Search results for: type 2 fuzzy logic control (T2FLC)

Authors: Evar C. Umeozor, Experience I. Nduagu, Ian D. Gates

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The energy requirements of carbon dioxide utilization (CDU) technologies/processes are diverse, so also are their environmental footprints. This paper explores the energy and environmental impacts of systems for CO₂ conversion to fuels, chemicals, and materials. Energy needs of the technologies and processes deployable in CO₂ conversion systems are met by one or combinations of hydrogen (chemical), electricity, heat, and light. Likewise, the environmental footprint of any CO₂ utilization pathway depends on the systems involved. So far, evaluation of CDU systems has been constrained to particular energy source/type or a subset of the overall system needed to make CDU possible. This introduces limitations to the general understanding of the energy and environmental implications of CDU, which has led to various pitfalls in past studies. A CDU system has an energy source, CO₂ supply, and conversion units. We apply a holistic approach to consider the impacts of all components in the process, including various sources of energy, CO₂ feedstock, and conversion technologies. The electricity sources include nuclear power, renewables (wind and solar PV), gas turbine, and coal. Heat is supplied from either electricity or natural gas, and hydrogen is produced from either steam methane reforming or electrolysis. The CO₂ capture unit uses either direct air capture or post-combustion capture via amine scrubbing, where applicable, integrated configurations of the CDU system are explored. We demonstrate how the overall energy and environmental impacts of each utilization pathway are obtained by aggregating the values for all components involved. Proper accounting of the energy and emission intensities of CDU must incorporate total balances for the utilization process and differences in timescales between alternative conversion pathways. Our results highlight opportunities for the use of clean energy sources, direct air capture, and a number of promising CO₂ conversion pathways for producing methanol, ethanol, synfuel, urea, and polymer materials.

Keywords: carbon dioxide utilization, processes, energy options, environmental impacts

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Wilfred Jeyatheese Jeyaraj

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Education is a key determinant of future success, and every person deserves non-discriminant access to information for educational inevitabilities in any case. Analysing and understanding complex information is a crucial learning tool, especially for students. In order to compete equally with sighted students, visually impaired students require the unhinged access to access to all the available information resources. When the education of visually impaired students comes to a focal point, it can be stated that visually impaired students encounter several obstacles and barriers before they enter the university and during their time there as students. These obstacles and barriers are spread across technical, organizational and social arenas. This study reveals the possible approaches to absorb and benefit from the information provided by the Sri Lankan University Libraries for visually impaired students. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sample visually impaired students attached to the Sri Lankan National universities. There are 07 National universities which accommodate the visually impaired students and with the identified data, they were selected for this study and 80 visually impaired students were selected as the sample group. Descriptive type survey method was used to collect data. Structured questionnaires, interviews and direct observation were used as research instruments. As far as the Sri Lankan context spread is concerned, visually impaired students are able to finish their courses through their own determination to overcome the barriers they encounter on their way to graduation, through moral and practical support from their own friends and very often through a high level of creativity. According to the findings there are no specially trained university librarians to serve visually impaired users and less number of assistive technology equipment are available at present. This paper enables all university libraries in Sri Lanka to be informed about the social isolation of visually compromised students at the Sri Lankan universities and focuses on the rectification issues by considering their distinct case for interaction.

Keywords: information access, Sri Lanka, university libraries, visual impairment

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Mansouri Ouarda, Adbdennour Cherif, Boukarma Ziad

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Environmental and biological monitoring are used for the evaluation of exposure to industrial chemicals, and provide a tool for assessing workers’ exposure to chemicals. The organs or tissues where the first biological effects can be observed with increasing amounts of lead toxicity. This study aims at evaluating the effect of the metal element-trace; lead, on the sex hormones in male workers, exposed to this metal on the level of the manufacturing plant of lead accumulators. The results indicate a significant reduction of the testosterone concentration in exposed workers compared to the control. However, the rate of LH was strongly increased at the individuals exposed to Pb. A significant difference concerning the rate of FSH, the hormone Prolactin and cortisol was recorded. The indicators of the lead poisoning indicate a very highly significant increase in the value of Pbs which vary between (142-796 µg/L) among which 50% of the workers present a high lead poisoning and the value of PPZ which vary between (43-554µg/L). The biochemical parameters show a significant increase in the rate of the créatinine, the urea and the acid urique. The hepatic results show no significant differentiation in the rate of TGO and TGP between both groups of study. However the rates of the enzyme phosphatase alkaline, triglyceride, and cholesterol a significant difference were registered.

Keywords: hormons, parameters, physilogical, Pbs, PPZ

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: Ozhan Simsek, Dicle Donmez, Burhanettin Imrak, Ahsen Isik Ozguven, Yildiz Aka Kacar

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Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is known to be one of the oldest edible fruit tree species, with a wide geographical global distribution. Fruits from the two defined varieties (Hicaznar and 33N26) were taken at intervals after pollination and fertilization at different sizes. Seed samples were used for transcriptome sequencing. Primary sequencing was produced by Illumina Hi-Seq™ 2000. Firstly, we had raw reads, and it was subjected to quality control (QC). Raw reads were filtered into clean reads and aligned to the reference sequences. De novo analysis was performed to detect genes expressed in seeds of pomegranate varieties. We performed downstream analysis to determine differentially expressed genes. We generated about 27.09 gb bases in total after Illumina Hi-Seq sequencing. All samples were assembled together, we got 59,264 Unigenes, the total length, average length, N50, and GC content of Unigenes are 84.547.276 bp, 1.426 bp, 2,137 bp, and 46.20 %, respectively. Unigenes were annotated with 7 functional databases, finally, 42.681(NR: 72.02%), 39.660 (NT: 66.92%), 30.790 (Swissprot: 51.95%), 20.212 (COG: 34.11%), 27.689 (KEGG: 46.72%), 12.328 (GO: 20.80%), and 33,833 (Interpro: 57.09%) Unigenes were annotated. With functional annotation results, we detected 42.376 CDS, and 4.999 SSR distribute on 16.143 Unigenes.

Keywords: next generation sequencing, SSR, RNA-Seq, Illumina

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Sheetla Prasad

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The focus issue of this article is to determine the mechanism of mind with geometrical analysis of human face. Research paradigm has been designed for study of spatial dynamic of face and it was found that different shapes of face have their own function for determine the action of mind. The functional ratio (FR) of face has determined the behaviour operation of human beings. It is not based on the formulistic approach of prediction but scientific dogmatism and mathematical analysis is the root of the prediction of behaviour. For analysis, formulae were developed and standardized. It was found that human psyche is designed in three forms; manipulated, manifested and real psyche. Functional output of the psyche has been determined by degree of energy flow in the psyche and reserve energy for future. Face is the recipient and transmitter of energy but distribution and control is the possible by mind. Mind directs behaviour. FR indicates that the face is a power house of energy and as per its geometrical domain force of behaviours has been designed and actions are possible in the nature of individual. The impact factor of this study is the promotion of human capital for job fitness objective and minimization of criminalization in society.

Keywords: functional ratio, manipulated psyche, manifested psyche, real psyche

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Authors: Sina Mahdavi

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Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the CNS that affects the myelination process in the central nervous system (CNS). Complex interactions of various "environmental or infectious" factors may act as triggers in autoimmunity and disease progression. The association between viral infections, especially human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) and MS is one potential cause that is not well understood. This study aims to summarize the available data on HERV infection in MS disease progression. Materials and Methods: For this study, the keywords "Multiple sclerosis", "Human endogenous retrovirus", and "central nervous system" in the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Sid, and MagIran between 2016 and 2022 were searched and 14 articles chosen, studied, and analyzed. Results: In the leptomeningeal cells of MS patients, a retrovirus-like element associated with reverse transcriptase (RT) activity called multiple sclerosis-associated retroviruses (MSRV) has been identified. HERVs are expressed in the human CNS despite mechanisms to suppress their expression. External factors, especially viral infections such as influenza virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and herpes simplex virus type 1, can activate HERV gene expression. The MSRV coat protein is activated by activating TLR4 at the brain surface, particularly in oligodendroglial progenitor cells and macrophages, leading to immune cascades followed by the downregulation of myelin protein expression. The HERV-K18 envelope gene (env) acts as a superantigen and induces inflammatory responses in patients with MS. Conclusion: There is a high expression of endogenous retroviruses during the course of MS, which indicates the relationship between HERV and MS, that this virus can play a role in the development of MS by creating an inflammatory state. Therefore, measures to modulate the expression of endogenous retroviruses may be effective in reducing inflammatory processes in demyelinated areas of MS patients.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, human endogenous retrovirus, central nervous system, MSRV

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: A. Rostampouryasouri, A. Maghoul, S. Tahersima

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The rapid growth of urbanization and the subsequent increase in population in cities have resulted in the destruction of the environment to cater to the needs of citizens. The industrialization of urban life has led to the production of pollutants, which has significantly contributed to the rise of air pollution. Infrastructure can have both positive and negative effects on air pollution. The effects of infrastructure on air pollution are complex and depend on various factors such as the type of infrastructure, location, and context. This study examines the effects of infrastructure on air pollution, drawing on a range of empirical evidence from Iran and China. Our paper focus for analyzing the data is on the following concepts: 1. Urban design and planning principles and practices 2. Infrastructure efficiency and optimization strategies 3. Public transportation systems and their environmental impact 4. GHG emissions reduction strategies in urban areas 5. Case studies and best practices in sustainable urban development This paper employs a mixed methodology approach with a focus on developmental and applicative purposes. The mixed methods approach combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the research topic. A group of 20 architectural specialists and experts who are proficient in the field of research, design, and implementation of green architecture projects were interviewed in a systematic and purposeful manner. The research method was based on content analysis using MAXQDA2020 software. The findings suggest that policymakers and urban planners should consider the potential impacts of infrastructure on air pollution and take measures to mitigate negative effects while maximizing positive ones. This includes adopting a nature-based approach to urban planning and infrastructure development, investing in information infrastructure, and promoting modern logistic transport infrastructure.

Keywords: GHG emissions, infrastructure efficiency, urban development, urban design

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: Jinan B. Al-Dabbagh, Rozman Mohd Tahar, Mahadzir Ishak

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TiAl alloy nano-powder was successfully produced by a mechanical alloying (MA) technique in a planetary ball mill. The influence of milling parameters, such as the milling duration, rotation speed, and balls-to-powder mass ratio, on the characteristics of the Ti50%Al powder, including the microstructure, crystallite size refinement, and phase formation, were investigated. It was found that MA of elemental Ti and Al powders promotes the formation of TiAl alloys, as Ti (Al) solid solution was formed after 5h of milling. Milling without the addition of process control agents led to a dramatic decrease in the crystallite size to 17.8 nm after 2h of milling. Higher rotation energy and a higher ball-to-powder weight ratio also accelerated the reduction in crystallite size. Subsequent heating up to 850°C resulted in the formation of a new intermetallic phase with a dominant TiAl3 phase plus minor γ-TiAl or α2-Ti3Al phase or both. A longer milling duration also exhibited a better effect on the micro-hardness of Ti50%Al powders.

Keywords: TiAl alloys, nanocrystalline materials, mechanical alloying, materials science

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Shiliang Wu, Huanxin Zhang, Aditya Kumar

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There have been increasing concerns on atmospheric mercury as a toxic and bioaccumulative pollutant in the global environment. Global change, including changes in climate change, land use, land cover and wildfires activities can all have significant impacts on atmospheric mercury. In this study, we use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to examine the potential impacts from global change on atmospheric mercury. All of these factors in the context of global change are found to have significant impacts on the long-term evolution of atmospheric mercury and can substantially alter the global source-receptor relationships for mercury. We also estimate the global Hg emissions from wildfires for present-day and the potential impacts from the 2000-2050 changes in climate, land use and land cover and Hg anthropogenic emissions by combining statistical analysis with global data on vegetation type and coverage as well as fire activities. Present global Hg wildfire emissions are estimated to be 612 Mg year-1. Africa is the dominant source region (43.8% of global emissions), followed by Eurasia (31%) and South America (16.6%). We find significant perturbations to wildfire emissions of Hg in the context of global change, driven by the projected changes in climate, land use and land cover and Hg anthropogenic emissions. 2000-2050 climate change could increase Hg emissions by 14% globally. Projected changes in land use by 2050 could decrease the global Hg emissions from wildfires by 13% mainly driven by a decline in African emissions due to significant agricultural land expansion. Future land cover changes could lead to significant increases in Hg emissions over some regions (+32% North America, +14% Africa, +13% Eurasia). Potential enrichment of terrestrial ecosystems in 2050 in response to changes in Hg anthropogenic emissions could increase Hg wildfire emissions both globally (+28%) and regionally. Our results indicate that the future evolution of climate, land use and land cover and Hg anthropogenic emissions are all important factors affecting Hg wildfire emissions in the coming decades.

Keywords: climate change, land use, land cover, wildfires

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Authors: Levent Basayigit, Sinan Demir, Yusuf Ucar, Burhan Kara

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Many research projects require accurate delineation of the different land cover type of the agricultural area. Especially it is critically important for the definition of specific plants like cannabis. However, the complexity of vegetation stands structure, abundant vegetation species, and the smooth transition between different seconder section stages make vegetation classification difficult when using traditional approaches such as the maximum likelihood classifier. Most of the time, classification distinguishes only between trees/annual or grain. It has been difficult to accurately determine the cannabis mixed with other plants. In this paper, a mixed distribution models approach is applied to classify pure and mix cannabis parcels using Worldview-2 imagery in the Lakes region of Turkey. Five different land use types (i.e. sunflower, maize, bare soil, and cannabis) were identified in the image. A constrained Gaussian mixture discriminant analysis (GMDA) was used to unmix the image. In the study, 255 reflectance ratios derived from spectral signatures of seven bands (Blue-Green-Yellow-Red-Rededge-NIR1-NIR2) were randomly arranged as 80% for training and 20% for test data. Gaussian mixed distribution model approach is proved to be an effective and convenient way to combine very high spatial resolution imagery for distinguishing cannabis vegetation. Based on the overall accuracies of the classification, the Gaussian mixed distribution model was found to be very successful to achieve image classification tasks. This approach is sensitive to capture the illegal cannabis planting areas in the large plain. This approach can also be used for monitoring and determination with spectral reflections in illegal cannabis planting areas.

Keywords: Gaussian mixture discriminant analysis, spectral mixture model, Worldview-2, land parcels

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Nurudeen Oluwasola Lasisi, Abdulkareem Afolabi Ibrahim

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Newcastle disease is an infection of domestic poultry and other bird species with virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV). In this paper, we study the dynamics of modeling the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) using a novel quarantine-adjusted incidence. We do a comparison of Vaccination, linear incident rate, and novel quarantine adjusted incident rate in the models. The dynamics of the models yield disease free and endemic equilibrium states. The effective reproduction numbers of the models are computed in order to measure the relative impact for the individual bird or combined intervention for effective disease control. We showed the local and global stability of endemic equilibrium states of the models, and we found that stability of endemic equilibrium states of models are globally asymptotically stable if the effective reproduction numbers of the models equations are greater than a unit.

Keywords: effective reproduction number, endemic state, mathematical model, Newcastle disease virus, novel quarantine-adjusted incidence, stability analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: P. M. Kundu, L. R. Singo, J. O. Odiyo

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Luvuvhu River catchment in South Africa experiences floods resulting from heavy rainfall of intensities exceeding 15 mm per hour associated with the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The generation of runoff is triggered by the rainfall intensity and soil moisture status. In this study, remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to analyze the hydrologic response to land cover changes. Runoff was calculated as a product of the net precipitation and a curve number coefficient. It was then routed using the Muskingum-Cunge method using a diffusive wave transfer model that enabled the calculation of response functions between start and end point. Flood frequency analysis was determined using theoretical probability distributions. Spatial data on land cover was obtained from multi-temporal Landsat images while data on rainfall, soil type, runoff and stream discharges was obtained by direct measurements in the field and from the Department of Water. A digital elevation model was generated from contour maps available at http://www.ngi.gov.za. The results showed that land cover changes had impacted negatively to the hydrology of the catchment. Peak discharges in the whole catchment were noted to have increased by at least 17% over the period while flood volumes were noted to have increased by at least 11% over the same period. The flood time to peak indicated a decreasing trend, in the range of 0.5 to 1 hour within the years. The synergism between remotely sensed digital data and GIS for land surface analysis and modeling was realized, and it was therefore concluded that hydrologic modeling has potential for determining the influence of changes in land cover on the hydrologic response of the catchment.

Keywords: catchment, digital elevation model, hydrological model, routing, runoff

Procedia PDF Downloads 551

Authors: Justin Reverdi, Sixin Zhang, Saïd Aoues, Fabrice Gamboa, Serge Gratton, Thomas Pellegrini

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In vapor cycle systems, the mass flow sensor plays a key role for different monitoring and control purposes. However, physical sensors can be inaccurate, heavy, cumbersome, expensive, or highly sensitive to vibrations, which is especially problematic when embedded into an aircraft. The conception of a virtual sensor, based on other standard sensors, is a good alternative. This paper has two main objectives. Firstly, a data-driven model using a convolutional neural network is proposed to estimate the mass flow of the compressor. We show that it significantly outperforms the standard polynomial regression model (thermodynamic maps) in terms of the standard MSE metric and engineer performance metrics. Secondly, a semi-automatic segmentation method is proposed to compute the engineer performance metrics for real datasets, as the standard MSE metric may pose risks in analyzing the dynamic behavior of vapor cycle systems.

Keywords: deep learning, convolutional neural network, vapor cycle system, virtual sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 38

Authors: Martin Hofmann, Diego Stutzer, Thomas Niederhauser, Juergen Burger

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Dental biofilm is the main etiologic factor for caries, periodontal and peri-implant infections. In addition to the risk of tooth loss, periodontitis is also associated with an increased risk of systemic diseases such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and diabetes. For this reason, dental hygienists use ultrasonic scalers for prophylactic and periodontal care of the teeth. However, the current instruments are limited to their dimensions and operating frequencies. The innovative design of a planar ultrasonic transducer introduces a new type of dental scalers. The flat titanium-based design allows the mass to be significantly reduced compared to a conventional screw-mounted Langevin transducer, resulting in a more efficient and controllable scaler. For the development of the novel device, multi-physics finite element analysis was used to simulate and optimise various design concepts. This process was supported by prototyping and electromechanical characterisation. The feasibility and potential of a planar ultrasonic transducer have already been confirmed by our current prototypes, which achieve higher performance compared to commercial devices. Operating at the desired resonance frequency of 28 kHz with a driving voltage of 40 Vrms results in an in-plane tip oscillation with a displacement amplitude of up to 75 μm by having less than 8 % out-of-plane movement and an energy transformation factor of 1.07 μm/mA. In a further step, we will adapt the design to two additional resonance frequencies (20 and 40 kHz) to obtain information about the most suitable mode of operation. In addition to the already integrated characterization methods, we will evaluate the clinical efficiency of the different devices in an in vitro setup with an artificial biofilm pocket model.

Keywords: ultrasonic instrumentation, ultrasonic scaling, piezoelectric transducer, finite element simulation, dental biofilm, dental calculus

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: O. D. A. N. Perera, H. G. Wanigasinghe

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Tender jackfruit is an underutilized biomass, which still has a good consumer demand. Valorization of this ingredient into meat analog would obtain greater consumer acceptance due to concerns about health, the environment, and living sustainably of mankind have increased significantly in this decade, opening the market for meat substitutes. The objective of this research was to create a plant-based meat substitute with a structure similar to meat products. In this study, three different combinations of tender jackfruit were used to create vegan burger patties, which were then examined for their textural, physico-chemical, and sensory qualities. The developed burger patties have been compared with store-bought chicken patties. The developed vegan burger patties P1, P2, and P3 had a comparable flavor preference to the control and demonstrated considerable general acceptability (p >.05). P3 has a high quantity of protein (17.10 ± 0.02%) and fiber (6.40 ± 0.06%). At the same time, the vegan burger patty resulted in less fat, high fiber, and high protein which meets the vegan consumer requirements.

Keywords: underutilized, high fibre, soya protein isolate, cooking yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Mohamed A. Dkhil, Denis Delic, Saleh Al-Quraishy

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Coccidiosis causes considerable economic loss in the poultry industry. The current study aimed to investigate the response of goblet cells as well as the induced tissue damage during Eimeria papilata infection. Mice were infected with sporulated E. papillata oocyts. On day 5 post-infection, the fecal output was determined. Also, the jejunum was prepared for the histological, histochemical and molecular studies. Our results revealed that the intestinal coccidian infection with E. papillata induced a marked goblet cell hypoplasia and depleted mucus secretion. Also, the infection was able to alter the jejuna architecture and increased the apoptotic cells inside the villi. In addition, the real time PCR results indicated that, the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, iNOS, IFN-y and IL-1β were significantly up-regulated. In contrast, the mRNA expression patterns of IL-6 in response to E. papillata infection did not differ significantly between control and infected mice. Moreover, the mRNA expression of TLR4 was significantly up-regulated, whereas the expression of MUC2 is significantly down-regulated upon infection. Further studies are required to understand the regulatory mechanisms of goblet cells related genes.

Keywords: goblet cells, Eimeria papillata, mice, jejunum

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Mohammedi Ferhate, Hakim Chadli, Laggoun Chaouki

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The main objectives of work in this area are, first, obtaining the high laser energies in short time durations needed for the feasibility studies of laser induced thermodynamically exothermic chemical reactions , second, investigating the physical principles that can be used to make laser sources capable of delivering high average powers. We note that, in order to reach both objectives, one has to convert electrical or chemical energy into laser energy, using dense gaseous media.. We present results from the early development of an F atom source appropriate for HF and DF chemical laser research. We next explain the very important difficulties encountered in working with dense gases for that purpose, and we shall describe how, especially at Evaluation of downstream-mixing scheme –levels transitions (001) → (100) and (001) → (020) gas dynamic laser The physical phenomena that control the operation of presently existing laser devices are now sufficiently well understood, so that it is possible to predict that new generations of lasers could be designed in the future. The proposed model of excitation and relaxation levels was finally proved by the computational numerical code of Matlab toolboxes of different parameters of nozzle.

Keywords: hydrogen, combust, chemical laser, halogen atom

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: Charles Sikwanda

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The use of geosynthetic materials in geotechnical engineering projects has rapidly increased over the past several years. These materials have resulted in improved performance and cost reduction of geotechnical structures as compared to the use of conventional materials. However, working with geosynthetics requires knowledge of interface parameters for design. These parameters are typically determined by the large direct shear device in accordance with ASTM-D5321 and ASTM-D6243 standards. Although these laboratory tests are standardized, the quality of the results can be largely affected by several factors that include; the shearing rate, applied normal stress, gripping mechanism, and type of the geosynthetic specimens tested. Amongst these factors, poor surface gripping of a specimen is the major source of the discrepancy. If the specimen is inadequately secured to the shearing blocks, it experiences progressive failure and shear strength that deviates from the true field performance of the tested material. This leads to inaccurate, unsafe, and cost ineffective designs of projects. Currently, the ASTM-D5321 and ASTM-D6243 standards do not provide a standardized gripping system for geosynthetic shear strength testing. Over the years, researchers have come up with different gripping systems that can be used such as; glue, metal textured surface, sandblasting, and sandpaper. However, these gripping systems are regularly not adequate to sufficiently secure the tested specimens to the shearing device. This has led to large variability in test results and difficulties in results interpretation. Therefore, this study was aimed at determining the effects of gripping systems in geosynthetic interface shear strength testing using a 300 x 300 mm direct shear box. The results of the research will contribute to easy data interpretation and increase result accuracy and reproducibility.

Keywords: geosynthetics, shear strength parameters, gripping systems, gripping

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Balarabe Bilyaminu Ismail, Osman Cavus, Fügen Durlu Özkaya

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This study is aimed at determining the level of awareness of chefs and students of food science and technology on food safety in general and allergens in particular. To get appropriate data, a questionnaire comprising of 19 questions covering many food safety issues and allergens in foods were used to collect information for the study through face to face interviews. Interviews were conducted for 284 people in Nigeria and Turkey. Sixty-eight percent of respondents from Turkey; 31.3% were students and 68.7% were chefs. Thirty-one percent of respondents from Nigeria include 33.7% students and 66.3% chefs. The result of the study indicated that most of the findings of scientific studies on food safety issues have not been directly applied by the people working in the food sector. Additionally, the knowledge level of the gastronomy and culinary arts students on food safety and allergens are significantly higher than the restaurant chefs that prepare the food and serve it to the public. The study, therefore, concluded that proper training of food business operators is critical to ensuring the safety of foods and control of allergens.

Keywords: allergens, food safety, questionnaire survey, training

Procedia PDF Downloads 337

Authors: Sayyed Mohammed Rafi

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Phytolith studies were carried out for the intrabasaltic bole beds occurring in the western part of the Deccan Volcanic Province. This preliminary study indicates the presence of multiform phytoliths both in red and green boles. Red bole indicates well preserved elongate phytoliths from Acanthaceae plants while bulky Bulliform phytoliths mainly from Pleioblastus/ Andropogonea/reeds plants. Degeneration of few phytoliths from red bole indicates either leaching/etching or some other activity that is responsible for such post-preservation conditions. Phytoliths from the green bole, however, seem to be well preserved as compared to those from the red bole. The phytoliths from green bole are mainly of Festucoid types (especially small square and rectangular types) indicating the presence of Chrysobalanaceae type of vegetation followed by elongate phytoliths from Acanthaceae plant types. The Multiform Trichomes seems to be derived from Panicoid/Andropogonoid/Burseraceae/Fabaceae while Bulliforms from Pleioblastus/Andropogonea/reeds. Presences of silicified woody elements from both red and green boles indicate the presence of dicotyledonous plants which could have been in the form of small shrubs. The degenerated phytoliths in red bole suggest leaching/etching or higher intensity of weathering suggesting the existence of well-drained conditions during its formation that enhanced the leaching activity while the presence of well-preserved phytoliths in green bole point towards the existence of damp and desiccated conditions during its formation. The prevalence of dry condition during red bole formation could suggest their formation under higher temperature as compared to green bole. Based on the phytolith analysis it is too early to comment on the palaeoclimates which could have prevailed during the bole bed formations. However a detailed micromorphological, as well as phytolith analysis of more samples, can throw light on the palaeoenvironmental conditions as well as the biological activity during their formation.

Keywords: Deccan volcanic province, intrabasaltic bole beds, palaeoclimate, phytoliths

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Authors: Deepak Raj Bhat, Kazushige Hayashi, Yorihiro Tanaka, Shigeru Ogita, Akihiko Wakai

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Slow-moving landslides are one of the major natural disasters in mountainous regions. Therefore, study of the creep displacement behaviour of a landslide and associated geological and geotechnical issues seem important. This study has addressed and evaluated the slow-moving behaviour of landslide using the 2D-FEM based Elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. To our based knowledge, two new control constitutive parameters were incorporated in the numerical model for the first time to better understand the slow-moving behaviour of a landslide. First, the predicted time histories of horizontal displacement of the landslide are presented and discussed, which may be useful for landslide displacement prediction in the future. Then, the simulation results of deformation pattern and shear strain pattern is presented and discussed. Moreover, the possible failure mechanism along the slip surface of such landslide is discussed based on the simulation results. It is believed that this study will be useful to understand the slow-moving behaviour of landslides, and at the same time, long-term monitoring and management of the landslide disaster will be much easier.

Keywords: numerical simulation, ground water fluctuations, elasto-viscoplastic model, slow-moving behaviour

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Authors: T. W. Kekana, J. J. Baloyi, M. C. Muya, F. V. Nherera

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Secondary metabolites (thiosulphinates) from Allium sativum are able to stimulate the production of volatile fatty acids. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of feeding Garlic powder or probiotics or a combination of both on feed intake and growth performance of Holstein calves. Neonatal calves were randomly allocated, according to birth weight, to four dietary treatments, each with 8 calves. The treatments were: C control, no additive (C), G: supplemented with either 5g/d garlic powder (G) or 4 g/d probiotics (P) or GP 5g/d garlic powder and 4 g/d probiotics compound (GP) with the total viable count of 1.3 x 107 cfu/g. Garlic and probiotics were diluted in the daily milk allocation from day 4. Commercial (17.5% CP) starter feed and fresh water were available ad libitum from day 4 until day 42 of age. Calves fed GP (0.27 kg day-1) tended (P=0.055) to have higher DMI than C (0.22 kg day-1). Milk, water, CP, fat intake and FCR were not affected (P>0.05) by the treatments. Metibolisable energy (ME) intake for GP group tended (P=0.058) to be higher than C calves. Combination of G and P (60.3 kg) tended (P = 0.056) to be higher than C (56.0 kg) calves on final BW. Garlic, probiotics or their combination did not affect calve’s HG, ADG and BL (P>0.05). The results of the current study indicated that combination of garlic and probiotics may improve nutrients intake and body weight when fed to calves during the first 42 days of life.

Keywords: garlic powder, probiotics, intake, growth, Holstein calves

Procedia PDF Downloads 641

Authors: N. Nalini, Lokesh B. Bhajantri

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In Distributed Sensor Networks, the sensor nodes are prone to failure due to energy depletion and some other reasons. In this regard, fault tolerance of network is essential in distributed sensor environment. Energy efficiency, network or topology control and fault-tolerance are the most important issues in the development of next-generation Distributed Sensor Networks (DSNs). This paper proposes a node fault detection and recovery using Genetic Algorithm (GA) in DSN when some of the sensor nodes are faulty. The main objective of this work is to provide fault tolerance mechanism which is energy efficient and responsive to network using GA, which is used to detect the faulty nodes in the network based on the energy depletion of node and link failure between nodes. The proposed fault detection model is used to detect faults at node level and network level faults (link failure and packet error). Finally, the performance parameters for the proposed scheme are evaluated.

Keywords: distributed sensor networks, genetic algorithm, fault detection and recovery, information technology

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Authors: Tadewos Awugchew Wudineh

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Health and safety issues have always been a major problem and concern in the building construction industry. The health and safety regulations are stated to eliminate the potential hazards and to reduce the consequential risks. However, the importance of the regulations seems to be overlooked in building construction sites of Hawassa City. Accordingly, many companies don’t follow the regulations as construction workers are more likely to be injured and killed by construction accident than any other type of employment. This paper aimed to identify factors that affect the implementation of construction health and safety regulations, their effects and mitigation measures in building construction project sites of Hawassa City. To reach this objective, a review of literature as well as the Ethiopian construction health and safety regulations have been undertaken. Mainly a five-point Likert scale questionnaire was distributed, and statistical analysis was used to summarize, interpret the data, and to find the significances of the responses. In addition, interviews were carried out. Accordingly, the findings indicate that the top factors which affect the implementation of CHS regulations are, availability and development of a clear health and safety policy, health and safety inspections by top management, conducting health and safety training and orientation, provision of healthy and safe working environment and employment of trained safety officers. The study revealed that implementation or non-implementation of CHS regulations have effects on the worker’s productivity, job satisfaction, rate of accidents, and cost greatly. Thus, the suggestion to minimize the impact on worker’s job performance are, developing of a clear health and safety policy, management commitment towards implementation of health and safety regulations, health and safety education and training and conducting regular health and safety inspections. It was concluded from the study that good implementation of health and safety regulations are the results from administrative and management commitment which calls for more attention to be paid to improve the implementation of CHS regulations in building construction sites of Hawassa City.

Keywords: construction health and safety regulations, effects, factors, mitigation

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Authors: Kinga Wieczorek, Elzbieta Kukier, Remigiusz Pomykala, Beata Lachtara, Renata Szewczyk, Krzysztof Kwiatek, Jacek Osek

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The MICRORISK project (Research cooperation in assessment of microbiological hazard and risk in the food chain) was funded by the European Commission under the FP7 PEOPLE 2012 IRSES call within the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme of Marie Curie Action and realized during years from 2014 to 2015. The main aim of the project was to establish a cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the third State in the area important from the public health point of view. The following organizations have been engaged in the activity: National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) in Pulawy, Poland (coordinator), French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) in Maisons Alfort, France, National Scientific Center Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine (NSC IECVM), Kharkov and State Scientific and Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise (SSRILDVSE) Kijev Ukraine. The results of the project showed that Ukraine used microbiological criteria in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of 15 November 2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. Compliance concerns both the criteria applicable at the stage of food safety (retail trade), as well as evaluation criteria and process hygiene in food production. In this case, the Ukrainian legislation also provides application of the criteria that do not have counterparts in the food law of the European Union, and are based on the provisions of Ukrainian law. Partial coherence of the Ukrainian and EU legal requirements in terms of microbiological criteria for food and feed concerns microbiological parameters such as total plate count, coliforms, coagulase-positive Staphylococcus spp., including S. aureus. Analysis of laboratory methods used for microbiological hazards control in food production chain has shown that most methods used in the EU are well-known by Ukrainian partners, and many of them are routinely applied as the only standards in the laboratory practice or simultaneously used with Ukrainian methods. The area without any legislation, where the EU regulation and analytical methods should be implemented is the area of Shiga toxin producing E. coli, including E. coli O157 and staphylococcal enterotoxin detection. During the project, the analysis of the existing Ukrainian and EU data concerning the prevalence of the most important food-borne pathogens on different stages of food production chain was performed. Particularly, prevalence of Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., L. monocytogenes as well as clostridia was examined. The analysis showed that poultry meat still appears to be the most important food-borne source of Campylobacter and Salmonella in the UE. On the other hand, L. monocytogenes were seldom detected above the legal safety limit (100 cfu/g) among the EU countries. Moreover, the analysis revealed the lack of comprehensive data regarding the prevalence of the most important food-borne pathogens in Ukraine. The results of the MICRORISK project are networking activities among researches originations participating in the tasks will help with a better recognition of each other regarding very important, from the public health point of view areas such as microbiological hazards in the food production chain and finally will help to improve food quality and safety for consumers.

Keywords: cooperation, European Union, food chain safety, food law, microbiological risk, Microrisk, Poland, Ukraine

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Authors: Hozaifa Zaki, Ghada Soliman

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In this paper, we introduced an approach for Automated Dotted Arabic Expiration Date Extraction using Optimized Convolutional Autoencoder (ARABEX) with bidirectional LSTM. This approach is used for translating the Arabic dot-matrix expiration dates into their corresponding filled-in dates. A custom lightweight Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network (CRNN) model is then employed to extract the expiration dates. Due to the lack of available dataset images for the Arabic dot-matrix expiration date, we generated synthetic images by creating an Arabic dot-matrix True Type Font (TTF) matrix to address this limitation. Our model was trained on a realistic synthetic dataset of 3287 images, covering the period from 2019 to 2027, represented in the format of yyyy/mm/dd. We then trained our custom CRNN model using the generated synthetic images to assess the performance of our model (ARABEX) by extracting expiration dates from the translated images. Our proposed approach achieved an accuracy of 99.4% on the test dataset of 658 images, while also achieving a Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) of 0.46 for image translation on our dataset. The ARABEX approach demonstrates its ability to be applied to various downstream learning tasks, including image translation and reconstruction. Moreover, this pipeline (ARABEX+CRNN) can be seamlessly integrated into automated sorting systems to extract expiry dates and sort products accordingly during the manufacturing stage. By eliminating the need for manual entry of expiration dates, which can be time-consuming and inefficient for merchants, our approach offers significant results in terms of efficiency and accuracy for Arabic dot-matrix expiration date recognition.

Keywords: computer vision, deep learning, image processing, character recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 57

Authors: Young Min Kim, Deokyeong Choe, Chul Soo Shin

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Monascus pigments, commonly used as a natural colorant in Asia, have many biological activities, such as cholesterol level control, anti-obesity, anti-cancer, and anti-oxidant, that have recently been elucidated. Especially, amino acid derivatives of Monascus pigments are receiving much attention because they have higher biological activities than original Monascus pigments. Previously, there have been two ways to produce amino acid derivatives: one-step production and two-step production. However, the one-step production has low purity, and the two-step production—precursor(orange pigments) fermentation and derivatives synthesis—has low productivity and growth rate during its precursor fermentation step. In this study, it was verified that pH is a key factor that affects the stability of orange pigments and the growth rate of Monascus. With an optimal pH profile obtained by pH-stat fermentation, we designed a process of precursor(orange pigments) fermentation that is a pH-controlled fed-batch fermentation. The final concentration of orange pigments in this process increased to 5.5g/L which is about 30% higher than the concentration produced from the previously used precursor fermentation step.

Keywords: cultivation process, fed-batch fermentation, monascus pigments, pH stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: Vergeena Varghese, G. Gajalakshmi, Jayarajini Vasanth

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The present study deals with the indication of prevalence of dry eye and evaluates environmental risk factors attributed to dry eye in different occupational sectors. 240 subjects above 20 years and below 45 years of age were screened for dry eye. Mcmonnies dry eye questionnaire based history and Schirmer’s test were used to diagnose dry eye. For Schirmer’s test Whatman strip and paracaine drop used as an anesthetic. Subject’s demographics include age, sex, smoking, alcoholism, occupation history and working environment. Out of a total of 240 subjects, 52 subjects were positive for dry eye syndrome (21.7%). The highest prevalence of dry eye syndrome in software sector was 14subjects (26.9%) out of a total of 40 subjects. In the construction sector, the prevalence of dry eye syndrome had 12 subjects (23.1%) out of 40 subjects and 9 subjects (17.3%) out of 40 subjects in agriculture sector. 7 subjects (13.5%) who had dry eye out of 40 subjects in the transport sector and in industrial 6 subjects (11.5%). In a normal sector, this was taken as control group had dry eye in 4 subjects (7.7%) out of 40 subjects. We also found the prevalence of dry eye in OS was higher than OD. Dry eye is a most common ocular condition. The highest prevalence of dry eye syndrome in software sector was 14 members than other sector. There was a significant correlation between environmental and occupational factors to cause dry eye. Excessive exposure to sunlight, wind, high temperature, and air pollution, electromagnetic radiation are the factors affect the tear film and ocular surface causing the dry eye syndrome.

Keywords: DES – dry eye syndrome, Mcmonnies dry eye questionnaire, schirmer’s test, whatman vstrip

Procedia PDF Downloads 443

Authors: Olga V. Chervyakova, Elmira T. Tailakova, Vitaliy M. Strochkov, Kulyaisan T. Sultankulova, Nurlan T. Sandybayev, Lev G. Nemchinov, Rosemarie W. Hammond

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Sheep pox is a highly contagious infection that OIE regards to be one of the most dangerous animal diseases. It causes enormous economic losses because of death and slaughter of infected animals, lower productivity, cost of veterinary and sanitary as well as quarantine measures. To control spread of sheep pox infection the attenuated vaccines are widely used in the Republic of Kazakhstan and other Former Soviet Union countries. In spite of high efficiency of live vaccines, the possible presence of the residual virulence, potential genetic instability restricts their use in disease-free areas that leads to necessity to exploit new approaches in vaccine development involving recombinant DNA technology. Vaccines on the basis of recombinant proteins are the newest generation of prophylactic preparations. The main advantage of these vaccines is their low reactogenicity and this fact makes them widely used in medical and veterinary practice for vaccination of humans and farm animals. The objective of the study is to produce recombinant immunogenic proteins for development of the high-performance means for sheep pox prophylaxis. The SPV proteins were chosen for their homology with the known immunogenic vaccinia virus proteins. Assay of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the target SPV protein genes. It has been shown that four proteins SPPV060 (ortholog L1), SPPV074 (ortholog H3), SPPV122 (ortholog A33) and SPPV141 (ortholog B5) possess transmembrane domains at N- or C-terminus while in amino acid sequences of SPPV095 (ortholog А 4) and SPPV117 (ortholog А 27) proteins these domains were absent. On the basis of these findings the primers were constructed. Target genes were amplified and subsequently cloned into the expression vector рЕТ26b(+) or рЕТ28b(+). Six constructions (pSPPV060ΔТМ, pSPPV074ΔТМ, pSPPV095, pSPPV117, pSPPV122ΔТМ and pSPPV141ΔТМ) were obtained for expression of the SPV genes under control of T7 promoter in Escherichia coli. To purify and detect recombinant proteins the amino acid sequences were modified by adding six histidine molecules at C-terminus. Induction of gene expression by IPTG was resulted in production of the proteins with molecular weights corresponding to the estimated values for SPPV060, SPPV074, SPPV095, SPPV117, SPPV122 and SPPV141, i.e. 22, 30, 20, 19, 17 and 22 kDa respectively. Optimal protocol of expression for each gene that ensures high yield of the recombinant protein was identified. Assay of cellular lysates by western blotting confirmed expression of the target proteins. Recombinant proteins bind specifically with antibodies to polyhistidine. Moreover all produced proteins are specifically recognized by the serum from experimentally SPV-infected sheep. The recombinant proteins SPPV060, SPPV074, SPPV117, SPPV122 and SPPV141 were also shown to induce formation of antibodies with virus-neutralizing activity. The results of the research will help to develop a new-generation high-performance means for specific sheep pox prophylaxis that is one of key moments in animal health protection. The research was conducted under the International project ISTC # K-1704 “Development of methods to construct recombinant prophylactic means for sheep pox with use of transgenic plants” and under the Grant Project RK MES G.2015/0115RK01983 "Recombinant vaccine for sheep pox prophylaxis".

Keywords: prophylactic preparation, recombinant protein, sheep pox virus, subunit vaccine

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: Ali Al-Bakri, Mohammed Sazid

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The investigated study area locates about 72 km from Jeddah city, Makkah district, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study mainly aimed to define only in detail the most significant zones of possible mineralization and outline their subsurface parameters (location and strike) in the southeast part of Jabal Al-Qashah. Several geophysical methods have been conducted to carry out the goal. Among these methods are the ground magnetic method, self-potential (SP) method, and induced polarization (IP) method. Integrating these methods aims to help in delineating the possible mineralization in the study area. The magnetic survey was conducted along 17 profiles where these profiles were chosen to be perpendicular to the strike of the quartz shear zone. Self-potential was applied along with five profiles covering the study area. At the same time, induced polarization was used along with one profile located at the western side of the study area corresponding to some magnetic and SP profiles. The most interesting zones of mineralization were successfully determined by comparing the results of residual magnetic profile (3), SP profile (1), and IP profile, where geological structures control some mineralization.

Keywords: geophysical methods, magnetic method, self-potential, induced polarization, Jabal Al-Qashah

Procedia PDF Downloads 113