Search results for: ovarian response

Authors: Srinivasan Chandrasekaran, Thailammai Chithambaram, Shihas A. Khader

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The early-stage damage detection in offshore structures requires continuous structural health monitoring and for the large area the position of sensors will also plays an important role in the efficient damage detection. Determining the dynamic behavior of offshore structures requires dense deployment of sensors. The wired Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are highly expensive and always needs larger installation space to deploy. Wireless sensor networks can enhance the SHM system by deployment of scalable sensor network, which consumes lesser space. This paper presents the results of wireless sensor network based Structural Health Monitoring method applied to a scaled experimental model of offshore structure that underwent wave loading. This method determines the serviceability of the offshore structure which is subjected to various environment loads. Wired and wireless sensors were installed in the model and the response of the scaled BLSRP model under wave loading was recorded. The wireless system discussed in this study is the Raspberry pi board with Arm V6 processor which is programmed to transmit the data acquired by the sensor to the server using Wi-Fi adapter, the data is then hosted in the webpage. The data acquired from the wireless and wired SHM systems were compared and the design of the wireless system is verified.

Keywords: condition assessment, damage detection, structural health monitoring, structural response, wireless sensor network

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Authors: Samaneh Nabavi, Hadi Shirzad, Arash Ghoorchian, Maryam Shanesaz, Reza Naderi

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Morphine (MO), the most effective painkiller, is considered the reference by which analgesics are assessed. It is very necessary for the biomedical applications to detect and maintain the MO concentrations in the blood and urine with in safe ranges. To date, there are many expensive techniques for detecting MO. Recently, many electrochemical sensors for direct determination of MO were constructed. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) is a polymeric material, which has a built-in functionality for the recognition of a particular chemical substance with its complementary cavity.This paper reports a sensor for MO using a combination of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) and differential-pulse voltammetry (DPV). Electropolymerization of MO doped polypyrrole yielded poor quality, but a well-doped, nanostructure and increased impregnation has been obtained in the pH=12. Above a pH of 11, MO is in the anionic forms. The effect of various experimental parameters including pH, scan rate and accumulation time on the voltammetric response of MO was investigated. At the optimum conditions, the concentration of MO was determined using DPV in a linear range of 7.07 × 10−6 to 2.1 × 10−4 mol L−1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.999, and a detection limit of 13.3 × 10-8 mol L−1, respectively. The effect of common interferences on the current response of MO namely ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) is studied. The modified electrode can be used for the determination of MO spiked into urine samples, and excellent recovery results were obtained. The nanostructured polypyrrole films were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and furrier transforms infrared (FTIR).

Keywords: morphine detection, sensor, polypyrrole, nanostructure, molecularly imprinted polymer

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Authors: Victor Romanov, Daria Efimenko

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The focus on innovation in modern economy is the main factor in surviving business in a competitive environment. The innovations are based on the search and use of knowledge in a global context. Nowadays consumers and market demand are the main innovation drivers. This leads to build a business as a system with feedback, promptly restructuring production and innovation implementation in response to market demands. In modern knowledge economy, because of speed of technical progress, the product's lifecycle became much shorter, what makes more stringent requirements for innovation implementation on the enterprises of and therefore the possibility for enterprise for receiving extra income is decreasing. This circumstance imposes additional requirements for the replacement of obsolete products and the prompt release of innovative products to the market. The development of information technologies has led to the fact that only in the conditions of partnership and knowledge sharing with partners it is possible to update products quickly for innovative products. Many companies pay attention to updating innovations through the search for new partners, but the task of finding new partners presents some difficulties. The search for a suitable one includes several stages such as: determining the moment of innovation-critical, introducing a search, identifying search criteria, justifying and deciding on the choice of a partner. No less important is the question of how to manage an innovative product in response to a changing market. The article considers the problems of information support for the search for the source of innovation and partnership to decrease the time for implementation of novelty products.

Keywords: partnership, novelty, market feedback, alliance

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Authors: Ben Abderrahmane Ayoub El Fateh, Bnina Rachid

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A comprehensive comparison of antioxidant defenses in the dermis and epidermis and their response to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation has not previously been attempted. In this study, enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants in epidermis and dermis of hairless mice were compared. Enzyme activities are presented both as units/gram of skin and units/milligram of protein; arguments are presented for the superiority of skin wet weight as a reference base. Catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase (units/gram of skin) were higher in the epidermis than dermis by 49%, 86%, and 74%, respectively. Superoxide dismutase did not follow this pattern. Lipophilic antioxidants ( -tocopherol, ubiquinol 9, and ubiquinone 9) and hydrophilic antioxidants (ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid, and glutathione) were 24–95% higher in the epidermis than in dermis. In contrast, oxidized glutathione was 60% lower in the epidermis than in dermis. Mice were irradiated with solar light to examine the response of these cutaneous layers to UV irradiation. After irradiation with 25 J/cm2 (UVA + UVB, from a solar simulator), 10 times the minimum erythemal dose, epidermal and dermal catalase and superoxide dismutase activities were greatly decreased. Tocopherol, ubiquinol 9, ubiquinone 9, ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid, and reduced glutathione decreased in both epidermis and dermis by 26-93%. Oxidizedgiutathione showed a slight, non-significant increase. Because the reduction in total ascorbate and catalase was much more severe in the epidermis than dermis, it can be concluded that UV light is more damaging to the antioxidant defenses in the epidermis than in the dermis.

Keywords: antioxidant defenses, enzymic, epidermis, oxidizedgiutathione

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Authors: Siti Aslamyah, Yushinta Fujaya, Okto Rimaldi

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One of the problems faced in the crab hatchery operations is the reliance on the use of natural feed. This study aims to analyze the response of larval development and determine the initial stages crab larvae begin to fully able to accept artificial feeding predigest with the help of probiotic Bacillus sp. The experiment was conducted in June 2014 through July 2014 at the location of the scale backyard hatcheries, Bojo village Mallusettasi sub-district, district Barru. This study was conducted in two stages larval rearing. The first stage is designed in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and each with 3 repetitions, ie, without the use of artificial feeding; predigest feed given from zoea 1 - megalopa; predigest feed given since zoea 2 - megalopa; predigest feed given from zoea 3 - megalopa; and feed predigest given since zoea 4 - megalopa. The second stage of the two treatments, i.e. comparing artificial feeding without and with predigest. The results showed that the artificial feeding predigest able to replace the use of natural feed started zoea 3 generated based on the survival rate. Artificial feeding predigest provide a higher survival rate (16%) compared to artificial diets without predigest only 10.8%. However, feed predigest not give a different effect on the rate of development of stadia. Cell activity in larvae that received artificial feed predigest higher with RNA-DNA ratio of 8.88 compared with no predigest only 5:36. This research is very valuable information for crab hatchery hatchery scale households have limitations in preparing natural food.

Keywords: artificial feeding, development of stadia, larvae Portunus pelagicus, predigest

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Authors: Ozgu Hafizoglu

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Analogy is an essential tool of human cognition that enables connecting diffuse and diverse systems with attributional, deep structural, casual relations that are essential to learning, to innovation in artificial worlds, and to discovery in science. Cognitive Model of Analogy (CMA) leads and creates information pattern transfer within and between domains and disciplines in science. This paper demonstrates the Cognitive Model of Analogy (CMA) as an evolutionary approach to scientific research. The model puts forward the challenges of deep uncertainty about the future, emphasizing the need for flexibility of the system in order to enable reasoning methodology to adapt to changing conditions. In this paper, the model of analogical reasoning is created based on brain cells, their fractal, and operational forms within the system itself. Visualization techniques are used to show correspondences. Distinct phases of the problem-solving processes are divided thusly: encoding, mapping, inference, and response. The system is revealed relevant to brain activation considering each of these phases with an emphasis on achieving a better visualization of the brain cells: glial cells, axons, axon terminals, and neurons, relative to matching conditions of analogical reasoning and relational information. It’s found that encoding, mapping, inference, and response processes in four-term analogical reasoning are corresponding with the fractal and operational forms of brain cells: glial, axons, and neurons.

Keywords: analogy, analogical reasoning, cognitive model, brain and glials

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Authors: Irmak Karaduman, Tugba Corlu, Sezin Galioglu, Burcu Akata, M. Ali Yildirim, Aytunç Ateş, Selim Acar

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Breath analysis represents a promising non-invasive, fast and cost-effective alternative to well-established diagnostic and monitoring techniques such as blood analysis, endoscopy, ultrasonic and tomographic monitoring. Portable, non-invasive, and low-cost breath analysis devices are becoming increasingly desirable for monitoring different diseases, especially asthma. Beacuse of this, NO gas sensing at low concentrations has attracted progressive attention for clinical analysis in asthma. Recently, nanomaterials based sensors are considered to be a promising clinical and laboratory diagnostic tool, because its large surface–to–volume ratio, controllable structure, easily tailored chemical and physical properties, which bring high sensitivity, fast dynamic processand even the increasing specificity. Among various nanomaterials, semiconducting metal oxides are extensively studied gas-sensing materials and are potential sensing elements for breathanalyzer due to their high sensitivity, simple design, low cost and good stability.The sensitivities of metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors can be enhanced by adding noble metals. Doping contents, distribution, and size of metallic or metal oxide catalysts are key parameters for enhancing gas selectivity as well as sensitivity. By manufacturing doping MOS structures, it is possible to develop more efficient sensor sensing layers. Zeolites are perhaps the most widely employed group of silicon-based nanoporous solids. Their well-defined pores of sub nanometric size have earned them the name of molecular sieves, meaning that operation in the size exclusion regime is possible by selecting, among over 170 structures available, the zeolite whose pores allow the pass of the desired molecule, while keeping larger molecules outside.In fact it is selective adsorption, rather than molecular sieving, the mechanism that explains most of the successful gas separations achieved with zeolite membranes. In view of their molecular sieving and selective adsorption properties, it is not surprising that zeolites have found use in a number of works dealing with gas sensing devices. In this study, the Cu doped ZnO nanostructure film was produced by SILAR method and investigated the NO gas sensing properties. To obtain the selectivity of the sample, the gases including CO,NH3,H2 and CH4 were detected to compare with NO. The maximum response is obtained at 85 C for 20 ppb NO gas. The sensor shows high response to NO gas. However, acceptable responses are calculated for CO and NH3 gases. Therefore, there are no responses obtain for H2 and CH4 gases. Enhanced to selectivity, Cu doped ZnO nanostructure film was coated with zeolite A thin film. It is found that the sample possess an acceptable response towards NO hardly respond to CO, NH3, H2 and CH4 at room temperature. This difference in the response can be expressed in terms of differences in the molecular structure, the dipole moment, strength of the electrostatic interaction and the dielectric constant. The as-synthesized thin film is considered to be one of the extremely promising candidate materials in electronic nose applications. This work is supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK) under Project No, 115M658 and Gazi University Scientific Research Fund under project no 05/2016-21.

Keywords: Cu doped ZnO, electrical characterization, gas sensing, zeolite

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Authors: Ali Kuzu

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There are about 800 thousand chemicals in our environment and the number is increasing more than a thousand every year. While most of these chemicals are used as components in various consumer products, some are faced as industrial waste in the environment. Unfortunately, many of these chemicals are hazardous and affect humans. According to the “International Program on Chemical Safety” of World Health Organization; Among the chronic health effects of chemicals, cancer is of major concern. Many substances have found in recent years to be carcinogenic in one or more species of laboratory animals. Especially with respect to long-term effects, the response to a chemical may vary, quantitatively or qualitatively, in different groups of individuals depending on predisposing conditions, such as nutritional status, disease status, current infection, climatic extremes, and genetic features, sex and age of the individuals. Understanding the response of such specific risk groups is an important area of toxicology research. People with age 65+ is defined as “aged (or elderly)”. The elderly population in the world is about 600 million, which corresponds to ~8 percent of the world population. While every 1 of each 4 people is aged in Japan, the elderly population is quite close to 20 percent in many developed countries. And elderly population in these countries is growing more rapidly than the total population. The negative effects of chemicals on elderly take an important place in health-care related issues in last decades. The aged population is more susceptible to the harmful effects of environmental chemicals. According to the poor health of the organ systems in elderly, the ability of their body to eliminate the harmful effects and chemical substances from their body is also poor. With the increasing life expectancy, more and more people will face problems associated with chemical residues.

Keywords: elderly, chemicals’ effects, aged care, care need

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Authors: Tefera Worku Mekonnen, Hiseh Chih Tsai

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Enhancement of drug efficacy is essential in cancer treatment. The immune stimulator ovalbumin (Ova)-coated citric acid (AC-)-stabilized iron oxide nanoparticles (AC-IO-Ova NPs) and enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) based tumor targeted 4.5 (4.5G) poly(amidoamine) dendrimer-cisplatin nanocomplex (4.5GDP-Cis-pt NC) were used for enhanced anticancer efficiency. The formations of 4.5GDP-Cis-pt NC, AC-IO, and AC-IO-Ova NPs have been examined by FTIR, X-ray diffraction, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The conjugation of cisplatin (Cis-pt) with 4.5GDP was confirmed using carbon NMR. The tumor-specific 4.5GDP-Cis-pt NC provided ~45% and 28% cumulative cisplatin release in 72 h at pH 6.5 and 7.4, respectively. A significant immune response with high TNF-α and IL-6 cytokine secretion was confirmed when the co-incubation of AC-IO-Ova with RAW 264.7 or HaCaT cells. AC-IO-Ova NP was biocompatible in different cell lines, even at a high concentration (200 µg mL−1). In contrast, AC-IO-Ova NPs mixed with 4.5GDP-Cis-pt NC (Cis-pt at 15 µg mL−1) significantly increased the cytotoxicity against the cancer cells, which is dose-dependent on the concentration of AC-IO-Ova NPs. The increased anticancer effects may be attributed to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, the efficiency of anticancer cells may be further assisted by induction of an innate immune response via M1 macrophage polarization due to the presence of AC-IO-Ova NPs. We provide a better synergestic chemoimmunotherapeutic strategy to enhance the efficiency of anticancer of cisplatin via chemotherapeutic agent 4.5GDP-Cis-pt NC and induction of proinflammatory cytokines to stimulate innate immunity through AC-IO-Ova NPs against tumors.

Keywords: cisplatin-release, iron oxide, ovalbumin, poly(amidoamine) dendrimer

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Authors: Ali Reza Ghanbarnezhad Ghazvini, Seyyed Hamid Reza Mosayyebi

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In recent years, an earthquake has occurred approximately every five years in certain regions of Iran. To mitigate the impact of these seismic events, it is crucial to identify and thoroughly assess the vulnerability of buildings and infrastructure, ensuring their safety through principled reinforcement. By adopting new methods of risk assessment, we can effectively reduce the potential risks associated with future earthquakes. In our research, we have observed that the coefficient of behavior in the fourth chapter is 1.65 for the initial structure and 1.72 for the Superframe structure. This indicates that the Superframe structure can enhance the strength of the main structural members by approximately 10% through the utilization of super beams. Furthermore, based on the comparative analysis between the two structures conducted in this study, we have successfully designed a stronger structure with minimal changes in the coefficient of behavior. Additionally, this design has allowed for greater energy dissipation during seismic events, further enhancing the structure's resilience to earthquakes. By comprehensively examining and reinforcing the vulnerability of buildings and infrastructure, along with implementing advanced risk assessment techniques, we can significantly reduce casualties and damages caused by earthquakes in Iran. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for civil engineering professionals in the field of structural engineering, aiding them in designing safer and more resilient structures.

Keywords: modal pushover analysis, response modification factor, high-strength concrete, concrete shear walls, high-rise building

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Authors: Lauren A. Bailey, Amber R. Childs, Nicola C. James, Murray I. Duncan, Alexander Winkler, Warren M. Potts

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Changes in behaviour and physiology are the most important responses of marine life to anthropogenic impacts such as climate change and over-fishing. Behavioural changes (such as a shift in distribution or changes in phenology) can ensure that a species remains in an environment suited for its optimal physiological performance. However, if marine life is unable to shift their distribution, they are reliant on physiological adaptation (either by broadening their metabolic curves to tolerate a range of stressors or by shifting their metabolic curves to maximize their performance at extreme stressors). However, since there are links between fish physiology and behaviour, changes to either of these traits may have reciprocal interactions. This paper reviews the current knowledge of the links between the behaviour and physiology of fishes, discusses these in the context of exploitation and climate change, and makes recommendations for future research needs. The review revealed that our understanding of the links between fish behaviour and physiology is rudimentary. However, both are hypothesized to be linked to stress responses along the hypothalamic pituitary axis. The link between physiological capacity and behaviour is particularly important as both determine the response of an individual to a changing climate and are under selection by fisheries. While it appears that all types of capture fisheries are likely to reduce the adaptive potential of fished populations to climate stressors, angling, which is primarily associated with recreational fishing, may induce fission of natural populations by removing individuals with bold behavioural traits and potentially the physiological traits required to facilitate behavioural change. Future research should focus on assessing how the links between physiological capacity and behaviour influence catchability, the response to climate change drivers, and post-release recovery. The plasticity of phenotypic traits should be examined under a range of stressors of differing intensity in several species and life history stages. Future studies should also assess plasticity (fission or fusion) in the phenotypic structuring of social hierarchy and how this influences habitat selection. Ultimately, to fully understand how physiology is influenced by the selective processes driven by fisheries, long-term monitoring of the physiological and behavioural structure of fished populations, their fitness, and catch rates are required.

Keywords: climate change, metabolic shifts, over-fishing, phenotypic plasticity, stress response

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Authors: Agnieszka Zalejska-Jonsson

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The Swedish Green Building Council (SGBC) was established in 2009. Since then, over 1000 buildings have been certified, of which approximately 600 are newly produced and 340 are residential buildings. During that time, approximately 2000 apartment buildings have been built in Sweden. This means that over a five- year period 17% of residential buildings have been certified according to the environmental building scheme. The certification of the building is not a guarantee of environmental progress but it gives us an indication of the extent of the progress. The overarching aim of this study is to investigate the factors behind the relatively slow evolution of the green residential housing market in Sweden. The intention is to examine stated willingness to pay (WTP) for green and low energy apartments, and to explore which factors have a significant effect on stated WTP among apartment owners. A green building was defined as a building certified according to the environmental scheme and a low energy building as a building designed and constructed with high energy efficiency goals. Data for this study were collected through a survey conducted among occupants of comparable apartment buildings: two green and one conventional. The total number of received responses was 429: green A (N=160), response rate 42%; green B (N=138) response rate 35%, and conventional (N=131) response rate 43%. The study applied a quasi-experimental method. Survey responses regarding factors affecting purchase of apartment, stated WTP and environmental literacy have been analysed using descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney (rank sum) test and logistic models. Comments received from respondents have been used for further interpretation of results. Results indicate that environmental education has a significant effect on stated WTP. Occupants who declared higher WTP showed a higher level of environmental literacy and indicated that energy efficiency was one of the important factors that affected their decision to buy an apartment. Generally, the respondents were more likely to pay more for low energy buildings than for green buildings. This is to a great extent a consequence of rational customer behaviour and difficulty in apprehending the meaning of green building certification. The analysis shows that people living in green buildings indicate higher WTP for both green and low energy buildings, the difference being statistically significant. It is concluded that growth in the green housing market in Sweden might be achieved if policymakers and developers engage in active education in the environmental labelling system. The demand for green buildings is more likely to increase when the difference between green and conventional buildings is easily understood and information is not only delivered by the estate agent, but is part of an environmental education programme.

Keywords: consumer, environmental education, housing market, stated WTP, Sweden

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Authors: Wen Shyong Hsieh, Chih Hsueh Lin

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In this paper, we combine the concepts of chameleon hash function (CHF) and identification based cryptography (IBC) to build a message authentication environment for VANET under sparse RSUs. Based on the CHF, TA keeps two common secrets that will be embedded to all identities to be as the evidence of mutual trusting. TA will issue one original identity to every RSU and vehicle. An identity contains one public ID and one private key. The public ID, includes three components: pseudonym, random key, and public key, is used to present one entity and can be verified to be a legal one. The private key is used to claim the ownership of the public ID. Based on the concept of IBC, without any negotiating process, a CHF pairing key multiplied by one private key and other’s public key will be used for mutually trusting and to be utilized as the session key of secure communicating between RSUs and vehicles. To help the vehicles to do message authenticating, the RSUs are assigned to response the vehicle’s temple identity request using two short time secretes that are broadcasted by TA. To light the loading of request information, one day is divided into M time slots. At every time slot, TA will broadcast two short time secretes to all valid RSUs for that time slot. Any RSU can response the temple identity request from legal vehicles. With the collected announcement of public IDs from the neighbor vehicles, a vehicle can set up its neighboring set, which includes the information about the neighbor vehicle’s temple public ID and temple CHF pairing key that can be derived by the private key and neighbor’s public key and will be used to do message authenticating or secure communicating without the help of RSU.

Keywords: Internet of Vehicles (IOV), Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), Chameleon Hash Function (CHF), message authentication

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Authors: Anna Perrone, Federico Martinelli

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Olive fruit is well-known for the high content in secondary metabolites with high interest at nutritional, nutraceutical, antioxidant, and healthy levels. The content of secondary metabolites in olive at harvest may be affected by different water regimes, with significant effects on olive oil composition and quality and, consequently, on its healthy and nutritional features. In this work, a summary of several research studies dealing with the biosynthesis of healthy and nutraceutical metabolites of the secondary metabolism in olive fruit will be reported. The phytochemical findings have been correlated with the expression of key genes involved in polyphenol, terpenoid, and carotenoid biosynthesis and metabolism in response to different development stages and water regimes. Flavonoids were highest in immature fruits, while anthocyanins increased at ripening. In epicarp tissue, this was clearly associated with an up-regulation of the UFGT gene. Olive fruits cultivated under different water regimes were analyzed by metabolomics. This method identified several hundred metabolites in the ripe mesocarp. Among them, 46 were differentially accumulated in the comparison between rain-fed and irrigated conditions. Well-known healthy metabolites were more abundant at a higher level of water regimes. Increased content of polyphenols was observed in the rain-fed fruit; particularly, anthocyanin concentration was higher at ripening. Several secondary metabolites were differentially accumulated between different irrigation conditions. These results showed that these metabolic approaches could be efficiently used to determine the effects of agronomic treatments on olive fruit physiology and, consequently, on nutritional and healthy properties of the obtained extra-virgin olive oil.

Keywords: olea europea, anthocyanins, polyphenols, water regimes

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Authors: Alok Madan, Ashok Gupta, Arshad K. Hashmi

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Non-linear dynamic time history analysis is considered as the most advanced and comprehensive analytical method for evaluating the seismic response and performance of multi-degree-of-freedom building structures under the influence of earthquake ground motions. However, effective and accurate application of the method requires the implementation of advanced hysteretic constitutive models of the various structural components including masonry infill panels. Sophisticated computational research tools that incorporate realistic hysteresis models for non-linear dynamic time-history analysis are not popular among the professional engineers as they are not only difficult to access but also complex and time-consuming to use. And, commercial computer programs for structural analysis and design that are acceptable to practicing engineers do not generally integrate advanced hysteretic models which can accurately simulate the hysteresis behavior of structural elements with a realistic representation of strength degradation, stiffness deterioration, energy dissipation and ‘pinching’ under cyclic load reversals in the inelastic range of behavior. In this scenario, push-over or non-linear static analysis methods have gained significant popularity, as they can be employed to assess the seismic performance of building structures while avoiding the complexities and difficulties associated with non-linear dynamic time-history analysis. “Push-over” or non-linear static analysis offers a practical and efficient alternative to non-linear dynamic time-history analysis for rationally evaluating the seismic demands. The present paper is based on the analytical investigation of the effect of distribution of masonry infill panels over the elevation of planar masonry infilled reinforced concrete (R/C) frames on the seismic demands using the capacity spectrum procedures implementing nonlinear static analysis (pushover analysis) in conjunction with the response spectrum concept. An important objective of the present study is to numerically evaluate the adequacy of the capacity spectrum method using pushover analysis for performance based design of masonry infilled R/C frames for near-field earthquake ground motions.

Keywords: nonlinear analysis, capacity spectrum method, response spectrum, seismic demand, near-field earthquakes

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Authors: Garry Gorman, Nigel McKelvey, James Connolly

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This study will evaluate a growth mindset intervention with Junior Cycle Coding and Senior Cycle Computer Science students in Ireland, where gamification will be used to incentivise growth mindset behaviour. An artificial intelligence (AI) driven personalised learning system will be developed to present computer programming learning tasks in a manner that is best suited to the individuals’ own learning preferences while incentivising and rewarding growth mindset behaviour of persistence, mastery response to challenge, and challenge seeking. This research endeavours to measure mindset with before and after surveys (conducted nationally) and by recording growth mindset behaviour whilst playing a digital game. This study will harness the capabilities of AI and aims to determine how a personalised learning (PL) experience can impact the mindset of a broad range of students. The focus of this study will be to determine how personalising the learning experience influences female and disadvantaged students' sense of belonging in the computer science classroom when tasks are presented in a manner that is best suited to the individual. Whole Brain Learning will underpin this research and will be used as a framework to guide the research in identifying key areas such as thinking and learning styles, cognitive potential, motivators and fears, and emotional intelligence. This research will be conducted in multiple school types over one academic year. Digital games will be played multiple times over this period, and the data gathered will be used to inform the AI algorithm. The three data sets are described as follows: (i) Before and after survey data to determine the grit scores and mindsets of the participants, (ii) The Growth Mind-Set data from the game, which will measure multiple growth mindset behaviours, such as persistence, response to challenge and use of strategy, (iii) The AI data to guide PL. This study will highlight the effectiveness of an AI-driven personalised learning experience. The data will position AI within the Irish educational landscape, with a specific focus on the teaching of CS. These findings will benefit coding and computer science teachers by providing a clear pedagogy for the effective delivery of personalised learning strategies for computer science education. This pedagogy will help prevent students from developing a fixed mindset while helping pupils to exhibit persistence of effort, use of strategy, and a mastery response to challenges.

Keywords: computer science education, artificial intelligence, growth mindset, pedagogy

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Authors: Fouzieh Rouzmehr, Mehdi Mousavi

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Hot mix asphalt concrete (HMAC) is a mixture of aggregates and bitumen. The primary ingredient that determines the mechanical properties of HMAC is the bitumen in it, which displays viscoelastic behavior under normal service conditions. For simplicity, asphalt concrete is considered an elastic material, but this is far from reality at high service temperatures and longer loading times. Viscoelasticity means that the material's stress-strain relationship depends on the strain rate and loading duration. The goal of this paper is to simulate the mechanical response of flexible pavements using linear elastic and viscoelastic modeling of asphalt concrete and predict pavement performance. Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) load will be simulated and the results for elastic and viscoelastic modeling will be evaluated. The viscoelastic simulation is performed by the Prony series, which will be modeled by using ANSYS software. Inflexible pavement design, tensile strain at the bottom of the surface layer and compressive strain at the top of the last layer plays an important role in the structural response of the pavement and they will imply the number of loads for fatigue (Nf) and rutting (Nd) respectively. The differences of these two modelings are investigated on fatigue cracking and rutting problem, which are the two main design parameters in flexible pavement design. Although the differences in rutting problem between the two models were negligible, in fatigue cracking, the viscoelastic model results were more accurate. Results indicate that modeling the flexible pavement with elastic material is efficient enough and gives acceptable results.

Keywords: flexible pavement, asphalt, FEM, viscoelastic, elastic, ANSYS, modeling

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Authors: Mehdi Nasr Esfahani, Abdal-Rasool Gholamalian, Abdelfattah A. Dababat

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Wheat, Triticum aestivum L. is one of the most important and strategic crops in the human diet. Several diseases threaten this particular crop. Common root rot disease of wheat by a fungal agent, Bipolaris sorokiniana is one of the important diseases, causing considerable losses worldwide. Resistant sources are the only feasible and effective method of control for managing diseases. In this study, the response of 33 domestic and exotic wheat genotypes, including cultivars and promising lines were screened to B. sorokiniana at greenhouse and field conditions, based on five scoring scale indexes of 0 to 100 severity percentage. The screening was continued on resistant wheat genotypes and repeated several times to confirm the greenhouse and field results. Statistical and cluster analysis of data was performed using SAS and SPSS software, respectively. The results showed that, the response of wheat genotypes to the disease in the greenhouse and field conditions was highly significant. The highest rate of common root rot disease infection, B. sorokiniana in the greenhouse and field, was of CVS. Karkheh and Beck Cross-Roshan with 60.83% and 59.16% disease severity respectively, and the lowest one were in cv. Alvand with 18.33%, followed by cv. Baharan with 19.16% disease severity, with a highly significant difference respectively. The remaining wheat genotypes were located in between these two highest and lowest infected groups to B. sorokiniana significantly. There was a high correlation coefficient between the related statistical groups and cluster analysis.

Keywords: wheat, rot, root, crown, fungus, genotype, resistance

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Authors: Abinaya Balasubramanian, Satyabrata Ghosh, Satyahari Dey

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Non-Digestible Oligosaccharides(NDOs) are low molecular weight carbohydrates with degree of polymerization (DP) 3-20, that are delivered intact to the large intestine. NDOs are gaining attention as effective prebiotic molecules that facilitate prevention and treatment of several chronic diseases. Recently, NDOs are being obtained by cleaving complex polysaccharides as it results in high yield and also as the former tend to display greater bioactivity. Thelebolus sp. IITKGP BT-12, a recently identified psychrophilic, Ascomycetes fungus has been reported to produce a bioactive extracellular polysaccharide(EPS). The EPS has been proved to possess strong prebiotic activity and anti- proliferative effects. The current study is an attempt to identify and optimise the most suitable method for hydrolysis of the above mentioned novel EPS into NDOs, and further purify and characterise the same. Among physical, chemical and enzymatic methods, enzymatic hydrolysis was identified as the best method and the optimum hydrolysis conditions obtained using response surface methodology were: reaction time of 24h, β-(1,3) endo-glucanase concentration of 0.53U and substrate concentration of 10 mg/ml. The NDOs were purified using gel filtration chromatography and their molecular weights were determined using MALDI-TOF. The major fraction was found to have a DP of 7,8. The monomeric units of the NDOs were confirmed to be glucose using TLC and GCMS-MS analysis. The obtained oligosaccharides proved to be non-digestible when subjected to gastric acidity, salivary and pancreatic amylases and hence could serve as efficient prebiotics.

Keywords: characterisation, enzymatic hydrolysis, non-digestible oligosaccharides, response surface methodology

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Authors: Seungsik Yu, Minho Kang

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As the threat of terrorism to nuclear facilities is increasing globally after the attacks of September 11, we are striving to recognize the physical protection system and strengthen the emergency response system. Since 2015, Korea has implemented physical protection security exercise for nuclear facilities. The exercise should be carried out with full cooperation between the operator and response forces. Performance testing of the physical protection system should include appropriate exercises, for example, force-on-force exercises, to determine if the response forces can provide an effective and timely response to prevent sabotage. Significant deficiencies and actions taken should be reported as stipulated by the competent authority. The IAEA(International Atomic Energy Agency) is also preparing force-on-force exercise program documents to support exercise of member states. Currently, ROK(Republic of Korea) is implementing exercise on the force-on-force exercise evaluation system which is developed by itself for the nuclear power plant, and it is necessary to establish the exercise procedure considering the use of the force-on-force exercise evaluation system. The purpose of this study is to establish the work procedures of the three major organizations related to the force-on-force exercise of nuclear power plants in ROK, which conduct exercise using force-on-force exercise evaluation system. The three major organizations are composed of licensee, KINAC (Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control), and the NSSC(Nuclear Safety and Security Commission). Major activities are as follows. First, the licensee establishes and conducts an exercise plan, and when recommendations are derived from the result of the exercise, it prepares and carries out a force-on-force result report including a plan for implementation of the recommendations. Other detailed tasks include consultation with surrounding units for adversary, interviews with exercise participants, support for document evaluation, and self-training to improve the familiarity of the MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System). Second, KINAC establishes a force-on-force exercise plan review report and reviews the force-on-force exercise plan report established by licensee. KINAC evaluate force-on-force exercise using exercise evaluation system and prepare training evaluation report. Other detailed tasks include MILES training, adversary consultation, management of exercise evaluation systems, and analysis of exercise evaluation results. Finally, the NSSC decides whether or not to approve the force-on-force exercise and makes a correction request to the nuclear facility based on the exercise results. The most important part of ROK's force-on-force exercise system is the analysis through the exercise evaluation system implemented by KINAC after the exercise. The analytical method proceeds in the order of collecting data from the exercise evaluation system and analyzing the collected data. The exercise application process of the exercise evaluation system introduced in ROK in 2016 will be concretely set up, and a system will be established to provide objective and consistent conclusions between exercise sessions. Based on the conclusions drawn up, the ultimate goal is to complement the physical protection system of licensee so that the system makes licensee respond effectively and timely against sabotage or unauthorized removal of nuclear materials.

Keywords: Force-on-Force exercise, nuclear power plant, physical protection, sabotage, unauthorized removal

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: I. V. Pinto, M. R. Sooriyarachchi

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It can be frequently observed that the data arising in our environment have a hierarchical or a nested structure attached with the data. Multilevel modelling is a modern approach to handle this kind of data. When multilevel modelling is combined with a binary response, the estimation methods get complex in nature and the usual techniques are derived from quasi-likelihood method. The estimation methods which are compared in this study are, marginal quasi-likelihood (order 1 & order 2) (MQL1, MQL2) and penalized quasi-likelihood (order 1 & order 2) (PQL1, PQL2). A statistical model is of no use if it does not reflect the given dataset. Therefore, checking the adequacy of the fitted model through a goodness-of-fit (GOF) test is an essential stage in any modelling procedure. However, prior to usage, it is also equally important to confirm that the GOF test performs well and is suitable for the given model. This study assesses the suitability of the GOF test developed for binary response multilevel models with respect to the method used in model estimation. An extensive set of simulations was conducted using MLwiN (v 2.19) with varying number of clusters, cluster sizes and intra cluster correlations. The test maintained the desirable Type-I error for models estimated using PQL2 and it failed for almost all the combinations of MQL. Power of the test was adequate for most of the combinations in all estimation methods except MQL1. Moreover, models were fitted using the four methods to a real-life dataset and performance of the test was compared for each model.

Keywords: goodness-of-fit test, marginal quasi-likelihood, multilevel modelling, penalized quasi-likelihood, power, quasi-likelihood, type-I error

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Iram Siddique

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Synthetic seed technology is an alternative to traditional micropropagation for production and delivery of cloned plantlets. Synthetic seeds were produced by encapsulating nodal segments of C. angustifolia in calcium alginate gel. 3% (w/v) sodium alginate and 100 mM CaCl2. 2H2O were found most suitable for encapsulation of nodal segments. Synthetic seeds cultured on half strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with thidiazuron (5.0 µM) + indole -3- acetic acid (1.0 µM) produced maximum number of shoots (10.9 ± 0.78) after 8 weeks of culture exhibiting (78%) in vitro conversion response. Encapsulated nodal segments demonstrated successful regeneration after different period (1-6 weeks) of cold storage at 4 °C. The synthetic seeds stored at 4 °C for a period of 4 weeks resulted in maximum conversion frequency (93%) after 8 weeks when placed back to regeneration medium. The isolated shoots when cultured on half strength MS medium supplemented with 1.0 µM indole -3- butyric acid (IBA), produced healthy roots and plantlets with well developed shoot and roots were successfully hardened off in plastic pots containing sterile soilrite inside the growth chamber and gradually transferred to greenhouse where they grew well with 85% survival rate. Changes in the content of photosynthetic pigments, net photosynthetic rate (PN), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity in C. angustifolia indicated the adaptation of micropropagated plants to ex vitro conditions.

Keywords: biochemical studies, nodal segments, rooting, synthetic seeds, thidiazuron

Procedia PDF Downloads 360

Authors: Siti Nur Syazni Mohd Zuki, Tan Ling Ling, Nina Suhaity Azmi, Chong Kwok Feng, Lee Yook Heng

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Nitrite (NO2-) ion is used prevalently as a preservative in processed meat. Elevated levels of nitrite also found in edible bird’s nests (EBNs). Consumption of NO2- ion at levels above the health-based risk may cause cancer in humans. Spectrophotometric Griess test is the simplest established standard method for NO2- ion detection, however, it requires careful control of pH of each reaction step and susceptible to strong oxidants and dyeing interferences. Other traditional methods rely on the use of laboratory-scale instruments such as GC-MS, HPLC and ion chromatography, which cannot give real-time response. Therefore, it is of significant need for devices capable of measuring nitrite concentration in-situ, rapidly and without reagents, sample pretreatment or extraction step. Herein, we constructed a microspheres-based microbial optode for visual quantitation of NO2- ion. Raoutella planticola, the bacterium expressing NAD(P)H nitrite reductase (NiR) enzyme has been successfully extracted by microbial technique from EBN collected from local birdhouse. The whole cells and the lipophilic Nile Blue chromoionophore were physically absorbed on the photocurable poly(n-butyl acrylate-N-acryloxysuccinimide) [poly (nBA-NAS)] microspheres, whilst the reduced coenzyme NAD(P)H was covalently immobilized on the succinimide-functionalized acrylic microspheres to produce a reagentless biosensing system. Upon the NiR enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of NAD(P)H to NAD(P)+, NO2- ion is reduced to ammonium hydroxide, and that a colour change from blue to pink of the immobilized Nile Blue chromoionophore is perceived as a result of deprotonation reaction increasing the local pH in the microspheres membrane. The microspheres-based optosensor was optimized with a reflectance spectrophotometer at 639 nm and pH 8. The resulting microbial bio-optode membrane could quantify NO2- ion at 0.1 ppm and had a linear response up to 400 ppm. Due to the large surface area to mass ratio of the acrylic microspheres, it allows efficient solid state diffusional mass transfer of the substrate to the bio-recognition phase, and achieve the steady state response as fast as 5 min. The proposed optical microbial biosensor requires no sample pre-treatment step and possesses high stability as the whole cell biocatalyst provides protection to the enzymes from interfering substances, hence it is suitable for measurements in contaminated samples.

Keywords: acrylic microspheres, microbial bio-optode, nitrite ion, reflectometric

Procedia PDF Downloads 448

Authors: Spada Alessia, Fiore Mariantonietta, Lamonaca Emilia, Contò Francesco

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Bioeconomy can give the chance to face new global challenges and can move ahead the transition from a waste economy to an economy based on renewable resources and sustainable consumption. Air pollution is a grave issue in green challenges, mainly caused by anthropogenic factors. The agriculture sector is a great contributor to global greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions due to lacking efficient management of the resources involved and research policies. In particular, livestock sector contributes to emissions of GHGs, deforestation, and nutrient imbalances. More effective agricultural research systems and technologies are crucial in order to improve farm productivity but also to reduce the GHGs emissions. Using data from FAOSTAT statistics and concern the EU countries; the aim of this research is to evaluate the impact of ASTI R&D (Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators) on GHGs emissions for countries EU in 2015 by generalized propensity score procedures, estimating a dose-response function, also considering a set of covariates. Expected results show the existence of the influence of ASTI R&D on GHGs across EU countries. Implications are crucial: reducing GHGs emissions by means of R&D based policies and correlatively reaching eco-friendly management of required resources by means of green available practices could have a crucial role for fair intra-generational implications.

Keywords: agricultural research systems, dose-response function, generalized propensity score, GHG emissions

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Taikchan Lildar, Ayesha Samad, Suraj Sookhu

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Atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response results in the loss of atrial kick and shortened ventricular filling time, which often leads to decompensated heart failure. Pharmacologic rhythm control is the treatment of choice, and patients frequently benefit from the restoration of sinus rhythm. When pharmacologic treatment is unsuccessful or a patient declines hemodynamically, direct cardioversion is the treatment of choice. Torsades de pointes or “twisting of the points'' in French, is a rare but under-appreciated risk of cardioversion therapy and accounts for a significant number of sudden cardiac death each year. A 61-year-old female with no significant past medical history presented to the Emergency Department with worsening dyspnea. An electrocardiogram showed atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response, and a chest X-ray was significant for bilateral pulmonary vascular congestion. Full-dose anticoagulation and diuresis were initiated with moderate improvement in symptoms. A transthoracic echocardiogram revealed biventricular systolic dysfunction with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 30%. After consultation with an electrophysiologist, the consensus was to proceed with the restoration of sinus rhythm, which would likely improve the patient’s heart failure symptoms and possibly the ejection fraction. A transesophageal echocardiogram was negative for left atrial appendage thrombus; the patient was treated with a loading dose of amiodarone and underwent successful direct current cardioversion with 200 Joules. The patient was placed on telemetry monitoring for 24 hours and was noted to have frequent premature ventricular contractions with subsequent degeneration to torsades de pointes. The patient was found unresponsive and pulseless; cardiopulmonary resuscitation was initiated with cardioversion, and return of spontaneous circulation was achieved after four minutes to normal sinus rhythm. Post-cardiac arrest electrocardiogram showed sinus bradycardia with heart-rate corrected QT interval of 592 milliseconds. The patient continued to have frequent premature ventricular contractions and required two additional cardioversions to achieve a return of spontaneous circulation with intravenous magnesium and lidocaine. An automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was subsequently implanted for secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death. The backup pacing rate of the automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was set higher than usual in an attempt to prevent premature ventricular contractions-induced torsades de pointes. The patient did not have any further ventricular arrhythmias after implantation of the automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Overdrive pacing is a method utilized to treat premature ventricular contractions-induced torsades de pointes by preventing a patient’s susceptibility to R on T-wave-induced ventricular arrhythmias. Pacing at a rate of 90 beats per minute succeeded in controlling the arrhythmia without the need for traumatic cardiac defibrillation. In our patient, conversion of atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response to normal sinus rhythm resulted in a slower heart rate and an increased probability of premature ventricular contraction occurring on the T-wave and ensuing ventricular arrhythmia. This case highlights direct current cardioversion for atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response resulting in persistent ventricular arrhythmia requiring an automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement with overdrive pacing to prevent a recurrence.

Keywords: refractory atrial fibrillation, atrial fibrillation, overdrive pacing, torsades de pointes

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: F. Bellali, M. Kharroubi, M. Loutfi, N.Bourhim

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In Morocco, fish processing industry is an important source income for a large amount of byproducts including skins, bones, heads, guts and scales. Those underutilized resources particularly scales contain a large amount of proteins and calcium. Scales from Sardina plichardus resulting from the transformation operation have the potential to be used as raw material for the collagen production. Taking into account this strong expectation of the regional fish industry, scales sardine upgrading is well justified. In addition, political and societal demands for sustainability and environment-friendly industrial production systems, coupled with the depletion of fish resources, drive this trend forward. Therefore, fish scale used as a potential source to isolate collagen has a wide large of applications in food, cosmetic and bio medical industry. The main aim of this study is to isolate and characterize the acid solubilize collagen from sardine fish scale, Sardina pilchardus. Experimental design methodology was adopted in collagen processing for extracting optimization. The first stage of this work is to investigate the optimization conditions of the sardine scale deproteinization on using response surface methodology (RSM). The second part focus on the demineralization with HCl solution or EDTA. Moreover, the last one is to establish the optimum condition for the isolation of collagen from fish scale by solvent extraction. The basic principle of RSM is to determinate model equations that describe interrelations between the independent variables and the dependent variables.

Keywords: Sardina pilchardus, scales, valorization, collagen extraction, response surface methodology

Procedia PDF Downloads 416

Authors: Seolah Lee, Yoohyk Jang, Soyoung Lee, Kon Chu, Sang Kun Lee

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Objective: The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) currently suggests a topiramate serum level range of 5-20 mg/L. However, numerous institutions have observed substantial drug response at lower levels. This study aims to investigate the correlation between topiramate serum levels, drug responsiveness, and adverse events to establish a more accurate and tailored therapeutic range. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed topiramate serum samples collected between January 2017 and January 2022 at Seoul National University Hospital. Clinical data, including serum levels, antiseizure regimens, seizure frequency, and adverse events, were collected. Patient responses were categorized as "insufficient" (reduction in seizure frequency <50%) or "sufficient" (reduction ≥ 50%). Within the "sufficient" group, further subdivisions included seizure-free and tolerable seizure subgroups. A population pharmacokinetic model estimated serum levels from spot measurements. ROC curve analysis determined the optimal serum level cut-off. Results: A total of 389 epilepsy patients, with 555 samples, were reviewed, having a mean dose of 178.4±117.9 mg/day and a serum level of 3.9±2.8 mg/L. Out of the samples, only 5.6% (n=31) exhibited insufficient response, with a mean serum level of 3.6±2.5 mg/L. In contrast, 94.4% (n=524) of samples demonstrated sufficient response, with a mean serum level of 4.0±2.8 mg/L. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.45). Among the 78 reported adverse events, logistic regression analysis identified a significant association between ataxia and serum concentration (p = 0.04), with an optimal cut-off value of 6.5 mg/L. In the subgroup of patients receiving monotherapy, those in the tolerable seizure group exhibited a significantly higher serum level compared to the seizure-free group (4.8±2.0 mg/L vs 3.4±2.3 mg/L, p < 0.01). Notably, patients in the tolerable seizure group displayed a higher likelihood of progressing into drug-resistant epilepsy during follow-up visits compared to the seizure-free group. Significance: This study proposed an optimal therapeutic concentration for topiramate based on the patient's responsiveness to the drug and the incidence of adverse effects. We employed a population pharmacokinetic model and analyzed topiramate serum levels to recommend a serum level below 6.5 mg/L to mitigate the risk of ataxia-related side effects. Our findings also indicated that topiramate dose elevation is unnecessary for suboptimal responders, as the drug's effectiveness plateaus at minimal doses.

Keywords: topiramate, therapeutic range, low dos, antiseizure effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Pejman Taghibeikzadehbadr

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Muscle contraction stimulates a transient change of myogenic factors, partly related to the mode of contractions. Here, we assessed the response of Insulin-like growth factor 1Ea (IGF-1Ea), Insulin-like growth factor 1Eb (IGF-1Eb), Insulin-like growth factor 1Ec (IGF-1Ec), Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α-1), Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 4-alpha (PGC1α-4), and myostatin to the eccentric Vs the concentric contraction in human skeletal muscle. Ten healthy males were performed an acute eccentric and concentric exercise bout (n = 5 per group). For each contraction type, participants performed 12 sets of 10 repetitions knee extension by the dominant leg. Baseline and post-exercise muscle biopsy were taken 4 weeks before and immediately after experimental sessions from Vastus Lateralis muscle. Genes expression was measured by real-time PCR technique. There was a significant increase in PGC1α-1, PGC1α-4, IGF-1Ea and, IGF-1Eb mRNA after concentric contraction (p ≤ 0.05), while the PGC1α-4 and IGF-1Ec significantly increased after eccentric contraction (p ≤ 0.05). It is intriguing to highlight that; no significant differences between groups were evident for changes in any variables following exercise bouts (p ≥ 0.05). Our results found that concentric and eccentric contractions presented different responses in PGC1α-1, IGF-1Ea, IGF-1Eb, and IGF-1Ec mRNA. However, a similar significant increase in mRNA content was observed in PGC1α-4. Further, no apparent differences could be found between the response of genes to eccentric and concentric contraction.

Keywords: eccentric contraction, concentric contraction, gene expression, PGC-1 alpha, IGF-1 Myostatin

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Kuen Ming Shu, Ren Kai Ho

Abstract:

Ultrasonic horn has the functions of amplifying amplitude and reducing resonant impedance in ultrasonic system. Its primary function is to amplify deformation or velocity during vibration and focus ultrasonic energy on the small area. It is a crucial component in design of ultrasonic vibration system. There are five common design methods for ultrasonic horns: analytical method, equivalent circuit method, equal mechanical impedance, transfer matrix method, finite element method. In addition, the general optimization design process is to change the geometric parameters to improve a single performance. Therefore, in the general optimization design process, we couldn't find the relation of parameter and objective. However, a good optimization design must be able to establish the relationship between input parameters and output parameters so that the designer can choose between parameters according to different performance objectives and obtain the results of the optimization design. In this study, an ultrasonic horn provided by Maxwide Ultrasonic co., Ltd. was used as the contrast of optimized ultrasonic horn. The ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) software was used to simulate the distribution of the horn amplitudes and the natural frequency value. The results showed that the frequency for the simulation values and actual measurement values were similar, verifying the accuracy of the simulation values. The ANSYS DesignXplorer was used to perform Response Surface optimization, which could shows the relation of parameter and objective. Therefore, this method can be used to substitute the traditional experience method or the trial-and-error method for design to reduce material costs and design cycles.

Keywords: horn, natural frequency, response surface optimization, ultrasonic vibration

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Hanwei Gao, Louis Jezequel, Eric Cabrol, Bernard Vitry

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The chassis system is composed of complex elements that take up all the loads from the tire-ground contact area and thus it plays an important role in numerous specifications such as durability, comfort, crash, etc. During the development of new vehicle projects in Renault, durability validation is always the main focus while deployment of comfort comes later in the project. Therefore, sometimes design choices have to be reconsidered because of the natural incompatibility between these two specifications. Besides, robustness is also an important point of concern as it is related to manufacturing costs as well as the performance after the ageing of components like shock absorbers. In this paper an approach is proposed aiming to realize a multi-objective optimization between chassis endurance and comfort while taking the random factors into consideration. The adaptive-sparse polynomial chaos expansion method (PCE) with Chebyshev polynomial series has been applied to predict responses’ uncertainty intervals of a system according to its uncertain-but-bounded parameters. The approach can be divided into three steps. First an initial design of experiments is realized to build the response surfaces which represent statistically a black-box system. Secondly within several iterations an optimum set is proposed and validated which will form a Pareto front. At the same time the robustness of each response, served as additional objectives, is calculated from the pre-defined parameter intervals and the response surfaces obtained in the first step. Finally an inverse strategy is carried out to determine the parameters’ tolerance combination with a maximally acceptable degradation of the responses in terms of manufacturing costs. A quarter car model has been tested as an example by applying the road excitations from the actual road measurements for both endurance and comfort calculations. One indicator based on the Basquin’s law is defined to compare the global chassis durability of different parameter settings. Another indicator related to comfort is obtained from the vertical acceleration of the sprung mass. An optimum set with best robustness has been finally obtained and the reference tests prove a good robustness prediction of Chebyshev PCE method. This example demonstrates the effectiveness and reliability of the approach, in particular its ability to save computational costs for a complex system.

Keywords: chassis durability, Chebyshev polynomials, multi-objective optimization, polynomial chaos expansion, ride comfort, robust design

Procedia PDF Downloads 152