Search results for: high sensitive cardiac troponin T

Authors: Yanli Zhao, Jian Chen, Shouxiang Lu

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Flame spread over solid fuels in high pressure situations such as nuclear containment shells and hyperbaric oxygen chamber has potential to result in catastrophic disaster, thus requiring best knowledge. This paper reveals experimentally the flame spread behaviors over fuel cylinders in high pressures. The fuel used in this study is polyethylene and polymethyl methacrylate cylinders with 4mm diameter. Ambient gas is fixed as air and total pressures are varied from naturally normal pressure (100kPa) to elevated pressure (400kPa). Flame appearance, burning rate and flame spread were investigated experimentally and theoretically. Results show that high pressure significantly affects the flame appearance, which is as the pressure increases, flame color changes from luminous yellow to orange and the orange part extends down towards the base of flame. Besides, the average flame width and height, and the burning rate are proved to increase with increasing pressure. What is more, flame spread rates become higher as pressure increases due to the enhancement of heat transfer from flame to solid surface in elevated pressure by performing a simplified heat balance analysis.

Keywords: cylinder fuel, flame spread, heat transfer, high pressure

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Nahla Elazab, Mohamed Aboudina, Ghada Ibrahim, Hossam Fahmy, Ahmed Khalil

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This paper presents the developed memristor based demodulators for eight circular Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and Binary Frequency Shift Keying (BFSK) operating at relatively high frequency. In our implementations, the experimental-based ‘nonlinear’ dopant drift model is adopted along with the proposed circuits providing incorporation of all known non-idealities of practically realized memristor and gaining high operation frequency. The suggested designs leverage the distinctive characteristics of the memristor device, definitely, its changeable average memristance versus the frequency, phase and amplitude of the periodic excitation input. The proposed demodulators feature small integration area, low power consumption, and easy implementation. Moreover, the proposed QAM demodulator precludes the requirement for the carrier recovery circuits. In doing so, the designs were validated by transient simulations using the nonlinear dopant drift memristor model. The simulations results show high agreement with the theory presented.

Keywords: BFSK, demodulator, high frequency memristor applications, memristor based analog circuits, nonlinear dopant drift model, QAM

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Authors: Lanja F. Rauf, Salahalddin S. Ali, Nadhir Al-Ansari

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Evolving groundwater vulnerability from DRASTIC to modified DRASTIC methods helps choose the most accurate areas that are most delicate toward pollution. This study aims to modify DRASTIC with land use and water quality index for groundwater vulnerability assessment in the Halabja-Khurmal sub-basin, NE/Iraq. The Halabja- Khurmal sub-basin groundwater vulnerability index is calculated from nine hydrogeological parameters by the overlay weighting method. As a result, 1.3 % of the total area has a very high vulnerability value and 46.1 % with high vulnerability. The regions with high groundwater vulnerability have a high water table and groundwater recharge. Nitrate concentration was used to validate the result, and the Pearson correlation and recession analysis between the modified DRASTIC index and nitrate concentration depicted a strong relation with 0.76 and 0.7, respectively.

Keywords: groundwater vulnerability, modified DRASTIC, land-use, nitrate pollution, water quality index

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Authors: Hyungsuk Han, Soohong Jeon, Chungwon Lee, YongHoon Kim

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When a rubber mount and flexible coupling are installed on the main engine, high torsional vibration can occur. The root cause of this high torsional vibration can be attributed to the lateral-torsional coupled vibration of the shaft system. Therefore, the lateral-torsional coupled vibration is investigated numerically after approximating the shaft system to a three-degrees-of-freedom Jeffcott rotor. To verify that the high torsional vibration is caused by the lateral-torsional coupled vibration, a test unit that can simulate this lateral-torsional coupled vibration occurring in the propulsion shaft is developed. Performing a vibration test with the test unit, it can be experimentally verified that the high torsional vibration occurring in the propulsion shaft of the particular ship was caused by the lateral-torsional coupled vibration.

Keywords: Jeffcott rotor, lateral-torsional coupled vibration, propulsion shaft, stability

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Authors: Mohd Sabri Minhat, Nurul Adilla Mohd Subha

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The 1MWth PUSPATI TRIGA Reactor (RTP) in Malaysia Nuclear Agency has been operating more than 35 years. The existing core power control is using conventional controller known as Feedback Control Algorithm (FCA). It is technically challenging to keep the core power output always stable and operating within acceptable error bands for the safety demand of the RTP. Currently, the system could be considered unsatisfactory with power tracking performance, yet there is still significant room for improvement. Hence, a new design core power control is very important to improve the current performance in tracking and regulating reactor power by controlling the movement of control rods that suit the demand of highly sensitive of nuclear reactor power control. In this paper, the proposed Model Predictive Control (MPC) law was applied to control the core power. The model for core power control was based on mathematical models of the reactor core, MPC, and control rods selection algorithm. The mathematical models of the reactor core were based on point kinetics model, thermal hydraulic models, and reactivity models. The proposed MPC was presented in a transfer function model of the reactor core according to perturbations theory. The transfer function model-based predictive control (TFMPC) was developed to design the core power control with predictions based on a T-filter towards the real-time implementation of MPC on hardware. This paper introduces the sensitivity functions for TFMPC feedback loop to reduce the impact on the input actuation signal and demonstrates the behaviour of TFMPC in term of disturbance and noise rejections. The comparisons of both tracking and regulating performance between the conventional controller and TFMPC were made using MATLAB and analysed. In conclusion, the proposed TFMPC has satisfactory performance in tracking and regulating core power for controlling nuclear reactor with high reliability and safety.

Keywords: core power control, model predictive control, PUSPATI TRIGA reactor, TFMPC

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Chih Yuan Chen, Chien Chon Chen, Jin-Shyong Lin

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The microstructure characterization of tempered nanocrystalline bainitic steel is investigated in the present study. It is found that two types of plastic relaxation, dislocation debris and nanotwin, occurs in the displacive transformation due to relatively low transformation temperature and high carbon content. Because most carbon atoms trap in the dislocation, high dislocation density can be sustained during the tempering process. More carbides only can be found in the high tempered temperature due to intense recovery progression.

Keywords: nanostructure bainitic steel, tempered, TEM, nano-twin, dislocation debris, accommodation

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Authors: K. Kefif, Y. Bouizem, A. Belfedal, D. J. Sib, K. Zellama, l. Chahed

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Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) thin films were prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at relatively low growth temperatures (Ts=100 °C). The films grown on glass substrate in order to use the new generation of substrates sensitive to elevated temperatures. Raman spectroscopy was applied to investigate the effect of the argon gas diluted in hydrogen, on the structural properties and the evolution of the micro structure in the films. Raman peak position, intensity and line width were used to characterize the quality and the percentage of the crystallites in the films. The results of this investigation suggest the existence of a threshold dilution around a gas mixture of argon (40%) and hydrogen (60%) for which the crystallization occurs, even at low deposition temperatures. The difference between the amorphous and the crystallized structures is well confirmed by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) technique.

Keywords: Silicon, Thin films, Structural properties, Raman spectroscopy, Ellipsometry

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Authors: Yang Wanhuan, Zou Jichun, LI Shen, Zhong Weihua, Yang Wen

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High entropy alloys (HEAs) have aroused significant concern in high-temperature supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) environments due to their unique microstructures and outstanding properties. However, the anti-corrosion ability and mechanism of these HEAs in the S-CO₂ remain unclear. Herein, we developed a new AlCrFeNiMn (AM)-HEA with double phases by vacuum arc melting furnace. The corrosion behavior of AM-HEA in the S-CO₂ at 500 ℃ under 25 MPa for 400 hours was deciphered by multiple characterization techniques. The results show that the discrepancy of corrosion between the matrix and boundary was accounted for by their microstructure and components. The role and mechanism of Mn contents for their oxide scales in boundary zones were emphasized. More importantly, the nano-precipitated second phase and numerous boundaries for the outstanding anti-corrosion ability of the matrix were proposed.

Keywords: high entropy alloy, microstructure, corrosion, supercritical carbon oxide, AlCrFeNiMn

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Authors: Jose A. Pomilio, Olavo Bet, Mateus P. Vieira

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The power converter that feeds high-frequency, high-voltage transformers must be carefully designed due to parasitic components, mainly the secondary winding capacitance and the leakage inductance, that introduces resonances in relatively low-frequency range, next to the switching frequency. This paper considers applications in which the load (resistive) has an unpredictable behavior, changing from open to short-circuit condition faster than the output voltage control loop could react. In this context, to avoid over voltage and over current situations, that could damage the converter, the transformer or the load, it is necessary to find an operation point that assure the desired output voltage in spite of the load condition. This can done adjusting the frequency response of the transformer adding an external inductance, together with selecting the switching frequency to get stable output voltage independently of the load.

Keywords: high-voltage transformer, resonant converter, soft-commutation, external inductance

Procedia PDF Downloads 481

Authors: Pawan Kumar Mishra, Ganesh Singh Bisht

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Super-resolution is the technique that is being used in computer vision to construct high-resolution images from a single low-resolution image. It is used to increase the frequency component, recover the lost details and removing the down sampling and noises that caused by camera during image acquisition process. High-resolution images or videos are desired part of all image processing tasks and its analysis in most of digital imaging application. The target behind super-resolution is to combine non-repetition information inside single or multiple low-resolution frames to generate a high-resolution image. Many methods have been proposed where multiple images are used as low-resolution images of same scene with different variation in transformation. This is called multi-image super resolution. And another family of methods is single image super-resolution that tries to learn redundancy that presents in image and reconstruction the lost information from a single low-resolution image. Use of deep learning is one of state of art method at present for solving reconstruction high-resolution image. In this research, we proposed Deep Denoising Super Resolution (DDSR) that is a deep neural network for effectively reconstruct the high-resolution image from low-resolution image.

Keywords: resolution, deep-learning, neural network, de-blurring

Procedia PDF Downloads 517

Authors: Margaret K. Spoo-Chupka

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The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWDSC) manages surface water reservoirs that are a source of drinking water for more than 19 million people in Southern California. These reservoirs experience periodic planktonic cyanobacteria blooms that can impact water quality. MWDSC imports water from two sources – the Colorado River (CR) and the State Water Project (SWP). The SWP brings supplies from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that are characterized as having higher nutrients than CR water. Above average precipitation in 2017 after five years of drought allowed the majority of the reservoirs to fill. Phytoplankton was analyzed during the drought and after the drought at three reservoirs: Diamond Valley Lake (DVL), which receives SWP water exclusively, Lake Skinner, which can receive a blend of SWP and CR water, and Lake Mathews, which generally receives only CR water. DVL experienced a significant increase in water elevation in 2017 due to large SWP inflows, and there were no significant changes to total phytoplankton biomass, Shannon-Wiener diversity of the phytoplankton, or cyanobacteria biomass in 2017 compared to previous drought years despite the higher nutrient loads. The biomass of cyanobacteria that could potentially impact DVL water quality (Microcystis spp., Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Dolichospermum spp., and Limnoraphis birgei) did not differ significantly between the heavy precipitation year and drought years. Compared to the other reservoirs, DVL generally has the highest concentration of cyanobacteria due to the water supply having greater nutrients. Lake Mathews’ water levels were similar in drought and wet years due to a reliable supply of CR water and there were no significant changes in the total phytoplankton biomass, phytoplankton diversity, or cyanobacteria biomass in 2017 compared to previous drought years. The biomass of cyanobacteria that could potentially impact water quality at Lake Mathews (L. birgei and Microcystis spp.) did not differ significantly between 2017 and previous drought years. Lake Mathews generally had the lowest cyanobacteria biomass due to the water supply having lower nutrients. The CR supplied most of the water to Lake Skinner during drought years, while the SWP was the primary source during 2017. This change in water source resulted in a significant increase in phytoplankton biomass in 2017, no significant change in diversity, and a significant increase in cyanobacteria biomass. Cyanobacteria that could potentially impact water quality at Skinner included: Microcystis spp., Dolichospermum spp., and A.flos-aquae. There was no significant difference in Microcystis spp. biomass in 2017 compared to previous drought years, but biomass of Dolichospermum spp. and A.flos-aquae were significantly greater in 2017 compared to previous drought years. Dolichospermum sp. and A. flos-aquae are two cyanobacteria that are more sensitive to nutrients than Microcystis spp., which are more sensitive to temperature. Patterns in problem cyanobacteria abundance among Southern California reservoirs as a result of above-average precipitation after more than five years of drought were most closely related to nutrient loading.

Keywords: drought, reservoirs, cyanobacteria, and phytoplankton ecology

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Authors: Kalaivani Pachiappan, Sabari Annaji, Nithya Jayakumar

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In recent years, Information security has emerged as foremost challenges in many fields. Especially in medical information systems security is a major issue, in handling reports such as patients’ diagnosis and medical images. These sensitive data require confidentiality for transmission purposes. Image sharing is a secure and fault-tolerant method for protecting digital images, which can use the cryptography techniques to reduce the information loss. In this paper, visual sharing method is proposed which embeds the patient’s details into a medical image. Then the medical image can be divided into numerous shared images and protected by various users. The original patient details and medical image can be retrieved by gathering the shared images.

Keywords: information security, medical images, cryptography, visual sharing

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: Iris W. A. Boot, Anke Wesselius, Maurice P. Zeegers

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Diet may play an essential role in the aetiology of bladder cancer (BC). Vitamin D is involved in various biological functions which have the potential to prevent BC development. Besides, vitamin D also influences the uptake of calcium and phosphorus , thereby possibly indirectly influencing the risk of BC. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between vitamin D intake and BC risk. Individual dietary data were pooled from three cohort studies. Food item intake was converted to daily intakes of vitamin D, calcium and phosphorus. Pooled multivariate hazard ratios (HRs), with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained using Cox-regression models. Analyses were adjusted for gender, age and smoking status (Model 1), and additionally for the food groups fruit, vegetables and meat (Model 2). Dose–response relationships (Model 1) were examined using a nonparametric test for trend. In total, 2,871 cases and 522,364 non-cases were included in the analyses. The present study showed an overall increased BC risk for high dietary vitamin D intake (HR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.03-1.26). A similar increase BC risk with high vitamin D intake was observed among women and for the non-muscle invasive BC subtype, (HR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.15-1.72, HR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.01-1.27, respectively). High calcium intake decreased the BC risk among women (HR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67-0.97). A combined inverse effect on BC risk was observed for low vitamin D intake and high calcium intake (HR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48-0.93), while a positive effect was observed for high vitamin D intake in combination with low, moderate and high phosphorus (HR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.09-1.59, HR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01-1.36, HR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.03-1.31, respectively). Combining all nutrients showed a decreased BC risk for low vitamin D intake, high calcium and moderate phosphor intake (HR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.18-0.75), and an increased BC risk for moderate intake of all the nutrients (HR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.02-1.38), for high vitamin D and low calcium and phosphor intake (HR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.01-1.62), and for moderate vitamin D and calcium and high phosphorus intake (HR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.01-1.59). No significant dose-response analyses were observed. The findings of this study show an increased BC risk for high dietary vitamin D intake and a decreased risk for high calcium intake. Besides, the study highlights the importance of examining the effect of a nutrient in combination with complementary nutrients for risk assessment. Future research should focus on nutrients in a wider context and in nutritional patterns.

Keywords: bladder cancer, nutritional oncology, pooled cohort analysis, vitamin D

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Authors: U. P. Rathnakar, Sejpal Jaykumar, Shenoy K. Ashok

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The effect of Shilajit was investigated for lipid lowering activity and its effect on weight gain in Wistar albino rats. Shilajit, semi-hard brownish black resin formed through long-term humidification of several plant types, mainly bryophytes, can be obtained from steep rocks of the Himalayas at altitudes between 1000 to 5000 meters. Hyperlipidemia was produced by feeding the rats with the cholesterol-rich high-fat diet (HFD) for 2 months. This diet contained deoxycholic acid, cholesterol and warm coconut oil in powdered rat chow diet. At the end of study, Shilajit treated rats showed significant decrease in serum LDL, triglyceride and total cholesterol level as well as increase in serum HDL level, in comparison to rats fed on high-fat diet with no treatment. Also during study period, increase in weight in Shilajit treated group was significantly less than in the other group of rats fed on high-fat diet with no treatment. Thus, Shilajit has significantly controlled the development of hyperlipidemia and weight gain in high-fat diet fed rats in the present study.

Keywords: Shilajit, hyperlipidemia, weight control, cholesterol-rich high-fat diet

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Authors: Anil Kumar Pandey

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Power plane noise is the most significant source of signal integrity (SI) issues in a high-speed digital design. In this paper, power integrity (PI) analysis of multiple power planes in a power delivery system of a 12-layer high-speed FPGA board is presented. All 10 power planes of HSD board are analyzed separately by using 3D Electromagnetic based PI solver, then the transient simulation is performed on combined PI data of all planes along with voltage regulator modules (VRMs) and 70 current drawing chips to get the board level power noise coupling on different high-speed signals. De-coupling capacitors are placed between power planes and ground to reduce power noise coupling with signals.

Keywords: power integrity, power-aware signal integrity analysis, electromagnetic simulation, channel simulation

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Authors: Seetanah Boopen, R. V. Sannassee

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The objective of the present study is two-fold. Firstly, to assess the impact of air access liberalization on tourism demand for Mauritius and secondly to analyses the dual impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing promotion efforts on tourism demand. Using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model, the results suggest that air access liberalization is an important ingredient, albeit to a lesser extent as compared to other classical explanatory variables, of tourism demand. The results also highlight the fact that Mauritius is perceived as a luxurious destination and tourists are deemed price sensitive. Moreover, our dynamic approach interestingly confirms the presence of repeat tourism in the island. Finally, the findings also uncover the positive impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing promotion efforts on fostering tourism demand.

Keywords: air access liberalization, ARDL, SIDS, time series

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Authors: Olga Smilevska Spasova, Katerina Boshkovska, Gorica Popova, Mirjana Popovska

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Introduction: Pneumonia is an infection of the pulmonary parenchyma. HPIV 3 is one of four viruses that is a member of the Paramyxoviridae family designated types 1-4 that have a nonsegmented, single-stranded RNA genome with a lipid-containing envelope. They are spread from the respiratory tract by aerosolized secretions or by direct contact with secretions. Type 3 is endemic and can cause serious illness in immunocompromised patients. Illness caused by parainfluenza occurs shortly after inoculation with the virus. The level of immunoglobulin A antibody in serum is the best predictor of susceptibility to infection. Streptococcus pneumonia or pneumococcus is a Gram-positive, spherical bacteria, usually found in pairs and it is a member of the genus Streptococcus. Streptococcus pneumonia resides asymptomatically in healthy carriers typically colonizing the respiratory tract, sinuses, and nasal cavity. In individuals with weaker immune systems like young infants, pneumococcal bacterium is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia in the world. Case Report: The aim is to present a case of lower respiratory tract infection in an infant caused by parainfluenza virus 3, S. pneumonia and undifferentiated gram-negative bacteria that was successfully treated. The infant is with a history of recurrent episodes of wheezing in the past 3mounts.Infant of 10months presents 2weeks before admittance with high fever, runny nose, and cough. The primary pediatrician prescribed oral cefpodoxime for 10days and inhaled salbutamol. Two days before admittance in hospital the infant with high fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. At admittance, infant is pale, anxious with rapid respirations, cough, wheezing and tachycardia. On auscultation: vesicular breathing sounds with high pitched wheezing and on the right coarse crackles. Investigations: Blood analysis: RBC: 4, 7 x1012L, WBC: 8,3x109L: Neut: 42.73% Lym: 41.57%, Hgb: 9.38 g/dl MCV: 62.7fl, MCH: 20.0pg MCHC: 31.8 g/dl RDW: 18.7% Plt-307.9 x109LCRP: 2,5mg/l, serum iron-7.92umol/l, O2sat-97% on blood gas analysis, puls-125/min.X-ray of chest with hyperinflationand right pericardial consolidation. Microbiological analysis of sputum sample is positive for undifferentiated gram-negative bacteria (colonizer)–resistant to cefotaxime, ampicillin, cefoxitin, sulfamet.+trimetoprim and sensitive to amikacin, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin. Molecular multiplex RT-PCR for 19 viruses and multiplex PCR for 7 bacteria test for respiratory pathogens positive for Parainfluenza virus 3(Ct=22.73), Streptococcus pneumonia (Ct=26.75).IED: IgG-9.31g/l, IgA-0.351g/l, IgM-0.86g/l. Therapy: Treatment was started with inhaled salbutamol, intravenous antibiotic cefotaxime as well as systemic corticosteroids. On day 7 because of slow clinical resolution of chest auscultation findings and an etiologic clue with a positive sputum sample for resistant undifferentiated gram negative bacteria, a second intravenous antibiotic was administered amikacin. The infant is discharged on day 14 with resolution of clinical findings. Conclusion: Mixed co-infections with respiratory viruses and bacteria in immunocompromised infants are likely to lead to a more severe form of community acquired pneumonia that will need hospitalization.

Keywords: HPIV- 3, infant, pneumonia, S. pneumonia, x-ray chest

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Authors: Sheng-Chuan Hsu

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Because the existing structure of ambient light sensor is most silicon photodiode device, it is extremely sensitive in the red and infrared regions. Even though the IR-Cut filter had added, it still cannot completely eliminate the influence of infrared light, and the spectral response of infrared light was stronger than that of the human eyes. Therefore, it is not able to present the vision spectrum of the human eye reacts with the ambient light. Then it needs to consider that the human eye feels the spectra that show significant differences between light and dark place. Consequently, in practical applications, we must create and develop advanced device of human-like photosensor which can solve these problems of ambient light sensor and let cognitive lighting system to provide suitable light to achieve the goals of vision spectrum of human eye and save energy.

Keywords: ambient light sensor, vision spectrum, cognitive lighting system, human eye

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Janet Wing-Chong Wai, Alex Chiu-Wing Lee, Hailey Hoi-Ching Tsang, Jeffrey Chiu, Kwok-Wing Tang

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Background: Mammography has limited sensitivity and specificity though it is the primary imaging technique for detection of early breast cancer. Ultrasound imaging and contrast-enhanced MRI are useful adjunct tools to mammography. The advantage of breast MRI is high sensitivity for invasive breast cancer. Therefore, indications for and use of breast magnetic resonance imaging have increased over the past decade. Objectives: 1. Cases demonstration on different indications for breast MR imaging. 2. To review of the common artifacts and pitfalls in breast MR imaging. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study including all patients underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced breast MRI examination in our centre, performed from Jan 2011 to Dec 2017. The clinical data and radiological images were retrieved from the EPR (electronic patient record), RIS (Radiology Information System) and PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). Results and Discussion: Cases including (1) Screening of the contralateral breast in patient with a new breast malignancy (2) Breast augmentation with free injection of unknown foreign materials (3) Finding of axillary adenopathy with an unknown site of primary malignancy (4) Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy: before, during, and after chemotherapy to evaluate treatment response and extent of residual disease prior to operation. Relevant images will be included and illustrated in the presentation. As with other types of MR imaging, there are different artifacts and pitfalls that can potentially limit interpretation of the images. Because of the coils and software specific to breast MR imaging, there are some other technical considerations that are unique to MR imaging of breast regions. Case demonstration images will be available in presentation. Conclusion: Breast MR imaging is a highly sensitive and reasonably specific method for the detection of breast cancer. Adherent to appropriate clinical indications and technical optimization are crucial for achieving satisfactory images for interpretation.

Keywords: MRI, breast, clinical, cancer

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Authors: Jiaqi Huang, Lu Jin

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Pervious concrete features with high water permeability rate. However, due to the lack of fine aggregates, the compressive strength is usually lower than other conventional concrete products. Optimization of pervious concrete mix design has long been recognized as an effective mechanism to achieve high compressive strength while maintaining desired permeability rate. In this paper, a Gibbs Sampling based algorithm is proposed to approximate the optimal mix design to achieve a high compressive strength of pervious concrete. We prove that the proposed algorithm efficiently converges to the set of global optimal solutions. The convergence rate and accuracy depend on a control parameter employed in the proposed algorithm. The simulation results show that, by using the proposed approach, the system converges to the optimal solution quickly and the derived optimal mix design achieves the maximum compressive strength while maintaining the desired permeability rate.

Keywords: convergence, Gibbs Sampling, high compressive strength, optimal mix design, pervious concrete

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Authors: Jessica Leigh Thornton

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The South African Constitution outlines provisions for every detainee and sentenced prisoner in relation to the human rights recognized in the country since 1994; but currently, across the country, prisons have yet to meet many of these criteria. Consequently, their day-to-day lives are marked by extreme lack of privacy, high rates of infection, poor nutrition, and deleterious living conditions, which steadily erode prisoners’ mental and physical capacities rather than rehabilitating inmates so that they can effectively reintegrate into society. Even more so, policy reform, advocacy, security, and rehabilitation programs continue to be based on research and theories that were developed to explain the experiences of men, while female offenders are seen as the “special category” of inmates. Yet, the experiences of women and their pathways to incarceration are remarkably different from those of male offenders. Consequently, little is known about the profile, nature and contributing factors and experiences of female offenders which has impeded a comprehensive and integrated understanding of the subject of female criminality. The number of women globally in correctional centers has more than doubled over the past fifteen years (these increases vary from prison to prison and country to country). Yet, female offenders have largely been ignored in research even though the minority status of female offenders is a phenomenon that is not peculiar to South Africa as the number of women incarcerated has increased by 68% within the decade. Within South Africa, there have been minimal studies conducted on the gendered experience of offenders. While some studies have explored the pathways to female offending, gender-sensitive correctional programming for women that respond to their needs has been overlooked. This often leads to a neglect of the needs of female offenders, not only in terms of programs and services delivery to this minority group but also from a research perspective. In response, the aim of the proposed research is twofold: Firstly, the lived experiences and views of rehabilitation and reintegration of female offenders will be explored. Secondly, the various pathways into and out of recidivism amongst female offenders will be investigated regarding their inclusion in educational rehabilitation.

Keywords: female incarceration, educational rehabilitation, exclusion, experiences of female offenders

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Authors: J. C. Cheng, Y. L. Tsay, Z. D. Chan, C. H. Yang

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In this study the physical system under consideration is a three-dimensional (3-D) cabinet with arrays of block heat sources mounted on one of the walls of the cabinet. The block heat sources dissipate heat to the cabinet surrounding through the conjugate conduction and natural convection. The results illustrate that the difference in hot spot temperatures of the system (θH) for the situations with and without consideration of thermal interaction is higher for smaller Rayleigh number (Ra), and can be up to 94.73% as Ra=10^5. In addition, the heat transfer characteristics depends strongly on the dimensionless heat conductivity of cabinet wall (Kwf), heat conductivity of block (Kpf) and length of cabinet (Ax). The maximum reduction in θH is 70.01% when Kwf varies from 10 to 1000, and it is 30.07% for Ax from 0.5 to 1. While the hot spot temperature of system is not sensitive to the cabinet angle (Φ).

Keywords: block heat sources, 3-D cabinet, thermal interaction, heat transfer

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Authors: I. Boroňová, J. Bernasovská, J. Kmec, E. Petrejčíková

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Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a severe cardiovascular disorder characterized by progressive systolic dysfunction due to cardiac chamber dilatation and inefficient myocardial contractility often leading to chronic heart failure. Recently, a genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on DCM indicate that the ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 single nucleotide polymorphism is associated with DCM. The aim of the study was to identify the distribution of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism in 50 Slovak patients with DCM and 80 healthy control subjects using the Custom Taqman®SNP Genotyping assays. Risk factors detected at baseline in each group included age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes and blood pressure. The mean age of patients with DCM was 52.9±6.3 years; the mean age of individuals in control group was 50.3±8.9 years. The distribution of investigated genotypes of rs10927875 polymorphism within ZBTB17 gene in the cohort of Slovak patients with DCM was as follows: CC (38.8%), CT (55.1%), TT (6.1%), in controls: CC (43.8%), CT (51.2%), TT (5.0%). The risk allele T was more common among the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy than in normal controls (33.7% versus 30.6%). The differences in genotype or allele frequencies of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism were not statistically significant (p=0.6908; p=0.6098). The results of this study suggest that ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism may be a risk factor for susceptibility to DCM in Slovak patients with DCM. Studies of numerous files and additional functional investigations are needed to fully understand the roles of genetic associations.

Keywords: ZBTB17 gene, rs10927875 polymorphism, dilated cardiomyopathy, cardiovascular disorder

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Authors: Saumya R. Jha, Krishanu Biswas, Nilesh P. Gurao

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Several recent investigations have revealed medium entropy alloys exhibiting better mechanical properties than their high entropy counterparts. This clearly establishes that although a higher entropy plays a vital role in stabilization of particular phase over complex intermetallic phases, configurational entropy is not the primary factor responsible for the high inherent strengthening in these systems. Above and beyond a high contribution from friction stresses and solid solution strengthening, strain hardening is an important contributor to the strengthening in these systems. In this regard, researchers have developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques like High Pressure Torsion (HPT) to incorporate very high shear strain in the material, thereby leading to ultrafine grained (UFG) microstructures, which cause manifold increase in the strength. The presented work demonstrates a meticulous study of the variation in mechanical properties at different radial displacements from the center of HPT tested equiatomic ternary FeMnNi synthesized by casting route, which is a low stacking fault energy FCC alloy that shows significantly higher toughness than its high entropy counterparts like Cantor alloy. The gradient in grain sizes along the radial direction of these specimens has been modeled using microstructure entropy for predicting the mechanical properties, which has also been validated by indentation tests. The dislocation density is computed by FEM simulations for varying strains and validated by analyzing synchrotron diffraction data. Thus, the proposed model can be utilized to predict the strengthening behavior of similar systems deformed by HPT subjected to varying loading conditions.

Keywords: high pressure torsion, severe plastic deformation, configurational entropy, dislocation density, FEM simulation

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Authors: Kathryn Norgang, Sarah Howrath, Auni Idi Muhire, Pacifique Umubyeyi

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Description : A group of nurses address the shortage of trained staff to respond to critical patients at Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH) by developing a training program and a resuscitation response team. Members of the group who received the training when it first launched are now trainer of trainers; all components of the training program are organized and delivered by RMH staff-the clinical mentor only provides adjunct support. This two day training is held quarterly at RMH; basic life support and exposure to interventions for advanced care are included in the test and skills sign off. Seventy staff members have received the training this year alone. An increased number of admission/transfer to ICU due to successful resuscitation attempts is noted. Lessons learned: -Number of staff trained 2012-2014 (to be verified). -Staff who train together practice with greater collaboration during actual resuscitation events. -Staff more likely to initiate BLS if peer support is present-more staff trained equals more support. -More access to Advanced Cardiac Life Support training is necessary now that the cadre of BLS trained staff is growing. Conclusions: Increased access to training, peer support, and collaborative practice are effective strategies to strengthening resuscitation capacity within a hospital.

Keywords: resuscitation, basic life support, capacity building, resuscitation response teams, nurse trainer of trainers

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Authors: Mouna Hemdi, Jamel bel Hadj Tahar

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The increasing development of multimedia applications requiring the simultaneous transport of several different services contributes to the evolution of the need for very high-speed network. In this paper, we propose an effective solution to achieve the very high speed while retaining elements of the optical transmission channel. So our study focuses on error correcting codes that aim for quality improvement on duty. We present a comparison of the quality of service for single channels and integrating the code BCH, RS and LDPC in order to find the best code in the different conditions of the transmission.

Keywords: code error correction, high speed broadband, optical transmission, information systems security

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Authors: G. N. Sekhar, P. G. Siddheshwar, G. Jayalatha, R. Prakash

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The problem of thermal convection in temperature and magnetic field sensitive Newtonian ferromagnetic liquid is studied in the presence of uniform vertical magnetic field and throughflow. Using a combination of Galerkin and shooting techniques the critical eigenvalues are obtained for stationary mode. The effect of Prandtl number (Pr > 1) on onset is insignificant and nonlinearity of non-buoyancy magnetic parameter M3 is found to have no influence on the onset of ferroconvection. The magnetic buoyancy number, M1 and variable viscosity parameter, V have destabilizing influences on the system. The effect of throughflow Peclet number, Pe is to delay the onset of ferroconvection and this effect is independent of the direction of flow.

Keywords: ferroconvection, magnetic field dependent viscosity, temperature dependent viscosity, throughflow

Procedia PDF Downloads 265

Authors: Sinead Morrison, Ann Swillen, Therese Van Amelsvoort, Samuel Chawner, Elfi Vergaelen, Michael Owen, Marianne Van Den Bree

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22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) is caused by the deletion of approximately 60 genes on chromosome 22 and is associated with high rates of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The presentation of these disorders in 22q11.2DS is reported to be comparable to idiopathic forms and therefore presents a valuable model for understanding mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders. Cognitive deficits are thought to be a core feature of neurodevelopmental disorders, and possibly manifest in behavioural and emotional problems. There have been mixed findings in 22q11.2DS on whether the presence of ADHD or ASD is associated with greater cognitive deficits. Furthermore, the influence of developmental stage has never been taken into account. The aim was therefore to examine whether the presence of ADHD or ASD was associated with cognitive deficits in childhood and/or adolescence in 22q11.2DS. We conducted the largest study to date of this kind in 22q11.2DS. The same battery of tasks measuring processing speed, attention and spatial working memory were completed by 135 participants with 22q11.2DS. Wechsler IQ tests were completed, yielding Full Scale (FSIQ), Verbal (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ). Age-standardised difference scores were produced for each participant. Developmental stages were defined as children (6-10 years) and adolescents (10-18 years). ADHD diagnosis was ascertained from a semi-structured interview with a parent. ASD status was ascertained from a questionnaire completed by a parent. Interaction and main effects of cognitive performance of those with or without a diagnosis of ADHD or ASD in childhood or adolescence were conducted with 2x2 ANOVA. Significant interactions were followed up with t-tests of simple effects. Adolescents with ASD displayed greater deficits in all measures (processing speed, p = 0.022; sustained attention, p = 0.016; working memory, p = 0.006) than adolescents without ASD; there was no difference between children with and without ASD. There were no significant differences on IQ measures. Both children and adolescents with ADHD displayed greater deficits on sustained attention (p = 0.002) than those without ADHD. There were no significant differences on any other measures for ADHD. Magnitude of cognitive deficit in individuals with 22q11.2DS varied by cognitive domain, developmental stage and presence of neurodevelopmental disorder. Adolescents with 22q11.2DS and ASD showed greater deficits on all measures, which suggests there may be a sensitive period in childhood to acquire these domains, or reflect increasing social and academic demands in adolescence. The finding of poorer sustained attention in children and adolescents with ADHD supports previous research and suggests a specific deficit which can be separated from processing speed and working memory. This research provides unique insights into the association of ASD and ADHD with cognitive deficits in a group at high genomic risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Keywords: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, cognitive development

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Authors: Gábor Kovács

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Requirement for pole-changing motors emerged at the very early times of asynchronous motor design. Different solutions have been elaborated and some of them are generally used. An alternative is the so called 3 Y/3 Y pole-changing winding. This paper deals with high power application of this solution. A complete and comprehensive study is introduced, including features and design guidelines. The method presented in this paper is especially suitable for pole numbers being close to each other. The study also reveals that the method is more advantageous then the existing solutions for high power motors with 1:3 pole ratio. Using this motor, a new and complete drive supply system has been proposed as most appropriate arrangement of high power main naval propulsion drive. Further, the method makes possible to extend the pole ratio to 1:6, 1:9, 1:12, etc. At the end, the proposal is further extended to the here so far missing 1:4, 1:5, 1:7 etc. pole ratios. A complete proposal for the theoretically infinite range has been given in this way.

Keywords: induction motor, pole changing 3Y/3Y, pole phase modulation, pole changing 1:3, 1:6

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Authors: Moreblessings Shoko

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Polymersomes are materials which are considered as artificial counterparts of natural vesicles. The nanotechnology of such smart nanovesicles is very useful to enhance the efficiency of many therapeutic and diagnostic drugs. Those compounds show a higher stability, flexibility, and mechanical strength to the membrane compared to natural liposomes. Also, they can be designed in detail, the permeability of the membrane can be controlled by different stimuli, and the surface can be functionalized with different biological molecules to facilitate monitoring and target. For this purpose, this study demonstrates the formation of multifunctional and pH sensitive polymersomes and their functionalization with different reactive groups or biomolecules inside and outside of polymersomes´ membrane providing by crossing the membrane and docking/undocking processes for biomedical applications. Overall, they are highly versatile and thus present new opportunities for the design of targeted and selective recognition systems, for example, in mimicking cell functions and in synthetic biology.

Keywords: women, geomatics, challenges, capacity building

Procedia PDF Downloads 574