Search results for: real-effort experiment

Authors: Abdul Rohim Tualeka, Erick Caravan K. Betekeneng, Ramdhoni Zuhro, Reko Triyono, M. Sahri

Abstract:

It has been widely reported incidence caused by acute and chronic effects of exposure to ammonia in the working environment in Indonesia, but ammonia concentration was found to be below the threshold value. The purpose of this study was to determine the safety limit concentration of ammonia in the working environment through the expression of CD8 as a reference for determining the threshold value of ammonia in the working environment. This research was a laboratory experimental with post test only control group design using experimental animals as subjects experiment. From homogeneity test results indicated that the weight of white rats exposed and control groups had a homogeneous variant with a significant level of p (0.701) > α (0.05). Description of the average breathing rate is 0.0013 m³/h. Average weight rats based group listed exposure is 0.1405 kg. From the calculation IRS CD8, CD8 highest score in the doses contained 0.0154, with the location of the highest dose of ammonia without any effect on the lungs of rats is 0.0154 mg/kg body weight of mice. Safe Human Dose (SHD) ammonia is 0.002 mg/kg body weight workers. The conclusion of this study is the safety limit concentration of ammonia gas in the working environment of 0,025 ppm.

Keywords: ammonia, CD8, rats, safe limits concentration

Procedia PDF Downloads 197

Authors: Maria Laura Alzua, Maria Adelaida Lopera

Abstract:

This paper measures the relative importance of conditional cooperation and unconditional cooperation in a large public goods experiment conducted in Mali. We use expectations about total public goods provision to estimate a structural choice model with heterogeneous preferences. While unconditional cooperation can be captured by common preferences shared by all participants, conditional cooperation is much more heterogeneous and depends on unobserved individual factors. This structural model, in combination with two experimental treatments, suggests that leadership and group communication incentivize public goods provision through different channels. First, We find that participation of local leaders effectively changes individual choices through unconditional cooperation. A simulation exercise predicts that even in the most pessimistic scenario in which all participants expect zero public good provision, 60% would still choose to cooperate. Second, allowing participants to communicate fosters conditional cooperation. The simulations suggest that expectations are responsible for around 24% of the observed public good provision and that group communication does not necessarily ameliorate public good provision. In fact, communication may even worsen the outcome when expectations are low.

Keywords: conditional cooperation, discrete choice model, expectations, public goods game, random coefficients model

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Wen Ma, Yong Peng, Zhixiang Li

Abstract:

Security journey is a vital focus on the field of Rail Transportation. Accidents caused by the damage of the high-speed train windshield have occurred many times and have given rise to terrible consequences. Train windshield consists of tempered glass and polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film. In this work, the quasi-static tests and the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests were carried out first to obtain the mechanical properties and constitutive model for the tempered glass and PVB film. These tests results revealed that stress and Young’s modulus of tempered glass were wake-sensitive to strain rate, but stress and Young’s modulus of PVB film were strong-sensitive to strain rate. Then impact experiment of the windshield was carried out to investigate dynamic response and failure characteristics of train windshield. In addition, a finite element model based on the combined finite element method was proposed to investigate fracture and fragmentation responses of train windshield under different-velocity impact. The results can be used for further design and optimization of the windshield for high-speed train application.

Keywords: constitutive model, impact response, mechanism properties, PVB film, tempered glass

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Hadi Ardiny, Amir Mohammad Beigzadeh

Abstract:

Through the utilization of a combination of various sensors and data fusion methods, the detection of potential nuclear threats can be significantly enhanced by extracting more information from different data. In this research, an experimental and modeling approach was employed to track a radioactive source by combining a surveillance camera and a radiation detector (NaI). To run this experiment, three mobile robots were utilized, with one of them equipped with a radioactive source. An algorithm was developed in identifying the contaminated robot through correlation between camera images and camera data. The computer vision method extracts the movements of all robots in the XY plane coordinate system, and the detector system records the gamma-ray count. The position of the robots and the corresponding count of the moving source were modeled using the MCNPX simulation code while considering the experimental geometry. The results demonstrated a high level of accuracy in finding and locating the target in both the simulation model and experimental measurement. The modeling techniques prove to be valuable in designing different scenarios and intelligent systems before initiating any experiments.

Keywords: nuclear threats, radiation detector, MCNPX simulation, modeling techniques, intelligent systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Kewei Xu, Jens Friedrich, Kevin Dwinger, Wei Fan, Xijin Zhang

Abstract:

Parallel Compressor Model (PCM) is a simplified approach to predict compressor performance with inlet distortions. In PCM calculation, it is assumed that the sub-compressors’ outlet static pressure is uniform and therefore simplifies PCM calculation procedure. However, if the compressor’s outlet duct is not long and straight, such assumption frequently induces error ranging from 10% to 15%. This paper provides a revised calculation method of PCM that can correct the error. The revised method employs energy equation, momentum equation and continuity equation to acquire needed parameters and replace the equal static pressure assumption. Based on the revised method, PCM is applied on two compression system with different blades types. The predictions of their performance in non-uniform inlet conditions are yielded through the revised calculation method and are employed to evaluate the method’s efficiency. Validating the results by experimental data, it is found that although little deviation occurs, calculated result agrees well with experiment data whose error ranges from 0.1% to 3%. Therefore, this proves the revised calculation method of PCM possesses great advantages in predicting the performance of the distorted compressor with limited exhaust duct.

Keywords: parallel compressor model (pcm), revised calculation method, inlet distortion, outlet unequal pressure distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 314

Authors: Han-Jeong Hwang, Jae-Hyun Jo, Fatemeh Alimardani

Abstract:

An accurate diagnosis of psychiatric diseases is a challenging issue, in particular when distinct symptoms for different diseases are overlapped, such as delusions appeared in bipolar mood disorder (BMD) and schizophrenia (SCH). In the present study, we propose a useful way to discriminate BMD and SCH using electroencephalography (EEG). A total of thirty BMD and SCH patients (15 vs. 15) took part in our experiment. EEG signals were measured with nineteen electrodes attached on the scalp using the international 10-20 system, while they were exposed to a visual stimulus flickering at 16 Hz for 95 s. The flickering visual stimulus induces a certain brain signal, known as steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), which is differently observed in patients with BMD and SCH, respectively, in terms of SSVEP amplitude because they process the same visual information in own unique way. For classifying BDM and SCH patients, machine learning technique was employed in which leave-one-out-cross validation was performed. The SSVEPs induced at the fundamental (16 Hz) and second harmonic (32 Hz) stimulation frequencies were extracted using fast Fourier transformation (FFT), and they were used as features. The most discriminative feature was selected using the Fisher score, and support vector machine (SVM) was used as a classifier. From the analysis, we could obtain a classification accuracy of 83.33 %, showing the feasibility of discriminating patients with BMD and SCH using EEG. We expect that our approach can be utilized for psychiatrists to more accurately diagnose the psychiatric disorders, BMD and SCH.

Keywords: bipolar mood disorder, electroencephalography, schizophrenia, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 398

Authors: Eyasu Gemech, Kassa Michael, Mulugeta Atnafu

Abstract:

A non-equivalent group's quasi-experiment research was conducted at Wolkite University to investigate MATLAB supported learning and students' conceptual understanding in learning Applied Mathematics II using four different comparative instructional approaches: MATLAB supported traditional lecture method, MATLAB supported collaborative method, only collaborative method, and only traditional lecture method. Four intact classes of mechanical engineering groups 1 and 2, garment engineering and textile engineering students were randomly selected out of eight departments. The first three departments were considered as treatment groups and the fourth one 'Textile engineering' was assigned as a comparison group. The departments had 30, 29, 35 and 32 students respectively. The results of the study show that there is a significant mean difference in students' conceptual understanding between groups of students learning through MATLAB supported collaborative method and the other learning approaches. Students who were learned through MATLAB technology-supported learning in combination with collaborative method were found to understand concepts of functions of two variables better than students learning through the other methods of learning. These, hence, are informative of the potential approaches universities would follow for a better students’ understanding of concepts.

Keywords: MATLAB supported collaborative method, MATLAB supported learning, collaborative method, conceptual understanding, functions of two variables

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: A. Aly Salwa, H. Diekmann, S. Hafiz Ragaa, DG Abo Elhassan

Abstract:

This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of Milbond (HSCAS) on aflatoxin M1 in artificially contaminated cows milk. Chemisorption compounds used in this experiment were MIlBond, hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (HSCAS). Raw cow milk were artificially exposed to aflatoxin M1 in a concentration of 100 ppb) with addition of Nilbond at 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 % at room temperature for 30 minutes. Aflatoxin M1 was decreased more than 95% by HSCAS at 2%. Milk composition consist of protein, fat, lactose, solid non fat and total solid were affected by addition of some adsorbents were not significantly affected (p 0.05). Tthis method did not involve degrading the toxin, milk may be free from toxin degradation products and is safe for consumption. In addition, the added material may be easily separated from milk after the substance adsorbs the toxin. Thus, this method should be developed by further researches for determining effects of these compounds on functional properties of milk. The ability of hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate to prevent or reduce the level of aflatoxin MI residues in milk is critically needed. This finding has important implications, because milk is ultimately consumed by humans and animals, and the reduction of aflatoxin contamination in the milk could have an important impact on their health.

Keywords: aflatoxin M1, Hydrated sodium calcium aluminium silicate, detoxification, raw cow milk

Procedia PDF Downloads 413

Authors: Un-Hwan Park, Jun-Hyeok Heo, In-Sung Lee, Seong-Jin Cho, Tae-Hyeon Oh, Dae-Kyu Park

Abstract:

Sound absorption coefficient is considered important when designing because noise affects emotion quality of car. It is designed with lots of experiment tunings in the field because it is unreliable to predict it for multi-layer material. In this paper, we present the design of sound absorption for automotive interior material with multiple layers using estimation software of sound absorption coefficient for reverberation chamber. Additionally, we introduce the method for estimation of physical properties required to predict sound absorption coefficient of car interior materials with multiple layers too. It is calculated by inverse algorithm. It is very economical to get information about physical properties without expensive equipment. Correlation test is carried out to ensure reliability for accuracy. The data to be used for the correlation is sound absorption coefficient measured in the reverberation chamber. In this way, it is considered economical and efficient to design automotive interior materials. And design optimization for sound absorption coefficient is also easy to implement when it is designed.

Keywords: sound absorption coefficient, optimization design, inverse algorithm, automotive interior material, multiple layers nonwoven, scaled reverberation chamber, sound impedance tubes

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: Joseph Bamidele Minari

Abstract:

The anti-jaundice properties of the methanolic extract of Carica papaya leaves on albino rat was evaluated. In order to achieve this, the phytochemical screening of the extract was carried out, and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) (i.p) was injected into albino rats to induce jaundice. The rats were simultaneously given oral doses of 20 mg/kg, 40 mg/kg, 60 mg/kg, 80 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg (p.o) of methanolic extract of C. papaya. The effects of these extract on total bilirubin concentration, liver ALT AST, GGT activities of the jaundice-induced rats were studied after seven days period of the experiment. Administration of CCl4 alone to the rats significantly increased (p<0.05) total bilirubin concentration while the activities of ALT, AST, and GGT in the liver when compared to controls which received distilled water (p.o) was significantly lower (p<0.05). Simultaneous treatment of CCl4 injection, and oral administration of different doses of the C. papaya extract significantly reduced (p<0.05) total bilirubin concentration in the serum while the liver ALT AST, GGT activities significantly increased (p < 0.05). However, the lowest significant reduction (p<0.05) of bilirubin concentration was observed with simultaneous administration of 60mg/kg of the extract on the rats. This study suggests that the extract of C. papaya leaves possess the phytochemicals that have anti-jaundice properties.

Keywords: carica papaya, jaundice, herbal medicine, liver, rat

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Asim Abbasi, Amer Habib, Sajid Hussain, Muhammad Sufyan, Iqra, Hasnain Sajjad

Abstract:

Except for few scattered cases, powdery mildew disease was not a big problem for watermelon in the past but with the outbreaks of its pathotypes, races 1W and 2W, this disease becomes a serious issue all around the globe. The severe outbreak of this disease also increased the rate of fungicide application for its proper management. Twelve varieties of watermelon were screened in Research Area of Department of Plant pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to check the incidence of powdery mildew disease. Disease inoculum was prepared and applied with the help of foliar spray method. Fungicides and plants extracts were also applied after the disease incidence. Percentage leaf surface area diseased was assessed visually with a modified Horsfall-Barratt scale. The results of the experiment revealed that among all varieties, WT2257 and Zcugma F1 were highly resistant showing less than 5% disease incidence while Anar Kali and Sugar baby were highly susceptible with disease incidence of more than 65%. Among botanicals neem extract gave best results with disease incidence of less than 20%. Besides neem, all other botanicals also gave significant control of powdery mildew disease than the untreated check. In case of fungicides, Gemstar showed least disease incidence i.e. < 10%, however besides control maximum disease incidence was observed in Curzate (> 30%).

Keywords: botanicals, fungicides, pathotypes, powdery mildew

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Jaroslaw Mizera, Pawel Wisniewski, Ryszard Sitek

Abstract:

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is an advanced additive manufacturing technique used for producing parts made of wide range of materials such as: austenitic steel, titanium, nickel etc. In the our experiment we produced a Ti-AlN composite from a mixture of titanium and aluminum nitride respectively 70% at. and 30% at. using SLM technique. In order to define the size of powder particles, laser diffraction tests were performed on HORIBA LA-950 device. The microstructure and chemical composition of the composite was examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The chemical composition in micro areas of the obtained samples was determined by of EDS. The phase composition was analyzed by X-ray phase analysis (XRD). Microhardness Vickers tests were performed using Zwick/Roell microhardness machine under the load of 0.2kG (HV0.2). Hardness measurements were made along the building (xy) and along the plane of the lateral side of the cuboid (xz). The powder used for manufacturing of the samples had a mean particle size of 41μm. It was homogenous with a spherical shape. The specimens were built chiefly from Ti, TiN and AlN. The dendritic microstructure was porous and fine-grained. Some of the aluminum nitride remained unmelted but no porosity was observed in the interface. The formed material was characterized by high hardness exceeding 700 HV0.2 over the entire cross-section.

Keywords: Selective Laser Melting, Composite, SEM, microhardness

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Ali Misaghi, Afshin Akhondzadeh Basti, Ehsan Sadeghi

Abstract:

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen of major concern for clinical infection and food borne illness. Humans and most domesticated animals harbor S. aureus, and so we may expect staphylococci to be present in food products of animal origin or in those handled directly by humans, unless heat processing is applied to destroy them. Cuminum cyminum L. has been allocated the topic of some recent studies in addition to its well-documented traditional usage for treatment of toothache, dyspepsia, diarrhea, epilepsy and jaundice. The air-dried seed of the plant was completely immersed in water and subjected to hydro distillation for 3 h, using a clevenger-type apparatus. In this study, the effect of Cuminum cyminum L. essential oil (EO) on growth of Staphylococcus aureus in white brined cheese was evaluated. The experiment included different levels of EO (0, 7.5, 15 and 30 mL/ 100 mL milk) to assess their effects on S. aureus count during the manufacture, ripening and storage of Iranian white brined cheese for up to 75 days. The significant (P < 0.05) inhibitory effects of EO (even at its lowest concentration) on this organism were observed. The significant (P < 0.05) inhibitory effect of the EO on S. aureus shown in this study may improve the scope of the EO function in the food industry.

Keywords: cuminum cyminum L. essential oil, staphylococcus aureus, white brined cheese

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Chia-Yu Lin, Chun-Ying Lee, Chih-Jer Lin

Abstract:

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), grown in tropical and subtropical regions over the world, has many potential uses in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and flavor, and agriculture industries. In this study, because of its affinity to human body and friendliness to the environment, lemongrass extract was prepared from different processes to evaluate its effectiveness as mosquito repellent. Moreover, the supercritical fluid extraction method has been widely used as an effective and environmental friendly process in the preparation of a variety of compounds. Thus, both the extracts from lemongrass by the conventional hydrodistillation method and the supercritical CO₂ assisted method were compared. The effects of pressure, temperature and time duration on the supercritical CO₂ extraction were also investigated. The compositions of different extracts were examined using mass spectrometer. As for the experiment of mosquito repellence, the extract was placed inside a mosquito trap along with syrup. The mosquito counts in each trap with extracts prepared from different processes were employed in the quantitative evaluation. It was found that the extract from the supercritical CO₂ assisted process contained higher citronellol content than the conventional hydrodistillation method. The extract with higher citronellol content also demonstrated more effective as a mosquito repellent.

Keywords: lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), hydrodistillation, supercritical fluid extraction, mosquito repellent

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Muhammad Raqib Rasul, Tavga Sulaiman Rashid

Abstract:

Fertilization increases efficiency and obtains better quality of product recovery in agricultural activities. However, fertilizer consumption increased exponentially throughout the world, causing severe environmental problems. Biofertilizers can be a practical approach to minimize chemical fertilizer sources and ultimately develop soil fertility. This study was carried out to isolate, identify and characterize bacteria from medicinal plant (Rumex tuberosus L. and Verbascum sp.) rhizosphere for in vivo screening. 25 bacterial isolates were isolated and several biochemical tests were performed. Two isolates that were positive for most biochemical tests were chosen for the field experiment. The isolates were identified as Go1 Alcaligenes faecalis (Accession No. OP001725) and T11 (Bacillus sp.) based on the 16S rRNA sequence analysis that was compared with related bacteria in GenBank database using MEGA 6.1. For the field trial isolate GO1 and T11 (separately and mixed), NPK as a positive control was used. Both isolates increased plant height, chlorophyll content, number of tubers, and tuber’s weight. The results demonstrated that these two isolates of bacteria can potentially replace with chemical fertilizers for potato production.

Keywords: biofertilizer, Bacillus subtilis, Alcaligenes faecalis, potato tubers, in vivo screening

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Md. Imran H. Khan, T. Farrell, M. A. Karim

Abstract:

Highly porous and hygroscopic characteristics of pear make it complex to understand the cellular level water distribution. In pear tissue, water is mainly distributed in three different spaces namely, intercellular water, intracellular water, and cell wall water. Understanding of these three types of water in pear tissue is crucial for predicting actual heat and mass transfer during drying. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the proportion of intercellular water, intracellular water, and cell wall water inside the pear tissue. During this study, Green Anjou Pear was taken for the investigation. The experiment was performed using 1H-NMR- T2 relaxometry. Various types of water component were calculated by using multi-component fits of the T2 relaxation curves. The experimental result showed that in pear tissue 78-82% water exist in intracellular space; 12-16% water in intercellular space and only 2-4% water exist in the cell wall space. The investigated results quantify different types of water in plant-based food tissue. The highest proportion of water exists in intracellular spaces. It was also investigated that the physical properties of pear and the proportion of the different types of water has a strong relationship. Cell wall water depends on the proportion of solid in the sample tissue whereas free water depends on the porosity of the material.

Keywords: intracellular water, intercellular water, cell wall water, physical property, pear

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Haider Karar, Saghir Ahmad, Amjad Ali, Ibrar Ul Haq

Abstract:

The experiment was conducted at Cotton Research Station, Multan to study the impact of weather factors and red cotton bug (RCB) on cotton boll disease yielded yellowish lint during 2012. The population on RCB along with abiotic factors was recorded during three consecutive years i.e. 2012, 2013, and 2014. Along with population of RCB and abiotic factors, the number of unopened/opened cotton bolls (UOB), percent yellowish lint (YL) and whitish lint (WL) were also recorded. The data revealed that the population per plant of RCB remain 0.50 and 0.34 during years 2012, 2013 but increased during 2014 i.e. 3.21 per plant. The number of UOB were more i.e. 13.43% in 2012 with YL 76.30 and WL 23.70% when average maximum temperature 34.73◦C, minimum temperature 22.83◦C, RH 77.43% and 11.08 mm rainfall. Similarly in 2013 the number of UOB were less i.e. 0.34 per plant with YL 1.48 and WL 99.53 per plant when average maximum temperature 34.60◦C, minimum temperature 23.37◦C, RH 73.01% and 9.95 mm rainfall. During 2014 RCB population per plant was 3.22 with no UOB and YL was 0.00% and WL was 100% when average maximum temperature 23.70◦C, minimum temperature 23.18◦C, RH 71.67% and 4.55 mm rainfall. So it is concluded that the cotton bolls disease was more during 2012 due to more rainfall and more percent RH. The RCB may be the carrier of boll rot disease pathogen during more rainfall.

Keywords: red cotton bug, cotton, weather factors, years

Procedia PDF Downloads 327

Authors: Jeong Hwan Joo, Keun Pil Kim

Abstract:

During meiosis, meiotic recombination is initiated by Spo11-mediated DSB formation and exonuclease-mediated DSB resection occurs to expose single stranded DNA formation. RPA is further required to inhibit secondary structure formation of ssDNA that can be formed Watson-Crick pairing. Rad51-Dmc1, RecA homologs in eukaryote and their accessory factors involve in searching homolog templates to mediate strand exchange. In this study, we investigate the recombinational roles of replication protein A (RPA), which is heterotrimeric protein that is composed of RPA1, RPA2, and RPA3. Here, we investigated meiotic recombination using DNA physical analysis at the HIS4LEU2 hot spot. In rfa1-119 (K45E, N316S) cells, crossover (CO) and non-crossover (NCO) products reduced than WT. rfa1-119 delayed in single end invasion-to-double holiday junction (SEI-to-dHJ) transition and exhibits a defect in second-end capture that is also modulated by Rad52. In the further experiment, we observed that in rfa1-119 mutant, RPA could not be released in timely manner. Furthermore, rfa1-119 exhibits failure in the second end capture, implying reduction of COs and NCOs. In this talk, we will discuss more detail how RPA involves in chromatin axis association via formation of axis-bridge and why RPA is required for Rad52-mediated second-end capture progression.

Keywords: homolog interaction, meiotic recombination, replication protein A, RPA1

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Chanya Inprasit, Yi-Wen Lin

Abstract:

Motion sickness (MS) is an acute disorder that occurs in healthy persons without considering gender, age or ethnicity worldwide. All signs and symptoms of MS are the results of confliction and mismatch among neural signal inputs. It is known that no singular remedy works for everybody, and electroacupuncture (EA) is one of the popular alternative therapies used for MS. Our study utilized a mouse model in order to exclude any psychological factors of MS and EA. Mice lack an emetic reflex. Therefore pica behavior, which is a normal consumption of non-nutritive substances, was found to measure the response of MS in mice. In the laboratory, Kaolin was used as a non-nutrient food substance instead of natural substances lacking nutritional value such as wood, cloth, charcoal, soil or grass. It was hypothesized that EA treatment could reduce the symptoms of MS through the TRPV1 pathways. The results of pica behavior showed a significantly increased intake of kaolin in the MS group throughout the experiment period. Moreover, the Kaolin intake of the EA group decreased to the average baseline of the control group. There was no recorded difference in the food and water intake of each group. The results indicated an increase of the TRPV1, pERK, pJNK and pmTOR protein levels in the thalamus after MS stimulation, and a significant decrease in the EA group compared with that of the control group. These findings suggest that TRPV1 pathways are associated in MS mechanisms and can be reduced by EA.

Keywords: electroacupuncture, motion sickness, Thalamus, TRPV1

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Babak Sadeghi, Parisa Ghayomipour

Abstract:

ZnO/Ag nanocomposites coated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were prepared by chemical reduction method, for anti-infection biomaterial application. There is a growing interest in attempts in using biomolecular as the templates to grow inorganic nanocomposites in controlled morphology and structure. By optimizing the experiment conditions, we successfully fabricated high yield of ZnO/Ag nanocomposite with full coverage of high-density polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating. More importantly, ZnO/Ag nanocomposites were shown to significantly inhibit the growth of S. aureus in solution. It was further shown that ZnO/Ag nanocomposites induced thiol depletion that caused death of S. aureus. The coatings were fully characterized using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Most importantly, compared to uncoated metals, the coatings on PVC promoted healthy antibacterial activity. Importantly, compared to ZnO-Ag -uncoated PVC, the ZnO/Ag nanocomposites coated was approximately triplet more effective in preventing bacteria attachment. The result of Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) indicates that, the ZnO/Ag nanocomposites are chemically stable in the temperature range from 50 to 900 ºC. This result, for the first time, demonstrates the potential of using ZnO/Ag nanocomposites as a coating material for numerous anti-bacterial applications.

Keywords: nanocomposites, antibacterial activity, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD)

Procedia PDF Downloads 455

Authors: Musatafa Abbas Abbood Albadr, Masri Ayob, Sabrina Tiun, Fahad Taha Al-Dhief, Mohammad Kamrul Hasan

Abstract:

Breast Cancer (BC) is considered one of the most frequent reasons of cancer death in women between 40 to 55 ages. The BC is diagnosed by using digital images of the FNA (Fine Needle Aspirate) for both benign and malignant tumors of the breast mass. Therefore, this work proposes the Online Sequential Extreme Learning Machine (OSELM) algorithm for diagnosing BC by using the tumor features of the breast mass. The current work has used the Wisconsin Diagnosis Breast Cancer (WDBC) dataset, which contains 569 samples (i.e., 357 samples for benign class and 212 samples for malignant class). Further, numerous measurements of assessment were used in order to evaluate the proposed OSELM algorithm, such as specificity, precision, F-measure, accuracy, G-mean, MCC, and recall. According to the outcomes of the experiment, the highest performance of the proposed OSELM was accomplished with 97.66% accuracy, 98.39% recall, 95.31% precision, 97.25% specificity, 96.83% F-measure, 95.00% MCC, and 96.84% G-Mean. The proposed OSELM algorithm demonstrates promising results in diagnosing BC. Besides, the performance of the proposed OSELM algorithm was superior to all its comparatives with respect to the rate of classification.

Keywords: breast cancer, machine learning, online sequential extreme learning machine, artificial intelligence

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: H. Ahmed, A. Schlenkhoff, R. Rousta, R. Abdelaziz

Abstract:

Vertical slotted walls can be used as permeable breakwaters to provide economical and environmental protection from undesirable waves and currents inside the port. The permeable breakwaters are partially protection and have been suggested to overcome the environmental disadvantages of fully protection breakwaters. For regular waves a semi-analytical model is based on an eigenfunction expansion method and utilizes a boundary condition at the surface of each wall are developed to detect the energy dissipation through the slots. Extensive laboratory tests are carried out to validate the semi-analytic models. The structure of the physical model contains two walls and it consists of impermeable upper and lower part, where the draft is based a decimal multiple of the total depth. The middle part is permeable with a porosity of 50%. The second barrier is located at a distant of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 times of the water depth from the first one. A comparison of the theoretical results with previous studies and experimental measurements of the present study show a good agreement and that, the semi-analytical model is able to adequately reproduce most the important features of the experiment.

Keywords: permeable breakwater, double vertical slotted walls, semi-analytical model, transmission coefficient, reflection coefficient, energy dissipation coefficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: Hamid Hatami

Abstract:

This experiment was included two cultivars i.e. Habbit and L17 (Main factor) with six fertilizer treatments i.e. control, seed inoculated with rhyzobium, base nitrogen + top-dress urea at R2 stage, base nitrogen + seed inoculated with rhyzobium + top-dress nitrogen at R2 stage, seed treated with humax + top-dress humax at R2 stage, base nitrogen + seed treated with humax + top-dress humax at R2 stage (sub factors ), as split-plot on the basis of RCBD with 3 replications at 2014. Treatment fertilizer of base nitrogen + seed treated with humax + top- dress humax at R2 stage and base nitrogen + top-dress urea in R2 stage had a significant superiority than the other fertilizer treatment in biological yield. L17 and Habbit with base nitrogen + seed treated with humax + top-dress humax in R2 stage and yield economical 5600 and 5767 kg/ha respectively, showed the most economical yield and Habbit cultivar with control and economical yield 3085 kg/ha showed the least economical yield among all the treatments. Results showed that fertilizer treatment of base nitrogen + seed treated with humax + top-dress humax in R2 stage and Habbit variety were suitable in this study.

Keywords: soybean, humax, rhyzobium, habbit

Procedia PDF Downloads 434

Authors: Shah Md. Asraful Islam, Shabina Yeasmin, Fatima Aktar Mousumi

Abstract:

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the antagonistic potential of three commercially available Trichoderma strains viz., T. harzianum (armigera), T. harzianum (Ispahani), and T. viride against Colletotrichum musae isolates from three banana varieties viz., sagar, sobri, and katali. Mycelial growth rates of C. musae isolates were observed, the highest mycelial growth (11.62, 15.75, and 23.12 mm diameter) was observed by C. musae from sagor banana at 1, 2 and 3 days after inoculation, respectively. All the Trichoderma strains were capable of growth inhibition of C. musae isolates. After 4 days of duel culture, the highest mycelial growth reduction (10.33 mm diameter) was observed by the interaction between T. harzianum (armigera) with C. musae from sagor banana. Moreover, the highest growth inhibition (46.29%) was observed by the interaction between T. harzianum (armigera) with C. musae from the sobri banana. All the Trichoderma strains fully affected the viability of all the Colletotrichum isolates. Interestingly, both cultural filtrates and mycelial powders of all the Trichoderma strains showed a very nice inhibitory effect against C. musae isolates, where cultural filtrates were more potential than that of mycelial powders. So, all the tested Trichoderma strains may be used for the control of banana anthracnose disease.

Keywords: biological control, banana, anthracnose, Trichoderma, Colletotrichum

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Ismail Seçer, Kerime Meryem Dereli̇oğlu

Abstract:

This study is conducted to determine the effects of group counseling program on secondary school 9th grade students’ assertiveness skills. The study group was formed of 100 students who have received education in Erzurum Kültür Elementary School in 2015-2016 education years. RAE-Rathus Assertiveness Schedule developed by Voltan Acar was applied on this group to gather data. 40 students who got lower grades from the inventory were divided randomly into experimental and control groups. Each group is formed of 20 students. Group counseling program was carried out on the experimental group to improve the students’ assertiveness skills for 8 weeks. Single-way and two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used in the analysis of the data. The data was analyzed by using the SPSS 19.00. The results of the study show that assertiveness skills of the students who participate in the group counseling program increased meaningfully compared to the control group and pre-experiment. Besides, it was determined that the change observed in the experimental group occurred separately from the age and socio-economic level variables, and it was determined with the monitoring test applied after four months that this affect was continued. According to this result, it can be said that the applied group counseling program is an effective means to improve the assertiveness skills of secondary school students.

Keywords: high school, assertiveness, assertiveness inventory, assertiveness education

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: S. Wagner, C. Boley, Y. Forouzandeh

Abstract:

When digging excavations, groundwater bearing layers are often encountered. In order to allow anhydrous excavation, soil groutings are carried out, which form a water-impermeable layer. As it is injected into groundwater areas, the effects of the materials used on the environment must be known. Developing an eco-friendly, economical and low viscous acrylic gel which has a sealing effect on groundwater is therefore a significant task. At this point the study begins. Basic investigations with the rheometer and a reverse column experiment have been performed with different mixing ratios of an acrylic gel. A dynamic rheology study was conducted to determine the time at which the gel still can be processed and the maximum gel strength is reached. To examine the effect of acrylic gel grouting on determine the parameters pH value, turbidity, electric conductivity, and total organic carbon on groundwater, an acrylic gel was injected in saturated sand filled the column. The structure was rinsed with a constant flow and the eluate was subsequently examined. The results show small changes in pH values and turbidity but there is a dependency between electric conductivity and total organic carbon. The curves of the two parameters react at the same time, which means that the electrical conductivity in the eluate can be measured constantly until the maximum is reached and only then must total organic carbon (TOC) samples be taken.

Keywords: acrylic gel grouting, dynamic rheology study, electric conductivity, total organic carbon

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Hady Atef, Zinab Helmy, Heba Abdeen, Mostafa Fadel

Abstract:

Background and purpose: After the success of the first trials of this experiment which were done on rabbits, a new study were conducted on dogs to ensure the past results; in a step forward to use low-level LASER therapy in the treatment of congenital septal defects in infants. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of low-level LASER irradiation on congenital septal defects in dogs. Subjects and Methodology: six male dogs who have congenital septal defects in their hearts -with age ranged 6-10 months- enrolled in this study for one and half months. They were assigned into two groups: Group (A): The study group consisted of 3 canine hearts who received routine animal care associated with LASER irradiation. Group (B): The control group consisted of 3 canine hearts who received only routine animal care. Sizes of the septal defects were measured for both groups at the beginning and after the end of the study. Results: There was a significant decrease in the size of the diameter of the congenital septal defect with the study group (percentage of improvement was 42.19%) when compared with control group. Conclusion: It was concluded that low-level LASER therapy can be considered as a promising therapy for congenital heart defects in animals and to be examined on children with similar congenital lesions after then.

Keywords: laser, congenital septal defects, dogs, infants

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Asadullah I. Qazi, Mansoor Ahsan, Zahir Ashraf, Uzair Ahmad

Abstract:

System identification of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), to acquire its mathematical model, is a significant step in the process of aircraft flight automation. The need for reliable mathematical model is an established requirement for autopilot design, flight simulator development, aircraft performance appraisal, analysis of aircraft modifications, preflight testing of prototype aircraft and investigation of fatigue life and stress distribution etc.  This research is aimed at system identification of a fixed wing UAV by means of specifically designed flight experiment. The purposely designed flight maneuvers were performed on the UAV and aircraft states were recorded during these flights. Acquired data were preprocessed for noise filtering and bias removal followed by parameter estimation of longitudinal dynamics transfer functions using MATLAB system identification toolbox. Black box identification based transfer function models, in response to elevator and throttle inputs, were estimated using least square error   technique. The identification results show a high confidence level and goodness of fit between the estimated model and actual aircraft response.

Keywords: fixed wing UAV, system identification, black box modeling, longitudinal dynamics, least square error

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Seyyed Mohammad Hasheminia, Heoung Jae Chun, Jong Chan Park, Hong Suk Chang

Abstract:

Composite joints have been getting attention recently due to their high specific mechanical strength to weight ratio that is crucial for structures such as aircrafts and automobiles. In this study on hybrid joints, quasi-static experiments and finite element analysis were performed to investigate the failure mechanism of hybrid composite joint with respect to the joint properties such as the adhesive material, clamping force, and joint geometry. The outcomes demonstrated that the stiffness of the adhesive is the most imperative design parameter. In this investigation, two adhesives with various stiffness values were utilized. Regarding the joints utilizing the adhesive with the lower stiffness modulus, it was observed that the load was exchanged promptly through the adhesive since it was shared more proficiently between the bolt and adhesive. This phenomenon permitted the hybrid joints with low-modulus adhesive to support more prominent loads before failure when contrasted with the joints that utilize the stiffer adhesive. In the next step, the stress share between the bond and bolt as a function of various design parameters was studied using a finite element model in which it was understood that the geometrical parameters such as joint overlap and width have a significant influence on the load sharing between the bolt and the adhesive.

Keywords: composite joints, composite materials, hybrid joints, single-lap joint

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Khwaja Naweed Seddiqi, Zabihullah Mahdi, Shigeo Honma

Abstract:

Recently increasing oil production from petroleum reservoirs is one of the most important issues in the global energy sector. So, in this paper, the recovery of oil by the waterflooding technique from petroleum reservoir are considered. To investigate the aforementioned phenomena, the relative permeability of two immiscible fluids in sand is measured in the laboratory based on the steady-state method. Two sorts of oils, kerosene and heavy oil, and water are pumped simultaneously into a vertical sand column with different pumping ratio. From the change in fractional discharge measured at the outlet, a method for determining the relative permeability is developed focusing on the displacement mechanism in sand. Then, displacement mechanism of two immiscible fluids in the sand is investigated under the Buckley-Leveret frontal displacement theory and laboratory experiment. Two sorts of experiments, one is the displacement of pore water by oil, the other is the displacement of pore oil by water, are carried out. It is revealed that the relative permeability curves display tolerably different shape owing to the properties of oils, and produce different amount of residual oils and irreducible water saturation.

Keywords: petroleum reservoir engineering, relative permeability, two-phase flow, immiscible displacement in porous media, steady-state method, waterflooding

Procedia PDF Downloads 229