Search results for: atomic resolution tomography

Authors: Hannah Nagel, Hayley Lang, Albert Sole Guitart, Natasha Lean, Rachel Allavena, Cleide Sprohnie-Barrera, Alex Young

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Aggressive neoplasia of the hoof is a rare occurrence in horses and has been only sporadically described in the literature. In the few cases reported intra-hoof wall, aggressive neoplasia has been documented radiographically and has been described with variable imaging characteristics. These include a well-defined osteolytic area, a smoothly outlined semi-circular defect, an extensive draining tract beneath the hoof wall, as well as an additional large area of osteolysis or an extensive central lytic region. A 20-year-old Quarterhorse gelding and a 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding were both presented for chronic reoccurring lameness in the left forelimb and left hindlimb, respectively. Both of the cases displayed radiographic lesions that have been previously described but also displayed osteoproliferative expansile regions of additional bone formation. Changes associated with hoof neoplasia are often non-specific due to the nature and capacity of bone to react to pathological insult, which is either to proliferate or be absorbed. Both cases depict and describe imaging findings seen on radiography, contrast radiography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging before reaching a histological diagnosis of malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Although aggressive hoof wall neoplasia is rare, there are some imaging features which may raise our index of suspicion for an aggressive hoof wall lesion. This case report documents two horses with similar imaging findings who underwent multiple assessments, surgical interventions, and imaging modalities with a final diagnosis of malignant neoplasia.

Keywords: horse, hoof, imaging, radiography, neoplasia

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Authors: Nazmi Mat Nawi, Muhamad Najib Mohamad Nor, Che Dini Maryani Ishkandar

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This study was conducted to evaluate the capability of spectroscopic methods to detect the presence of pesticide residues on leaf mustard. A total of 105 leaf mustard used were divided into five batches, four batches were treated with four different types of pesticides whereas one batch with no pesticide applied. Spectral data were obtained using visible shortwave near infrared spectrometer (VSWNIRS) which is Ocean Optics HR4000 High-resolution Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer. Reflectance value was collected to determine the difference between one pesticide to the other. The obtained spectral data were pre-processed for optimum performance. The effective wavelength of approximate 880 nm, 675-710 nm also 550 and 700 nm indicates the overtones -CH stretching vibration, tannin, also chlorophyll content present in the leaf mustard respectively. This study has successfully demonstrated that the spectroscopic method was able to differentiate between leaf mustard sample with and without pesticide residue.

Keywords: detect, leaf mustard, non-destructive, pesticide residue

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Aliyu Umar, Mohammed Yau, Faruruwa M. Dahiru, Saed Garba

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Evaluation of heavy metals in twelve commonly consumed herbal medicines/preparations in Kano State, Nigeria, was carried out. The samples comprised of five unregistered powdered medicines, namely, Zuwo, (ZW); Rai Dorai, (RD); Miyar Tsanya, (MTS); Bagaruwar Makka, (BM); and Madobiya, (M); five unregistered liquid herbal medicinal concussions for pile (MB), yellow fever (MS), typhoid (MT), stomach pain (MC), sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); and two registered herbal medicines; Alif Powder (AP) and Champion Leaf (CL). The heavy metals evaluation was carried out using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and the result revealed the concentrations (ppm) ranges of the heavy metals as follows: Cadmium (0.0045 – 0.1601), Chromium (0.0418 – 0.2092), Cobalt (0.0038 – 0.0760), Copper (0.0547 – 0.2465), Iron (0.1197 – 0.3592), Manganese (0.0123 – 1.4462), Nickel (0.0073 – 0.0960), Lead (0.185 – 0.0927) and Zinc (0.0244 – 0.2444). Comparing the results obtained in this work with the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and permissible limits of other countries, the concentrations of heavy metals in the herbal medicine/preparations are within the allowed permissible limits range in herbal medicines and their use could be safe.

Keywords: Kano state, herbal medicines, registered, unregistered

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: A. V. Trukhanov, S. V. Trukhanov, L. V. Panina, V. G. Kostishin, V. A. Turchenko

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It has been shown that BaFe₁₂O₁₉ is a perspective room-temperature multiferroic material. A large spontaneous polarization was observed for the BaFe₁₂O₁₉ ceramics revealing a clear ferroelectric hysteresis loop. The maximum polarization was estimated to be approximately 11.8 μC/cm². The FeO₆ octahedron in its perovskite-like hexagonal unit cell and the shift of Fe³⁺ off the center of octahedron are suggested to be the origin of the polarization in BaFe₁₂O₁₉. The magnetic field induced electric polarization has been also observed in the doped BaFe_12-x-δSc_xM_δO₁₉ (δ=0.05) at 10 K and in the BaSc_xFe_12−xO₁₉ and SrSc_xFe_12−xO₁₉ (x = 1.3–1.7) M-type hexaferrites. The investigated BaFe_12-xD_xO₁₉ (x=0.1, D-Al³⁺, In³⁺) samples have been obtained by two-step “topotactic” reactions. The powder neutron investigations of the samples were performed by neutron time of flight method at High Resolution Fourier Diffractometer.

Keywords: substituted hexaferrites, ferrimagnetics, ferroelectrics, neutron powder diffraction, crystal and magnetic structures

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: S. S. Adamu, H. S. Muhammad, D. S. Shuaibu

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Poor power quality in electrical power systems can lead to medical equipment at healthcare centres to malfunction and present wrong medical diagnosis. Equipment such as X-rays, computerized axial tomography, etc. can pollute the system due to their high level of harmonics production, which may cause a number of undesirable effects like heating, equipment damages and electromagnetic interferences. The conventional approach of mitigation uses passive inductor/capacitor (LC) filters, which has some drawbacks such as, large sizes, resonance problems and fixed compensation behaviours. The current trends of solutions generally employ active power filters using suitable control algorithms. This work focuses on assessing the level of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) on medical facilities and various ways of mitigation, using radiology unit of an existing hospital as a case study. The measurement of the harmonics is conducted with a power quality analyzer at the point of common coupling (PCC). The levels of measured THD are found to be higher than the IEEE 519-1992 standard limits. The system is then modelled as a harmonic current source using MATLAB/SIMULINK. To mitigate the unwanted harmonic currents a shunt active filter is developed using synchronous detection algorithm to extract the fundamental component of the source currents. Fuzzy logic controller is then developed to control the filter. The THD without the active power filter are validated using the measured values. The THD with the developed filter show that the harmonics are now within the recommended limits.

Keywords: power quality, total harmonics distortion, shunt active filters, fuzzy logic

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Authors: Tanapon Keatsamarn, Chuchart Pintavirooj

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Foot pressure measurement provides necessary information for diagnosis diseases, foot insole design, disorder prevention and other application. In this paper, dynamic foot pressure measurement is presented for pressure measuring with high resolution and accuracy. The dynamic foot pressure measurement system consists of hardware and software system. The hardware system uses a transparent acrylic plate and uses steel as the base. The glossy white paper is placed on the top of the transparent acrylic plate and covering with a black acrylic on the system to block external light. Lighting from LED strip entering around the transparent acrylic plate. The optical sensors, the digital cameras, are underneath the acrylic plate facing upwards. They have connected with software system to process and record foot pressure video in avi file. Visual Studio 2017 is used for software system using OpenCV library.

Keywords: foot, foot pressure, image processing, optical sensors

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: G. Nyongombe, Guy L. Kabongo, B. M. Mothudi, M. S. Dhlamini

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A series of Transition Metals Oxides (TMOs) doped graphene were synthesized and successfully used as supercapacitor electrode materials. The as-synthesized materials exhibited exceptional electrochemical properties owing to the combined properties of its constituents; high surface area and good conductivity were achieved. Several analytical characterization techniques were employed to investigate the morphology, crystal structure atomic arrangement and elemental chemical state in the materials for which scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were conducted, respectively. Moreover, the electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized materials were examined by performing cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. Furthermore, the effect of doping concentration on the interlayer distance of the graphene materials and the charge transfer resistance are investigated and correlated to the exceptional current density which was multiplied by a factor of ~80 after TMOs doping in graphene. Finally, the resulting high capacitance obtained confirms the contribution of grapheme exceptional electronic conductivity and large surface area on the electrode materials. Such good-performing electrode materials are highly promising for supercapacitors and other energy storage devices.

Keywords: energy density, graphene, supercapacitors, TMOs

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Authors: Murad Gasanov, Shagen Danielyan, Ali Gasanov, Yuri Teterin, Peter Yartsev

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Background: Despite the advances made in modern surgery, the treatment of patients with esophageal injuries remains one of the most topical and complex issues. In recent years, high-technology minimally invasive methods, such as endoscopic vacuum therapy (EVT) in the treatment of esophageal injuries. The effectiveness of EVT has been sufficiently studied in case of failure of esophageal anastomoses, however the application of this method in case of mechanical esophageal injuries is limited by a small series of observations, indicating the necessity of additional study. Aim: The aim was to аnalyzed of own experience in the use of endoscopic vacuum therapy (EVT) in a comprehensive examination of patients with esophageal injuries. Methods: We analyzed the results of treatment of 24 patients with mechanical injuries of the esophagus for the period 2019-2021. Complex treatment of patients included the use of minimally invasive technologies, including percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), EVT and video-assisted thoracoscopic debridement. Evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment was carried out using multislice computed tomography (MSCT), endoscopy and laboratory tests. The duration of inpatient treatment and the duration of EVT, the number of system replacements, complications and mortality were taken into account. Result: EVT in patients with mechanical injuries of the esophagus allowed to achieve epithelialization of the esophageal defect in 21 patients (87.5%) in the form of linear scar on the site of perforation or pseudodiverticulum. Complications were noted in 4 patients (16.6%), including bleeding (2) and and esophageal stenosis in the perforation area (2). Lethal outcome was in one observation (4.2%). Conclusion. EVT may be the method of choice in complex treatment in patients with esophageal lesions.

Keywords: esophagus injuries, damage to the esophagus, perforation of the esophagus, spontaneous perforation of the esophagus, mediastinitis, endoscopic vacuum therapy

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Authors: Ana M. Guzman, Claudia M. Rodriguez, Pedro F. B. Brandao, Elianna Castillo

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Cadmium (Cd) is a carcinogenic metal to which humans are exposed mainly due to its presence in the food chain. Lactic acid bacteria have the capability to bind cadmium and thus the potential to be used as probiotics to treat this metal toxicity in the human body. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of native lactic acid bacteria, isolated from Colombian fermented cocoa, to remove cadmium from aqueous solutions. An initial screening was made with the Lactobacillus plantarum JCM 1055 type strain, and Cd was quantified by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Lb. plantarum JCM 1055 was grown in ½ MRS medium to follow growth kinetics during 32 h at 37 °C, by measuring optical density at 600 nm. Washed cells, grown for 18 h, were adjusted to obtain dry biomass concentrations of 1.5 g/L and 0.5 g/L for removal assays in 10 mL of Cd(NO₃)₂ solution with final concentrations of 10 mg/Kg or 1.0 mg/Kg. The assays were performed at two different pH values (2.0 and 5.0), and results showed better adsorption abilities at higher pH. After incubation for 1 h at 37 °C and 150 rpm, the removal percentages for 10 mg/Kg Cd with 1.5 g/L and 0.5 g/L biomass concentration at pH 5.0 were, respectively, 71% and 50%, while the efficiency was 9.15 and 4.52 mg Cd/g dry biomass, respectively. For the assay with 1.0 mg/Kg Cd at pH 5.0, the removal was 100% and 98%, respectively for the same biomass concentrations, and the efficiency was 1.63 and 0.56 mg Cd/g dry biomass, respectively. These results suggest the efficiency of Lactobacillus strains to remove cadmium and their potential to be used as probiotics to treat cadmium toxicity and reduce its accumulation in the human body.

Keywords: cadmium removal, fermented cocoa, lactic acid bacteria, probiotics

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Authors: Sultan A. Al Shaqaq

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Corrosion is a serious challenge for a piping system in our Gas and Oil Separation Plant (GOSP) that causes piping failures. Two GOSPs (Plant-A and Plant-B) observed chronic corrosion issue with an on-plot piping system that leads to having more piping replacement during the past years. Since it is almost impossible to avoid corrosion, it is becoming more obvious that managing the corrosion level may be the most economical resolution. Corrosion engineers are thus increasingly involved in approximating the cost of their answers to corrosion prevention, and assessing the useful life of the equipment. This case study covers the background of corrosion encountered in piping internally and externally in these two GOSPs. The collected piping replacement data from year of 2011 to 2014 was covered. These data showed the replicate corrosion levels in an on-plot piping system. Also, it is included the total piping replacement with drain lines system and other service lines in plants (Plant-A and Plant-B) at Saudi Aramco facility.

Keywords: gas and oil separation plant, on-plot piping, drain lines, Saudi Aramco

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Authors: Hichem Kmimech, Achref Jabeur Telmoudi, Lotfi Nabli

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The estimation of the initial marking minimum (MIM) is a crucial problem in labeled Petri nets. In the case of multiple choices, the search for the initial marking leads to a problem of optimization of the minimum allocation of resources with two constraints. The first concerns the firing sequence that could be legal on the initial marking with respect to the firing vector. The second deals with the total number of tokens that can be minimal. In this article, the MIM problem is solved by the meta-heuristic particle swarm optimization (PSO). The proposed approach presents the advantages of PSO to satisfy the two previous constraints and find all possible combinations of minimum initial marking with the best computing time. This method, more efficient than conventional ones, has an excellent impact on the resolution of the MIM problem. We prove through a set of definitions, lemmas, and examples, the effectiveness of our approach.

Keywords: marking, production system, labeled Petri nets, particle swarm optimization

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Authors: Poonam Singh, Surendra Prasad, William Aalbersberg

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Iron the most essential trace element in human nutrition. Its deficiency has serious health consequences and is a major public health threat worldwide. The common deficiencies in Fiji population reported are of Fe, Ca and Zn. It has also been reported that 40% of women in Fiji are iron deficient. Therefore, we have been studying the bioavailability of iron in commonly consumed Fiji foods. To study the bioavailability it is essential to assess the iron contents in raw foods. This paper reports the iron contents and its bioavailability in commonly consumed foods by multicultural population of Fiji. The food samples (rice, breads, wheat flour and breakfast cereals) were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer for total iron and its bioavailability. The white rice had the lowest total iron 0.10±0.03 mg/100g but had high bioavailability of 160.60±0.03%. The brown rice had 0.20±0.03 mg/100g total iron content but 85.00±0.03% bioavailable. The white and brown breads showed the highest iron bioavailability as 428.30±0.11 and 269.35 ±0.02%, respectively. The Weetabix and the rolled oats had the iron contents 2.89±0.27 and 1.24.±0.03 mg/100g with bioavailability of 14.19±0.04 and 12.10±0.03%, respectively. The most commonly consumed normal wheat flour had 0.65±0.00 mg/100g iron while the whole meal and the Roti flours had 2.35±0.20 and 0.62±0.17 mg/100g iron showing bioavailability of 55.38±0.05, 16.67±0.08 and 12.90±0.00%, respectively. The low bioavailability of iron in certain foods may be due to the presence of phytates/oxalates, processing/storage conditions, cooking method or interaction with other minerals present in the food samples.

Keywords: iron, bioavailability, Fiji foods, in vitro technique, human nutrition

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Authors: Rui Tu, Yakui Bai, Huailin Li

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The lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) alloy is a promising candidate of coolant in the fast neutron reactors and accelerator-driven systems (ADS) because of its good properties, such as low melting point, high neutron yields and high thermal conductivity. Although the corrosion of the structure materials caused by the liquid metal (LM) coolant is a challenge to the safe operating of a lead-bismuth eutectic nuclear reactor. Thermodynamic theories, experiential formulas and experimental data can be used for explaining the maintenance of the protective oxide layers on stainless steels under satisfaction oxygen concentration, but the atomic scale insights of such anti-corrosion mechanisms are little known. In the present work, the first-principles calculations are carried out to study the effects of oxygen partial pressure on the formation energies of the liquid metal coolant relevant impurity defects in the anti-corrosion oxide films on the surfaces of the structure materials. These approaches reveal the microscope mechanisms of the corrosion of the structure materials, especially for the influences from the oxygen partial pressure. The results are helpful for identifying a crucial oxygen concentration for corrosion control, which can ensure the systems to be operated safely under certain temperatures.

Keywords: oxygen partial pressure, liquid metal coolant, TDDFT, anti-corrosion layer, formation energy

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Authors: Phong Nguyen, Phap Nguyen, Thang Nguyen

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High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) or H.265 Standard fulfills the demand of high resolution video storage and transmission since it achieves high compression ratio. However, it requires a huge amount of calculation. Since Motion Estimation (ME) block composes about 80 % of calculation load of HEVC, there are a lot of researches to reduce the computation cost. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm to lower the number of Motion Estimation’s searching points. The number of computing points in search pattern is down from 77 for Diamond Pattern and 81 for Square Pattern to only 31. Meanwhile, the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and bit rate are almost equal to those of conventional patterns. The motion estimation time of new algorithm reduces by at 68.23%, 65.83%compared to the recommended search pattern of diamond pattern, square pattern, respectively.

Keywords: motion estimation, wide diamond, search pattern, H.265, test zone search, HM software

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Authors: Ahmed Hammed, Wady Naanaa

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In this paper, we propose a general approach to deal with the problem of a convolutive mixture of images. We use a direct blind source separation method by adding only one non-statistical justified constraint describing the relationships between different mixing matrix at the aim to make its resolution easy. This method can be applied, provided that this constraint is known, to degraded document affected by the overlapping of text-patterns and images. This is due to chemical and physical reactions of the materials (paper, inks,...) occurring during the documents aging, and other unpredictable causes such as humidity, microorganism infestation, human handling, etc. We will demonstrate that this problem corresponds to a convolutive mixture of images. Subsequently, we will show how the validation of our method through numerical examples. We can so obtain clear images from unreadable ones which can be caused by pages superposition, a phenomenon similar to that we find every often in archival documents.

Keywords: blind source separation, convoluted mixture, degraded documents, text-patterns overlapping

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Authors: Sarthak S. Salunke

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Development, as a notion, is seen in perspective of western philosophical conceptions, and the western developed nations have become a yardstick for setting up development goals for developing and underdeveloped nations around the world. This blanket term of development becomes superficial and materialistic in context of the vast geopolitical, territorial, cultural and behavioral diversities existing in countries of the Africa and the Asia, and tends to undermine the atomistic aspect of development. Indian political theories, which are often seen as religious philosophies, have inherent structure of development of human being as an individual and as a part of the society, and, in result, development of the State. These theories, primarily individualistic in nature, have a combination of altruism and rationalism which guides human beings towards constructing a collectively developed and morally sustainable society. This research focuses on the application of this Indian thought in combination of classical liberal thought to tackle the issues of development in diverse societies. The proposed restructured model of development is based on molecular individualism, instead of atomic individual approach of liberalists, which lets development modelers to target meaningful clusters for designating goals for development based on the particular needs based on geopolitical, cultural and ethical requirements, and making it meaningful in conjunction with global development to establish a harmony between western and eastern worlds.

Keywords: Indian political thought, development, liberalism, molecular individualism

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Authors: Daniel Nelson, Valeria La Saponara

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Material extrusion is an additive manufacturing modality that continues to show great promise in the ability to create low-cost, highly intricate, and exceedingly useful structural elements. As more capable and versatile filament materials are devised, and the resolution of manufacturing systems continues to increase, the need to understand and predict manufacturing-induced warping will gain ever greater importance. The following study presents an in situ remote sensing and data analysis construct that allows for the in situ mapping and quantification of surface displacements induced by residual stresses on a specified test structure. This proof-of-concept experimental process shows that it is possible to provide designers and manufacturers with insight into the manufacturing parameters that lead to the manifestation of these deformations and a greater understanding of the behavior of these warping events over the course of the manufacturing process.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, deformation, digital image correlation, fused filament fabrication, residual stress, warping

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Authors: S. Roy, R. Rekha, K. Sriram, G. Subhadra, R. Johana

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Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death in most industrialized countries. Many chemical drugs are available in the market which targets different receptor proteins related to cardiovascular diseases. Of late the traditional herbal drugs are safer when compared to chemical drugs because of its side effects. However, many herbal remedies used in treating cardiovascular diseases have not undergone scientific assessment to prove its pharmacological activities. There are many natural compounds, nature derived and Natural product mimic compounds are available which are in the market as approved drug. In the most of the cases drug activity at the molecular level are not known. Here we have categorized those compounds with our experimental compounds in different classes based on the structural similarity and physicochemical properties, using a tool, Chemmine and has attempted to understand the mechanism of the action of a experimental compound, which are clustered with Simvastatin, Lovastatin, Mevastatin and Pravastatin. Target protein molecule for Simvastatin, Lovastatin, Mevastatin and Pravastatin is HMG-CoA reductase, so we concluded that the experimental compound may be able to bind to the same target. Molecular docking and atomic interaction studies with simvastatin and our experimental compound were compared. A pharmacophore modeling was done based on the experimental compound and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor.

Keywords: molecular docking, physicochemical properties, pharmacophore modeling structural similarity, pravastatin

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Authors: Egor Atan Obeten, Abong Augustine Agwul, Bissong A. Samson

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The position of the aquifer, its protective capability, and the quality of the groundwater beneath the dumpsite were all investigated. The techniques employed were laboratory, tritium tagging, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and vertical electrical sounding (VES). With a maximum electrode spacing of 500 meters, fifteen VES stations were used, and IPI2win software was used to analyze the data collected. The resistivity map of the dumpsite was determined by deploying six ERT stations for the 2 D survey. To ascertain the degree of soil infiltration beneath the dumpsite, the tritium tagging method was used. Using a conventional laboratory procedure, groundwater samples were taken from neighboring boreholes and examined. The findings showed that there were three to five geoelectric layers, with the aquifer position being inferred to be between 24.2 and 75.1 meters deep in the third, fourth, and fifth levels. Siemens with values in the range of 0.0235 to 0.1908 for the load protection capacity were deemed to be, at most, weakly and badly protected. The obtained porosity values ranged from 44.45 to 89.75. Strong calculated values for transmissivity and porosity indicate a permeable aquifer system with considerable storativity. The area has an infiltration value between 8 and 22 percent, according to the results of the tritium tagging technique, which was used to evaluate the level of infiltration from the dumpsite. Groundwater samples that have been analyzed reveal levels of NO2, DO, Pb2+, magnesium, and cadmium that are higher than what the NSDWQ has approved. Overall analysis of the results from the above-described methodologies shows that the study area's aquifer system is porous and that contaminants will circulate through it quickly if they are contaminated.

Keywords: aquifer, transmissivity, dumpsite, groundwater

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Authors: Tanu Aneja, Harsha Malaviya

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Capturing pose information in cricket shots poses several challenges, such as low-resolution videos, noisy data, and joint occlusions caused by the nature of the shots. In response to these challenges, we propose a CondDGConv-based framework specifically for cricket shot prediction. By analyzing the spatial-temporal relationships in batsman shot sequences from an annotated 2D cricket dataset, our model achieves a 97% accuracy in predicting shot types. This performance is made possible by conditioning the graph network on batsman 2D poses, allowing for precise prediction of shot outcomes based on pose dynamics. Our approach highlights the potential for enhancing shot prediction in cricket analytics, offering a robust solution for overcoming pose-related challenges in sports analysis.

Keywords: action recognition, cricket. sports video analytics, computer vision, graph convolutional networks

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Authors: Shyam Ranjan Kumar, Shashikant Rajpal

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Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) is a binary II-VI direct band gap semiconducting material. This semiconducting material has several applications in sensors, photo-electrochemical devices and photovoltaic solar cell. In this study, Zinc telluride (ZnTe) thin films were deposited on nickel substrate by electrodeposition technique using potentiostat/galvanostat at -0.85 V using AR grade of Zinc Chloride (ZnCl2), Tellurium Tetrachloride (TeCl4) in non-aqueous bath. The developed films were physically stable and showed good adhesion. The as deposited ZnTe films were annealed at 400ºC in air. The solid state properties and optical properties of the as deposited and annealed films were carried out by XRD, EDS, SEM, AFM, UV–Visible spectrophotometer, and photoluminescence spectrophotometer. The diffraction peak observed at 2θ = 49.58° with (111) plane indicate the crystalline nature of ZnTe film. Annealing improves the crystalline nature of the film. Compositional analysis reveals the presence of Zn and Te with tellurium rich ZnTe film. SEM photograph at 10000X shows that grains of film are spherical in nature and densely distributed over the surface. The average roughness of the film is measured by atomic force microscopy and it is nearly equal to 60 nm. The direct wide band gap of 2.12 eV is observed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Luminescence peak of the ZnTe films are also observed in as deposited and annealed case.

Keywords: annealing, electrodeposition, optical properties, thin film, XRD, ZnTe

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Authors: Olivier Delage, Thierry Portafaix, Hassan Bencherif, Guillaume Guimbretiere

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Most observation data sequences in geophysics can be interpreted as resulting from the interaction of several physical processes at several time and space scales. As a consequence, measurements time series in geophysics have often characteristics of non-linearity and non-stationarity and thereby exhibit strong fluctuations at all time-scales and require a time-frequency representation to analyze their variability. Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is a relatively new technic as part of a more general signal processing method called the Hilbert-Huang transform. This analysis method turns out to be particularly suitable for non-linear and non-stationary signals and consists in decomposing a signal in an auto adaptive way into a sum of oscillating components named IMFs (Intrinsic Mode Functions), and thereby acts as a bank of bandpass filters. The advantages of the EMD technic are to be entirely data driven and to provide the principal variability modes of the dynamics represented by the original time series. However, the main limiting factor is the frequency resolution that may give rise to the mode mixing phenomenon where the spectral contents of some IMFs overlap each other. To overcome this problem, J. Gilles proposed an alternative entitled “Empirical Wavelet Transform” (EWT) which consists in building from the segmentation of the original signal Fourier spectrum, a bank of filters. The method used is based on the idea utilized in the construction of both Littlewood-Paley and Meyer’s wavelets. The heart of the method lies in the segmentation of the Fourier spectrum based on the local maxima detection in order to obtain a set of non-overlapping segments. Because linked to the Fourier spectrum, the frequency resolution provided by EWT is higher than that provided by EMD and therefore allows to overcome the mode-mixing problem. On the other hand, if the EWT technique is able to detect the frequencies involved in the original time series fluctuations, EWT does not allow to associate the detected frequencies to a specific mode of variability as in the EMD technic. Because EMD is closer to the observation of physical phenomena than EWT, we propose here a new technic called EAWD (Empirical Adaptive Wavelet Decomposition) based on the coupling of the EMD and EWT technics by using the IMFs density spectral content to optimize the segmentation of the Fourier spectrum required by EWT. In this study, EMD and EWT technics are described, then EAWD technic is presented. Comparison of results obtained respectively by EMD, EWT and EAWD technics on time series of ozone total columns recorded at Reunion island over [1978-2019] period is discussed. This study was carried out as part of the SOLSTYCE project dedicated to the characterization and modeling of the underlying dynamics of time series issued from complex systems in atmospheric sciences

Keywords: adaptive filtering, empirical mode decomposition, empirical wavelet transform, filter banks, mode-mixing, non-linear and non-stationary time series, wavelet

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Authors: Ehiedu Philomina Kika, Jessica Chinonso Ehilegbu

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The exploration and production of fossil fuel particularly crude oil has led to some serious environmental damage in some oil producing communities like the Bodo Community who rely heavily on their aquatic environment for food and water. This study was therefore carried out to investigate the level of some heavy metals in water and Callinectes amnicola (Swimming Crab) in the month of August, September and October from Bodo creek, Rivers State, Nigeria. The physico-chemical parameters of the water were also analyzed in-situ. The levels of heavy metals, Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu) were analyzed in water and in Callinectes amnicola (Swimming Crab), using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) after acid digestion. For the concentration of heavy metals in water, Pb ranged from 0.103 - 0.791 mg/l, Zn 0.0025 - 0.342 mg/l, Cr < 0.001 - 0.304 mg/l, Cd 0.011 - 0.116 mg/l and Cu <0.001 - 0.079 mg/l. For the concentration of heavy metals in Callinectes amnicola (Swimming Crab), the level of Pb ranged from 0.359 - 0.849 mg/l, Zn 0.134 - 0.342 mg/l, Cd 0.053 - 0.103 mg/l, Cr < 0.001 - <0.001 mg/l, Cu < 0.001 - 0.131 mg/l. The concentrations of Pb, Cd and Cr for all water and crab samples collected from the various stations were higher than permissible level suggesting serious anthropogenic influence. Thus, precaution needs to be taken to prevent further contamination and adequate purification measures need to be put in place. Therefore, there should be periodic environmental pollution monitoring, for assessment and awareness especially with regards heavy metal.

Keywords: Bodo creek, crude oil, heavy metal, swimming crab

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Authors: Regina Connolly, Justin Connolly

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Despite the benefits which they confer, Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) also have the potential to be used negatively. This paper focuses on one of those negative social effects - adolescent cyberbullying. Although early research in this field has pointed to the fact that the successful intervention and resolution of bullying incidents is to a large degree dependent on such incidents being reported to an adult caregiver, the literature consistently shows that adolescents who have been bullied tend not to inform others of their experiences. However, the reasons underlying such reluctance to seek adult intervention remain undetermined. Similarly, the degree to which gender, age or other variables apply in the case of adolescents’ resistance to report cyberbullying experiences has yet to be established. Understanding the factors that influence this resistance to communicate on the part of adolescents will assist caregivers, teachers and those involved in the formulation of school anti-bullying policies in their attempts to counter the cyberbullying phenomenon.

Keywords: information and Communication technologies, technology-enabled bullying, cyberbullying

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Authors: Hakeem Ade Omokayode Idowu

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The extent of the role played by human capabilities developments as well as knowledge management on employees’ performance in the nuclear energy sector of Nigeria remains unclear. This is in view of the important role which human resource capabilities could play in the desire to generate energy using nuclear resources. This study appraised the extent of human resource capabilities available in the nuclear energy sector of Nigeria. It further examined the relationship between knowledge management and employees’ performance in the nuclear energy sector. The study adopted a descriptive research design with a population that comprised all the 1736 members of staff of the selected centres, institutes, and the headquarters of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), and Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and a sample size of 332 employees was selected using purposive and convenience sampling techniques. Data collected were subjected to analysis using frequency counts and simple regression. The results showed that majority of the employees perceived that they have to a high extent of availability of knowledge (118, 35.5%), credibility (134, 40.4%), alignment (130, 39.2%), performance (126, 38%) and innovation (138, 41.6%) The result of the hypothesis tested indicated that knowledge management has a positive and significant effect on employees’ performance (Beta weight = 0.336, R2 =0.113, F-value = 41.959, p-value = 0.000< 0.05). The study concluded that human resource capabilities and knowledge management could enhance employee performance within the nuclear energy sector of Nigeria.

Keywords: human resource capabilities, knowledge management, employees productivity, national development

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Authors: A. Nourbakhsh

Abstract:

A finite difference/front tracking method is used to study the motion of three-dimensional deformable drops suspended in plane Poiseuille flow at non-zero Reynolds numbers. A parallel version of the code was used to study the behavior of suspension on a reasonable grid resolution (grids). The viscosity and density of drops are assumed to be equal to that of the suspending medium. The effect of the Reynolds number is studied in detail. It is found that drops with small deformation behave like rigid particles and migrate to an equilibrium position about half way between the wall and the center line (the Segre-Silberberg effect). However, for highly deformable drops there is a tendency for drops to migrate to the middle of the channel, and the maximum concentration occurs at the center line. The effective viscosity of suspension and the fluctuation energy of the flow across the channel increases with the Reynolds number of the flow.

Keywords: suspensions, Poiseuille flow, effective viscosity, Reynolds number

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Authors: M. P. Raju, P. D. Safai, P. S. P. Rao, P. C. S. Devara, C. V. Naidu

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In order to study the Physical and chemical characteristics of aerosols, samples of Total Suspended Particulates (TSP) were collected using a high volume sampler at Pune, a semi-urban location in SW India during March 2009 to February 2010. TSP samples were analyzed for water soluble components like F, Cl, NO3, SO4, NH4, Na, K, Ca, and Mg and acid soluble components like Al, Zn, Fe and Cu using Ion-Chromatograph and Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Analysis of the data revealed that the monthly mean TSP concentrations varied between 471.3 µg/m3 and 30.5 µg/m3 with an annual mean value of 159.8 µg/m3. TSP concentrations were found to be less during post-monsoon and winter (October through February), compared to those in summer and monsoon (March through September). Anthropogenic activities like vehicular emissions and dust particles originated from urban activities were the major sources for TSP. TSP showed good correlation with all the major ionic components, especially with SO4 (R= 0.62) and NO3 (R= 0.67) indicating the impact of anthropogenic sources over the aerosols at Pune. However, the overall aerosol nature was alkaline (Ave pH = 6.17) mainly due to the neutralizing effects of Ca and NH4. SO4 contributed more (58.8%) to the total acidity as compared to NO3 (41.1%) where as, Ca contributed more (66.5%) to the total alkalinity than NH4 (33.5%). Seasonality of acid soluble component Al, Fe and Cu showed remarkable increase, indicating the dominance of soil source over the man-made activities. Overall study on TSP indicated that aerosols at Pune were mainly affected by the local sources.

Keywords: chemical composition, acidic and neutralization potential, radiative forcing, urban station

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Authors: Luna Shamieh

Abstract:

Various players are part of the game in an asymmetric war, all making efforts to provide human security to their own adherents. Although a fragile state is not able to provide sufficient and comprehensive services, it still provides special services and security to the elite; the insurgents as well provide services and security to their associates. The humanitarian organisations, on the other hand, provide some fundamental elements of human security, but only in the regions, they are able to access when possible (if possible). The counterinsurgents (security forces of the state and intervention forces) operate within a narrow band defined by the vision of the responsibility to protect and the perspective of the resolution of the conflict through combat; hence, the possibility to provide human security is shaken at this end. This article examines how each player provides human security from the perspective of freedom from want in order to secure basic and strategic needs, freedom from fear through providing protection against all kinds of violence, and the freedom to live in dignity. It identifies a vicious cycle caused by the intervention of the different players causing a centrifugal force that may lead to disintegration of the nation under war.

Keywords: asymmetric war, counterinsurgency, fragile state, human security, insurgency

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Authors: Naeim Akbari Shahkhosravi, Reza Kakavand, Helen M. S. Davies, Amin Komeili

Abstract:

Equine locomotion and performance are significantly affected by hoof health. One of the most critical diseases of the hoof is laminitis, which can lead to horse lameness in a severe condition. This disease exhibits the mechanical properties degradation of the laminar junction tissue within the hoof. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the biomechanics of the hoof, focusing specifically on excessive and cumulatively accumulated stresses within the laminar junction tissue. For this aim, the current study generated a novel equine hoof Finite Element (FE) model under dynamic physiological loading conditions and employing a hyperelastic material model. Associated tissues of the equine hoof were segmented from computed tomography scans of an equine forelimb, including the navicular bone, third phalanx, sole, frog, laminar junction, digital cushion, and medial- dorsal- lateral wall areas. The inner tissues were connected based on the hoof anatomy, and the hoof was under a dynamic loading over cyclic strides at the trot. The strain distribution on the hoof wall of the model was compared with the published in vivo strain measurements to validate the model. Then the validated model was used to study the development of laminitis. The ultimate stress tolerated by the laminar junction before rupture was considered as a stress threshold. The tissue damage was simulated through iterative reduction of the tissue’s mechanical properties in the presence of excessive maximum principal stresses. The findings of this investigation revealed how damage initiates from the medial and lateral sides of the tissue and propagates through the hoof dorsal area.

Keywords: horse hoof, laminitis, finite element model, continuous damage

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Authors: Sonal Sethi, Mukesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Gupta

Abstract:

The upcoming field of radiogenomics has the potential to upgrade the role of imaging in lung cancer management by noninvasive characterization of tumor histology and genetic microenvironment. Receptor positivity like epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) genotyping are critical in lung adenocarcinoma for treatment. As conventional identification of receptor positivity is an invasive procedure, we analyzed the features on non-invasive computed tomography (CT), which predicts the receptor positivity in lung adenocarcinoma. Retrospectively, we did a comprehensive study from 77 proven lung adenocarcinoma patients with CT images, EGFR and ALK receptor genotyping, and clinical information. Total 22/77 patients were receptor-positive (15 had only EGFR mutation, 6 had ALK mutation, and 1 had both EGFR and ALK mutation). Various morphological characteristics and metastatic distribution on CT were analyzed along with the clinical information. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used. On multivariable logistic regression analysis, we found spiculated margin, lymphangitic spread, air bronchogram, pleural effusion, and distant metastasis had a significant predictive value for receptor mutation status. On univariate analysis, air bronchogram and pleural effusion had significant individual predictive value. Conclusions: Receptor positive lung cancer has characteristic imaging features compared with nonreceptor positive lung adenocarcinoma. Since CT is routinely used in lung cancer diagnosis, we can predict the receptor positivity by a noninvasive technique and would follow a more aggressive algorithm for evaluation of distant metastases as well as for the treatment.

Keywords: lung cancer, multidisciplinary cancer care, oncologic imaging, radiobiology

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