Search results for: short%20stories

Authors: A. H. Maimusa, A. Abu Hassan, Nur Faeza A. Kassim

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In this study, we report on the main life table developmental attributes of laboratory colonies of wild strains Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti. The raw life history data of the two species were analyzed and compared based on the age-stage and two-sex life table. The total pre-adult development times were 9.47 days (Ae. albopictus) and 8.76 days (Ae. aegypti). The adult pre-oviposition periods (APOP) was 1.61 day for Ae. albopictus and 2.02 for Ae. aegypti. The total pre-oviposition period (TPOP) of Ae. albopictus is significantly longer (11.66 days) than (10.75 days) for Ae. aegypti. The mean intrinsic rate of increase (r) was 0.124 days (Ae. albopictus) and 1.151 days (Ae. aegypti) while the mean finite rate of increase (λ) was 1.13 day (Ae. albopictus) and (1.16 d) (Ae. aegypti). The net reproductive rates (Ro) were 8.10 and 10.75 for Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti, respectively. The mean generation time (T) for Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti, were 16.81 days and 15.77 days respectively. The mean development time for each stage insignificantly correlated with temperature (r = -0.208, p > 0.05) and (r = -0.312, p > 0.05) for Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti respectively. The life expectancy was 19.01 and 19.94 days for Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti respectively. Mortality occurred mostly during the adult stage and ranged between 0.01 and 0.07%. The population parameters suggest that Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti populations are r-strategist characterized by a high r, a large Ro, and short T. This kind of information is crucial in understanding mosquito population dynamics in disease transmission and control.

Keywords: Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus, age-stage, life table, two-sex

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Authors: Aditi Chitharanjan Parmar, Marco Gottardo, Giulia Adele Tuci, Francesco Valentino

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The generation of urban organic waste is a significant environmental problem due to the potential release of leachate and/or methane into the environment. This contributes to climate change, discharging a valuable resource that could be used in various ways. This research addresses this issue by proposing a two-step approach by linking biowaste management to aquaculture industry via single cell proteins (SCP) production. A mixture of food waste and municipal sewage sludge (FW-MSS) was firstly subjected to a mesophilic (37°C) anaerobic fermentation to produce a liquid stream rich in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are important building blocks for the following microbial biomass growth. In the frame of stable fermentation activity (after 1 week of operation), the average value of SCFAs was 21.3  0.4 g COD/L, with a CODSCFA/CODSOL ratio of 0.77 COD/COD. This indicated the successful strategy to accumulate SCFAs from the biowaste mixture by applying short hydraulic retention time (HRT; 4 days) and medium organic loading rate (OLR; 7 – 12 g VS/L d) in the lab-scale (V = 4 L) continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The SCFA-rich effluent was then utilized as feedstock for the growth of a mixed microbial consortium able to store polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), a class of biopolymers completely biodegradable in nature and produced as intracellular carbon/energy source. Given the demonstrated properties of the intracellular PHA as antimicrobial and immunomodulatory effect on various fish species, the PHA-producing culture was intended to be utilized as SCP in aquaculture. The growth of PHA-storing biomass was obtained in a 2-L sequencing batch reactor (SBR), fully aerobic and set at 25°C; to stimulate a certain storage response (PHA production) in the cells, the feast-famine conditions were adopted, consisting in an alternation of cycles during which the biomass was exposed to an initial abundance of substrate (feast phase) followed by a starvation period (famine phase). To avoid the proliferation of other bacteria not able to store PHA, the SBR was maintained at low HRT (2 days). Along the stable growth of the mixed microbial consortium (the growth yield was estimated to be 0.47 COD/COD), the feast-famine strategy enhanced the PHA production capacity, leading to a final PHA content in the biomass equal to 16.5 wt%, which is suitable for the use as SCP. In fact, by incorporating the waste-derived PHA-rich biomass into fish feed at 20 wt%, the final feed could contain a PHA content around 3.0 wt%, within the recommended range (0.2–5.0 wt%) for promoting fish health. Proximate analysis of the PHA-rich biomass revealed a good crude proteins level (around 51 wt%) and the presence of all the essential amino acids (EAA), together accounting for 31% of the SCP total amino acid composition. This suggested that the waste-derived SCP was a source of good quality proteins with a good nutritional value. This approach offers a sustainable solution for urban waste management, potentially establishing a sustainable waste-to-value conversion route by connecting waste management to the growing aquaculture and fish feed production sectors.

Keywords: feed supplement, nutritional value, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), single cell protein (SCP), urban organic waste.

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Authors: Ichiro Takahashi

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One of the major assumptions of mainstream macroeconomics is the path independence of capital stock. This paper challenges this assumption by employing an agent-based approach. The simulation results showed the existence of multiple "quasi-steady state" equilibria of the capital stock, which may cast serious doubt on the validity of the assumption. The finding would give a better understanding of many phenomena that involve hysteresis, including the causes of poverty. The "market-clearing view" has been widely shared among major schools of macroeconomics. They understand that the capital stock, the labor force, and technology, determine the "full-employment" equilibrium growth path and demand/supply shocks can move the economy away from the path only temporarily: the dichotomy between the short-run business cycles and the long-run equilibrium path. The view then implicitly assumes the long-run capital stock to be independent of how the economy has evolved. In contrast, "Old Keynesians" have recognized fluctuations in output as arising largely from fluctuations in real aggregate demand. It will then be an interesting question to ask if an agent-based macroeconomic model, which is known to have path dependence, can generate multiple full-employment equilibrium trajectories of the capital stock in the super-long run. If the answer is yes, the equilibrium level of capital stock, an important supply-side factor, would no longer be independent of the business cycle phenomenon. This paper attempts to answer the above question by using the agent-based macroeconomic model developed by Takahashi and Okada (2010). The model would serve this purpose well because it has neither population growth nor technology progress. The objective of the paper is twofold: (1) to explore the causes of long-term business cycle, and (2) to examine the super-long behaviors of the capital stock of full-employment economies. (1) The simulated behaviors of the key macroeconomic variables such as output, employment, real wages showed widely diversified macro-economies. They were often remarkably stable but exhibited both short-term and long-term fluctuations. The long-term fluctuations occur through the following two adjustments: the quantity and relative cost adjustments of capital stock. The first one is obvious and assumed by many business cycle theorists. The reduced aggregate demand lowers prices, which raises real wages, thereby decreasing the relative cost of capital stock with respect to labor. (2) The long-term business cycles/fluctuations were synthesized with the hysteresis of real wages, interest rates, and investments. In particular, a sequence of the simulation runs with a super-long simulation period generated a wide range of perfectly stable paths, many of which achieved full employment: all the macroeconomic trajectories, including capital stock, output, and employment, were perfectly horizontal over 100,000 periods. Moreover, the full-employment level of capital stock was influenced by the history of unemployment, which was itself path-dependent. Thus, an experience of severe unemployment in the past kept the real wage low, which discouraged a relatively costly investment in capital stock. Meanwhile, a history of good performance sometimes brought about a low capital stock due to a high-interest rate that was consistent with a strong investment.

Keywords: agent-based macroeconomic model, business cycle, hysteresis, stability

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Authors: Simon Huston, Ebraheim Lahbash, Ali Parsa

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The development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into a regional trade, tourism, finance and logistics hub has transformed its real estate markets. However, speculative activity and price volatility remain concerns. UAE residential market values (MV) are exposed to fluctuations in capital flows and migration which in turn are affected by geopolitical uncertainty, oil price volatility, and global investment market sentiment. Internally, a complex interplay between administrative boundaries, land tenure, building quality and evolving location characteristics fragments UAE residential property markets. In short, the UAE Residential Valuation System (UAE-RVS) confronts multiple challenges to collect, filter and analyze relevant information in complex and dynamic spatial and capital markets. A robust (RVS) can mitigate the risk of unhelpful volatility, speculative excess or investment mistakes. The research outlines the institutional, ontological, dynamic, and epistemological issues at play. We highlight the importance of system capabilities, valuation standard salience and stakeholders trust.

Keywords: valuation, property rights, information, institutions, trust, salience

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Authors: Yasar Pala, Safa Senaysoy, Emre Calis

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In this paper, structural behavior and improvement of buckling behavior of cold formed steel uprights with open cross-section used storage rack system are studied. As a first step, in the case of a stiffener having an inclined part on the flange, experimental and nonlinear finite element analysis are carried out for three different upright lengths. In the uprights with long length, global buckling is observed while distortional buckling and local buckling are observed in the uprights with medium length and those with short length, respectively. After this point, the study is divided into two groups. One of these groups is the case where the stiffener on the flange is folded at 90°. For this case, four different distances of the stiffener from the web are taken into account. In the other group, the case where different depth of stiffener on the web is considered. Combining experimental and finite element results, the cross-section giving the ultimate critical buckling load is selected.

Keywords: steel, upright, buckling, modes, nonlinear finite element analysis, optimization

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Authors: Maria Poulou

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The study investigated how teachers’ self-rated Emotional Intelligence (EI), competence in implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills and teaching efficacy relate to teacher-student relationships and students’ emotional and behavioral difficulties. Participants were 98 elementary teachers from public schools in central Greece. They completed the Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Scale (SREIS), the Teacher SEL Beliefs Scale, the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), the Student-Teacher Relationships Scale-Short Form (STRS-SF) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for 617 of their students, aged 6-11 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to examine an exploratory model of the variables. It was demonstrated that teachers’ emotional intelligence, SEL beliefs and teaching efficacy were significantly related to teacher-student relationships, but they were not related to students’ emotional and behavioral difficulties. Rather, teachers’ perceptions of teacher-students relationships were significantly related to these difficulties. These findings and their implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, social and emotional learning, teacher-student relationships, teaching efficacy

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Authors: Manh-Dung Ho, Van-Giap Pham, Van-Doanh Ho, Quang-Thien Tran, Tuan-Anh Tran

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The k0-factors and related nuclear data, i.e. the Q0-factors and effective resonance energies (Ēr) of the selected radionuclides which are used in the k0-based neutron activation analysis (k0-NAA), were critically reviewed to be integrated in the “k0-DALAT” software. The k0- and Q0-factors of some short-lived radionuclides: 46mSc, 110Ag, 116m2In, 165mDy, and 183mW, were experimentally determined at the Dalat research reactor. The other radionuclides selected are: 20F, 36S, 49Ca, 60mCo, 60Co, 75Se, 77mSe, 86mRb, 115Cd, 115mIn, 131Ba, 134mCs, 134Cs, 153Gd, 153Sm, 159Gd, 170Tm, 177mYb, 192Ir, 197mHg, 239U and 239Np. The reviewed data as compared with the literature data were biased within 5.6-7.3% in which the experimental re-determined factors were within 6.1 and 7.3%. The NIST standard reference materials: Oyster Tissue (1566b), Montana II Soil (2711a) and Coal Fly Ash (1633b) were used to validate the new reviewed data showing that the new data gave an improved k0-NAA using the “k0-DALAT” software with a factor of 4.5-6.8% for the investigated radionuclides.

Keywords: neutron activation analysis, k0-based method, k0 factor, Q0 factor, effective resonance energy

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Authors: Jamel Miri, Bechir Nsiri, Ridha Bouallegue

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Ultra WidBand-IR physical layer technology has seen a great development during the last decade which makes it a promising candidate for short range wireless communications, as they bring considerable benefits in terms of connectivity and mobility. However, like all wireless communication they suffer from vulnerabilities in terms of security because of the open nature of the radio channel. To face these attacks, distance bounding protocols are the most popular counter measures. In this paper, we presented a protocol based on distance bounding to thread the most popular attacks: Distance Fraud, Mafia Fraud and Terrorist fraud. In our work, we study the way to adapt the best secure distance bounding protocols to mapping code of ultra-wideband (TH-UWB) radios. Indeed, to ameliorate the performances of the protocol in terms of security communication in TH-UWB, we combine the modified protocol to ultra-wideband impulse radio technology (IR-UWB). The security and the different merits of the protocols are analyzed.

Keywords: distance bounding, mapping code ultrawideband, terrorist fraud, physical layer technology

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Authors: Jan C. Droste, Justine Burns, Nithin Narayan

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Introduction: Life-threatening detrimental effects of inappropriate adrenaline (epinephrine) administration, e.g., by giving the wrong dose, in the context of anaphylaxis management is well documented in the medical literature. Half of the fatal anaphylactic reactions in the UK are iatrogenic, and the median time to a cardio-respiratory arrest can be as short as 5 minutes. It is therefore imperative that hospital doctors of all grades have active and accurate knowledge of the correct route, site, and dosage of administration of adrenaline. Given this time constraint and the potential fatal outcome with inappropriate management of anaphylaxis, it is alarming that surveys over the last 15 years have repeatedly shown only a minority of doctors to have accurate knowledge of adrenaline administration as recommended by the UK Resuscitation Council guidelines (2008 updated 2012). This comparison of survey results of the medical workforce over several years in a small NHS District General Hospital was conducted in order to establish the effect of the employment of multiple educational methods regarding adrenaline administration in anaphylaxis in adults. Methods: Between 2010 and 2017, several education methods and tools were used to repeatedly inform the medical workforce (doctors and advanced clinical practitioners) in a single district general hospital regarding the treatment of anaphylaxis in adults. Whilst the senior staff remained largely the same cohort, junior staff had changed fully in every survey. Examples included: (i) Formal teaching -in Grand Rounds; during the junior doctors’ induction process; advanced life support courses (ii) In-situ simulation training performed by the clinical skills simulation team –several ad hoc sessions and one 3-day event in 2017 visiting 16 separate clinical areas performing an acute anaphylaxis scenario using actors- around 100 individuals from multi-disciplinary teams were involved (iii) Hospital-wide distribution of the simulation event via the Trust’s Simulation Newsletter (iv) Laminated algorithms were attached to the 'crash trolleys' (v) A short email 'alert' was sent to all medical staff 3 weeks prior to the survey detailing the emergency treatment of anaphylaxis (vi) In addition, the performance of the surveys themselves represented a teaching opportunity when gaps in knowledge could be addressed. Face to face surveys were carried out in 2010 ('pre-intervention), 2015, and 2017, in the latter two occasions including advanced clinical practitioners (ACP). All surveys consisted of convenience samples. If verbal consent to conduct the survey was obtained, the medical practitioners' answers were recorded immediately on a data collection sheet. Results: There was a sustained improvement in the knowledge of the medical workforce from 2010 to 2017: Answers improved regarding correct drug by 11% (84%, 95%, and 95%); the correct route by 20% (76%, 90%, and 96%); correct site by 40% (43%, 83%, and 83%) and the correct dose by 45% (27%, 54%, and 72%). Overall, knowledge of all components -correct drug, route, site, and dose-improved from 13% in 2010 to 62% in 2017. Conclusion: This survey comparison shows knowledge of the medical workforce regarding adrenaline administration for treatment of anaphylaxis in adults can be considerably improved by employing a variety of educational methods.

Keywords: adrenaline, anaphylaxis, epinephrine, medical education, patient safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Stefan Werrlich, Phuc-Anh Nguyen, Kai Nitsche, Gunther Notni

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a strong growing research topic. This innovative technology is interesting for several training domains like education, medicine, military, sports and industrial use cases like assembly and maintenance tasks. AR can help to improve the efficiency, quality and transfer of training tasks. Due to these reasons, AR becomes more interesting for big companies and researchers because the industrial domain is still an unexplored field. This paper presents the research proposal of a PhD thesis which is done in cooperation with the BMW Group, aiming to explore head-mounted display (HMD) based training in industrial environments. We give a short introduction, describing the motivation, the underlying problems as well as the five formulated research questions we want to clarify along this thesis. We give a brief overview of the current assembly training in industrial environments and present some AR-based training approaches, including their research deficits. We use the Design Science Research (DSR) framework for this thesis and describe how we want to realize the seven guidelines, mandatory from the DSR. Furthermore, we describe each methodology which we use within that framework and present our approach in a comprehensive figure, representing the entire thesis.

Keywords: assembly, augmented reality, research proposal, training

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Promise Ekpo Osaine, Daniel Melesse

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Image captioning is an active area of research in the multi-modal artificial intelligence (AI) community as it connects vision and language understanding, especially in settings where it is required that a model understands the content shown in an image and generates semantically and grammatically correct descriptions. In this project, we followed a standard approach to a deep learning-based image captioning model, injecting architecture for the encoder-decoder setup, where the encoder extracts image features, and the decoder generates a sequence of words that represents the image content. As such, we investigated image encoders, which are ResNet101, InceptionResNetV2, EfficientNetB7, EfficientNetV2M, and CLIP. As a caption generation structure, we explored long short-term memory (LSTM). The CLIP-LSTM model demonstrated superior performance compared to the encoder-decoder models, achieving a BLEU-1 score of 0.904 and a BLEU-4 score of 0.640. Additionally, among the CNN-LSTM models, EfficientNetV2M-LSTM exhibited the highest performance with a BLEU-1 score of 0.896 and a BLEU-4 score of 0.586 while using a single-layer LSTM.

Keywords: multi-modal AI systems, image captioning, encoder, decoder, BLUE score

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Authors: Md. Golam Mostafa

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This paper describes the use of Koha open source library management software for information management in university libraries of Bangladesh. Manual record keeping is a time-consuming and tedious task, which may lead to errors frequently. To maintain the quality of services, any organization needs to manage with the help of a computerized system. The advent of information technology paved the way for library computerization. This paper has provided a short history as well as the present ongoing development of the library computerization system in Bangladesh, which has developed as a library management software Koha on the basis of research and development. Koha integrated library systems (ILS) software is very user friendly open source software. It refers to software in which the source code is freely available for others to view, amend, and adapt. Koha integrated library systems maintained by and used by libraries all over the world. In this context, this paper will analyze Koha library management software, which proves appropriate for the present necessities of library management in Bangladesh. At last, result from the study has been analyzed using different tables and graphs.

Keywords: Koha Open Source Software, integrated library system, RFID facilities, university libraries, Bangladesh

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Authors: Nidal H. Abu-Zahra, Aruna P. Wanninayake

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Copper Oxide (CuO) is a p-type semiconductor with a band gap energy of 1.5 eV, this is close to the ideal energy gap of 1.4 eV required for solar cells to allow good solar spectral absorption. The inherent electrical characteristics of CuO nano particles make them attractive candidates for improving the performance of polymer solar cells when incorporated into the active polymer layer. The UV-visible absorption spectra and external quantum efficiency of P3HT/PC70BM solar cells containing different weight percentages of CuO nano particles showed a clear enhancement in the photo absorption of the active layer, this increased the power conversion efficiency of the solar cells by 24% in comparison to the reference cell. The short circuit current of the reference cell was found to be 5.234 mA/cm2 and it seemed to increase to 6.484 mA/cm2 in cells containing 0.6 mg of CuO NPs; in addition the fill factor increased from 61.15% to 68.0%, showing an enhancement of 11.2%. These observations suggest that the optimum concentration of CuO nano particles was 0.6 mg in the active layer. These significant findings can be applied to design high-efficiency polymer solar cells containing inorganic nano particles.

Keywords: copper oxide nanoparticle, UV-visible spectroscopy, polymer solar cells, P3HT/PCBM

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Authors: Iván García-Magariño, Javier Bravo-Agapito, Marta López-Fernández

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Online judges have proven their utility in partial auto-evaluation of programming short exercises in the last decades. UnitJudge online judge has the advantage of facilitating the evaluation of separate units to provide more segregate and meaningful feedback to students in complex exercises and practices. This paper discusses the use of UnitUdge in advanced Java object-oriented programming exercises and web development practices. This later usage has been proposed by means of the Selenium Java library and classes to provide the web address. Consequently, UnitJudge is an online judge system that can be applied in several subjects, and therefore, many other students would take advantage of self-testing their exercises. This paper presents the experiments with a Java programming exercise for learning Java object-oriented classes with a generic type. Considering 10 students who voluntarily used UnitJudge, 80% successfully learned this concept, passing the judge exercise with correct results.

Keywords: online judges, programming skills, computer science education, auto-evaluation

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Authors: Svetlana Yefimenko

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Situated within the fields of Russian literature, Russian history, and classics, this paper investigates the early writing of Leo Tolstoy in terms of his reception and appropriation of Homeric epic for the purposes of reconstructing early 19th-century Russian history. The epic mode, specifically its Homeric variation, was deployed in Tolstoy’s writing on his military experience in the Crimean War to legitimize a version of historical events which positioned Russian soldiers as the inheritors of ancient Greek heroism. With reference to Tolstoy’s oft-neglected Sevastopol’ Sketches, and the short stories The Raid, The Wood-Felling, and Two Hussars, this paper examines how such narratives pass from communicative memory into collective memory both in the Homeric epics and in Tolstoy’s reworking of them, particularly on the literary effects produced when the distance between communicative and collective memory collapses. Within a song culture, epic song functions as memory, and this paper shows how, by modeling his early work on epic, Tolstoy produced texts which act as memory itself, thereby becoming the authoritative version of Russia’s past in the Crimea, often contradicting historical facts.

Keywords: classical reception, collective memory, Russian history, Russian literature

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Seyong Jeong, Jinmo Park, Jinhyoun Park, Boram Kim, Kyoungsoo Ahn

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Energy management in the maritime industry is being required by economics and in conformity with new legislative actions taken by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the European Union (EU). In response, the various performance monitoring methodologies and data collection practices have been examined by different stakeholders. While many assorted advancements in operation and technology are applicable, their adoption in the shipping industry stays small. This slow uptake can be considered due to many different barriers such as data analysis problems, misreported data, and feedback problems, etc. This study presents a conceptual design of an energy management system (EMS) and proposes the methodology to resolve the limitations (e.g., data normalization using naval architectural evaluation, management of misrepresented data, and feedback from shore to ship through management of performance analysis history). We expect this system to make even short-term charterers assess the ship performance properly and implement sustainable fleet control.

Keywords: data normalization, energy management system, naval architectural evaluation, ship performance analysis

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Authors: Tülin Koldaş, Özlem Çetin Erdoğan, Ahmet Beyarslan

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Brachistinae Föerster, 1862 is a subfamily of the family Braconidae (order Hymenoptera) with about 410 species distributed all around the world. Brachistinae includes the genera, Eubazus Nees von Esenbeck 1814, Foersteria Szépligeti 1896, Chelostes van Achterberg 1990, Triaspis Haliday 1835 and Schizoprymnus Förster 1862. Members of the subfamily live as parasitoids on the families Curculionidae and Apionidae (Coleoptera), which also include very important agricultural pests.  In generally, members of the genus Triaspis are poorly known biologically. The genus is represented by 37 species in the West Palearctic region and 118 species worldwide. Adult specimens of Triaspis were collected from as wide a range of habitats as possible at different altitudes in different parts of Turkey between 1982 and 2010. Samples collected from short plants using standard insect sweeping nets were transferred into tubes containing 70% ethanol and labelled following their preparations according to museum techniques. Seven Triaspis species have been reported from Turkey in this study. Five of these species are new to the fauna of Turkey.

Keywords: Triaspis, Braconidae, Hymenoptera, Turkey, fauna

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Authors: Jana Pichova, Lubos Hes, Vladimir Bajzik

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Protective clothing is designed to keep a wearer save in hazardous conditions or enable perform short time working operation without being injured or feeling discomfort. Firefighters or other related workers are exposed to abnormal heat which can be conductive, convective or radiant type. Their garment is proposed to resist this conditions and prevent burn injuries or dead of human. However thermal comfort of firefighter exposed to high heat source have not been studied yet. Thermal resistance is the best representative parameter of thermal comfort. In this study a new method of testing of thermal resistance of special clothing exposed to high radiation heat source was designed. This method simulates human body wearing single or multi-layered garment which is exposed to radiative heat. Setup of this method enables measuring of radiative heat flow in time without effect of convection. The new testing method is verified on chosen group of textiles for firefighters.

Keywords: protective clothing, radiative heat, thermal comfort of firefighters, thermal resistance of special garments

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Authors: Atuhurra Jesse, N'guessan Yves-Roland Douha, Pabitra Lenka

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The detection of diseases within plants has attracted a lot of attention from computer vision enthusiasts. Despite the progress made to detect diseases in many plants, there remains a research gap to train image classifiers to detect the cacao swollen shoot virus disease or CSSVD for short, pertinent to cacao plants. This gap has mainly been due to the unavailability of high quality labeled training data. Moreover, institutions have been hesitant to share their data related to CSSVD. To fill these gaps, image classifiers to detect CSSVD-infected cacao plants are presented in this study. The classifiers are based on VGG16, ResNet50 and Vision Transformer (ViT). The image classifiers are evaluated on a recently released and publicly accessible KaraAgroAI Cocoa dataset. The best performing image classifier, based on ResNet50, achieves 95.39\% precision, 93.75\% recall, 94.34\% F1-score and 94\% accuracy on only 20 epochs. There is a +9.75\% improvement in recall when compared to previous works. These results indicate that the image classifiers learn to identify cacao plants infected with CSSVD.

Keywords: CSSVD, image classification, ResNet50, vision transformer, KaraAgroAI cocoa dataset

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Authors: Shally Pais

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Film music holds a special relationship with the narrative systems and dramaturgical operations in animation. Though the roles of cartoon music closely resemble those fulfilled by traditional film scores, which have been extensively studied, there is a large knowledge gap regarding non-mainstream or non-Hollywood animation music. This paper is an investigation of the understudied compositional materials and narrative contexts in three distinct films by exploring the main narrative and dramaturgical effects of music in The Skeleton Dance, Fox and The Whale, and La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons. The study uses a Neoformalist approach towards qualitative analysis of the music in these films to document ways in which music can be made to function differently depending on the individual films’ contexts and the desired effects to be had on the audience. Consequently, the paper highlights these factors’ influence on the films’ narratives and aims to widen the discourse on composition for animation film scores, suggesting the further study of non-mainstream film music.

Keywords: animation film music, film score analysis, Fox and The Whale, La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons, Neoformalist analysis, The Skeleton Dance

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Authors: A. Calvin Antony, Sakthi Kumar Arul Prakash, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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In this paper a unique alpha-beta double piston 'stirling engine' is designed, manufactured and conducted laboratory test to ameliorate the efficiency of the stirling engine. The paper focuses on alpha and beta type engines, capturing their benefits and eradicating their short comings; along with the output observed from the flywheel. In this model alpha engine is kinematically with a piston cylinder arrangement which works quite like a beta engine. The piston of the new cylinder is so designed that it replicates a glued displacer and power piston as similar to that of beta engine. The bigger part of the piston is the power piston, which has a gap around it, while the smaller part of the piston is tightly fit in the cylinder and acts like the displacer piston. We observed that the alpha-beta double piston stirling engine produces 25% increase in power compare to a conventional alpha stirling engine. This working model is a pointer towards for the design and development of an alpha-beta double piston Stirling engine for industrial applications for producing electricity from the heat producing exhaust gases.

Keywords: alpha-beta double piston stirling engine , alpha stirling engine , beta double piston stirling engine , electricity from stirling engine

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Authors: Sarah Nauwelaerts, Koen De Cremer, Alfred Bernard, Meredith Verlooy, Kristel Heremans, Natalia Bustos Sierra, Katrien Tersago, Tim Nawrot, Jordy Vercauteren, Christophe Stroobants, Sigrid C. J. De Keersmaecker, Nancy Roosens

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Projected climate changes could lead to exacerbation of respiratory disorders associated with reduced air quality. Air pollution and climate changes influence each other through complex interactions. The poor air quality in urban and rural areas includes high levels of particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), representing a major threat to public health and especially for the most vulnerable population strata, and especially young children. In this study, we aim to develop generic standardized policy supporting tools and methods that allow evaluating in future follow-up larger scale epidemiological studies the risks of the combined short-term effects of O3 and PM on the cardiorespiratory system of children. We will use non-invasive indicators of airway damage/inflammation and of genetic or epigenetic variations by using urine or saliva as alternative to blood samples. Therefore, a multi-phase field study will be organized in order to assess the sensitivity and applicability of these tests in large cohorts of children during episodes of air pollution. A first test phase was planned in March 2018, not yet taking into account ‘critical’ pollution periods. Working with non-invasive samples, choosing the right set-up for the field work and the volunteer selection were parameters to consider, as they significantly influence the feasibility of this type of study. During this test phase, the selection of the volunteers was done in collaboration with medical doctors from the Centre for Student Assistance (CLB), by choosing a class of pre-pubertal children of 9-11 years old in a primary school in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. A questionnaire, collecting information on the health and background of children and an informed consent document were drawn up for the parents as well as a simplified cartoon-version of this document for the children. A detailed study protocol was established, giving clear information on the study objectives, the recruitment, the sample types, the medical examinations to be performed, the strategy to ensure anonymity, and finally on the sample processing. Furthermore, the protocol describes how this field study will be conducted in relation with the prevision and monitoring of air pollutants for the future phases. Potential protein, genetic and epigenetic biomarkers reflecting the respiratory function and the levels of air pollution will be measured in the collected samples using unconventional technologies. The test phase results will be used to address the most important bottlenecks before proceeding to the following phases of the study where the combined effect of O3 and PM during pollution peaks will be examined. This feasibility study will allow identifying possible bottlenecks and providing missing scientific knowledge, necessary for the preparation, implementation and evaluation of federal policies/strategies, based on the most appropriate epidemiological studies on the health effects of air pollution. The research leading to these results has been funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office through contract No.: BR/165/PI/PMOLLUGENIX-V2.

Keywords: air pollution, biomarkers, children, field study, feasibility study, non-invasive

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Authors: Bintao Wu, Xiangfang Xu, Yugang Miao，Duanfeng Han

Abstract:

Joining of 1 mm thick aluminum 6061 to titanium TC4 was conducted using Bypass-current MIG welding-brazed, and stable welding process and good bead appearance were obtained. The Joint profile and microstructure of Ti/Al joints were observed by optical microscopy and SEM and then the structure of the interfacial reaction layers were analyzed in details. It was found that the intermetallic compound layer at the interfacial top is in the form of columnar crystal, which is in short and dense state. A mount of AlTi were observed at the interfacial layer near the Ti base metal while intermetallic compound like Al3Ti、TiSi3 were formed near the Al base metal, and the Al11Ti5 transition phase was found in the center of the interface layer due to the uneven distribution inside the weld pool during the welding process. Tensile test results show that the average tensile strength of joints is up to 182.6 MPa, which reaches about 97.6% of aluminum base metal. Fracture is prone to occur in the base metal with a certain amount of necking.

Keywords: bypass-current MIG welding-brazed, Al alloy, Ti alloy, joint characteristics, mechanical properties

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Authors: D. Jagath Kumari, K. Srinivasa Rao

Abstract:

Quality assurance of the structures subjected to high temperatures is now enforcing measure for the Structural Engineers. The existing relations between strength and nondestructive measurements have been established under normal conditions are not suitable to concretes that have been exposed to high temperatures. The scope of the work is to investigate the influence of high temperatures of short durations on the residual properties of reinforced HVFA concrete columns that affect the strength by non-destructive tests (NDT). Fly ash concrete is increasingly used in the design of normal strength, high strength and high performance concretes. In this paper, the authors revealed the influence of high temperatures on HVFA concrete columns. These columns are heated from 100oC to 800oC with increments of 100oC and allowed to cool to room temperature by two methods one is air cooling method and the other immediate water quenching method. All the specimens were tested identically, before heating and after heating for compressive strength and material integrity by rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) meter respectively. HVFA concrete retained more residual strength by water quenching method than air-cooling method.

Keywords: HVFA concrete, NDT methods, residual strength, non-destructive tests

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Authors: Ana Vieira, Fernando Lau, João Pedro Mortágua, Luís Cruz, Rui Santos

Abstract:

The air transport impact on environment is more than ever a limitative obstacle to the aeronautical industry continuous growth. Over the last decades, considerable effort has been carried out in order to obtain quieter aircraft solutions, whether by changing the original design or investigating more silent maneuvers. The noise propagated by rotating surfaces is one of the most important sources of annoyance, being present in most aerial vehicles. Bearing this is mind, CEIIA developed a new computational chain for noise prediction with in-house software tools to obtain solutions in relatively short time without using excessive computer resources. This work is based on the new acoustic tool, which aims to predict the rotor noise generated during steady and maneuvering flight, making use of the flexibility of the C language and the advantages of GPU programming in terms of velocity. The acoustic tool is based in the Formulation 1A of Farassat, capable of predicting two important types of noise: the loading and thickness noise. The present work describes the most important features of the acoustic tool, presenting its most relevant results and framework analyses for helicopters and UAV quadrotors.

Keywords: rotor noise, acoustic tool, GPU Programming, UAV noise

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Authors: András Horkai, Attila Talamon, Viktória Sugár

Abstract:

There is an urgent need nowadays to reduce energy demand and the current level of greenhouse gas emission and use renewable energy sources increase in energy efficiency. On the other hand, the European Union (EU) countries are largely dependent on energy imports and are vulnerable to disruption in energy supply, which may, in turn, threaten the functioning of their current economic structure. Residential buildings represent a significant part of the energy consumption of the building stock. Only a small part of the building stock is exchanged every year, thus it is essential to increase the energy efficiency of the existing buildings. Present paper focuses on the buildings built with industrialized technology only, and their opportunities in the boundaries of nearly zero-energy regulation. Current paper shows the emergence of panel construction method, and past and present of the ‘panel’ problem in Hungary with a short outlook to Europe. The study shows as well as the possibilities for meeting the nearly zero and cost optimized requirements for residential buildings by analyzing the renovation scenarios of an existing residential typology.

Keywords: Budapest, energy consumption, industrialized technology, nearly zero-energy buildings

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Authors: Ghazwan Al-Haji, Adeyemi Adedokun

Abstract:

Traffic safety at intersections is highly represented, given the fact that accidents occur randomly in time and space. It is necessary to judge whether the intersection is dangerous or not based on short-term observations, and not waiting for many years of assessing historical accident data. There are active and pro-active road infrastructure safety methods for assessing safety at intersections. This study aims to investigate the use of quantitative and qualitative pre-observational methods as the best practice for accident prediction, future black spot identification, and treatment. Historical accident data from STRADA (the Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition) was used within Norrkoping city in Sweden. The ADT (Average Daily Traffic), capacity and speed were used to predict accident rates. Locations with the highest accident records and predicted accident counts were identified and hence audited qualitatively by using Street Audit. The results from these quantitative and qualitative methods were analyzed, validated and compared. The paper provides recommendations on the used methods as well as on how to reduce the accident occurrence at the chosen intersections.

Keywords: intersections, traffic conflict, traffic safety, street audit, accidents predictions

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Ana Paula Almeida Castaldelli Maciel, Gabriela Medeiros, Amanda de Souza Machado, Maria Clara Pilatti, Ralpho Rinaldo dos Reis, Silvio Cesar Sampaio

Abstract:

Sustainable agricultural systems are crucial to ensuring global food security and the long-term production of nutritious food. Comprehensive soil and water management practices, including nutrient management, balanced fertilizer use, and appropriate waste management, are essential for sustainable agriculture. Swine wastewater (SWW) treatment has become a significant focus due to environmental concerns related to heavy metals, antibiotics, resistant pathogens, and nutrients. In South America, small farms use soil to dispose of animal waste, a practice that is expected to increase with global pork production. The potential of SWW as a nutrient source is promising, contributing to global food security, nutrient cycling, and mineral fertilizer reduction. Short- and long-term studies evaluated the effects of SWW on soil and plant parameters, such as nutrients, heavy metals, organic matter (OM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and pH. Although promising results have been observed in short- and medium-term applications, long-term applications require more attention due to heavy metal concentrations. Organic soil amendment strategies, due to their economic and ecological benefits, are commonly used to reduce the bioavailability of heavy metals. However, the rate of degradation and initial levels of OM must be monitored to avoid changes in soil pH and release of metals. The study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of SWW application on soil fertility parameters, focusing on calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K), in addition to CEC and OM. Experiments were conducted at the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Brazil, using 24 drainage lysimeters for nine years, with different application rates of SWW and mineral fertilization. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was then conducted to summarize the composite variables, known as principal components (PC), and limit the dimensionality to be evaluated. The retained PCs were then correlated with the original variables to identify the level of association between each variable and each PC. Data were interpreted using Analysis of Variance - ANOVA for general linear models (GLM). As OM was not measured in the 2007 soybean experiment, it was assessed separately from PCA to avoid loss of information. PCA and ANOVA indicated that crop type, SWW, and mineral fertilization significantly influenced soil nutrient levels. Soybeans presented higher concentrations of Ca, Mg, and CEC. The application of SWW influenced K levels, with higher concentrations observed in SWW from biodigesters and higher doses of swine manure. Variability in nutrient concentrations in SWW due to factors such as animal age and feed composition makes standard recommendations challenging. OM levels increased in SWW-treated soils, improving soil fertility and structure. In conclusion, the application of SWW can increase soil fertility and crop productivity, reducing environmental risks. However, careful management and long-term monitoring are essential to optimize benefits and minimize adverse effects.

Keywords: contamination, water research, biodigester, nutrients

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Authors: JaeHwan Yang, Da-Woon Jeong, Seung-Young Kho, Dong-Kyu Kim

Abstract:

In terms of ITS, information on link characteristic is an essential factor for plan or operation. But in practical cases, not every link has installed sensors on it. The link that does not have data on it is called “Missing Link”. The purpose of this study is to impute data of these missing links. To get these data, this study applies the machine learning method. With the machine learning process, especially for the deep learning process, missing link data can be estimated from present link data. For deep learning process, this study uses “Recurrent Neural Network” to take time-series data of road. As input data, Dedicated Short-range Communications (DSRC) data of Dalgubul-daero of Daegu Metropolitan Area had been fed into the learning process. Neural Network structure has 17 links with present data as input, 2 hidden layers, for 1 missing link data. As a result, forecasted data of target link show about 94% of accuracy compared with actual data.

Keywords: data estimation, link data, machine learning, road network

Procedia PDF Downloads 508

Authors: Sawsan Kamal Kalil El Galad, Heba Shafik Ibrahim Mohamed, Rania Ismail Moussa

Abstract:

New developments in the technological world have made the internet an innovative way for individuals and families to communicate. Social media sites help in fulfilling communication needs and wants of their users. The use of social media may have an effect on the family relation either in a positive or negative manner. This study aimed to investigate the family relationships among users and non users of social media. The study followed a cross- sectional descriptive comparative research design. It was conducted on 360 employees, at Damanhour University in Elbeheira, Egypt. Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS) was used to collect the data of this study. The results revealed that the mean score of the social media users is slightly increased in relation to the non users of social media mean score with no significant difference between both groups. It was concluded that using social media for short time has no effect on the family relationship, sitting with family in daily base satisfy the social and emotional needs of its member and enhance family relations. Recommendations encompassed that the time spent on social media should be assessed regularly to prevent being isolated from the family members. Educational programs to increase the parent’s awareness how to deal with their children regarding social media and its risks.

Keywords: social media, family relationships, communication needs, culture

Procedia PDF Downloads 112