Search results for: total floating time (TFT)

Authors: Lyndsey Kim

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We utilized country-level data on suicide rates from 1985 through 2015 provided by the WHO to explore global trends as well as country-specific trends. First, we find that up until 1995, there was an increase in suicide rates globally, followed by a steep decline in deaths. This observation is largely driven by the data from Europe, where suicides are prominent but steadily declining. Second, men are more likely to commit suicide than women across the world over the years. Third, the older generation is more likely to commit suicide than youth and adults. Finally, we turn to Durkheim’s theory and use it as a lens to understand trends in suicide across time and countries and attempt to identify social and economic events that might explain patterns that we observe. For example, we discovered a drastically different pattern in suicide rates in the US, with a steep increase in suicides in the early 2000s. We hypothesize this might be driven by both the 9/11 attacks and the recession of 2008.

Keywords: suicide trends, current events, data analysis, world health organization, durkheim theory

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Authors: Yao-Hong Tsai

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This paper presents a weighted approach to unconstrained iris recognition. Nowadays, commercial systems are usually characterized by strong acquisition constraints based on the subject’s cooperation. However, it is not always achievable for real scenarios in our daily life. Researchers have been focused on reducing these constraints and maintaining the performance of the system by new techniques at the same time. With large variation in the environment, there are two main improvements to develop the proposed iris recognition system. For solving extremely uneven lighting condition, statistic based illumination normalization is first used on eye region to increase the accuracy of iris feature. The detection of the iris image is based on Adaboost algorithm. Secondly, the weighted approach is designed by Gaussian functions according to the distance to the center of the iris. Furthermore, local binary pattern (LBP) histogram is then applied to texture classification with the weight. Experiment showed that the proposed system provided users a more flexible and feasible way to interact with the verification system through iris recognition.

Keywords: authentication, iris recognition, adaboost, local binary pattern

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Authors: Mauro Callejas-Cuervo, Andrea Catherine Alarcon-Aldana, Lorena Paola Castillo-Guerra

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The software industry requires highly-trained professionals, capable of developing the roles integrated in the cycle of software development. That is why a large part of the task is the responsibility of higher education institutions; often through a curriculum established to orientate the academic development of the students. It is so that nowadays there are different models that support proposals for the improvement of the curricula for the area of Software Engineering, such as ACM, IEEE, ABET, Swebok, of which the last stands out, given that it manages and organises the knowledge of Software Engineering and offers a vision of theoretical and practical aspects. Moreover, it has been applied by different universities in the pursuit of achieving coverage in delivering the different topics and increasing the professional quality of future graduates. This research presents the structure of teaching and learning guides from the objectives of training and methodological strategies immersed in the levels of learning of Bloom’s taxonomy with which it is intended to improve the delivery of the topics in the area of Requirements Engineering. Said guides were implemented and validated in a course of Requirements Engineering of the Systems and Computer Engineering programme in the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia) using a four stage methodology: definition of the evaluation model, implementation of the guides, guide evaluation, and analysis of the results. After the collection and analysis of the data, the results show that in six out of the seven topics proposed in the Swebok guide, the percentage of students who obtained total marks within the 'High grade' level, that is between 4.0 and 4.6 (on a scale of 0.0 to 5.0), was higher than the percentage of students who obtained marks within the 'Acceptable' range of 3.0 to 3.9. In 86% of the topics and the strategies proposed, the teaching and learning guides facilitated the comprehension, analysis, and articulation of the concepts and processes of the students. In addition, they mainly indicate that the guides strengthened the argumentative and interpretative competencies, while the remaining 14% denotes the need to reinforce the strategies regarding the propositive competence, given that it presented the lowest average.

Keywords: pedagogic guide, pedagogic strategies, requirements engineering, Swebok, teaching-learning process

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Authors: Neetika Mahajan, Awanish Shukla

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Entrepreneurship is key a driver to economic development. It opens opportunities for business startups and has potential to expand employment opportunities for many. Entrepreneurship gives ‘Purpose thriving’ approach towards society with new technologies and zeal to develop and compete in the market. There are many more advantages of entrepreneurship like freedom to scope of work and independence in setting own goals. Women contribute to nearly 50 percent of India’s population, constitute nearly 10 percent of a total number of entrepreneurs in India. Women are found to be better risk calculators, more ambitious and less prone to self-confidence. However, It is a hard fact that life has not been easy for women aspiring professional success. Gender parity is the biggest threat faced by female aspirant seeking new businesses. More challenges like socio-cultural barriers, insufficient financial assistance, etc. have been faced by the women of our country. To uplift the status of women in the society, a number of initiatives have been taken up by the Government of India. Initiatives like National Mission for Empowerment of Women by (Ministry of Women And Child Development) and SKILL INDIA aim to increase the technical skills and knowledge of women for tapping employment opportunities and self-confidence. Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) Scheme and Mahila Coir Yojana are proposed by the Ministry of MSMEs aiming to facilitate employment opportunities for women and entrepreneurship development. This paper will aim to bring out the gaps and barriers, which are still resisting the potential women come upfront and start a new business irrespective of a number of initiatives being put by government of India. The aim is also to identify focus areas where further intervention is required and proposing suitable interventions. The methodology to take forward this research will include primary and secondary data collection from on ground survey to track various kind of challenges faced by aspirant women entrepreneurs. Insight will be put towards initiations by the government of India towards women empowerment and assistance to entrepreneurship. Scientific quantitative tools will be used to analyze collected information. The final output of the research shall focus on achieving the respective aims and objectives.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, government programs and schemes, key challenges, economic development

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Authors: Elisabeth Brandenburg, Robert Woll, Rainer Stark

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This paper presents how smart glasses and voice commands can be used for improving the maintenance process of industrial gas turbines. It presents the process of inspecting a gas turbine’s combustion chamber and how it is currently performed using a set of paper-based documents. In order to improve this process, a portable hands-free process assistance system has been conceived. In the following, it will be presented how the approach of user-centered design and the method of paper prototyping have been successfully applied in order to design a user interface and a corresponding workflow model that describes the possible interaction patterns between the user and the interface. The presented evaluation of these results suggests that the assistance system could help the user by rendering multiple manual activities obsolete, thus allowing him to work hands-free and to save time for generating protocols.

Keywords: paper prototyping, smart glasses, turbine maintenance, user centered design

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Authors: Gaspar J. Machado, Stéphane Clain, Raphael Loubère

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The goal of the present work is to numerically study steady-state nonlinear hyperbolic equations in the context of the finite volume framework. We will consider the unidimensional Burgers' equation as the reference case for the scalar situation and the unidimensional Euler equations for the vectorial situation. We consider two approaches to solve the nonlinear equations: a time marching algorithm and a direct steady-state approach. We first develop the necessary and sufficient conditions to obtain the existence and unicity of the solution. We treat regular examples and solutions with a steady shock and to provide very-high-order finite volume approximations we implement a method based on the MOOD technology (Multi-dimensional Optimal Order Detection). The main ingredient consists in using an 'a posteriori' limiting strategy to eliminate non physical oscillations deriving from the Gibbs phenomenon while keeping a high accuracy for the smooth part.

Keywords: Euler equations, finite volume, MOOD, steady-state

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Authors: Sudipto Shanker Dasgupta

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One of the largest mining companies wanted to look at health analytics for their driverless trucks. These trucks were the key to their supply chain logistics. The automated trucks had multi-level sub-assemblies which would send out sensor information. The use case that was worked on was to capture the sensor signal from the truck subcomponents and analyze the health of the trucks from repair and replacement purview. Open source software was used to stream the data into a clustered Hadoop setup in Amazon Web Services cloud and Apache Spark SQL was used to analyze the data. All of this was achieved through a 10 node amazon 32 core, 64 GB RAM setup real-time analytics was achieved on ‘300 million records’. To check the scalability of the system, the cluster was increased to 100 node setup. This talk will highlight how Open Source software was used to achieve the above use case and the insights on the high data throughput on a cloud set up.

Keywords: streaming analytics, data science, big data, Hadoop, high throughput, sensor data

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Authors: Neha Tiwari

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Rights are prerequisite for individuals to pursue their aims and enrich themselves. Laski has said rights are, ‘conditions of social life without which no man can seek himself at his best.’ However with superior technology, rights of many individuals are at stake as well. One such sufferer is the babies born out of the practice of commercial surrogacy. Commercial surrogacy has emerged as the most viable option for the childless couples. The practice has garnered lot of debate in both academia and media. Some argue for a complete ban and some for strict rules and regulation. Most of the time the debate is regarding the rights of the surrogate, something which we cannot ignore. Equally important are the rights of the children born out of such arrangements. However, not much attention is being paid to them. Recently, a controversy emerged when a surrogate gave birth to twins. One of the babies, Gammy born with down syndrome was left behind by the couple. Gammy could die because his poor Thai surrogate mother may not be able to pay for his treatment. Even if he survives, he will never know his twin sister as her identity would never be disclosed. This is just one of many such cases where the future of such babies is being played with. If the rights of these children are not taken care of many of them will have to bear the brunt of society's ignorance and perhaps live with a scar which won't heal in their lifetime.

Keywords: babies, commercial surrogacy, rights, technology

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Authors: Ricardo Merlo

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The use of simulation as a digital didactic tool allowed students to reproduce the laws of Physics in order to improve their academic performance. The didactic resource of simulation also favored the motivation of most of the young people, depending on the subject of Physics to be developed in the classroom and in that sense, it was significant to know the favorable or unfavorable attitude that the students presented about the use of simulation resources to maximize the anchorage of the contents planned for the different classes developed in the classroom. The different real-time simulation applications that were offered free of charge through the Internet were not presented as a specific resource that could be used in a didactic model, and in that framework, the teachers of Physics at the university level did not apply these resources in a systematic way with the knowledge of the favorable or unfavorable attitude of the students towards these didactic resources. For this reason, this work proposed the design and application of attitude questionnaires to enhance the use of those simulation resources that allowed for improving the quality of the class and the academic performance of the students.

Keywords: physics teaching, attitude, motivation, didactic resources

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Authors: Maria Giovanna Lupo, Marina Camera, Marcello Rattazzi, Nicola Ferri

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A complex interplay among chronic kidney disease, lipid metabolism and aortic calcification has been recognized starting from results of many clinical and experimental studies. Here we investigated the influence of kidney function on PCSK9 levels, both in uremic rats and in clinical observation study, and its potential direct action on cultured smooth muscle cells (SMCs) calcification. In a cohort of 594 subjects enrolled in a single centre, observational, cross-sectional and longitudinal study, a negative association between GFR and plasma PCSK9 was found. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), as co-morbidity, further increased PCSK9 plasma levels. Diet-induced uremic condition in rats, induced aortic calcification and increased total cholesterol and PCSK9 levels in plasma, livers and kidneys. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed PCSK9 expression in aortic SMCs. SMCs overexpressing PCSK9 (SMCsPCSK9), cultured for 7-days in a pro-calcification environment (2.0mM or 2.4mM inorganic phosphate, Pi) showed a significantly higher extracellular calcium (Ca2+) deposition compared to mocked SMCs. Under the same experimental conditions, the addition of exogenous recombinant PCSK9 did not increase the extracellular calcification of SMCs. By flow cytometry analysis we showed that SMCsPCSK9, in response to 2.4mM Pi, released higher number of extracellular vesicles (EVs) positive for three tetraspanin molecules, such as CD63, CD9, and CD81. EVs derived from SMCsPCSK9 tended to be more enriched in calcium and alkaline phosphatase (ALPL), compared to EVs from mocks SMCs. In conclusion, our study reveals a direct role of PCSK9 on vascular calcification induced by higher inorganic phosphate levels associated to CKD condition. This effect appears to be mediated by a positive effect of endogenous PCSK9 on the release of EVs containing Ca2+ and ALP, which facilitate the deposition inorganic calcium phosphate crystals.

Keywords: PCSK9, calcification, extracellular vesicles, chronic kidney disease

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Authors: Phornpat Chewasoonthorn, Surat Kwanmuang

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Indoor positioning technologies have been evolved rapidly. They augment the Global Positioning System (GPS) which requires line-of-sight to the sky to track the location of people or objects. This study developed an error correction method for an indoor real-time location system (RTLS) based on an ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor from Decawave. Multiple stationary nodes (anchor) were installed throughout the workspace. The distance between stationary and moving nodes (tag) can be measured using a two-way-ranging (TWR) scheme. The result has shown that the uncorrected ranging error from the sensor system can be as large as 1 m. To reduce ranging error and thus increase positioning accuracy, This study purposes an online correction algorithm using the Kalman filter. The results from experiments have shown that the system can reduce ranging error down to 5 cm.

Keywords: indoor positioning, ultra-wideband, error correction, Kalman filter

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Authors: Janneth Gonzalez, Andres Pinzon Velasco, Maria Angarita, Nicolas Mendoza

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Astrocytes play an important role in various processes in the brain, including pathological conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases. Recent studies have shown that the increase in saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid (PA) triggers pro-inflammatory pathways in the brain. The use of synthetic neurosteroids such as tibolone has demonstrated neuro-protective mechanisms. However, there are few studies on the neuro-protective mechanisms of tibolone, especially at the systemic (omic) level. In this study, we performed the integration of multi-omic data (transcriptome and proteome) into a human astrocyte genomic scale metabolic model to study the astrocytic response during palmitate treatment. We evaluated metabolic fluxes in three scenarios (healthy, induced inflammation by PA, and tibolone treatment under PA inflammation). We also use control theory to identify those reactions that control the astrocytic system. Our results suggest that PA generates a modulation of central and secondary metabolism, showing a change in energy source use through inhibition of folate cycle and fatty acid β-oxidation and upregulation of ketone bodies formation.We found 25 metabolic switches under PA-mediated cellular regulation, 9 of which were critical only in the inflammatory scenario but not in the protective tibolone one. Within these reactions, inhibitory, total, and directional coupling profiles were key findings, playing a fundamental role in the (de)regulation in metabolic pathways that increase neurotoxicity and represent potential treatment targets. Finally, this study framework facilitates the understanding of metabolic regulation strategies, andit can be used for in silico exploring the mechanisms of astrocytic cell regulation, directing a more complex future experimental work in neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords: astrocytes, data integration, palmitic acid, computational model, multi-omics, control theory

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Authors: J. Yang, Y. Ma, X. Zhang, S. Li, Y. Zhang

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The traditional k-means algorithm has been widely used as a simple and efficient clustering method. However, the algorithm often converges to local minima for the reason that it is sensitive to the initial cluster centers. In this paper, an algorithm for selecting initial cluster centers on the basis of minimum spanning tree (MST) is presented. The set of vertices in MST with same degree are regarded as a whole which is used to find the skeleton data points. Furthermore, a distance measure between the skeleton data points with consideration of degree and Euclidean distance is presented. Finally, MST-based initialization method for the k-means algorithm is presented, and the corresponding time complexity is analyzed as well. The presented algorithm is tested on five data sets from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. The experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the presented algorithm compared to three existing initialization methods.

Keywords: degree, initial cluster center, k-means, minimum spanning tree

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Authors: J. Adeppa, S. Samanta, O. K. Raina

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Fasciolosis is a widespread economically important parasitic infection throughout the world caused by Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. In order to identify novel immunogen conferring significant protection against fasciolosis, currently, research has been focused on the defined antigens viz. glutathione S-transferase, fatty acid binding protein, cathepsin-L, fluke hemoglobin, paramyosin, myosin and F. hepatica- Kunitz Type Molecule. Among various antigens, GST which plays a crucial role in detoxification processes, i.e. phase II defense mechanism of this parasite, has a unique position as a novel vaccine candidate and a drug target in the control of this disease. For producing the antigens in large quantities and their purification to complete homogeneity, the recombinant DNA technology has become an important tool to achieve this milestone. RT- PCR was carried out using F. gigantica total RNA as template, and an amplicon of 657 bp GST gene was obtained. TA cloning vector was used for cloning of this gene, and the presence of insert was confirmed by blue-white selection for recombinant colonies. Sequence analysis of the present isolate showed 99.1% sequence homology with the published sequence of the F. gigantica GST gene of cattle origin (accession no. AF112657), with six nucleotide changes at 72, 74, 423, 513, 549 and 627th bp found in the present isolate, causing an overall change of 4 amino acids. The 657 bp GST gene was cloned at BamH1 and HindIII restriction sites of the prokaryotic expression vector pPROEXHTb in frame with six histidine residues and expressed in E. coli DH5α. Recombinant protein was purified from the bacterial lysate under non-denaturing conditions by the process of sonication after lysozyme treatment and subjecting the soluble fraction of the bacterial lysate to Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. Western blotting with rabbit hyper-immune serum showed immuno-reactivity with 25 kDa recombinant GST. Recombinant protein detected F. gigantica experimental as well as field infection in buffaloes by dot-ELISA. However, cross-reactivity studies on Fasciola gigantica GST antigen are needed to evaluate the utility of this protein in the serodiagnosis of fasciolosis.

Keywords: fasciola gigantic, fasciola hepatica, GST, RT- PCR

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Authors: Vinícius L. L. Morrone, David Douek, Helder M. F. Pereira, Bernadete L. M. Grandolpho

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This work aimed to identify the relationships between the level of consumer environmental awareness and their search for sustainable properties, as well as to understand the main sustainability structures considered by these consumers during the decision process. Additionally, the paper looked up to the influence environmental awareness and financial status have over the disposition of buyers to pay more for sustainable properties. To achieve these objectives, 318 questionnaires were answered electronically, after being sent to the Green Building Brazil email basis, as to other Real Estate developers client basis. From all the questionnaires answered, 71 were discarded, leaving a total amount of 247 admitted questionnaires to be analyzed. The responses were evaluated based on the theory of consumer decision making, especially on the influence factors of this process. The data were processed using a PLS model, using the R software. The results have shown that the level of consumer environmental awareness effectively affects the consumer’s will of acquiring a sustainable property or, at least, a property with some environmental friendly structures. The consumer’s environmental awareness also positively impacts the importance consumers give to individual environmental friendly structures. Also, as a consumer value to those individual structures raises, it is also observed a raise in his will to buy a sustainable property. Additionally, the impact of consumer’s environmental awareness and financial status over the willingness to pay more for a property with those attributes. The results indicate that there was no relationship between consumers' environmental awareness and their willingness to pay more for a sustainable property. On the other hand, the financial status and the family income of the consumers showed a positive relation with the willingness to pay more for a sustainable property. This indicates that consumers with better financial conditions, which according to the analysis do not necessarily have a greater environmental awareness, are those who are willing to pay more for a sustainable property. Thus, this study indicates that, even if the environmental awareness impact positively the demand for sustainable structures and properties, this impact is not price reflected, due to the price elasticity of the consumption, especially for a category of lower income consumers. This paper adds to the literature in the way it projects some guidelines to the consumer’s decision process in the Real Estate market in emerging economies, as well as it presents some drivers to pricing decisions.

Keywords: consumer behavior, environmental awareness, real estate pricing, sustainable buildings

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Authors: N. S. Achour, M. Hamdaoui, S. Ben Nasrallah, A. Perwuelz

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The main idea of this work is to investigate the effect of knitted fabrics characteristics on moisture management properties. Wetting and transport properties of single jersey, Rib 1&1 and English Rib fabrics made out of cotton and blended Cotton/Polyester yarns were studied. The dynamic water sorption of fabrics was investigated under same isothermal and terrestrial conditions at 20±2°C-65±2% by using the Moisture Management Tester (MMT) which can be used to quantitatively measure liquid moisture transfer in one step in a fabric in multi directions: Absorption rate, moisture absorbing time of the fabric's inner and outer surfaces, one-way transportation capability, the spreading/drying rate, the speed of liquid moisture spreading on fabric's inner and outer surfaces are measured, recorded and discussed. The results show that fabric’s composition and knit’s structure have a significant influence on those phenomena.

Keywords: knitted fabrics characteristics, moisture management properties, multi directions, the moisture management tester

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Authors: Salwa Mohamed Salah Eldin, Howida Kamal Ibrahim

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Introduction: Major depressive disorder affects high proportion of the world’s population presenting cost load in health care. Extended release venlafaxine is more convenient and could reduce discontinuation syndrome. The once daily dosing also reduces the potential for adverse events such as nausea due to reduced Cmax. Venlafaxine is an effective first-line agent in the treatment of depression. A once daily formulation was designed to enhance patient compliance. Complexing with a resin was suggested to improve loading of the water soluble drug. The formulated systems were thoroughly evaluated in vitro to prove superiority to previous trials and were compared to the commercial extended release product in experimental animals. Materials and Methods: Venlafaxine-resinates were prepared using Dowex®50WX4-400 and Dowex®50WX8-100 at drug to resin weight ratio of 1: 1. The prepared resinates were evaluated for their drug content, particle shape and surface properties and in vitro release profile in gradient pH. The release kinetics and mechanism were evaluated. Venlafaxine-Dowex® resinates were encapsulated using O/W solvent evaporation technique. Poly-ε-caprolactone, Poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) ester, Poly(D, L-lactide) ester and Eudragit®RS100 were used as coating polymers alone and in combination. Drug-resinate microcapsules were evaluated for morphology, entrapment efficiency and in-vitro release profile. The selected formula was tested in rabbits using a randomized, single-dose, 2-way crossover study against Effexor-XR tablets under fasting condition. Results and Discussion: The equilibrium time was 30 min for Dowex®50WX4-400 and 90 min for Dowex®50WX8-100. The percentage drug loaded was 93.96 and 83.56% for both resins, respectively. Both drug-Dowex® resintes were efficient in sustaining venlafaxine release in comparison to the free drug (up to 8h.). Dowex®50WX4-400 based venlafaxine-resinate was selected for further encapsulation to optimize the release profile for once daily dosing and to lower the burst effect. The selected formula (coated with a mixture of Eudragit RS and PLGA in a ratio of 50/50) was chosen by applying a group of mathematical equations according to targeted values. It recorded the minimum burst effect, the maximum MDT (Mean dissolution time) and a Q24h (percentage drug released after 24 hours) between 95 and 100%. The 90% confidence intervals for the test/reference mean ratio of the log-transformed data of AUC0–24 and AUC0−∞ are within (0.8–1.25), which satisfies the bioequivalence criteria. Conclusion: The optimized formula could be a promising extended release form of the water soluble, short half lived venlafaxine. Being a multiple unit formulation, it lowers the probability of dose dumping and reduces the inter-subject variability in absorption.

Keywords: biodegradable polymers, cation-exchange resin, microencapsulation, venlafaxine hcl

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Authors: Cemile Kütmeç Yilmaz, Güler Duru Asiret, Gulcan Bagcivan

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Carer’s Assessment of Satisfaction Index (CASI-TR). The study was conducted between the dates of June 2016 and September 2017 at the Training and Research Hospital of Aksaray University with the caregiving family members of the inpatients with chronic diseases. For this study, the sample size was calculated as at least 10 individuals for each item (item number (30)X10=300). The study sample included 300 caregiving family members, who provided primer care for at least three months for a patient (who had at least one chronic disease and received inpatient treatment in general internal medicine and palliative care units). Data were collected by using a demographic questionnaire and CASI-TR. Descriptive statistics, and psychometric tests were used for the data analysis. Of those caregivers, 76.7% were female, 86.3% were 65 years old and below, 43.7% were primary school graduates, 87% were married, 86% were not working, 66.3% were housewives, and 60.3% defined their income status as having an income covering one’s expenses. Care recipients often had problems in terms of walking, sleep, balance, feeding and urinary incontinence. The Cronbach Alpha value calculated for the CASI-TR (30 items) was 0,949. Internal consistency coefficients calculated for subscales were: 0.922 for the subscale of ‘caregiver satisfaction related to care recipient’, 0.875 for the subscale of ‘caregiver satisfaction related to themselves’, and 0.723 for the subscale of ‘dynamics of interpersonal relations’. Factor analysis revealed that three factors accounted for 57.67% of the total variance, with an eigenvalue of >1. assessed in terms of significance, we saw that the items came together in a significant manner. The factor load of the items were between 0.311 and 0.874. These results show that the CASI-TR is a valid and reliable scale. The adoption of the translated CASI in Turkey is found reliable and valid to assessing the satisfaction of caregivers. CASI-TR can be used easily in clinics or house visits by nurses and other health professionals for assessing caregiver satisfaction from caregiving.

Keywords: carer’s assessment of satisfaction index, caregiver, validity, reliability

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Authors: Jiandong Lv, Xingang Wang, Cuiling Shao

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The rapid development of social media platforms has made it one of the important news sources. While it provides people with convenient real-time communication channels, fake news and rumors are also spread rapidly through social media platforms, misleading the public and even causing bad social impact in view of the slow speed and poor consistency of artificial rumor detection. We propose an end-to-end rumor detection model-TIMF, which captures the dependencies between multimodal data based on the interactive attention mechanism, uses a transformer for cross-modal feature sequence mapping and combines hybrid fusion strategies to obtain decision results. This paper verifies two multi-modal rumor detection datasets and proves the superior performance and early detection performance of the proposed model.

Keywords: hybrid fusion, multimodal fusion, rumor detection, social media, transformer

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Authors: Dielleza Namani, Laureta Kadrijaj-Qerimi

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Neurolinguistics studies the relationship between the brain and language. It is a subject not often found in the syllabus of universities in the Balkans but more spread in Europe and especially the United States of America. The purpose of this study is to see what importance this subject has for studies in the English language department. It contains an analysis of other research papers written regarding neurolinguistics, a questionnaire made for professors and deans at private and public universities in Kosovo, and an interview with a neurolinguistics professor in England. Since this subject is not found in the syllabus of any of the universities in Kosovo, the researchers wanted to find out why this happens but, at the same time, provide reasons why they should consider having it in the future. The results showed that for this subject, there had been researching made, but not enough so far, which gives more information and feedback on why it needs to be in the syllabus, and how linguists can use the knowledge they receive from this subject in their workplace. Also, the professors and deans see this subject as too medical for their students to learn and not necessary for their future jobs. Hopefully, in the near future, there will be more research done on why this is important and how English language students can benefit from it.

Keywords: English language department, neurolinguistics, second language acquisition, teaching methods

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Authors: Sarif Ullah Patwary, Matthew Heinrich, Brandon Payne

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The ubiquity of web 2.0 platforms, in the form of wikis, social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and online review portals (e.g., Yelp), helps shape today’s apparel consumers’ purchasing decision. Online reviews play important role towards consumers’ apparel purchase decision. Each of the consumer reviews carries a sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) towards products. Commercially, apparel brands and retailers analyze sentiment of this massive amount of consumer review data to update their inventory and bring new products in the market. The purpose of this study is to analyze consumer reviews of selected apparel stores with a view to understand, 1) the difference of sentiment expressed through men’s and woman’s text reviews, 2) the difference of sentiment expressed through men’s and woman’s star-based reviews, and 3) the difference of sentiment between star-based reviews and text-based reviews. A total of 9,363 reviews (1,713 men and 7,650 women) were collected using Yelp Dataset Challenge. Sentiment analysis of collected reviews was carried out in two dimensions: star-based reviews and text-based reviews. Sentiment towards apparel stores expressed through star-based reviews was deemed: 1) positive for 3 or 4 stars 2) negative for 1 or 2 stars and 3) neutral for 3 stars. Sentiment analysis of text-based reviews was carried out using Bing Liu dictionary. The analysis was conducted in IPyhton 5.0. Space. The sentiment analysis results revealed the percentage of positive text reviews by men (80%) and women (80%) were identical. Women reviewers (12%) provided more neutral (e.g., 3 out of 5 stars) star reviews than men (6%). Star-based reviews were more negative than the text-based reviews. In other words, while 80% men and women wrote positive reviews for the stores, less than 70% ended up giving 4 or 5 stars in those reviews. One of the key takeaways of the study is that star reviews provide slightly negative sentiment of the consumer reviews. Therefore, in order to understand sentiment towards apparel products, one might need to combine both star and text aspects of consumer reviews. This study used a specific dataset consisting of selected apparel stores from particular geographical locations (the information was not given for privacy concern). Future studies need to include more data from more stores and locations to generalize the findings of the study.

Keywords: apparel, consumer review, sentiment analysis, gender

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Authors: Ayodeji Emmanuel Oke, Mathew O. Ikuabe, Clinton O. Aigbavboa, Douglas O. Aghimien

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The call for sustainable construction has received significant drive in recent time considering the overwhelming impacts of its adoption. However, not much has been deliberated on this subject with regards to the roles of organisational leadership in delivering sustainable construction. To this end, the study empirically scrutinised the roles of organisational leadership in delivering sustainable construction. The study adopted a quantitative approach while construction professionals formed the population of the study. A well-articulated questionnaire was used in eliciting responses from the respondents, while appropriate methods of data analysis were used. Findings from the study depicted that the major role of organisational leadership in the delivery of sustainable construction is acting as sustainability integrators. Equally revealed are the internal and external factors affecting organisational leadership in delivering sustainable construction. The study concluded by emphasizing the core roles for delivering sustainable construction by organisational leadership and further recommended that sustainable construction should serve as a prominent and focal organisation goal by organisational leadership when steering the organisation towards meeting its objectives

Keywords: organisational leadership, project delivery, roles, sustainable construction

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Authors: Umut Çınar

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The fact that ozone gas has color bleaching properties has made the use of ozone gas widespread in the textile sector as well as in many other sectors. Ozone gas, which is a strong oxidative agent on the fabric, causes the paint on the fabric to wear off and lighten its color with an aged appearance. Within the scope of this thesis, parameters affecting the bleaching properties of ozone gas on reactive dyed knitted fabric, which is rare in the literature, were investigated. Ozone concentration, time, and pH values were analyzed with the Box Behnken experimental design method, and optimum conditions were determined. After the experiments, wear and opacity values were measured with the help of a spectrophotometer. With the help of the Design Expert program, the graphics related to the data were prepared and interpreted with Box Behnken and ANOVA. These experiments on reactive dyed knitted fabric were tested on these parameters, and the spectrophotometric values of the fabric and optimum parameters in abrasion and opacity were revealed.

Keywords: ozone, reactive dye, bleaching, textile, garment wash, sustainability, washing, Box–Behnken, experimental design

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Authors: A. Bortkiewcz, A. Dudarewicz, P. Małecki, M. Kłaczyński, T. Wszołek, Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-Łuszczyńska

Abstract:

Low-frequency noise (LFN) has been recognized as a special environmental pollutant. It is usually considered a broadband noise with the dominant content of low frequencies from 10 Hz to 250 Hz. A growing body of data shows that LFN differs in nature from other environmental noises, which are at comparable levels but not dominated by low-frequency components. The primary and most frequent adverse effect of LFN exposure is annoyance. Moreover, some recent investigations showed that LFN at relatively low A-weighted sound pressure levels (40−45 dB) occurring in office-like areas could adversely affect the mental performance, especially of high-sensitive subjects. It is well documented that high-frequency noise disturbs various types of human functions; however, there is very little data on the impact of LFN on well-being and health, including the cardiovascular system. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a sensitive marker of autonomic regulation of the circulatory system. Walker and co-workers found that LFN has a significantly more negative impact on cardiovascular response than exposure to high-frequency noise and that changes in HRV parameters resulting from LFN exposure tend to persist over time. The negative reactions of the cardiovascular system in response to LFN generated by wind turbines (20-200 Hz) were confirmed by Chiu. The scientific aim of the study is to assess the relationship between the spectral-temporal characteristics of LFN and the activity of the autonomic nervous system, considering the subjective assessment of annoyance, sensitivity to this type of noise, and cognitive and general health status. The study will be conducted in 20 male students in a special, acoustically prepared, constantly supervised room. Each person will be tested 4 times (4 sessions), under conditions of non-exposure (sham) and exposure to noise of wind turbines recorded at a distance of 250 meters from the turbine with different frequencies and frequency ranges: acoustic band 20 Hz-20 kHz, infrasound band 5-20 Hz, acoustic band + infrasound band. The order of sessions of the experiment will be randomly selected. Each session will last 1 h. There will be a 2-3 days break between sessions to exclude the possibility of the earlier session influencing the results of the next one. Before the first exposure, a questionnaire will be conducted on noise sensitivity, general health status using the GHQ questionnaire, hearing organ status and sociodemographic data. Before each of the 4 exposures, subjects will complete a brief questionnaire on their mood and sleep quality the night before the test. After the test, the subjects will be asked about any discomfort and subjective symptoms during the exposure. Before the test begins, Holter ECG monitoring equipment will be installed. HRV will be analyzed from the ECG recordings, including time and frequency domain parameters. The tests will always be performed in the morning (9-12) to avoid the influence of diurnal rhythm on HRV results. Students will perform psychological tests 15 minutes before the end of the test (Vienna Test System).

Keywords: neurovegetative control, heart rate variability (HRV), cognitive processes, low frequency noise

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Authors: Amit Ghosh, Chanchal Kundu

Abstract:

Recently, the notion of past cumulative inaccuracy (CPI) measure has been proposed in the literature as a generalization of cumulative past entropy (CPE) in univariate as well as bivariate setup. In this paper, we introduce the notion of CPI of order α (alpha) and study the proposed measure for conditionally specified models of two components failed at different time instants called generalized conditional CPI (GCCPI). We provide some bounds using usual stochastic order and investigate several properties of GCCPI. The effect of monotone transformation on this proposed measure has also been examined. Furthermore, we characterize some bivariate distributions under the assumption of conditional proportional reversed hazard rate model. Moreover, the role of GCCPI in reliability modeling has also been investigated for a real-life problem.

Keywords: cumulative past inaccuracy, marginal and conditional past lifetimes, conditional proportional reversed hazard rate model, usual stochastic order

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Ossama Abdelmotaal, Olfat Shaker, Tarek Salman, Lamiaa Nabeel, Mostafa Shabayek

Abstract:

Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is an important worldwide health problem. Colonoscopy is used in detecting CRC suffer from drawbacks where colonoscopy is an invasive method. This study validates easier and less time-consuming techniques to evaluate the usefulness of detecting miRNA-21, miRNA-215 and miRNA-378 in the sera of colorectal cancer patients as new diagnostic tools. This study includes malignant (Colo Rectal Cancer patients, n= 64)) and healthy (n=27) groups. The studied groups were subjected to colonoscopic examination and estimation of miRNA-21, miRNA-215 and miRNA-378 in sera by RT-PCR. miRNA-21 showed the statistically significantly highest median fold change. miRNA-378 showed statistically significantly lower value (Both showed over-expression). miRNA-215 showed the statistically significantly lowest median fold change (It showed down-regulation). Overall the miRNA (21-215 and 378) appear to be promising method of detecting CRC and evaluating its stages.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, miRNA-21, miRNA-215, miRNA-378

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Kougioumtzis Konstantin, Rylander Pär, Karlsteen Magnus

Abstract:

Ball skills as a subset of fundamental motor skills are predictors for performance in sports. Currently, most tools evaluate ball skills utilizing subjective ratings. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a newly developed instrument to objectively measure ball handling skills (BHS-test) utilizing digital instrument. Participants were a convenience sample of 213 adolescents (age M = 17.1 years, SD =3.6; 55% females, 45% males) recruited from upper secondary schools and invited to a sports hall for the assessment. The 8-item instrument incorporated both accuracy-based ball skill tests and repetitive-performance tests with a ball. Testers counted performance manually in the four tests (one throwing and three juggling tasks). Furthermore, assessment was technologically enhanced in the other four tests utilizing a ball machine, a Kinect camera and balls with motion sensors (one balancing and three rolling tasks). 3D printing technology was used to construct equipment, while all results were administered digitally with smart phones/tablets, computers and a specially constructed application to send data to a server. The instrument was deemed reliable (α = .77) and principal component analysis was used in a random subset (53 of the participants). Furthermore, latent variable modeling was employed to confirm the structure with the remaining subset (160 of the participants). The analysis showed good factorial-related validity with one factor explaining 57.90 % of the total variance. Four loadings were larger than .80, two more exceeded .76 and the other two were .65 and .49. The one factor solution was confirmed by a first order model with one general factor and an excellent fit between model and data (χ² = 16.12, DF = 20; RMSEA = .00, CI90 .00–.05; CFI = 1.00; SRMR = .02). The loadings on the general factor ranged between .65 and .83. Our findings indicate good reliability and construct validity for the BHS-test. To develop the instrument further, more studies are needed with various age-groups, e.g. children. We suggest using the BHS-test for diagnostic or assessment purpose for talent development and sports participation interventions that focus on ball games.

Keywords: ball-handling skills, ball-handling ability, technologically-enhanced measurements, assessment

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Authors: B. Guezzen, M. A. Didi, B. Medjahed

Abstract:

An organoclay (HDTMA-B) was prepared from sodium bentonite (Na-B). The starting material was modified using the hexadecyltrimethylammonium ion (HDTMA⁺) in the amounts corresponding to 100 % of the CEC value. Batch experiments were carried out in order to model and optimize the sorption of Congo red dye from aqueous solution. The pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models have been developed to predict the rate constant and the sorption capacity at equilibrium with the effect of temperature, the solid/solution ratio and the initial dye concentration. The equilibrium time was reached within 60 min. At room temperature (20 °C), optimum dye sorption of 49.4 mg/g (98.9%) was achieved at pH 6.6, sorbent dosage of 1g/L and initial dye concentration of 50 mg/L, using surfactant modified bentonite. The optimization of adsorption parameters mentioned above on dye removal was carried out using Box-Behnken design. The sorption parameters were analyzed statistically by means of variance analysis by using the Statgraphics Centurion XVI software.

Keywords: adsorption, dye, factorial design, kinetic, organo-bentonite

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Authors: S. Sabatino, V. Calderaro, V. Galdi, G. Graber, L. Ippolito

Abstract:

Climate change is a rapidly growing global threat caused mainly by increased emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. These emissions come from multiple sources, including industry, power generation, and the transport sector. The need to tackle climate change and reduce CO₂ emissions is indisputable. A crucial solution to achieving decarbonization in the transport sector is the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). These vehicles use lithium (Li-Ion) batteries as an energy source, making them extremely efficient and with low direct emissions. However, Li-Ion batteries are not without problems, including the risk of overheating and performance degradation. To ensure its safety and longevity, it is essential to use a battery management system (BMS). The BMS constantly monitors battery status, adjusts temperature and cell balance, ensuring optimal performance and preventing dangerous situations. From the monitoring carried out, it is also able to optimally manage the battery to increase its life. Among the parameters monitored by the BMS, the main ones are State of Charge (SoC), State of Health (SoH), and State of Power (SoP). The evaluation of these parameters can be carried out in two ways: offline, using benchtop batteries tested in the laboratory, or online, using batteries installed in moving vehicles. Online estimation is the preferred approach, as it relies on capturing real-time data from batteries while operating in real-life situations, such as in everyday EV use. Actual battery usage conditions are highly variable. Moving vehicles are exposed to a wide range of factors, including temperature variations, different driving styles, and complex charge/discharge cycles. This variability is difficult to replicate in a controlled laboratory environment and can greatly affect performance and battery life. Online estimation captures this variety of conditions, providing a more accurate assessment of battery behavior in real-world situations. In this article, a hybrid approach based on a neural network and a statistical method for real-time estimation of SoC, SoH, and SoP parameters of interest is proposed. These parameters are estimated from the analysis of a one-day driving profile of an electric vehicle, assumed to be divided into the following four phases: (i) Partial discharge (SoC 100% - SoC 50%), (ii) Partial discharge (SoC 50% - SoC 80%), (iii) Deep Discharge (SoC 80% - SoC 30%) (iv) Full charge (SoC 30% - SoC 100%). The neural network predicts the values of ohmic resistance and incremental capacity, while the statistical method is used to estimate the parameters of interest. This reduces the complexity of the model and improves its prediction accuracy. The effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated by analyzing its performance in terms of square mean error (RMSE) and percentage error (MAPE) and comparing it with the reference method found in the literature.

Keywords: electric vehicle, Li-Ion battery, BMS, state-of-charge, state-of-health, state-of-power, artificial neural networks

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Authors: Jonix Owino

Abstract:

Aging Out of Place refers to the physical and emotional experience of growing older in a foreign or unfamiliar environment. Refugees flee their home countries and migrate to foreign countries such as the United States for safety. The emotional and psychological distress experienced by refugees who are compelled to leave their home countries can compromise their ability to adapt to new countries, thereby affecting their well-being. In particular, implications of immigration may be felt more acutely in later life stages, especially when life-long attachments have been made in the country of origin. However, aging studies in the United States have failed to conceptualize refugee aging experiences, more so for refugees who entered the country as adults. Specifically, little is known about the quality of life among aging refugees. Research studies on whether the quality of life varies among refugees by sociodemographic factors are limited. Research studies examining the role of social connectedness in aging refugees’ quality of life are also sparse. As such, the present study seeks to investigate the sociodemographic (i.e., age, sex, country of origin, and length of residence) and social connection factors associated with quality of life among aging refugees. The study consisted of a total of 108 participants from ages 50 years and above. The refugees represented in the study were from Bhutan, Burundi, and Somalia and were recruited from an upper Midwestern region of the United States. The participants completed an in-depth survey assessing social factors and well-being. Hierarchical regression was used for analysis. The results showed that females, older individuals, and refugees who were from Africa reported lower quality of life. Length of residence was not associated with quality of life. Furthermore, when controlling for sociodemographic factors, greater social integration was significantly associated with a higher quality of life, whereas lower loneliness was significantly associated with a higher quality of life. The results also indicated a significant interaction between loneliness and sex in predicting quality of life. This suggests that greater loneliness was associated with reduced quality of life for female refugees but not males. The present study highlights cultural variations within refugee groups which is important in determining how host communities can best support aging refugees’ well-being and develop social programs that can effectively cater to issues of aging among refugees.

Keywords: aging refugees, quality of life, social integration, migration and integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 90