publications are not available institutional reports, newspaper articles, and expert presentations were used. The major findings of the research revealed that although the second generation of urban redevelopment projects have attempted to involve affected groups and succeeded in designing better neighborhoods, they are riddled with three major drawbacks. The first one is institutional constraints, i.e. absence of urban redevelopment strategy as well as housing policy, broad definition of ‘public purpose’, little regard for informal businesses, limitation on rights groups, negotiation power not devolved at sub-city level and no plan for groups that cannot afford to pay the down payment for low-cost apartments. The second one is planning limitation, i.e. absence of genuine affected group participation as well as consultative level of public engagement. The third one is implementation failure, i.e. no regard to maintaining social bond, non-participatory and ill-informed resettlement, interference from senior government officials, failure to protect the poor from speculators, corruption and disregard to heritage buildings. Based on the findings, the paper concluded that the current inner-city redevelopment has failed to be socially sustainable and calls for enactment of housing policy as well as redevelopment strategy, affected group participation, on-site resettlement, empowering the Sub-city to manage the project and allowing housing rights groups to advocate for the poor slum dwellers.

Keywords: participation, redevelopment, planning, implementation, consultation

Procedia PDF Downloads 427