Search results for: bearing requirements of computing force application

Authors: J. Waita, S. Wamuhu, J. Makoyo, M. Rachel, T. Ngangari, W. Christine, M. Zipporah

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Contraceptive use is one of the key global strategies to alleviate maternal mortality. Global efforts through advocating for contraceptive uptake and service provision has led improved contraceptive prevalence. In Kenya maternal mortality rate has remained a challenged despites efforts by government and non-governmental organizations. Objective: To describe the uptake of contraceptives among women in Tunza Clinics, Kenya. Design and Methods: Ps Kenya through health care marketing fund is implementing a family planning program among its 350 Tunza fractional franchise facilities. Through private partnership, private owned facilities in low socio-economic areas are recruited and trained on contraceptive technology update. The providers are supported through facilitative supervision through a mobile based application Health Network Quality Improvement System (HNQIS) and interpersonal communication through 150 community based volunteers. The data analyzed in this paper was collected between January to July 2017 to show the uptake of modern Contraceptives among women in the Tunza franchise, method mix, age and distribution among the age bracket. Further analysis compares two different service delivery strategies; outreach and walk ins. Supportive supervision HNQIS scores was analyzed. Results: During the time period, a total of 132121 family planning clients were attended in 350 facilities. The average age of clients was 29.6 years. The average number of clients attended in the facilities per month was 18874. 73.7 %( n=132121) of the clients attended in the Tunza facilities were aged above 25 years while 22.1% 20-24 years and 4.2% 15-19 years. On contraceptive method mix, intra uterine device insertions clients contributed to 7.5%, implant insertions 15.3%, pills 11.2%, injections 62.7% while condoms and emergency pills had 2.7% and 0.6% respectively. Analysis of service delivery strategy indicated more than 79% of the clients were walk ins while 21% were attended to during outreaches. Uptake of long term contraceptive methods during outreaches was 73% of the clients while short term modern methods were 27%. Health Network Quality Improvement system assessment scores indicated 51% of the facilities scored over 90%, 25% scoring 80-89% while 21% scored below 80%. Conclusion: Preference for short term methods by women is possibly associated to cost as they are cheaper and easy to administer. When the cost of intra uterine device Implants is meant affordable during outreaches, the uptake is observed to increase. Making intra uterine device and implants affordable to women is a key strategy in increasing contraceptive prevalence hence averting maternal mortality.

Keywords: contraceptives, contraceptive uptake, low socio economic, supportive supervision

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Authors: C. P. Mallapur, U. K. Hulihalli, D. N. Kambrekar

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Maize (Zea mays L.) an important cereal crop in the world has diversified uses including human consumption, animal feed, and industrial uses. A major constraint in low productivity of maize in India is undoubtedly insect pests particularly two species of stem borers, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and Sesamia inferens (Walker). The stem borers cause varying level of yield losses in different agro-climate regions (25.7 to 80.4%) resulting in a huge economic loss to the farmers. Although these pests are rather difficult to manage, efforts have been made to combat the menace by using effective insecticides. However, efforts have been made in the present study to integrate various possible approaches for sustainable management of these borers. Two field experiments were conducted separately during 2016-17 at Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India. In the first experiment, six treatments were randomized in RBD. The insect eggs at pinhead stage (@ 40 eggs/plant) were stapled to the under surface of leaves covering 15-20 % of plants in each plot after 15 days of sowing. The second experiment was planned with nine treatments replicated thrice. The border crop with NB -21 grass was planted all around the plots in the specific treatments while, cowpea intercrop (@6:1-row proportion) was sown along with the main crop and later, the insecticidal spray with chlorantraniliprole and nimbecidine was taken upon need basis in the specific treatments. The results indicated that the leaf injury and dead heart incidence were relatively more in the treatments T₂ and T₄ wherein, no insect control measures were made after the insect release (58.30 & 40.0 % leaf injury and 33.42 and 25.74% dead heart). On the contrary, these treatments recorded higher stem tunneling (32.4 and 24.8%) and resulted in lower grain yield (17.49 and 26.79 q/ha) compared to 29.04, 32.68, 40.93 and 46.38 q/ha recorded in T₁, T₃, T₅ and T₆ treatments, respectively. A maximum yield loss of 28.89 percent was noticed in T₂ followed by 19.59 percent in T₄ where no sprays were imposed. The data on integrated management trial revealed the lowest stem borer damage (19.28% leaf injury and 1.21% dead heart) in T₅ (seed treatment with thiamethoxam 70FS @ 8ml/kg seed + cow intercrop along with nimbecidine 0.03EC @ 5.0 ml/l and chlorantraniliprole 18.5SC spray @ 0.2 ml/l). The next best treatment was T₆ (ST+ NB-21 borer with nimbecidine and chlorantraniliprole spray) with 21.3 and 1.99 percent leaf injury and dead heart incidence, respectively. These treatments resulted in highest grain yield (77.71 and 75.53 q/ha in T₅ and T₆, respectively) compared to the standard check, T₁ (ST+ chlorantraniliprole spray) wherein, 27.63 percent leaf injury and 3.68 percent dead heart were noticed with 60.14 q/ha grain yield. The stem borers can cause yield loss up to 25-30 percent in maize which can be well tackled by seed treatment with thiamethoxam 70FS @ 8ml/kg seed and sowing the crop along with cowpea as intercrop (6:1 row proportion) or NB-21 grass as border crop followed by application of nimbecidine 0.03EC @ 5.0 ml/l and chlorantraniliprole 18.5SC @ 0.2 ml/l on need basis.

Keywords: Maize stem borers, Chilo partellus, Sesamia inferens, crop loss, integrated management

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Authors: Pietro P. Falciglia, Erica Gagliano, Vincenza Brancato, Alfio Catalfo, Guglielmo Finocchiaro, Guido De Guidi, Stefano Romano, Paolo Roccaro, Federico G. A. Vagliasindi

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Cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) is a major radionuclide in spent nuclear fuel processing, and it represents the most important cause of contamination related to nuclear accidents. Cesium-137 has long-term radiological effects representing a major concern for the human health. Several physico-chemical methods have been proposed for ¹³⁷Cs removal from impacted water: ion-exchange, adsorption, chemical precipitation, membrane process, coagulation, and electrochemical. However, these methods can be limited by ionic selectivity and efficiency, or they present very restricted full-scale application due to equipment and chemical high costs. On the other hand, adsorption is considered a more cost-effective solution, and activated carbons (ACs) are known as a low-cost and effective adsorbent for a wide range of pollutants among which radionuclides. However, adsorption of Cs onto ACs has been investigated in very few and not exhaustive studies. In addition, exhausted activated carbons are generally discarded in landfill, that is not an eco-friendly and economic solution. Consequently, the regeneration of exhausted ACs must be considered a preferable choice. Several alternatives, including conventional thermal-, solvent-, biological- and electrochemical-regeneration, are available but are affected by several economic or environmental concerns. Microwave (MW) irradiation has been widely used in industrial and environmental applications and it has attracted many attentions to regenerating activated carbons. The growing interest in MW irradiation is based on the passive ability of the irradiated medium to convert a low power irradiation energy into a rapid and large temperature increase if the media presents good dielectric features. ACs are excellent MW-absorbers, with a high mechanical strength and a good resistance towards heating process. This work investigates the feasibility of MW irradiation for the regeneration of Cs-exhausted ACs. Adsorption batch experiments were carried out using commercially available granular activated carbon (GAC), then Cs-saturated AC samples were treated using a controllable bench-scale 2.45-GHz MW oven and investigating different adsorption-regeneration cycles. The regeneration efficiency (RE), weight loss percentage, and textural properties of the AC samples during the adsorption-regeneration cycles were also assessed. Main results demonstrated a relatively low adsorption capacity for Cs, although the feasibility of ACs was strictly linked to their dielectric nature, which allows a very efficient thermal regeneration by MW irradiation. The weight loss percentage was found less than 2%, and an increase in RE after three cycles was also observed. Furthermore, MW regeneration preserved the pore structure of the regenerated ACs. For a deeper exploration of the full-scale applicability of MW regeneration, further investigations on more adsorption-regeneration cycles or using fixed-bed columns are required.

Keywords: adsorption mechanisms, cesium, granular activated carbons, microwave regeneration

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Authors: Veli Durmus, Mert Uydaci

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Every patient who needs to get a medical treatment should share health-related personal data with healthcare providers. Therefore, personal health data plays an important role to make health decisions and identify health threats during every encounter between a patient and caregivers. In other words, health data can be defined as privacy and sensitive information which is protected by various health laws and regulations. In many cases, the data are an outcome of the confidential relationship between patients and their healthcare providers. Globally, almost all nations have own laws, regulations or rules in order to protect personal data. There is a variety of instruments that allow authorities to use the health data or to set the barriers data sharing across international borders. For instance, Directive 95/46/EC of the European Union (EU) (also known as EU Data Protection Directive) establishes harmonized rules in European borders. In addition, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will set further common principles in 2018. Because of close policy relationship with EU, this study provides not only information on regulations, directives but also how they play a role during the legislative process in Turkey. Even if the decision is controversial, the Board has recently stated that private or public healthcare institutions are responsible for the patient call system, for doctors to call people waiting outside a consultation room, to prevent unlawful processing of personal data and unlawful access to personal data during the treatment. In Turkey, vast majority private and public health organizations provide a service that ensures personal data (i.e. patient’s name and ID number) to call the patient. According to the Board’s decision, hospital or other healthcare institutions are obliged to take all necessary administrative precautions and provide technical support to protect patient privacy. However, this application does not effectively and efficiently performing in most health services. For this reason, it is important to draw a legal framework of personal health data by stating what is the main purpose of this regulation and how to deal with complicated issues on personal health data in Turkey. The research is descriptive on data protection law for health care setting in Turkey. Primary as well as secondary data has been used for the study. The primary data includes the information collected under current national and international regulations or law. Secondary data include publications, books, journals, empirical legal studies. Consequently, privacy and data protection regimes in health law show there are some obligations, principles and procedures which shall be binding upon natural or legal persons who process health-related personal data. A comparative approach presents there are significant differences in some EU member states due to different legal competencies, policies, and cultural factors. This selected study provides theoretical and practitioner implications by highlighting the need to illustrate the relationship between privacy and confidentiality in Personal Data Protection in Health Law. Furthermore, this paper would help to define the legal framework for the health law case studies on data protection and privacy.

Keywords: data protection, personal data, privacy, healthcare, health law

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Authors: Danny Barash

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Riboswitches are RNA genetic control elements that were originally discovered in bacteria and provide a unique mechanism of gene regulation. They work without the participation of proteins and are believed to represent ancient regulatory systems in the evolutionary timescale. One of the biggest challenges in riboswitch research is that many are found in prokaryotes but only a small percentage of known riboswitches have been found in certain eukaryotic organisms. The few examples of eukaryotic riboswitches were identified using sequence-based bioinformatics search methods that include some slight structural considerations. These pattern-matching methods were the first ones to be applied for the purpose of riboswitch detection and they can also be programmed very efficiently using a data structure called affix arrays, making them suitable for genome-wide searches of riboswitch patterns. However, they are limited by their ability to detect harder to find riboswitches that deviate from the known patterns. Several methods have been developed since then to tackle this problem. The most commonly used by practitioners is Infernal that relies on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Covariance Models (CMs). Profile Hidden Markov Models were also carried out in the pHMM Riboswitch Scanner web application, independently from Infernal. Other computational approaches that have been developed include RMDetect by the use of 3D structural modules and RNAbor that utilizes Boltzmann probability of structural neighbors. We have tried to incorporate more sophisticated secondary structure considerations based on RNA folding prediction using several strategies. The first idea was to utilize window-based methods in conjunction with folding predictions by energy minimization. The moving window approach is heavily geared towards secondary structure consideration relative to sequence that is treated as a constraint. However, the method cannot be used genome-wide due to its high cost because each folding prediction by energy minimization in the moving window is computationally expensive, enabling to scan only at the vicinity of genes of interest. The second idea was to remedy the inefficiency of the previous approach by constructing a pipeline that consists of inverse RNA folding considering RNA secondary structure, followed by a BLAST search that is sequence-based and highly efficient. This approach, which relies on inverse RNA folding in general and our own in-house fragment-based inverse RNA folding program called RNAfbinv in particular, shows capability to find attractive candidates that are missed by Infernal and other standard methods being used for riboswitch detection. We demonstrate attractive candidates found by both the moving-window approach and the inverse RNA folding approach performed together with BLAST. We conclude that structure-based methods like the two strategies outlined above hold considerable promise in detecting riboswitches and other conserved RNAs of functional importance in a variety of organisms.

Keywords: riboswitches, RNA folding prediction, RNA structure, structure-based methods

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Authors: Web Huei Chou, Li Yi Chun, Wenwe Yu, Han Teng Weng, H. Yuan, T. Yang

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The prevalence of dementia is estimated to rise to 78 million by 2030 and 139 million by 2050. Among those affected, Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, contributing to 60–70% of cases. Addressing this growing challenge is crucial, especially considering the impact on older individuals and their caregivers. To reduce the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, people with dementia use a variety of pharmaceutical and non-pharmacological treatments, and some studies have found the use of non-pharmacological interventions. Treatment of depression, cognitive function, and social activities has potential benefits. Butler developed reminiscence therapy as a method of treating dementia. Through ‘life review,’ individuals can recall their past events, activities, and experiences, which can reduce the depression of the elderly and improve their Quality of life to help give meaning to their lives and help them live independently. The life review process uses a variety of memory triggers, such as household items, past objects, photos, and music, and can be conducted collectively or individually and structured or unstructured. However, despite the advantages of nostalgia therapy, past research has always pointed out that current research lacks rigorous experimental evaluation and cannot describe clear research results and generalizability. Therefore, this study aims to study physiological sensing experiments to find a feasible experimental and verification method to provide clearer design and design specifications for reminiscence therapy and to provide a more widespread application for healthy aging. This study is an ongoing research project, a collaboration between the School of Design at Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan and the Department of Medical Engineering at Chiba University in Japan. We use traditional rice dishes from Taiwan and Japan as nostalgic content to construct a narrative structure for the elderly in the two countries respectively for life review activities, providing an easy-to-carry nostalgic therapy game with an intuitive interactive design. This experiment is expected to be completed in 36 months. The design team constructed and designed the game after conducting literary and historical data surveys and interviews with elders to confirm the nostalgic historical data in Taiwan and Japan. The Japanese team planned the Electrodermal Activity (EDA) and Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) experimental environments and Data calculation model, and then after conducting experiments on elderly people in two places, the research results were analyzed and discussed together. The research has completed the first 24 months of pre-study, design work, and pre-study and has entered the project acceptance stage.

Keywords: reminiscence therapy, aging health, design research, life review

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Authors: Chiun-C.R. Wang, Po-Wen Yen, Chien-Chun Huang

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Banana is produced in large quantities in tropical and subtropical areas. Banana is one of the important fruits which constitute a valuable source of energy, vitamins and minerals. The ripening and maturity standards of banana vary from country to country depending on the expected shelf life of market. The compositions of bananas change dramatically during ethylene-induced ripening that are categorized as nutritive values and commercial utilization. Nevertheless, there is few study reporting the changes of physicochemical properties of banana starch during ethylene-induced ripening of green banana. The objectives of this study were to investigate the changes of chemical composition and enzyme activity of banana and physicochemical properties of banana starch during ethylene-induced ripening. Green bananas were harvested and ripened by ethylene gas at low temperature (15℃) for seven stages. At each stage, banana was sliced and freeze-dried for banana flour preparation. The changes of total starch, resistant starch, chemical compositions, physicochemical properties, activity of amylase, polyphenolic oxidase (PPO) and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) of banana were analyzed each stage during ripening. The banana starch was isolated and analyzed for gelatinization properties, pasting properties and microscopic appearance each stage of ripening. The results indicated that the highest total starch and resistant starch content of green banana were 76.2% and 34.6%, respectively at the harvest stage. Both total starch and resistant starch content were significantly declined to 25.3% and 8.8%, respectively at the seventh stage. Soluble sugars content of banana increased from 1.21% at harvest stage to 37.72% at seventh stage during ethylene-induced ripening. Swelling power of banana flour decreased with the progress of ripening stage, but solubility increased. These results strongly related with the decreases of starch content of banana flour during ethylene-induced ripening. Both water insoluble and alcohol insoluble solids of banana flour decreased with the progress of ripening stage. Both activity of PPO and PAL increased, but the total free phenolics content decreased, with the increases of ripening stages. As ripening stage extended, the gelatinization enthalpy of banana starch significantly decreased from 15.31 J/g at the harvest stage to 10.55 J/g at the seventh stage. The peak viscosity and setback increased with the progress of ripening stages in the pasting properties of banana starch. The highest final viscosity, 5701 RVU, of banana starch slurry was found at the seventh stage. The scanning electron micrograph of banana starch showed the shapes of banana starch appeared to be round and elongated forms, ranging in 10-50 μm at the harvest stage. As the banana closed to ripe status, some parallel striations were observed on the surface of banana starch granular which could be caused by enzyme reaction during ripening. These results inferred that the highest resistant starch was found in the green banana at the harvest stage could be considered as a potential application of healthy foods. The changes of chemical composition and physicochemical properties of banana could be caused by the hydrolysis of enzymes during the ethylene-induced ripening treatment.

Keywords: ethylene-induced ripening, banana starch, resistant starch, soluble sugars, physicochemical properties, gelatinization enthalpy, pasting characteristics, microscopic appearance

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Authors: Thomas Turner

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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic alternative ways of delivering dental education were required. As a result, many institutions moved teaching online. The impact of this is poorly understood. Is online problem-based learning (PBL) and case-based learning (CBL) effective and is it suitable in the post-pandemic era? PBL and CBL are both types of interactive, group-based learning which are growing in popularity within many dental schools. PBL was first introduced in the 1960’s and can be defined as learning which occurs from collaborative work to resolve a problem. Whereas CBL encourages learning from clinical cases, encourages application of knowledge and helps prepare learners for clinical practice. To evaluate the use of online PBL and CBL. A literature search was conducted using the CINAHL, Embase, PubMed and Web of Science databases. Literature was also identified from reference lists. Studies were only included from dental education. Seven suitable studies were identified. One of the studies found a high learner and facilitator satisfaction rate with online CBL. Interestingly one study found learners preferred CBL over PBL within an online format. A study also found, that within the context of distance learning, learners preferred a hybrid curriculum including PBL over a traditional approach. A further study pointed to the limitations of PBL within an online format, such as reduced interaction, potentially hindering the development of communication skills and the increased time and technology support required. An audience response system was also developed for use within CBL and had a high satisfaction rate. Interestingly one study found achievement of learning outcomes was correlated with the number of student and staff inputs within an online format. Whereas another study found the quantity of learner interactions were important to group performance, however the quantity of facilitator interactions was not. This review identified generally favourable evidence for the benefits of online PBL and CBL. However, there is limited high quality evidence evaluating these teaching methods within dental education and there appears to be limited evidence comparing online and faceto-face versions of these sessions. The importance of the quantity of learner interactions is evident, however the importance of the quantity of facilitator interactions appears to be questionable. An element to this may be down to the quality of interactions, rather than just quantity. Limitations of online learning regarding technological issues and time required for a session are also highlighted, however as learners and facilitators get familiar with online formats, these may become less of an issue. It is also important learners are encouraged to interact and communicate during these sessions, to allow for the development of communication skills. Interestingly CBL appeared to be preferred to PBL in an online format. This may reflect the simpler nature of CBL, however further research is required to explore this finding. Online CBL and PBL appear promising, however further research is required before online formats of these sessions are widely adopted in the post-pandemic era.

Keywords: case-based learning, online, problem-based learning, remote, virtual

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Authors: T. S. Terence Ma, Irene T. Ho

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Conducting adequate assessment of the challenges students with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) face and the support they need is imperative for promoting their school adjustment. Students with ASD often show deficits in communication, social interaction, emotional regulation, and self-management in learning. While targeting these areas in intervention is often helpful, we argue that not enough attention has been paid to weak self-regulation being a key factor underlying their manifest difficulty in all these areas. Self-regulation refers to one’s ability to moderate their behavioral or affective responses without assistance from others. Especially for students with high functioning autism, who often show problems not so much in acquiring the needed skills but rather in applying those skills appropriately in everyday problem-solving, self-regulation becomes a key to successful adjustment in daily life. Therefore, a greater understanding of the construct of self-regulation, its relationship with other daily skills, and its role in school functioning for students with ASD would generate insights on how students’ school adjustment could be promoted more effectively. There were two focuses in this study. Firstly, we examined the extent to which self-regulation is a distinct construct that is differentiable from other daily skills and the most salient indicators of this construct. Then we tested a model of relationships between self-regulation and other daily school skills as well as their relative and combined effects on school adjustment. A total of 1,345 Grade1 to Grade 6 students with ASD attending mainstream schools in Hong Kong participated in the research. In the first stage of the study, teachers filled out a questionnaire consisting of 136 items assessing a wide range of student skills in social, emotional and learning areas. Results from exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with 673 participants and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with another group of 672 participants showed that there were five distinct factors of school skills, namely (1) communication skills, (2) pro-social behavior, (3) emotional skills, (4) learning management, and (5) self-regulation. Five scales representing these skill dimensions were generated. In the second stage of the study, a model postulating the mediating role of self-regulation for the effects of the other four types of skills on school adjustment was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM). School adjustment was defined in terms of the extent to which the student is accepted well in school, with high engagement in school life and self-esteem as well as good interpersonal relationships. A 5-item scale was used to assess these aspects of school adjustment. Results showed that communication skills, pro-social behavior, emotional skills and learning management had significant effects on school adjustment only indirectly through self-regulation, and their total effects were found to be not high. The results indicate that support rendered to students with ASD focusing only on the training of well-defined skills is not adequate for promoting their inclusion in school. More attention should be paid to the training of self-management with an emphasis on the application of skills backed by self-regulation. Also, other non-skill factors are important in promoting inclusive education.

Keywords: autism, assessment, factor analysis, self-regulation, school adjustment

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Authors: Muluwerk Ayele Derebe

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Background: Antenatal care (ANC) is an essential element in the continuum of reproductive health care for preventing preventable pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the spatial pattern and predictors of ANC visits in Ethiopia. Method: This study was done using Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data of 2016 among 7,174 pregnant women aged 15-49 years which was a nationwide community-based cross-sectional survey. Spatial analysis was done using Getis-Ord Gi* statistics to identify hot and cold spot areas of ANC visits. Multilevel glmmTMB packages adjusted for spatial effects were used in R software. Spatial multilevel count regression was conducted to identify predictors of antenatal care visits for pregnant women, and proportional change in variance was done to uncover the effect of individual and community-level factors of ANC visits. Results: The distribution of ANC visits was spatially clustered Moran’s I = 0.271, p<.0.001, ICC = 0.497, p<0.001). The highest spatial outlier areas of ANC visit was found in Amhara (South Wollo, Weast Gojjam, North Shewa), Oromo (west Arsi and East Harariga), Tigray (Central Tigray) and Benishangul-Gumuz (Asosa and Metekel) regions. The data was found with excess zeros (34.6%) and over-dispersed. The expected ANC visit of pregnant women with pregnancy complications was higher at 0.7868 [ARR= 2.1964, 95% CI: 1.8605, 2.5928, p-value <0.0001] compared to pregnant women who had no pregnancy complications. The expected ANC visit of a pregnant woman who lived in a rural area was 1.2254 times higher [ARR=3.4057, 95% CI: 2.1462, 5.4041, p-value <0.0001] as compared to a pregnant woman who lived in an urban. The study found dissimilar clusters with a low number of zero counts for a mean number of ANC visits surrounded by clusters with a higher number of counts of an average number of ANC visits when other variables held constant. Conclusion: This study found that the number of ANC visits in Ethiopia had a spatial pattern associated with socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic risk factors. Spatial clustering of ANC visits exists in all regions of Ethiopia. The predictor age of the mother, religion, mother’s education, husband’s education, mother's occupation, husband's occupation, signs of pregnancy complication, wealth index and marital status had a strong association with the number of ANC visits by each individual. At the community level, place of residence, region, age of the mother, sex of the household head, signs of pregnancy complications and distance to health facility factors had a strong association with the number of ANC visits.

Keywords: Ethiopia, ANC, spatial, multilevel, zero inflated Poisson

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Authors: Meifang Chen

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Background: As China increased its engagement in global health affairs and research, global Health (GH) emerged as a new discipline in China after 2010. Duke Kunshan University (DKU), as a member of the Chinese Consortium of Universities for Global Health, is the first university that experiments “Western-style” liberal arts and sciences (LAS) education pedagogy in GH undergraduate and postgraduate programs in China since 2014. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant disruption to education across the world. At the peak of the pandemic, 45 countries in the Europe and Central Asia regions closed their schools, affecting 185 million students. DKU, as many other universities and schools, was unprepared for this sudden abruptness and were forced to build emergency remote learning systems almost immediately. This qualitative study aims to gain a deeper understanding of 1) how Chinese students and parents embrace GH training in the liberal arts and sciences education context, and 2) how the COVID pandemic influences the students’ learning experience as well as affects students and parents’ perceptions of GH-related study and career development in China. Methods: students and parents at DKU were invited and recruited for open-ended, semi-structured interviews during Sept 2021-Mar 2022. Open coding procedures and thematic content analysis were conducted using Nvivo 12 software. Results: A total of 18 students and 36 parents were interviewed. Both students and parents were fond of delivering GH education using the liberal arts and sciences pedagogy. Strengths of LAS included focusing on whole person development, allowing personal enrichment, tailoring curriculum to individual’s interest, providing well-rounded knowledge through interdisciplinary learning, and increasing self-study capacity and adaptability. Limitations of LAS included less time to dive deep into disciplines. There was a significant improvement in independence, creativity, problem solving, and team coordinating capabilities among the students. The impact of the COVID pandemic on GH learning experience included less domestic and abroad fieldwork opportunities, less in-person interactions (especially with foreign students and faculty), less timely support, less lab experience, and coordination challenges due to time-zone difference. The COVID pandemic increased the public’s awareness of the importance of GH and acceptance of GH as a career path. More job and postgraduate program opportunities were expected in near future. However, some parents expressed concerns about GH-related employment opportunities in China. Conclusion: The application of the liberal arts and science education pedagogy in GH training were well-received by the Chinese students and parents. Although global pandemic like COVID disrupted GH learning in many ways, most Chinese students and parents held optimistic attitudes toward GH study and career development.

Keywords: COVID, global health, liberal arts and sciences pedagogy, China

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Authors: Shin Woo Kim, Eui Ju Lee

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The recent development of biofuel production technology facilitates the use of bioethanol and biodiesel on automobile. Bioethanol, especially, can be used as a fuel for gasoline vehicles because the addition of ethanol has been known to increase octane number and reduce soot emissions. However, the wide application of biofuel has been still limited because of lack of detailed combustion properties such as auto-ignition temperature and pollutant emissions such as NOx and soot, which has been concerned mainly on the vehicle fire safety and environmental safety. In this study, the combustion characteristics of gasoline/ethanol fuel were investigated both numerically and experimentally. For auto-ignition temperature and NOx emission, the numerical simulation was performed on the well-stirred reactor (WSR) to simulate the homogeneous gasoline engine and to clarify the effect of ethanol addition in the gasoline fuel. Also, the response surface method (RSM) was introduced as a design of experiment (DOE), which enables the various combustion properties to be predicted and optimized systematically with respect to three independent variables, i.e., ethanol mole fraction, equivalence ratio and residence time. The results of stoichiometric gasoline surrogate show that the auto-ignition temperature increases but NOx yields decrease with increasing ethanol mole fraction. This implies that the bioethanol added gasoline is an eco-friendly fuel on engine running condition. However, unburned hydrocarbon is increased dramatically with increasing ethanol content, which results from the incomplete combustion and hence needs to adjust combustion itself rather than an after-treatment system. RSM results analyzed with three independent variables predict the auto-ignition temperature accurately. However, NOx emission had a big difference between the calculated values and the predicted values using conventional RSM because NOx emission varies very steeply and hence the obtained second order polynomial cannot follow the rates. To relax the increasing rate of dependent variable, NOx emission is taken as common logarithms and worked again with RSM. NOx emission predicted through logarithm transformation is in a fairly good agreement with the experimental results. For more tangible understanding of gasoline/ethanol fuel on pollutant emissions, experimental measurements of combustion products were performed in gasoline/ethanol pool fires, which is widely used as a fire source of laboratory scale experiments. Three measurement methods were introduced to clarify the pollutant emissions, i.e., various gas concentrations including NOx, gravimetric soot filter sampling for elements analysis and pyrolysis, thermophoretic soot sampling with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Soot yield by gravimetric sampling was decreased dramatically as ethanol was added, but NOx emission was almost comparable regardless of ethanol mole fraction. The morphology of the soot particle was investigated to address the degree of soot maturing. The incipient soot such as a liquid like PAHs was observed clearly on the soot of higher ethanol containing gasoline, and the soot might be matured under the undiluted gasoline fuel.

Keywords: gasoline/ethanol fuel, NOx, pool fire, soot, well-stirred reactor (WSR)

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Authors: Anna Krukowska, Tomasz Klimczuk, Adriana Zaleska-Medynska

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Photoactive materials have attracted attention due to their potential application in the degradation of environmental pollutants to non-hazardous compounds in an eco-friendly route. Among semiconductor photocatalysts, tantalates such as potassium tantalate (KTaO3) is one of the excellent functional photomaterial. However, tantalates-based materials are less active under visible-light irradiation, the enhancement in photoactivity could be improved with the modification of opto-eletronic properties of KTaO3 by doping rare earth metal (Er) and further photodeposition of noble metal nanoparticles (Pt). Inclusion of rare earth element in orthorhombic structure of tantalate can generate one high-energy photon by absorbing two or more incident low-energy photons, which convert visible-light and infrared-light into the ultraviolet-light to satisfy the requirement of KTaO3 photocatalysts. On the other hand, depositions of noble metal nanoparticles on the surface of semiconductor strongly absorb visible-light due to their surface plasmon resonance, in which their conducting electrons undergo a collective oscillation induced by electric field of visible-light. Furthermore, the high dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, which will be obtained by photodeposition process is additional important factor to improve the photocatalytic activity. The present work is aimed to study the effect of photocatalytic process of the prepared Er-doped KTaO3 and further incorporation of Pt nanoparticles by photodeposition. Moreover, the research is also studied correlations between photocatalytic activity and physico-chemical properties of obtained Pt/Er-KTaO3 samples. The Er-doped KTaO3 microcomposites were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Then photodeposition method was used for Pt loading over Er-KTaO3. The structural and optical properties of Pt/Er-KTaO3 photocatalytic were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), volumetric adsorption method (BET), UV-Vis absorption measurement, Raman spectroscopy and luminescence spectroscopy. The photocatalytic properties of Pt/Er-KTaO3 microcomposites were investigated by degradation of phenol in aqueous phase as model pollutant under visible and ultraviolet-light irradiation. Results of this work show that all the prepared photocatalysis exhibit low BET surface area, although doping of the bare KTaO3 with rare earth element (Er) presents a slight increase in this value. The crystalline structure of Pt/Er-KTaO3 powders exhibited nearly identical positions for the main peak at about 22,8o and the XRD pattern could be assigned to an orthorhombic distorted perovskite structure. The Raman spectra of obtained semiconductors confirmed demonstrating perovskite-like structure. The optical absorption spectra of Pt nanoparticles exhibited plasmon absorption band for main peaks at about 216 and 264 nm. The addition of Pt nanoparticles increased photoactivity compared to Er-KTaO3 and pure KTaO3. Summary optical properties of KTaO3 change with its doping Er-element and further photodeposition of Pt nanoparticles.

Keywords: heterogeneous photocatalytic, KTaO3 photocatalysts, Er3+ ion doping, Pt photodeposition

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Authors: László L. Lippai

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In addition to the fact that mental health bears great significance to a particular individual, it can also be regarded as an organizational, community and societal resource. Within the Szeged Health Promotion Research Group, we conducted mental health surveys on two levels: The inhabitants of a medium-sized Hungarian town and students of a Hungarian university with a relatively big headcount were requested to participate in surveys whose goals were to define local government priorities and organization-level health promotion programmes, respectively. To facilitate professional decision-making, we defined three, pragmatically relevant, groups of the target population: the mentally healthy, the vulnerable and the endangered. In order to determine which group a person actually belongs to, we designed a simple and quick measurement tool, which could even be utilised as a smoothing method, the Mental State Questionnaire validity of the above three categories was verified by analysis of variance against psychological quality of life variables. We demonstrate the pragmatic significance of our method via the analyses of the scores of our two mental health surveys. On town level, during our representative survey in Hódmezővásárhely (N=1839), we found that 38.7% of the participants was mentally healthy, 35.3% was vulnerable, while 16.3% was considered as endangered. We were able to identify groups that were in a dramatic state in terms of mental health. For example, such a group consisted of men aged 45 to 64 with only primary education qualification and the ratios of the mentally healthy, vulnerable and endangered were 4.5, 45.5 and 50%, respectively. It was also astonishing to see to what a little extent qualification prevailed as a protective factor in the case of women. Based on our data, the female group aged 18 to 44 with primary education—of whom 20.3% was mentally healthy, 42.4% vulnerable and 37.3% was endangered—as well as the female group aged 45 to 64 with university or college degree—of whom 25% was mentally healthy, 51.3 vulnerable and 23.8% endangered—are to be handled as priority intervention target groups in a similarly difficult position. On organizational level, our survey involving the students of the University of Szeged, N=1565, provided data to prepare a strategy of mental health promotion for a university with a headcount exceeding 20,000. When developing an organizational strategy, it was important to gather information to estimate the proportions of target groups in which mental health promotion methods; for example, life management skills development, detection, psychological consultancy, psychotherapy, would be applied. Our scores show that 46.8% of the student participants were mentally healthy, 42.1% were vulnerable and 11.1% were endangered. These data convey relevant information as to the allocation of organizational resources within a university with a considerable headcount. In conclusion, The Mental State Questionnaire, as a valid smoothing method, is adequate to describe a community in a plain and informative way in the terms of mental health. The application of the method can promote the preparation, design and implementation of mental health promotion interventions. 

Keywords: health promotion, mental health promotion, mental state questionnaire, psychological well-being

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Authors: Ramzi Farra, Detre Teschner, Marc Willinger, Robert Schlögl

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Introduction: The conventional approach of characterizing solid catalysts under static conditions, i.e., before and after reaction, does not provide sufficient knowledge on the physicochemical processes occurring under dynamic conditions at the molecular level. Hence, the necessity of improving new in situ characterizing techniques with the potential of being used under real catalytic reaction conditions is highly desirable. In situ Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) is a rapidly developing chemical analytical technique that enables us experimentally to assess the coverage of surface species under catalytic turnover and correlate these with the reactivity. The catalytic HCl oxidation (Deacon reaction) over bulk ceria will serve as our example. Furthermore, the in situ Transmission Electron Microscopy is a powerful technique that can contribute to the study of atmosphere and temperature induced morphological or compositional changes of a catalyst at atomic resolution. The application of such techniques (PGAA and TEM) will pave the way to a greater and deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of active catalysts. Experimental/Methodology: In situ Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) experiments were carried out to determine the Cl uptake and the degree of surface chlorination under reaction conditions by varying p(O2), p(HCl), p(Cl2), and the reaction temperature. The abundance and dynamic evolution of OH groups on working catalyst under various steady-state conditions were studied by means of in situ FTIR with a specially designed homemade transmission cell. For real in situ TEM we use a commercial in situ holder with a home built gas feeding system and gas analytics. Conclusions: Two complimentary in situ techniques, namely in situ PGAA and in situ FTIR were utilities to investigate the surface coverage of the two most abundant species (Cl and OH). The OH density and Cl uptake were followed under multiple steady-state conditions as a function of p(O2), p(HCl), p(Cl2), and temperature. These experiments have shown that, the OH density positively correlates with the reactivity whereas Cl negatively. The p(HCl) experiments give rise to increased activity accompanied by Cl-coverage increase (opposite trend to p(O2) and T). Cl2 strongly inhibits the reaction, but no measurable increase of the Cl uptake was found. After considering all previous observations we conclude that only a minority of the available adsorption sites contribute to the reactivity. In addition, the mechanism of the catalysed reaction was proposed. The chlorine-oxygen competition for the available active sites renders re-oxidation as the rate-determining step of the catalysed reaction. Further investigations using in situ TEM are planned and will be conducted in the near future. Such experiments allow us to monitor active catalysts at the atomic scale under the most realistic conditions of temperature and pressure. The talk will shed a light on the potential and limitations of in situ PGAA and in situ TEM in the study of catalyst dynamics.

Keywords: CeO2, deacon process, in situ PGAA, in situ TEM, in situ FTIR

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Authors: Oluwagbemi Victor Aladeokin

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In the last decade, the global peanut cultivation has seen increased demand, which is attributed to their health benefits, rising to ~ 41.4 MMT in 2019/2020. Peanut and other nutshells are considered as waste in various parts of the world and are usually used for their fuel value. However, this agricultural by-product can be converted to a higher value product such as activated carbon. For many years, due to the highly porous structure of activated carbon, it has been widely and effectively used as an adsorbent in the purification and separation of gases and liquids. Those used for commercial purposes are primarily made from a range of precursors such as wood, coconut shell, coal, bones, etc. However, due to difficulty in regeneration and high cost, various agricultural residues such as rice husk, corn stalks, apricot stones, almond shells, coffee beans, etc, have been explored to produce activated carbons. In the present study, the potential of peanut shells as precursors in the production of activated carbon and their adsorption capacity is investigated. Usually, precursors used to produce activated carbon have carbon content above 45 %. A typical raw peanut shell has 42 wt.% carbon content. To increase the yield, this study has employed chemical activation method using zinc chloride. Zinc chloride is well known for its effectiveness in increasing porosity of porous carbonaceous materials. In chemical activation, activation temperature and impregnation ratio are parameters commonly reported to be the most significant, however, this study has also studied the influence of activation time on the development of activated carbon from peanut shells. Activated carbons are applied for different purposes, however, as the application of activated carbon becomes more specific, an understanding of the influence of activation variables to have a better control of the quality of the final product becomes paramount. A traditional approach to experimentally investigate the influence of the activation parameters, involves varying each parameter at a time. However, a more efficient way to reduce the number of experimental runs is to apply design of experiment. One of the objectives of this study is to optimize the activation variables. Thus, this work has employed response surface methodology of design of experiment to study the interactions between the activation parameters and consequently optimize the activation parameters (temperature, impregnation ratio, and activation time). The optimum activation conditions found were 485 °C, 15 min and 1.7, temperature, activation time, and impregnation ratio respectively. The optimum conditions resulted in an activated carbon with relatively high surface area ca. 1700 m2/g, 47 % yield, relatively high density, low ash, and high fixed carbon content. Impregnation ratio and temperature were found to mostly influence the final characteristics of the produced activated carbon from peanut shells. The results of this study, using response surface methodology technique, have revealed the potential and the most significant parameters that influence the chemical activation process, of peanut shells to produce activated carbon which can find its use in both liquid and gas phase adsorption applications.

Keywords: chemical activation, fixed carbon, impregnation ratio, optimum, surface area

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Authors: Muhammmad Riandhy Anindika Yudhy, Harry Patria, Ramadhani Santoso

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Loss of containment is the primary hazard that process safety management is concerned within the oil and gas industry. Escalation to more serious consequences all begins with the loss of containment, starting with oil and gas release from leakage or spillage from primary containment resulting in pool fire, jet fire and even explosion when reacted with various ignition sources in the operations. Therefore, the heart of process safety management is avoiding loss of containment and mitigating its impact through the implementation of safeguards. The most effective safeguard for the case is an early detection system to alert Operations to take action prior to a potential case of loss of containment. The detection system value increases when applied to a long surface pipeline that is naturally difficult to monitor at all times and is exposed to multiple causes of loss of containment, from natural corrosion to illegal tapping. Based on prior researches and studies, detecting loss of containment accurately in the surface pipeline is difficult. The trade-off between cost-effectiveness and high accuracy has been the main issue when selecting the traditional detection method. The current best-performing method, Real-Time Transient Model (RTTM), requires analysis of closely positioned pressure, flow and temperature (PVT) points in the pipeline to be accurate. Having multiple adjacent PVT sensors along the pipeline is expensive, hence generally not a viable alternative from an economic standpoint.A conceptual approach to combine mathematical modeling using computational fluid dynamics and a supervised machine learning model has shown promising results to predict leakage in the pipeline. Mathematical modeling is used to generate simulation data where this data is used to train the leak detection and localization models. Mathematical models and simulation software have also been shown to provide comparable results with experimental data with very high levels of accuracy. While the supervised machine learning model requires a large training dataset for the development of accurate models, mathematical modeling has been shown to be able to generate the required datasets to justify the application of data analytics for the development of model-based leak detection systems for petroleum pipelines. This paper presents a review of key leak detection strategies for oil and gas pipelines, with a specific focus on crude oil applications, and presents the opportunities for the use of data analytics tools and mathematical modeling for the development of robust real-time leak detection and localization system for surface pipelines. A case study is also presented.

Keywords: pipeline, leakage, detection, AI

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Hakimullah Hakim, Chiharu Toyofuku, Mari Ota, Mayuko Suzuki, Miyuki Komura, Masashi Yamada, Md. Shahin Alam, Natthanan Sangsriratanakul, Dany Shoham, Kazuaki Takehara

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Disinfectants and their application are essential part of infection control strategies and enhancement of biosecurity at farms, worldwide. Alkaline agents are well known for their strong and long term antimicrobial capacities and most frequently are applied at farms for control and prevention of biological hazards. However, inadequate information regarding such materials’ capacities to inactivate pathogens and their improper applications fail farmers to achieve the mentioned goal. Thus, this requires attention to further evaluate their efficacies, under different conditions and in different ways. Here in this study we evaluated bactericidal efficacies of food additive grade of calcium hydroxide (FdCa(OH)2) powder derived from natural calcium carbonates obtained from limestone (Fine Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), and bioceramic powder (BCX) derived from chicken feces at pH 13 (NMG environmental development Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), for their efficacies to inactivate bacteria in feces. [Materials & Methods] Chicken feces were inoculated by 100 µl Escherichia coli and Salmonella Infantis in falcon tubes, individually, then FdCa(OH)2 or BCX powders were individually added to make final concentration of 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30% (w/w) in total weight of 0.5g, followed by properly mixing and incubating at room temperature for certain periods of time, in a dark place. Afterwards, 10 ml 1M Tris-HCl (pH 7.2) was added onto them to reduce their pH, in order to stop powders’ activities and to harvest the remained viable bacteria, whereas using normal medium or dW2 to recover bacteria increases the mixture pH, and as a result bacteria would be inactivated soon; therefore, the latter practice brings about incorrect and misleading results. Samples were then inoculated on DHL agar plates in order to calculate colony forming units (CFU)/ml of viable bacteria. [Results and Discussion] FdCa(OH)2 powder at 10% and 5% required 3 hr and 6 hr exposure times, respectively, while BCX powder at 20% concentrations required 6 hr exposure time to kill the mentioned bacteria in feces down to lower than detectable level (≤ 3.6 log10 CFU/ml). This study confirmed capacities of FdCa(OH)2 and BCX powders to inactivate bacteria in feces, and both materials are environment friendly materials, with no risk to human or animal’s health. This finding helps farmers to properly apply alkaline agents in appropriate concentrations and exposure times in their farms, in order to prevent and control infectious diseases outbreaks and to enhance biosecurity. Finally, this finding may help farmers to implement better strategies for infections control in their livestock farms.

Keywords: bacterial inactivation, bioceramic, biosecurity at livestock farms, chicken feces

Procedia PDF Downloads 441

Authors: Qi Wang

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With the expansion of trial-centered principles, the importance of witness examination in Korean criminal proceedings has been increasingly emphasized. However, several practical challenges have emerged in courtroom examinations, including concerns about witnesses’ memory deterioration due to prolonged trial periods, the possibility of inaccurate testimony due to courtroom anxiety and tension, risks of testimony retraction, and witnesses’ refusal to appear. These issues have led to a decline in the effective utilization of witness testimony. This study analyzes the deposition system, which is widely used in the U.S. evidence discovery process, and examines its potential implementation within the Korean criminal procedure framework. Furthermore, it explores the scope of application, procedural design, and measures to prevent potential abuse if the system were to be adopted. Under the adversarial litigation structure that has evolved through several amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, the deposition system, although conducted pre-trial, serves as a preliminary procedure to facilitate efficient and effective witness examination during trial. This system not only aligns with the goal of discovering substantive truth but also upholds the practical ideals of trial-centered principles while promoting judicial economy. Furthermore, with the legal foundation established by Article 266 of the Criminal Procedure Act and related provisions, this study concludes that the implementation of the deposition system is both feasible and appropriate for the Korean criminal justice system. The specific functions of depositions include providing case-related information to refresh witnesses’ memory as a preliminary to courtroom examination, pre-reviewing existing statement documents to enhance trial efficiency, and conducting preliminary examinations on key issues and anticipated questions. The subsequent courtroom witness examination focuses on verifying testimony through public and cross-examination, identifying and analyzing contradictions in testimony, and conducting double verification of testimony credibility under judicial supervision. Regarding operational aspects, both prosecution and defense may request depositions, subject to court approval. The deposition process involves video or audio recording, complete documentation by court reporters, and the preparation of transcripts, with copies provided to all parties and the original included in court records. The admissibility of deposition transcripts is recognized under Article 311 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Given prosecutors’ advantageous position in evidence collection, which may lead to indifference or avoidance of depositions, the study emphasizes the need to reinforce prosecutors’ public interest status and objective duties. Additionally, it recommends strengthening pre-employment ethics education and post-violation disciplinary measures for prosecutors.

Keywords: witness examination, deposition system, Korean criminal procedure, evidence discovery, trial-centered principle

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Authors: Antonina Semakova, Karim Mynbaev, Nikolai Bazhenov, Anton Chernyaev, Sergei Kizhaev, Nikolai Stoyanov

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At present, heterostructures are used for fabrication of almost all types of optoelectronic devices. Our research focuses on the optoelectronic properties of InAs(Sb) solid solutions that are widely used in fabrication of light emitting diodes (LEDs) operating in middle wavelength infrared range (MWIR). This spectral range (2-6 μm) is relevant for laser diode spectroscopy of gases and molecules, for systems for the detection of explosive substances, medical applications, and for environmental monitoring. The fabrication of MWIR LEDs that operate efficiently at room temperature is mainly hindered by the predominance of non-radiative Auger recombination of charge carriers over the process of radiative recombination, which makes practical application of LEDs difficult. However, non-radiative recombination can be partly suppressed in quantum-well structures. In this regard, studies of such structures are quite topical. In this work, electroluminescence (EL) of LED heterostructures based on InAs(Sb) epitaxial films with the molar fraction of InSb ranging from 0 to 0.09 and multi quantum-well (MQW) structures was studied in the temperature range 4.2-300 K. The growth of the heterostructures was performed by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition on InAs substrates. On top of the active layer, a wide-bandgap InAsSb(Ga,P) barrier was formed. At low temperatures (4.2-100 K) stimulated emission was observed. As the temperature increased, the emission became spontaneous. The transition from stimulated emission to spontaneous one occurred at different temperatures for structures with different InSb contents in the active region. The temperature-dependent carrier lifetime, limited by radiative recombination and the most probable Auger processes (for the materials under consideration, CHHS and CHCC), were calculated within the framework of the Kane model. The effect of various recombination processes on the carrier lifetime was studied, and the dominant role of Auger processes was established. For MQW structures quantization energies for electrons, light and heavy holes were calculated. A characteristic feature of the experimental EL spectra of these structures was the presence of peaks with energy different from that of calculated optical transitions between the first quantization levels for electrons and heavy holes. The obtained results showed strong effect of the specific electronic structure of InAsSb on the energy and intensity of optical transitions in nanostructures based on this material. For the structure with MQWs in the active layer, a very weak temperature dependence of EL peak was observed at high temperatures (>150 K), which makes it attractive for fabricating temperature-resistant gas sensors operating in the middle-infrared range.

Keywords: Electroluminescence, InAsSb, light emitting diode, quantum wells

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Authors: Norihiro Kato, Yuriko Takayama

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Some gram-negative bacteria enable the simultaneous activation of gene expression involved in N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) dependent cell-to-cell communication system. Such regulatory system for the bacterial group behavior is termed as quorum sensing (QS) because a diffusible AHL signal can accumulate around the cell during the increase of the cell density and trigger activation of the sequential QS process. By blocking the QS, the expression of diverse genes related to infection, antibiotic production, and biofilm formation is inhibited. Conditioning of QS by regulation of the DNA-receptor-AHL interaction is a potential target for enhancing host defenses against pathogenicity. We focused on engineered application of transcriptional regulator SpnR produced in opportunistic human pathogen Serratia marcescens. The SpnR can interact with AHL signals at an N-terminal domain and also with a promoter region of a QS target gene at a C-terminal domain. As the initial process of the QS activation, the SpnR forms a complex with the AHL to enhance the expression of pig cluster; the SpnR normally acts as an activator for the expression of the QS-dependent gene. In this research, we attempt to artificially control QS by changing the role of SpnR. The QS-dependent prodigiosin production is expected to inhibit by externally added SpnR in the culture broth of AS-1 strain because the AHL concentration was kept below the threshold by AHL-SpnR complex formation. Maltose-binding protein (MBP)-tagged SpnR (MBP-SpnR) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified using an affinity chromatography equipped with an amylose resin column. The specific interaction between AHL and MBP-SpnR was demonstrated by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor. AHL with amino end-group was coupled with COOH-terminated self-assembled monolayer prepared on a gold electrode of 27-MHz quartz crystal sensor using water-soluble carbodiimide. After the injection of MBP-SpnR into a cup-type sensor cell filled with the buffer solution, time course of resonant frequency change (ΔFs) was determined. A decrease of ΔFs clearly showed the uptake of MBP-SpnR onto the AHL-immobilized electrode. Furthermore, no binding affinity was observed after the heat-inactivation of MBP-SpnR at 80ºC. These results suggest that MBP-SpnR possesses a specific affinity for AHL. MBP-SpnR was added to the culture medium as an AHL trap to study inhibitory effects on intracellularly accumulated prodigiosin. With approximately 2 µM MBP-SpnR, the amount of prodigiosin induced was half that of the control without any additives. In conclusion, the function of SpnR could be switched by adding it to the cell culture. Exogenously added MBP-SpnR possesses high affinity for AHL derived from cells and acts as an inhibitor of AHL-mediated QS.

Keywords: intracellular signaling, microbial biotechnology, quorum sensing, transcriptional regulator

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Authors: Natalia V. Beloglazova, Pieterjan Lenain, Martin Hedstrom, Dietmar Knopp, Sarah De Saeger

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In recent years polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which represent a hazard to humans and entire ecosystem, have been receiving an increased interest due to their mutagenic, carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting properties. They are formed in all incomplete combustion processes of organic matter and, as a consequence, ubiquitous in the environment. Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is on the priority list published by the Environmental Agency (US EPA) as the first PAH to be identified as a carcinogen and has often been used as a marker for PAHs contamination in general. It can be found in different types of water samples, therefore, the European Commission set up a limit value of 10 ng L–1 (10 ppt) for BAP in water intended for human consumption. Generally, different chromatographic techniques are used for PAHs determination, but these assays require pre-concentration of analyte, create large amounts of solvent waste, and are relatively time consuming and difficult to perform on-site. An alternative robust, stand-alone, and preferably cheap solution is needed. For example, a sensing unit which can be submerged in a river to monitor and continuously sample BaP. An affinity sensor based on capacitive transduction was developed. Natural antibodies or their synthetic analogues can be used as ligands. Ideally the sensor should operate independently over a longer period of time, e.g. several weeks or months, therefore the use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) was discussed. MIPs are synthetic antibodies which are selective for a chosen target molecule. Their robustness allows application in environments for which biological recognition elements are unsuitable or denature. They can be reused multiple times, which is essential to meet the stand-alone requirement. BaP is a highly lipophilic compound and does not contain any functional groups in its structure, thus excluding non-covalent imprinting methods based on ionic interactions. Instead, the MIPs syntheses were based on non-covalent hydrophobic and π-π interactions. Different polymerization strategies were compared and the best results were demonstrated by the MIPs produced using electropolymerization. 4-vinylpyridin (VP) and divinylbenzene (DVB) were used as monomer and cross-linker in the polymerization reaction. The selectivity and recovery of the MIP were compared to a non-imprinted polymer (NIP). Electrodes were functionalized with natural receptor (monoclonal anti-BaP antibody) and with MIPs selective towards BaP. Different sets of electrodes were evaluated and their properties such as sensitivity, selectivity and linear range were determined and compared. It was found that both receptor can reach the cut-off level comparable to the established ML, and despite the fact that the antibody showed the better cross-reactivity and affinity, MIPs were more convenient receptor due to their ability to regenerate and stability in river till 7 days.

Keywords: antibody, benzo(a)pyrene, capacitive sensor, MIPs, river water

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Authors: Natalia Politaeva, Iuliia Smiatskaia, Iuliia Bazarnova, Iryna Atamaniuk, Kerstin Kuchta

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Nowadays, the progressive decrease of primary natural resources and ongoing upward trend in terms of energy demand, have resulted in development of new generation technological processes which are focused on step-wise production and residues utilization. Thus, microalgae-based 3^rd generation bioeconomy is considered one of the most promising approaches that allow production of value-added products and sophisticated utilization of residues biomass. In comparison to conventional biomass, microalgae can be cultivated in wide range of conditions without compromising food and feed production, and thus, addressing issues associated with negative social and environmental impacts. However, one of the most challenging tasks is to undergo seasonal variations and to achieve optimal growing conditions for indoor closed systems that can cover further demand for material and energetic utilization of microalgae. For instance, outdoor cultivation in St. Petersburg (Russia) is only suitable within rather narrow time frame (from mid-May to mid-September). At earlier and later periods, insufficient sunlight and heat for the growth of microalgae were detected. On the other hand, without additional physical effects, the biomass increment in summer is 3-5 times per week, depending on the solar radiation and the ambient temperature. In order to increase biomass production, scientists from all over the world have proposed various technical solutions for cultivators and have been studying the influence of various physical factors affecting biomass growth namely: magnetic field, radiation impact, and electric field, etc. In this paper, the influence of infrared radiation (IR) and fluorescent light on the growth rate of microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana has been studied. The cultivation of Chlorella sorokiniana was carried out in 500 ml cylindrical glass vessels, which were constantly aerated. To accelerate the cultivation process, the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes at 500 rpm following 120 minutes of rest time. At the same time, the metabolic needs in nutrients were provided by the addition of micro- and macro-nutrients in the microalgae growing medium. Lighting was provided by fluorescent lamps with the intensity of 2500 ± 300 lx. The influence of IR was determined using IR lamps with a voltage of 220 V, power of 250 W, in order to achieve the intensity of 13 600 ± 500 lx. The obtained results show that under the influence of fluorescent lamps along with the combined effect of active aeration and variable mixing, the biomass increment on the 2^nd day was three times, and on the 7^th day, it was eight-fold. The growth rate of microalgae under the influence of IR radiation was lower and has reached 22.6·10⁶ cells·mL^-1. However, application of IR lamps for the biomass growth allows maintaining the optimal temperature of microalgae suspension at approximately 25-28°C, which might especially be beneficial during the cold season in extreme climate zones.

Keywords: biomass, fluorescent lamp, infrared radiation, microalgae

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Authors: Yiea Funk Te, Daniel Mueller, Irena Pletikosa Cvijikj

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy of many countries. When the overall world economy is considered, SMEs represent 95% of all businesses in the world, accounting for 66% of the total employment. Existing studies show that the current business environment is characterized as highly turbulent and strongly influenced by modern information and communication technologies, thus forcing SMEs to experience more severe challenges in maintaining their existence and expanding their business. To support SMEs at improving their competitiveness, researchers recently turned their focus on applying data mining techniques to build risk and growth prediction models. However, data used to assess risk and growth indicators is primarily obtained via questionnaires, which is very laborious and time-consuming, or is provided by financial institutes, thus highly sensitive to privacy issues. Recently, web mining (WM) has emerged as a new approach towards obtaining valuable insights in the business world. WM enables automatic and large scale collection and analysis of potentially valuable data from various online platforms, including companies’ websites. While WM methods have been frequently studied to anticipate growth of sales volume for e-commerce platforms, their application for assessment of SME risk and growth indicators is still scarce. Considering that a vast proportion of SMEs own a website, WM bears a great potential in revealing valuable information hidden in SME websites, which can further be used to understand SME risk and growth indicators, as well as to enhance current SME risk and growth prediction models. This study aims at developing an automated system to collect business-relevant data from the Web and predict future growth trends of SMEs by means of WM and data mining techniques. The envisioned system should serve as an 'early recognition system' for future growth opportunities. In an initial step, we examine how structured and semi-structured Web data in governmental or SME websites can be used to explain the success of SMEs. WM methods are applied to extract Web data in a form of additional input features for the growth prediction model. The data on SMEs provided by a large Swiss insurance company is used as ground truth data (i.e. growth-labeled data) to train the growth prediction model. Different machine learning classification algorithms such as the Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and Artificial Neural Network are applied and compared, with the goal to optimize the prediction performance. The results are compared to those from previous studies, in order to assess the contribution of growth indicators retrieved from the Web for increasing the predictive power of the model.

Keywords: data mining, SME growth, success factors, web mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Karthyayani Rajamani, Yi-Chun Lin, Tung-Chou Wen, Jeanne Hsieh, Yi-Maun Subeq, Jen-Wei Liu, Po-Cheng Lin, Horng-Jyh Harn, Shinn-Zong Lin, Tzyy-Wen Chiou

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Assuring cell quality is an essential parameter for the success of stem cell therapy, utilization of various components to improve this potential has been the primary goal of stem cell research. The aim of this study was not only to demonstrate the capacity of trans-cinnamaldehyde (TC) to reverse stress-induced senescence but also improve the therapeutic abilities of stem cells. Because of the availability and the promising application potential in regenerative medicine, adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) were chosen for the study. We found that H2O2 treatment resulted in the expression of senescence characteristics in the ADSCs, including decreased proliferation rate, increased senescence-associated- β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activity, decreased SIRT1 (silent mating type information regulation 2 homologs) expression and decreased telomerase activity. However, TC treatment was sufficient to rescue or reduce the effects of H2O2 induction, ultimately leading to an increased proliferation rate, a decrease in the percentage of SA-β-gal positive cells, upregulation of SIRT1 expression, and increased telomerase activity of the senescent ADSCs at the cellular level. Further recently it was observed that the ADSCs were treated with TC without induction of senescence, all the before said positives were observed. Moreover, a chemically induced liver fibrosis animal model was used to evaluate the functionality of these rescued cells in vivo. Liver dysfunction was established by injecting 200 mg/kg thioacetamide (TAA) intraperitoneally into Wistar rats every third day for 60 days. The experimental rats were separated into groups; normal group (rats without TAA induction), sham group (without ADSC transplantation), positive control group (transplanted with normal ADSCs); H2O2 group (transplanted with H2O2 -induced senescent ADSCs), H2O2+TC group (transplanted with ADSCs pretreated with H2O2 and then further treated with TC) and TC group (ADSC treated with TC without H2O2 treatment). In the transplantation group, 1 × 106 human ADSCs were introduced into each rat via direct liver injection. Based on the biochemical analysis and immunohistochemical staining results, it was determined that the therapeutic effects on liver fibrosis by the induced senescent ADSCs (H2O2 group) were not as significant as those exerted by the normal ADSCs (the positive control group). However, the H2O2+TC group showed significant reversal of liver damage when compared to the H2O2 group 1 week post-transplantation. Further ADSCs without H2O2 treatment but with just TC treatment performed much better than all the groups. These data confirmed that the TC treatment had the potential to improve the therapeutic effect of ADSCs. It is therefore suggested that TC has potential applications in maintaining stem cell quality and could possibly aid in the treatment of senescence-related disorders.

Keywords: senescence, SIRT1, adipose derived stem cells, liver fibrosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Li Shuping, Shu Huaping, Yi Chaofan, Tao Jiang

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Equestrian practice is often considered having a unique effect on improving symptoms in children with autism. This study evaluated and measured the changes in daily behavior, morphological, physical function, and fitness indexes of two group children with autism by means of 12 weeks of equestrian and basketball exercises. 19 clinically diagnosed children with moderate/mild autism were randomly divided into equestrian group (9 children, age=10.11±1.90y) and basketball group (10 children, age=10.70±2.16y). Both the equestrian and basketball groups practiced twice a week for 45 to 60 minutes each time. Three scales, the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Clancy Autism Behavior Scale (CABS) were used to assess their human behavior and psychology. Four morphological, seven physical function and fitness indicators were measured to evaluate the effects of the two exercises on the children’s body. The evaluations were taken by every four weeks ( pre-exercise, the 4th week, the 8th week and 12th week (post exercise). The result showed that the total scores of ABC, CARS and CABS, the dimension scores of ABC on the somatic motor, language and life self-care obtained after exercise were significantly lower than those obtained before 12 week exercises in both groups. The ABC feeling dimension scores of equestrian group and ABC communication dimension score of basketball group were significantly lower,and The upper arm circumference, sitting forward flexion, 40 second sit-up, 15s lateral jump, vital capacity, and single foot standing of both groups were significantly higher than that of before exercise.. The BMI of equestrian group was significantly reduced. The handgrip strength of basketball group was significantly increased. In conclusion, both types of exercises could improve daily behavior, morphological, physical function, and fitness indexes of the children with autism. However, the behavioral psychological scores, body morphology and function indicators and time points were different in the middle and back of the two interventions.But the indicators and the timing of the improvement were different. To the group of equestrian, the improvement of the flexibility occurred at week 4, the improvement of the sensory perception, control and use their own body, and promote the development of core strength endurance, coordination and cardiopulmonary function occurred at week 8，and the improvement of core strength endurance, coordination and cardiopulmonary function occurred at week 12. To the group of basketball, the improvement of the hand strength, balance, flexibility and cardiopulmonary function occurred at week 4, the improvement of the self-care ability and language expression ability, and core strength endurance and coordination occurred at week 8, the improvement of the control and use of their own body and social interaction ability occurred at week 12. In comparison of the exercise effects, the equestrian exercise improved the physical control and application ability appeared earlier than that of basketball group. Basketball exercise improved the language expression ability, self-care ability, balance ability and cardiopulmonary function of autistic children appeared earlier than that of equestrian group.

Keywords: intervention, children with autism, equestrain, basketball

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Authors: Maria Evnevich

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In modern conditions, in most markets, price competition is becoming less effective. On the one hand, there is a gradual decrease in the level of marginality in main traditional sectors of the economy, so further price reduction becomes too ‘expensive’ for the company. On the other hand, the effect of price reduction is leveled, and the reason for this phenomenon is likely to be informational. As a result, it turns out that even if the company reduces prices, making its products more accessible to the buyer, there is a high probability that this will not lead to increase in sales unless additional large-scale advertising and information campaigns are conducted. Similarly, a large-scale information and advertising campaign have a much greater effect itself than price reductions. At the same time, the cost of mass informing is growing every year, especially when using the main information channels. The article presents generalization, systematization and development of theoretical approaches and best practices in the field of customer focus approach to business management and in the field of relationship marketing in the modern digital economy. The research methodology is based on the synthesis and content-analysis of sociological and marketing research and on the study of the systems of working with consumer appeals and loyalty programs in the 50 largest client-oriented companies in Russia. Also, the analysis of internal documentation on customers’ purchases in one of the largest retail companies in Russia allowed to identify if buyers prefer to buy goods for complex purchases in one retail store with the best price image for them. The cost of attracting a new client is now quite high and continues to grow, so it becomes more important to keep him and increase the involvement through marketing tools. A huge role is played by modern digital technologies used both in advertising (e-mailing, SEO, contextual advertising, banner advertising, SMM, etc.) and in service. To implement the above-described client-oriented omnichannel service, it is necessary to identify the client and work with personal data provided when filling in the loyalty program application form. The analysis of loyalty programs of 50 companies identified the following types of cards: discount cards, bonus cards, mixed cards, coalition loyalty cards, bank loyalty programs, aviation loyalty programs, hybrid loyalty cards, situational loyalty cards. The use of loyalty cards allows not only to stimulate the customer to purchase ‘untargeted’, but also to provide individualized offers, as well as to produce more targeted information. The development of digital technologies and modern means of communication has significantly changed not only the sphere of marketing and promotion, but also the economic landscape as a whole. Factors of competitiveness are the digital opportunities of companies in the field of customer orientation: personalization of service, customization of advertising offers, optimization of marketing activity and improvement of logistics.

Keywords: customer focus, digital economy, loyalty program, relationship marketing

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Authors: Rita Chattopadhyay, Vivek Anand Thoutam

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Speech is the most acceptable means of communication where we can quickly exchange our feelings and thoughts. Quite often, people can communicate orally but cannot interact or work with computers or devices. It’s easy and quick to give speech commands than typing commands to computers. In the same way, it’s easy listening to audio played from a device than extract output from computers or devices. Especially with Robotics being an emerging market with applications in warehouses, the hospitality industry, consumer electronics, assistive technology, etc., speech-based human-machine interaction is emerging as a lucrative feature for robot manufacturers. Considering this factor, the objective of this paper is to design the “Audio-Visual Co-Data Processing Pipeline.” This pipeline is an integrated version of Automatic speech recognition, a Natural language model for text understanding, object detection, and text-to-speech modules. There are many Deep Learning models for each type of the modules mentioned above, but OpenVINO Model Zoo models are used because the OpenVINO toolkit covers both computer vision and non-computer vision workloads across Intel hardware and maximizes performance, and accelerates application development. A speech command is given as input that has information about target objects to be detected and start and end times to extract the required interval from the video. Speech is converted to text using the Automatic speech recognition QuartzNet model. The summary is extracted from text using a natural language model Generative Pre-Trained Transformer-3 (GPT-3). Based on the summary, essential frames from the video are extracted, and the You Only Look Once (YOLO) object detection model detects You Only Look Once (YOLO) objects on these extracted frames. Frame numbers that have target objects (specified objects in the speech command) are saved as text. Finally, this text (frame numbers) is converted to speech using text to speech model and will be played from the device. This project is developed for 80 You Only Look Once (YOLO) labels, and the user can extract frames based on only one or two target labels. This pipeline can be extended for more than two target labels easily by making appropriate changes in the object detection module. This project is developed for four different speech command formats by including sample examples in the prompt used by Generative Pre-Trained Transformer-3 (GPT-3) model. Based on user preference, one can come up with a new speech command format by including some examples of the respective format in the prompt used by the Generative Pre-Trained Transformer-3 (GPT-3) model. This pipeline can be used in many projects like human-machine interface, human-robot interaction, and surveillance through speech commands. All object detection projects can be upgraded using this pipeline so that one can give speech commands and output is played from the device.

Keywords: OpenVINO, automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, object detection, text to speech

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Authors: Stojan Kravanja, Andrej Ivanič, Tomaž Žula

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This contribution focuses on structural optimization in civil engineering using mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP). MINLP is characterized as a versatile method that can handle both continuous and discrete optimization variables simultaneously. Continuous variables are used to optimize parameters such as dimensions, stresses, masses, or costs, while discrete variables represent binary decisions to determine the presence or absence of structural elements within a structure while also calculating discrete materials and standard sections. The optimization process is divided into three main steps. First, a mechanical superstructure with a variety of different topology-, material- and dimensional alternatives. Next, a MINLP model is formulated to encapsulate the optimization problem. Finally, an optimal solution is searched in the direction of the defined objective function while respecting the structural constraints. The economic or mass objective function of the material and labor costs of a structure is subjected to the constraints known from structural analysis. These constraints include equations for the calculation of internal forces and deflections, as well as equations for the dimensioning of structural components (in accordance with the Eurocode standards). Given the complex, non-convex and highly non-linear nature of optimization problems in civil engineering, the Modified Outer-Approximation/Equality-Relaxation (OA/ER) algorithm is applied. This algorithm alternately solves subproblems of non-linear programming (NLP) and main problems of mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), in this way gradually refines the solution space up to the optimal solution. The NLP corresponds to the continuous optimization of parameters (with fixed topology, discrete materials and standard dimensions, all determined in the previous MILP), while the MILP involves a global approximation to the superstructure of alternatives, where a new topology, materials, standard dimensions are determined. The optimization of a convex problem is stopped when the MILP solution becomes better than the best NLP solution. Otherwise, it is terminated when the NLP solution can no longer be improved. While the OA/ER algorithm, like all other algorithms, does not guarantee global optimality due to the presence of non-convex functions, various modifications, including convexity tests, are implemented in OA/ER to mitigate these difficulties. The effectiveness of the proposed MINLP approach is demonstrated by its application to various structural optimization tasks, such as mass optimization of steel buildings, cost optimization of timber halls, composite floor systems, etc. Special optimization models have been developed for the optimization of these structures. The MINLP optimizations, facilitated by the user-friendly software package MIPSYN, provide insights into a mass or cost-optimal solutions, optimal structural topologies, optimal material and standard cross-section choices, confirming MINLP as a valuable method for the optimization of structures in civil engineering.

Keywords: MINLP, mixed-integer non-linear programming, optimization, structures

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Authors: Nicolas R. Finkler, Wesley A. Saltarelli, Taison A. Bortolin, Vania E. Schneider, Davi G. F. Cunha

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Estimating the relative contribution of nonpoint or point sources of pollution in low-orders streams is an important tool for the water resources management. The location of headwaters in areas with anthropogenic impacts from urbanization and agriculture is a common scenario in developing countries. This condition can lead to conflicts among different water users and compromise ecosystem services. Water pollution also contributes to exporting organic loads to downstream areas, including higher order rivers. The purpose of this research is to preliminarily assess nutrients and solids loads exported by water bodies located in watersheds with different types of land uses in São Carlos - SP (Latitude. -22.0087; Longitude. -47.8909) and Caxias do Sul - RS (Latitude. -29.1634, Longitude. -51.1796), Brazil, using regression analysis. The variables analyzed in this study were Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Nitrate (NO3-), Total Phosphorus (TP) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). Data were obtained in October and December 2015 for São Carlos (SC) and in November 2012 and March 2013 for Caxias do Sul (CXS). Such periods had similar weather patterns regarding precipitation and temperature. Altogether, 11 sites were divided into two groups, some classified as more pristine (SC1, SC4, SC5, SC6 and CXS2), with predominance of native forest; and others considered as impacted (SC2, SC3, CXS1, CXS3, CXS4 and CXS5), presenting larger urban and/or agricultural areas. Previous linear regression was applied for data on flow and drainage area of each site (R² = 0.9741), suggesting that the loads to be assessed had a significant relationship with the drainage areas. Thereafter, regression analysis was conducted between the drainage areas and the total loads for the two land use groups. The R² values were 0.070, 0.830, 0.752 e 0.455 respectively for SST, TKN, NO3- and TP loads in the more preserved areas, suggesting that the loads generated by runoff are significant in these locations. However, the respective R² values for sites located in impacted areas were respectively 0.488, 0.054, 0.519 e 0.059 for SST, TKN, NO3- and P loads, indicating a less important relationship between total loads and runoff as compared to the previous scenario. This study suggests three possible conclusions that will be further explored in the full-text article, with more sampling sites and periods: a) In preserved areas, nonpoint sources of pollution are more significant in determining water quality in relation to the studied variables; b) The nutrient (TKN and P) loads in impacted areas may be associated with point sources such as domestic wastewater discharges with inadequate treatment levels; and c) The presence of NO3- in impacted areas can be associated to the runoff, particularly in agricultural areas, where the application of fertilizers is common at certain times of the year.

Keywords: land use, linear regression, point and non-point pollution sources, streams, water resources management

Procedia PDF Downloads 307