Search results for: continuous measurement

Authors: Martin Juhas, Bohuslava Juhasova, Igor Halenar, Andrej Elias

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This article deals with the possibility of increasing efficiency, reliability and safety of the system for teledosimetric data collection management and their evaluation as a part of complex study for activity “Research of data collection, their measurement and evaluation with mobile and autonomous units” within project “Research of monitoring and evaluation of non-standard conditions in the area of nuclear power plants”. Possible weaknesses in existing system are identified. A study of available cluster solutions with possibility of their deploying to analysed system is presented.

Keywords: teledosimetric data, efficiency, reliability, safety, cluster solution

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Authors: Mina Boroujerdi, Javad Tavakoli

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Hydrogels are extensively studied as matrices for the controlled release of drugs. To evaluate the mobility of embedded molecules, these drug delivery systems are usually characterized by release studies. In this contribution, an electronic device for swelling pressure measurement during drug release from hydrogel network was developed. Also, poly acrylic acid micro particles were prepared for prolonged and sustained controlled acetaminophen release. Effect of swelling pressure on drug release from micro particles studied under different environment pH in order to predict release profile in gastro-intestine medium. Swelling ratio and swelling pressure were measured in different pH.

Keywords: swelling pressure, drug delivery, hydrogel, polyelectrolyte

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Authors: L. D. Upegui, Isabel Alvarez-Solorza, Karina Garduno-Ulloa, Maren Boecker

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Introduction: The increasing prevalence rate of resistant and multiresistant bacterial strains to antibiotics is a threat to public health and requires a rapid multifunctional answer. Individuals that are affected by resistant strains present a higher morbidity and mortality than individuals that are infected with the same species of bacteria but with sensitive strains. There have been identified risk factors that are related to the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, like socio-demographic characteristics and psychological aspects of the individuals that have not been explored objectively due to a lack of valid and reliable instruments for their measurement. Objective: To validate a questionnaire for the evaluation of the levels of knowledge related to the use of antibiotics in a Mexican population. Materials and Methods: Analytical cross-sectional observational study. The questionnaire consists of 12 items to evaluated knowledge (1=no, 2=not sure, 3=yes) regarding the use of antibiotics, with higher scores corresponding to a higher level of knowledge. Data are collected in a sample of students. Data collection is still ongoing. In this abstract preliminary results of 30 respondents are reported which were collected during pilot-testing. The validation of the instrument was done using the Rasch model. Fit to the Rasch model was tested checking overall fit to the model, unidimensionality, local independence and evaluating the presence of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) by age and gender. The software Rumm2030 and the SPSS were used for the analyses. Results: The participants of the pilot-testing presented an average age of 32 years ± 12.6 and 53% were women. The preliminary results indicated that the items showed good fit to the Rasch model (chi-squared=12.8 p=0.3795). Unidimensionality (number of significant t-tests of 3%) could be proven, the items were locally independent, and no DIF was observed. Knowledge was the smallest regarding statements on the role of antibiotics in treating infections, e.g., most of the respondents did not know that antibiotics would not work against viral infections (70%) and that they could also cause side effects (87%). The knowledge score ranged from 0 to 100 points with a transformed measurement (mean of knowledge 27.1 ± 4.8). Conclusions: The instrument showed good psychometric proprieties. The low scores of knowledge about antibiotics suggest that misinterpretations on the use of these medicaments were prevalent, which could influence the production of antibiotic resistance. The application of this questionnaire will allow the objective identification of 'Hight risk groups', which will be the target population for future educational campaigns, to reduce the knowledge gaps on the general population as an effort against antibiotic resistance.

Keywords: antibiotics, knowledge, misuse, overuse, questionnaire, Rasch model, validation

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Authors: Ashutosh Verma, Satyendra MIttal

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The loss of strength at the facing-reinforcement interface brought on by the seasonal thermal expansion/contraction of the bridge deck has been responsible for several geosynthetic reinforced soil abutment failures over the years. This results in excessive settlement below the bridge seat, which results in bridge bumps along the approach road and shortens abutment's design life. There are surely a wide variety of facing configurations available to designers when choosing the sort of facade. These layouts can generally be categorised into three groups: continuous, full height rigid (FHR) and modular (panels/block). The current work aims to experimentally explore the behavior of these three facing categories using 1g physical model testing under serviceable cyclic lateral displacements. With configurable facing arrangements to represent these three facing categories, a field instrumented GRS abutment prototype was modelled into a N scaled down 1g physical model (N = 5) to reproduce field behavior. Peak earth pressure coefficient (K) on the facing and vertical settlement of the footing (s/B) for footing offset (x/H) as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 at 100 cycles have been measured for cyclic lateral displacement of top of facing at loading rate of 1mm/min. Three types of cyclic displacements have been carried out to replicate active condition (CA), passive condition (CP), and active-passive condition (CAP) for each footing offset. The results demonstrated that a significant decrease in the earth pressure over the facing occurs when footing offset increases. It is worth noticing that the highest rate of increment in earth pressure and footing settlement were observed for each facing configuration at the nearest footing offset. Interestingly, for the farthest footing offset, similar responses of each facing type were observed, which indicates that the upon reaching a critical offset point presumably beyond the active region in the backfill, the lateral responses become independent of the stresses from the external footing load. Evidently, the footing load complements the stresses developed due to lateral excitation resulting in significant footing settlements for nearer footing offsets. The modular facing proved inefficient in resisting footing settlement due to significant buckling along the depth of facing. Instead of relative displacement along the depth of facing, continuous facing rotates around the base when it fails, especially for nearer footing offset causing significant depressions in the backfill area surrounding the footing. FHR facing, on the other hand, have been successful in confining the stresses in the soil domain itself reducing the footing settlement. It may be suitably concluded that increasing the footing offset may render stability to the GRS abutment with any facing configuration even for higher cycles of excitation.

Keywords: GRS abutments, 1g physical model, footing offset, cyclic lateral displacement

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Authors: M. Kucukali Ozturk, B. Nergis, C. Candan

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Air permeability plays an important role for applications such as filtration, thermal and acoustic insulation. The study discussed in this paper was conducted in an attempt to investigate air permeability property of various combinations of nonwovens. The PROWHITE air permeability tester was used for the measurement of the air permeability of the samples in accordance with the relevant standards and a comparative study of the results were made. It was found that the fabric mass per unit area was closely related to the air-permeability. The air permeability decreased with the increase in mass per unit area. Additionally, the air permeability of nonwoven fabrics decreased with the increase in thickness. Moreover, air permeability of multilayered SMS nonwoven structures was lower than those of single layered ones.

Keywords: air permeability, mass per unit area, nonwoven structure, polypropylene nonwoven, thickness

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Authors: Marjila Burhanzoi, Kenta Onohara, Tomoaki Ikegami

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Faults in photovoltaic (PV) modules should be detected to the greatest extent as early as possible. For that conventional fault detection methods such as electrical characterization, visual inspection, infrared (IR) imaging, ultraviolet fluorescence and electroluminescence (EL) imaging are used, but they either fail to detect the location or category of fault, or they require expensive equipment and are not convenient for onsite application. Hence, these methods are not convenient to use for monitoring small-scale PV systems. Therefore, low cost and efficient inspection techniques with the ability of onsite application are indispensable for PV modules. In this study in order to establish efficient inspection technique, correlation between faults and magnetic flux density on the surface is of crystalline PV modules are investigated. Magnetic flux on the surface of normal and faulted PV modules is measured under the short circuit and illuminated conditions using two different sensor devices. One device is made of small integrated sensors namely 9-axis motion tracking sensor with a 3-axis electronic compass embedded, an IR temperature sensor, an optical laser position sensor and a microcontroller. This device measures the X, Y and Z components of the magnetic flux density (Bx, By and Bz) few mm above the surface of a PV module and outputs the data as line graphs in LabVIEW program. The second device is made of a laser optical sensor and two magnetic line sensor modules consisting 16 pieces of magnetic sensors. This device scans the magnetic field on the surface of PV module and outputs the data as a 3D surface plot of the magnetic flux intensity in a LabVIEW program. A PC equipped with LabVIEW software is used for data acquisition and analysis for both devices. To show the effectiveness of this method, measured results are compared to those of a normal reference module and their EL images. Through the experiments it was confirmed that the magnetic field in the faulted areas have different profiles which can be clearly identified in the measured plots. Measurement results showed a perfect correlation with the EL images and using position sensors it identified the exact location of faults. This method was applied on different modules and various faults were detected using it. The proposed method owns the ability of on-site measurement and real-time diagnosis. Since simple sensors are used to make the device, it is low cost and convenient to be sued by small-scale or residential PV system owners.

Keywords: fault diagnosis, fault location, integrated sensors, PV modules

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Authors: H. Gonzalez-Rivera, J. L. Palmeros-Torres

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This paper describes the application of traditional computer vision techniques as a procedure for automatic measurement of the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) from microscopic images. The algorithm is capable of finding the lineal or curve-shaped secondary column of the main microstructure, measuring its length size in a micro-meter and counting the number of spaces between dendrites. The automatic characterization was compared with a set of 1728 manually characterized images, leading to an accuracy of −0.27 µm for the length size determination and a precision of ± 2.78 counts for dendrite spacing counting, also reducing the characterization time from 7 hours to 2 minutes.

Keywords: dendrite arm spacing, microstructure inspection, pattern recognition, polynomial regression

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Authors: Grienggrai Rajchakit

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This paper is concerned with the exponential stability of switched linear systems with interval time-varying delays. The time delay is any continuous function belonging to a given interval, in which the lower bound of delay is not restricted to zero. By constructing a suitable augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional combined with Leibniz-Newton's formula, a switching rule for the exponential stability of switched linear systems with interval time-varying delays and new delay-dependent sufficient conditions for the exponential stability of the systems are first established in terms of LMIs. Finally, some examples are exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Keywords: exponential stability, hybrid systems, time-varying delays, lyapunov-krasovskii functional, leibniz-newton's formula

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Authors: Riona Dighe

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This research attempts to identify an alternative approach to the measurement of Gross National Happiness (GNH). It uses artificial intelligence (AI), incorporating natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis to measure GNH. We use ‘off the shelf’ NLP models responsible for the sentiment analysis of a sentence as a building block for this research. We constructed an algorithm using NLP models to derive a sentiment analysis score against sentences. This was then tested against a sample of 20 respondents to derive a sentiment analysis score. The scores generated resembled human responses. By utilising the MLP classifier, decision tree, linear model, and K-nearest neighbors, we were able to obtain a test accuracy of 89.97%, 54.63%, 52.13%, and 47.9%, respectively. This gave us the confidence to use the NLP models against sentences in websites to measure the GNH of a country.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, NLP, sentiment analysis, gross national happiness

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Authors: Hatice Guzel, Imran Oral, Huseyin Isler

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In this study, elastic constants, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratios, and shear moduli of orthotropic composite materials, consisting of E-glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy, were calculated by ultrasonic velocities which were measured using ultrasonic pulse-echo method. 35 MHz computer controlled analyzer, 60 MHz digital oscilloscope, 5 MHz longitudinal probe, and 2,25 MHz transverse probe were used for the measurements of ultrasound velocities, the measurements were performed at ambient temperature. It was understood from the data obtained in this study that, measured ultrasound velocities and the calculated elasticity coefficients were depending on the fiber orientations.

Keywords: composite materials, elastic constants, orthotropic materials, ultrasound

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Authors: Keenoo Bibi Sumera, Alsheikh Mona, Mubarak Jan Beebee Zeba Mahetaab

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Background: Due to the busy schedule of the practicing clinicians at the hospitals, students may not always be attended to, which is to their detriment. The clinicians at the hospitals are also not always acquainted with teaching and/or supervising students on their placements. Additionally, there is a high student-patient ratio. Since they are the prospective clinical doctors under training, they need to reach the competence levels in clinical decision-making skills to be able to serve the healthcare system of the country and to be safe doctors. Aims and Objectives: A reflective portfolio was used to provide a means for students to learn by reflecting on their experiences and obtaining continuous feedback. This practice is an attempt to compensate for the scarcity of lack of resources, that is, clinical placement supervisors and patients. It is also anticipated that it will provide learners with a continuous monitoring and learning gap analysis tool for their clinical skills. Methodology: A hardcopy reflective portfolio was designed and validated. The portfolio incorporated a mini clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX), direct observation of procedural skills and reflection sections. Workshops were organized for the stakeholders, that is the management, faculty and students, separately. The rationale of reflection was emphasized. Students were given samples of reflective writing. The portfolio was then implemented amongst the undergraduate medical students of years four, five and six during clinical clerkship. After 16 weeks of implementation of the portfolio, a survey questionnaire was introduced to explore how undergraduate students perceive the educational value of the reflective portfolio and its impact on their deep information processing. Results: The majority of the respondents are in MD Year 5. Out of 52 respondents, 57.7% were doing the internal medicine clinical placement rotation, and 42.3% were in Otorhinolaryngology clinical placement rotation. The respondents believe that the implementation of a reflective portfolio helped them identify their weaknesses, gain professional development in terms of helping them to identify areas where the knowledge is good, increase the learning value if it is used as a formative assessment, try to relate to different courses and in improving their professional skills. However, it is not necessary that the portfolio will improve the self-esteem of respondents or help in developing their critical thinking, The portfolio takes time to complete, and the supervisors are not useful. They had to chase supervisors for feedback. 53.8% of the respondents followed the Gibbs reflective model to write the reflection, whilst the others did not follow any guidelines to write the reflection 48.1% said that the feedback was helpful, 17.3% preferred the use of written feedback, whilst 11.5% preferred oral feedback. Most of them suggested more frequent feedback. 59.6% of respondents found the current portfolio user-friendly, and 28.8% thought it was too bulky. 27.5% have mentioned that for a mobile application. Conclusion: The reflective portfolio, through the reflection of their work and regular feedback from supervisors, has an overall positive impact on the learning process of undergraduate medical students during their clinical clerkship.

Keywords: Portfolio, Reflection, Feedback, Clinical Placement, Undergraduate Medical Education

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Authors: Zhihui Liu, Dongmei Hao, Qian Qiu, Yang An, Lin Yang, Song Zhang, Yimin Yang, Xuwen Li, Dingchang Zheng

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Premature birth, defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality and has long-term adverse consequences for health. It has recently been reported that the worldwide preterm birth rate is around 10%. The existing measurement techniques for diagnosing preterm delivery include tocodynamometer, ultrasound and fetal fibronectin. However, they are subjective, or suffer from high measurement variability and inaccurate diagnosis and prediction of preterm labor. Electrohysterography (EHG) method based on recording of uterine electrical activity by electrodes attached to maternal abdomen, is a promising method to assess uterine activity and diagnose preterm labor. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of EHG signal features between term labor and preterm labor. Free access database was used with 300 signals acquired in two groups of pregnant women who delivered at term (262 cases) and preterm (38 cases). Among them, EHG signals from 38 term labor and 38 preterm labor were preprocessed with band-pass Butterworth filters of 0.08–4Hz. Then, EHG signal features were extracted, which comprised classical time domain description including root mean square and zero-crossing number, spectral parameters including peak frequency, mean frequency and median frequency, wavelet packet coefficients, autoregression (AR) model coefficients, and nonlinear measures including maximal Lyapunov exponent, sample entropy and correlation dimension. Their statistical significance for recognition of two groups of recordings was provided. The results showed that mean frequency of preterm labor was significantly smaller than term labor (p < 0.05). 5 coefficients of AR model showed significant difference between term labor and preterm labor. The maximal Lyapunov exponent of early preterm (time of recording < the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than early term. The sample entropy of late preterm (time of recording > the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than late term. There was no significant difference for other features between the term labor and preterm labor groups. Any future work regarding classification should therefore focus on using multiple techniques, with the mean frequency, AR coefficients, maximal Lyapunov exponent and the sample entropy being among the prime candidates. Even if these methods are not yet useful for clinical practice, they do bring the most promising indicators for the preterm labor.

Keywords: electrohysterogram, feature, preterm labor, term labor

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Authors: Hsiu-Hua Cheng

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In recent years, the number of social-oriented virtual communities users has increased significantly. Corporate investment in advertising on social-oriented virtual communities increases quickly. With the gigantic commercial value of the digital market, competitions between virtual communities are keen. In this context, how to retain existing customers to continue using social-oriented virtual communities is an urgent issue for virtual community managers. This study employs the perspective of automaticity mechanism and combines the social embeddedness theory with the literature of involvement and habit in order to explore antecedents of users’ continuous usage on social-oriented virtual communities. The results can be a reference for scholars and managers of social-oriented virtual communities.

Keywords: continued usage, habit, social embeddedness, involvement, virtual community

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Authors: Valentina Rodas, Luis Almache

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The interaction effects between the existing soil and the substructure of a 5-story building with an underground one were evaluated in such a way that the structural-geotechnical concepts were validated through the method of impedance factors with a program based on the method of the finite elements. The continuous wall-type foundation had a constant thickness and followed inclined and orthogonal directions, while the ground had homogeneous and medium-type characteristics. The soil considered was type C according to the Ecuadorian Construction Standard (NEC) and the corresponding foundation comprised a depth of 4.00 meters and a basement wall thickness of 40 centimeters. This project is part of a mid-rise building in the city of Azogues (Ecuador). The hypotheses raised responded to the objectives in such a way that the model implemented with springs had a variation with respect to the embedded base, obtaining conservative results.

Keywords: interaction, soil, substructure, springs, effects, modeling , embedment

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Authors: Seok Hong Min, Tae Kwon Ha

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In this study, thermal fatigue properties of 400 series ferritic stainless steels have been evaluated in the temperature ranges of 200-800oC and 200-900oC. Systematic methods for control of temperatures within the predetermined range and measurement of load applied to specimens as a function of temperature during thermal cycles have been established. Thermal fatigue tests were conducted under fully constrained condition, where both ends of specimens were completely fixed. It has been revealed that load relaxation behavior at the temperatures of thermal cycle was closely related with the thermal fatigue property. Thermal fatigue resistance of 430J1L stainless steel is found to be superior to the other steels.

Keywords: ferritic stainless steel, automotive exhaust, thermal fatigue, microstructure, load relaxation

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Authors: P. N. Jyothi, A. Shailesh Rao, M. C. Jagath, K. Channakeshavalu

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Uses of ZA alloys as bearing material have been increased due to their superior mechanical properties, wear characteristics and tribological properties. Among ZA alloys, ZA 27 alloy has higher strength, low density with excellent bearing and wear characteristics. From the past research work, it is observed that in continuous casting as Al content increases, the fluidity also increases. In present work, ZA 8, ZA 12 and ZA 27 alloys have been processed through centrifugal casting process at 600 rotational speed of the mould. Uniform full cylinder is casted with ZA 8 alloy. For ZA 12 and ZA 27 alloys where the Al content is higher, cast tubes were not complete and uniform. The reason is Al may be acting as a refiner and reduce the melt flow in the rotating mould. This is mainly due to macro-segregation of Al, which has occurred due to difference in densities of Al and Zn.

Keywords: centrifugal casting, metal flow, characterization, systems engineering

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Authors: Touraj Hashemi, Zahara Saeidi, Paxshan H. Gader-l-Shateri

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The present study aimed to determine the relationship between dimensions of psychological capital and psychological well-being. This research was conducted with a correlatiove method. The study population included the students of Sulaymaniyah, Garmian, and Halabja Universities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Therefore, using the one-stage cluster method, 300 subjects were selected and completed Riff's psychological well-being scale, and Luthans' psychological capital questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the multiple regression method. Results showed that self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience had a positive relationship with psychological well-being. Hence, it can be concluded the four dimensions of psychological capital are able, in addition to modulating the effects of stress sources, to set the stage for the motivational use of life's stressors in order to develop new challenges and help the individual to continuous effort in order to develop new goals and expand happiness.

Keywords: psychological well-being, self-efficacy, optimism, hope, resilience

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Authors: Trisha S. Malhotra

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While there exist frameworks to study the induction, manifestation, duration and general nature of emotions like shame, guilt, embarrassment and pride in humans, the same cannot be said for other species. This is because such 'complex' emotions have situational inductions and manifestations that supposedly vary due to differences between and within different species' ethology. This paper looks at the socio-adaptive functions of guilt to posit why this emotion might be observed across varying species. Primarily, the experimental paradigm of guilt-assessment in domesticated dogs is critiqued for lack of ethological consideration in its measurement and analysis. It is argued that a paradigm for guilt-assessment should measure the species-specific prosocial approach behavior instead of the immediate feedback of the 'guilty'. Finally, it is asserted that the origin of guilt is subjective and if it must be studied across a plethora of species, its definition must be tailored to fit accordingly.

Keywords: guilt, assessment, dogs, prosocial approach behavior, empathy, species, ethology

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Authors: M. Sasajima, T. Yamaguchi, Y. Hu, Y. Koike

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In this paper, we discuss the propagation of sound in the narrow pathways of an occluded-ear simulator typically used for the measurement of insert-type earphones. The simulator has a standardized frequency response conforming to the international standard (IEC60318-4). In narrow pathways, the speed and phase of sound waves are modified by viscous air damping. In our previous paper, we proposed a new finite element method (FEM) to consider the effects of air viscosity in this type of audio equipment. In this study, we will compare the results from the ear simulator FEM model, and those from a three dimensional human ear canal FEM model made from computed tomography images, with the measured frequency response data from the ear canals of 18 people.

Keywords: ear simulator, FEM, viscosity, human ear canal

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Authors: Zixuan Xu, Yichun Lou, Yang Song, Zihuai Lin

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MediaPipe is an open-source machine learning computer vision framework that can be ported into a multi-platform environment, which makes it easier to use it to recognize the human activity. Based on this framework, many human recognition systems have been created, but the fundamental issue is the recognition of human behavior and posture. In this paper, two methods are proposed to recognize human gestures based on MediaPipe, the first one uses the Adaptive Boosting algorithm to recognize a series of fitness gestures, and the second one uses the Fast Dynamic Time Warping algorithm to recognize 413 continuous fitness actions. These two methods are also applicable to any human posture movement recognition.

Keywords: computer vision, MediaPipe, adaptive boosting, fast dynamic time warping

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Authors: Karim Adinehvand, Bakhtiar Azadbakht, Amin Sahebnasagh

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Relation to high absorption fraction of Tc SESTAMIBI by internal organs in heart scan, and these organs are near to generation organs (Ovaries and uterus). In this study, Liver is specified as source organ. Method: we have set amount of absorbed fraction radiopharmaceutical in position of Liver in RANDO-phantom in form of elliptical surfaces, then absorbed dose to ovaries and uterus measured by TLD-100 that had set at position of these organs in RANDO-phantom. Calculation had done by MIRD method. Results from direct measurement and MIRD method are too similar. The absorbed dose to uterus and ovaries for Rest are 26.05µGyMBq-1, 17.23µGyMBq-1 and for Stress are 2.04µGyMBq-1, 1.35µGyMBq-1 respectively.

Keywords: absorbed dose, TLD, MIRD, RANDO-phantom, Tc-99m

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Authors: Emil Mathew

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Liberalisation policies adopted by a large number of countries, implementation of technological innovations with development in communication networks and continuous reduction in transport costs contributed towards the growth of international transportation of goods over the last 50 to 60 years. The present paper examines the environmental externalities of maritime transportation, that is, externalities associated with the movement of cargoes, as distinct from those emanate from production and consumption of goods. Though shipping is less polluting compared to other modes of transportation, considering the huge volume of goods transported and future growth prospects, it is important to examine environmental externalities of maritime transportation. It focuses on varied types of environmental externalities of maritime transportation and suggests that appropriate policies may be adopted by international agencies to address this issue without adversely affecting the course of international trade and also its possibility to get diverted to alternate modes of transportation.

Keywords: externalities of globalisation, maritime environment, maritime externality, transportation externality

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Authors: Andreanna Kalasountas

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A rampant health crisis is facing America. That health crisis is poverty. Millions of Americans live without knowing when they will eat or where they will sleep. Meanwhile, there are over 600 multi-billionaires in the United States. “In April 2021, U.S. billionaires had nearly twice as much combined wealth than the bottom half of Americans -- $4.56 trillion vs. $2.62 trillion.” It's disturbingly ironic that we live in a country where there are people with more money than they know what to do with (or could spend in a lifetime) while simultaneously, people are losing their life because they do not have enough money to survive. Accordingly, this paper argues for the end of the multi-billionaire; that wealth be capped, captured, and redistributed to the poorest among us. To accomplish this goal, this paper begins by identifying the problem, advocating for a new measurement of poverty; and concludes with a both legal and tax policy solutions and what implementation of those solutions would look like.

Keywords: health and human rights, law and policy, poverty, wealth gap

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Authors: Y. Kim, H. Lee, M. Park, B. Lee

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Planning is understood as the determination of what has to be performed, how, in which sequence, when, what resources are needed, and their cost within the organization before execution. In most construction project, it is evident that the inherent nature of planning is dynamic, and initial planning is subject to be changed due to various uncertain conditions of construction project. Planners take a continuous revision process during the course of a project and until the very end of project. However, current practice lacks reliable, systematic tool for setting variance thresholds to determine when and what corrective actions to be taken. Rather it is heavily dependent on the level of experience and knowledge of the planner. Thus, this paper introduces a machine learning approach to evaluate project control threshold reliability incorporating project-specific data and presents a method to automate the process. The results have shown that the model improves the efficiency and accuracy of the monitoring process as an early warning.

Keywords: machine learning, project control, project progress monitoring, schedule

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Authors: Dariush Jafari, Seyed Ali Jafari

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The recommended limit for cadmium concentration in potable water is less than 0.005 mg/L. A continuous biosorption process using indigenous red seaweed, Gracilaria corticata, was performed to remove cadmium from the potable water. The process was conducted under fixed conditions and the breakthrough curves were achieved for three consecutive sorption-desorption cycles. A modeling based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was employed to fit the experimental breakthrough data. In addition, a simplified semi empirical model, Thomas, was employed for this purpose. It was found that ANN well described the experimental data (R2>0.99) while the Thomas prediction were a bit less successful with R2>0.97. The adjusted design parameters using the nonlinear form of Thomas model was in a good agreement with the experimentally obtained ones. The results approve the capability of ANN to predict the cadmium concentration in potable water.

Keywords: ANN, biosorption, cadmium, packed-bed, potable water

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Authors: S. Sathiyamoorthi, P. Srinivasan, K. Suganya Devi

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Arylidene derivatives are the subclass of chalcone derivatives. Chalcone derivatives are studied widely for the past decade because of its nonlinearity. To seek new organic group of crystals which suit for fabrication of optical devices, three-member organic arylidene crystals were synthesized by using Claisen–Schmidt condensation reaction. Good quality crystals were grown by slow evaporation method. Functional groups were identified by FT-IR and FT-Raman spectrum. Optical transparency and optical band gap were determined by UV-Vis-IR studies. Thermal stability and melting point were calculated using TGA and DSC. Variation of dielectric loss and dielectric constant with frequency were calculated by dielectric measurement.

Keywords: DSC and TGA studies, nonlinear optic studies, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, UV-vis-NIR spectra

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Authors: Egor E. Nuzhin, Nikolay V. Brilliantov

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We propose an approach for addressing Reinforcement Learning (RL) problems. It combines the ideas of umbrella sampling, borrowed from Monte Carlo technique of computational physics and chemistry, with optimal control methods, and is realized on the base of neural networks. This results in a powerful algorithm, designed to solve hard RL problems – the problems, with long-time delayed reward, state-traps sticking and a lack of terminal states. It outperforms the prominent algorithms, such as PPO, RND, iLQR and VI, which are among the most efficient for the hard problems. The new algorithm deals with a continuous ensemble of agents and expected return, that includes the ensemble entropy. This results in a quick and efficient search of the optimal policy in terms of ”exploration-exploitation trade-off” in the state-action space.

Keywords: umbrella sampling, reinforcement learning, policy gradient, dynamic programming

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Authors: Sun Fan, Wu Xiaoguang, Fang Miaomiao, Wei Chi

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The degree of damage to the support is simulated by finite element software, and its influence on the static and dynamic effects of the bridge structure is analyzed. Four working conditions are selected for the study of bearing damage impact: the bearing is intact (condition 1), the bearing damage coefficient is 0.8 (condition 2), the bearing damage coefficient is 0.6 (condition 3), and the bearing damage coefficient is 0.4 (Working Condition 4). The effect value of the bridge structure under each working condition is calculated, and the simple-supported girder bridge and continuous girder bridge with typical spans are taken as examples to analyze the overall change of the bridge structure after the bearing completely fails.

Keywords: bridge bearing damage, dynamic response, finite element analysis, load conditions

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Authors: Gaironeesa Hendricks, Shazly Savahl, Maria Florence

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The aim of the study is to determine whether peer pressure and leisure boredom influence substance use among adolescents in low-income communities in Cape Town. Non-probability sampling was used to select 296 adolescents between the ages of 16–18 from schools located in two low-income communities. The measurement tools included the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test, the Resistance to Peer Influence and Leisure Boredom Scales. Multiple regression revealed that the combined influence of peer pressure and leisure boredom predicted substance use, while peer pressure emerged as a stronger predictor than leisure boredom on substance use among adolescents.

Keywords: substance use, peer pressure, leisure boredom, adolescents, multiple regression

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Authors: Sinem O. Aktan, Musa Y. Akkurt

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Experimental pressure calibration methods can be classified into three areas: (1) measurements in liquid or gas systems, (2) measurements in static-solid media systems, and (3) measurements in dynamic shock systems. Fluid (liquid and gas) systems high accuracies can be obtainable and commonly used for the calibration method of a pressure sensor. Pressure calibrations can be performed for metrological traceability in two ways, which are on-site (field) and in the laboratory. Laboratory and on-site calibration procedures and the requirements of the DKD-R-6-1 and Euramet cg-17 guidelines will also be addressed. In this study, calibration methods of direct and indirect reading pressure sensor and measurement uncertainty contributions will be explained.

Keywords: pressure metrology, pressure calibration, dead-weight tester, pressure uncertainty

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