Search results for: active optical cable(AOC)

Authors: Cleto J. Sauer Jr

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Introduction: Brazil’s new national curriculum guidelines (NCG) for medical education were published in 2014, presenting active learning methodologies as a cornerstone. Simulation was initially applied for aviation pilots’ training and is currently applied in health sciences. The high-fidelity simulator replicates human body anatomy in detail, also reproducing physiological functions and its use is increasing in medical schools. Realistic Simulation (RS) has pedagogical aspects that are aligned with Brazil’s NCG teaching concepts. The main objective of this study is to carry on a narrative review on RS’s aspects that are aligned with Brazil’s new NCG teaching concepts. Methodology: A narrative review was conducted, with search in three databases (PubMed, Embase and BVS) of studies published between 2010 and 2020. Results: After systematized search, 49 studies were selected and divided into four thematic groups. RS is aligned with new Brazilian medical curriculum as it is an active learning methodology, providing greater patient safety, uniform teaching, and student's emotional skills enhancement. RS is based on reflective learning, a teaching concept developed for adult’s education. Conclusion: RS is a methodology aligned with NCG teaching concepts and has potential to assist in the implementation of new Brazilian medical school’s curriculum. It is an immersive and interactive methodology, which provides reflective learning in a safe environment for students and patients.

Keywords: curriculum, high-fidelity simulator, medical education, realistic simulation

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Authors: M. Marchewka

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The article is devoted to the possible optical transitions in double quantum wells system based on HgTe/HgCd(Mn)Te heterostructures. Such structures can find applications as detectors and sources of radiation in the terahertz range. The Double Quantum Wells (DQW) systems consist of two QWs separated by the transparent for electrons barrier. Such systems look promising from the point of view of the additional degrees of freedom. In the case of the topological insulator in about 6.4nm wide HgTe QW or strained 3D HgTe films at the interfaces, the topologically protected surface states appear at the interfaces/surfaces. Electrons in those edge states move along the interfaces/surfaces without backscattering due to time-reversal symmetry. Combination of the topological properties, which was already verified by the experimental way, together with the very well know properties of the DQWs, can be very interesting from the applications point of view, especially in the THz area. It is important that at the present stage, the technology makes it possible to create high-quality structures of this type, and intensive experimental and theoretical studies of their properties are already underway. The idea presented in this paper is based on the eight-band KP model, including the additional terms related to the structural inversion asymmetry, interfaces inversion asymmetry, the influence of the magnetically content, and the uniaxial strain describe the full pictures of the possible real structure. All of this term, together with the external electric field, can be sources of breaking symmetry in investigated materials. Using the 8 band KP model, we investigated the electronic shape structure with and without magnetic field from the application point of view as a THz detector in a small magnetic field (below 2T). We believe that such structures are the way to get the tunable topological insulators and the multilayer topological insulator. Using the one-dimensional electrons at the topologically protected interface states as fast and collision-free signal carriers as charge and signal carriers, the detection of the optical signal should be fast, which is very important in the high-resolution detection of signals in the THz range. The proposed engineering of the investigated structures is now one of the important steps on the way to get the proper structures with predicted properties.

Keywords: topological insulator, THz spectroscopy, KP model, II-VI compounds

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Authors: D. Venu, N. V. Koteswara Rao

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Space – time adaptive processing (STAP) is an effective tool for detecting a moving target in spaceborne or airborne radar systems. Since airborne passive radar systems utilize broadcast, navigation and excellent communication signals to perform various surveillance tasks and also has attracted significant interest from the distinct past, therefore the need of the hour is to have cost effective systems as compared to conventional active radar systems. Moreover, requirements of small number of secondary samples for effective clutter suppression in bi-static passive radar offer abundant illuminator resources for passive surveillance radar systems. This paper presents a framework for incorporating knowledge sources directly in the space-time beam former of airborne adaptive radars. STAP algorithm for clutter mitigation for passive bi-static radar has better quantitation of the reduction in sample size thereby amalgamating the earlier data bank with existing radar data sets. Also, we proposed a novel method to estimate the clutter matrix and perform STAP for efficient clutter suppression based on small sample size. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified using MATLAB simulations in order to validate STAP algorithm for passive bi-static radar. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance for various applications which augments traditional active radars using cost-effective measures.

Keywords: bistatic radar, clutter, covariance matrix passive radar, STAP

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Authors: B. Nakhostin-Roohi, F. Khoshkhahesh, KH. Parandak, R. Ramazanzadeh

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Introduction: The protective effect of antioxidants in diminishing the post-exercise rise of serum CK and LDH in individuals trained for competitive sports has come to light in recent years. This study was conducted to assess the effect of Two-week L-carnitine supplementation on exercise-induced muscle damage, as well as antioxidant capacity after a bout of strenuous exercise in active healthy young men. Methodology: Twenty active healthy men volunteered for this study. Participants were randomized in a double-blind placebo-controlled fashion into two groups: L-carnitine (C group; n = 10) and placebo group (P group; n = 10). The participants took supplementation (2000 mg L-carnitine) or placebo (2000 mg lactose) daily for 2weeks before the main trial. Then, participants ran 14 km. Blood samples were taken before supplementation, before exercise, immediately, 2h and 24h after exercise. Creatine kinase (CK), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured. Results: Serum CK and LDH significantly increased after exercise in both groups (p < 0.05). Serum LDH was significantly lower in C group than P group 2h and 24h after exercise (p < 0.05). Furthermore, CK was significantly lower in C group compared with P group just 24h after exercise (p < 0.05). Plasma TAC increased significantly 14 days after supplementation and 24h after exercise in C group compared with P group (p < 0.05). Discussion and conclusion: These results suggest two-week daily oral supplementation of L-carnitine has been able to promote antioxidant capacity before and after exercise and decrease muscle damage markers through possibly inhibition of exercise-induced oxidative stress.

Keywords: L-carnitine, muscle damage, creatine kinase, Lactate dehydrogenase

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Authors: Stephen Tullis, M. David DiDonato, Hong Sung Park

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Rowing boats (shells) are often steered by a small rudder operated by one of the backward-facing rowers; the attention required of that athlete then slightly decreases the power that that athlete can provide. Reducing the steering distraction would then increase the overall boat speed. Races are straight 2000 m courses with each boat in a 13.5 m wide lane marked by small (~15 cm) widely-spaced (~10 m) buoys, and the boat trajectory is affected by both cross-currents and winds. An optical buoy recognition and tracking system has been developed that provides the boat’s location and orientation with respect to the lane edges. This information is provided to the steering athlete as either: a simple overlay on a video display, or fed to a simplified autopilot system giving steering directions to the athlete or directly controlling the rudder. The system is then effectively a “lane-assist” device but with small, widely-spaced lane markers viewed from a very shallow angle due to constraints on camera height. The image is captured with a lightweight 1080p webcam, and most of the image analysis is done in OpenCV. The colour RGB-image is converted to a grayscale using the difference of the red and blue channels, which provides good contrast between the red/yellow buoys and the water, sky, land background and white reflections and noise. Buoy detection is done with thresholding within a tight mask applied to the image. Robust linear regression using Tukey’s biweight estimator of the previously detected buoy locations is used to develop the mask; this avoids the false detection of noise such as waves (reflections) and, in particular, buoys in other lanes. The robust regression also provides the current lane edges in the camera frame that are used to calculate the displacement of the boat from the lane centre (lane location), and its yaw angle. The interception of the detected lane edges provides a lane vanishing point, and yaw angle can be calculated simply based on the displacement of this vanishing point from the camera axis and the image plane distance. Lane location is simply based on the lateral displacement of the vanishing point from any horizontal cut through the lane edges. The boat lane position and yaw are currently fed what is essentially a stripped down marine auto-pilot system. Currently, only the lane location is used in a PID controller of a rudder actuator with integrator anti-windup to deal with saturation of the rudder angle. Low Kp and Kd values decrease unnecessarily fast return to lane centrelines and response to noise, and limiters can be used to avoid lane departure and disqualification. Yaw is not used as a control input, as cross-winds and currents can cause a straight course with considerable yaw or crab angle. Mapping of the controller with rudder angle “overall effectiveness” has not been finalized - very large rudder angles stall and have decreased turning moments, but at less extreme angles the increased rudder drag slows the boat and upsets boat balance. The full system has many features similar to automotive lane-assist systems, but with the added constraints of the lane markers, camera positioning, control response and noise increasing the challenge.

Keywords: auto-pilot, lane-assist, marine, optical, rowing

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Authors: Lukasz Grabowski, Konrad Pietrykowski, Michal Bialy

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This paper presents the results of the research to verify the combustion in aircraft piston engine Asz62-IR. This engine was modernized and a type of ignition system was developed. Due to the high costs of experiments of a nine-cylinder 1,000 hp aircraft engine, a simulation technique should be applied. Therefore, computational fluid dynamics to simulate the combustion process is a reasonable solution. Accordingly, the tests for varied ignition advance angles were carried out and the optimal value to be tested on a real engine was specified. The CFD model was created with the AVL Fire software. The engine in the research had two spark plugs for each cylinder and ignition advance angles had to be set up separately for each spark. The results of the simulation were verified by comparing the pressure in the cylinder. The courses of the indicated pressure of the engine mounted on a test stand were compared. The real course of pressure was measured with an optical sensor, mounted in a specially drilled hole between the valves. It was the OPTRAND pressure sensor, which was designed especially to engine combustion process research. The indicated pressure was measured in cylinder no 3. The engine was running at take-off power. The engine was loaded by a propeller at a special test bench. The verification of the CFD simulation results was based on the results of the test bench studies. The course of the simulated pressure obtained is within the measurement error of the optical sensor. This error is 1% and reflects the hysteresis and nonlinearity of the sensor. The real indicated pressure measured in the cylinder and the pressure taken from the simulation were compared. It can be claimed that the verification of CFD simulations based on the pressure is a success. The next step was to research on the impact of changing the ignition advance timing of spark plugs 1 and 2 on a combustion process. Moving ignition timing between 1 and 2 spark plug results in a longer and uneven firing of a mixture. The most optimal point in terms of indicated power occurs when ignition is simultaneous for both spark plugs, but so severely separated ignitions are assured that ignition will occur at all speeds and loads of engine. It should be confirmed by a bench experiment of the engine. However, this simulation research enabled us to determine the optimal ignition advance angle to be implemented into the ignition control system. This knowledge allows us to set up the ignition point with two spark plugs to achieve as large power as possible.

Keywords: CFD model, combustion, engine, simulation

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Authors: Noor Ismael, Somaya Malkawi, Sherin Al Awady, Taleb Ismael

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Background/Significance: Cancer is a serious health condition that affects individuals’ quality of life during and after the course of this condition. Children who have survived cancer and their caregivers may deal with residual physical, cognitive or social disabilities. There is little research on caregivers’ health and wellbeing after cancer. To the authors’ best knowledge; there is no specific research about how caregivers cope with everyday stressors after cancer. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the coping strategies that caregivers of children who have survived cancer utilize to overcome everyday stressors. Methods: This study utilized a descriptive survey design. The sample consisted of 103 caregivers, who visited the health and wellness clinic at a national cancer center (additional demographics are presented in the results). The sample included caregivers of children who were off cancer treatments for at least two years from the beginning of data collection. The institution’s internal review board approved this study. Caregivers who agreed to participate completed the survey. The survey collected caregiver reported demographic information and the Brief COPE which measures caregivers' frequency of engaging in certain coping strategies. The Brief COPE consisted of 14 coping sub-scales, which are self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, use of emotional support, use of instrumental support, behavioral disengagement, venting, positive reframing, planning, humor, acceptance, religion, and self-blame. Data analyses included calculating sub-scales’ scores for the fourteen coping strategies and analysis of frequencies of demographics and coping strategies. Results: The 103 caregivers who participated in this study were 62% mothers, 80% married, 45% finished high school, 50% do not work outside the house, and 60% have low family income. Result showed that religious coping (66%) and acceptance (60%) were the most utilized coping strategies, followed by positive reframing (45%), active coping (44%) and planning (43%). The least utilized coping strategies in our sample were humor (5%), behavioral disengagement (8%), and substance-use (10%). Conclusions: Caregivers of children who have survived cancer mostly utilize religious coping and acceptance in dealing with everyday stressors. Because these coping strategies do not directly solve stressors like active coping and planning coping strategies, it is important to support caregivers in choosing and implementing effective coping strategies. Knowing from our results that some caregivers may utilize substance use as a coping strategy, which has negative health effects on caregivers and their children, there must be direct interventions that target these caregivers and their families.

Keywords: caregivers, cancer, stress, coping

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Authors: Somaya A. Abd El Mottaleb, Ahmed Abd El Aziz, Heba A. Fayed, Moustafa H. Aly

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In this paper, we present the performance of spectral amplitude coding optical code division multiple access using different detectors at different transmission distances using single photodiode detection technique. Modified double weight codes are used as signature codes. Simulation results show that the system using avalanche photo detector can move distance longer than that using positive intrinsic negative photo detector.

Keywords: avalanche photodiode, modified double weight, multiple access technique, single photodiode.

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Authors: Fadlan Atmaja Nursiwan, Ugi Kurnia Gusti

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Garba Hill, located in Tekana Village, South Sumatera Province is comprised to South Sumatra Basin and classified as back arc basin. This area is entered as an active margin of Sundaland which experiences subduction several times since Mesozoic to recent time. The traces of Mesozoic subduction in the southern part of Sumatra island are exposed in Garba Hill area. The aim of this investigation is to study the tectonic changes in the first phase in Mesozoic era at the active margin of Sundaland which causes the rocks assemblage in Garba hill consist of continental and oceanic plate rocks which the correlation between those rocks show indistinct relation. This investigation is conducted by field observation in Tekana village and Lubar Village, Muara Dua, South Sumatra along with laboratory analysis included fossil and geochemistry analysis of radiolarian chert, petrography analysis of granite and basalt, and structural modelling. Fossil and geochemistry analysis of radiolarian chert and geochemistry of granite rocks shown the relation between the two rocks and Mesozoic subduction of Woyla terrane on western margin of Sundaland. Petrography analysis from granite and basalt depict the tectonic affinity of rocks. Moreover, structural analysis showed the changes of lineation direction from N-S to WNW-ESE.

Keywords: granite, mesozoic, radiolarian, subduction traces

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Authors: Lamia Bouzgarrou, Amira Omrane, Malika Azzouzi, Asma Kheder, Amira Saadallah, Ilhem Boussarsar, Kamel Rejeb

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Introduction: Increasing the women’s labor force participation is a political issue in countries with developed economies and those with low growth prospects. However, in the labor market, women continue to face several obstacles, either for the integration or for the maintenance at work. This study aims to assess the prevalence of premature withdrawal from working life -due to invalidity or medical justified early retirement- among active women in the Tunisian center and to identify its determinants. Material and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, over one year, focusing on the agreement for invalidity or early retirement for premature usury of the body- delivered by the medical commission of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) in the central Tunisian district. We exhaustively selected women's files. Data related to Socio-demographic characteristics, professional and medical ones, were collected from the CNAM's administrative and medical files. Results: During the period of one year, 222 women have had an agreement for premature departure of their professional activity. Indeed, 149 women (67.11%) benefit of from invalidity agreement and 20,27% of them from favorable decision for early retirement. The average age was 50 ± 6 years with extremes of 23 and 62 years, and 18.9% of women were under 45 years. Married women accounted for 69.4% and 59.9% of them had at least one dependent child in charge. The average professional seniority in the sector was 23 ± 8 years. The textile-clothing sector was the most affected, with 70.7% of premature departure. Medical reasons for withdrawal from working life were mainly related to neuro-degenerative diseases in 46.8% of cases, rheumatic ones in 35.6% of cases and cardiovascular diseases in 22.1% of them. Psychiatric and endocrine disorders motivated respectively 17.1% and 13.5% of these departures. The evaluation of the sequels induced by these pathologies concluded to an average permanent partial disability equal to 61.4 ± 17.3%. The analytical study concluded that the agreement of disability or early retirement was correlated with the insured ‘age (p = 10-3), the professional seniority (p = 0.003) and the permanent partial incapacity (PPI) rate assessed by the expert physician (p = 0.04). No other social or professional factors were correlated with this decision. Conclusion: Despite many advances in labour law and Tunisian legal text on employability, women still exposed to several social and professional inequalities (payment inequality, precarious work ...). Indeed, women are often pushed to accept working in adverse conditions, thus they are more vulnerable to develop premature wear on the body and being forced to premature departures from the world of work. These premature withdrawals from active life are not only harmful to the concerned women themselves, but also associated with considerable costs for the insurance organism and the society. In order to ensure maintenance at work for women, a political commitment is imperative in the implementation of global prevention strategies and the improvement of working conditions, particularly in our socio-cultural context.

Keywords: Active Women , Early Retirement , Invalidity , Maintenance at Work

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Authors: Deepika Saini, Sandeep Jain, Ajay Kumar

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The quinoline scaffold is one of the most widely studied in the discovery of derivatives with various heterocyclic moieties due to its potential antimalarial activities. In the present study, a chalcone series of quinoline derivatives clubbed with pyrazole were synthesized to evaluate their antimalarial property by in vitro schizont maturation inhibition assay against both chloroquine sensitive, 3D7 and chloroquine resistant, RKL9 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. Further, top five compounds were studied for in vivo preclinical study for antimalarial potential against P. berghei in Swiss albino mice. To understand the mechanism of synthesized analogues, they were screened computationally by molecular docking techniques. Compounds were docked into the active site of a protein receptor, Plasmodium falciparum Cysteine Protease Falcipain-2. The compounds were successfully synthesized, and structural confirmation was performed by FTIR, 1H-NMR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. In vitro study suggested that the compounds 5b, 5g, 5l, 5s and 5u possessed best antimalarial activity and further tested for in vivo screening. Compound 5u (CH₃ on both rings) with EC₅₀ 0.313 & 0.801 µg/ml against CQ-S & CQ-R strains of P. falciparum respectively and 78.01% suppression of parasitemia. The molecular docking studies of the compounds helped in understanding the mechanism of action against falcipain-2. The present study reveals the binding signatures of the synthesized ligands within the active site of the protein, and it explains the results from in vitro study in their EC₅₀ values and percentage parasitemia.

Keywords: antimalarial activity, chalcone, docking, quinoline

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Authors: Bilal Bhat, M. Masroor A. Khan, Moin Uddin, M. Naeem

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Aromatic herb, peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), is a natural hybrid (M. aquatica × M. spicata) with immense therapeutic uses, apart from other potential uses. Peppermint oil is one of the most popular and widely used essential oil (EO), because of its main components menthol and menthone. In view of enhancing growth, yield and quality of this medicinally important herb, a pot experiment was conducted in the net-house of the department. The experiment was aimed at studying the effect of graded levels of N, P, and K on growth, biochemical characteristics, and content and composition of EO in Mentha piperita L. Six NPK treatments (viz. N0P0K0, N20P20K20, N40P40K40, N20+20 P20+20 K20+20, N60P60K60, and N30+30 P30+30 K30+30) were tested. The plants were harvested 150 days after transplanting. The crop performance was assessed in terms of growth attributes, physiological activities, herbage yield and content as well as yield of active constituents of Mentha piperita L. Biochemical parameters were analyzed spectrophotometrically. The EO was extracted using Clevenger’s apparatus and the active constituents of the oil were determined using Gas Chromatography. Split-dose application of N, P and K (N30+30 P30+30 K30+30) ameliorated most of the parameters significantly including, fresh and dry weight of plant, NPK content, chlorophyll and carotenoids content, and the activities of carbonic anhydrase and nitrate reductase in the leaves. It also enhanced the EO content (44.0%), EO yield (91.0%), menthol content (14.1%), menthone content (34.0%), menthyl acetate content (16.9%) and 1, 8-cineole content (43.7%) but decreased the pulegone content (36.8%). Conclusively, the fertilization proved useful in enhancing the EO content, yield and other EO components of the plant. Thus, the yield and quality of EO of peppermint may be improved by this agricultural strategy.

Keywords: mentha piperita, menthol, menthone, EO

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Authors: Kamila Dus-Szachniewicz, Artur Bednarkiewicz, Katarzyna Gdesz-Birula, Slawomir Drobczynski

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In modern oncology hyperthermia (HT) is defined as a controlled tumor heating. HT treatment temperatures range between 40–48 °C and can selectively damage heat-sensitive cancer cells or limit their further growth, usually with minimal injury to healthy tissues. Despite many advantages, conventional whole-body and regional hyperthermia have clinically relevant side effects, including cardiac and vascular disorders. Additionally, the lack of accessibility of deep-seated tumor sites and impaired targeting micrometastases renders HT less effective. It is believed that above disadvantages can significantly overcome by the application of biofunctionalized microparticles, which can specifically target tumor sites and become activated by an external stimulus to provide a sufficient cellular response. In our research, the unique optical tweezers system have enabled capturing the silica microparticles, primary cells and tumor spheroids in highly controllable and reproducible environment to study the impact of localized heat stimulation on normal and pathological cell and within multicellular tumor spheroid. High throughput spheroid model was introduced to better mimic the response to HT treatment on tumors in vivo. Additionally, application of local heating of tumor spheroids was performed in strictly controlled conditions resembling tumor microenvironment (temperature, pH, hypoxia, etc.), in response to localized and nonhomogeneous hyperthermia in the extracellular matrix, which promotes tumor progression and metastatic spread. The lack of precise control over these well- defined parameters in basic research leads to discrepancies in the response of tumor cells to the new treatment strategy in preclinical animal testing. The developed approach enables also sorting out subclasses of cells, which exhibit partial or total resistance to therapy, in order to understand fundamental aspects of the resistance shown by given tumor cells in response to given therapy mode and conditions. This work was funded by the National Science Centre (NCN, Poland) under grant no. UMO-2017/27/B/ST7/01255.

Keywords: cancer spheroids, hyperthermia, microparticles, optical tweezers

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Authors: Maziar Asefi, Safa Salkhi Khasraghi

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Despite the great development of Islamic Architecture in its conquered lands, its active performance in a vast geographical area, faded by the advent of industrial age. Now in the Information Age with great advances in technologies and increased interconnection among many societies, every aspect of life is affected by rapid spreading phenomenon called globalization which resulted in the world with less regional and cultural boundaries. So being proudly globalized in the past and becoming inactive in today's globalized world puts Islamic Architecture in a great challenge. Indeed, its important role has changed from transmitting cultural values to the world to importing dominated values even defectively. This study aimed to determine the factors influenced this controversial situation of Islamic Architecture, especially in current age. The paper focuses on performance of Islamic architecture in relation with Globalization as an ancient process. So qualitative method in terms of logic analysis was chosen to evaluate how Islamic architecture of Iran has contributed in Globalization subject in different time periods. Several works were analyzed as case studies in three categories: religious, monumental, commercial utilities and climate element. Theoretical and practical findings indicate that there is a mutual relationship between Islamic Architecture and Globalization which is transformed from the active mode to passive mode gradually in three periods of Globalization: proto, modern and communication Globalization. The proposed solution in the response to this challenge is finding a solution that makes an equilibrium between science, art, and technology, as well as taking the global performance of architecture.

Keywords: Islamic architecture, globalisation, the relationship among art, science and technology, Iranian architecture

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Authors: A. J. Babajanyan, T. A. Abrahamyan, H. A. Minasyan, K. V. Nerkararyan

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Optical radiation emitted from a metal-coated fiber tip apex at liquid-air interface was measured. The intensity of the output radiation was strongly depending on the relative position of the tip to a liquid-air interface and varied with surface fluctuations. This phenomenon permits in-situ real-time investigation of nano-metric vibrations of the liquid surface and provides a basis for development of various origin ultrasensitive vibration detecting sensors. The described method can be used for detection of week seismic vibrations.

Keywords: fiber-tip, liquid-air interface, nano vibration, opto-mechanical sensor

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Authors: K. Tunde Olagunju, C. Scott Allen, Freek Van Der Meer

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Identification of hydrocarbon oil in remote sensing images is often the first step in monitoring oil during spill events. Most remote sensing methods adopt techniques for hydrocarbon identification to achieve detection in order to model an appropriate cleanup program. Identification on optical sensors does not only allow for detection but also for characterization and quantification. Until recently, in optical remote sensing, quantification and characterization are only potentially possible using high-resolution laboratory and airborne imaging spectrometers (hyperspectral data). Unlike multispectral, hyperspectral data are not freely available, as this data category is mainly obtained via airborne survey at present. In this research, two (2) operational high-resolution multispectral satellites (WorldView-3 and Sentinel-2) are theoretically assessed for their suitability for hydrocarbon characterization, using the hydrocarbon spectral slope model (HYSS). This method utilized the two most persistent hydrocarbon diagnostic/absorption features at 1.73 µm and 2.30 µm for hydrocarbon mapping on multispectral data. In this research, spectra measurement of seven (7) different hydrocarbon oils (crude and refined oil) taken on ten (10) different substrates with the use of laboratory ASD Fieldspec were convolved to Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 resolution, using their full width half maximum (FWHM) parameter. The resulting hydrocarbon slope values obtained from the studied samples enable clear qualitative discrimination of most hydrocarbons, despite the presence of different background substrates, particularly on WorldView-3. Due to close conformity of central wavelengths and narrow bandwidths to key hydrocarbon bands used in HYSS, the statistical significance for qualitative analysis on WorldView-3 sensors for all studied hydrocarbon oil returned with 95% confidence level (P-value ˂ 0.01), except for Diesel. Using multifactor analysis of variance (MANOVA), the discriminating power of HYSS is statistically significant for most hydrocarbon-substrate combinations on Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 FWHM, revealing the potential of these two operational multispectral sensors as rapid response tools for hydrocarbon mapping. One notable exception is highly transmissive hydrocarbons on Sentinel-2 data due to the non-conformity of spectral bands with key hydrocarbon absorptions and the relatively coarse bandwidth (> 100 nm).

Keywords: hydrocarbon, oil spill, remote sensing, hyperspectral, multispectral, hydrocarbon-substrate combination, Sentinel-2, WorldView-3

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Authors: S. Somerset, D. J. Hoare

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Participation in sport is linked to better mental and physical health in children and adults. Studies have shown children who participate in sports benefit from improved social skills, self-confidence, communication skills and a better quality of life. Children who participate in sports from a young age are also more likely to continue to have active lifestyles during adulthood. This is an important consideration with a nation where physical activity levels are declining and the incidences of obesity are rising. Getting children active and keeping them active can provide long term health benefits to the individual but also a potential reduction in health costs in the future. This systematic review aims to identify the barriers to participation in sport for children aged up to 18 years and encompasses both qualitative and quantitative studies. The bibliographic databases, EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL and SportDiscus were searched. Additional hand searches were carried out on review articles found in the searches to identify any studies that may have been missed. Studies involving children up to 18 years without additional needs focusing on barriers to participation in sport were included. Randomised control trials, policy guidelines, studies with sport as an intervention, studies focusing on the female athlete triad, tobacco abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pre exercise testing, and cardiovascular disease were excluded. Abstract review, full paper review and quality appraisal were conducted by two researchers. A consensus meeting took place to resolve any differences at the abstract, full text and data extraction / quality appraisal stages. The CASP qualitative studies appraisal tool and the CASP cohort studies tool (excluding question 3 and 4 which refer to interventions) were used for quality appraisal in this review. The review identified several salient barriers to participation in sport for children. These barriers ranged from the uniform worn during school physical education lessons to the weather during participation in sport. The most commonly identified barriers in the review include parental support, time allocation, location of the activity and the cost of the activity. Therefore, it would be beneficial for a greater provision to be made within the school environment for children to participate sport. This can reduce the cost and time commitment required from parents to encourage participation. This would help to increase activity levels of children, which ultimately can only be a good thing.

Keywords: barrier, children, participation, sport

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Authors: S. F. H. Tasfy, N. A. M. Zabidi, M.-S. Shaharun

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Utilization of CO2 as a carbon source to produce valuable chemicals is one of the important ways to reduce the global warming caused by increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. Supported metal catalysts are crucial for the production of clean and renewable fuels and chemicals from the stable CO2 molecules. The catalytic conversion of CO2 into methanol is recently under increased scrutiny as an opportunity to be used as a low-cost carbon source. Therefore, series of the bimetallic Cu/ZnO-based catalyst supported by SBA-15 were synthesized via impregnation technique with different total metal loading and tested in the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol. The morphological and textural properties of the synthesized catalysts were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), temperature programmed desorption, reduction, oxidation and pulse chemisorption (TPDRO), and N2-adsorption. The CO2 hydrogenation reaction was performed in microactivity fixed-bed system at 250 °C, 2.25 MPa, and H2/CO2 ratio of 3. Experimental results showed that the catalytic structure and performance was strongly affected by the loading of the active site. Where, the catalytic activity, methanol selectivity as well as the space-time yield increased with increasing the metal loading until it reaches the maximum values at a metal loading of 15 wt% while further addition of metal inhibits the catalytic performance. The higher catalytic activity of 14 % and methanol selectivity of 92 % were obtained over Cu/ZnO-SBA-15 catalyst with total bimetallic loading of 15 wt%. The excellent performance of 15 wt% Cu/ZnO-SBA-15 catalyst is attributed to the presence of well disperses active sites with small particle size, higher Cu surface area, and lower catalytic reducibility.

Keywords: hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, methanol synthesis, metal loading, Cu/ZnO-SBA-15 catalyst

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Authors: Sara Corvino

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The aim of this study is to explore the potential of inclusive learning and assessment strategies to foster students' engagement with historical debates surrounding the field of graphic design. The goal is to respond to the diversity of L4 Graphic Design students, at Nottingham Trent University, in a way that instead of 'lowering standards' can benefit everyone. This research tests, measures, and evaluates the impact of a specific intervention, an assessment task, to develop students' critical visual analysis skills and stimulate a deeper engagement with the subject matter. Within the action research approach, this work has followed a case study research method to understand students' views and perceptions of a specific project. The primary methods of data collection have been: anonymous electronic questionnaire and a paper-based anonymous critical incident questionnaire. NTU College of Business Law and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee granted the Ethical approval for this research in November 2019. Other methods used to evaluate the impact of this assessment task have been Evasys's report and students' performance. In line with the constructivist paradigm, this study embraces an interpretative and contextualized analysis of the collected data within the triangulation analytical framework. The evaluation of both qualitative and quantitative data demonstrates that active learning strategies and the disruption of thinking patterns can foster greater students' engagement and can lead to meaningful learning.

Keywords: active learning, assessment for learning, graphic design, higher education, student engagement

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Authors: Chun-Wei Yeh, Santhanamoorthi Nachimuthu, Jyh-Chiang Jiang

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Reducing greenhouse gases or converting them into fuels and chemicals with added value is vital for the environment. Given the enhanced techniques for hydrocarbon extraction in this context, the catalytic conversion of methane to methanol is particularly intriguing for future applications as vehicle fuels and/or bulk chemicals. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received much attention recently for the oxidation of methane to methanol. In addition, biomimetic material, particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), has been reported to convert methane using copper oxide clusters as active sites. Inspired by these, in this study, we considered the well-known MIL-53(Al) MOF as support for copper oxide clusters (Cu2Ox, Cu3Ox) to investigate their reactivity towards methane oxidation using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The copper oxide clusters (Cu2O2, Cu3O2) are modeled by oxidizing copper clusters (Cu2, Cu3) with two oxidizers, O2 and N2O. The initial C-H bond activation barriers on Cu2O2/MIL-53(Al) and Cu3O2/MIL-53(Al) catalysts are 0.70 eV and 0.64 eV, respectively, and are the rate-determining steps in the overall methane conversion to methanol reactions. The desorption energy of the methanol over the Cu2O/MIL-53(Al) and Cu3O/MIL-53(Al) is 0.71eV and 0.75 eV, respectively. Furthermore, to explore the prospect of catalyst reusability, we considered the different oxidants and proposed the different reaction pathways for completing the reaction cycle and regenerating the active copper oxide clusters. To know the reason for the difference between bi-copper and tri-cooper systems, we also did an electronic analysis. Finally, we calculate the Microkinetic Simulation. The result shows that the reaction can happen at room temperature.

Keywords: DFT study, copper oxide cluster, MOFs, methane conversion

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Authors: Diana Rymuszka, Konrad Terpiłowski, Lucyna Hołysz, Elena Goncharuk, Iryna Sulym

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Superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit extremely high water repellency. The commonly accepted basic criterion for such surfaces is a water contact angle larger than 150°, low contact angle hysteresis and low sliding angle. These surfaces are of special interest, because properties such as anti-sticking, anti-contamination and self-cleaning are expected. These properties are attractive for many applications such as anti-sticking of snow for antennas and windows, anti-biofouling paints for boats, waterproof clothing, self-cleaning windshields for automobiles, dust-free coatings or metal refining. The various methods for the preparation of superhydrophobic surfaces since last two decades have been reported, such as phase separation, electrochemical deposition, template method, plasma method, chemical vapor deposition, wet chemical reaction, sol-gel processing, lithography and so on. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of modified colloidal silica, used as a filler, on the hydrophobicity of the polymer film deposited on the glass support activated with plasma. On prepared surfaces water advancing (ӨA) and receding (ӨR) contact angles were measured and then their total apparent surface free energy was determined using the contact angle hysteresis approach (CAH). The structures of deposited films were observed with the help of an optical microscope. Topographies of selected films were also determined using an optical profilometer. It was found that plasma treatment influence glass surface wetting and energetic properties that is observed in higher adhesion between polymer/filler film and glass support. Using the colloidal silica particles as a filler for the polymer thin film deposited on the glass support, it is possible to produce strongly adhering layers of superhydrophobic properties. The best superhydrophobic properties were obtained for surfaces of the film glass/polimer + modified silica covered in 89 and 100%. The advancing contact angle measured on these surfaces amounts above 150° that leads to under 2 mJ/m2 value of the apparent surface free energy. Such films may have many practical applications, among others, as dust-free coatings or anticorrosion protection.

Keywords: contact angle, plasma, superhydrophobic, surface free energy

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Authors: Ashutosh Verma, Satyendra Mittal

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Numerous geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) abutment failures over the years have been attributed to the loss of strength at the facing-reinforcement interface due to seasonal thermal expansion/contraction of the bridge deck. This causes excessive settlement below the bridge seat, causing bridge bumps along the approach road which reduces the design life of any abutment. Before designers while choosing the type of facing, a broad range of facing configurations are undoubtedly available. Generally speaking, these configurations can be divided into three groups: modular (panels/block), continuous, and full height rigid (FHR). The purpose of the current study is to use 1g physical model tests under serviceable cyclic lateral displacements to experimentally investigate the behaviour of these three facing classifications. To simulate field behaviour, a field instrumented GRS abutment prototype was modeled into a N scaled down 1g physical model (N = 5) with adjustable facing arrangements to represent these three facing classifications. For cyclic lateral displacement (d/H) of top facing at loading rate of 1mm/min, the peak earth pressure coefficient (K) on the facing and vertical settlement of the footing (s/B) at 25, 50, 75 and 100 cycles have been measured. For a constant footing offset of x/H = 0.1, three forms of cyclic displacements have been performed to simulate active condition (CA), passive condition (CP), and active-passive condition (CAP). The findings showed that when reinforcements are integrated into the wall along with presence of gravel gabions i.e. FHR design, a rather substantial earth pressure occurs over the facing. Despite this, the FHR facing's continuous nature works in conjunction with the reinforcements' membrane resilience to reduce footing settlement. On the other hand, the pressure over the wall is released upon lateral excitation by the relative displacement between the panels in modular facing reducing the connection strength at the interface and leading to greater settlements below footing. On the contrary, continuous facing do not exhibit relative displacement along the depth of facing rather fails through rotation about the base, which extends the zone of active failure in the backfill leading to large depressions in the backfill region around the bridge seat. Conservatively, FHR facing shows relatively stable responses under lateral cyclic excitations as compared to modular or continuous type of abutment facing.

Keywords: GRS abutments, 1g physical model, full height rigid, cyclic lateral displacement

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Authors: A. Fakhri Makram, Marwa S. Alwazni, Al-Douri Yarub, Evan T. Salim, Hashim Uda, Chin C. Woei

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Lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) nanostructures are prepared on quartz substrate by the sol-gel method. They have been deposited with different molarity concentration and annealed at 500°C. These samples are characterized and analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The measured results showed an importance increasing in molarity concentrations that indicate the structure starts to become crystal, regular, homogeneous, well crystal distributed, which made it more suitable for optical waveguide application.

Keywords: lithium niobate, morphological properties, thin film, pechini method, XRD

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Authors: Shivankar Agrawal, Sunil Kumar Deshmukh, Colin Barrow, Alok Adholeya

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Millions of people worldwide are affected by infectious diseases caused by bacteria and fungi. Skin and skin structure infections (SSSI) represent a significant category of infectious disease. Unexpectedly, many pathogens have developed resistance towards current antibiotics and over the time this problem has become more and more serious. All these new problems necessitate the continuous search for novel and alternative antibiotics and antifungals. The aim of our research is the screening of extracts of marine fungi for their antibacterial activity against bacteria causing skin and wound infection in humans. A total of 40 marine samples were collected from west coast and Andaman Island of India and 35 morphologically different marine fungi were isolated using natural sea water medium. Among 35 marine fungi, eight isolates exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against human pathogens. In the course of systematic screening program for bioactive marine fungi, strain 'D5' was found to be most potent strain with MIC value of 1 mg/mL, which was morphologically identified as Simplicillium lamellicola. The effects of the most active crude extracts against their susceptible test microorganisms were also investigated by SEM analysis. Purification and characterization of crude extracts for identification of active lead molecule is under process. The results of diversity and antimicrobial activity have increased the scope of finding industrially important marine fungi from Indian marine environments and these organisms could be vital sources for the discovery of pharmaceutically useful molecules.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, antibiotic, marine fungi, skin infections

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Authors: Shreya Srivastava, Sushovan Ghosh, Sagnik Dey

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Aerosols directly affect Earth’s radiation budget by scattering and absorbing incoming solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial radiation. While the uncertainty in aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) has decreased over the years, it is still higher than that of greenhouse gas forcing, particularly in the South Asian region, due to high heterogeneity in their chemical properties. Understanding the Spatio-temporal heterogeneity of aerosol composition is critical in improving climate prediction. Studies using satellite data, in-situ and aircraft measurements, and models have investigated the Spatio-temporal variability of aerosol characteristics. In this study, we have taken aerosol data from Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) level-2 version 23 aerosol products retrieved at 4.4 km and radiation data from Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES, spatial resolution=1ox1o) for 21 years (2000-2021) over the Indian subcontinent. MISR aerosol product includes size and shapes segregated aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom exponent (AE), and single scattering albedo (SSA). Additionally, 74 aerosol mixtures are included in version 23 data that is used for aerosol speciation. We have seasonally mapped aerosol optical and microphysical properties from MISR for India at quarter degrees resolution. Results show strong Spatio-temporal variability, with a constant higher value of AOD for the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). The contribution of small-size particles is higher throughout the year, spatially during winter months. SSA is found to be overestimated where absorbing particles are present. The climatological map of short wave (SW) ARF at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) shows a strong cooling except in only a few places (values ranging from +2.5o to -22.5o). Cooling due to aerosols is higher in the absence of clouds. Higher negative values of ARF are found over the IGP region, given the high aerosol concentration above the region. Surface ARF values are everywhere negative for our study domain, with higher values in clear conditions. The results strongly correlate with AOD from MISR and ARF from CERES.

Keywords: aerosol Radiative forcing (ARF), aerosol composition, single scattering albedo (SSA), CERES

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Authors: Nese Ozturk Korpe, Muhammed H. Karas

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Reaction synthesis, or combustion synthesis, is a processing technique in which the thermal activation energy of formation of a compound is sustained by its exothermic heat of reaction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of high initial pressing pressures (420 MPa, 630 MPa, and 850 MPa) on porosity of Ti3Al which produced by volume combustion synthesis. Microstructure examinations were performed by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Phase analyses were performed with X-ray diffraction device (XRD). A significant decrease in porosity was obtained due to an increase in the initial pressing pressure.

Keywords: Titanium Aluminide, Volume Combustion Synthesis, Intermetallic, Porosity

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Authors: Alka Jakhar, Harmanpreet Kaur Sandhu, Samaresh Das

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The Terahertz (THz) technology-based devices are heightening at an alarming rate on account of the wide range of applications in imaging, security, communication, and spectroscopic field. The various available room operational THz detectors, including Golay cell, pyroelectric detector, field-effect transistors, and photoconductive antennas, have some limitations such as narrow-band response, slow response speed, transit time limits, and complex fabrication process. There is an urgent demand to explore new materials and device structures to accomplish efficient THz detection systems. Recently, TMDs including topological semimetals and topological insulators such as PtSe₂, MoTe₂, WSe₂, and PtTe₂ provide novel feasibility for photonic and optical devices. The peculiar properties of these materials, such as Dirac cone, fermions presence, nonlinear optical response, high conductivity, and ambient stability, make them worthy for the development of the THz devices. Here, the platinum telluride (PtTe₂) based devices have been demonstrated for THz detection in the frequency range of 0.1-1 THz. The PtTe₂ is synthesized by direct selenization of the sputtered platinum film on the high-resistivity silicon substrate by using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The Raman spectra, XRD, and XPS spectra confirm the formation of the thin PtTe₂ film. The PtTe₂ channel length is 5µm and it is connected with a bow-tie antenna for strong THz electric field confinement in the channel. The characterization of the devices has been carried out in a wide frequency range from 0.1-1 THz. The induced THz photocurrent is measured by using lock-in-amplifier after preamplifier. The maximum responsivity is achieved up to 1 A/W under self-biased mode. Further, this responsivity has been increased by applying biasing voltage. This photo response corresponds to low energy THz photons is mainly due to the photo galvanic effect in PtTe₂. The DC current is induced along the PtTe₂ channel, which is directly proportional to the amplitude of the incident THz electric field. Thus, these new topological semimetal materials provide new pathways for sensitive detection and sensing applications in the THz domain.

Keywords: terahertz, detector, responsivity, topological-semimetals

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Authors: Mohamed Abdelmounim Bakkali, Mustapha El Mataouy, Abellatif Aaliti, Mouhamed Khaddor

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In the paper, we study the effects of introducing hafnium oxide on Raman spectra of silica glass planar waveguide activated by 0.3 mol% Er3+ ions. This work compares Raman spectra measured for three thin films deposited on silicon substrate. The films were prepared with different molar ratio of Si/Hf using sol-gel method and deposited by dip coating technique. The effect of hafnium oxide incorporation on the waveguides shows the evolution of the structure of this material. This structural information is useful to understand the luminescence intensity by means of ion–ion interaction mechanisms.

Keywords: optical amplifiers, non-bridging oxygen, erbium, sol-gel, waveguide, silica-hafnia

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Authors: Pavel Psota, Vít Lédl, Jan Václavík, Roman Doleček, Pavel Mokrý, Petr Vojtíšek

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This paper presents advanced time average digital holography by means of frequency shift and phase modulation. This technique can measure amplitudes of vibrations at ultimate dynamic range while the amplitude distribution evaluation is done independently in every pixel. The main focus of the paper is to gain insight into behavior of the method at low amplitudes of vibrations. In order to reach that, a set of experiments was performed. Results of the experiments together with novel noise suppression show the limit of the method to be below 0.1 nm.

Keywords: acusto-optical modulator, digital holography, low amplitudes, vibrometry

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Authors: Ahmed F. Elaksher, Islam Omar

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In this project, we used MOLA-based DEMs to orthorectify HiRISE optical images. The MOLA data was interpolated using the kriging interpolation technique. Corresponding tie points were then digitized from both datasets. These points were employed in co-registering both datasets using GIS analysis tools. Different transformation models, including the affine and projective transformation models, were used with different sets and distributions of tie points. Additionally, we evaluated the use of the MOLA elevations in co-registering the MOLA and HiRISE datasets. The planimetric RMSEs achieved for each model are reported. Results suggested the use of 3D-2D transformation models.

Keywords: photogrammetry, Mars, MOLA, HiRISE

Procedia PDF Downloads 77