Search results for: fuzzy separation axioms

Authors: Imtisal-e-Noor, Andrew Martin, Olli Dahl

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Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) has developed as a chosen planarization technique in nano-electronics industries for fabrication of the integrated circuits (ICs). These CMP processes release a huge amount of wastewater that contains oxides of nano-particles (silica, alumina, and ceria) and oxalic acid. Since, this wastewater has high solid content (TS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity (NTU); therefore, in order to fulfill the environmental regulations, it needs to be treated up to the local and international standards. The present study proposed a unique CMP wastewater treatment method called Membrane Distillation (MD). MD is a non-isothermal membrane separation process, which allows only volatiles, i.e., water vapors to permeate through the membrane and provides 100% contaminants rejection. The performance of the MD technology is analyzed in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity, TS, COD, and residual oxide concentration in permeate/distilled water while considering different operating conditions (temperature, flow rate, and time). The results present that high-quality permeate has been recovered after removing 99% of the oxide particles and oxalic acid. The distilled water depicts turbidity < 1 NTU, TOC < 3 mg/L, TS < 50 mg/L, and COD < 100 mg/L. These findings clearly show that the MD treated water can be reused further in industrial processes or allowable to discharge in any water body under the stringent environmental regulations.

Keywords: chemical mechanical polishing, environmental regulations, membrane distillation, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Laura Jenkins, Tim Eschle, Joanne Ciafone, Colin Hamilton

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An original working memory model suggested the separation of visual and verbal systems in working memory architecture, in which only visual working memory components were used during visual working memory tasks. It was later suggested that the visuo spatial sketch pad was the only memory component at use during visual working memory tasks, and components such as the phonological loop were not considered. In more recent years, a contrasting approach has been developed with the use of an executive resource to incorporate both visual and verbal representations in visual working memory paradigms. This was supported using research demonstrating the use of verbal representations and an executive resource in a visual matrix patterns task. The aim of the current research is to investigate the working memory architecture during both a quantitative and a qualitative visual working memory task. A dual task method will be used. Three secondary tasks will be used which are designed to hit specific components within the working memory architecture – Dynamic Visual Noise (visual components), Visual Attention (spatial components) and Verbal Attention (verbal components). A comparison of the visual working memory tasks will be made to discover if verbal representations are at use, as the previous literature suggested. This direct comparison has not been made so far in the literature. Considerations will be made as to whether a domain specific approach should be employed when discussing visual working memory tasks, or whether a more domain general approach could be used instead.

Keywords: semantic organisation, visual memory, change detection

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Authors: Aleksandra Zysk, Pawel Badura

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Recognizing and controlling vocal registers during singing is a difficult task for beginner vocalist. It requires among others identifying which part of natural resonators is being used when a sound propagates through the body. Thus, an application has been designed allowing for sound recording, automatic vocal register recognition (VRR), and a graphical user interface providing real-time visualization of the signal and recognition results. Six spectral features are determined for each time frame and passed to the support vector machine classifier yielding a binary decision on the head or chest register assignment of the segment. The classification training and testing data have been recorded by ten professional female singers (soprano, aged 19-29) performing sounds for both chest and head register. The classification accuracy exceeded 93% in each of various validation schemes. Apart from a hard two-class clustering, the support vector classifier returns also information on the distance between particular feature vector and the discrimination hyperplane in a feature space. Such an information reflects the level of certainty of the vocal register classification in a fuzzy way. Thus, the designed recognition and training application is able to assess and visualize the continuous trend in singing in a user-friendly graphical mode providing an easy way to control the vocal emission.

Keywords: classification, singing, spectral analysis, vocal emission, vocal register

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Authors: Abhiyan Paudel, Maheshwaran M Pillai

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This paper deals with the optimization and comparison of slender delta wing and blended wing body. The objective is to study the difference between the two wing types and analyze the various aerodynamic characteristics of both of these types.The blended-wing body is an aircraft configuration that has the potential to be more efficient than conventional large transport aircraft configurations with the same capability. The purported advantages of the BWB approach are efficient high-lift wings and a wide airfoil-shaped body. Similarly, symmetric separation vortices over slender delta wing may become asymmetric as the angle of attack is increased beyond a certain value, causing asymmetric forces even at symmetric flight conditions. The transition of the vortex pattern from being symmetric to asymmetric over symmetric bodies under symmetric flow conditions is a fascinating fluid dynamics problem and of major importance for the performance and control of high-maneuverability flight vehicles that favor the use of slender bodies. With the use of Star CCM, we analyze both the fluid properties. The CL, CD and CM were investigated in steady state CFD of BWB at Mach 0.3 and through wind tunnel experiments on 1/6th model of BWB at Mach 0.1. From CFD analysis pressure variation, Mach number contours and turbulence area was observed.

Keywords: Coefficient of Lift, Coefficient of Drag, CFD=Computational Fluid Dynamics, BWB=Blended Wing Body, slender delta wing

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Authors: Mrinmoy Majumder, Apu Kumar Saha

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The ever-increasing human population and its demand for energy is placing stress upon conventional energy sources; and as demand for power continues to outstrip supply, the need to optimize energy distribution and utilization is emerging as an important focus for various stakeholders. The distribution of available energy must be achieved in such a way that the needs of the consumer are satisfied. However, if the availability of resources is not sufficient to satisfy consumer demand, it is necessary to find a method to select consumers based on factors such as their socio-economic or environmental impacts. Weighting consumer types in this way can help separate them based on their relative importance, and cognitive optimization of the allocation process can then be carried out so that, even on days of particularly scarce supply, the socio-economic impacts of not satisfying the needs of consumers can be minimized. In this context, the present study utilized fuzzy logic to assign weightage to different types of consumers based at an educational campus in India, and then established optimal allocation by applying the non-linear mapping capability of neuro-genetic algorithms. The outputs of the algorithms were compared with similar outputs from particle swarm optimization and differential evolution algorithms. The results of the study demonstrate an option for the optimal utilization of available energy based on the socio-economic importance of consumers.

Keywords: power allocation, optimization problem, neural networks, environmental and ecological engineering

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Authors: Hee-Jae Suh, Mi-Na Hong, Min-Ji Kim, Yeon-Seong Jeong, Ok-Hwan Lee, Jae-Wook Shin, Hyang-Sook Chun, Chan Lee

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Brown HT is a bis-azo dye which is permitted in EU as a food colorant. So far, many studies have focused on HPLC using diode array detection (DAD) analysis for detection of this food colorant with different columns and mobile phases. Even though these methods make it possible to detect Brown HT, low recovery, reproducibility, and linearity are still the major limitations for the application in foods. The purpose of this study was to compare various methods for the analysis of Brown HT and to develop an improved analytical methods including pretreatment. Among tested analysis methods, best resolution of Brown HT was observed when the following solvent was applied as a eluent; solvent A of mobile phase was 0.575g NH4H2PO4, and 0.7g Na2HPO4 in 500mL water added with 500mL methanol. The pH was adjusted using phosphoric acid to pH 6.9 and solvent B was methanol. Major peak for Brown HT appeared at the end of separation, 13.4min after injection. This method exhibited relatively high recovery and reproducibility compared with other methods. LOD (0.284 ppm), LOQ (0.861 ppm), resolution (6.143), and selectivity (1.3) of this method were better than those of ammonium acetate solution method which was most frequently used. Precision and accuracy were verified through inter-day test and intra-day test. Various methods for sample pretreatments were developed for different foods and relatively high recovery over 80% was observed in all case. This method exhibited high resolution and reproducibility of Brown HT compared with other previously reported official methods from FSA and, EU regulation.

Keywords: analytic method, Brown HT, food colorants, pretreatment method

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Authors: Shital Jhunjhunwala, Shweta Saraf

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Research Question: The study, based on a survey, empirically tests the impact of the board’s engagement in the decision-making process on firm outcomes. It also examines the moderating effect of board leadership and board independence on the relationship. Research Findings: Boards’ engagement in the decision-making process is found to be vital for firm performance, wherein effective monitoring by the board outperforms their strategic guidance role in achieving desired outcomes. The separation of CEO and Chairman positively moderates the board’s engagement in protecting stakeholders’ interests, but lack of independence and passive behaviour of independent directors raises concern on the efficacy of independent directors. Theoretical Implications: The study provides the framework for process-oriented corporate governance research, where investigation of boards’ behaviour inside the boardroom develops a deeper understanding of board processes. Practitioner Implications: The study highlights the necessity of developing boards’ focus in a company on monitoring managerial actions. It suggests the need to separate the position of CEO and Chairman for addressing the interest of all stakeholders. It recommends policymakers review the existing mandate on board independence and create alternate monitoring mechanisms for addressing agency conflict.

Keywords: board, decision-making process, engagement, independence, leadership, innovation, stakeholders, firm performance, qualitative, India

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Authors: M. Firoz Kalam, Wilfried Schuetz, Jan Hendrik Bredehoeft

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In this research, diesel oil properties, such as aniline point, density, diesel index, cetane index and cetane number before and after treatment were studied. The investigation was considered for diesel oil samples after batch adsorption process using powdered activated carbon. Batch distillation process was applied to all treated diesel oil samples for separation of the solid-liquid mixture. The diesel oil properties were studied to observe the impact of adsorptive desulfurization process on fuel quality. Results showed that the best cetane number for desulfurized diesel oil was found at the best-operating conditions 60℃, 10g activated carbon and 180 minute contact time. The best-desulfurized diesel oil cetane number was obtained around 51 while the cetane number of untreated diesel oil was 34. Results also showed that the calculated cetane number increases as the operating temperature and amounts of adsorbent increases. This behavior was same for other diesel oil properties such as aniline point, diesel index, cetane index and density. The best value for all the fuel properties was found at same operating conditions mentioned above. Thus, it can be concluded that adsorptive desulfurization using powdered activated carbon as adsorbent had significantly improved the fuel quality of diesel oil by reducing aromatic contents of diesel oil.

Keywords: activated carbon, adsorption, desulfurization, diesel oil, fuel quality

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Authors: Sabri Mrayed, David Maccioni, Greg Leslie

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Seawater desalination has been accepted as one of the most effective solutions to the growing problem of a diminishing clean drinking water supply. Currently, two desalination technologies dominate the market – the thermally driven multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and the membrane based reverse osmosis (RO). However, in recent years membrane distillation (MD) has emerged as a potential alternative to the established means of desalination. This research project intended to determine the viability of MD as an alternative process to MSF and RO for seawater desalination. Specifically the project involves conducting a thermodynamic analysis of the process based on the second law of thermodynamics to determine the efficiency of the MD. Data was obtained from experiments carried out on a laboratory rig. In order to determine exergy values required for the exergy analysis, two separate models were built in Engineering Equation Solver – the ’Minimum Separation Work Model’ and the ‘Stream Exergy Model’. The efficiency of MD process was found to be 17.3 %, and the energy consumption was determined to be 4.5 kWh to produce one cubic meter of fresh water. The results indicate MD has potential as a technique for seawater desalination compared to RO and MSF. However, it was shown that this was only the case if an alternate energy source such as green or waste energy was available to provide the thermal energy input to the process. If the process was required to power itself, it was shown to be highly inefficient and in no way thermodynamically viable as a commercial desalination process.

Keywords: desalination, exergy, membrane distillation, second law efficiency

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Authors: Ki Moo Lim, Iman R. Tayibnapis

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According to WHO estimation, 38 out of 56 million (68%) global deaths in 2012, were due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). To avert NCD, one of the solutions is early detection of diseases. In order to do that, we developed 'U-Healthcare Mirror', which is able to measure vital sign such as heart rate (HR) and respiration rate without any physical contact and consciousness. To measure HR in the mirror, we utilized digital camera. The camera records red, green, and blue (RGB) discoloration from user's facial image sequences. We extracted blood volume pulse (BVP) from the RGB discoloration because the discoloration of the facial skin is accordance with BVP. We used blind source separation (BSS) to extract BVP from the RGB discoloration and adaptive filters for removing noises. We utilized singular value decomposition (SVD) method to implement the BSS and the adaptive filters. HR was estimated from the obtained BVP. We did experiment for HR measurement by using our method and previous method that used independent component analysis (ICA) method. We compared both of them with HR measurement from commercial oximeter. The experiment was conducted under various distance between 30~110 cm and light intensity between 5~2000 lux. For each condition, we did measurement 7 times. The estimated HR showed 2.25 bpm of mean error and 0.73 of pearson correlation coefficient. The accuracy has improved compared to previous work. The optimal distance between the mirror and user for HR measurement was 50 cm with medium light intensity, around 550 lux.

Keywords: blood volume pulse, heart rate, photoplethysmography, independent component analysis

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Authors: Ankur Dixit, Hiroaki Wagatsuma

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The crack detection on a concrete bridge is an important and constant task in civil engineering. Chronically, humans are checking the bridge for inspection of cracks to maintain the quality and reliability of bridge. But this process is very long and costly. To overcome such limitations, we have used a drone with a digital camera, which took some images of bridge deck and these images are processed by morphological component analysis (MCA). MCA technique is a very strong application of sparse coding and it explores the possibility of separation of images. In this paper, MCA has been used to decompose the image into coarse and fine components with the effectiveness of two dictionaries namely anisotropic diffusion and wavelet transform. An anisotropic diffusion is an adaptive smoothing process used to adjust diffusion coefficient by finding gray level and gradient as features. These cracks in image are enhanced by subtracting the diffused coarse image into the original image and the results are treated by Sobel edge detector and binary filtering to exhibit the cracks in a fine way. Our results demonstrated that proposed MCA framework using anisotropic diffusion followed by Sobel operator and binary filtering may contribute to an automation of crack detection even in open field sever conditions such as bridge decks.

Keywords: anisotropic diffusion, coarse component, fine component, MCA, Sobel edge detector and wavelet transform

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Authors: N. Kiran, S. A. Vikas, Yatish Chandra, S. Srinivasan

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Several Centuries ago, the aerodynamic studies on rotating cylinders and spheres have started. From the observation, the rotation of a cylinder has a remarkable effect on the aerodynamic characteristics is noticed. In case of airfoils as the angle of attack increases, the drag increases with reduction in lift i.e at the critical angle of attack. If at this point a strong impulse is imparted to the boundary layer by means of a spinning cylinder, the re-energisation of boundary layer is achieved and hence delaying the boundary layer separation and stalling characteristics. Analysis of aerodynamic effects spinning cylinder either at leading edge or at trailing edge of the airfoil is carried in the past, the positioning of cylinder close to trailing edge and its effects in delaying the stall are yet to be analyzed in depth. This paper aim is to understand the combined aerodynamic effects of coupling the spinning cylinder with the airfoil closer to the Trailing edge, by considering different spin ratio of the cylinder, its location and geometrical parameters in relation to the chord of the airfoil. From the analysis, it was observed that the spinning cylinder speed of rotation and location had a impact on stalling characteristics for a prescribed free stream condition. The results predicted through CFD analysis and experimental analysis showed a raise in aerodynamic efficiency and as the spin ratio increases, increase in stalling angle of attack is noticed when compared to the airfoil without spinning cylinder.

Keywords: aerodynamics, airfoil, spinning cylinder, stalling

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Authors: Atena Naeimi, Mehri-Sadat Ekrami-Kakhki

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Fe3O4 is one of the important magnetic oxides with spinel structure; it has exhibited unique electric and magnetic properties based on the electron transfer between Fe2+ and Fe3+ in the octahedral sites. Fe3O4 have received considerable attention in various areas such as cancer therapy, drug targeting, enzyme immobilization catalysis, magnetic cell separation, magnetic refrigeration systems and super-paramagnetic materials. Fe3O4–ZnO nanostructures were synthesized via a surfactant-free ultrasonic reaction at room temperatures. The effect of various parameters such as temperature, time, and power on the size and morphology of the product was investigated. Alternating gradient force magnetometer shows that Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibit super-paramagnetic behaviour at room temperature. For preparation of nanocomposite 1 g of Fe3O4 nanostructures were dispersed in 100 mL of distilled water. 0.25 g of Zn (NO3)2 and 20 mL of NH3 solution 1 M were then slowly added to the solution under ultrasonic irradiation. The product was centrifuged, washed with distilled water and dried in the air. The photocatalytic behaviour of Fe3O4–ZnO nanoparticles was evaluated using the degradation of a methyl orange aqueous solution under ultraviolet light irradiation. As time increased, more and more methyl orange was adsorbed on the nanoparticles catalyst, until the absorption peak vanish. The methyl orange concentration decreased rapidly with increasing UV-irradiation time.

Keywords: nanocomposite, ultrasonic, paramagnetic, photocatalytic

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Authors: Harshani Uggallage, Kapila D. Dissanayaka

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A Sulforhodamine-B assay-guided fractionation on Nigella sativa seeds was conducted to determine the presence of cytotoxic compounds against human hepatoma (HepG2) cells. Initially, a freeze-dried sample of Nigella sativa seeds was sequentially extracted into solvents of increasing polarities. Crude extracts from the sequential extraction of Nigella sativa seeds in chloroform and ethyl acetate showed the highest cytotoxicity. The combined mixture of these two extracts was subjected to bioassay guided fractionation using a modified Kupchan method of partitioning, followed by Sephadex® LH-20 chromatography. This chromatographic separation process resulted in a column fraction with a convincing IC50 (half-maximal inhibitory concentration) value of 13.07µg/ml, which is considerable for developing therapeutic drug leads against human hepatoma. Reversed phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was finally conducted for the same column fraction, and the result indicates the presence of one or several main cytotoxic compounds against human HepG2 cells.

Keywords: cytotoxic compounds, half-maximal inhibitory concentration, high-performance liquid chromatography, human HepG2 cells, nigella sativa seeds, Sulforhodamine-B assay

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Authors: James Sinclair, Katy Soapi, Brad Carte

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The marine environment has continuously demonstrated to be a rich source of secondary metabolites and bioactive compounds that can address the many pharmaceutical problems facing mankind. The emergence of multidrug resistant pathogens has caused scientists to explore contemporary ways of combating these super bugs. A red-pigmented bacterial strain isolated from a marine alga collected in Fiji was identified to be Pseudoalteromonas rubra from 16s rRNA sequencing. This bacterial strain was cultured using a yeast-peptone media and incubated for five days. The ethyl acetate extract of this bacterium was subjected to chromatographic separation techniques such as vacuum liquid chromatography, flash chromatography, size exclusion chromatography and high-pressure liquid chromatography to yield the pure compound and a number of semi-pure fractions. The crude extract and subsequent purified fractions were analyzed by ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy and was found to contain the compounds ivermectin, stenothricin, cyclo-L-pro-L-val, prodigiosin, mycophenolic acid, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, eplerenone, staurosporine and pseudoalteromone A. The structure of the pure compound, pseudoalteromone A, was elucidated using NMR 1H, 13C, 1H-1H COSY, HSQC and HMBC spectroscopic data.

Keywords: Pseudoalteromonas rubra, Pseudoalteromone A, secondary metabolites, structure elucidation

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Authors: Uliana Morozovskaia

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Immigrants in any country undergo an acculturation process which, in other words, means adaptation to other cultures. It can be divided into four strategies: integration (when an immigrant support home and host culture and language), assimilation (supporting only host culture and language), separation (supporting only home culture and language), and marginalization (an immigrant has no interest in supporting none of the cultures or languages). Canada has experienced a rise in the number of Russian speakers who are immigrating to Canada in the last couple of years. Although there are some studies on Russian-speaking immigrants, a small percentage of them have been focusing on their immigration experience in Canada. This is why the present study aimed to analyze the acculturation experience that Russian-speaking immigrants have when they move to Canada. One hundred participants have been surveyed on SurveyMonkey. They have been asked to share their life experience and opinion about their adaptation process, self-identity in terms of language use and cultural feelings, language preferences, and others. The results showed that Russian-speaking immigrants can successfully adapt to Canadian culture and society, and many of them feel at home being in their host country. Interestingly, such feelings have appeared after they spent some years in Canada. The study also found out that after the immigration, participants were more likely to focus on Canada’s official languages (English and/or French). However, when they became comfortable with the lifestyle and the language, they switched their attention to Russian language maintenance and home culture preservation.

Keywords: acculturation, Russian-speaking immigrants, adaptation, Canada, immigration, mother tongue preservation

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Authors: Ahmed Aboforn

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Butene-1 product is consider effectively raw material in Polyethylene production, however Oxygenates impurities existing will be effected ethylene/butene-1 copolymers synthesized through titanium-magnesium-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts. Laterally, Petrochemical industries are challenge against poor quality of Butene-1 and other C4 mix – feedstock that reflected on business impact and production losing. In addition, propylene product suffering from contamination by oxygenates components and causing for lose production and plant upset of Polypropylene process plants. However, Multidimensional gas chromatography (MDGC) innovative analytical methodology is a chromatography technique used to separate complex samples, as mixing different functional group as Hydrocarbon and oxygenates compounds and have similar retention factors, by running the eluent through two or more columns instead of the customary single column. This analytical study striving to enhance the quality of Oxygenates analytical method, as monitoring the concentration of oxygenates with accurate and precise analytical method by utilizing multidimensional GC supported by Backflush technique and Flame Ionization Detector, which have high performance separation of hydrocarbon and Oxygenates; also improving the minimum detection limits (MDL) to detect the concentration <1.0 ppm. However different types of oxygenates as (Alcohols, Aldehyde, Ketones, Ester and Ether) may be determined in other Hydrocarbon streams asC3, C4-mix, until C12 mixture, supported by liquid injection auto-sampler.

Keywords: analytical chemistry, gas chromatography, petrochemicals, oxygenates

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Authors: Hsu Kuo-Wei, Tan Roon Fang, Chao Jen-chih

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Cities face environmental challenges, including over-urbanization issues, air and water quality issues, lack of green space, excess heat capture, polluted storm water runoff and lack of ecological biodiversity. The vertical farming holds the condition of technology addressing these issues by enabling more food to be produced with finite less resources use and space. Most of the existing research regarding to technology Industry of agriculture between plant factory and vertical greening, which with high costs and high-technology. Relative research developed a sustainable model for construction and operation of the vertical farm in urban housing which aims to revolutionize our daily life of food production and urban development. However, those researches focused on quantitative analysis. This study utilized relative research for key variables of benefits of vertical farming. In the second stage, utilizes Fuzzy Delphi Method to obtain the critical factors of benefits of vertical farming using in Urban Renewal by interviewing the foregoing experts. Then, Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied to find the importance degree of each criterion as the measurable indices of the vertical farming method in urban renewal within the older city of Taichung.

Keywords: urban renewal, vertical farming, urban agriculture, benefit analysis, the older city of Taichung

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Authors: Nyiko M. Chauke, James Ramontja, Richard M. Moutloali

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The zeolite ZSM-22 material demonstrated effective hydrophilic character as a nanoadditive filler in the preparation of nanocomposite membranes. In this study, nanorods ZSM-22 zeolite materials were hydrothermally synthesised from a homogenous gel mixture prepared using different silica precursors: colloidal silica, fumed silica, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), and aluminium precursor: aluminium sulphate octadecahydrate (Al₂(SO₄)₃.18H₂O to Si/Al of 60. This was focused on developing a defect-free zeolite framework for effective use in applications such as membrane separation process, adsorption, and catalysis. The obtained ZSM-22 zeolite materials with 60 Si/Al ratio exhibits high crystallinity, hydrophilicity, and needle-like morphologies, suggesting successful synthesis as shown by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) physicochemical analysis. It was revealed that the use of different nature of silica precursors significantly influenced the properties of the final product and contributed to the development of defect-free zeolite material. As such, the crystalline nanorods of Theta-1 (TON) ZSM-22 obtained from TEOS silica showed high phase purity, defect-free, and narrow particle size distribution. Morphological analysis exhibited that the use of TEOS as silica precursor was effective than its counterparts and produced high crystalline need-like agglomerated particles.

Keywords: silica precursor, hydrothermal synthesis, zeolite material, ZSM-22

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Authors: Desissa Yadeta Muleta

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Purely organic long-persistent luminescence materials (OLPLMs) have been developed as emerging organic materials due to their simple production process, low preparation cost and better biocompatibilities. Notably, OLPLMs with afterglow-time-tunable long-persistent luminescence (LPL) characteristics enable higher-level protection applications and have great prospects in biological applications. The realization of these advanced performances depends on our ability to gradually tune LPL duration under ambient conditions, however, the strategies to achieve this are few due to the lack of unambiguous mechanisms. Here, we propose a two-step strategy to gradually tune LPL duration of OLPLMs over a wide range of seconds in water and air, by using derivatives as the guest and introducing a third-party material into the host-immobilized host–guest doping system. Based on this strategy, we develop an analysis method for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content detection without DNA separation in aqueous samples, which circumvents the influence of the chromophore, fluorophore and other interferents in vivo, enabling a certain degree of in situ detection that is difficult to achieve using today’s methods. This work will expedite the development of afterglow-time-tunable OLPLMs and expand new horizons for their applications in data protection, bio-detection, and bio-sensing

Keywords: deoxyribonucliec acid, long persistent luminescent materials, water, air

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Authors: Sharifah Mousli, Sona Taheri, Jiayuan He

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition involving persistent difficulties with social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behavior. The challenges associated with ASD can interfere with an affected individual’s ability to function in social, academic, and employment settings. Although there is no effective medication known to treat ASD, to our best knowledge, early intervention can significantly improve an affected individual’s overall development. Hence, an accurate diagnosis of ASD at an early phase is essential. The use of machine learning approaches improves and speeds up the diagnosis of ASD. In this paper, we focus on the application of unsupervised clustering methods in ASD as a large volume of ASD data generated through hospitals, therapy centers, and mobile applications has no pre-existing labels. We conduct a comparative analysis using seven clustering approaches such as K-means, agglomerative hierarchical, model-based, fuzzy-C-means, affinity propagation, self organizing maps, linear vector quantisation – as well as the recently developed optimization-based clustering (COMSEP-Clust) approach. We evaluate the performances of the clustering methods extensively on real-world ASD datasets encompassing different age groups: toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults. Our experimental results suggest that the COMSEP-Clust approach outperforms the other seven methods in recognizing ASD with well-separated clusters.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, clustering, optimization, unsupervised machine learning

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Authors: M. Jerold, V. Sivasubramanian

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This study reports the removal of Malachite Green (MG) from simulated wastewater by using marine macro algae Ulva lactuca. Batch biosorption experiments were carried out to determine the biosorption capacity. The biosorption capacity was found to be maximum at pH 10. The effect of various other operation parameters such as biosorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time and agitation was also investigated. The equilibrium attained at 120 min with 0.1 g/L of biosorbent. The isotherm experimental data fitted well with Langmuir Model with R² value of 0.994. The maximum Langmuir biosorption capacity was found to be 76.92 mg/g. Further, Langmuir separation factor RL value was found to be 0.004. Therefore, the adsorption is favorable. The biosorption kinetics of MG was found to follow pseudo second-order kinetic model. The mechanistic study revealed that the biosorption of malachite onto Ulva lactuca was controlled by film diffusion. The solute transfer in a solid-liquid adsorption process is characterized by the film diffusion and/or particle diffusion. Thermodynamic study shows ΔG° is negative indicates the feasibility and spontaneous nature for the biosorption of malachite green. The biosorbent was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and elemental analysis (CHNS: Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur). This study showed that Ulva lactuca can be used as promising biosorbent for the removal of MG from wastewater.

Keywords: biosorption, Ulva lactuca, wastewater, malachite green, isotherm, kinetics

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Authors: Hamed Hosseinkazemi, Esmaeil Biazar

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For tissue engineering of bone, anatomical and operational reconstructions of damaged tissue seem to be vital. This is done via reconstruction of bone and appropriate biological joint with bone tissues of damaged areas. In this study the condition of biodegradable bed Nanofibrous PHBV and USSC cells were used to accelerate bone repair of damaged area. Hollow nanofabrication scaffold of damageable life was designed as PHBV by electrospinning and via determining the best factors such as the kind and amount of solvent, specific volume and rate. The separation of osseous tissue infiltration and evaluating its nature by flow cytometrocical analysis was done. Animal test including USSC as well as PHBV condition in the damaged bone was done in the rat. After 8 weeks the implanted area was analyzed using CT scan and was sent to histopathology ward. Finally, the rate and quality of reconstruction were determined after H and E coloring. Histomorphic analysis indicated a statistically significant difference between the experimental group of PHBV, USSC+PHBV and control group. Besides, the histopathologic analysis showed that bone reconstruction rate was high in the area containing USSC and PHBV, compared with area having PHBV and control group and consequently the reconstruction quality of bones and the relationship between the new bone tissues and surrounding bone tissues were high too. Using PHBR scaffold and USSC together could be useful in the amending of wide range of bone lesion.

Keywords: bone lesion, nanofibrous PHBV, stem cells, umbilical cord blood

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Authors: Jay Mar D. Quevedo, Fernando P. Siringan, Cesar L. Villanoy

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The influence of the Younger Dryas (YD) event on primary production off the northeast shelf of Luzon, Philippines is examined using sediment cores from two deep sea sites north of the Bicol shelf and with varying relative influence from terrestrial sediment input and the Kuroshio Current. Core A is immediately west of the Kuroshio feeder current and is off the slope while Core B is from a bathymetric high located almost west of Core A. XRF-, CHN- and LOI- derived geochemical proxies are utilized for reconstruction. A decrease in sediment input from ~12.9 to ~11.6 kyr BP corresponding to the YD event is indicated by the proxies, Ti, Al, and Al/Ti, in both cores. This is consistent with the drier climate during this period. Primary productivity indicators in the cores show opposing trends during the YD; Core A shows an increasing trend while Core B shows a decreasing trend. The decreasing trend in Core B can be due to a decrease in terrestrial nutrient input due to a decrease in precipitation. On the other hand, the increasing trend in Core A can be due to a swifter Kuroshio Current caused by a swifter and more southerly NEC bifurcation which in turn is due to a southerly shift of the ITCZ during YD. A stronger Kuroshio feeder would have enhanced upwelling induced by steeper sea surface across the current and by more intense cyclonic gyres due to flow separation where the shelf width suddenly decreases north of the Bicol Shelf.

Keywords: paleoproductivity, younger dryas, Philippines, northeastern Luzon

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Authors: Gargi Ghoshal, Ashay Jain

Abstract:

Microencapsulation of β-carotene was optimized by complex coacervation technique using casein/gum tragacanth (CAS/GT) coating as a function of pH, initial protein to polysaccharide mixing ratio (Pr:Ps), total biopolymer concentration, core material load, zeta potential, and ionic strength. This study was aimed to understand the influence of experimental parameters on the coacervation kinetics, the coacervate yield, and entrapment efficiency. At a Pr:Ps = 2:1, an optimum pH of complex coacervation was found 4.35, at which the intensity of electrostatic interaction was maximum. At these ratios of coating, the phase separation occurred the fastest and the final coacervate yield and entrapment efficiency was the highest. Varying the Pr: Ps shifted the value of optimum pH. This incident was due to the level of charge compensation of the CAS/GT complexes. Finally, electrostatic interaction and formation of coacervates between CAS and GT were confirmed by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectra. The size and surface properties of coacervates were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resultant formulation (β-carotene loaded microcapsules) was evaluated for in vitro release study and antioxidant activity. Stability of encapsulated β-carotene was also evaluated under three levels of temperature (5, 25 and 40 °C) for 3 months. Encapsulation strongly increased the stability of micronutrients. Our results advocate potential of microcapsules as a novel carrier for the safeguard and sustained release of micronutrient.

Keywords: β-carotene, casein, complex coacervation, controlled release, gum tragacanth, microcapsules

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: Sara Taghdisi, M. Mirmohammadi, M. Mokhtarian

Abstract:

In 2013, the World Health Organization announced the cases of Cutaneous leishmaniasis infection in Iran between 69,000 to 113,000. The most common chemical drugs for Cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment are sodium stibogluconate, and meglumine antimonate, which not only have relatively many side effects, but also some species of the Leishmania genus have become resistant to them .The most prominent compound existing in different parts of the cotton plant is a yellow polyphenol called Gossypol. Gossypol is an extremely valuable compound and has anti-cancer properties. In the current project, Gossypol was extracted with a liquid-liquid extraction method in 120 minutes in the presence of Phosphoric acid from the cotton seed oil of Golestan beach varieties, then got crystallized in darkness using Acetic acid and isolated as Gossypol Acetic acid. The efficiency of the extracted crystal was obtained at 0.12+- 1.28. the cotton plant could be efficient in the treatment of Cutaneous leishmaniasis. The extract of the green-leaf cotton boll of Jargoyeh varieties was tested as an ointment on the target group of patients suffering from Cutaneous leishmaniasis resistant to drugs esistant to drugs by our colleagues in the research team. The results showed the Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.72 between the two variables of wound diameter and the extract use over time which indicated the positive effect of this extract on the treatment of Cutaneous leishmaniasis was resistant to drugs.

Keywords: cottonseed oil, crystallization, gossypol, green-leaf

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Mei Hong, Wei Liu, Xuemin Dai, Yanxiong Pan, Xiangling Ji

Abstract:

Polyamic acid (PAA) is the precursor of polyimide (PI) prepared by a two-step method, its molecular weight and molecular weight distribution not only play an important role during the preparation and processing, but also influence the final performance of PI. However, precise characterization on molecular weight of PAA is still a challenge because of the existence of very complicated interactions in the solution system, including the electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bond interaction, dipole-dipole interaction, etc. Thus, it is necessary to establisha suitable strategy which can completely suppress these complex effects and get reasonable data on molecular weight. Herein, the gel permeation chromatography (GPC) coupled with differential refractive index (RI) and multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) detectors were applied to measure the molecular weight of (6FDA-DMB) PAA using different mobile phases, LiBr/DMF, LiBr/H3PO4/THF/DMF, LiBr/HAc/THF/DMF, and LiBr/HAc/DMF, respectively. It was found that combination of LiBr with HAc can shield the above-mentioned complex interactions and is more conducive to the separation of PAA than only addition of LiBr in DMF. LiBr/HAc/DMF was employed for the first time as a mild mobile phase to effectively separate PAA and determine its molecular weight. After a series of conditional experiments, 0.02M LiBr/0.2M HAc/DMF was fixed as an optimized mobile phase to measure the relative and absolute molecular weights of (6FDA-DMB) PAA prepared, and the obtained Mw from GPC-MALLS and GPC-RI were 35,300 g/mol and 125,000 g/mol, respectively. Particularly, such a mobile phase is also applicable to other PAA samples with different structures, and the final results on molecular weight are also reproducible.

Keywords: Polyamic acids, Polyelectrolyte effects, Gel permeation chromatography, Mobile phase, Molecular weight

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Ketan Mahawer, Abeer Mutto, S. K. Gupta

Abstract:

The mining wastewater contains inorganic metal salts, which makes it saline and additionally contributes to contaminating the surface and underground freshwater reserves that exist nearby mineral processing industries. Therefore, treatment of wastewater and water recovery is obligatory by any available technology before disposing it into the environment. Currently, reverse osmosis (RO) is the commercially acceptable conventional membrane process for saline wastewater treatment, but consumes an enormous amount of energy and makes the process expensive. To solve this industrial problem with minimum energy consumption, we tested the feasibility of forward osmosis-nanofiltration (FO-NF) hybrid process for the mining wastewater treatment. The FO-NF process experimental results for 0.029M concentration of saline wastewater treated by 0.42 M sodium-sulfate based draw solution shows that specific energy consumption of the FO-NF process compared with standalone NF was slightly above (between 0.5-1 kWh/m3) from conventional process. However, average freshwater recovery was 30% more from standalone NF with same feed and operating conditions. Hence, FO-NF process in place of RO/NF offers a huge possibility for treating mining industry wastewater and concentrates the metals as the by-products without consuming an excessive/large amount of energy and in addition, mitigates the fouling in long periods of treatment, which also decreases the maintenance and replacement cost of the separation process.

Keywords: forward osmosis, nanofiltration, mining, draw solution, divalent solute

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Edo Shonin, William Van Gordon, Mark D. Griffiths

Abstract:

Due to its potential to concurrently improve Work-Related Wellbeing (WRW) and job performance; occupational stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in meditation. Despite this, there is a scarcity of methodologically robust research examining the utility of meditation within occupational contexts. This study conducted the first randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of meditation on outcomes relating to both WRW and job performance. Office-based middle-hierarchy managers (n=152) were allocated to either an eight-week meditation intervention (Meditation Awareness Training: MAT) or an active control intervention. MAT participants demonstrated significant improvements (with strong effect-sizes) over control-group participants in levels of work-related stress, job satisfaction, psychological distress, and employer-rated job performance. It is concluded that MAT appears to be effective for improving both WRW and job performance in middle-hierarchy managers. There are a number of novel implications: (i) meditation can effectuate a perceptual shift in how employees experience their work and psychological environment and may thus constitute a cost-effective WRW intervention, (ii) meditation-based (i.e., present-moment-focused) working styles may be more effective than goal-based (i.e., future-orientated) working styles, and (iii) meditation may reduce the separation made by employees between their own interests and those of the organizations they work for.

Keywords: work-related stress, workplace wellbeing, occupational stress, job performance, meditation awareness training, mindfulness

Procedia PDF Downloads 312

Authors: Dong Il Shim, Geehong Choi, Donghwi Lee, Namkyu Lee, Hyung Hee Cho

Abstract:

Effective cooling technology is required to secure thermal stability in extreme heat generated systems such as integrated electronic devices and power generated systems. Pool boiling heat transfer is one of the powerful cooling mechanisms using phase change phenomena. Critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) are main factors to evaluate the performance of boiling heat transfer. CHF is the limitation of boiling heat transfer before film boiling which occurs thermal failure. Surface wettability is an important surface characteristic of boiling heat transfer. A hydrophilic surface has higher CHF through effective working fluid supply to local hot spots. A hydrophobic surface promotes the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) to enhance HTC. In this study, superbiphilic surfaces, which is combined with superhydrophillic and superhydrophobic, are applied on boiling experiments to maximize boiling performance. We conducted pool boiling heat transfer using DI water at a saturated temperature and recorded bubble dynamics using a high-speed camera with 2000 fps. As a result, superbiphilic patterned surfaces promote ONB and enhance both CHF and HTC. This study demonstrates the enhanced boiling performance using superbiphilic surfaces by effective nucleation and separation of liquid/vapor pathway. We expect that further enhancement of heat transfer could be achieved in future work using optimized patterned surfaces.

Keywords: boiling heat transfer, wettability, critical heat flux, heat transfer coefficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 329