Search results for: health system reconstruction

Authors: Magda Kosmal, Anna A. Kuśnierz, Joanna Rybicka-Łada

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In the case of waste glass cullet, a fully functioning recycling system for individual glass industries was developed, while recycling of cement dust encounters a number of difficulties and is conducted to a limited extent in the packaging and flat glass industry. The aim of the project was to examine the possibility of using dust arising in cement plants in the process of melting various types of glasses. Dust management has a positive effect on the aspect of environmental protection and ecology. Sets have been designed, and the parameters of the melting process have been optimized. Glasses were obtained with the addition of selected cement dust on a laboratory scale, using DTA, XRD, SEM tests, and a gradient furnace was conducted to check the tendency to crystallization.

Keywords: cement dust, crystallization, glass, XRD, SEM

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Authors: Rade M. Ciric, Nikola L. J. Rajakovic

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This paper presents a curriculum of the subject small power plants and renewable energy sources, dealing with the concept of distributed generation, renewable energy sources, hydropower, wind farms, geothermal power plants, cogeneration plants, biogas plants of agriculture and animal origin, solar power and fuel cells. The course is taught the manner of connecting small power plants to the grid, the impact of small generators on the distribution system, as well as economic, environmental and legal aspects of operation of distributed generators.

Keywords: distributed generation, renewable energy sources, energy policy, curriculum

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Authors: P. Treyer, M. Kujda, H. Urs

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The purpose of this paper is to digitally compensate for the apparent discharge time constant of the coaxial cable so that the current step response is flat and can be used to calibrate current transducers using the convolution method. For proper use of convolution, the step response record length is required to be at least the same as the waveform duration to be evaluated. The current step generator based on the cable discharge is compared to the Blumlein generator. Moreover, the influence of each component of the system on the performance of the step is described, which allows building the appropriate measurement set-up. In the end, the calibration of current viewing resistors dedicated to high current impulse is computed.

Keywords: Blumlein generator, cable attenuation, convolution, current step generator

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Authors: Huiru Chen, Xuran Zhang

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At present, the residential architecture in China are still causing high energy consumption and high pollution during their whole life cycle, which can be backward compared with the developed countries. The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of green technology to residential architecture in Hangzhou. This article will start with the development of green buildings, then analyzes the use status of green technology in Hangzhou from several specific measures. Analysis of the typical existing green residential buildings in Hangzhou is an attempt to form a preliminary Hangzhou’s green technology application strategy system. Through research, it has been found that the application of green technology in Hangzhou has changed from putting green to the facade, to the combination of the preservation of the traditional green concept and the modern green technology.

Keywords: application, green technology, Hangzhou, residential architecture

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Authors: George Charkoftakis, Panagiotis Liosatos, Nicolas-Alexander Tatlas, Dimitrios Goustouridis, Stelios M. Potirakis

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E-maintenance is a relatively new concept, generally referring to maintenance management by monitoring assets over the Internet. One of the key links in the chain of an e-maintenance system is data acquisition and transmission. Specifically for the case of a fleet of heavy-duty vehicles, where the main challenge is the diversity of the vehicles and vehicle-embedded self-diagnostic/reporting technologies, the design of the data acquisition and transmission unit is a demanding task. This clear if one takes into account that a heavy-vehicles fleet assortment may range from vehicles with only a limited number of analog sensors monitored by dashboard light indicators and gauges to vehicles with plethora of sensors monitored by a vehicle computer producing digital reporting. The present work proposes an adaptable internet of things (IoT) sensor node that is capable of addressing this challenge. The proposed sensor node architecture is based on the increasingly popular single-board computer – expansion boards approach. In the proposed solution, the expansion boards undertake the tasks of position identification by means of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), cellular connectivity by means of 3G/long-term evolution (LTE) modem, connectivity to on-board diagnostics (OBD), and connectivity to analog and digital sensors by means of a novel design of expansion board. Specifically, the later provides eight analog plus three digital sensor channels, as well as one on-board temperature / relative humidity sensor. The specific device offers a number of adaptability features based on appropriate zero-ohm resistor placement and appropriate value selection for limited number of passive components. For example, although in the standard configuration four voltage analog channels with constant voltage sources for the power supply of the corresponding sensors are available, up to two of these voltage channels can be converted to provide power to the connected sensors by means of corresponding constant current source circuits, whereas all parameters of analog sensor power supply and matching circuits are fully configurable offering the advantage of covering a wide variety of industrial sensors. Note that a key feature of the proposed sensor node, ensuring the reliable operation of the connected sensors, is the appropriate supply of external power to the connected sensors and their proper matching to the IoT sensor node. In standard mode, the IoT sensor node communicates to the data center through 3G/LTE, transmitting all digital/digitized sensor data, IoT device identity, and position. Moreover, the proposed IoT sensor node offers WiFi connectivity to mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) equipped with an appropriate application for the manual registration of vehicle- and driver-specific information, and these data are also forwarded to the data center. All control and communication tasks of the IoT sensor node are performed by dedicated firmware. It is programmed with a high-level language (Python) on top of a modern operating system (Linux). Acknowledgment: This research has been co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH—CREATE—INNOVATE (project code: T1EDK- 01359, IntelligentLogger).

Keywords: IoT sensor nodes, e-maintenance, single-board computers, sensor expansion boards, on-board diagnostics

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Authors: Unsain Dianne, Roussel Audrey, Goude Gwenaëlle, Magniez Pierre, Storå Jan

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This paper aims to investigate the changes in husbandry practices and meat consumption during the transition from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to the Little Ice Age in the South of France. More precisely, we will investigate breeding strategies, animal size and health status, carcass exploitation strategies, and the impact of socioeconomic status on human-environment interactions. For that purpose, we will analyze faunal remains from ten sites equally distributed between the two periods. Those include consumers from different socio-economic backgrounds (peasants, city dwellers, soldiers, lords, and the Popes). The research will employ different methods used in zooarchaeology: comparative anatomy, biometry, pathologies analyses, traceology, and utility indices, as well as experimental archaeology, to reconstruct and understand the changes in animal breeding and consumption practices. Their analysis will allow the determination of modifications in the animal production chain, with the composition of the flocks (species, size), their management (age, sex, health status), culinary practices (strategies for the exploitation of carcasses, cooking, tastes) or the importance of trade (butchers, sales of processed animal products). The focus will also be on the social extraction of consumers. The aim will be to determine whether climate change has had a greater impact on the most modest groups (such as peasants), whether the consequences have been global and have also affected the highest levels of society, or whether the social and economic factors have been sufficient to balance out the climatic hazards, leading to no significant changes. This study will contribute to our understanding of the impact of climate change on breeding and consumption strategies in medieval society from a historical and social point of view. It combines various research methods to provide a comprehensive analysis of the changes in human-animal interactions during different climatic periods.

Keywords: archaeology, animal economy, cooking, husbandry practices, climate change, France

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Authors: Reza Hedayati, Meysam Jahanbakhshi

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Elastic energy absorbers which consist of a ring-liked plate and springs can be a good choice for increasing the impact duration during an accident. In the current project, an energy absorber system is optimized using four optimizing methods Kuhn-Tucker, Sequential Linear Programming (SLP), Concurrent Subspace Design (CSD), and Pshenichny-Lim-Belegundu-Arora (PLBA). Time solution, convergence, Programming Length and accuracy of the results were considered to find the best solution algorithm. Results showed the superiority of PLBA over the other algorithms.

Keywords: Concurrent Subspace Design (CSD), Kuhn-Tucker, Pshenichny-Lim-Belegundu-Arora (PLBA), Sequential Linear Programming (SLP)

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Authors: Muhammad Rizwan Akram, Saim Raza, Hamza Hanif Chauhan

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This paper describes the aim of research to evaluate the performance of ordinary Portland concretes containing cement replacement materials in both binary and ternary system. Blocks of concrete were prepared to have a constant water-binder ratio of 0.30. The test variables included the type and the amount of the supplementary cementious materials (SCMs) such as class of Silica Fume (SF) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). Portland cement was replaced with Silica Fume (SF) upto 7.5% and GGBS up to a level of 50%. Then physical properties are assessed from the compressive strength and permeability tests.

Keywords: silica fume, GGBS, compressive strength, permeability

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Authors: Wiesława Klimek-Piotrowska, Mateusz K. Hołda, Mateusz Koziej, Katarzyna Piątek, Jakub Hołda

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Introduction: The coronary sinus venous system (CSVS), which has always been overshadowed by the coronary arterial tree, has recently begun to attract more attention. Since it is a target for clinicians the knowledge of its anatomy is essential. Cardiac resynchronization therapy, catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias, defibrillation, perfusion therapy, mitral valve annuloplasty, targeted drug delivery, and retrograde cardioplegia administration are commonly used therapeutic methods involving the CSVS. The great variability in the course of coronary veins and tributaries makes the diagnostic and therapeutic processes difficult. Our aim was to investigate detailed anatomy of most common clinically used CSVS`s structures: the coronary sinus with its ostium, great cardiac vein, posterior vein of the left ventricle, middle cardiac vein and oblique vein of the left atrium. Methodology: This is a prospective study of 70 randomly selected autopsied hearts dissected from adult humans (Caucasian) aged 50.1±17.6 years old (24.3% females) with BMI=27.6±6.7 kg/m2. The morphology of the CSVS was assessed as well as its precise measurements were performed. Results: The coronary sinus (CS) with its ostium was present in all hearts. The mean CS ostium diameter was 9.9±2.5mm. Considered ostium was covered by its valve in 87.1% with mean valve height amounted 5.1±3.1mm. The mean percentage coverage of the CS ostium by the valve was 56%. The Vieussens valve was present in 71.4% and was unicuspid in 70%, bicuspid in 26% and tricuspid in 4% of hearts. The great cardiac vein was present in all cases. The oblique vein of the left atrium was observed in 84.3% of hearts with mean length amounted 20.2±9.3mm and mean ostium diameter 1.4±0.9mm. The average length of the CS (from the CS ostium to the Vieussens valve) was 31.1±9.5mm or (from the CS ostium to the ostium of the oblique vein of the left atrium) 28.9±10.1mm and both were correlated with the heart weight (r=0.47; p=0.00 and r=0.38; p=0.006 respectively). In 90.5% the ostium of the oblique vein of the left atrium was located proximally to the Vieussens valve, in remaining cases was distally. The middle cardiac vein was present in all hearts and its valve was noticed in more than half of all the cases (52.9%). The posterior vein of the left ventricle was observed in 91.4% of cases. Conclusions: The CSVS is vastly variable and none of basic hearts parameters is a good predictor of its morphology. The Vieussens valve could be a significant obstacle during CS cannulation. Caution should be exercised in this area to avoid coronary sinus perforation. Because of the higher incidence of the presence of the oblique vein of the left atrium than the Vieussens valve, the vein orifice is more useful in determining the CS length.

Keywords: cardiac resynchronization therapy, coronary sinus, Thebesian valve, Vieussens valve

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Authors: Song Ni, Junxiang Xu

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This paper concerns quasi-periodic perturbations with parameters of 2-dimensional degenerate systems. If the equilibrium point of the unperturbed system is elliptic-type degenerate. Assume that the perturbation is real analytic quasi-periodic with diophantine frequency. Without imposing any assumption on the perturbation, we can use a path of equilibrium points to tackle with the Melnikov non-resonance condition, then by the Leray-Schauder Continuation Theorem and the Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser technique, it is proved that the equation has a small response solution for many sufficiently small parameters.

Keywords: quasi-periodic systems, KAM-iteration, degenerate equilibrium point, response solution

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Authors: Amjad F. Alharbi, Bashayer A. Alotaibi, Fahd S. Alotaibi

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The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) technology provides capabilities for a huge number of smart devices, services and people to be communicate with each other for exchanging data and information over existing network. While as IoT is progressing, it provides many opportunities for new ways of communications as well it introduces many security and privacy threats and challenges which need to be considered for the future of IoT development. In this survey paper, an IoT security issues as threats and current challenges are summarized. The security architecture for IoT are presented from four main layers. Based on these layers, the IoT security requirements are presented to insure security in the whole system. Furthermore, some researches initiatives related to IoT security are discussed as well as the future direction for IoT security are highlighted.

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT), IoT security challenges, IoT security requirements, IoT security architecture

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Authors: Julie Devine

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This presentation will look at the approaches to teaching grammar taken over two years with students studying Japanese in the last two years of high school. The main focus is an enquiry based approach to grammar introduction and a three tier system using videos and online support material to allow for differentiation and personalised learning in the classroom. The aim is to create space for motivated students to do some higher order activities using the target pattern to solve problems and create scenarios. Less motivated students have time to complete basic exercises and struggling students have some time with the teacher in smaller groups.

Keywords: differentiation, digital technologies, personalised learning plans, student engagement

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Authors: Benjamin Thomas Greer, Grace Cotulla, Mandy Johnson

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Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing international crimes and human rights violations in the world. The United States Department of State (State Department) approximates some 800,000 to 900,000 people are annually trafficked across sovereign borders, with approximately 14,000 to 17,500 of these people coming into the United States. Today’s slavery is conducted by unscrupulous individuals who are often connected to organized criminal enterprises and transnational gangs, extracting huge monetary sums. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), human traffickers collect approximately $32 billion worldwide annually. Surpassed only by narcotics dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with illegal arms sales as the second largest criminal industry in the world and is the fastest growing field in the 21st century. Perpetrators of this heinous crime abound. They are not limited to single or “sole practitioners” of human trafficking, but rather, often include Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO), domestic street gangs, labor contractors, and otherwise seemingly ordinary citizens. Monetary gain is being elevated over territorial disputes and street gangs are increasingly operating in a collaborative effort with TCOs to further disguise their criminal activity; to utilizing their vast networks, in an attempt to avoid detection. Traffickers rely on a network of clandestine routes to sell their commodities with impunity. As law enforcement agencies seek to retard the expansion of transnational criminal organization’s entry into human trafficking, it is imperative that they develop reliable trafficking mapping of known exploitative routes. In a recent report given to the Mexican Congress, The Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) disclosed, from 2008 to 2010 they had identified at least 47 unique criminal networking routes used to traffic victims and that Mexico’s estimated domestic victims number between 800,000 adults and 20,000 children annually. Designing a reliable mapping system is a crucial step to effective law enforcement response and deploying a successful victim support system. Creating this mapping analytic is exceedingly difficult. Traffickers are constantly changing the way they traffic and exploit their victims. They swiftly adapt to local environmental factors and react remarkably well to market demands, exploiting limitations in the prevailing laws. This article will highlight how human trafficking has become one of the fastest growing and most high profile human rights violations in the world today; compile current efforts to map and illustrate trafficking routes; and will demonstrate how the proprietary analytical mapping analysis of point-source and destination-source mapping can help local law enforcement, governmental agencies and victim services providers effectively respond to the type and nature of trafficking to their specific geographical locale. Trafficking transcends state and international borders. It demands an effective and consistent cooperation between local, state, and federal authorities. Each region of the world has different impact factors which create distinct challenges for law enforcement and victim services. Our mapping system lays the groundwork for a targeted anti-trafficking response.

Keywords: human trafficking, mapping, routes, law enforcement intelligence

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Authors: Chia-Hsun Chang

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Background: Combination of drug treatment, dietary management, and regular exercise can effectively control type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Performing daily physical activities other than structured exercise is much easier and whether daily physical activities including work, walking, housework, gardening, leisure exercise, or transportation have a similar effect on diabetes control is not well studied.Aims and Objectives: This study aims to determine whether daily physical activity undertaken by patients with T2DM is associated with their diabetes control. Design: A correlation study with prospective design. Methods: Purposive sampling of 206 patients with T2DM was recruited from a medical center in Central Taiwan. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess daily levels of physical activities, and the Diabetes Compliance Questionnaire was used to assess medication and dietary compliance. Data of diabetes control (hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c)were followed up every three months for one year after recruitment. Results: In this study, the average age of the participants was 62.5 years (±10.4 years), and the average duration of diabetes since diagnosis was 13.2 years (±7.8), 112 of the participants were women (54.4%) and 94 of the participants were men (45.6%). The mean HbA1c level was 7.8% (±1.4), and 78.2% of the participants presented with unsatisfactory diabetes control. Because the participants were distributed across a wide age range, and their physical health, activity levels, and comorbidities might have varied with age, the participants were divided into two groups: 121 participants who were younger than 65 years (58.7%) and 85 participants who were older than 65 years (41.3%). Both younger (< 65 years) and older (> 65 years) patients with diabetes engaged in more moderate and low levels of physical activity (89.3% and 87%, respectively). Results showed that the levels of daily physical activity were not significantly associated with diabetes control after adjustment for medication and dietary compliance in both groups. Conclusion: Performing daily physical activity is not significantly correlated with diabetes control. Daily physical activity cannot completely replace exercise. Relevance to Clinical Practice: Health personnel must encourage patients to engage in exercise that is planned, structured, and repetitive for improving diabetes control.

Keywords: daily physical activity, diabetes control, international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ), type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM)

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Authors: T. Qasim, M. Alqawasmi, M. Hawash, M. Betar, W. Qasim

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Over the last decade, the over population that has happened in urban areas has been reflecting on the services that various local institutions provide to car users in the form of car parks, which is becoming a daily necessity in our lives. This study focuses on car parks at Jordan University of Science and Technology, in Irbid, Jordan, to understand the university parking needs. Data regarding arrival and departure times of cars and the parking utilization were collected, to find various options that the university can implement to solve and develop an efficient car parking system. Arena software was used to simulate a parking model. This model allows measuring the different solutions that solve the parking problem at Jordan University of Science and Technology.

Keywords: car park, simulation, modeling, service time

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Authors: Mireya Mateo Gomez

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The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions first-generation Mexican origin mothers living in San Diego have on postpartum depression (PPD), with a special focus on social influences and cultural beliefs towards those meanings. This study also aimed to examine possible PPD help-seeking behaviors that first-generation Mexican origin mothers can perform. The Health Belief Model (HBM) and Social Ecological Model (SEM) were the guiding theoretical frameworks for this study. Data for this study were collected from three focus groups, four in-depth interviews, and the distribution of an acculturation survey (ARSMA II). There were a total of 15 participants, in which participant’s mean age was 45, and the mean age migrated to the United States being 22. Most participants identified as being married, born in Southern or Western Mexico, and with a strong Mexican identity in relation to the ARSMA survey. Participants identified four salient PPD perceptions corresponding to the interpersonal level of SEM. These four main perceptions were: 1) PPD affecting the identity of motherhood; 2) PPD being a natural part of a mother’s experience but mitigated by networks; 3) PPD being a U.S. phenomenon due to family and community breakdown; and 4) natural remedies as a preferred PPD treatment. In regard to themes relating to help seeking behaviors, participants identified seven being: 1) seeking help from immediate family members; 2) practicing home remedies; 3) seeking help from a medical professional; 4) obtaining help from a clinic or organization; 5) seeking help from God; 6) participating in PPD support groups; and 7) talking to a friend. It was evident in this study that postpartum depression is not a well discussed topic within the Mexican immigrant population. In relation to the role culture and social influences have on PPD perceptions, most participants shared hearing or learning about PPD from their family members or friends. Participants also stated seeking help from family members if diagnosed with PPD and seeking out home remedies. This study as well provides suggestions to increase the awareness of PPD among the Mexican immigrant community.

Keywords: cultural beliefs, health belief model, Mexican origin mothers, perceptions, postpartum depression social ecological model

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Authors: Qianjia Cheng, Hongquan Jiang

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Crowdsourcing solves the problems that computers can't handle by integrating computers and the Internet. Its extensive knowledge sources, high efficiency and high quality, make crowdsourcing attract wide attention in industry and academia in recent years. The development of online crowdsourcing platforms such as Clickworker and Amazon Mechanical Turk(Mturk) tend to mature gradually. This paper sorts out the concept of crowdsourcing, sorts out the workflow of competitive crowdsourcing, summarizes the related technologies of crowdsourcing based on the workflow, quality control, cost control and delay control, introduces the typical crowdsourcing platform. Finally, we highlight some open problems of the current crowdsourcing and present some future research direction in this area.

Keywords: application, crowdsourcing, crowdsourcing platform, system architecture

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Authors: Reza Safdari, Goli Arji, Robab Abdolkhani Maryam zahmatkeshan

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Background and purpose: Cardiovascular diseases are among the most common diseases in all societies. The most important step in minimizing myocardial infarction and its complications is to minimize its risk factors. The amount of medical data is increasingly growing. Medical data mining has a great potential for transforming these data into information. Using data mining techniques to generate predictive models for identifying those at risk for reducing the effects of the disease is very helpful. The present study aimed to collect data related to risk factors of heart infarction from patients’ medical record and developed predicting models using data mining algorithm. Methods: The present work was an analytical study conducted on a database containing 350 records. Data were related to patients admitted to Shahid Rajaei specialized cardiovascular hospital, Iran, in 2011. Data were collected using a four-sectioned data collection form. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and Clementine version 12. Seven predictive algorithms and one algorithm-based model for predicting association rules were applied to the data. Accuracy, precision, sensitivity, specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values were determined and the final model was obtained. Results: five parameters, including hypertension, DLP, tobacco smoking, diabetes, and A+ blood group, were the most critical risk factors of myocardial infarction. Among the models, the neural network model was found to have the highest sensitivity, indicating its ability to successfully diagnose the disease. Conclusion: Risk prediction models have great potentials in facilitating the management of a patient with a specific disease. Therefore, health interventions or change in their life style can be conducted based on these models for improving the health conditions of the individuals at risk.

Keywords: decision trees, neural network, myocardial infarction, Data Mining

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Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh, Bhabani Prasad Mukhopadhay

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Rice milling is an important activity in agricultural economy of India, particularly the Burdwan district. However, the environmental impact of rice mills is frequently underestimated. The environmental impact of rice mills in the Burdwan district is a major source of concern, given the importance of rice milling in the local economy and food supply. In the Burdwan district, more than fifty (50) rice mills are in operation. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of rice mills on several environmental components, with a particular emphasis on groundwater, surface water, soil, and vegetation. The research comprises a thorough review of numerous rice mills located around the district, utilising both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Water samples taken from wells near rice mills will be tested for groundwater quality, with an emphasis on factors such as heavy metal pollution and pollutant concentrations. Monitoring rice mill discharge into neighbouring bodies of water and studying the potential impact on aquatic ecosystems will be part of surface water evaluations. Furthermore, soil samples from the surrounding areas will be taken to examine changes in soil characteristics, nutrient content, and potential contamination from milling waste disposal. Vegetation studies will be conducted to investigate the effects of emissions and effluents on plant health and biodiversity in the region. The findings will provide light on the extent of environmental degradation caused by rice mills in the Burdwan district, as well as valuable insight into the effects of such operations on water, soil, and vegetation. The findings will aid in the development of appropriate legislation and regulations to reduce negative environmental repercussions and promote sustainable practises in the rice milling business. In some cases, heavy metals have been related to health problems. Heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, Hg) are linked to skin, lung, brain, kidney, liver, metabolic, spleen, cardiovascular, haematological, immunological, gastrointestinal, testes, pancreatic, metabolic, and bone problems. As a result, this study contributes to a better knowledge of industrial environmental impacts and establishes the framework for future studies aimed at developing a more ecologically balanced and resilient Burdwan district. The following recommendations are offered for reducing the rice mill's environmental impact: To keep untreated effluents out of bodies of water, adequate waste management systems must be established. Use environmentally friendly rice milling processes to reduce pollution. To avoid soil pollution, rice mill by-products should be used as fertiliser in a controlled and appropriate manner. Groundwater, surface water, soil, and vegetation are all regularly monitored in order to study and adapt to environmental changes. By adhering to these principles, the rice milling industry of Burdwan district may achieve long-term growth while lowering its environmental effect and safeguarding the environment for future generations.

Keywords: groundwater, environmental analysis, biodiversity, rice mill, waste management, diseases, industrial impact

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Authors: Lata Kiran Dey, Rajendra Kumar, Biren Karmakar

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Web Real Time Communications is a collection of standards, protocols, which provides real-time communications capabilities between web browsers and devices. This paper outlines the design and further implementation of web real-time communications on secure web applications having audio and video call capabilities. This proposed application may put up a system that will be able to work over both desktops as well as the mobile browser. Though, WebRTC also gives a set of JavaScript standard RTC APIs, which primarily works over the real-time communication framework. This helps to build a suitable communication application, which enables the audio, video, and message transfer in between the today’s modern browsers having WebRTC support.

Keywords: WebRTC, SIP, RTC, JavaScript, SRTP, secure web sockets, browser

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Authors: Zahra Yadollahi, Marjan Motiei, Natalia Kazantseva, Petr Saha

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Chitosan (CS)-whey protein isolate (WPI) core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized through self-assembly of whey protein isolated polyanions and chitosan polycations in the presence of tripolyphosphate (TPP) as a crosslinker. The formation of this type of nanostructures with narrow particle size distribution is crucial for developing delivery systems since the functional characteristics highly depend on their sizes. To achieve this goal, the nanostructure was optimized by varying the concentrations of WPI, CS, and TPP in the reaction mixture. The chemical characteristics, surface morphology, and particle size of the nanoparticles were evaluated.

Keywords: whey protein isolated, chitosan, nanoparticles, delivery system

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Authors: Samia Dardouri, Ridha Bouallegue

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Scheduling is the process of dynamically allocating physical resources to User Equipment (UE) based on scheduling algorithms implemented at the LTE base station. Various algorithms have been proposed by network researchers as the implementation of scheduling algorithm which represents an open issue in Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. This paper makes an attempt to study and compare the performance of PF, MLWDF and EXP/PF scheduling algorithms. The evaluation is considered for a single cell with interference scenario for different flows such as Best effort, Video and VoIP in a pedestrian and vehicular environment using the LTE-Sim network simulator. The comparative study is conducted in terms of system throughput, fairness index, delay, packet loss ratio (PLR) and total cell spectral efficiency.

Keywords: LTE, multimedia flows, scheduling algorithms, mobile computing

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Authors: Kamaladevi Kunkolienker

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This paper appreciates the stimulating and thought-provoking synthesis of Heraclitus’ philosophy offered by Sri Aurobindo. The deep philosophical insights of Heraclitus expressed in aphoristic and cryptic form inspired him and supported his system of Integral Yoga. An attempt is made to reconstruct and synthesize Eastern and Western philosophical insights through hermeneutical treatment of many concepts. Aurobindo points out the sameness and kinship between Heraclitus’ thought and concepts from Vedic and upanishadic texts with illustrations and thus undertakes the task of synthesizing them. This fruitful synthesis also brings out the scientific perspective of Heraclitus’ thought and showcases it as a rare flowering of philosophy. It also enables the thinkers to reflect, reinterpret and synthesize such philosophies to bring out their significance in post-modern philosophy and science.

Keywords: all, change, fire, one

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Authors: Martins A. Adefisoye, Mpaka Lindelwa, Fadare Folake, Anthony I. Okoh

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Evolution and rapid dissemination of antibiotic resistance from one ecosystem to another has been responsible for wide-scale epidemic and endemic spreads of multi-drug resistance pathogens. This study assessed the prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae in different environmental samples, including river water, hospital effluents, abattoir wastewater, animal rectal swabs and faecal droppings, soil, and vegetables, using standard microbiological procedure. The identity of the isolates were confirmed using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrophotometry (MALDI-TOF) while the isolates were profiled for resistance against a panel of 16 antibiotics using disc diffusion (DD) test, and the occurrence of resistance genes (ARG) was determined by polymerase chain reactions (PCR). Enterobacteriaceae counts in the samples range as follows: river water 4.0 × 101 – 2.0 × 104 cfu/100 ml, hospital effluents 1.5 × 103 – 3.0 × 107 cfu/100 ml, municipal wastewater 2.3 × 103 – 9.2 × 104 cfu/100 ml, faecal droppings 3.0 × 105 – 9.5 × 106 cfu/g, animal rectal swabs 3.0 × 102 – 2.9 × 107 cfu/ml, soil 0 – 1.2 × 105 cfu/g and vegetables 0 – 2.2 × 107 cfu/g. Of the 700 randomly selected presumptive isolates subjected to MALDI-TOF analysis, 129 (18.4%), 68 (9.7%), 67 (9.5%), 41 (5.9%) were E. coli, Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., and Citrobacter spp. respectively while the remaining isolates belong to other genera not targeted in the study. The DD test shows resistance ranging between 91.6% (175/191) for cefuroxime and (15.2%, 29/191) for imipenem The predominant multiple antibiotic resistance phenotypes (MARP), (GM-AUG-AP-CTX-CXM-CIP-NOR-NI-C-NA-TS-T-DXT) occurred in 9 Klebsiella isolates. The multiple antibiotic resistance indices (MARI) the isolates (range 0.17–1.0) generally showed >95% had MARI above the 0.2 thresholds, suggesting that most of the isolates originate from high-risk environments with high antibiotic use and high selective pressure for the emergence of resistance. The associated ARG in the isolates include: bla TEM 61.9 (65), bla SHV 1.9 (2), bla OXA 8.6 (9), CTX-M-2 8.6 (9), CTX-M-9 6.7 (7), sul 2 26.7 (28), tet A 16.2 (17), tet M 17.1 (18), aadA 59.1 (62), strA 34.3 (36), aac(3)A 19.1 (20), (aa2)A 7.6 (8), and aph(3)-1A 10.5 (11). The results underscore the need for preventative measures to curb the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria including Enterobacteriaceae to protect public health.

Keywords: enterobacteriaceae, antibiotic-resistance, MALDI-TOF, resistance genes, MARP, MARI, public health

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Authors: Shunsuke Miyoshi, Yasuyuki Nogami, Takuya Kusaka, Nariyoshi Yamai

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Elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP) is one of problems on which the security of pairing-based cryptography is based. This paper considers Pollard's rho method to evaluate the security of ECDLP on Barreto-Naehrig (BN) curve that is an efficient pairing-friendly curve. Some techniques are proposed to make the rho method efficient. Especially, the group structure on BN curve, distinguished point method, and Montgomery trick are well-known techniques. This paper applies these techniques and shows its optimization. According to the experimental results for which a large-scale parallel system with MySQL is applied, 94-bit ECDLP was solved about 28 hours by parallelizing 71 computers.

Keywords: Pollard's rho method, BN curve, Montgomery multiplication

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Authors: Varsha Chorsiya, Pooja Aneja, Dhananjay Kaushik, Abhinav Yadav

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Intoduction: Women’s Health Initiatives (WHI) focuses on defining the risks and benefits of strategies that could potentially reduce the incidence of obesity, heart disease, breast cancer and colorectal cancer, and fractures in menopause women. The utility of the present research work determines to find the role of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in changing the different component of body composition during perimenopause period. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study included 30 subjects, aged between 40 and 50 years which were assigned into 2 groups i.e. 15 subjects in HRT (Group A) and 15 subjects in non-HRT (Group B). The subjects were taken from the hospitals and clinics of Faridabad undergoing HRT in supervision of the consultant gynecologist. The informed consents were signed before including the participants in the study. The body composition and lipid profile were evaluated for all the subjects. Result and Discussion: The BMI, body density, percent body fats and fat mass in both groups showed statistically significant differences i.e. p < 0.05. Our study did not reveal any statistically significant difference between non-HRT and HRT for lipid profile composition of HDL, LDL, VLDL, ratio, triglycerides and total cholesterol although these indicators (LDL, VLDL, ratio, triglycerides and total cholesterol) showed difference clinically with a higher mean values for non-HRT as compared to HRT group. The mean value for HDL was higher for HRT group in contrast to non-HRT group. The result clearly showed that HRT group has a good lipid profile composition. Conclusion: In conclusion, our data show that HRT has statistically significant role in determining BMI, fat percent mass and fat mass. The lipid profile including LDL, HDL, VLDL, ratio, triglycerides and total cholesterol found to be clinically better in HRT group as compared to the non-HRT group. The rationale for non-significant lipid profile probably lie in the fact that hormonal changes need a particular time period and might become significant in post-menopausal period.

Keywords: body composition, hormone replacement therapy, perimenopause, women health

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Authors: Majid Afkhami, Maryam Ehsanpour, Rastin Afkhami

Abstract:

Sea cucumbers are aquatic animals with a wide variety useful for human health. Sea cucumbers are from the aquatic creatures that have many important and useful properties known for human health. Increasing demand for beche-de-mer along with steady price increases have led to worldwide intensification of sea cucumber harvesting. The rearing of sea cucumber with shrimp controls the environmental pollution results from extra enriched nutritious built on the pond bottom. These animals eat detritus and with devouring of organic materials on the surface, not only do they make the environment clean, but also they cause the fast growth of shrimp and themselves. Holothuria scabra is a main species for producing of Beche-de-mer and more exploited in tropical region of the world. The wall of body is used in the process of beche-de-mer production that forms the 56% of the whole body. Holothuria scabra (sandfish) is an aspidochirote holothurian widely distributed in coastal regions throughout the Indo-Pacific region. H. scabra is often found on inner reef flats and near estuaries, half buried in the silt sand during the day and emerging at night to feed. In this study upon to information from local fishermen's in Qeshm island, we Providing some data about fishing methods, processing and distribution in the Qeshm island coastline. Comparative study of fishing status with another part of the world determined that the status of sea cucumber stocks in Qeshm Island is suitable. For preventing of over exploited of sandy sea cucumber capture prohibition should be continue. In this study, 7 explotide sites are recognized, the target size for fishermen's was more than 20 cm and sandy cucumber was the target species in Qeshm Island. In this area the fishing operation was only done by scuba diving and has been done only by men's. Although in another countries women's have an important role in sea cucumber fishing operation. In the coast around Qeshm island it is found in Hmoon, Tolla, kovei, Ramchah, Messen, and Hengam. The maximum length and weight was recorded 35 cm and 1080 gr, respectively.

Keywords: sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra, fishing status, Qeshm Island

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Authors: Melissa Hachem, Maxime Loizeau, Nadine Saleh, Isabelle Momas, Lynda Bensefa-Colas

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Professional drivers are exposed inside their vehicles to high levels of air pollutants due to the considerable time they spend close to motor vehicle emissions. Little is known about ultrafine particles (UFP) or black carbon (BC) adverse respiratory health effects compared to the regulated pollutants. We aimed to study the short-term associations between UFP and BC concentrations inside vehicles and (1) the onset of mucosal irritation and (2) the acute changes in lung function of Parisian taxi drivers during a working day. An epidemiological study was carried out on 50 taxi drivers in Paris. UFP and BC were measured inside their vehicles with DiSCmini® and microAeth®, respectively. On the same day, the frequency and the severity of nose, eye, and throat irritations were self-reported by each participant and a spirometry test was performed before and after the work shift. Multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the associations between in-taxis UFP and BC concentrations and mucosal irritation and lung function, after adjustment for potential confounders. In-taxis UFP concentrations ranged from 17.9 to 37.9 × 103 particles/cm³ and BC concentrations from 2.2 to 3.9 μg/m³, during a mean of 9 ± 2 working hours. Significant dose-response relationships were observed between in-taxis UFP concentrations and both nasal irritation and lung function. The increase of in-taxis UFP (for an interquartile range of 20 × 103 particles/cm3) was associated to an increase in nasal irritation (adjusted OR = 6.27 [95% CI: 1.02 to 38.62]) and to a reduction in forced expiratory flow at 25–75% by −7.44% [95% CI: −12.63 to −2.24], forced expiratory volume in one second by −4.46% [95% CI: −6.99 to −1.93] and forced vital capacity by −3.31% [95% CI: −5.82 to −0.80]. Such associations were not found with BC. Incident throat and eye irritations were not related to in-vehicle particles exposure; however, they were associated with outdoor air quality (estimated by the Atmo index) and in-vehicle humidity, respectively. This study is the first to show a significant association, within a short-period of time, between in-vehicle UFP exposure and acute respiratory effects in professional drivers.

Keywords: black carbon, lung function, mucosal irritation, taxi drivers, ultrafine particles

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Authors: Andreas D. Jansson

Abstract:

The availability of inexpensive, yet competent hardware allows for increased level of automation and self-optimization in the context of Industry 4.0. However, such agents require high quality information about their surroundings along with a robust strategy for collision avoidance, as they may cause expensive damage to equipment or other agents otherwise. Manually defining a strategy to cover all possibilities is both time-consuming and counter-productive given the capabilities of modern hardware. This paper explores the idea of a model-free self-optimizing obstacle avoidance strategy for multiple autonomous agents in a simulated dynamic environment using the Q-learning algorithm.

Keywords: autonomous vehicles, industry 4.0, multi-agent system, obstacle avoidance, Q-learning, simulation

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Authors: Jae-Woo Kim, Kyung-Jung Lee, Hyun-Sik Ahn

Abstract:

This paper presents a design methodology for the motor driven automotive subsystems with the consideration of the functional safety. There are many such modules in vehicles which use DC/AC motors for an electronic throttle control system, a motor driven power steering, a motor driven seat belt systems and for HVAC systems. The functional safety for the automotive electrical and electronic parts are standardized as ISO 26262, but the development procedure is very complex to be followed. We focus on the functional safe motor controller design process and show the designed motor controller hardware satisfies the required safety integrity level by using metric calculations with the safety mechanism.

Keywords: AUTOSAR, MDPS, Simulink, software component

Procedia PDF Downloads 399