Search results for: normal shock location

Authors: Asher John Mohan, Krishna K. L.

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Objectives: (1) To assess the extent of memory impairment induced by Phenytoin (PHT) at normal and reduced dose on temporal lobe epileptic mice. (2) To evaluate the protective effect of Levetiracetam (LEV) on aggravation of memory impairment in temporal lobe epileptic mice by PHT. Materials and Methods: Albino mice of either sex (n=36) were used for the study for a period of 64 days. Convulsions were induced by intraperitoneal administration of pilocarpine 280 mg/kg on every 6th day. Radial arm maze (RAM) was employed to evaluate the memory impairment activity on every 7th day. The anticonvulsant and memory impairment activity were assessed in PHT normal and reduced doses both alone and in combination with LEV. RAM error scores and convulsive scores were the parameters considered for this study. Brain acetylcholine esterase and glutamate were determined along with histopathological studies of frontal cortex. Results: Administration of PHT for 64 days on mice has shown aggravation of memory impairment activity on temporal lobe epileptic mice. Although the reduction in PHT dose was found to decrease the degree of memory impairment the same decreased the anticonvulsant potency. The combination with LEV not only brought about the correction of impaired memory but also replaced the loss of potency due to the reduction of the dose of the antiepileptic drug employed. These findings were confirmed with enzyme and neurotransmitter levels in addition to histopathological studies. Conclusion: This study thus builds a foundation in combining a nootropic anticonvulsant with an antiepileptic drug to curb the adverse effect of memory impairment associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. However further extensive research is a must for the practical incorporation of this approach into disease therapy.

Keywords: anti-epileptic drug, Phenytoin, memory impairment, Pilocarpine

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Authors: Mao Zhaofang, Xu Yida, Fang Kan, Fu Enyuan, Zhao Zhao

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Nowadays, last-mile distribution plays an increasingly important role in the whole industrial chain delivery link and accounts for a large proportion of the whole distribution process cost. Promoting the upgrading of logistics networks and improving the layout of final distribution points has become one of the trends in the development of modern logistics. Due to the discrete and heterogeneous needs and spatial distribution of customer demand, which will lead to a higher delivery failure rate and lower vehicle utilization, last-mile delivery has become a time-consuming and uncertain process. As a result, courier companies have introduced a range of innovative parcel storage facilities, including pick-up points and lockers. The introduction of pick-up points and lockers has not only improved the users’ experience but has also helped logistics and courier companies achieve large-scale economy. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 of the previous period, contactless delivery has become a new hotspot, which has also created new opportunities for the development of collection services. Therefore, a key issue for logistics companies is how to design/redesign their last-mile distribution network systems to create integrated logistics and distribution networks that consider pick-up points and lockers. This paper focuses on the introduction of self-pickup facilities in new logistics and distribution scenarios and the heterogeneous demands of customers. In this paper, we consider two types of demand, including ordinary products and refrigerated products, as well as corresponding transportation vehicles. We consider the constraints associated with self-pickup points and lockers and then address the location-routing problem with self-pickup facilities and heterogeneous demands (LRP-PFHD). To solve this challenging problem, we propose a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that aims to minimize the total cost, which includes the facility opening cost, the variable transport cost, and the fixed transport cost. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, we propose a hybrid adaptive large-neighbourhood search algorithm to solve LRP-PFHD. We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm by using instances generated based on benchmark instances. The results demonstrate that the hybrid adaptive large neighbourhood search algorithm is more efficient than MILP solvers such as Gurobi for LRP-PFHD, especially for large-scale instances. In addition, we made a comprehensive analysis of some important parameters (e.g., facility opening cost and transportation cost) to explore their impacts on the results and suggested helpful managerial insights for courier companies.

Keywords: city logistics, last-mile delivery, location-routing, adaptive large neighborhood search

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Authors: Geovanna dos Santos Romeiro, Polintia Rayza Brito da Silva, Luis Henrique Moura, Izadora Moreira Do Amaral, Marília Vitória Pinto Milhomem

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Introduction: The nose is one of the most likely sites for the appearance of malignancy on the face. This can be associated with its unique position of exposure to environmental damage, lack of photoprotection and because it is an area susceptible to greater sun exposure. It is already known that the most common type of nasal tumor is basal cell carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma is less common but considerably more aggressive, with a tendency to grow rapidly and metastasize. Nasal skin cancer can have a good prognosis, regardless of the type of treatment chosen, i.e., surgery, radiotherapy or electrodissection. However, tumors that are not diagnosed and treated quickly can be harmful and have a greater chance of metastasizing. When curative surgery is performed, therapies and reconstructive surgical procedures are usually required. Objective: The objective is to review the literature on nasal skin tumors and their types and specific locations. Forty-four articles published in Pubmed related to the location of skin cancer in the specific nasal areas region were analyzed. Twelve were excluded for being prior to the year 2000, three with inconclusive results, and one with unbiased conclusions. Results and Conclusion: Regarding the prevalence of types of nasal tumors, basal cell carcinoma comprises the majority, occurring predominantly in the ala, tip and root; squamous cell carcinoma, on the other hand, is more common in the lateral borders and columella. Even so, 2 articles report that the prevalence of metastasis has a higher incidence in squamous cell carcinomas. All of this points to the importance of early location, including regions that are often overlooked in the examination if the patient is wearing glasses. This topic needs further investigation for a greater correlation between anatomy and clinical-surgical implications.

Keywords: skin cancer, melanoma, non-melanoma, surgery

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Authors: Fumio Kasai, Noriko Hirayama, Jorge Pereira, Azusa Ohtani, Masashi Iemura, Malcolm A. Ferguson Smith, Arihiro Kohara

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The VERO cell line was established in 1962 from normal tissue of an African green monkey, Chlorocebus aethiops (2n=60), and has been commonly used worldwide for screening for toxins or as a cell substrate for the production of viral vaccines. The VERO genome was sequenced in 2014; however, its cytogenetic features have not been fully characterized as it contains several chromosome abnormalities and different karyotypes coexist in the cell line. In this study, the VERO cell line (JCRB0111) was compared with one of the sublines. In contrast to 59 chromosomes as the modal chromosome number in the VERO cell line, the subline had two peaks of 56 and 58 chromosomes. M-FISH analysis using human probes revealed that the VERO cell line was characterized by a translocation t(2;25) found in all metaphases, which was absent in the subline. Different abnormalities detected only in the subline show that the cell line is heterogeneous, indicating that the subline has the potential to change its genomic characteristics during cell culture. The various alterations in the two independent lineages suggest that genomic changes in both VERO cells can be accounted for by progressive rearrangements during their evolution in culture. Both t(5;X) and t(8;14) observed in all metaphases of the two cell lines might have a key role in VERO cells and could be used as genetic markers to identify VERO cells. The flow karyotype shows distinct differences from normal. Further analysis of sorted abnormal chromosomes may uncover other characteristics of VERO cells. Because of the absence of STR data, cytogenetic data are important in characterizing animal cell lines and can be an indicator of their quality control.

Keywords: VERO, cell culture passage, chromosome rearrangement, heterogeneous cells

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Authors: Muhammad Qasim, Dolors Puigjaner, Josep Maria López, Joan Herrero, Carme Olivé, Gerard Fortuny

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Computational modeling of the human pelvis using the finite element (FE) method has become extremely important to understand the mechanics of prostate motion and deformation when transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsy is performed. The number of reliable and validated hyperelastic constitutive FE models of the male pelvis region is limited, and given models did not precisely describe the anatomical behavior of pelvis organs, mainly of the prostate and its neoplasms location. The motion and deformation of the prostate during TRUS-guided biopsy makes it difficult to know the location of potential lesions in advance. When using this procedure, practitioners can only provide roughly estimations for the lesions locations. Consequently, multiple biopsy samples are required to target one single lesion. In this study, the whole pelvis model (comprised of the rectum, bladder, pelvic muscles, prostate transitional zone (TZ), and peripheral zone (PZ)) is used for the simulation results. An isotropic hyperelastic approach (Signorini model) was used for all the soft tissues except the vesical muscles. The vesical muscles are assumed to have a linear elastic behavior due to the lack of experimental data to determine the constants involved in hyperelastic models. The tissues and organ geometry is taken from the existing literature for 3D meshes. Then the biomechanical parameters were obtained under different testing techniques described in the literature. The acquired parametric values for uniaxial stress/strain data are used in the Signorini model to see the anatomical behavior of the pelvis model. The five mesh nodes in terms of small prostate lesions are selected prior to biopsy and each lesion’s final position is targeted when TRUS probe force of 30 N is applied at the inside rectum wall. Code_Aster open-source software is used for numerical simulations. Moreover, the overall effects of pelvis organ deformation were demonstrated when TRUS–guided biopsy is induced. The deformation of the prostate and neoplasms displacement showed that the appropriate material properties to organs altered the resulting lesion's migration parametrically. As a result, the distance traveled by these lesions ranged between 3.77 and 9.42 mm. The lesion displacement and organ deformation are compared and analyzed with our previous study in which we used linear elastic properties for all pelvic organs. Furthermore, the visual comparison of axial and sagittal slices are also compared, which is taken for Magnetic Resource Imaging (MRI) and TRUS images with our preliminary study.

Keywords: code-aster, magnetic resonance imaging, neoplasms, transrectal ultrasound, TRUS-guided biopsy

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Authors: Pengcheng Quan, Shan Zhong

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Double ramp geometry is widely used in supersonic and hypersonic environments as it presents unique flow patterns for shock wave-boundary layer interaction studies as well as for two-dimensional inlets and deflected control surfaces for re-entry vehicles. Hence, the surface pressure distribution is critical for optimum design. Though when the model is wide enough on spanwise direction the flow can be regarded as a two-dimensional flow, in actual applications a finite width would normally cause some three-dimensional spillage effects. No research has been found addressed this problem, hence the primary interest of this study is to set up a liable surface pressure distribution on a double ramp with three-dimensional effects. Both numerical and experimental (pressure sensitive paints) are applied to obtain the pressure distribution; the results agree well except that the numerical computation doesn’t capture the Gortler vortices. The pressure variations on the spanwise planes are used to analyse the development of the Gortler vortices and the effects of three-dimensional spillage on the vortices. Results indicate that the three-dimensionl spillage effects not only enhance the developing of the Gortler vortice, but also increase the periodic distance between vortice pairs.

Keywords: spillage effects, pressure sensitive paints, hypersonic, double ramp

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Authors: Moshmi Sangavarapu

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The US healthcare industry has undergone tremendous digital transformation in recent years, but critical care access to lower-income ethnicities is still in its nascency. This population has historically showcased substantial hesitation to seek any medical assistance. While the lack of sufficient financial resources plays a critical role, the existing cultural and knowledge barriers also contribute significantly to widening the access gap. It is imperative to break these barriers to ensure timely access to therapeutic procedures that can save important lives! Based on ongoing research, healthcare access barriers can be best addressed by tapping the untapped potential of caregiver communities first. They play a critical role in patients’ diagnoses, building healthcare knowledge and instilling confidence in required therapeutic procedures. Recent technological advancements have opened many avenues by developing smart ways of reaching the large caregiver community. A digitized go-to-market strategy featuring connected media coupled with smart IoT devices and geo-location targeting can be collectively leveraged to reach this key audience group. AI/ML algorithms can be thoroughly trained to identify relevant data signals from users' location and browsing behavior and determine useful marketing touchpoints. The web behavior can be further assimilated with natural language processing to identify contextually relevant interest topics and decipher potential caregivers on digital avenues to serve that brand message. In conclusion, grasping the true health access journey of any lower-income ethnic group is important to design beneficial touchpoints that can alleviate patients’ concerns and allow them to break their own access barriers and opt for timely and quality healthcare.

Keywords: healthcare access, market access, diversity barriers, patient journey

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Authors: Mohammad Aminnia, Mahmood Hosseini

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Environmental and functional conditions sometimes necessitate the architectural plan of the building to be asymmetric, and this result in an asymmetric structure. In such cases, finding an optimal pattern for locating the components of the lateral load bearing system, including shear walls, in the building’s plan is desired. In case of shear walls, in addition to the location, the shape of the wall cross-section is also an effective factor. Various types of shear wall and their proper layout might come effective in better stiffness distribution and more appropriate seismic response of the building. Several studies have been conducted in the context of analysis and design of shear walls; however, few studies have been performed on making decisions for the location and form of shear walls in multi-story buildings, especially those with irregular plan. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain the most reliable seismic behavior of multi-story reinforced concrete vertically chamfered buildings by using more appropriate shear walls form and arrangement in 7-, 10-, 12-, and 15-story buildings. The considered forms and arrangements include common rectangular walls and L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan, located as the core or in the outer frames of the building structure. Comparison of seismic behaviors of the buildings, including maximum roof displacement, and particularly the formation of plastic hinges and their distribution in the buildings’ structures, have been done based on the results of a series of nonlinear time history analyses by using a set of selected earthquake records. Results show that shear walls with U-shaped cross-section, placed as the building central core, and also walls with Z-shaped cross-section, placed at the corners give the building more reliable seismic behavior.

Keywords: vertically chamfered buildings, non-linear time history analyses, l-, t-, u- and z-shaped plan walls

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Authors: O. J. Makinde, O. A. Abiola

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Background: Hazards and injuries are two common phenomena that have been associated with the building construction profession. Apart from injuries, deaths from injuries sustained at work have been high in this profession. This study, therefore, attempts to determine the attitude, practice, and prevalence of injuries among this group of workers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 285 respondents. The sampling was multi-staged. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to elicit information such as socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, attitude and practice of occupational safety and prevalence of injuries among the workers. The data were analyzed using epi-info 3.5.1 statistical software. Result: The modal age group is 25-34yrs which made up 40% of the respondents. Most of the respondents were male (86.3%). Most of the respondent (52.3%) have their highest educational level as the secondary school. Most of the respondents (64.9%) had a poor attitude to occupational safety while 91.6% had poor occupational safety practices. The prevalence of occupational injury was very high (64.9%). Particles in the eyes have the highest prevalence (52.3%) while electric shock has the least prevalence (19.6%).None of the respondent working at a height used safety belt while working. Conclusion: Attitude and practice of occupational safety are poor among this group of workers and prevalence of injuries was high.

Keywords: building, construction, Hazard, injury, workers

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Authors: Fisseha Zewdie, Naresh Bhatnagar

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Lightweight and strong aluminum foam is developed by reinforcing Al-Si-Cu alloy (LM24) with Cermet Hollow Spheres (CHS) as porous creating agents. The foam samples were prepared by mixing the CHS in molten LM24 at 750°C, using gravity and stir casting. The CHSs were fabricated using a blend of silicon carbide and stainless-steel powders using the powder metallurgy technique. It was found that CHS reinforcement greatly enhances the performance of the composite metal foam, making it suitable for high impact loading applications such as crash protection and shock absorption. This study examined the strength, density, energy absorption and possible applications of the new aluminum foam. The results revealed that the LM24 foam reinforced with the CHS has the highest energy absorption of about 88 MJ/m3 among all categories of foam samples tested. Its density was found to be 1.3 g/cm3, while the strength, densification strains and porosity were 420 MPa, 34% and 70%, respectively. Besides, the matrix and reinforcement's microstructure, chemical composition, X-ray diffraction, HRTEM and related micrographic analyses are performed for characterization and verifications.

Keywords: composite metal foam, hollow spheres, gravity casting, energy absorption

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Authors: Rahul Jain, Pradhir Parmar, Dhruvesh Patel

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Planning and drawing are the important aspects of civil engineering. For testing theories about spatial location and interaction between land uses and related activities the computer based solution of urban models are used. The planner’s primary interest is in creation of 3D models of building and to obtain the terrain surface so that he can do urban morphological mappings, virtual reality, disaster management, fly through generation, visualization etc. 3D city models have a variety of applications in urban studies. Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) is an ongoing construction site between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. It will be built on 3590000 m2 having a geographical coordinates of North Latitude 23°9’5’’N to 23°10’55’’ and East Longitude 72°42’2’’E to 72°42’16’’E. Therefore to develop 3D city models of GIFT city, the base map of the city is collected from GIFT office. Differential Geographical Positioning System (DGPS) is used to collect the Ground Control Points (GCP) from the field. The GCP points are used for the registration of base map in QGIS. The registered map is projected in WGS 84/UTM zone 43N grid and digitized with the help of various shapefile tools in QGIS. The approximate height of the buildings that are going to build is collected from the GIFT office and placed on the attribute table of each layer created using shapefile tools. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 1 Arc-Second Global (30 m X 30 m) grid data is used to generate the terrain of GIFT city. The Google Satellite Map is used to place on the background to get the exact location of the GIFT city. Various plugins and tools in QGIS are used to convert the raster layer of the base map of GIFT city into 3D model. The fly through tool is used for capturing and viewing the entire area in 3D of the city. This paper discusses all techniques and their usefulness in 3D city model creation from the GCP, base map, SRTM and QGIS.

Keywords: 3D model, DGPS, GIFT City, QGIS, SRTM

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: Olivier Mulisya, Guelord Barasima, Henry Mark Lugobe, Philémon Matumo, Bienfait Mumbere Vahwere, Hilaire Mutuka, Zawadi Léocadie, Wesley Lumika

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Abdominal pregnancy is defined as pregnancy anywhere within the peritoneal cavity, exclusive of tubal, ovarian, or broad ligament locations. It is a rare form of ectopic pregnancy with high morbidity and mortality for both the mother and the fetus. Diagnosis can be frequently missed in most poor-resource settings because of poor antenatal coverage, low socioeconomic status in most of the patients as well as lack of adequate medical resources. Clinical diagnosis can be very difficult and an ultrasound scan is very helpful during the early stages of gestation but can also be disappointing in the later stages. We report a case of a 25-year-old woman with severe abdominal pain not amended with any medication. A clinical picture of shock lead to an emergency laparotomy which confirmed the diagnosis of abdominal pregnancy. The ministry of health in developing countries should make an effort to make routine early ultrasounds accessible to pregnant women, and obstetricians should keep in mind the possibility of ectopic pregnancy, irrespective of the gestational age.

Keywords: abdominal pregnancy, live new bron, ultrasound imaging, abdominal pain

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Authors: Caroline Mendes, Mary McNamara, Orla Howe

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For chemotherapy, a drug delivery system should be able to specifically target cancer cells and deliver the therapeutic dose without affecting normal cells. Folate receptors (FR) can be considered key targets since they are commonly over-expressed in cancer cells and they are the molecular marker used in this study. Here, cyclodextrin (CD) has being studied as a vehicle for delivering the chemotherapeutic drug, methotrexate (MTX). CDs have the ability to form inclusion complexes, in which molecules of suitable dimensions are included within the CD cavity. In this study, β-CD has been modified using folic acid so as to specifically target the FR molecular marker. Thus, the system studied here for drug delivery consists of β-CD, folic acid and MTX (CDEnFA:MTX). Cellular uptake of folic acid is mediated with high affinity by folate receptors while the cellular uptake of antifolates, such as MTX, is mediated with high affinity by the reduced folate carriers (RFCs). This study addresses the gene (mRNA) and protein expression levels of FRs and RFCs in the cancer cell lines CaCo-2, SKOV-3, HeLa, MCF-7, A549 and the normal cell line BEAS-2B, quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) and flow cytometry, respectively. From that, four cell lines with different levels of FRs, were chosen for cytotoxicity assays of MTX and CDEnFA:MTX using the MTT assay. Real-time PCR and flow cytometry data demonstrated that all cell lines ubiquitously express moderate levels of RFC. These experiments have also shown that levels of FR protein in CaCo-2 cells are high, while levels in SKOV-3, HeLa and MCF-7 cells are moderate. A549 and BEAS-2B cells express low levels of FR protein. FRs are highly expressed in all the cancer cell lines analysed when compared to the normal cell line BEAS-2B. The cell lines CaCo-2, MCF-7, A549 and BEAS-2B were used in the cell viability assays. 48 hours treatment with the free drug and the complex resulted in IC50 values of 93.9 µM ± 9.2 and 56.0 µM ± 4.0 for CaCo-2 for free MTX and CDEnFA:MTX respectively, 118.2 µM ± 10.8 and 97.8 µM ± 12.3 for MCF-7, 36.4 µM ± 6.9 and 75.0 µM ± 8.5 for A549 and 132.6 µM ± 12.1 and 288.1 µM ± 16.3 for BEAS-2B. These results demonstrate that MTX is more toxic towards cell lines expressing low levels of FR, such as the BEAS-2B. More importantly, these results demonstrate that the inclusion complex CDEnFA:MTX showed greater cytotoxicity than the free drug towards the high FR expressing CaCo-2 cells, indicating that it has potential to target this receptor, enhancing the specificity and the efficiency of the drug.

Keywords: cyclodextrins, cancer treatment, drug delivery, folate receptors, reduced folate carriers

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Authors: Paola Modesto, Floriana Fruscione, Isabella Martini, Simona Perga, Federica Riccardo, Mariateresa Camerino, Davide Giacobino, Cecilia Gola, Luca Licenziato, Elisabetta Razzuoli, Katia Varello, Lorella Maniscalco, Elena Bozzetta, Angelo Ferrari

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Canine and human melanoma, osteosarcoma (OSA), and mammary carcinomas are aggressive tumors with common characteristics making dogs a good model for comparative oncology. Novel therapeutic strategies against these tumors could be useful to both species. In humans, chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4) is a marker involved in tumor progression and could be a candidate target for immunotherapy. The anti-CSPG4 DNA electrovaccination has shown to be an effective approach for canine malignant melanoma (CMM) [1]. An immunohistochemistry evaluation of CSPG4 expression in tumour tissue is generally performed prior to electrovaccination. To assess the possibility to perform a rapid molecular evaluation and in order to validate these spontaneous canine tumors as the model for human studies, we investigate the CSPG4 gene expression by RT qPCR in CMM, OSA, and canine mammary tumors (CMT). The total RNA was extracted from RNAlater stored tissue samples (CMM n=16; OSA n=13; CMT n=6; five paired normal tissues for CMM, five paired normal tissues for OSA and one paired normal tissue for CMT), retro-transcribed and then analyzed by duplex RT-qPCR using two different TaqMan assays for the target gene CSPG4 and the internal reference gene (RG) Ribosomal Protein S19 (RPS19). RPS19 was selected from a panel of 9 candidate RGs, according to NormFinder analysis following the protocol already described [2]. Relative expression was analyzed by CFX Maestro™ Software. Student t-test and ANOVA were performed (significance set at P<0.05). Results showed that gene expression of CSPG4 in OSA tissues is significantly increased by 3-4 folds when compared to controls. In CMT, gene expression of the target was increased from 1.5 to 19.9 folds. In melanoma, although an increasing trend was observed, no significant differences between the two groups were highlighted. Immunohistochemistry analysis of the two cancer types showed that the expression of CSPG4 within CMM is concentrated in isles of cells compared to OSA, where the distribution of positive cells is homogeneous. This evidence could explain the differences in gene expression results.CSPG4 immunohistochemistry evaluation in mammary carcinoma is in progress. The evidence of CSPG4 expression in a different type of canine tumors opens the way to the possibility of extending the CSPG4 immunotherapy marker in CMM, OSA, and CMT and may have an impact to translate this strategy modality to human oncology.

Keywords: canine melanoma, canine mammary carcinomas, canine osteosarcoma, CSPG4, gene expression, immunotherapy

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Authors: Min Liu, Thanapauge Chamaratana

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Integrating ecotourism into urban borderlands holds significant potential for promoting sustainable development, enhancing cross-border cooperation, and preserving cultural and natural heritage. This study aims to evaluate the current status and strategic measures for sustainable ecotourism development in the border urban areas of Xishuangbanna, leveraging the unique opportunities and challenges presented by its policy and geographical location. Employing a qualitative research approach, the exploratory study utilizes documentary research, observation, and in-depth interviews with 20 key stakeholders, including local government officials, tourism operators, community members, and tourists. Content analysis is conducted to interpret the collected data. The findings reveal that Xishuangbanna holds significant potential for ecotourism due to its rich biodiversity, cultural heritage, and strategic location along the Belt and Road Initiative route. The integration of ecotourism can drive economic growth, create employment opportunities, and foster a deeper appreciation for conservation efforts. By promoting ecotourism practices, the region can attract environmentally conscious travelers, thereby contributing to global sustainability goals. However, challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, limited community involvement, and environmental concerns are also identified. The study recommends enhancing ecotourism development in urban borderlands through integrated planning, stakeholder collaboration, and sustainable practices. These measures are essential to ensure long-term benefits for both the local community and the environment. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of a holistic approach to ecotourism development, which balances economic, social, and environmental priorities to achieve sustainable outcomes for urban borderlands.

Keywords: ecotourism, sustainable tourism, urban, borderland

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Authors: I. Kade Wiratama

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As a result of the significant growth of wind turbines in size, blade load control has become the main challenge for large wind turbines. Many advanced techniques have been investigated aiming at developing control devices to ease blade loading. Amongst them, trailing edge flaps have been proven as effective devices for load alleviation. The present study aims at investigating the potential benefits of flaps in enhancing the energy capture capabilities rather than blade load alleviation. A software tool is especially developed for the aerodynamic simulation of wind turbines utilising blades equipped with flaps. As part of the aerodynamic simulation of these wind turbines, the control system must be also simulated. The simulation of the control system is carried out via solving an optimisation problem which gives the best value for the controlling parameter at each wind turbine run condition. Developing a genetic algorithm optimisation tool which is especially designed for wind turbine blades and integrating it with the aerodynamic performance evaluator, a design optimisation tool for blades equipped with flaps is constructed. The design optimisation tool is employed to carry out design case studies. The results of design case studies on wind turbine AWT 27 reveal that, as expected, the location of flap is a key parameter influencing the amount of improvement in the power extraction. The best location for placing a flap is at about 70% of the blade span from the root of the blade. The size of the flap has also significant effect on the amount of enhancement in the average power. This effect, however, reduces dramatically as the size increases. For constant speed rotors, adding flaps without re-designing the topology of the blade can improve the power extraction capability as high as of about 5%. However, with re-designing the blade pretwist the overall improvement can be reached as high as 12%.

Keywords: flaps, design blade, optimisation, simulation, genetic algorithm, WTAero

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Authors: Ibrahim Abdullahi Mohammad

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A library catalogue exists not only as an inventory of the collections of the particular library, but also as a retrieval device. It is provided to assist the library user in finding whatever information or information resources they may be looking for. The paper proposes that this location objective of the library catalogue can only be fulfilled, if the library catalogue is constructed, bearing in mind the information needs and searching behavior of the library user. Comparing AACR2 and RDA viz-a-viz the changes RDA has introduced into bibliographic standards, the paper tries to establish the level of viability of RDA in relation to AACR2.

Keywords: library catalogue, information retrieval, AACR2, RDA

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Authors: Rajish Shil, Amal Alduhoori, Vipin Thomachan, Jamal Teir, Radhakrishnan Renganathan

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Background: Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) has a broad spectrum of thrombotic and non-thrombotic clinical manifestations. We present a case of APS presenting with seizure, stroke, and atrial mass. Case Description: A 38-year-old male presented with headache of 10 days duration and tonic-clonic seizure. The neurological examination was normal. Magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed small acute right cerebellar infarct. Magnetic resonance angiography of brain and neck showed a focal narrowing in the origin of the internal carotid artery bilaterally. Electroencephalogram was normal. He was started on aspirin, atorvastatin, and carbamazepine. Transthoracic and trans-esophageal echocardiography showed a pedunculated and lobular atrial mass, measuring 1 X 1.5 cm, which was freely mobile across mitral valve opening across the left ventricular inflow. Autoimmune screening showed positive Antiphospholipid antibodies in high titer (Cardiolipin IgG > 120 units/ml, B2 glycoprotein IgG 90 units/mL). Anti-nuclear antibody was negative. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein levels were normal. Platelet count was low (111 x 109/L). The patient underwent successful surgical removal of the mass, which looked like a thrombotic clot, and Histopathological analysis confirmed it as a fibrinous clot, with no evidence of tumor cells. The patient was started on full anticoagulation treatment and was followed up regularly in the clinic, where our patient did not have any further complications from the disease. Discussion: Our patient was diagnosed to have APS based on the features of high positive anticardiolipin antibody IgG and B2 glycoprotein IgG levels, Stroke, thrombocytopenia, and abnormal echo findings. Thrombotic vegetation can mimic an atrial myxoma on echo. Conclusion: APS can present with neurological and cardiac manifestations, and therefore a high index of suspicion is necessary for a diagnosis of the disease as it can affect both short and long term treatment plans and prognosis. Therefore, in patients presenting with neurological symptoms like seizures, weakness and radiological diagnosis of stroke in a young patient, where atrial masses could be thought to be the cause of stroke, they should be screened for any concomitant findings of thrombocytopenia and/or activated partial thromboplastin time prolongation, which should raise the suspicion of vasculitis, specifically APS to be the primary cause of the clinical presentation.

Keywords: antiphospholipid syndrome, seizures, atrial mass, stroke

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Authors: Taek Hwan Lee, Moon Ho Do, Lalita Subedi, Young Un Park, Sun Yeou Kim

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Natural and artificial toxic substances namely neurotoxins induce the bitter effect in the nervous system termed as neurotoxicity. It can modulate the normal functioning of the nervous system either hyperactivate it or damage homeostasis of neuronal system. Neurotoxins induced toxicity ultimately kills the neuron. The present study investigated the neuroprotective effects of germinated Dolichos lablab on 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced neurotoxicity using SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Germination is a process of plant growth from a seed. Sprouting of a seedling from a seed induced many molecular changes in the seed in order to prepare it for further growth. Because of these molecular and chemical changes, the neuroprotective effect of Dolichos lablab is higher in the germinated form than in the normal condition. SH-SY5Y cells were treated with Dolichos lablab extract (50, 100 g/ml) followed by 6-OHDA (25M) induced toxicity. Cell Viability was measured to check the cell survival against 6-OHDA induced toxicity using MTT assay. Dolichos lablab showed a neuroprotective effect against 6-OHDA induced neuronal cell death in neuroblastoma cell at a higher concentration of 100g/ml however the effect is much better even at the lower concentration after germination 50g/ml. Cell survival was increased dramatically after 15 h of germination and increased with time of germination in concentration dependent manner. Trigonelline as a representative compound was validated in germinated Dolichos lablab by HPLC analysis that might enhance the neuroprotective effect of Dolichos lablab. This result suggests that Dolichos lablab possess neuroprotective effect in neuroblastoma cells against 6-OHDA however its activity was more potent in the germinated form.

Keywords: dolichos lablab, germination, neuroprotection, trigonelline

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Authors: Kuei-Ling Sun, Emily Chia-Yu Su

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Allergy is a hypersensitive overreaction of the immune system to environmental stimuli, and a major health problem. These overreactions include rashes, sneezing, fever, food allergies, anaphylaxis, asthmatic, shock, or other abnormal conditions. Allergies can be caused by food, insect stings, pollen, animal wool, and other allergens. Their development of allergies is due to both genetic and environmental factors. Allergies involve immunoglobulin E antibodies, a part of the body’s immune system. Immunoglobulin E antibodies will bind to an allergen and then transfer to a receptor on mast cells or basophils triggering the release of inflammatory chemicals such as histamine. Based on the increasingly serious problem of environmental change, changes in lifestyle, air pollution problem, and other factors, in this study, we both collect allergens and non-allergens from several databases and use several machine learning methods for classification, including logistic regression (LR), stepwise regression, decision tree (DT) and neural networks (NN) to do the model comparison and determine the permutations of allergen amino acid’s sequence.

Keywords: allergy, classification, decision tree, logistic regression, machine learning

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Authors: Sina Moradi, Sanly Liu, Christopher W. K. Chow, John Van Leeuwen, David Cook, Mary Drikas, Soha Habibi, Rose Amal

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In recent years, chloramine has been widely used for both primary and secondary disinfection. However, a major concern with the use of chloramine as a secondary disinfectant is the decay of chloramine and nitrification occurrence. The management of chloramine decay and the prevention of nitrification are critical for water utilities managing chloraminated drinking water distribution systems. The detection and monitoring of nitrification episodes is usually carried out through measuring certain water quality parameters, which are commonly referred to as indicators of nitrification. The approach taken in this study was to collect water samples from different sites throughout a drinking water distribution systems, Tailem Bend – Keith (TBK) in South Australia, and analyse the samples by high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC). We investigated potential association between the water qualities from HPSEC analysis with chloramine decay and/or nitrification occurrence. MATLAB 8.4 was used for data processing of HPSEC data and chloramine decay. An increase in the absorbance signal of HPSEC profiles at λ=230 nm between apparent molecular weights of 200 to 1000 Da was observed at sampling sites that experienced rapid chloramine decay and nitrification while its absorbance signal of HPSEC profiles at λ=254 nm decreased. An increase in absorbance at λ=230 nm and AMW < 500 Da was detected for Raukkan CT (R.C.T), a location that experienced nitrification and had significantly lower chloramine residual (<0.1 mg/L). This increase in absorbance was not detected in other sites that did not experience nitrification. Moreover, the UV absorbance at 254 nm of the HPSEC spectra was lower at R.C.T. than other sites. In this study, a chloramine residual index (C.R.I) was introduced as a new indicator of chloramine decay and nitrification occurrence, and is defined based on the ratio of area underneath the HPSEC spectra at two different wavelengths of 230 and 254 nm. The C.R.I index is able to indicate DS sites that experienced nitrification and rapid chloramine loss. This index could be useful for water treatment and distribution system managers to know if nitrification is occurring at a specific location in water distribution systems.

Keywords: nitrification, HPSEC, chloramine decay, chloramine residual index

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Authors: D. F. Coetzee, M. M. Campbell

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The urban environment is constantly expanding and the optimal use of centrally located land is important in terms of sustainable development. Bloemfontein has expanded and this affects land-use functions. The purpose of the study is to examine the possible shift in location of the Bloemfontein show grounds to utilize the space of the grounds more effectively in context of spatial planning. The research method used is qualitative case study research with the case study on the Bloemfontein show grounds. The purposive sample consisted of planners who work or consult in the Bloemfontein area and who are registered with the South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN). Interviews consisting of qualitative open-ended questionnaires were used. When considering relocation the social and economic aspects need to be considered. The findings also indicated a majority consensus that the property can be utilized more effectively in terms of mixed land use. The showground development trust compiled a master plan to ensure that the property is used to its full potential without the relocation of the showground function itself. This Master Plan can be seen as the next logical step for the showground property itself, and it is indeed an attempt to better utilize the land parcel without relocating the show function. The question arises whether the proposed Master Plan is a permanent solution or whether it is merely delaying the relocation of the core showground function to another location. For now, it is a sound solution, making the best out of the situation at hand and utilizing the property more effectively. If the show grounds were to be relocated the researcher proposed a recommendation of mixed-use development, in terms an expansion on the commercial business/retail, together with a sport and recreation function. The show grounds in Bloemfontein are well positioned to capitalize on and to meet the needs of the changing economy, while complimenting the future economic growth strategies of the city if the right plans are in place.

Keywords: centrally located land, spatial planning, show grounds, central business district

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Authors: Yen-Jong Chen, Jei-An Su

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Public use facilities provide the basic infrastructure supporting the needs of urban sustainable development. These facilities include roads (streets), parking areas, green spaces, public schools, and city parks. However, how to acquire land with the proper location and size still remains uncertain in a capitalist economy where land is largely privately owned, such as in cities in Taiwan. The issue concerning the proper acquisition of reserved land for local public facilities (RLPF) policies has been continuously debated by the Taiwanese government for more than 30 years. Lately, the government has been re-evaluating projects connected with existing RLPF policies from the viewpoints of the needs of local residents, including the living environments of older adults. This challenging task includes addressing the requests of official bureau administrators, citizens whose property rights and current use status are affected, and other stakeholders, along with the means of development. To simplify the decision to acquire or release public land, we selected only public facilities that are needed for living in the local community, including parks, green spaces, plaza squares, and land for kindergartens, schools, and local stadiums. This study categorized these spaces as the community’s “leisure public facilities” (LPF). By constructing an accessibility index of the services of such multi-function facilities, we computed and produced a GIS map of spatial buffer zones for each LPF. Through these procedures, the service needs provided by each LPF were clearly identified. We then used spatial buffer zone envelope mapping to evaluate these service areas. The results obtained can help decide which RLPF should be acquired or released so that community services can be maximized under a limited budget.

Keywords: urban public facilities, community demand, accessibility, spatial buffer zone, Taiwan

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Authors: Justine Cyril E. Nunag, Nestor B. Sabado Jr., Jienne Chester M. Tolosa

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Concrete has high compressive strength but a low-tension strength. The small tensile strength of concrete is regarded as its primary weakness, which is why it is typically reinforced with steel, a material that is resistant to tension. Even with steel, however, cracking can occur. In strengthening concrete, only a few researchers have modified the water to be used in a concrete mix. This study aims to compare the split tensile strength of normal structural concrete to concrete prepared with magnetic water and a quick setting admixture. In this context, magnetic water is defined as tap water that has undergone a magnetic process to become magnetized water. To test the hypothesis that magnetized concrete leads to higher split tensile strength, twenty concrete specimens were made. There were five groups, each with five samples, that were differentiated by the number of cycles (0, 50, 100, and 150). The data from the Universal Testing Machine's split tensile strength were then analyzed using various statistical models and tests to determine the significant effect of magnetized water. The result showed a moderate (+0.579) but still significant degree of correlation. The researchers also discovered that using magnetic water for 50 cycles did not result in a significant increase in the concrete's split tensile strength, which influenced the analysis of variance. These results suggest that a concrete mix containing magnetic water and a quick-setting admixture alters the typical split tensile strength of normal concrete. Magnetic water has a significant impact on concrete tensile strength. The hardness property of magnetic water influenced the split tensile strength of concrete. In addition, a higher number of cycles results in a strong water magnetism. The laboratory test results show that a higher cycle translates to a higher tensile strength.

Keywords: hardness property, magnetic water, quick-setting admixture, split tensile strength, universal testing machine

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Authors: Azza H. El-Medany, Hanan H. Hagar, Omnia A. Nayel, Jamila H. El-Medany

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In search for drugs that can target cancer cell micro-environment in as much as being able to halt malignant cellular transformation, the natural dietary phytochemical curcumin was currently assessed in DMH-induced colorectal cancer rat model. The study enrolled 50 animals divided into a control group (n=10) and DMH-induced colorectal cancer control group (n=20) (20mg/kg-body weight for 28 weeks) versus curcumin-treated group (n=20) (160 mg/kg suspension daily oral for further 8 weeks). Treatment by curcumin succeeded to significantly decrease the percent of ACF and tended to normalize back the histological changes retrieved in adenomatous and stromal cells induced by DMH. The drug also significantly elevated GSH and significantly reduced most of the accompanying biochemical elevations (namely MDA, TNF-α, TGF-β and COX2) observed in colonic carcinomatous tissue, induced by DMH, thus succeeding to revert that of MDA, COX2 and TGF-β back to near normal as justified by being non-significantly altered as compared to normal controls. The only exception was PAF that was insignificantly altered by the drug. When taken together, it could be concluded that curcumin possess the potentiality to halt some of the orchestrated cross-talk between cancerous transformation and its micro-environmental niche that contributes to cancer initiation, progression and metastasis in this experimental cancer colon model. Envisioning these merits to a drug with already known safety preferentiality, awaits final results of current ongoing clinical trials, before curcumin can be added to the new therapeutic armamentarium of anticancer therapy.

Keywords: curcumin, dimethyl hydralazine, aberrant crypt foci, malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione, cyclooxygenase-2, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, transforming growth factor-beta, platelet activating factor

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Authors: Lei Zhang, Wen-jun Ruan, Hao Wang, Peng-Xin Wang

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The source of the jet noise is generated by rocket exhaust plume during rocket engine testing. A domain decomposition approach is applied to the jet noise prediction in this paper. The aerodynamic noise coupling is based on the splitting into acoustic sources generation and sound propagation in separate physical domains. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used to simulate the supersonic jet flow. Based on the simulation results of the flow-fields, the jet noise distribution of the sound pressure level is obtained by applying the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) acoustics equation and Fourier transform. The calculation results show that the complex structures of expansion waves, compression waves and the turbulent boundary layer could occur due to the strong interaction between the gas jet and the ambient air. In addition, the jet core region, the shock cell and the sound pressure level of the gas jet increase with the nozzle size increasing. Importantly, the numerical simulation results of the far-field sound are in good agreement with the experimental measurements in directivity.

Keywords: supersonic gas jet, Large Eddy Simulation(LES), acoustic noise, Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings(FW-H) equations, nozzle size

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Authors: Singh Deepeshwar, Suhas Vinchurkar

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Similar to neuroimaging findings through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessing regional cerebral blood oxygenation, the functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has also been used to assess hemodynamic responses in the imaged region of the brain. The present study assessed hemodynamic responses in terms of changes in oxygenation (HbO), deoxygenation (HbR) and total hemoglobin (THb) on the prefrontal cortex (PFC), bilaterally, using fNIRS in 10 participants who performed three voluntary regulated breathing (pranayama) practices viz. (i) Left nostril breathing (LNB), (ii) Right nostril breathing (RNB); and (iii) Alternating nostril breathing (ANB) and compared with normal breathing as baseline (BS). For this, we used 64 channel NIRS system covering left and the right prefrontal cortex. The normal breathing kept as baseline (BS) measures as regressors in the investigation of hemodynamic responses when compared with LNB, RNB and ANB. In the results, we found greater oxygenation in contralateral side i.e., higher activation on the left prefrontal cortex (lPFC) during RNB, and right prefrontal cortex (rPFC) during LNB, whereas ANB showed greater deoxygenation responses on both sides of PFC. Interestingly, LNB showed increased oxygenation on ipsilateral side i.e., lPFC but not during RNB. This suggests that voluntary regulated breathing produced an immediate effect not only on contralateral but ipsilateral sides of the brain as well. In conclusion, breathing practices are tightly coupled to cerebral rhythms of alternating cerebral hemispheric activity during particular nostril breathing. These results of the specific nostril breathing do not support previous findings of contralateral hemispheric improvement while left or right nostril breathing only.

Keywords: hemodynamic responses, brain, pranayama, voluntary regulated breathing practices, prefrontal cortex

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Authors: Oyebade K. Oyedotun

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The cardiotocogram is a technical recording of the heartbeat rate and uterine contractions of a fetus during pregnancy. During pregnancy, several complications can occur to both the mother and the fetus; hence it is very crucial that medical experts are able to find technical means to check the healthiness of the mother and especially the fetus. It is very important that the fetus develops as expected in stages during the pregnancy period; however, the task of monitoring the health status of the fetus is not that which is easily achieved as the fetus is not wholly physically available to medical experts for inspection. Hence, doctors have to resort to some other tests that can give an indication of the status of the fetus. One of such diagnostic test is to obtain cardiotocograms of the fetus. From the analysis of the cardiotocograms, medical experts can determine the status of the fetus, and therefore necessary medical interventions. Generally, medical experts classify examined cardiotocograms into ‘normal’, ‘suspect’, or ‘pathological’. This work presents an artificial neural network based decision support system which can filter cardiotocograms data, producing the corresponding statuses of the fetuses. The capability of artificial neural network to explore the cardiotocogram data and learn features that distinguish one class from the others has been exploited in this research. In this research, feedforward and radial basis neural networks were trained on a publicly available database to classify the processed cardiotocogram data into one of the three classes: ‘normal’, ‘suspect’, or ‘pathological’. Classification accuracies of 87.8% and 89.2% were achieved during the test phase of the trained network for the feedforward and radial basis neural networks respectively. It is the hope that while the system described in this work may not be a complete replacement for a medical expert in fetus status evaluation, it can significantly reinforce the confidence in medical diagnosis reached by experts.

Keywords: decision support, cardiotocogram, classification, neural networks

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Authors: Andriana Purnama, Reno Rudiman, Kezia Christy

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Anal stenosis which develops due to anoderm scarring usually caused by secondary to surgical trauma, has become common, causing significant decrease patient’s quality of life. Even though mild anal stenosis was treated with non-surgical treatment, but surgical reconstruction in unavoidable for moderate to severe anal stenosis that cause distressing, severe anal pain and inability to defecate. In our study, we intend to share our result with the use of diamond flap in treatment of anal stenosis. This case report illustrates a 57-year-old male patient who presented with difficulty and discomfort in defecation caused by anal stenosis after 2 years of open hemorrhoidectomy surgery. At physical examination, there was requirement of forceful dilatation when the index finger was inserted or precisely 6mm as measured by hegar dilator (moderate anal stenosis). Blood test result was within normal limits. The patient underwent anal repair and diamond flap where the scar tissue at 6 and 9 o’clock directions was excised and diamond graft was incised carefully while paying attention to the vascular supply. Finally, the graft was fixated without any tension to the anal canal, resulting in diameter of 2 cm after operation. After 2 days post operation, the patient was in stable condition, without any complication, and discharged. There was no abnormality concerning the stool. Ten days after the operation, diamond flap was in normal condition and without any complication. He was scheduled for futher follow up at the Digestive Surgery Department. Anal stenosis due to overzealous hemorrhoidectomy is a complication that is preventable when performed in experienced hands. Diamond flap was one of the options for the anal stenosis treatment with less complication.

Keywords: anal stenosis, diamond flap, post hemorrhoidectomy, anal repair

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Authors: Getaneh Berie Tarekegn

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A precise localization system is crucial for many artificial intelligence Internet of Things (AI-IoT) applications in the era of smart cities. Their applications include traffic monitoring, emergency alarming, environmental monitoring, location-based advertising, intelligent transportation, and smart health care. The most common method for providing continuous positioning services in outdoor environments is by using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Due to nonline-of-sight, multipath, and weather conditions, GNSS systems do not perform well in dense urban, urban, and suburban areas.This paper proposes a generative AI-based positioning scheme for large-scale wireless settings using fingerprinting techniques. In this article, we presented a novel semi-supervised deep convolutional generative adversarial network (S-DCGAN)-based radio map construction method for real-time device localization. We also employed a reliable signal fingerprint feature extraction method with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), which extracts dominant features while eliminating noise from hybrid WLAN and long-term evolution (LTE) fingerprints. The proposed scheme reduced the workload of site surveying required to build the fingerprint database by up to 78.5% and significantly improved positioning accuracy. The results show that the average positioning error of GAILoc is less than 39 cm, and more than 90% of the errors are less than 82 cm. That is, numerical results proved that, in comparison to traditional methods, the proposed SRCLoc method can significantly improve positioning performance and reduce radio map construction costs.

Keywords: location-aware services, feature extraction technique, generative adversarial network, long short-term memory, support vector machine

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