Search results for: power control

Authors: Anya Glikman, Anastasia Gorodzeisky

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Since the late 1990th labor immigration and its consequences on the society have become one of the most frequently discussed and debated issues in Russia. Social scientists point that the negative attitudes towards immigrants among Russian majority population is widespread, and their level, at least, twice as high as their level in most other European countries. Moreover, recent study by Gorodzeisky, Glikman and Maskyleison (2014) demonstrates that the two sets of individual level predictors of anti-foreigner sentiment – socio-economic status and conservative views and ideologies – that have been repeatedly proved in research in Western countries are not effective in predicting of anti-foreigner sentiment in Post-Socialist Russia. Apparently, the social mechanisms underlying anti-foreigner sentiment in Western countries, which are characterized by stable regimes and relatively long immigration histories, do not play a significant role in the explanation of anti-foreigner sentiment in Post-Socialist Russia. The present study aims to examine alternative possible sources of anti-foreigner sentiment in Russia while controlling for socio-economic position of individuals and conservative views. More specifically, following the research literature on the topic worldwide, we aim to examine whether and to what extent human values (such as tradition, universalism, safety and power), ethnic residential segregation, fear of crime and exposure to mass media affect anti-foreigner sentiments in Russia. To do so, we estimate a series of multivariate regression equations using the data obtained from 2012 European Social Survey. The national representative sample consists of 2337 Russian born respondents. Descriptive results reveal that about 60% percent of Russians view the impact of immigrants on the country in negative terms. Further preliminary analysis show that anti-foreigner sentiments are associated with exposer to mass media as well as with fear of crime. Specifically, respondents who devoted more time watching news on TV channels and respondents who express higher levels of fear of crime tend to report higher levels of anti-immigrants sentiments. The findings would be discussed in light of sociological perspective and the context of Russian society.

Keywords: anti-immigrant sentiments, fear of crime, human values, mass media, Russia

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Authors: Natalia Feruleva

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The goal of this paper is to develop the fraud risk assessment model basing on both relational and financial data and test the impact of the relationships between Russian non-public companies on the likelihood of financial fraud commitment. Relationships mean various linkages between companies such as parent-subsidiary relationship and person-related relationships. These linkages may provide additional opportunities for committing fraud. Person-related relationships appear when firms share a director, or the director owns another firm. The number of companies belongs to CEO and managed by CEO, the number of subsidiaries was calculated to measure the relationships. Moreover, the dummy variable describing the existence of parent company was also included in model. Control variables such as financial leverage and return on assets were also implemented because they describe the motivating factors of fraud. To check the hypotheses about the influence of the chosen parameters on the likelihood of financial fraud, information about person-related relationships between companies, existence of parent company and subsidiaries, profitability and the level of debt was collected. The resulting sample consists of 160 Russian non-public firms. The sample includes 80 fraudsters and 80 non-fraudsters operating in 2006-2017. The dependent variable is dichotomous, and it takes the value 1 if the firm is engaged in financial crime, otherwise 0. Employing probit model, it was revealed that the number of companies which belong to CEO of the firm or managed by CEO has significant impact on the likelihood of financial fraud. The results obtained indicate that the more companies are affiliated with the CEO, the higher the likelihood that the company will be involved in financial crime. The forecast accuracy of the model is about is 80%. Thus, the model basing on both relational and financial data gives high level of forecast accuracy.

Keywords: financial fraud, fraud prediction, non-public companies, regression analysis, relational data

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Authors: Veena N. Hegde, S. R. Desai

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Motivating a heterogeneous group of students towards engagement in research related activities is a challenging task in engineering education. An effort is being made at the Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, where two courses are taken up on a pilot basis to kindle research interests in students at the undergraduate level. The courses, namely algorithm and system design (ASD) and automation in process control (APC), are selected for experimentation purposes. The task is being accomplished by providing scope for implementation of research papers and proposing solutions for the current industrial problems by the student teams. The course instructors have proposed an alternative assessment tool to evaluate the undergraduate students that involve activities beyond the curriculum. The method was tested for the aforementioned two courses in a particular academic year, and as per the observations, there is a considerable improvement in the number of student engagement towards research in the subsequent years of their undergraduate course. The student groups from the third-year engineering were made to read, implement the research papers, and they were also instructed to develop simulation modules for certain processes aiming towards automation. The target audience being students, were common for both the courses and the students' strength was 30. Around 50% of successful students were given the continued tasks in the subsequent two semesters, and out of 15 students who continued from sixth semesters were able to follow the research methodology well in the seventh and eighth semesters. Further, around 30% of the students out of 15 ended up carrying out project work with a research component involved and were successful in producing four conference papers. The methodology adopted is justified using a sample data set, and the outcomes are highlighted. The quantitative and qualitative results obtained through this study prove that such practices will enhance learning experiences substantially at the undergraduate level.

Keywords: industrial problems, learning experiences, research related activities, student engagement

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Authors: Chen Guo, Heng Tang, Ben Niu

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Clustering splits objects into different groups based on similarity, making the objects have higher similarity in the same group and lower similarity in different groups. Thus, clustering can be treated as an optimization problem to maximize the intra-cluster similarity or inter-cluster dissimilarity. In real-world applications, the datasets often have some complex characteristics: sparse, overlap, high dimensionality, etc. When facing these datasets, simultaneously optimizing two or more objectives can obtain better clustering results than optimizing one objective. However, except for the objectives weighting methods, traditional clustering approaches have difficulty in solving multi-objective data clustering problems. Due to this, evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms are investigated by researchers to optimize multiple clustering objectives. In this paper, the Data Clustering algorithm based on Multi-objective Periodic Bacterial Foraging Optimization with two Learning Archives (DC-MPBFOLA) is proposed. Specifically, first, to reduce the high computing complexity of the original BFO, periodic BFO is employed as the basic algorithmic framework. Then transfer the periodic BFO into a multi-objective type. Second, two learning strategies are proposed based on the two learning archives to guide the bacterial swarm to move in a better direction. On the one hand, the global best is selected from the global learning archive according to the convergence index and diversity index. On the other hand, the personal best is selected from the personal learning archive according to the sum of weighted objectives. According to the aforementioned learning strategies, a chemotaxis operation is designed. Third, an elite learning strategy is designed to provide fresh power to the objects in two learning archives. When the objects in these two archives do not change for two consecutive times, randomly initializing one dimension of objects can prevent the proposed algorithm from falling into local optima. Fourth, to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm, DC-MPBFOLA is compared with four state-of-art evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms and one classical clustering algorithm on evaluation indexes of datasets. To further verify the effectiveness and feasibility of designed strategies in DC-MPBFOLA, variants of DC-MPBFOLA are also proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that DC-MPBFOLA outperforms its competitors regarding all evaluation indexes and clustering partitions. These results also indicate that the designed strategies positively influence the performance improvement of the original BFO.

Keywords: data clustering, multi-objective optimization, bacterial foraging optimization, learning archives

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Authors: Sharmin Ferdewsi Rakhi, AHM Mohsinul Reza, Brynley Davies, Jianzhong Wang, Youhong Tang, Jian Qin

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Mass production of microalgae has become a focus of research owing to their promising aspects for sustainable food, biofunctional compounds, and biofuel feedstock. However, low lipid content with optimum algal biomass is still a challenge that must be resolved for commercial use. This research aims to determine the effects of light spectral shift and reactive oxygen species (ROS) on growth and lipid biosynthesis in a green microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Aggregation Induced Emission (AIE)-based photosensitisers, CN-TPAQ-PF6 ([C₃₂H₂₃N₄]+) with high ROS productivity, was introduced into the algal culture media separately for effective conversion of the green-yellow-light to the red spectra. The intense photon energy and high-photon flux density in the photosystems and ROS supplementation induced photosynthesis and lipid biogenesis. In comparison to the control, maximum algal growth (0.15 g/l) was achieved at 2 µM CN-TPAQ-PF6 exposure. A significant increase in total lipid accumulation (146.87 mg/g dry biomass) with high proportion of 10-Heptadecanoic acid (C17:1) linolenic acid (C18:2), α-linolenic acid (C18:3) was observed. The elevated level of cellular NADP/NADPH triggered the Acetyl-Co-A production in lipid biogenesis cascade. Furthermore, MTT analysis suggested that this nanomaterial is highly biocompatible on HaCat cell lines with 100% cell viability. This study reveals that the AIE-based approach can strongly impact algal biofactory development for sustainable food, healthy lipids and eco-friendly biofuel.

Keywords: microalgae, photosensitiser, lipid, biomass, aggregation-induced-emission, reactive oxygen species

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Authors: Tatyane Lopes de Freitas, Antonio Diogo S. Vieira, Susana Marta Isay Saad, Maria Ines Genovese

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The fruit processing industries generate a large volume of residues to produce juices, pulps, and jams. These residues, or by-products, consisting of peels, seeds, and pulps, are routinely discarded. Fruits are rich in bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, which have positive effects on health. Dry residues from two fruits, acerola (M. emarginata D. C.) and orange (C. sinensis), were characterized in relation to contents of ascorbic acid, minerals, total dietary fibers, moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates, and also high performance liquid chromatographic profile of flavonoids, total polyphenols and proanthocyanidins contents, and antioxidant capacity by three different methods (Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay-FRAP, Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity-ORAC, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) radical scavenging activity). Acerola by-products presented the highest acid ascorbic content (605 mg/100 g), and better antioxidant capacity than orange by-products. The dry residues from acerola demonstrated high contents of proanthocyanidins (617 µg CE/g) and total polyphenols (2525 mg gallic acid equivalents - GAE/100 g). Both presented high total dietary fiber (above 60%) and protein contents (acerola: 10.4%; orange: 9.9%), and reduced fat content (acerola: 1.6%; orange: 2.6%). Both residues showed high levels of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and were considered sources of these minerals. With acerola by-product, four formulations of probiotics fermented milks were produced: F0 (without the addition of acerola residue (AR)), F2 (2% AR), F5 (5% AR) and F10 (10% AR). The physicochemical characteristics of the fermented milks throughout of storage were investigated, as well as the impact of in vitro simulated gastrointestinal conditions on flavonoids and probiotics. The microorganisms analyzed maintained their populations around 8 log CFU/g during storage. After the gastric phase of the simulated digestion, the populations decreased, and after the enteric phase, no colonies were detected. On the other hand, the flavonoids increased after the gastric phase, maintaining or suffering small decrease after enteric phase. Acerola by-products powder is a valuable ingredient to be used in functional foods because is rich in vitamin C, fibers and flavonoids. These flavonoids appear to be highly resistant to the acids and salts of digestion.

Keywords: acerola, orange, by-products, fermented milk

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Authors: Dhananjoy Shaw, Seema Sharma (Kaushik)

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Anthropometry helps in associating the physical properties of an individual with their racial, cultural, and psychological attributes. Numerous research studies have included different skeletal diameters as a variable. However, most of the studies suggest their inclusion describing specific characteristics/traits of the body. However, there seems to be a scarcity of literature related to the effect of any kind of longitudinal physical training on human skeletal diameters. Hence, the present investigation was conducted to study the variability of covariance of selected skeletal diameters of females in a longitudinal physical training programme. The sample for the study was 78 college going students of the University of Delhi, classified equally in three groups, i.e. viz. (a) Progressive load of training or conditioning group coded as PLT; (b) Constant load of training or non-conditioning group coded as CLT; and (c) No-load or control or sedentary group coded as NL. Collectively, mean age of the sample was 19.54±1.79 years. The randomly selected samples were given maximum consideration to maintain their homogeneity. The variables included biacromial diameter, biiliocristal diameter, bitrochantaerion diameter, humeral bicondylar, femoral bicondylar, wrist diameter, ankle diameter, and foot breadth. Multi-group repeated measure design was adopted for the experimentation. Each group was measured four times after completion of each of the three meso-cycles of six-weeks duration. The measurements were taken following the standard landmarks and procedures. Mean, standard deviation, analysis of co-variance and its post-hoc analysis were computed to analyze the data statistically. The study concluded that both the progressive and constant load of physical training bring changes in the selected skeletal diameters of females. It also reflected the increase due to growth also along with training.

Keywords: longitudinal, physical training, skeletal diameters, step progression load

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Authors: Ying-Ming Su, Mei-Shu Huang

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To mitigate the urban heat island effect has become a global issue facing the challenge of climate change. Through literature reviews, plant photosynthesis can reduce the carbon dioxide and mitigate the urban heat island effect relatively. Because there are not enough open space and park, green roof has become an important policy in Taiwan. We selected elementary school buildings in northern New Taipei City as research subjects since elementary school is asked priority to build green roof and important educational place to promote green roof concept. Testo 175-H1 recording device was used to record the temperature and humidity difference between roof surface and interior space below roof with and without green roof for the long-term. We also use questionnaire to investigate the awareness of comfort level of green roof and sensation of teachers and students of the elementary school. The results indicated the temperature of roof without greening was higher than that with greening about 2°C. But sometimes during noontime, the temperature of green roof was higher than that of non-green roof related to the character of the accumulation and dissipation of heat of greening probably. The temperature of interior space below green roof was normally lower than that without green roof about 1°C showed that green roof could lower the temperature. The humidity of the green roof was higher than the one without greening also indicated that green roof retained water better. Teachers liked to combine green roof concept in the curriculum, students wished all classes can take turns to maintain the green roof. Teachers and students that school had integrated green roof concept in the curriculum were more willing to participate in the maintenance work of green roof. Teachers and students who may access and touch the green roof can be more aware of the green roof benefit. We suggest architect to increase the accessibility and visibility of green roof, such as a part of the activity space. This idea can be a reference of the green roof curriculum design.

Keywords: comfort level, elementary school, green roof, heat island effect

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Authors: Angelica Corcoran, Fredrik Lind, Pavleta Knutsson, Henrik Thunman

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Solid waste volumes are at current predominately deposited on landfill. Furthermore, the impending climate change requires new solutions for a sustainable future energy mix. Currently, solid waste is globally utilized to small extent as fuel during combustion for heat and power production. Due to its variable composition and size, solid waste is considered difficult to combust and requires a technology with high fuel flexibility. One of the commercial technologies used for combustion of such difficult fuels is circulating fluidized beds (CFB). In a CFB boiler, fine particles of a solid material are used as 'bed material', which is accelerated by the incoming combustion air that causes the bed material to fluidize. The chosen bed material has conventionally been silica sand with the main purpose of being a heat carrier, as it transfers heat released by the combustion to the heat-transfer surfaces. However, the release of volatile compounds occurs rapidly in comparison with the lateral mixing in the combustion chamber. To ensure complete combustion a surplus of air is introduced, which decreases the total efficiency of the boiler. In recent years, the concept of partly or entirely replacing the silica sand with an oxygen carrier as bed material has been developed. By introducing an oxygen carrier to the combustion chamber, combustion can be spread out both temporally and spatially in the boiler. Specifically, the oxygen carrier can take up oxygen from the combustion air where it is in abundance and release it to combustible gases where oxygen is in deficit. The concept is referred to as oxygen carrier aided combustion (OCAC) where the natural ore ilmenite (FeTiO3) has been the oxygen carrier used. The authors have validated the oxygen buffering ability of ilmenite during combustion of biomass in Chalmers 12-MWth CFB boiler in previous publications. Furthermore, the concept has been demonstrated on full industrial scale during combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW) in E.ON’s 75 MWth CFB boiler. The experimental campaigns have showed increased mass transfer of oxygen inside the boiler when combustion both biomass and MSW. As a result, a higher degree of burnout is achieved inside the combustion chamber and the plant can be operated at a lower surplus of air. Moreover, the buffer of oxygen provided by the oxygen carrier makes the system less sensitive to disruptions in operation. In conclusion, combusting difficult fuels with OCAC results in higher operation stability and an increase in boiler efficiency.

Keywords: OCAC, ilmenite, combustion, CFB

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Authors: Stefan Ninković

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The main purpose of this paper is to examine the different theoretical approaches and relevant empirical evidence and thus, recognize some of the most pressing challenges faced by school leaders. This paper starts from the fact that the new mission of the school is characterized by the need for stronger coordination among students' academic, social and emotional learning. In this sense, school leaders need to focus their commitment, vision and leadership on the issues of students' attitudes, language, cultural and social background, and sexual orientation. More specifically, they should know what a good teaching is for student’s at-risk, students whose first language is not dominant in school, those who’s learning styles are not in accordance with usual teaching styles, or who are stigmatized. There is a rather wide consensus around the fact that the traditionally popular concept of instructional leadership of the school principal is no longer sufficient. However, in a number of "pro-leadership" circles, including certain groups of academic researchers, consultants and practitioners, there is an established tendency of attributing school principal an extraordinary influence towards school achievements. On the other hand, the situation in which all employees in the school are leaders is a utopia par excellence. Although leadership obviously can be efficiently distributed across the school, there are few findings that speak about sources of this distribution and factors making it sustainable. Another idea that is not particularly new, but has only recently gained in importance is related to the fact that the collective capacity of the school is an important resource that often remains under-cultivated. To understand the nature and power of collaborative school cultures, it is necessary to know that these operate in a way that they make their all collective members' tacit knowledge explicit. In this sense, the question is how leaders in schools can shape collaborative culture and create social capital in the school. Pressure exerted on schools to systematically collect and use the data has been accompanied by the need for school leaders to develop new competencies. The role of school leaders is critical in the process of assessing what data are needed and for what purpose. Different types of data are important: test results, data on student’s absenteeism, satisfaction with school, teacher motivation, etc. One of the most important tasks of school leaders are data-driven decision making as well as ensuring transparency of the decision-making process. Finally, the question arises whether the existing models of school leadership are compatible with the current social and economic trends. It is necessary to examine whether and under what conditions schools are in need for forms of leadership that are different from those that currently prevail. Closely related to this issue is also to analyze the adequacy of different approaches to leadership development in the school.

Keywords: educational changes, leaders, leadership, school

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Authors: W. Q. Wang, Y. Yin, D. B. Zou, T. P. Yu, J. M. Ouyang, F. Q. Shao

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High-energy-density state, i.e., matter and radiation at energy densities in excess of 10^11 J/m^3, is related to material, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and geophysics. Laser-driven particle beams are better suited to heat the matter as a trigger due to their unique properties of ultrashort duration and low emittance. Compared to X-ray and electron sources, it is easier to generate uniformly heated large-volume material for the proton and ion beams because of highly localized energy deposition. With the construction of state-of-art high power laser facilities, creating of extremely conditions of high-temperature and high-density in laboratories becomes possible. It has been demonstrated that on a picosecond time scale the solid density material can be isochorically heated to over 20 eV by the ultrafast proton beam generated from spherically shaped targets. For the above-mentioned technique, the proton energy density plays a crucial role in the formation of warm dense matter states. Recently, several methods have devoted to realize the focusing of the accelerated protons, involving externally exerted static-fields or specially designed targets interacting with a single or multi-pile laser pulses. In previous works, two co-propagating or opposite direction laser pulses are employed to strike a submicron plasma-shell. However, ultra-high pulse intensities, accurately temporal synchronization and undesirable transverse instabilities for a long time are still intractable for currently experimental implementations. A mechanism of the focusing of laser-driven proton beams from two-ion-species arched targets is investigated by multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When an intense linearly-polarized laser pulse impinges on the thin arched target, all electrons are completely evacuated, leading to a Coulomb-explosive electric-field mostly originated from the heavier carbon ions. The lighter protons in the moving reference frame by the ionic sound speed will be accelerated and effectively focused because of this radially isotropic field. At a 2.42×10^21 W/cm^2 laser intensity, a ballistic proton bunch with its energy-density as high as 2.15×10^17 J/m^3 is produced, and the highest proton energy and the focusing position agree well with that from the theory.

Keywords: Coulomb explosion, focusing, high-energy-density, ion acceleration

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Authors: Mohammadreza Akbari, Pooya Soleimani Besheli, Reza Khalili, Davood Domiri Danji

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In this conference, our aims are accuracy, capabilities and power at solving of the complicated non-linear partial differential. Our purpose is to enhance the ability to solve the mentioned nonlinear differential equations at basic science and engineering field and similar issues with a simple and innovative approach. As we know most of engineering system behavior in practical are nonlinear process (especially basic science and engineering field, etc.) and analytical solving (no numeric) these problems are difficult, complex, and sometimes impossible like (Fluids and Gas wave, these problems can't solve with numeric method, because of no have boundary condition) accordingly in this symposium we are going to exposure an innovative approach which we have named it Akbari-Ganji's Method or AGM in engineering, that can solve sets of coupled nonlinear differential equations (ODE, PDE) with high accuracy and simple solution and so this issue will emerge after comparing the achieved solutions by Numerical method (Runge-Kutta 4th). Eventually, AGM method will be proved that could be created huge evolution for researchers, professors and students in whole over the world, because of AGM coding system, so by using this software we can analytically solve all complicated linear and nonlinear partial differential equations, with help of that there is no difficulty for solving all nonlinear differential equations. Advantages and ability of this method (AGM) as follow: (a) Non-linear Differential equations (ODE, PDE) are directly solvable by this method. (b) In this method (AGM), most of the time, without any dimensionless procedure, we can solve equation(s) by any boundary or initial condition number. (c) AGM method always is convergent in boundary or initial condition. (d) Parameters of exponential, Trigonometric and Logarithmic of the existent in the non-linear differential equation with AGM method no needs Taylor expand which are caused high solve precision. (e) AGM method is very flexible in the coding system, and can solve easily varieties of the non-linear differential equation at high acceptable accuracy. (f) One of the important advantages of this method is analytical solving with high accuracy such as partial differential equation in vibration in solids, waves in water and gas, with minimum initial and boundary condition capable to solve problem. (g) It is very important to present a general and simple approach for solving most problems of the differential equations with high non-linearity in engineering sciences especially at civil engineering, and compare output with numerical method (Runge-Kutta 4th) and Exact solutions.

Keywords: new approach, AGM, sets of coupled nonlinear differential equation, exact solutions, numerical

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Authors: Cristian Sirbu-Dragomir, Stefan-Mihai Sofian, Adrian Predescu

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This paper aims to study Tesla pumps for circulating biofluids. It is desired to make a small pump for the circulation of biofluids. This type of pump will be studied because it has the following characteristics: It doesn’t have blades which results in very small frictions; Reduced friction forces; Low production cost; Increased adaptability to different types of fluids; Low cavitation (towards 0); Low shocks due to lack of blades; Rare maintenance due to low cavity; Very small turbulences in the fluid; It has a low number of changes in the direction of the fluid (compared to rotors with blades); Increased efficiency at low powers.; Fast acceleration; The need for a low torque; Lack of shocks in blades at sudden starts and stops. All these elements are necessary to be able to make a small pump that could be inserted into the thoracic cavity. The pump will be designed to combat myocardial infarction. Because the pump must be inserted in the thoracic cavity, elements such as Low friction forces, shocks as low as possible, low cavitation and as little maintenance as possible are very important. The operation should be performed once, without having to change the rotor after a certain time. Given the very small size of the pump, the blades of a classic rotor would be very thin and sudden starts and stops could cause considerable damage or require a very expensive material. At the same time, being a medical procedure, the low cost is important in order to be easily accessible to the population. The lack of turbulence or vortices caused by a classic rotor is again a key element because when it comes to blood circulation, the flow must be laminar and not turbulent. The turbulent flow can even cause a heart attack. Due to these aspects, Tesla's model could be ideal for this work. Usually, the pump is considered to reach an efficiency of 40% being used for very high powers. However, the author of this type of pump claimed that the maximum efficiency that the pump can achieve is 98%. The key element that could help to achieve this efficiency or one as close as possible is the fact that the pump will be used for low volumes and pressures. The key elements to obtain the best efficiency for this model are the number of rotors placed in parallel and the distance between them. The distance between them must be small, which helps to obtain a pump as small as possible. The principle of operation of such a rotor is to place in several parallel discs cut inside. Thus the space between the discs creates the vacuum effect by pulling the liquid through the holes in the rotor and throwing it outwards. Also, a very important element is the viscosity of the liquid. It dictates the distance between the disks to achieve a lossless power flow.

Keywords: lubrication, temperature, tesla-pump, viscosity

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Authors: Alessandro Poma, Kal Karim, Sergey Piletsky, Giuseppe Battaglia

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The recent increasing emergency threat to public health of infectious influenza diseases has prompted interest in the detection of avian influenza virus (AIV) H5N1 in humans as well as animals. A variety of technologies for diagnosing AIV infection have been developed. However, various disadvantages (costs, lengthy analyses, and need for high-containment facilities) make these methods less than ideal in their practical application. Molecularly Imprinted Polymeric Nanoparticles (MIP NPs) are suitable to overcome these limitations by having high affinity, selectivity, versatility, scalability and cost-effectiveness with the versatility of post-modification (labeling – fluorescent, magnetic, optical) opening the way to the potential introduction of improved diagnostic tests capable of providing rapid differential diagnosis. Here we present our first results in the production and testing of MIP NPs for the detection of AIV H5N1. Recent developments in the solid-phase synthesis of MIP NPs mean that for the first time a reliable supply of ‘soluble’ synthetic antibodies can be made available for testing as potential biological or diagnostic active molecules. The MIP NPs have the potential to detect viruses that are widely circulating in farm animals and indeed humans. Early and accurate identification of the infectious agent will expedite appropriate control measures. Thus, diagnosis at an early stage of infection of a herd or flock or individual maximizes the efficiency with which containment, prevention and possibly treatment strategies can be implemented. More importantly, substantiating the practicability’s of these novel reagents should lead to an initial reduction and eventually to a potential total replacement of animals, both large and small, to raise such specific serological materials.

Keywords: influenza virus, molecular imprinting, nanoparticles, polymers

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Authors: Jobo Dubihlela, Kofi Boamah

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The inimitable role of the internal auditing, challenges and the predicament of state-owned enterprises in emerging markets are acknowledged. Study sought to address the inter-related questions, about how does IAF complement the performance and sustainability of SOEs? How can effective IA control systems be implemented to improve the performance results and culture of SOEs in Namibia? The weaknesses inherent in the SOE sector, unfortunately, impacts on the IAF ability to effectively support the SOEs. Despite these challenges, the study has unearthed IAF potential capabilities to contribute to SOE survival in Namibia by complementing the governance practices of the sector. Using a quantitative research approach, the dataset was collected and analysed from SOEs to confirm the role of the internal auditing function (IAF) as an indispensable concomitant of SOE performance. The study adopted a data approach supported by the literary evidence, which enabled generalisation and connectedness of the issues being addressed. The outcome of the data analysis contributed to achieving the results, which are discussed and eventually support the conclusions reached. Results show that the intractable task of internal auditing depends on the leadership of the board of directors of the SOEs. Study also revealed critical priorities needed to influence policymakers and oversight bodies to overcome the iniquities influencing SOE operations, understand and embrace IAF to salvage a sector that has a lot to offer and yet is severely mismanaged. Results support literature on IA’s contribution to SOE development from a developing country’s point of view and is the first of its kind in Namibia. Findings suggest ways to possibly enhance knowledge development of future researchers and ‘wet their appetite’ for further research in emerging markets and on a global scale.

Keywords: internal auditing activity, state-owned enterprises, emerging markets, auditing function

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Authors: Stephen M. Magu

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The 9/11 and Christmas bombing attacks in the United States are mostly associated with the inability of intelligence agencies to connect dots based on intelligence that was already available. The 1998, 2002, 2013 and several 2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, on the other hand, are probably driven by a completely different dynamic: the invisible hand of corruption. The World Bank and Transparency International annually compute the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the Corruption Perception Index respectively. What perhaps is not adequately captured in the corruption metrics is the impact of corruption on terrorism. The World Bank data includes variables such as the control of corruption, (estimates of) government effectiveness, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, regulatory quality, rule of law and voice and accountability. TI's CPI does not include measures related to terrorism, but it is plausible that there is an expectation of some terrorism impact arising from corruption. This paper, by examining the incidence, frequency and total number of terrorist attacks that have occurred especially since 1990, and further examining the specific cases of Kenya and Nigeria, argues that in addition to having major effects on governance, corruption has an even more frightening impact: that of facilitating and/or violating security mechanisms to the extent that foreign nationals can easily obtain identification that enables them to perpetuate major events, targeting powerful countries' interests in countries with weak corruption-fighting mechanisms. The paper aims to model interactions that demonstrate the cost/benefit analysis and agents' rational calculations as being non-rational calculations, given the ultimate impact. It argues that eradication of corruption is not just a matter of a better business environment, but that it is implicit in national security, and that for anti-corruption crusaders, this is an argument more potent than the economic cost / cost of doing business argument.

Keywords: corruption, global south, identification, passports, terrorism

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Authors: Amira A. A. Abdallah, Amir A. Beltagi

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Background: Core stability training has recently attracted attention for improving muscle balance and optimizing performance in healthy and unhealthy individuals. Purpose: This study investigated the effect of beginner’s core stability exercises on trunk flexors’/extensors’ peak torque ratio and trunk flexors’ and extensors’ peak torques. Methods: Thirty five healthy individuals participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to two groups; experimental “group I, n=20” and control “group II, n=15”. Their mean age, weight and height were 20.7±2.4 vs. 20.3±0.61 years, 66.5±12.1 vs. 68.57±12.2 kg and 166.7±7.8 vs. 164.28 ±7.59 cm. for group I vs. group II. Data were collected using the Biodex Isokinetic system. The participants were tested twice; before and after a 6-week period during which group I performed a core stability training program. Results: The 2x2 Mixed Design ANOVA revealed that there were no significant differences (p>0.025) in the trunk flexors’/extensors’ peak torque ratio between the pre-test and post-test conditions for either group. Moreover, there were no significant differences (p>0.025) in the trunk flexion/extension ratios between both groups at either condition. However, the 2x2 Mixed Design MANOVA revealed significant increases (p<0.025) in the trunk flexors’ and extensors’ peak torques in the post-test condition compared with the pre-test in group I with no significant differences (p>0.025) in group II. Moreover, there was a significant increase (p<0.025) in the trunk flexors’ peak torque only in group I compared with group II in the post-test condition with no significant differences in the other conditions. Interpretation/Conclusion: The improvement in muscle performance indicated by the increase in the trunk flexors’ and extensors’ peak torques in the experimental group recommends including core stability training in the exercise programs that aim to improve muscle performance.

Keywords: core stability, isokinetic, trunk muscles, muscle balance

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Alafara A. Baba, Kuranga I. Ayinla, Folahan A. Adekola, Rafiu B. Bale

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Due to increasing demands and diverse applications of copper oxide as pigment in ceramics, cuprammonium hydroxide solution for rayon, p-type semi-conductor, dry cell batteries production and as safety disposal of hazardous materials, a study on the hydrometallurgical operations involving leaching, solvent extraction and precipitation for the recovery of copper for producing high grade copper oxide from a Nigerian chalcopyrite ore in chloride media has been examined. At a particular set of experimental parameter with respect to acid concentration, reaction temperature and particle size, the leaching investigation showed that the ore dissolution increases with increasing acid concentration, temperature and decreasing particle diameter at a moderate stirring. The kinetics data has been analyzed and was found to follow diffusion control mechanism. At optimal conditions, the extent of ore dissolution reached 94.3%. The recovery of the total copper from the hydrochloric acid-leached chalcopyrite ore was undertaken by solvent extraction and precipitation techniques, prior to the beneficiation of the purified solution as copper oxide. The purification of the leach liquor was firstly done by precipitation of total iron and manganese using Ca(OH)2 and H2O2 as oxidizer at pH 3.5 and 4.25, respectively. An extraction efficiency of 97.3% total copper was obtained by 0.2 mol/L Dithizone in kerosene at 25±2ºC within 40 minutes, from which ≈98% Cu from loaded organic phase was successfully stripped by 0.1 mol/L HCl solution. The beneficiation of the recovered pure copper solution was carried out by crystallization through alkali addition followed by calcination at 600ºC to obtain high grade copper oxide (Tenorite, CuO: 05-0661). Finally, a simple hydrometallurgical scheme for the operational extraction procedure amenable for industrial utilization and economic sustainability was provided.

Keywords: chalcopyrite ore, Nigeria, copper, copper oxide, solvent extraction

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Authors: Adnan Celik

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Entrepreneurs are people who attempt to do a business and do not hesitate to do so. They are involved in the production of economic goods and services through factors of production. They also find the financial resources necessary for production and the markets where the production will be evaluated. After all, they create economic values. The main function of the entrepreneur in contemporary societies is to realize innovations. From this point, the power of the modern entrepreneur is based on her/his capacity to innovate and transform his innovations into tangible commercial products. In this context, the concept of an entrepreneur is used to mean the person or persons who constantly innovate. Successful entrepreneurs take on the role of the locomotive in the development of their countries. They support economic development with their activities. In addition to production and marketing activities, it also has important contributions to employment. Along with the development of the country, they also try to make the income distribution more balanced. Especially developed country entrepreneurs intensely perform the following functions; “to produce new goods and services or to increase the quality and quality of known goods and services; ability to develop and apply new production methods; establishing new organizations in the industry; reach new markets; to find new sources from which raw materials and similar materials can be obtained”. Entrepreneurs who fully implement business functions are easier to achieve economic efficiency. Thus, they provide great advantages to the business and the national economy. Successful entrepreneurs are people who make money by creating economic values. These revenues are; on the one hand, it is distributed to individuals in the business as wages, premiums, or dividends; It is also used in the growth of companies. Thus, employees, managers, entrepreneurs and the whole country can benefit greatly. In the least developed countries, the guiding effect of traditional value patterns on individuals' attitudes and behaviors varies depending on the socio-economic characteristics of individuals. It is normal for an entrepreneur with a low level of education, who was brought up in a traditional structure, to behave in accordance with traditional value patterns. In fact, this is the primary problem of all countries in the development effort. The solution to this problem will be possible by giving the necessary importance to the social dimension as well as the technical dimension of development. This study mainly focuses on the importance of entrepreneurship for the national economy. This issue has been handled separately in terms of developed and least developed countries. As a result of the study, entrepreneurship suggestions were made, especially to least developed countries, with the goal of national economy and development.

Keywords: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, national economy, entrepreneurship in developed and least developed countries

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Cagri Mollamahmutoglu, Aykut Levent, Ali Mercan

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Micro-beams are one of the most common components of Nano-Electromechanical Systems (NEMS) and Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS). For this reason, static bending, buckling, and free vibration analysis of micro-beams have been the subject of many studies. In addition, micro-beams restrained with elastic type foundations have been of particular interest. In the analysis of microstructures, closed-form solutions are proposed when available, but most of the time solutions are based on numerical methods due to the complex nature of the resulting differential equations. Thus, a robust and efficient solution method has great importance. In this study, a mixed finite element formulation is obtained for a functionally graded Timoshenko micro-beam resting on two-parameter elastic foundation. In the formulation modified couple stress theory is utilized for the micro-scale effects. The equation of motion and boundary conditions are derived according to Hamilton’s principle. A functional, derived through a scientific procedure based on Gateaux Differential, is proposed for the bending and buckling analysis which is equivalent to the governing equations and boundary conditions. Most important advantage of the formulation is that the mixed finite element formulation allows usage of C₀ type continuous shape functions. Thus shear-locking is avoided in a built-in manner. Also, element matrices are sparsely populated and can be easily calculated with closed-form integration. In this framework results concerning the effects of micro-scale length parameter, power-law parameter, aspect ratio and coefficients of partially or fully continuous elastic foundation over the static bending, buckling, and free vibration response of FG-micro-beam under various boundary conditions are presented and compared with existing literature. Performance characteristics of the presented formulation were evaluated concerning other numerical methods such as generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM). It is found that with less computational burden similar convergence characteristics were obtained. Moreover, formulation also includes a direct calculation of the micro-scale related contributions to the structural response as well.

Keywords: micro-beam, functionally graded materials, two-paramater elastic foundation, mixed finite element method

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Aidan Jacobsen, Morgan Motia, David Sam, Jonathan Mudge

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Background: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists vaccine requirements for children under two years old to correlate with development markers. CDC lists the coverage by age 24 months to be at least 90% nationally and 84% for Rhode Island Blackstone Valley Community Health Center (BVCHC) in Central Falls, Rhode Island, currently has a completed vaccination rate of 51% for children by the age of 24 months. Current barriers to care for up to date well child vaccinations include lack of transportation, parental work, childcare, and other social stressors. Objective: Increase the vaccination rate of children under the age of 24 months at BVCHC. Conduct a literature review to identify the common barriers preventing children under 24 months from receiving vaccinations. Reduce the barriers to expand access to vaccination care for infants Methods: Setting: Blackstone Valley Community Health Center, Pawtucket, RI Participants: (n=41), Patients between the age of 20-24 months, not up to date with the CDC vaccination recommendations and without a future appointment. QI Intervention: Patients were contacted via phone and offered an appointment during extra Saturday clinic hours in order to receive up to date vaccine care. A Saturday vaccine clinic was established specifically for patients in need of vaccines and having identified barriers to care. Conclusions: Expanding clinic hours and targeting non vaccine up –to-date patients can increase the current standard of childhood immunizations at BVCHC. Overcoming barriers preventing childhood immunization can improve access to providing up to date vaccinations. Other barriers still deter from reaching the national standard of immunizations rates.

Keywords: vaccinations, well child care, barriers to care, social determinants of health

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Authors: Ayat-Allah Bouramdane

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Power generation from offshore wind energy does not emit carbon dioxide or other air pollutants and therefore play a role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector. In addition, these systems are considered more efficient than onshore wind farms, as they generate electricity from the wind blowing across the sea, thanks to the higher wind speed and greater consistency in direction due to the lack of physical interference that the land or human-made objects can present. This means offshore installations require fewer turbines to produce the same amount of energy as onshore wind farms. However, offshore wind farms require more complex infrastructure to support them and, as a result, are more expensive to construct. In addition, higher wind speeds, strong seas, and accessibility issues makes offshore wind farms more challenging to maintain. This study uses a combination of Geographic Referenced Information (GRI) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify the most suitable sites for offshore wind farm development in Morocco, with a particular focus on the Dakhla city. A range of environmental, socio-economic, and technical criteria are taken into account to solve this complex Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) problem. Based on experts' knowledge, a pairwise comparison matrix at each level of the hierarchy is performed, and fourteen sub-criteria belong to the main criteria have been weighted to generate the site suitability of offshore wind plants and obtain an in-depth knowledge on unsuitable areas, and areas with low-, moderate-, high- and very high suitability. We find that wind speed is the most decisive criteria in offshore wind farm development, followed by bathymetry, while proximity to facilities, the sediment thickness, and the remaining parameters show much lower weightings rendering technical parameters most decisive in offshore wind farm development projects. We also discuss the potential of other marine renewable energy potential, in Morocco, such as wave and tidal energy. The proposed approach and analysis can help decision-makers and can be applied to other countries in order to support the site selection process of offshore wind farms.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, dakhla, geographic referenced information, morocco, multi-criteria decision-making, offshore wind, site suitability

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Tekle Olbamo, Tegegn Tesfaye, Dikaso Unbushe, Belete Jorga

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Bovine trypanosomosis is a haemoprotozoan parasitic disease, mostly transmitted by the tsetse fly (Glossina species) and poses significant losses to the livestock industry in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas. Therefore, the current study was aimed to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and its vectorial density in some selected tsetse suppression and non-tsetse suppression areas of South Omo Zonefrom December 2018- November 2019. Dark phase contrast buffy coat, hematocrit techniques, and thin blood smear method were used for determination of prevalence and packed cell volume of trypanosomosis infection, respectively. For entomological investigation, 96 NGU traps were deployed (64 traps in tsetse suppression areas, 32 traps in tsetse non-suppression areas) in vector breeding areas. The overall prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis was 11.05% (142/1284), and overall seasonal prevalence of disease was 14.33% (92/642) and 7.78% (50/642) for dry and wet seasons, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference (P <0.05) in disease prevalence between the two seasons. Trypanosomacongolensewas the dominant parasite species; 80% and 71.64%, followed by Trypanosomavivax. Overall mean packed cell volume indicated parasitaemic animals (23.57±3.13) had significantly lower PCV than aparasitaemic animals (27.80±4.95), and animals examined during dry season (26.22±4.37) had lower mean PCV than animals examined during wet season with the significant association. Entomological study result revealed a total of 2.64 F/T/D and 2.03 F/T/D respectively from tsetse suppression areas and tsetse non-suppression areas during dry season and 0.42 F/T/D and 0.56 F/T/D during the wet season. Glossinapallidipes was the only cyclical vectors collected and identified from current study areas along with numerous mechanical vectors of genus Tabanus, Stomoxys, and Haematopota. Therefore integrated and safe control and prevention effort should be engaged to uphold cattle production and productivity in the area.

Keywords: bovine trypanosomiasis, South Omo, tsetse fly density, epidemiological study

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Ł. Morawiński, C. Jasiński, M. Jurkiewicz, S. Bou Habib, M. Bondyra

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With the development of optics, electronics, and computers, vision systems are increasingly used in various areas of life, science, and industry. Vision systems have a huge number of applications. They can be used in quality control, object detection, data reading, e.g., QR-code, etc. A large part of them is used for measurement purposes. Some of them make it possible to obtain a 3D reconstruction of the tested objects or measurement areas. 3D reconstruction algorithms are mostly based on creating depth maps from data that can be acquired from active or passive methods. Due to the specific appliance in airfield technology, only passive methods are applicable because of other existing systems working on the site, which can be blinded on most spectral levels. Furthermore, reconstruction is required to work long distances ranging from hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers with low loss of accuracy even with harsh conditions such as fog, rain, or snow. In response to those requirements, HRESS (Heliport REmote Safeguard System) was developed; which main part is a rotational head with a two-camera stereovision rig gathering images around the head in 360 degrees along with stereovision 3D reconstruction and point cloud combination. The sub-pixel analysis introduced in the HRESS system makes it possible to obtain an increased distance measurement resolution and accuracy of about 3% for distances over one kilometer. Ultimately, this leads to more accurate and reliable measurement data in the form of a point cloud. Moreover, the program algorithm introduces operations enabling the filtering of erroneously collected data in the point cloud. All activities from the programming, mechanical and optical side are aimed at obtaining the most accurate 3D reconstruction of the environment in the measurement area.

Keywords: airfield monitoring, artificial intelligence, stereovision, 3D reconstruction

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Frank Jaksoni Mweta, Nozomu Adachi, Yoshikazu Todaka, Hirokazu Sato, Yuta Sato, Hiromi Miura, Masakazu Kobayashi, Chihiro Watanabe, Yoshiteru Aoyagi

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Advances in the consumption of hydrogen fuel increase demands of high strength steel pipes and storage tanks. However, high strength steels are highly sensitive to hydrogen embrittlement. Because the introduction of hydrogen into steel during the fabrication process or from the environment is unavoidable, it is essential to improve hydrogen embrittlement resistance of high strength steels through microstructural control. In the present study, the heterogeneous nanostructure with a tensile strength of about 1.8 GPa and the homogeneous nanostructure with a tensile strength of about 2.0 GPa of 316LN steels were generated after 92% heavy cold rolling and high-pressure torsion straining, respectively. The heterogeneous nanostructure is composed of twin domains, shear bands, and lamellar grains. The homogeneous nanostructure is composed of uniformly distributed ultrafine nanograins. The influence of heterogeneous and homogenous nanostructures on the hydrogen embrittlement resistance was investigated. The specimen for each nanostructure was electrochemically charged with hydrogen for 3, 6, 12, and 24 hours, respectively. Under the same hydrogen charging time, both nanostructures show almost the same concentration of the diffusible hydrogen based on the thermal desorption analysis. The tensile properties of the homogenous nanostructure were severely affected by the diffusible hydrogen. However, the diffusible hydrogen shows less impact on the tensile properties of the heterogeneous nanostructure. The difference in embrittlement behavior between the heterogeneous and homogeneous nanostructures was elucidated based on the mechanism of the cracks' growth observed in the tensile fractography. The hydrogen embrittlement was suppressed in the heterogeneous nanostructure because the twin domain became an obstacle for crack growth. The homogeneous nanostructure was not consisting an obstacle such as a twin domain; thus, the crack growth resistance was low in this nanostructure.

Keywords: diffusible hydrogen, heterogeneous nanostructure, homogeneous nanostructure, hydrogen embrittlement

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Mariya V. Yanyukina, Michael A. Bolotov

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Assembling accuracy is the degree of accordance between the actual values of the parameters obtained during assembly, and the values specified in the assembly drawings and technical specifications. However, the assembling accuracy depends not only on the quality of the production process but also on the correctness of the assembly process. Therefore, preliminary calculations of assembly stages are carried out to verify the correspondence of real geometric parameters to their acceptable values. In the aviation industry, most calculations involve interacting dimensional chains. This greatly complicates the task. Solving such problems requires a special approach. The purpose of this article is to carry out the problem of improving the technology of assembly of aviation units by use of computer calculations. One of the actual examples of the assembly unit, in which there is an interacting dimensional chain, is the turbine wheel of gas turbine engine. Dimensional chain of turbine wheel is formed by geometric parameters of disk and set of blades. The interaction of the dimensional chain consists in the formation of two chains. The first chain is formed by the dimensions that determine the location of the grooves for the installation of the blades, and the dimensions of the blade roots. The second dimensional chain is formed by the dimensions of the airfoil shroud platform. The interaction of the dimensional chain of the turbine wheel is the interdependence of the first and second chains by means of power circuits formed by a plurality of middle parts of the turbine blades. The timeliness of the calculation of the dimensional chain of the turbine wheel is the need to improve the technology of assembly of this unit. The task at hand contains geometric and mathematical components; therefore, its solution can be implemented following the algorithm: 1) research and analysis of production errors by geometric parameters; 2) development of a parametric model in the CAD system; 3) creation of set of CAD-models of details taking into account actual or generalized distributions of errors of geometrical parameters; 4) calculation model in the CAE-system, loading of various combinations of models of parts; 5) the accumulation of statistics and analysis. The main task is to pre-simulate the assembly process by calculating the interacting dimensional chains. The article describes the approach to the solution from the point of view of mathematical statistics, implemented in the software package Matlab. Within the framework of the study, there are data on the measurement of the components of the turbine wheel-blades and disks, as a result of which it is expected that the assembly process of the unit will be optimized by solving dimensional chains.

Keywords: accuracy, assembly, interacting dimension chains, turbine

Procedia PDF Downloads 350

Authors: P. Muñiz, R. Del Pino-García , M.D. Rivero-Pérez, J. García-Lomillo, M. L. González-SanJosé

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Grape, wine and wine pomace could improve the antioxidant status in the vasculature in terms of plasma antioxidant capacity and oxidation biomarkers, partly due to their high content in polyphenols. The current study aimed to evaluate the protection of a powdered product obtained from wine pomace (WPP) against oxidative damage associated to diabetes. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic (STZ) male Wistar rats and non-diabetic control (C) rats initially weighting 300±10 mg were supplemented with 100 mg of WPP or vehicle for 4 weeks. Blood glucose levels and body weight (BW) were measured weekly. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assessed using the ABTS method, and F2α-Isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs) quantified by GC-MS were measured in plasma collected at the end of this experiment. Blood glucose levels tended to increase in the STZ group along the study. Supplementation maintained relatively stable during the whole experiment the blood glucose values in STZ+WPP rats. A weight loss of BW in STZ rats respect to C rats was observed after 4 weeks, whereas the decrease in BW of STZ+WPP group showed a tendency to improve at the end of the study. TAC values significantly decreased around 11% only in plasma of STZ rats. The rest of groups showed plasma TAC values about 8 mM Trolox. Increased levels of F2-IsoPs (around 25%) were also observed in plasma of STZ rats compared to the supplemented rats, revealing a protective effect of WPP against lipid peroxidation. In conclusion, 4-week supplementation with a product derived from winery by-products improved weight loss, plasma TAC, and lipid oxidation biomarkers in Type I diabetic rats.

Keywords: blood glucose, grape polyphenols, F2α-isoprostanes, type I diabetes, oxidative stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 449

Authors: Eric Lai, Sarah Lorger, David Eisinger, Richard Waugh

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Introduction: Percutaneous embolization of varicoceles has shown similar outcomes to surgery. However, there are advantages of radiological intervention as patients are not exposed to general anaesthesia, experience a quicker recovery and face a lower risk of major complications. Radiological interventions are also preferable after a failed surgical approach. We evaluate clinical outcomes of percutaneous embolization at a tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia. Methods: Retrospective case series without a control group from a single site (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia). A data search was performed on the interventional radiology database with the word “varicocele” between February 2017 and March 2022. 62 patients were identified. Each patient file was reviewed and included in the study if they met the inclusion criteria. Results: A total of 56 patients were included. 6 patients were excluded as they did not receive intervention after the initial diagnostic venography. Technical success was 100%. Complications were seen in 3 patients (5.3%). The complications included post-procedural pain and fever, venous perforation with no clinical adverse outcome, and a mild allergic reaction to contrast. Recurrence occurred in 3 patients (5.6%), all of whom received a successful second procedure. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates comparable rates of technical success, complication rate and recurrence to other studies in the literature. When compared to surgical outcomes, the results were also similar. The main limitation is multiple patients lack long-term follow-up beyond 1 year, resulting in potential underestimation of the recurrence rate. Conclusion: Percutaneous embolization of varicocele is a safe alternative to surgical intervention.

Keywords: varicocele, interventional radiology, urology, radiology

Procedia PDF Downloads 38

Authors: E. Von Cheong, Carol Sinnott, Darren Dahly, Patricia M. Kearney

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Introduction and Aim: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are all too common and have been linked to poorer health and wellbeing across the life course. While the prevention of ACEs is a worthy goal, it is important that we also try to lessen the impact of ACEs for those who do experience them. This study aims to investigate associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and later-life depressive symptoms; and to explore whether perceived social support (PSS) moderates these. Method: We analysed baseline data from the Mitchelstown (Ireland) 2010-11 cohort involving 2047 men and women aged 50–69 years. Self-reported assessments included ACEs (Centre for Disease Control ACE questionnaire), PSS (Oslo Social Support Scale), and depressive symptoms (CES-D). The primary exposure was self-report of at least one ACE. We also investigated the effects of ACE exposure by the subtypes abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Associations between each of these exposures and depressive symptoms were estimated using logistic regression, adjusted for socio-demographic factors that were selected using the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) approach. We also tested whether the estimated associations varied across levels of PSS (poor, moderate, and good). Results: 23.7% of participants reported at least one ACE (95% CI: 21.9% to 25.6%). ACE exposures (overall or subtype) were associated with a higher odds of depressive symptoms, but only among individuals with poor PSS. For example, exposure to any ACE (vs. none) was associated with 3 times the odds of depressive symptoms (Adjusted OR 2.97; 95% CI 1.63 to 5.40) among individuals reporting poor PSS, while among those reporting moderate PSS, the adjusted OR was 1.18 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.94). Discussion: ACEs are common among older adults in Ireland and are associated with higher odds of later-life depressive symptoms among those also reporting poor PSS. Interventions that enhance perception of social support following ACE exposure may help reduce the burden of depression in older populations.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences, depression, later-life, perceived social support

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Authors: Frodouard Minani

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Since last decade, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been used in many areas like health care, agriculture, defense, military, disaster hit areas and so on. Wireless Sensor Networks consist of a Base Station (BS) and more number of wireless sensors in order to monitor temperature, pressure, motion in different environment conditions. The key parameter that plays a major role in designing a protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks is energy efficiency which is a scarcest resource of sensor nodes and it determines the lifetime of sensor nodes. Maximizing sensor node’s lifetime is an important issue in the design of applications and protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks. Clustering sensor nodes mechanism is an effective topology control approach for helping to achieve the goal of this research. In this paper, the researcher presents an energy efficiency protocol to prolong the network lifetime based on Energy efficient clustering algorithm. The Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) is a routing protocol for clusters which is used to lower the energy consumption and also to improve the lifetime of the Wireless Sensor Networks. Maximizing energy dissipation and network lifetime are important matters in the design of applications and protocols for wireless sensor networks. Proposed system is to maximize the lifetime of the Wireless Sensor Networks by choosing the farthest cluster head (CH) instead of the closest CH and forming the cluster by considering the following parameter metrics such as Node’s density, residual-energy and distance between clusters (inter-cluster distance). In this paper, comparisons between the proposed protocol and comparative protocols in different scenarios have been done and the simulation results showed that the proposed protocol performs well over other comparative protocols in various scenarios.

Keywords: base station, clustering algorithm, energy efficient, sensors, wireless sensor networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 112