Search results for: intermediate reference laboratory

Authors: Kaine Gulozer

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A strong methodological conception in the practice of teaching, content, and language integrated learning (CLIL) is adapted to boost efficiency in the second language (L2) instruction with a range of proficiency levels. This study aims to investigate whether the incorporation of two different mediums of meaningful CLIL reading activities (in-school and out-of-school settings) influence L2 students’ development of comprehension skills differently. CLIL based instructional methodology was adopted and total of 50 preparatory year students (N=50, 25 students for each proficiency level) from two distinct language proficiency learners (elementary and intermediate) majoring in engineering faculties were recruited for the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods through a post-test design were adopted. Data were collected through a questionnaire, a reading comprehension test and a semi-structured interview addressed to the two proficiency groups. The results show that both settings in relation to the development of reading comprehension are beneficial, whereas the impact of the reading activities conducted in school settings was higher at the elementary language level of students than that of the one conducted out-of-class settings based on the reported interview results. This study suggests that the incorporation of meaningful CLIL reading activities in both settings for both proficiency levels could create students’ self-awareness of their language learning process and the sense of ownership in successful improvements of field-specific reading comprehension. Further potential suggestions and implications of the study were discussed.

Keywords: content and language integrated learning, in-school setting, language proficiency, out-of-school setting, reading comprehension

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Authors: Mark Lindquist

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This paper presents preliminary results of exploratory empirical research investigating the effect of viewing 3D landscape visualizations in virtual reality compared to a computer monitor, and how sound impacts perception. Five landscape types were paired with three sound conditions (no sound, generic sound, realistic sound). Perceived realism, preference, recreational value, and biodiversity were evaluated in a controlled laboratory environment. Results indicate that sound has a larger perceptual impact than display mode regardless of sound source across all perceptual measures. The results are considered to assess how sound can impact landscape preference and spatiotemporal understanding. The paper concludes with a discussion of the impact on designers, planners, and the public and targets future research endeavors in this area.

Keywords: landscape experience, perception, soundscape, virtual reality

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Authors: Jimmy L. Caldoza, Erlito M. Albina

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Information Systems are increasingly being used to monitor and assess government projects as well as improve transparency and combat corruption. With reference to existing information systems relevant to monitoring and evaluation systems adopted by various government agencies from other countries, this research paper aims to help the Philippine government, particularly the Department of Agriculture, in assessing the impact of their programs and projects on their target beneficiaries through the development of the web-based Monitoring and Evaluation Information System with the application of a short messaging system (sms) technology.

Keywords: monitoring and evaluation system, web-based information system, short messaging system technology, database structure and management

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Authors: Ya-Fen Lee, Yun-Yao Chi

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The study aims to explore the relationship between risk perceptions of rockfall and revisit intention using a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis. A total of 573 valid questionnaires are collected from travelers to Taroko National Park, Taiwan. The findings show the majority of travellers have the medium perception of rockfall risk, and are willing to revisit the Taroko National Park. The revisit intention to Taroko National Park is influenced by hazardous preferences, willingness-to-pay, obstruction and attraction. The risk perception has an indirect effect on revisit intention through influencing willingness-to-pay. The study results can be a reference for mitigation the rockfall disaster.

Keywords: risk perception, rockfall, revisit intention, structural equation modelling

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Authors: Adil Tamimi

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Limestone powder is a natural material that is available in many parts of the world. In this research self-compacting concrete was designed and prepared using limestone powder. The resulted concrete was exposed to the hydrochloric acid solution and compared with reference concrete. Mechanical properties of both fresh and hardened concrete have been evaluated. Scanning Electron Microscopy “SEM” has been unitized to analyse the morphological development of the hydration products. In sulphuric acid solution, a large formation of gypsum was detected in both samples of self-compacting concrete and conventional concrete. The Higher amount of thaumasite and ettringite was also detected in the SCC sample. In hydrochloric acid solution, monochloroaluminate was detected.

Keywords: self-compacting concrete, mechanical properties, Scanning Electron Microscopy, acid solution

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Authors: Jiayue Guo, Lili You

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Background: Children and adolescent health are crucial for both personal well-being and the nation's future health landscape. Health Literacy (HL) is important in enabling adolescents to self-manage their health, a fundamental step towards health empowerment. However, there are limited tools for assessing HL among elementary and junior high school students. This study aims to construct and validate a test-based HL scale for Chinese students, offering a scientific reference for cross-cultural HL tool development. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey. Participants were recruited from a stratified cluster random sampling method, a total of 4189 Chinese in-school primary and secondary students. The development of the scale was completed by defining the concept of HL, establishing the item indicator system, screening items (7 health content dimensions), and evaluating reliability and validity. Delphi method expert consultation was used to screen items, the Rasch model was conducted for quality analysis, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to examine the internal consistency. Results: We developed four versions of the HL scale, each with a total score of 100, encompassing seven key health areas: hygiene, nutrition, physical activity, mental health, disease prevention, safety awareness, and digital health literacy. Each version measures four dimensions of health competencies: knowledge, skills, motivation, and behavior. After the second round of expert consultation, the average importance score of each item by experts is 4.5–5.0, and the coefficient of variation is 0.000–0.174. The knowledge and skills dimensions are judgment-based and multiple-choice questions, with the Rasch model confirming unidimensionality at a 5.7% residual variance. The behavioral and motivational dimensions, measured with scale-type items, demonstrated internal consistency via Cronbach's alpha and strong inter-item correlation with KMO values of 0.924 and 0.787, respectively. Bartlett's test of sphericity, with p-values <0.001, further substantiates the scale's reliability. Conclusions: The new test-based scale, designed to evaluate competencies within a multifaceted framework, aligns with current international adolescent literacy theories and China's health education policies, focusing not only on knowledge acquisition but also on the application of health-related thinking and behaviors. The scale can be used as a comprehensive tool for HL evaluation and a reference for other countries.

Keywords: adolescent health, Chinese, health literacy, rasch model, scale development

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Authors: Reza Ziaie Moayed, Hamidreza Rahmani

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Today, with developments in science and technology, there is an excessive potential for the use of nanomaterials in various fields of geotechnical project such as soil stabilization. This study investigates the effect of Nano-SiO₂ solution on the unconfined compression strength and Young's elastic modulus of Kaolinite. For this purpose, nano-SiO₂ was mixed with kaolinite in five different contents: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% by weight of the dry soil and a series of the unconfined compression test with curing time of one-day was selected as laboratory test. Analyses of the tests results show that stabilization of kaolinite with Nano-SiO₂ solution can improve effectively the unconfined compression strength of modified soil up to 1.43 times compared to  the pure soil.

Keywords: kaolinite, Nano-SiO2, stabilization, unconfined compression test, Young's modulus

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Authors: António Fiúza, Aurora Futuro, Joana Monteiro, Joaquim Góis

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Lepidolite is an important lithium mineral that, to the author’s best knowledge, has not been used to produce lithium hydroxide, which is necessary for energy conversion to electric vehicles. Alkaline leaching of lithium concentrates allows the establishment of a production diagram avoiding most of the environmental drawbacks that are associated with the usage of acid reagents. The tested processes involve a pretreatment by digestion at high temperatures with additives, followed by leaching at hot atmospheric pressure. The solutions obtained must be compatible with solutions from the leaching of spodumene concentrates, allowing the development of a common treatment diagram, an important accomplishment for the feasible exploitation of Portuguese resources. Statistical programming and interpretation techniques minimize the laboratory effort required by conventional approaches and allow phenomenological comprehension.

Keywords: alkaline leaching, lithium, research design, statistical interpretation

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Authors: A. Chellil, A. Nour, S. Lecheb , H. Mechakra, L. Addar, H. Kebir

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This paper present a mechanical characteristics on fatigue crack propagation in Aluminium Plate based on strain and stress distribution using the abaqus software. The changes in shear strain and stress distribution during the fatigue cycle with crack growth is identified. In progressive crack in the strain distribution and the stress is increase in the critical zone. Numerical Modal analysis of the model developed, prove that the Eigen frequencies of aluminium plate were decreased after cracking, and this reduce is nonlinear. These results can provide a reference for analysts and designers of aluminium alloys in aeronautical systems. Therefore, the modal analysis is an important factor for monitoring the aeronautic structures.

Keywords: aluminum alloys, plate, crack, failure

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Authors: E. Ramprasath, P. Manojkumar, P. Veena

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Proposed paper dealt with the modelling and analysis of induction motor based on the mathematical expression using the graphical programming environment of Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW). Induction motor modelling with the mathematical expression enables the motor to be simulated with the various required parameters. Owing to the invention of variable speed drives study about the induction motor characteristics became complex.In this simulation motor internal parameter such as stator resistance and reactance, rotor resistance and reactance, phase voltage, frequency and losses will be given as input. By varying the speed of motor corresponding parameters can be obtained they are input power, output power, efficiency, torque induced, slip and current.

Keywords: induction motor, LabVIEW software, modelling and analysi, electrical and mechanical characteristics of motor

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Authors: Sanghoon Park, Ki-Jin Kim, Kwang-Ho Ahn

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This paper discusses the undesirable charge transfer through the parasitic capacitances of the input transistors in a multi-inputs voltage sense amplifier. Its intrinsic rail-to-rail voltage transitions at the output nodes inevitably disturb the input sides through the capacitive coupling between the outputs and inputs. Then, it can possible degrade the stabilities of the reference voltage levels. Moreover, it becomes more serious in multi-channel systems by altering them for other channels, and so degrades the linearity of the overall systems. In order to alleviate the internal node voltage transition, the internal node stabilization techniques are proposed. It achieves 45% and 40% improvements for node stabilization and input referred disturbance, respectively.

Keywords: voltage sense amplifier, multi-inputs, voltage transition, node stabilization, biasing circuits

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Authors: Aisha Maroof

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Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly around the world with devastating consequences on patients, health care workers and health systems. Severe 2019 novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) with pneumonia is associated with high rates of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and they are at high risk to obtain the hospital acquire bloodstream infection (HAIs) such as central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and laboratory confirm bloodstream infection (LCBSI). The chances of infection transmission increase when healthcare worker’s (HCWs) practice is inappropriate. Risk related to hand hygiene (HH) and personal protective equipment (PPE) as regards multidrug-resistant organism transmission: use of multiple gloving instead of HH and incorrect use of PPE can lead to a significant increase of device-related infections. As it reaches low- and middle-income countries, its effects could be even more, because it will be difficult for them to react aggressively to the pandemic. HAIs are one of the biggest medical concerns, resulting in increased mortality rates. Objective: To assess the effect of intervention on compliance of hand hygiene and PPE among HCWs reduce the rate of HAI in COVID-19 patients. Method: An interventional study was done between July to December, 2020. CLABSI, CAUTI and LCBSI data were collected from the medical record and direct observation. There were total of 50 Nurses, 18 doctors and all patients with laboratory-confirmed severe COVID-19 admitted to the hospital were included in this research study. Respiratory tract specimens were obtained after the first 48 h of ICU admission. Practices were observed after and before intervention. Education was provided based on WHO guidelines. Results: During the six months of study July to December, the rate of CLABSI, CAUTI and LCBSI pre and post intervention was reported. CLABSI rate decreasedd from 22.7 to 0, CAUTI rate was decreased from 1.6 to 0, LCBSI declined from 3.3 to 0 after implementation of intervention. Conclusion: HAIs are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Most of the device related infections occurs due to lack of correct use of PPE and hand hygiene compliance. Hand hygiene and PPE is the most important measure to protect patients, through education it can be improved the correct use of PPE and hand hygiene compliance and can reduce the bacterial infection in COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: hospital acquire infection, healthcare workers, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment

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Authors: D. P. Gangwar

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Identification of human through facial images has got great importance in forensic science. The video recordings, CCTV footage, passports, driver licenses and other related documents are invariably sent to the laboratory for comparison of the questioned photographs as well as video recordings with suspected photographs/recordings to prove the identity of a person. More than 300 questioned and 300 control photographs received in actual crime cases, received from various investigation agencies, have been compared by me so far using various familiar analysis and comparison techniques such as Holistic comparison, Morphological analysis, Photo-anthropometry and superimposition. On the basis of findings obtained during the examination huge photo exhibits, a realistic and comprehensive technique has been proposed which could be very useful for forensic.

Keywords: CCTV Images, facial features, photo-anthropometry, superimposition

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Authors: Chiahsu Yang, Peiling Wu, Ted Ho

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From emphasizing economic development to stressing public happiness, the international community mainly hopes to be able to understand whether the quality of life for the public is becoming better. The Better Life Index (BLI) constructed by OECD uses living conditions and quality of life as starting points to cover 11 areas of life and to convey the state of the general public’s well-being. In light of the BLI framework, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) of the Executive Yuan instituted the Gross National Happiness Index to understand the needs of the general public and to measure the progress of the aforementioned conditions in residents across the island. Whereas living conditions consist of income and wealth, jobs and earnings, and housing conditions, health status, work and life balance, education and skills, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environmental quality, personal security. The ICT area consists of health care, living environment, ICT-enabled communication, transportation, government, education, pleasure, purchasing, job & employment. In the wake of further science and technology development, rapid formation of information societies, and closer integration between lifestyles and information societies, the public’s well-being within information societies has indeed become a noteworthy topic. the Board of Science and Technology of the Executive Yuan use the OECD’s BLI as a reference in the establishment of the Taiwan-specific ICT-Enabled Better Life Index. Using this index, the government plans to examine whether the public’s quality of life is improving as well as measure the public’s satisfaction with current digital quality of life. This understanding will enable the government to gauge the degree of influence and impact that each dimension of digital services has on digital life happiness while also serving as an important reference for promoting digital service development. The content of the ICT Enabled Better Life Index. Information and communications technology (ICT) has been affecting people’s living styles, and further impact people’s quality of life (QoL). Even studies have shown that ICT access and usage have both positive and negative impact on life satisfaction and well-beings, many governments continue to invest in e-government programs to initiate their path to information society. This research is the few attempts to link the e-government benchmark to the subjective well-being perception, and further address the gap between user’s perception and existing hard data assessment, then propose a model to trace measurement results back to the original public policy in order for policy makers to justify their future proposals.

Keywords: information and communications technology, quality of life, satisfaction, well-being

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Authors: Qi Wu, Dian-Yong Chen, Feng-Kun Guo, Gang Li

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In the past decade, a growing number of new hadron states have been observed, which are dubbed as XYZ states in the heavy quarkonium mass regions. In this work, we present our study on the production of some new hadron states. In particular, we investigate the processes Υ(5S,6S)→ Zb (10610)/Zb (10650)π, Bc→ Zc (3900)/Zc (4020)π and Λb→ Pc (4312)/Pc (4440)/Pc (4457)K. (1) For the production of Zb (10610)/Zb (10650) from Υ(5S,6S) decay, two types of bottom-meson loops were discussed within a nonrelativistic effective field theory. We found that the loop contributions with all intermediate states being the S-wave ground state bottom mesons are negligible, while the loops with one bottom meson being the broad B₀* or B₁' resonance could provide the dominant contributions to the Υ(5S)→ Zb⁽'⁾ π. (2) For the production of Zc (3900)/Zc (4020) from Bc decay, the branching ratios of Bc⁺→ Z (3900)⁺ π⁰ and Bc⁺→ Zc (4020)⁺ π⁰ are estimated to be of order of 10⁽⁻⁴⁾ and 10⁽⁻⁷⁾ in an effective Lagrangian approach. The large production rate of Zc (3900) could provide an important source of the production of Zc (3900) from the semi-exclusive decay of b-flavored hadrons reported by D0 Collaboration, which can be tested by the exclusive measurements in LHCb. (3) For the production of Pc (4312), Pc (4440) and Pc (4457) from Λb decay, the ratio of the branching fraction of Λb→ Pc K was predicted in a molecular scenario by using an effective Lagrangian approach, which is weakly dependent on our model parameter. We also find the ratios of the productions of the branching fractions of Λb→ Pc K and Pc→ J/ψ p can be well interpreted in the molecular scenario. Moreover, the estimated branching fractions of Λb→ Pc K are of order 10⁽⁻⁶⁾, which could be tested by further measurements in LHCb Collaboration.

Keywords: effective Lagrangian approach, hadron loops, molecular states, new hadron states

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Authors: A. K. Singh, Chhotu Ram

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The present work relates to the corrosivity of distillery effluent and corrosion performance of mild steel and stainless steels SS304L, SS316L, and 2205. The report presents the results and conclusions drawn on the basis of (i) electrochemical polarization tests performed in distillery effluent and laboratory prepared solutions having composition similar to that of the effluent (ii) the surface examination by scanning electron microscope (SEM) of the corroded steel samples. It is observed that pH and presence of chloride, phosphate, calcium, nitrite and nitrate in distillery effluent enhance corrosion, whereas presence of sulphate and potassium inhibits corrosion. Among the materials tested, mild steel is observed to experience maximum corrosion followed by stainless steels SS304L, SS316L, and 2205.

Keywords: corrosion, distillery effluent, electrochemical polarization, steel

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Authors: Tusar Kanti Dash, Ganapati Panda

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The evaluation of speech quality and intelligence is critical to the overall effectiveness of the Speech Enhancement Algorithms. Several intrusive and non-intrusive measures are employed to calculate these parameters. Non-Intrusive Evaluation is most challenging as, very often, the reference clean speech data is not available. In this paper, a novel non-intrusive speech evaluation measure is proposed using audio features derived from the Stockwell transform. These features are used with the Light Gradient Boosting Machine for the effective prediction of speech quality and intelligibility. The proposed model is analyzed using noisy and reverberant speech from four databases, and the results are compared with the standard Intrusive Evaluation Measures. It is observed from the comparative analysis that the proposed model is performing better than the standard Non-Intrusive models.

Keywords: non-Intrusive speech evaluation, S-transform, light GBM, speech quality, and intelligibility

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Authors: Doriane Delafosse, Dominique Fontvieille

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Background: Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) generally display significant efficacy in virus retention yet, are sometimes highly variable, partly in relation to large fluctuating loads at the head of the plant and partly because of episodic dysfunctions in some treatment processes. The problem is especially sensitive when human enteric viruses, such as human Noroviruses Genogroup I or Adenoviruses, are in concern: their release downstream WWTP, in environments often interconnected to recreational areas, may be very harmful to human communities even at low concentrations. It points out the importance of WWTP permanent monitoring from which their internal treatment processes could be adjusted. One way to adjust primary treatments is to add coagulants and flocculants to sewage ahead settling tanks to improve decantation. In this work, sludge produced by three coagulants (two organics, one mineral), four flocculants (three cationic, one anionic), and their combinations were studied for their efficacy in human enteric virus retention. Sewage samples were coming from a WWTP in the vicinity of the laboratory. All experiments were performed three times and in triplicates in laboratory pilots, using Murine Norovirus (MNV-1), a surrogate of human Norovirus, as an internal control (spiking). Viruses were quantified by (RT-)qPCR after nucleic acid extraction from both treated water and sediment. Results: Low values of sludge virus retention (from 4 to 8% of the initial sewage concentration) were observed with each cationic organic flocculant added to wastewater and no coagulant. The largest part of the virus load was detected in the treated water (48 to 90%). However, it was not counterbalancing the amount of the introduced virus (MNV-1). The results pertained to two types of cationic flocculants, branched and linear, and in the last case, to two percentages of cations. Results were quite similar to the association of a linear cationic organic coagulant and an anionic flocculant, though suggesting that differences between water and sludges would sometimes be related to virus size or virus origins (autochthonous/allochthonous). FeCl₃, as a mineral coagulant associated with an anionic flocculant, significantly increased both auto- and allochthonous virus retention in the sediments (15 to 34%). Accordingly, virus load in treated water was lower (14 to 48%) but with a total that still does not reach the amount of the introduced virus (MNV-1). It also appeared that the virus retrieval in a bare 0.1M NaCl suspension varied rather strongly according to the FeCl₃ concentration, suggesting an inhibiting effect on the molecular analysis used to detect the virus. Finally, no viruses were detected in both phases (sediment and water) with the combination branched cationic coagulant-linear anionic flocculant, which was later demonstrated as an effect, here also, of polymers on the virus detection-molecular analysis. Conclusions: The combination of FeCl₃-anionic flocculant gave its highest performance to the decantation-based virus removal process. However, large unbalanced values in spiking experiments were observed, suggesting that polymers cast additional obstacles to both elution buffer and lysis buffer on their way to reach the virus. The situation was probably even worse with autochthonous viruses already embedded into sewage's particulate matter. Polymers and FeCl₃ also appeared to interfere in some steps of molecular analyses. More attention should be paid to such impediments wherever chemical additives are considered to be used to enhance WWTP processes. Acknowledgments: This research was supported by the ABIOLAB laboratory (Montbonnot Saint-Martin, France) and by the ASPOSAN association. Field experiments were possible thanks to the Grand Chambéry WWTP authorities (Chambéry, France).

Keywords: flocculants-coagulants, polymers, enteric viruses, wastewater sedimentation treatment plant

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Authors: Jerzy F. Janik, Mariusz Drygas, Miroslaw M. Bucko

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A simple precursor system has been recently developed in our laboratory for the conversion of affordable microcrystalline gallium antimonide GaSb to a range of nanocrystalline powders of gallium nitride GaN – a wide bandgap semiconductor indispensable in modern optoelectronics. The process relies on high temperature nitridation reactions of GaSb with ammonia. Topochemical relationships set up by the cubic lattice of GaSb result in some metastable cubic GaN formed in addition to the stable hexagonal GaN. A prior application of high energy ball milling to the initially microcrystalline GaSb precursor is shown to alter the nitridation output.

Keywords: nanocrystalline, gallium nitride, GaN, gallium antimonide, GaSb, nitridation, ball milling

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Authors: Heru Syah Putra, Aji Tri Pamungkas Nurcahyo, Chuang-Jan Chang

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MOIL-SDK method refers to the spatial angle that forms a view with a different perspective from the Fisheye image. Visual Odometry forms a trusted application for extending projects by tracking using image sequences. A real-time, precise, and persistent approach that is able to contribute to the work when taking datasets and generate ground truth as a reference for the estimates of each image using the FAST Algorithm method in finding Keypoints that are evaluated during the tracking process with the 5-point Algorithm with RANSAC, as well as produce accurate estimates the camera trajectory for each rotational, translational movement on the X, Y, and Z axes.

Keywords: MOIL-SDK, intel realsense T265, Fisheye image, monocular visual odometry

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Authors: Nuruol S. Mohd, Safia Ahmed, Rumana Riffat, Baoqiang Li

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Anaerobic digestion at mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures have been widely studied and evaluated by numerous researchers. Limited extensive research has been conducted on anaerobic digestion in the intermediate zone of 45°C, mainly due to the notion that limited microbial activity occurs within this zone. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the performance and the capability of anaerobic digestion at 45°C in producing class A biosolids, in comparison to a mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion system operated at 35°C and 55°C, respectively. In addition to that, the investigation on the possible inhibition factors affecting the performance of the digestion system at this temperature will be conducted as well. The 45°C anaerobic digestion systems were not able to achieve comparable methane yield and high-quality effluent compared to the mesophilic system, even though the systems produced biogas with about 62-67% methane. The 45°C digesters suffered from high acetate accumulation, but sufficient buffering capacity was observed as the pH, alkalinity and volatile fatty acids (VFA)-to-alkalinity ratio were within recommended values. The accumulation of acetate observed in 45°C systems were presumably due to the high temperature which contributed to high hydrolysis rate. Consequently, it produced a large amount of toxic salts that combined with the substrate making them not readily available to be consumed by methanogens. Acetate accumulation, even though contributed to 52 to 71% reduction in acetate degradation process, could not be considered as completely inhibitory. Additionally, at 45°C, no ammonia inhibition was observed and the digesters were able to achieve volatile solids (VS) reduction of 47.94±4.17%. The pathogen counts were less than 1,000 MPN/g total solids, thus, producing Class A biosolids.

Keywords: 45°C anaerobic digestion, acetate accumulation, class A biosolids, salt toxicity

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Authors: Vincent Schlageter, Maroua Mestiri, Florian Denzinger, Hugo Raetzo, Michel Demierre

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Precise landslide monitoring with differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is well known, but technical or economic reasons limit its application by geotechnical companies. This study demonstrates the reliability and the usefulness of Geomon (Infrasurvey Sàrl, Switzerland), a stand-alone and cost-effective rover network. The system permits deploying up to 15 rovers, plus one reference station for differential GNSS. A dedicated radio communication links all the modules to a base station, where an embedded computer automatically provides all the relative positions (L1 phase, open-source RTKLib software) and populates an Internet server. Each measure also contains information from an internal inclinometer, battery level, and position quality indices. Contrary to standard GNSS survey systems, which suffer from a limited number of beacons that must be placed in areas with good GSM signal, Geomon offers greater flexibility and permits a real overview of the whole landslide with good spatial resolution. Each module is powered with solar panels, ensuring autonomous long-term recordings. In this study, we have tested the system on several sites in the Swiss mountains, setting up to 7 rovers per site, for an 18 month-long survey. The aim was to assess the robustness and the accuracy of the system in different environmental conditions. In one case, we ran forced blind tests (vertical movements of a given amplitude) and compared various session parameters (duration from 10 to 90 minutes). Then the other cases were a survey of real landslides sites using fixed optimized parameters. Sub centimetric-accuracy with few outliers was obtained using the best parameters (session duration of 60 minutes, baseline 1 km or less), with the noise level on the horizontal component half that of the vertical one. The performance (percent of aborting solutions, outliers) was reduced with sessions shorter than 30 minutes. The environment also had a strong influence on the percent of aborting solutions (ambiguity search problem), due to multiple reflections or satellites obstructed by trees and mountains. The length of the baseline (distance reference-rover, single baseline processing) reduced the accuracy above 1 km but had no significant effect below this limit. In critical weather conditions, the system’s robustness was limited: snow, avalanche, and frost-covered some rovers, including the antenna and vertically oriented solar panels, leading to data interruption; and strong wind damaged a reference station. The possibility of changing the sessions’ parameters remotely was very useful. In conclusion, the rover network tested provided the foreseen sub-centimetric-accuracy while providing a dense spatial resolution landslide survey. The ease of implementation and the fully automatic long-term survey were timesaving. Performance strongly depends on surrounding conditions, but short pre-measures should allow moving a rover to a better final placement. The system offers a promising hazard mitigation technique. Improvements could include data post-processing for alerts and automatic modification of the duration and numbers of sessions based on battery level and rover displacement velocity.

Keywords: GNSS, GSM, landslide, long-term, network, solar, spatial resolution, sub-centimeter.

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Authors: R. Dariani, S. Schmidt, R. Kasper

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Based on a non-linear single track model which describes the dynamics of vehicle, an optimal path planning strategy is developed. Real time optimization is used to generate reference control values to allow leading the vehicle alongside a calculated lane which is optimal for different objectives such as energy consumption, run time, safety or comfort characteristics. Strict mathematic formulation of the autonomous driving allows taking decision on undefined situation such as lane change or obstacle avoidance. Based on position of the vehicle, lane situation and obstacle position, the optimization problem is reformulated in real-time to avoid the obstacle and any car crash.

Keywords: autonomous driving, obstacle avoidance, optimal control, path planning

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Authors: Kunal Tongaria, Abhishek Mangal, S. Mandal, Devendra Mohan

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The carbonation of concrete is a phenomenon which is a function of various interdependent parameters. Therefore, in spite of numerous literature and database, the useful generalization is not an easy task. These interdependent parameters can be grouped under the category of internal and external factors. This paper focuses on the internal parameters which govern and increase the probability of the ingress of deleterious substances into concrete. The mechanism of effects of internal parameters such as microstructure for with and without supplementary cementing materials (SCM), water/binder ratio, the age of concrete etc. has been discussed. This is followed by the comparison of various proposed mathematical models for the deterioration of concrete. Based on existing laboratory experiments as well as field results, this paper concludes the present understanding of mechanism, modeling and future research needs in this field.

Keywords: carbonation, diffusion coefficient, microstructure of concrete, reinforced concrete

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Authors: Yelena Mazour-Matusevich, Jean-Robert Ancheta

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This study is based on more than fifteen years of experience of teaching a foreign language, in my case French, to the English-speaking students. It represents a qualitative research on foreign language learners’ reaction and their gains in terms of vocabulary and listening comprehension through repeatedly viewing foreign feature films with the original sountrack but without English subtitles. The initial idea emerged upon realization that the first challenge faced by my students when they find themselves in a francophone environment has been their lack of listening comprehension. Their inability to understand colloquial speech affects not only their academic performance, but their psychological health as well. To remedy this problem, I have designed and applied for many years my own teaching method based on one particular French film, exceptionally suited, for the reasons described in detail in the paper, for the intermediate-advanced level foreign language learners. This project, conducted together with my undergraduate assistant and mentoree J-R Ancheta, aims at showing how the paralinguistic features, such as characters’ facial expressions, settings, music, historical background, images provided before the actual viewing, etc., offer crucial support and enhance students’ listening comprehension. The study, based on students’ interviews, also offers special pedagogical techniques, such as ‘anticipatory’ vocabulary lists and exercises, drills, quizzes and composition topics that have proven to boost students’ performance. For this study, only the listening proficiency and vocabulary gains of the interviewed participants were assessed.

Keywords: comprehension, film, listening, subtitles, vocabulary

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Authors: Dhruv J. Limaye, Hanga Galfalvy, Cheick A. Sissoko, Yung-yu Huang, Chunanning Tang, Ying Liu, Shu-Chi Hsiung, Andrew J. Dwork, Gorazd B. Rosoklija, Victoria Arango, Lewis Brown, J. John Mann, Maura Boldrini

Abstract:

Memory and emotion require hippocampal cell viability and connectivity and are disrupted in major depressive disorder (MDD). Applying shotgun proteomics and stereological quantification of neural progenitor cells (NPCs), intermediate neural progenitors (INPs), and mature granule neurons (GNs), to postmortem human hippocampus, identified differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), and fewer NPCs, INPs and GNs, in untreated MDD (uMDD) compared with non-psychiatric controls (CTRL) and antidepressant-treated MDD (MDDT). DEPs lower in uMDD vs. CTRL promote mitosis, differentiation, and prevent apoptosis. DEPs higher in uMDD vs. CTRL inhibit the cell cycle, and regulate cell adhesion, neurite outgrowth, and DNA repair. DEPs lower in MDDT vs. uMDD block cell proliferation. We observe group-specific correlations between numbers of NPCs, INPs, and GNs and an abundance of proteins regulating mitosis, differentiation, and apoptosis. Altered protein expression underlies hippocampus cellular and volume loss in uMDD, supports a trophic effect of antidepressants, and offers new treatment targets.

Keywords: proteomics, hippocampus, depression, mitosis, migration, differentiation, mitochondria, apoptosis, antidepressants, human brain

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Authors: Asmamaw Yehun

Abstract:

The name “TANA” is one of International Geodetic Service (IGS) Global Positioning System (GPS) station which is found in Bahir Dar University in Institute of Land Administration. The station name taken from one of big Lakes in Africa ,Lake Tana. The Institute of Land Administration (ILA) is part of Bahir Dar University, located in the capital of the Amhara National Regional State, Bahir Dar. The institute is the first of its kind in East Africa. The station is installed by cooperation of ILA and Sweden International Development Agency (SIDA) fund support. The Continues Operating Reference Station (CORS) is a network of stations that provide global satellite system navigation data to help three dimensional positioning, meteorology, space, weather, and geophysical applications throughout the globe. TANA station was as CORS since 2013 and sites are independently owned and operated by governments, research and education facilities and others. The data collected by the reference station is downloadable through Internet for post processing purpose by interested parties who carry out GNSS measurements and want to achieve a higher accuracy. We made a first observation on TANA, monitor stations on May 29th 2013. We used Leica 1200 receivers and AX1202GG antennas and made observations from 11:30 until 15:20 for about 3h 50minutes. Processing of data was done in an automatic post processing service CSRS-PPP by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) . Post processing was done June 27th 2013 so precise ephemeris was used 30 days after observation. We found Latitude (ITRF08): 11 34 08.6573 (dms) / 0.008 (m), Longitude (ITRF08): 37 19 44.7811 (dms) / 0.018 (m) and Ellipsoidal Height (ITRF08): 1850.958 (m) / 0.037 (m). We were compared this result with GAMIT/GLOBK processed data and it was very closed and accurate. TANA station is one of the second IGS station for Ethiopia since 2015 up to now. It provides data for any civilian users, researchers, governmental and nongovernmental users. TANA station is installed with very advanced choke ring antenna and GR25 Leica receiver and also the site is very good for satellite accessibility. In order to test hydrostatic and wet zenith delay for positional data quality, we used GAMIT/GLOBK and we found that TANA station is the most accurate IGS station in East Africa. Due to lower tropospheric zenith and ionospheric delay, TANA and ADIS IGS stations has 2 and 1.9 meters 3D positional accuracy respectively.

Keywords: atmosphere, GNSS, neutral atmosphere, precipitable water vapour

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Authors: D. Mohammadzadeh S., J. Bolouri Bazaz

Abstract:

This paper presents a new prediction model for compression index of fine-grained soils using multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) technique. The proposed model relates the soil compression index to its liquid limit, plastic limit and void ratio. Several laboratory test results for fine-grained were used to develop the models. Various criteria were considered to check the validity of the model. The parametric and sensitivity analyses were performed and discussed. The MGGP method was found to be very effective for predicting the soil compression index. A comparative study was further performed to prove the superiority of the MGGP model to the existing soft computing and traditional empirical equations.

Keywords: new prediction model, compression index soil, multi-gene genetic programming, MGGP

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Authors: Marcus Walter, Norbert Nitzsche, Dirk Odenthal, Steffen Müller

Abstract:

This contribution presents a friction estimator for industrial purposes which identifies Coulomb friction in a steering system. The estimator only needs a few, usually known, steering system parameters. Friction occurs on almost every mechanical system and has a negative influence on high-precision position control. This is demonstrated on a steering angle controller for highly automated driving. In this steering system the friction induces limit cycles which cause oscillating vehicle movement when the vehicle follows a given reference trajectory. When compensating the friction with the introduced estimator, limit cycles can be suppressed. This is demonstrated by measurements in a series vehicle.

Keywords: friction estimation, friction compensation, steering system, lateral vehicle guidance

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Authors: Sharda Nara, Bansi Dhar Malhotra

Abstract:

Investigation of the vitamins as an electron transfer mediator could significantly assist in merging the area of tissue engineering and electronics required for the implantable therapeutic devices. The present study report that the molecules of folic acid released by Providencia rettgeri via fermentation route under the anoxic condition of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) exhibit characteristic electrochemical and optical properties, as indicated by absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), and cyclic voltammetry studies. The absorption spectroscopy has depicted an absorption peak at 263 nm with a small bulge around 293 nm on day two of bacterial culture, whereas an additional peak was observed at 365 nm on the twentieth day. Furthermore, the PL spectra has indicated that the maximum emission occurred at various wavelengths 420, 425, 440, and 445 nm when excited by 310, 325, 350, and 365 nm. The change of emission spectra with varying excitation wavelength might be indicating the presence of tunable optical bands in the folic acid molecules co-related with the redox activity of the molecules. The results of cyclic voltammetry studies revealed that the oxidation and reduction occurred at 0.25V and 0.12V, respectively, indicating the electrochemical behavior of the folic acid. This could be inferred that the released folic acid molecules in a MFC might undergo inter as well as intra molecular electron transfer forming different intermediate states while transferring electrons to the electrode surface. Synchronization of electrochemical and optical properties of folic acid molecules could be potentially promising for the designing of electroactive scaffold and biocompatible conductive surface for the applications of tissue engineering and biofuel cells, respectively.

Keywords: biofuel cell, electroactivity, folic acid, tissue engineering

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