Search results for: conditional proportional reversed hazard rate model

Authors: S. Akinde, Jubril Olatunbosun

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In recent years, most of the urban centers in Nigeria are fast experiencing housing problems such as unaffordable housing and environmental challenges, all of which determine the nature of housing quality. The population continues to increase and the demand for quality housing increases probably at the same rate. Several kinds of houses serve various purposes; the objectives of the low cost housing schemes as the name suggests is to make houses quality to both the middle and lower classes of people in Lagos. A casual look into the study area of Iba Low Cost Housing Estate and the Unity Low Cost Housing Estate, Ojo and Alimosho respectively in Lagos State have shown a huge demands for houses. The study area boasts of a large population all engaged in various commercial activities with income at various levels. It would be fair to say that these people are mainly of the middle class and lower class. This means the low cost housing scheme truly serves these purposes. A Low Cost Housing Scheme of Iba which is publicly owned and Low Cost Housing Scheme of Unity Estate (UE) is privately owned.  

Keywords: housing, residential quality, low cost housing scheme, public, private estates

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Authors: Jiahui Song

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The use of very high electric fields (~ 100kV/cm or higher) with pulse durations in the nanosecond range has been a recent development. The electric pulses have been used as tools to generate electroporation which has many biomedical applications. Most of the studies of electroporation have ignored possible thermal effects because of the small duration of the applied voltage pulses. However, it has been predicted membrane temperature gradients ranging from 0.2×109 to 109 K/m. This research focuses on thermal gradients that drives for electroporative enhancements, even though the actual temperature values might not have changed appreciably from their equilibrium levels. The dynamics of pore formation with the application of an externally applied electric field is studied on the basis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the GROMACS package. Different temperatures are assigned to various regions to simulate the appropriate temperature gradients. The GROMACS provides the force fields for the lipid membranes, which is taken to comprise of dipalmitoyl-phosphatidyl-choline (DPPC) molecules. The water model mimicks the aqueous environment surrounding the membrane. Velocities of water and membrane molecules are generated randomly at each simulation run according to a Maxwellian distribution. For statistical significance, a total of eight MD simulations are carried out with different starting molecular velocities for each simulation. MD simulation shows no pore is formed in a 10-ns snapshot for a DPPC membrane set at a uniform temperature of 295 K after a 0.4 V/nm electric field is applied. A nano-sized pore is clearly seen in a 10-ns snapshot on the same geometry but with the top and bottom membrane surfaces kept at temperatures of 300 and 295 K, respectively. For the same applied electric field, the formation of nanopores is clearly demonstrated, but only in the presence of a temperature gradient. MD simulation results show enhanced electroporative effects arising from thermal gradients. The study suggests the temperature gradient is a secondary driver, with the electric field being the primary cause for electroporation.

Keywords: nanosecond, electroporation, thermal effects, molecular dynamics

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Authors: Leo Paul Vaurs, Sonia Heaven, Charles Banks

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Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a virtually unlimited source of lignocellulosic material in the form of a waste paper/cardboard mixture which can be converted into fermentable sugars via cellulolytic enzyme hydrolysis in a biorefinery. The extraction of the lignocellulosic fraction and its preparation, however, are energy and water demanding processes. The waste water generated is a rich organic liquor with a high Chemical Oxygen Demand that can be partially cleaned while generating biogas in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket bioreactor and be further re-used in the process. In this work, an experiment was designed to determine the critical contaminant concentrations in water affecting either anaerobic digestion or enzymatic hydrolysis by simulating multiple water re-circulations. It was found that re-using more than 16.5 times the same water could decrease the hydrolysis yield by up to 65 % and led to a complete granules desegregation. Due to the complexity of the water stream, the contaminant(s) responsible for the performance decrease could not be identified but it was suspected to be caused by sodium, potassium, lipid accumulation for the anaerobic digestion (AD) process and heavy metal build-up for enzymatic hydrolysis. The experimental data were incorporated into a Water Pinch technology based model that was used to optimize the water re-utilization in the modelled system to reduce fresh water requirement and wastewater generation while ensuring all processes performed at optimal level. Multiple scenarios were modelled in which sub-process requirements were evaluated in term of importance, operational costs and impact on the CAPEX. The best compromise between water usage, AD and enzymatic hydrolysis yield was determined for each assumed contaminant degradations by anaerobic granules. Results from the model will be used to build the first MSW based biorefinery in the USA.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, enzymatic hydrolysis, municipal solid waste, water optimization

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Authors: Naila Nasreen, Dianchen Lu

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This paper explores the dynamical behavior of the (2+1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation, which is a nonlinear water wave equation and is used to model wave packets in dispersive media with weak nonlinearity. This equation depicts how long wave made in shallow water propagates due to the influence of gravity. The (2+1)- dimensional Boussinesq equation combines the two-way propagation of the classical Boussinesq equation with the dependence on a second spatial variable, as that occurs in the two-dimensional Kadomstev- Petviashvili equation. This equation provides a description of head- on collision of oblique waves and it possesses some interesting properties. The governing model is discussed by the assistance of Ricatti equation mapping method, a relatively integration tool. The solutions have been extracted in different forms the solitary wave solutions as well as hyperbolic and periodic solutions. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis is demonstrated for the designed dynamical structural system’s wave profiles, where the soliton wave velocity and wave number parameters regulate the water wave singularity. In addition to being helpful for elucidating nonlinear partial differential equations, the method in use gives previously extracted solutions and extracts fresh exact solutions. Assuming the right values for the parameters, various graph in different shapes are sketched to provide information about the visual format of the earned results. This paper’s findings support the efficacy of the approach taken in enhancing nonlinear dynamical behavior. We believe this research will be of interest to a wide variety of engineers that work with engineering models. Findings show the effectiveness simplicity, and generalizability of the chosen computational approach, even when applied to complicated systems in a variety of fields, especially in ocean engineering.

Keywords: (2+1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation, solitary wave solutions, Ricatti equation mapping approach, nonlinear phenomena

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Authors: Rochelle Yun Ge

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University has played an active role in the country’s development in China. There has been an increasing research interest on the development of higher education cooperation, talent cultivation and attraction, and innovation in the regional development. The Triple Helix model, which indicates that regional innovation and development can be engendered by collaboration among university, industry and government, is often adopted as research framework. The research using triple helix model emphasizes the active and often leading role of university in knowledge-based economy. Within this framework, universities are conceptualized as key institutions of knowledge production, transmission and transference potentially making critical contributions to regional development. Recent research almost uniformly consistent in indicating the high-level research labours (i.e., doctoral, post-doctoral researchers and academics) as important actors in the innovation ecosystem with their cross-geographical human capital and resources presented. In 2019, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) was officially launched as an important strategy by the Chinese government to boost the regional development of the Pearl River Delta and to support the realization of “One Belt One Road” strategy. Human Capital formation is at the center of this plan. One of the strategic goals of the GBA development is set to evolve into an international educational hub and innovation center with high-level talents. A number of policies have been issued to attract and cultivate human resources in different GBA cities, in particular for the high-level R&D (research and development) talents such as doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. To better understand the development of high-level talents hub in the GBA, more empirical considerations should be given to explore the approaches of talents cultivation and attraction in the GBA. What remains to explore is the ways to better attract, train, support and retain these talents in the cross-systems context. This paper aims to investigate the role of university in human capital development under China’s national agenda of GBA integration through the lens of universities and actors. Two flagship comprehensive universities are selected to be the cases and 30 interviews with university officials, research leaders, post-doctors and doctoral candidates are used for analysis. In particular, we look at in what ways have universities aligned their strategies and practices to the Chinese government’s GBA development strategy? What strategies and practices have been developed by universities for the cultivation and attraction of high-level research labor? And what impacts the universities have made for the regional development? The main arguments of this research highlights the specific ways in which universities in smaller sub-regions can collaborate in high-level human capital formation and the role policy can play in facilitating such collaborations.

Keywords: university, human capital, regional development, triple-helix model

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Authors: Hassiba Benguergoura, Kamal Chanane, Sâad Moulay

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Pervaporation (PV), a membrane-based separation technology, has gained much attention because of its energy saving capability and low-cost, especially for separation of azeotropic or close-boiling liquid mixtures. There are two crucial issues for industrial application of pervaporation process. The first is developing membrane material and tailoring membrane structure to obtain high pervaporation performances. The second is modeling pervaporation transport to better understand of the above-mentioned structure–pervaporation relationship. Many models were proposed to predict the mass transfer process, among them, solution-diffusion model is most widely used in describing pervaporation transport including preferential sorption, diffusion and evaporation steps. For modeling pervaporation transport, the permeation flux, which depends on the solubility and diffusivity of components in the membrane, should be obtained first. Traditionally, the solubility was calculated according to the Flory–Huggins theory. Separation of the benzene (Bz)/cyclohexane (Cx) mixture is industrially significant. Numerous papers have been focused on the Bz/Cx system to assess the PV properties of membrane materials. Membranes with both high permeability and selectivity are desirable for practical application. Several new polymers have been prepared to get both high permeability and selectivity. Styrene-butadiene rubbers (SBR), dense membranes cross-linked by chloromethylation were used in the separation of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures. The impact of chloromethylation reaction as a new method of cross-linking SBR on the pervaporation performance have been reported. In contrast to the vulcanization with sulfur, the cross-linking takes places on styrene units of polymeric chains via a methylene bridge. The partial pervaporative (PV) fluxes of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures in styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) were predicted using Fick's first law. The predicted partial fluxes and the PV separation factor agreed well with the experimental data by integrating Fick's law over the benzene concentration. The effects of feed concentration and operating temperature on the predicted permeation flux by this proposed model are investigated. The predicted permeation fluxes are in good agreement with experimental data at lower benzene concentration in feed, but at higher benzene concentration, the model overestimated permeation flux. The predicted and experimental permeation fluxes all increase with operating temperature increasing. Solvent sorption levels for benzene/ cyclohexane mixtures in a SBR membrane were determined experimentally. The results showed that the solvent sorption levels were strongly affected by the feed composition. The Flory- Huggins equation generates higher R-square coefficient for the sorption selectivity.

Keywords: benzene, cyclohexane, pervaporation, permeation, sorption modeling, SBR

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Authors: Meity Sompie, Agnes Triasih, Wisje Ponto

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Edible coating is thin layers that act as a barrier to the external factors and protect the food products. The addition of the plasticizer to the edible coating is required to overcome film caused by extensive intermolecular forces. The potential development of pigskin with different ages as a raw material for the manufacture of edible films had not been widely publicized. This research was aimed to determine the influence of gelatin concentration and different type of plasticizer on the edible coating characteristics extracted from pigskin gelatin. This study used Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two factors and three replicates of treatments. The first factor was consisted of pigskin gelatin concentration ( 10, 20, and 30 %) and the second factor was different type of plasticizer (glycerol, sorbitol and PEG). The results show that the interaction between the use of gelatin concentrations and type of plasticizer had significant effect (P< 0.05) on the thickness, tensile strength, elongation, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), water content and amino acid profile of edible coating. It was concluded that the edible coating from pigskin gelatin with plasticizer gliserol had the best film characteristics, and it can be applied as an edible coating.

Keywords: edible coating, edible film, pigskin gelatin, plasticizer

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Authors: Mohamed Sadek Bachene, Soraya Temim, Hassina Ainbaziz, Asma Bachene

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The present study was conducted to assess the safety and the efficacy of a vaccine containing the Algerian precocious strains of Eimeria magna and Eimeria media used separately or together against rabbit coccidiosis. The samples consisted of 56 young rabbits reared in specific pathogen-free conditions. Following the challenge inoculation, statistically significant decreases in oocyst excretion were noticed in the vaccinated rabbits with the precocious strain of Eimeria magna, Eimeria media, and both species leading toa good immune response acquired by the vaccination associated with a good growth rate. Moreover, there was a statistically significant increase in oocyst output following the challenge in all challenged groups. Unlike the vaccinated groups, the challenged groups showed poor weight gains. More than 50% of the young rabbits from all the challenged groups presented diarrhea. Consequently, these precocious strains constitute good candidates for mono or polyvalent anticoccidial vaccines in the future.

Keywords: precocious strain, rabbits, vaccination, wild strain

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Authors: Liana Khandolishvili, Giorgi Dvalashvili

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Karst waters in the world play an important role in the water supply. Among them, the Vaucluse in Chiatura municipality (Georgia) is used as drinking water and is irreplaceable for the local population. Accordingly, it is important to assess their geo-ecological conditions and take care to maintain sustainability. The aim of the paper is to identify the hazards of pollution of underground waters in the karst environment and to develop a scheme for their protection, which will take into consideration both the hydrogeological characteristics and the role of humans. To achieve this goal, the EPIK method was selected using which an epikarst zone of the study area was studied in detail, as well as the protective cover, infiltration conditions and frequency of karst network development, after which the conditions of karst waters in Chiatura municipality was assessed, their main pollutants were identified and the recommendations were prepared for their protection. The results of the study showed that the karst water pollution rate in Chiatura municipality is highest, where karst-fissured layers are represented and intensive extraction works are underway. The EPIK method is innovative in Georgia and was first introduced on the example of karst waters of Chiatura municipality.

Keywords: cave, EPIK method, pollution, Karst waters, geology, geography, ecology

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Authors: L. Todorovska, E. Sivevska, B. Dejanova, J. Pluncevic, S. Petrovska, V. Antevska, S. Mancevska, I. Karadjozova

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Objective: The aim of this longitudinal study was to describe anthropometric and performance characteristics and to explore their differences between senior football (F) and basketball (B) players. Subjects and methods: 25 F (aged 23±2.5 y) and 25 B (aged 22±4.2 y) from Macedonian national teams and elite sport clubs were annually tested during 2 consecutive years. Full anthropometric profiles (stature, weight, five circumferences, four bone diameters, seven skin-folds and nine calculated parameters with standard formulas) were collected. Body composition was determined with InBody720 System. Physical capacity was tested with ergo metric test of Bruce (Custo med GmbH, Germany). Results: B were taller (p<0.001) and heavier (p<0.01), but leaner (p<0.001). F had higher percentage of muscle mass (p<0.01) and body fat (p< 0.001). F had higher VO2max (p<0.05) and lower hard rate (p<0.01). The differences in physical performance were not significant (p>0.05) within the groups during the 2-years period. Conclusions: These results suggest that there are distinct differences in anthropometric profile between Macedonian senior football and basketball players during the two competitive seasons.

Keywords: anthropometry, basketball players, football players, Macedonia

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Authors: S. M. Abdullah Al Mamun

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Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is an excellent area for the researchers to make daily life more simple and fast. Necessary hardware equipments for any BCI are generally expensive and not affordable for most of the people. Emotiv is one of the solutions for this problem, which can provide electroencephalograph (EEG) signal and explain the brain activities. BCI virtual speller was one of the important applications for the people who have lost their hand or speaking ability because of diseases or unexpected accident. In this paper, a matrix speller has been designed for the first time for Bengali speaking people around the world. Bengali is one of the most commonly spoken languages. Among them, a lot of disabled person will be able to express their desire in their mother tongue. This application is also usable for the social networks and daily life communications. For this virtual keyboard, the well-known matrix speller method with column flashing is applied and controlled by single Emokey only. Emokey is a great feature which translates emotional state for application inputs. In this paper, it is presented that the ITR (Information Transfer Rate) were 29.4 bits/min and typing speed achieved up to 7.43 char/per min.

Keywords: brain computer interface, Emotiv EPOC, EEG, virtual keyboard, matrix speller

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Authors: Ozgul Kartal, Wade Tillett, Lyn D. English

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Despite its global significance in curricula, mathematical modeling encounters persistent disparities in recognition and emphasis within regular mathematics classrooms and teacher education across countries with diverse educational and cultural traditions, including variations in the perceived role of mathematical modeling. Over the past two decades, increased attention has been given to the integration of mathematical modeling into national curriculum standards in the U.S. and other countries. Therefore, the mathematics education research community has dedicated significant efforts to investigate various aspects associated with the teaching and learning of mathematical modeling, primarily focusing on exploring the applicability of modeling in schools and assessing students', teachers', and preservice teachers' (PTs) competencies and engagement in modeling cycles and processes. However, limited attention has been directed toward examining potential resistance hindering teachers and PTs from effectively implementing mathematical modeling. This study focuses on how PTs, without prior modeling experience, resist and/or embrace mathematical modeling and its pedagogy as they learn about models and modeling perspectives, navigate the modeling process, design and implement their modeling activities and lesson plans, and experience the pedagogy enabling modeling. Model eliciting activities (MEAs) were employed due to their high potential to support the development of mathematical modeling pedagogy. The mathematical modeling module was integrated into a mathematics methods course to explore how PTs embraced or resisted mathematical modeling and its pedagogy. The module design included reading, reflecting, engaging in modeling, assessing models, creating a modeling task (MEA), and designing a modeling lesson employing an MEA. Twelve senior undergraduate students participated, and data collection involved video recordings, written prompts, lesson plans, and reflections. An open coding analysis revealed acceptance and resistance toward teaching mathematical modeling. The study identified four overarching themes, including both acceptance and resistance: pedagogy, affordance of modeling (tasks), modeling actions, and adjusting modeling. In the category of pedagogy, PTs displayed acceptance based on potential pedagogical benefits and resistance due to various concerns. The affordance of modeling (tasks) category emerged from instances when PTs showed acceptance or resistance while discussing the nature and quality of modeling tasks, often debating whether modeling is considered mathematics. PTs demonstrated both acceptance and resistance in their modeling actions, engaging in modeling cycles as students and designing/implementing MEAs as teachers. The adjusting modeling category captured instances where PTs accepted or resisted maintaining the qualities and nature of the modeling experience or converted modeling into a typical structured mathematics experience for students. While PTs displayed a mix of acceptance and resistance in their modeling actions, limitations were observed in embracing complexity and adhering to model principles. The study provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of integrating mathematical modeling into teacher education, emphasizing the importance of addressing pedagogical concerns and providing support for effective implementation. In conclusion, this research offers a comprehensive understanding of PTs' engagement with modeling, advocating for a more focused discussion on the distinct nature and significance of mathematical modeling in the broader curriculum to establish a foundation for effective teacher education programs.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, model eliciting activities, modeling pedagogy, secondary teacher education

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Authors: Pushpendra S. Bharti

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Process yield of electric discharge machining (EDM) is directly related to optimal combination(s) of process parameters. Optimization of process parameters of EDM is a multi-objective optimization problem owing to the contradictory behavior of performance measures. This paper employs Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) method as a multi-objective optimization technique for the optimal selection of process parameters combination. In GRA, multi-response optimization is converted into optimization of a single response grey relation grade which ultimately gives the optimal combination of process parameters. Experiments were carried out on die-sinking EDM by taking D2 steel as work piece and copper as electrode material. Taguchi's orthogonal array L36 was used for the design of experiments. On the experimental values, GRA was employed for the parametric optimization. A significant improvement has been observed and reported in the process yield by taking the parametric combination(s) obtained through GRA.

Keywords: electric discharge machining, grey relation analysis, material removal rate, optimization

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Authors: Sarwan Dhir, Suma Basak, Dipika Parajulee

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Alfalfa is renowned for its nutritional and biopharmaceutical value as a perennial forage legume. However, establishing a rapid plant regeneration protocol using somatic embryogenesis and efficient transformation frequency are the crucial prerequisites for gene editing in alfalfa. This study was undertaken to establish and improve the protocol for somatic embryogenesis and subsequent plant regeneration. The experiments were conducted in response to natural sensitivity using various antibiotics such as cefotaxime, carbenicillin, gentamycin, hygromycin, and kanamycin. Using 3-week-old leaf tissue, somatic embryogenesis was initiated on Gamborg’s B5 basal (B5H) medium supplemented with 3% maltose, 0.9µM Kinetin, and 4.5µM 2,4-D. Embryogenic callus (EC) obtained from the B5H medium exhibited a high rate of somatic embryo formation (97.9%) after 3 weeks when the cultures were placed in the dark. Different developmental stages of somatic embryos and cotyledonary stages were then transferred to Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) basal medium under light, resulting in a 94% regeneration rate of plantlets. Our results indicate that leaf segments can grow (tolerate) up to 450 mg/L of cefotaxime and 400 mg/L of carbenicillin in the culture medium. However, the survival threshold for hygromycin at 12.5 mg/L, kanamycin at 250 mg/L, gentamycin at 50 mg/L, and timentin (300 mg/L). The experiment to improve the protocol for achieving efficient transient gene expression in alfalfa through genetic transformation with the Agrobacterium tumefaciens pCAMBIA1304 vector was also conducted. The vector contains two reporter genes such as β-glucuronidase (GUS) and green fluorescent protein (GFP), along with a selectable hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene (HPT), all driven under the CaMV 35s promoter. Various transformation parameters were optimized using 3-week-old in vitro-grown plantlets. The different parameters such as types of explant, leaf ages, preculture days, segment sizes, wounding types, bacterial concentrations, infection periods, co-cultivation periods, different concentrations of acetosyringone, silver nitrate, and calcium chloride were optimized for transient gene expression. The transient gene expression was confirmed via histochemical GUS and GFP visualization under fluorescent microscopy. The data were analyzed based on the semi-quantitative observation of the percentage and number of blue GUS spots on different days of agro-infection. The highest percentage of GUS positivity (76.2%) was observed in 3-week-old leaf segments wounded using a scalpel blade of 11 size- after 3 days of post-incubation at a bacterial concentration of 0.6, with 2 days of preculture, 30 min of bacterial-leaf segment co-cultivation, with the addition of 150 µM acetosyringone, 4 mM calcium chloride, and 75 µM silver nitrate. Our results suggest that various factors influence T-DNA delivery in the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of alfalfa. The stable gene expression in the putative transgenic tissue was confirmed using PCR amplification of both marker genes, indicating that gene expression in explants was not solely due to Agrobacterium, but also from transformed cells. The improved protocol could be used for generating transgenic alfalfa plants using genome editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9.

Keywords: Medicago sativa l. (Alfalfa), agrobacterium tumefaciens, β-glucuronidase, green fluorescent protein, transient gene

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Authors: James Beauchemin

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Research indicates that college students are experiencing mental health challenges of greater severity, and an increased number of students are seeking help. Contributing to the compromised wellness of the college student population are the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle habits and behaviors such as alcohol consumption, tobacco use, dietary concerns, risky sexual behaviors, and lack of physical activity. Alternative approaches are needed for this population that emphasize prevention and holistic lifestyle change that mitigate mental health and wellness challenges and alleviate strain on campus resources. This presentation will introduce a Solution-Focused Wellness (SFW) intervention model and examine wellness domains solution-focused strategies to promote personal well-being, and provide supporting research from multiple studies that illustrate intervention effectiveness with a collegiate population. Given the subjective and personal nature of wellness, a therapeutic approach that provides the opportunity for individuals to conceptualize and operationalize wellness themselves is critical to facilitating lasting wellness-based change. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a strength-based modality defined by its emphasis on constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems and the assumption that clients have the resources and capacity to change. SFBT has demonstrated effectiveness as a brief therapeutic intervention with the college population in groups and related to health and wellness. By integrating SFBT strategies with personal wellness, a brief intervention was developed to support college students in establishing lifestyles trends consistent with their conceptualizations of wellness. Research supports the effectiveness of a SFW model in improving college student wellness in both face-to-face and web-based formats. Outcomes of controlled and longitudinal studies will be presented, demonstrating significant improvements in perceptions of stress, life satisfaction, happiness, mental health, well-being, and resilience. Overall, there is compelling evidence that utilization of a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy approach with college students can help to improve personal wellness and establish healthy lifestyle trends, providing an effective prevention-focused strategy for college counseling centers and wellness centers to employ. Primary research objectives include: 1)establish an evidence-based approach to facilitating wellness pro motion among the college student population, 2) examine the effectiveness of a Solution-Focused Wellness (SFW) intervention model in decreasing stress, improving personal wellness, mental health, life satisfaction, and resiliency,3) investigate intervention impacts over time (e.g. 6-week post-intervention), and 4) demonstrate SFW intervention utility in wellness promotion and associated outcomes when compared with no-treatment control, and alternative intervention approaches.

Keywords: wellness, college students, solution-focused, prevention

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Authors: Mesfin Tsegaw, Sivakumar C. V., Chandrakal Gunturu, Meera Indracanti

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Chromium (VI), a toxic metal ion, is widely used in electroplating, stainless steel production, leather tanning, paint, and textile manufacturing. Cr (VI) is mobile in the environment, acutely toxic and carcinogenic. In the present study, the ability to remove Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions has been compared using leaves of dwarf and gamthi varieties of Murayya koerigii abundantly available in Selaqui region of Dehradun as an adsorbent. Effects of temperature, pH, initial concentration of adsorbate and adsorbent dosage have been studied for effective removal of Cr (VI). The biosorptive ability of biosorbent was reliant on the pH of the biosorbate, with pH 2 being most favorable for both the varieties. The obtained results were analyzed by the Freundlich and Langmuir equation at different temperature and related parameters were determined for each adsorption isotherm. The study also includes results on the kinetic dimensions of adsorption of the Cr (VI) on the derived adsorbent. Gamthi variety has a promising absorption rate of 80% over the dwarf variety. FTIR studies confirmed that carboxyl and hydroxyl groups were the main groups involved in the metal uptake.

Keywords: adsorption, cromium, kinetics, variety

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Authors: Mahmoud Rabh

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Garnet has been used for decades as an abrasive in water jet cutting and sand blasting because of its superior physical properties. When added to use in water-cutting process of marble. A standard commercial sample of the mineral was tested in terms of the hardness and abrasiveness properties. The sample was sized to 4 fractions having the size of < 60 um, > 60 < 100 um, > 100 < 180 um > 1280 < 250 and 250 um designated the symbols, FF, MF, MC and C respectively. Each sample was separately heated in controlled conditions at temperatures up to 1000 °C at a heating rate of 10°C/min in an electrically heated chamber furnace. Soaking time at the maximum temperature was up to 6 h. Hardness and abrasiveness properties of the heat treated samples were tested to cut marble having a thickness of 25 mm. Results revealed that H/A of the natural garnet mineral increased by heating at temperatures up to 600°C and exhibited pronounced decrease with higher temperatures up to 1000 °C. Results were explained in the light of a structural irreversible dislocation (SD) of the crystals of garnet almandine Fe2+3Al2Si3O12 and pyrope Mg3Al2Si3O12. Characterization of the mineral was carried out with the help of XRD, SEM and FT-IR measurements.

Keywords: garnet abrasive, heat treatment, water jet cutting, hardness abrasiveness

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Authors: Aneeq Sarwar

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This study assesses the interaction between environmental and intellectual property policy on the rate of invention of environmental inventions and specifically tests for whether there is a synergy between stricter IP regimes and stronger environmental policies. The empirical analysis uses firm and industry-level data from seven OECD countries from 2009 to 2015. We also introduce a new measure of environmental inventions using a Natural Language Processing Topic Modelling technique. We find that intellectual property policy strictness demonstrates greater effectiveness in encouraging inventiveness in environmental inventions when used in combination with stronger environmental policies. This study contributes to existing literature in two ways. First, it devises a method for better identification of environmental technologies, we demonstrate how our method is more comprehensive than existing methods as we are better able to identify not only environmental inventions, but also major components of said inventions. Second, we test how various policy regimes affect the development of environmental technologies, we are the first study to examine the interaction of the environmental and intellectual property policy on firm level innovation.

Keywords: environmental economics, economics of innovation, environmental policy, firm level

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Authors: Roman Kulikov, Svetlana Kolesnikova

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Last decade Cloud Computing technologies have been rapidly becoming ubiquitous. Each year more and more organizations, corporations, internet services and social networks trust their business sensitive information to Public Cloud. The data storage in Public Cloud is protected by security mechanisms such as firewalls, cryptography algorithms, backups, etc.. In this way, however, only outsider attacks can be prevented, whereas virtualization tools can be easily compromised by insider. The protection of Public Cloud’s critical elements from internal intruder remains extremely challenging. A hypervisor, also called a virtual machine manager, is a program that allows multiple operating systems (OS) to share a single hardware processor in Cloud Computing. One of the hypervisor's functions is to enforce access control policies. Furthermore, it prevents guest OS from disrupting each other and from accessing each other's memory or disk space. Hypervisor is the one of the most critical and vulnerable elements in Cloud Computing infrastructure. Nevertheless, it has been poorly protected from being compromised by insider. By exploiting certain vulnerabilities, privilege escalation can be easily achieved in insider attacks on hypervisor. In this way, an internal intruder, who has compromised one process, is able to gain control of the entire virtual machine. Thereafter, the consequences of insider attacks in Public Cloud might be more catastrophic and significant to virtual tools and sensitive data than of outsider attacks. So far, almost no preventive security countermeasures have been developed. There has been little attention paid for developing models to assist risks mitigation strategies. In this paper formal model of insider attacks on hypervisor is designed. Our analysis identifies critical hypervisor`s vulnerabilities that can be easily compromised by internal intruder. Consequently, possible conditions for successful attacks implementation are uncovered. Hence, development of preventive security countermeasures can be improved on the basis of the proposed model.

Keywords: insider attack, public cloud, cloud computing, hypervisor

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Authors: Bruno Valverde Chahaira, Matheus Jeronimo Low Lopes, Marta Beatriz Tanaka Ferdinandi

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This paper proposes to dissect the meanings and / or directions of the State, in order, to present the State models to elaborate a conceptual framework about its function in the legal scope. To do so, it points out the possible contracts established between the State and the Society, since the general principles immanent in them can guide the models of society in force. From this orientation arise the contracts, whose purpose is by the effect to modify the status (the being and / or the opinion) of each of the subjects in presence - State and Society. In this logic, this paper announces the fiduciary contracts and “veredicção”(portuguese word) contracts, from the perspective of semiotics discourse (or greimasian). Therefore, studies focus on the issue of manifest language in unilateral and bilateral or reciprocal relations between the State and Society. Thus, under the biases of the model of the communicative situation and discourse, the guidelines of these contractual relations will be analyzed in order to see if there is a pragmatic sanction: positive when the contract is signed between the subjects (reward), or negative when the contract between they are broken (punishment). In this way, a third path emerges which, in this specific case, passes through the subject-third sector. In other words, the proposal, which is systemic in nature, is to analyze whether, since the contract of the welfare state is not carried out in the constitutional program on fundamental rights: education, health, housing, an others. Therefore, in the structure of the exchange demanded by the society according to its contractual obligations (others), the third way (Third Sector) advances in the empty space left by the State. In this line, it presents the modalities of action of the third sector in the social scope. Finally, the normative communication organization of these three subjects is sought in the pragmatic model of discourse, namely: State, Society and Third Sector, in an attempt to understand the constant dynamics in the Law and in the language of the relations established between them.

Keywords: access to justice, state, social rights, third sector

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Authors: Ammarah Irum, Muhammad Ali Tahir

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Document-level sentiment analysis in Urdu is a challenging Natural Language Processing (NLP) task due to the difficulty of working with lengthy texts in a language with constrained resources. Deep learning models, which are complex neural network architectures, are well-suited to text-based applications in addition to data formats like audio, image, and video. To investigate the potential of deep learning for Urdu sentiment analysis, we implemented five different deep learning models, including Bidirectional Long Short Term Memory (BiLSTM), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Convolutional Neural Network with Bidirectional Long Short Term Memory (CNN-BiLSTM), and Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformer (BERT). In this study, we developed a hybrid deep learning model called BiLSTM-Single Layer Multi Filter Convolutional Neural Network (BiLSTM-SLMFCNN) by fusing BiLSTM and CNN architecture. The proposed and baseline techniques are applied on Urdu Customer Support data set and IMDB Urdu movie review data set by using pre-trained Urdu word embedding that are suitable for sentiment analysis at the document level. Results of these techniques are evaluated and our proposed model outperforms all other deep learning techniques for Urdu sentiment analysis. BiLSTM-SLMFCNN outperformed the baseline deep learning models and achieved 83%, 79%, 83% and 94% accuracy on small, medium and large sized IMDB Urdu movie review data set and Urdu Customer Support data set respectively.

Keywords: urdu sentiment analysis, deep learning, natural language processing, opinion mining, low-resource language

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Authors: Simona Perga, Chiara Beltramo, Floriana Fruscione, Isabella Martini, Federica Cavallo, Federica Riccardo, Paolo Buracco, Selina Iussich, Elisabetta Razzuoli, Katia Varello, Lorella Maniscalco, Elena Bozzetta, Angelo Ferrari, Paola Modesto

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Introduction: Human and canine melanoma have common clinical, histologic characteristics making dogs a good model for comparative oncology. The identification of specific genes and a better understanding of the genetic landscape, signaling pathways, and tumor–microenvironmental interactions involved in the cancer onset and progression is essential for the development of therapeutic strategies against this tumor in both species. In the present study, the differential expression of genes in spontaneously occurring canine melanoma and in paired normal tissue was investigated by targeted RNAseq. Material and Methods: Total RNA was extracted from 17 canine malignant melanoma (CMM) samples and from five paired normal tissues stored in RNA-later. In order to capture the greater genetic variability, gene expression analysis was carried out using two panels (Qiagen): Human Immuno-Oncology (HIO) and Mouse-Immuno-Oncology (MIO) and the miSeq platform (Illumina). These kits allow the detection of the expression profile of 990 genes involved in the immune response against tumors in humans and mice. The data were analyzed through the CLCbio Genomics Workbench (Qiagen) software using the Canis lupus familiaris genome as a reference. Data analysis were carried out both comparing the biologic group (tumoral vs. healthy tissues) and comparing neoplastic tissue vs. paired healthy tissue; a Fold Change greater than two and a p-value less than 0.05 were set as the threshold to select interesting genes. Results and Discussion: Using HIO 63, down-regulated genes were detected; 13 of those were also down-regulated comparing neoplastic sample vs. paired healthy tissue. Eighteen genes were up-regulated, 14 of those were also down-regulated comparing neoplastic sample vs. paired healthy tissue. Using the MIO, 35 down regulated-genes were detected; only four of these were down-regulated, also comparing neoplastic sample vs. paired healthy tissue. Twelve genes were up-regulated in both types of analysis. Considering the two kits, the greatest variation in Fold Change was in up-regulated genes. Dogs displayed a greater genetic homology with humans than mice; moreover, the results have shown that the two kits are able to detect different genes. Most of these genes have specific cellular functions or belong to some enzymatic categories; some have already been described to be correlated to human melanoma and confirm the validity of the dog as a model for the study of molecular aspects of human melanoma.

Keywords: animal model, canine melanoma, gene expression, spontaneous tumors, targeted RNAseq

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Authors: Ujjwall Sai Sunder Uppuluri

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Group theory is a powerful tool that researchers can use to provide a structural foundation for their Agent Based Models. These Agent Based models are argued by this paper to be the future of the Social Science Disciplines. More specifically, researchers can use them to apply evolutionary theory to the study of complex social systems. This paper illustrates one such example of how theoretically an Agent Based Model can be formulated from the application of Group Theory, Systems Dynamics, and Evolutionary Biology to analyze the strategies pursued by states to mitigate risk and maximize usage of resources to achieve the objective of economic growth. This example can be applied to other social phenomena and this makes group theory so useful to the analysis of complex systems, because the theory provides the mathematical formulaic proof for validating the complex system models that researchers build and this will be discussed by the paper. The aim of this research, is to also provide researchers with a framework that can be used to model political entities such as states on a 3-dimensional plane. The x-axis representing resources (tangible and intangible) available to them, y the risks, and z the objective. There also exist other states with different constraints pursuing different strategies to climb the mountain. This mountain’s environment is made up of risks the state faces and resource endowments. This mountain is also layered in the sense that it has multiple peaks that must be overcome to reach the tallest peak. A state that sticks to a single strategy or pursues a strategy that is not conducive to the climbing of that specific peak it has reached is not able to continue advancement. To overcome the obstacle in the state’s path, it must innovate. Based on the definition of a group, we can categorize each state as being its own group. Each state is a closed system, one which is made up of micro level agents who have their own vectors and pursue strategies (actions) to achieve some sub objectives. The state also has an identity, the inverse being anarchy and/or inaction. Finally, the agents making up a state interact with each other through competition and collaboration to mitigate risks and achieve sub objectives that fall within the primary objective. Thus, researchers can categorize the state as an organism that reflects the sum of the output of the interactions pursued by agents at the micro level. When states compete, they employ a strategy and that state which has the better strategy (reflected by the strategies pursued by her parts) is able to out-compete her counterpart to acquire some resource, mitigate some risk or fulfil some objective. This paper will attempt to illustrate how group theory combined with evolutionary theory and systems dynamics can allow researchers to model the long run development, evolution, and growth of political entities through the use of a bottom up approach.

Keywords: complex systems, evolutionary theory, group theory, international political economy

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Authors: Bahareh Najafian Ashrafi, Hossein Zeidabadinejad, Mehdi Ashjaee

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The temperature field is a key factor of flame heat transfer rate and therefore should be measured accurately. In this study, the Mach-Zehnder Interferometry method is applied to measure the temperature field of premixed air/landfill gas (LFG60:60% CH4+40% CO2) laminar flame. The three-dimensional flame of cylindrical slot burner can assume to be two-dimensional due to the high aspect ratio (L/W=10) of the rectangular slot. So, the method converts two-dimensional flame to closed isothermal curves called fringes and the outer fringes temperature is measured by thermocouples. The experiments are carried out for Reynolds numbers and equivalence ratios ranging from 100 to 400 and 1.0 to 1.4, respectively. Results show that by increasing the equivalence ratio or Reynolds number, the flame height increases. The maximum flame temperature decreases by increasing the equivalence ratio but does not change considerably by changing the Reynolds number.

Keywords: landfill gas, Mach-Zehender interferometry, premix flame, slot burner, temperature filed

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Authors: Satya Srii, V., Nethra, N.

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An image analyzer system is described to study the process of imbibition in Melia dubia seeds. The experimental system consisted of control C (seeds with intact pericarp) with two treatments, namely T1 (seeds with pericarp punctured) and T2 (naked seeds without pericarp). The measurement software in the image analyzer can determine the area and perimeter as descriptors of changes in seed size during swelling resulting from imbibition. Using the area and perimeter parameter, the imbibition process in C, T1, and T2 was described by a series of curves similar to the triphasic pattern of water uptake, with the extent and rate depending upon the treatment. Naked seeds without pericarp (T2) took lesser time to reach phase III during imbition followed by seeds with pericarp punctured (T1) while the seeds with intact pericarp (C) were the slowest to attain phase III. This shows the effect of pericarp in acting as a potential inhibitor to imbibition inducing a large delay in germination. The sensitivity and feasibility of the method to investigate individual seeds within a population imply that the image analyzer has high potential in seed biology studies.

Keywords: germination, imbibition, image analyzer, Melia dubia, pericarp

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Authors: Z. B. Ibrahim, N. Ismail, K. I. Othman

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Fuzzy Differential Equations (FDEs) play an important role in modelling many real life phenomena. The FDEs are used to model the behaviour of the problems that are subjected to uncertainty, vague or imprecise information that constantly arise in mathematical models in various branches of science and engineering. These uncertainties have to be taken into account in order to obtain a more realistic model and many of these models are often difficult and sometimes impossible to obtain the analytic solutions. Thus, many authors have attempted to extend or modified the existing numerical methods developed for solving Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) into fuzzy version in order to suit for solving the FDEs. Therefore, in this paper, we proposed the development of a fuzzy version of three-point block method based on Block Backward Differentiation Formulas (FBBDF) for the numerical solution of first order FDEs. The three-point block FBBDF method are implemented in uniform step size produces three new approximations simultaneously at each integration step using the same back values. Newton iteration of the FBBDF is formulated and the implementation is based on the predictor and corrector formulas in the PECE mode. For greater efficiency of the block method, the coefficients of the FBBDF are stored at the start of the program. The proposed FBBDF is validated through numerical results on some standard problems found in the literature and comparisons are made with the existing fuzzy version of the Modified Simpson and Euler methods in terms of the accuracy of the approximated solutions. The numerical results show that the FBBDF method performs better in terms of accuracy when compared to the Euler method when solving the FDEs.

Keywords: block, backward differentiation formulas, first order, fuzzy differential equations

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Authors: Sarit Rashkovits, Anat Drach- Zahavy

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The research considers the unresolved question regarding the link between nursing team accountability and team learning and the resulted team performance in nursing teams. Empirical findings reveal disappointing evidence regarding improvement in healthcare safety and quality. Therefore, there is a need in advancing managerial knowledge regarding the factors that enhance constant healthcare teams' proactive improvement efforts, meaning team learning. We first aim to identify the organizational resources that are needed for team learning in nursing teams; second, to test the moderating role of nursing teams' learning resources in the team accountability-team learning link; and third, to test the moderated mediation model suggesting that nursing teams' accountability affects team performance by enhancing team learning when relevant resources are available to the team. We point on the intervening role of three team learning resources, namely time availability, team autonomy and performance data on the relation between team accountability and team learning and test the proposed moderated mediation model on 44 nursing teams (462 nurses and 44 nursing managers). The results showed that, as was expected, there was a positive significant link between team accountability and team learning and the subsequent team performance when time availability and team autonomy were high rather than low. Nevertheless, the positive team accountability- team learning link was significant when team performance feedback was low rather than high. Accordingly, there was a positive mediated effect of team accountability on team performance via team learning when either time availability or team autonomy were high and the availability of team performance data was low. Nevertheless, this mediated effect was negative when time availability and team autonomy were low and the availability of team performance data was high. We conclude that nurturing team accountability is not enough for achieving nursing teams' learning and the subsequent improved team performance. Rather there is need to provide nursing teams with adequate time, autonomy, and be cautious with performance feedback, as the latter may motivate nursing teams to repeat routine work strategies rather than explore improved ones.

Keywords: nursing teams' accountability, nursing teams' learning, performance feedback, teams' autonomy

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Authors: C. Smith, T. Goga, T. Hancock

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Bullying has been an increasingly prevalent problem among society for decades. Approximately one out of every four students report being bullied at least once during the school year. Additionally, these instances of bullying are often witnessed but not reported by the bystanders, which could be dependent on the type of bullying situation. Thus, the present study aims to investigate any possible perceptual differences which may exist between traditional bullying (i.e., face to face) and cyberbullying from the bystander’s point of view. Undergraduate students were given a bullying scenario to read from either the traditional condition or the cyber condition. They were then asked to rate how severe they perceived this behavior on a Likert based scale. Participants were also asked if they would intervene (yes or no) and what their individual response would be to the witnessed behavior (report/ignore/confront/other). Results indicated that, while there was no significant difference in perceived severity between the two bullying conditions, there was a significant difference in whether or not participants would intervene between the two types of scenarios. A significant effect was also found between the scenarios for response type. Together, these findings suggest that even though individuals may not be aware of how severe they perceive certain bullying behaviors, the responses they exhibit might suggest otherwise.

Keywords: bullying, bystander, cyber, severity, traditional

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Authors: Walter Vera-Ortega, Idoia Busnadiego, Sam J. Wilson

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Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) is responsible for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a leading cause of death worldwide infecting millions of people each year. Despite intensive research in vaccine development, therapies against HIV-1 infection are not curative, and the huge genetic variability of HIV-1 challenges to drug development. Current animal models for HIV-1 research present important limitations, impairing the progress of in vivo approaches. Macaques require a CD8+ depletion to progress to AIDS, and the maintenance cost is high. Mice are a cheaper alternative but need to be 'humanized,' and breeding is not possible. The development of an HIV-1 clone able to replicate in mice is a challenging proposal. The lack of human co-factors in mice impedes the function of the HIV-1 accessory proteins, Tat and Rev, hampering HIV-1 replication. However, Tat and Rev function can be replaced by constitutive/chimeric promoters, codon-optimized proteins and the constitutive transport element (CTE), generating a novel HIV-1 clone able to replicate in mice without disrupting the amino acid sequence of the virus. By minimally manipulating the genomic 'identity' of the virus, we propose the generation of an HIV-1 clone able to replicate in mice to assist in antiviral drug development. Methods: i) Plasmid construction: The chimeric promoters and CTE copies were cloned by PCR using lentiviral vectors as templates (pCGSW and pSIV-MPCG). Tat mutants were generated from replication competent HIV-1 plasmids (NHG and NL4-3). ii) Infectivity assays: Retroviral vectors were generated by transfection of human 293T cells and murine NIH 3T3 cells. Virus titre was determined by flow cytometry measuring GFP expression. Human B-cells (AA-2) and Hela cells (TZMbl) were used for infectivity assays. iii) Protein analysis: Tat protein expression was determined by TZMbl assay and HIV-1 capsid by western blot. Results: We have determined that NIH 3T3 cells are able to generate HIV-1 particles. However, they are not infectious, and further analysis needs to be performed. Codon-optimized HIV-1 constructs are efficiently made in 293T cells in a Tat and Rev independent manner and capable of packaging a competent genome in trans. CSGW is capable of generating infectious particles in the absence of Tat and Rev in human cells when 4 copies of the CTE are placed preceding the 3’LTR. HIV-1 Tat mutant clones encoding different promoters are functional during the first cycle of replication when Tat is added in trans. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the development of an HIV-1 Tat-Rev independent clone is challenging but achievable aim. However, further investigations need to be developed prior presenting our HIV-1 clone as a candidate model for research.

Keywords: codon-optimized, constitutive transport element, HIV-1, long terminal repeats, research model

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Authors: Dan Zhao, Y. W. Sheng

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The present work considers a convection-driven T-shaped pulse combustion system. Both experimental and numerical investigations are conducted to study the mechanism of pulse combustion and its potential application in fabric drying. To gain insight on flame-acoustic dynamic interaction and pulsating flow characteristics, 3D numerical simulation of the pulse combustion process of a premixed turbulent flame in a Rijke-type combustor is performed. Two parameters are examined: (1) fuel-air ratio, (2) inlet flow velocity. Their effects on triggering pulsating flow and Nusselt number are studied. As each of the parameters is varied, Nusselt number characterizing the heat transfer rate and the heat-driven pulsating flow signature is found to change. The main nonlinearity is identified in the heat fluxes. To validate our numerical findings, a cylindrical T-shaped Rijke-type combustor made of quartz-glass with a Bunsen burner is designed and tested.

Keywords: pulse combustion, fabric drying, heat transfer, combustion oscillations, pressure oscillations

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