Search results for: efficient energy values

Authors: Mohd Farooq Naqshbandi

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The four fractions of aqueous extract of Sesame Seeds (Sesamum indicum L.) were studied for invitro DNA fragmentation, cell migration, and cellular apoptosis on SW480 and HTC116 human colorectal cancer cell lines. The seeds of Sesamum indicum were extracted with six solvents, including Methanol, Ethanol, Aqueous, Chloroform, Acetonitrile, and Hexane. The aqueous extract (IC₅₀ value 154 µg/ml) was found to be the most active in terms of cytotoxicity with SW480 human colorectal cancer cell lines. Further fractionation of this aqueous extract on flash chromatography gave four fractions. These four fractions were studied for anticancer and DNA binding studies. Cell viability was assessed by colorimetric assay (MTT). IC₅₀ values for all these four fractions ranged from 137 to 548 µg/mL for the HTC116 cancer cell line and 141 to 402 µg/mL for the SW480 cancer cell line. The four fractions showed good anticancer and DNA binding properties. The DNA binding constants ranged from 10.4 ×10⁴ 5 to 28.7 ×10⁴, showing good interactions with DNA. The DNA binding interactions were due to intercalative and π-π electron forces. The results indicate that aqueous extract fractions of sesame showed inhibition of cell migration of SW480 and HTC116 human colorectal cancer cell lines and induced DNA fragmentation and apoptosis. This was demonstrated by calculating the low wound closure percentage in cells treated with these fractions as compared to the control (80%). Morphological features of nuclei of cells treated with fractions revealed chromatin compression, nuclear shrinkage, and apoptotic body formation, which indicate cell death by apoptosis. The flow cytometer of fraction-treated cells of SW480 and HTC116 human colorectal cancer cell lines revealed death due to apoptosis. The results of the study indicate that aqueous extract of sesame seeds may be used to treat colorectal cancer.

Keywords: Sesamum indicum, cell migration inhibition, apoptosis induction, anticancer activity, colorectal cancer

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Authors: Shahla Bukhtair

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A paradigm presents a consensus view of a particular or collective community, accepted into by the members of that community, either consciously pronounced or, more likely, simply assumed and not intentionally acknowledged but is articulated. Paradigm shift is based on the behavioral attitude of the community. Change is inexorable. The world is suffering with the innovative creation of globalization. Media boosted this paradigm shift all over the world. Globalization is a vigorous process which impacts differentially on various cultures around the world. The outcome of the globalization is permeates cultural boundaries and in the process results in the spread of Western ideologies and values across the world. The term flourished in 20th century. Globalization is regarded as having substantial impact on such crises through its encouragement of conflicts rather than conciliation; through opportunities of expression, various groups get benefit with it. Identity crisis refers to inflexible mechanism i.e. cultural and political conflicts among polarized groups, which struggle with each other over the definition of a national identity. Violence is not only a kind of physical but it also psychological as well. Due to identity crisis, a person is having an issue of fear, anxiety, and lack of security. Everything has negative and positive aspects. Newspaper columns, magazine articles, films, made-for-TV movies, television special reports, and talk shows are all public arenas where images of political agenda of their own interest are constructed, debated, and reproduced. From these resources, individuals construct their own conceptions of what is normal and acceptable. This bias affects images in the media, and in turn has a negative effect on public development in a society. This paper investigates the relationship between globalization and cultural war, identity crisis and the role of violence. Objectives: - To determine which type of media plays an important role in shaping perceptions and attitudes of public negatively; - To analyze the impact of globalization on identity crisis, violence and global culture (positive and negative).

Keywords: paradigm shift, globalization, identity crisis, cultural war

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Authors: Hiba Akrout, Khaoula Hidouri, Béchir Chaouachi, Romdhane Ben Slama

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A simple solar distiller has been constructed in order to desalt water via the solar distillation process. An experimental study has been conducted in June. The aim of this work is to study the effect of the distance between the cold condensing surface and the hot steam generation surface in order to optimize the geometric characteristics of a simple solar still. To do this, we have developed a mathematical model based on thermal and mass equations system. Subsequently, the equations system resolution has been made through a program developed on MATLAB software, which allowed us to evaluate the production of this system as a function of the distance separating the two surfaces. In addition, this model allowed us to determine the evolution of the humid air temperature inside the solar still as well as the humidity ratio profile all over the day. Simulations results show that the solar distiller production, as well as the humid air temperature, are proportional to the global solar radiation. It was also found that the air humidity ratio inside the solar still has a similar evolution of that of solar radiation. Moreover, the solar distiller average height augmentation, for constant water depth, induces the diminution of the production. However, increasing the water depth for a fixed average height of solar distiller reduces the production.

Keywords: distillation, solar energy, heat transfer, mass transfer, average height

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Authors: Dohun Kim

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Technological innovations have stimulated flipped learning in many disciplines, including language teaching. It is a specific type of blended learning, which combines onsite (i.e. face-to-face) with online experiences to produce effective, efficient and flexible learning. Flipped learning literally ‘flips’ conventional teaching and learning activities upside down: it leverages technologies to deliver a lecture and direct instruction—other asynchronous activities as well—outside the classroom to reserve onsite time for interaction and activities in the upper cognitive realms: applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. Unlike the conventional flipped approaches, which focused on video lecture, followed by face-to-face or on-site session, new innovative methods incorporate various means and structures to serve the needs of different academic disciplines and classrooms. In the light of such innovations, this study adopted ‘student-engaged’ approaches to interpreter training and contrasts them with traditional classrooms. To this end, students were also encouraged to engage in asynchronous activities online, and innovative technologies, such as Telepresence, were employed. Based on the class implementation, a thorough examination was conducted to examine how we can structure and implement flipped classrooms for language and interpreting training while actively engaging learners. This study adopted a quantitative research method, while complementing it with a qualitative one. The key findings suggest that the significance of the instructor’s role does not dwindle, but his/her role changes to a moderator and a facilitator. Second, we can apply flipped learning to both theory- and practice-oriented modules. Third, students’ integration into the community of inquiry is of significant importance to foster active and higher-order learning. Fourth, cognitive presence and competence can be enhanced through strengthened and integrated teaching and social presences. Well-orchestrated teaching presence stimulates students to find out the problems and voices the convergences and divergences, while fluid social presence facilitates the exchanges of knowledge and the adjustment of solutions, which eventually contributes to consolidating cognitive presence—a key ingredient that enables the application and testing of the solutions and reflection thereon.

Keywords: blended learning, Community of Inquiry, flipped learning, interpreter training, student-centred learning

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Authors: Dorna Kargar, Mehrasa Masih

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Due to its special geological and geographical conditions, Iran has always been exposed to various natural hazards. Earthquake is one of the natural hazards with random nature that can cause significant financial damages and casualties. This is a serious threat, especially in areas with active faults. Therefore, considering the population density in some parts of the country, locating and zoning high-risk areas are necessary and significant. In the present study, seismic hazard assessment via probabilistic and deterministic method for Tehran, the capital of Iran, which is located in Alborz-Azerbaijan province, has been done. The seismicity study covers a range of 200 km from the north of Tehran (X=35.74° and Y= 51.37° in LAT-LONG coordinate system) to identify the seismic sources and seismicity parameters of the study region. In order to identify the seismic sources, geological maps at the scale of 1: 250,000 are used. In this study, we used Kijko-Sellevoll's method (1992) to estimate seismicity parameters. The maximum likelihood estimation of earthquake hazard parameters (maximum regional magnitude Mmax, activity rate λ, and the Gutenberg-Richter parameter b) from incomplete data files is extended to the case of uncertain magnitude values. By the combination of seismicity and seismotectonic studies of the site, the acceleration with antiseptic probability may happen during the useful life of the structure is calculated with probabilistic and deterministic methods. Applying the results of performed seismicity and seismotectonic studies in the project and applying proper weights in used attenuation relationship, maximum horizontal and vertical acceleration for return periods of 50, 475, 950 and 2475 years are calculated. Horizontal peak ground acceleration on the seismic bedrock for 50, 475, 950 and 2475 return periods are 0.12g, 0.30g, 0.37g and 0.50, and Vertical peak ground acceleration on the seismic bedrock for 50, 475, 950 and 2475 return periods are 0.08g, 0.21g, 0.27g and 0.36g.

Keywords: peak ground acceleration, probabilistic and deterministic, seismic hazard assessment, seismicity parameters

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Authors: M. F. Mamabolo

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Mining activities are identified as the most significant source of heavy metal contamination in river basins, due to inadequate disposal of mining waste thus resulting in acid mine drainage. Waste materials generated from gold mining and processing have severe and widespread impacts on water resources. Therefore, a total of 30 water samples were collected from Fig Tree Creek, Kaapriver, Sheba mine stream & Sauid kaap river to investigate the impact of gold mines on the Kaap River system. Physicochemical parameters (pH, EC and TDS) were taken using a BANTE 900P portable water quality meter. The concentration of Fe, Cu, Co, and SO₄²⁻ in water samples were analysed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass spectrophotometry (ICP-MS) at 0.01 mg/L. The results were compared to the regulatory guideline of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the South Africa National Standards (SANS). It was found that Fe, Cu and Co were below the guideline values while SO₄²⁻ detected in Sheba mine stream exceeded the 250 mg/L limit for both seasons, attributed by mine wastewater. SO₄²⁻ was higher in wet season due to high evaporation rates and greater interaction between rocks and water. The pH of all the streams was within the limit (≥5 to ≤9.7), however EC of the Sheba mine stream, Suid Kaap River & where the tributary connects with the Fig Tree Creek exceeded 1700 uS/m, due to dissolved material. The TDS of Sheba mine stream exceeded 1000 mg/L, attributed by high SO₄²⁻ concentration. While the tributary connecting to the Fig Tree Creek exceed the value due to pollution from household waste, runoff from agriculture etc. In conclusion, the water from all sampled streams were safe for consumption due to low concentrations of physicochemical parameters. However, elevated concentration of SO₄²⁻ should be monitored and managed to avoid water quality deterioration in the Kaap River system.

Keywords: Kaap river system, mines, heavy metals, sulphate

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Authors: V. Sulakatko, F. U. Vogdt, I. Lill

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Construction technology and on-site construction activities have a direct influence on the life cycle costs of energy efficiently renovated apartment buildings. The systematic inadequacies of the External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) which occur during the construction phase increase the risk for all stakeholders, reduce mechanical durability and increase the life cycle costs of the building. The economic effect of these shortcomings can be minimised if the risk of the most significant on-site activities is recognised. The objective of the presented ETICS economic assessment concept is to evaluate the economic influence of on-site shortcomings and reveal their significance to the foreseeable future repair costs. The model assembles repair techniques, discusses their direct cost calculation methods, argues over the proper usage of net present value over the life cycle of the building, and proposes a simulation tool to evaluate the risk of on-site activities. As the technique is dependent on the selected real interest rate, a sensitivity analysis is anticipated to determine the validity of the recommendations. After the verification of the model on the sample buildings by the industry, it is expected to increase economic rationality of resource allocation and reduce high-risk systematic shortcomings during the construction process of ETICS.

Keywords: activity-based cost estimating, cost estimation, ETICS, life cycle costing

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Authors: Marcia Silva, Jayme Kolarik, Brennon Garthwait, William Lee, Hai-Feng Zhang

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Adsorption of lead by a natural porous material was studied to establish a baseline for the removal of heavy metals from drinking and waste water. Samples were examined under different conditions such as solution pH, solution concentration, solution temperature, and exposure time. New materials with potentially enhanced adsorption properties were developed by functionalizing the surface of the natural porous material to fabricate graphene based coated and sulfide based treated porous material. The functionalized materials were characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) techniques. Solution pH effect on removal efficiency has been investigated in acidic (pH = 4), neutral (pH = 6) and basic (pH = 10) pH levels. All adsorbent materials showed highest adsorption capacities at neutral pH levels. Batch experiment was employed to assess the efficacy for the removal of lead with the sorption kinetics and the adsorption isotherms being determined for the natural and treated porous materials. The addition of graphene-based and sulfide-based materials increased the lead removal capacity of the natural clean porous material. Theoretical calculations confirmed pseudo-second order model as kinetic mechanism for lead adsorption for all adsorbents.

Keywords: heavy metals, ion exchange, adsorption, water remediation

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Authors: Agnes Anyango Andollo, Jane Achieng Achola

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The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has become one of the driving forces in facilitation of learning in most colleges. The ability to effectively harness the technology varies from college to college. The study objective was to determine the lecturers’, institutional attributes and policies that influence the utilization of ICT by the lecturers’. A cross sectional survey design was employed in order to empirically investigate the extent to which lecturers’ personal, institutional attributes and policies influence the utilization of ICT to facilitate learning. The target population of the study was 295 lecturers who facilitate learning at KMTC-Nairobi. Structured self-administered questionnaire was given to the lecturers. Quantitative data was scrutinized for completeness, accuracy and uniformity then coded. Data were analyzed in frequencies and percentages using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19, this was a reliable tool for quantitative data analysis. A total of 155 completed questionnaires administered were obtained from the respondents for the study that were subjected to analysis. The study found out that 93 (60%) of the respondents were male while 62 (40%) of the respondents were female. Individual’s educational level, age, gender and educational experience had the greatest impact on use of ICT. Lecturers’ own beliefs, values, ideas and thinking had moderate impact on use of ICT. And that institutional support by provision of resources for ICT related training such as internet, computers, laptops and projectors had moderate impact (p = 0.049) at 5% significant level on use of ICT. The study concluded that institutional attributes and ICT policy were keys to utilization of ICT by lecturers at KMTC Nairobi also mandatory policy on use of ICT by lecturers to facilitate learning was key. It recommended that policies should be put in place for Technical support to lecturers when in problem during utilization of ICT and also a mechanism should be put in place to make the use of ICT in teaching and learning mandatory.

Keywords: policy, computers education, medical training institutions, ICTs

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Authors: Guilherme Gomes, Jose Lebre de Freitas

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The rules of Civil Procedure that are defined in the Portuguese Civil Procedure Code of 2013 particularly their articles 552 to 626- represent the model that the legislator thought that would be more suitable for national civil litigation, from the moment the action is brought by the plaintiff to the moment when the sentence is issued. However, procedural legalism is no longer a reality in the Portuguese Civil Procedural Law. According to the article 547 of the code of 2013, the civil judge has a duty to adopt the procedure that better suits the circumstances of the case, whether or not it is the one defined by law. The main goal of our paper is to answer the question whether the formal adequation imposed by this article diminishes the importance of the Portuguese rules of Civil Procedure and their daily application by national civil judges. We will start by explaining the appearance of the abovementioned rules in the Civil Procedure Code of 2013. Then we will analyse, using specific examples that were obtained by the books we read, how the legal procedure defined in the abovementioned code does not suit the circumstances of some specific cases and is totally inefficient in some situations. After that, we will, by using the data obtained in the practical research that we are conducting in the Portuguese civil courts within the scope of our Ph.D. thesis (until now, we have been able to consult 150 civil lawsuits), verify whether and how judges and parties make the procedure more efficient and effective in the case sub judice. In the scope of our research, we have already reached some preliminary findings: 1) despite the fact that the legal procedure does not suit the circumstances of some civil lawsuits, there are only two situations of frequent use of formal adequation (the judge allowing the plaintiff to respond to the procedural exceptions deduced in the written defense and the exemption from prior hearing for the judges who never summon it), 2) the other aspects of procedural adequation (anticipation of the production of expert evidence, waiving of oral argument at the final hearing, written allegations, dismissal of the dispatch on the controversial facts and the examination of witnesses at the domicile of one of the lawyers) are still little used and 3) formal adequation tends to happen by initiative of the judge, as plaintiffs and defendants are afraid of celebrating procedural agreements in most situations. In short, we can say that, in the Portuguese legal order of the 21st century, the flexibility of the legal procedure, as it is defined in the law and applied by procedural subjects, does not affect the importance of the rules of Civil Procedure of the code of 2013.

Keywords: casuistic adequation, civil procedure code of 2013, procedural subjects, rules of civil procedure

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Authors: Shangqing Song, Bin Xu, Yajun Cheng, Zhong Wang

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miRNAs derived from exosomes exist in a body fluid such as urine were regarded as potential biomarkers for various human cancers diagnosis and prognosis, as mature miRNAs can be steadily preserved by exosomes. However, its potential value in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) diagnosis and prognosis remains unclear. In the present study, differentially expressed miRNAs from urinal exosomes were identified by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The 16 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified between ccRCC patients and healthy donors. To explore the specific diagnosis biomarker of ccRCC, we validated these urinary exosomes from 70 early-stage renal cancer patients, 30 healthy people and other urinary system cancers, including 30 early-stage prostate cancer patients and 30 early-stage bladder cancer patients by qRT-PCR. The results showed that urinary exosome miR-30c-5p could be stably amplified and meanwhile the expression of miR-30c-5p has no significant difference between other urinary system cancers and healthy control, however, expression level of miR-30c-5p in urinary exosomal of ccRCC patients was lower than healthy people and receiver operation characterization (ROC) curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) values was 0.8192 (95% confidence interval was 0.7388-0.8996, P= 0.0000). In addition, up-regulating miR-30c-5p expression could inhibit renal cell carcinoma cells growth. Lastly, HSP5A was found as a direct target gene of miR-30c-5p. HSP5A depletion reversed the promoting effect of ccRCC growth casued by miR-30c-5p inhibitor, respectively. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that urinary exosomal miR-30c-5p is readily accessible as diagnosis biomarker of early-stage ccRCC, and miR-30c-5p might modulate the expression of HSPA5, which correlated with the progression of ccRCC.

Keywords: clear cell renal cell carcinoma, exosome, HSP5A, miR-30c-5p

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Authors: Yitong Xie, Chaokui Qin, Zhiguang Chen, Shuangqian Guo

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Injecting hydrogen, a competitive carbon-free energy carrier, into existing natural gas networks has become a promising step toward alleviating global warming. Considering the differences in properties of hydrogen and natural gas, there is very little evidence showing how many degrees of hydrogen admixture can be accepted and how to adjust appliances to adapt to gas constituents' variation. The lack of this type of analysis provides more uncertainty in injecting hydrogen into networks because of the short the basis of burner design and adjustment. First, the properties of methane and hydrogen were compared for a comprehensive analysis of the impact of hydrogen addition to methane. As the main determinant of flame stability, the burning velocity was adopted for hydrogen addition analysis. Burning velocities for hydrogen-enriched natural gas with different hydrogen percentages and equivalence ratios were calculated by the software CHEMKIN. Interchangeability methods, including single index methods, multi indices methods, and diagram methods, were adopted to determine the limit of hydrogen percentage. Cooktops and water heaters were experimentally tested in the laboratory. Flame structures of different hydrogen percentages and equivalence ratios were observed and photographed. Besides, the change in heat efficiency, burner temperature, emission by hydrogen percentage, and equivalence ratio was studied. The experiment methodologies and results in this paper provide an important basis for the introduction of hydrogen into gas pipelines and the adjustment of gas appliances.

Keywords: hydrogen, methane, combustion, appliances, interchangeability

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Authors: Oxana Lukoshus

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The methods of corpus linguistics, a well-established field of research, are being increasingly applied in cognitive linguistics. Corpora data are especially useful for different quantitative studies of grammatical and other aspects of language. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate how present-day corpora can be applied in semantic studies in general and in semantic studies of adjectives in particular. Polysemantic adjectives have been the subject of numerous studies. But most of them have been carried out on dictionaries. Undoubtedly, dictionaries are viewed as one of the basic data sources, but only at the initial steps of a research. The author usually starts with the analysis of the lexicographic data after which s/he comes up with a hypothesis. In the research conducted three polysemantic synonyms true, loyal, faithful have been analyzed in terms of differences and similarities in their semantic structure. A corpus-based approach in the study of the above-mentioned adjectives involves the following. After the analysis of the dictionary data there was the reference to the following corpora to study the distributional patterns of the words under study – the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). These corpora are continually updated and contain thousands of examples of the words under research which make them a useful and convenient data source. For the purpose of this study there were no special needs regarding genre, mode or time of the texts included in the corpora. Out of the range of possibilities offered by corpus-analysis software (e.g. word lists, statistics of word frequencies, etc.), the most useful tool for the semantic analysis was the extracting a list of co-occurrence for the given search words. Searching by lemmas, e.g. true, true to, and grouping the results by lemmas have proved to be the most efficient corpora feature for the adjectives under the study. Following the search process, the corpora provided a list of co-occurrences, which were then to be analyzed and classified. Not every co-occurrence was relevant for the analysis. For example, the phrases like An enormous sense of responsibility to protect the minds and hearts of the faithful from incursions by the state was perceived to be the basic duty of the church leaders or ‘True,’ said Phoebe, ‘but I'd probably get to be a Union Official immediately were left out as in the first example the faithful is a substantivized adjective and in the second example true is used alone with no other parts of speech. The subsequent analysis of the corpora data gave the grounds for the distribution groups of the adjectives under the study which were then investigated with the help of a semantic experiment. To sum it up, the corpora-based approach has proved to be a powerful, reliable and convenient tool to get the data for the further semantic study.

Keywords: corpora, corpus-based approach, polysemantic adjectives, semantic studies

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Authors: Tunde Puskas, Anita Andersson

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In Swedish early childhood education research, the issues related to religious identifications and practices have often been marginalized or relegated either to the realm of diversity and multiculturalism or to the realm of national traditions. This paper is part of a research project about whether religion is considered as part of Swedish cultural heritage in Swedish preschools. Our aim in this paper is to explore how a Swedish preschool balance between keeping the education non-confessional and at the same time introducing the traditions associated with advent and Christmas. Christmas was chosen because of the religious background of the holiday and because it is a tradition widely celebrated in Swedish preschools. In Swedish education system, the concept of freedom of religion is understood in the sense that education is declared to be non-confessional. Nevertheless, as the major state holidays in Sweden are tied to Lutheran Christian traditions, and according to the curriculum preschool educators, are given the task to pass on a cultural heritage, defined in terms of values, traditions, history, language, and knowledge, it is the preschool teams or individual preschool teachers who determine whether and to what extent religious considerations are/ought to be seen as part of the cultural heritage the preschool passes on. The data consists of ten video taped observations from two preschools. The video data was transcribed and the transcripts were thereafter analysed through content analysis. In the analysis, we draw on the concept of banal religiosity that has helped us to draw attention to the workings of religious considerations that are so familiar that they rarely are noticed as religious and on Ninian Smart’s theory on the dimensions of religion. The analysis shows that what the adults actually do with religion fulfils six of seven dimensions common to religious traditions as outlined by Smart. At the same time, Christmas is performed as a lived tradition within which the commercial and religious rituals intersect and result in a banal, national religiosity.

Keywords: secular advent, banal religiosity, dimensions of religion, rites

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Authors: Tahani Hallek, Dhaou Akrout, Riadh Ahmadi, Mabrouk Montacer

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The present work is an organic geochemical study of the Fahdene Formation outcrops at the Mahjouba region belonging to the Eastern part of the Kalaat Senan structure in northwestern Tunisia (the Kef-Tedjerouine area). The analytical study of the organic content of the samples collected, allowed us to point out that the Formation in question is characterized by an average to good oil potential. This fossilized organic matter has a mixed origin (type II and III), as indicated by the relatively high values of hydrogen index. This origin is confirmed by the C29 Steranes abundance and also by tricyclic terpanes C19/(C19+C23) and tetracyclic terpanes C24/(C24+C23) ratios, that suggest a marine environment of deposit with high plants contribution. We have demonstrated that the heterogeneity of organic matter between the marine aspect, confirmed by the presence of foraminifera, and the continental contribution, is the result of an episodic anomaly in relation to the sequential stratigraphy. Given that the study area is defined as an outer platform forming a transition zone between a stable continental domain to the south and a deep basin to the north, we have explained the continental contribution by successive forced regressions, having blocked the albian transgression, allowing the installation of the lowstand system tracts. This aspect is represented by the incised valleys filling, in direct contact with the pelagic and deep sea facies. Consequently, the Fahdene Formation, in the Kef-Tedjerouine area, consists of transgressive system tracts (TST) brutally truncated by extras of continental progradation; resulting in a mixed influence deposition having retained a heterogeneous organic material.

Keywords: molecular geochemistry, biomarkers, forced regression, deposit environment, mixed origin, Northern Tunisia

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Authors: Muhammad Isa Khan, Jalil Ur Rehman, Muhammad Afzal Khan Rao, James Chow

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Purpose: This study investigates the dose-volume variations in planning target volume (PTV) and organs-at-risk (OARs) using different collimator angles for smart arc prostate volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). Awareness of the collimator angle for PTV and OARs sparing is essential for the planner because optimization contains numerous treatment constraints producing a complex, unstable and computationally challenging problem throughout its examination of an optimal plan in a rational time. Materials and Methods: Single arc VMAT plans at different collimator angles varied systematically (0°-90°) were performed on a Harold phantom and a new treatment plan is optimized for each collimator angle. We analyzed the conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), gradient index (GI), monitor units (MUs), dose-volume histogram, mean and maximum doses to PTV. We also explored OARs (e.g. bladder, rectum and femoral heads), dose-volume criteria in the treatment plan (e.g. D30%, D50%, V30Gy and V38Gy of bladder and rectum; D5%,V14Gy and V22Gy of femoral heads), dose-volume histogram, mean and maximum doses for smart arc VMAT at different collimator angles. Results: There was no significance difference found in VMAT optimization at all studied collimator angles. However, if 0.5% accuracy is concerned then collimator angle = 45° provides higher CI and lower HI. Collimator angle = 15° also provides lower HI values like collimator angle 45°. It is seen that collimator angle = 75° is established as a good for rectum and right femur sparing. Collimator angle = 90° and collimator angle = 30° were found good for rectum and left femur sparing respectively. The PTV dose coverage statistics for each plan are comparatively independent of the collimator angles. Conclusion: It is concluded that this study will help the planner to have freedom to choose any collimator angle from (0°-90°) for PTV coverage and select a suitable collimator angle to spare OARs.

Keywords: VMAT, dose-volume histogram, collimator angle, organs-at-risk

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Authors: Navid Mirzaei Varzeghani, Mahmoud Saffarzadeh, Ali Naderan, Amirhossein Taheri

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Countries are progressing, and the world's busiest airports see year-on-year increases in travel demand. Passenger acceptability of an airport depends on the airport's appeals, which may include one of these routes between the city and the airport, as well as the facilities to reach them. One of the critical roles of transportation planners is to predict future transportation demand so that an integrated, multi-purpose system can be provided and diverse modes of transportation (rail, air, and land) can be delivered to a destination like an airport. In this study, 356 questionnaires were filled out in person over six days. First, the attraction of business and non-business trips was studied using data and a linear regression model. Lower travel costs, a range of ages more significant than 55, and other factors are essential for business trips. Non-business travelers, on the other hand, have prioritized using personal vehicles to get to the airport and ensuring convenient access to the airport. Business travelers are also less price-sensitive than non-business travelers regarding airport travel. Furthermore, carrying additional luggage (for example, more than one suitcase per person) undoubtedly decreases the attractiveness of public transit. Afterward, based on the manner and purpose of the trip, the locations with the highest trip generation to the airport were identified. The most famous district in Tehran was District 2, with 23 visits, while the most popular mode of transportation was an online taxi, with 12 trips from that location. Then, significant variables in separation and behavior of travel methods to access the airport were investigated for all systems. In this scenario, the most crucial factor is the time it takes to get to the airport, followed by the method's user-friendliness as a component of passenger preference. It has also been demonstrated that enhancing public transportation trip times reduces private transportation's market share, including taxicabs. Based on the responses of personal and semi-public vehicles, the desire of passengers to approach the airport via public transportation systems was explored to enhance present techniques and develop new strategies for providing the most efficient modes of transportation. Using the binary model, it was clear that business travelers and people who had already driven to the airport were the least likely to change.

Keywords: multimodal transportation, demand modeling, travel behavior, statistical models

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Authors: Mamoon Mousa Atout

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The industries of construction are in continuous growth not only in Middle East rejoin but almost all over the world. For the last fifteen years, big expansion and increase of different types of projects has been observed. Many infrastructural projects have been developed, high rise buildings, big shopping malls, power sub-stations, roads, bridges, schools, universities and developing many of new cities with full and complete facilities. The growth and enlargement of the mentioned developed projects has been accomplished through many international and local contracting organizations. Senior management of these organizations depend on their qualified and experienced team whom are aware of the implications of project management, construction management, engineering management and resource management during tendering till final completion of the project. This research aims to find out why reasons of principles of construction engineering and management are necessary for contracting firms and their managers. Principles of construction management help contracting organizations to accomplish and deliver projects without delay. This can be maintained by establishing guidelines’ details for updating the adopted system of construction management that they have through qualified and experienced project managers. The research focuses on benefits of other essential skills of projects planning, monitoring and control. Defining roles and responsibilities of contractor project managers during tendering and execution is a part of the investigated factors that will be analyzed. Other skills like optimizing and utilizing the obtainable project resources to deliver the project within time, cost and quality will be also investigated to find out how these factors are affecting the performance of contracting firms, projects managers and projects. The conclusion of the research will help senior management team and the contractors project managers about the benefits of implications and benefits construction management system and its effect upon the performance and knowledge of contract values that they have, and the optimal profit margin of the firm it.

Keywords: construction management, contracting firms, project managers, planning processes, roles and responsibilities

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Authors: Chung Danbi, Linton Oliver, Whang Yoon-Jae

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Supermodularity, or complementarity, is a popular concept in economics which can characterize many objective functions such as utility, social welfare, and production functions. Further, supermodular dominance captures a preference for greater interdependence among inputs of those functions, and it can be applied to examine which input set would produce higher expected utility, social welfare, or production. Therefore, we propose and justify a consistent testing for a useful implication of supermodular dominance. We also conduct Monte Carlo simulations to explore the finite sample performance of our test, with critical values obtained from the recentered bootstrap method, with and without the selective recentering, and the subsampling method. Under various parameter settings, we confirmed that our test has reasonably good size and power performance. Finally, we apply our test to compare the geographic and distant knowledge spillover in terms of their effects on social welfare using the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) patent data. We expect localized citing to supermodularly dominate distant citing if the geographic knowledge spillover engenders greater social welfare than distant knowledge spillover. Taking subgroups based on firm and patent characteristics, we found that there is industry-wise and patent subclass-wise difference in the pattern of supermodular dominance between localized and distant citing. We also compare the results from analyzing different time periods to see if the development of Internet and communication technology has changed the pattern of the dominance. In addition, to appropriately deal with the sparse nature of the data, we apply high-dimensional methods to efficiently select relevant data.

Keywords: supermodularity, supermodular dominance, stochastic dominance, Monte Carlo simulation, bootstrap, subsampling

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Authors: Prakash Chandra Dhara, Rupa Maity, Mousumi Chatterjee

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Crowbars are used for the gardening purpose. The same tools are used by both male and female gardeners. The existing crowbars are suitable for the female gardeners. The present study was aimed to design a crowbar, which was required to use by the women for the gardening purpose, from the viewpoints of ergonomics. The study was carried out on 50 women in different villages of Howrah districts in West Bengal state. Different models of existing crowbars which were commonly used by the women were collected and evaluated by examining their shape and size. The problems of using existing crowbar were assessed by direct observation during its operation. The musculoskeletal disorder of the subjects for using the crowbar was evaluated by modified Nordic questionnaire method. The anthropometric dimensions, especially hand dimension, of the subjects were taken in standardized static conditions. Considering the problems of using the existing crowbars some design concepts were developed and accordingly three prototypes models (P1, P2, P3) of crowbar were prepared for designing of a modified crowbar for women. Psychophysical analysis of those prototypes was made by paired comparison tests. In the above test subjective preference for different characteristics of the crowbar, e.g., length, weight, length and breadth of the blade, handle diameter, position of the handle, were determined. From the results of the paired comparison test and percentile values of hand dimensions, a modified design of crowbar was suggested. The prototype model P1 possessed more preferred characteristics of the tool than that of other prototype models. In the final design, the weight of the tool and length of the blade was reduced from that of the existing crowbar. Other dimensions were also changed. Two handles were suggested in the redesigned tool for better gripping and operation. The modified crowbar was evaluated by studying the body joint angles, viz., wrist, shoulder and elbow, for assessing the suitability of the design. It was concluded that the redesigned crowbar was suitable for women’s use.

Keywords: body dimension, crowbar, ergo-design, women, hand anthropometry

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Authors: Stephanie Aguirre Moreno, Jesús Everardo Olguín Tiznado, Claudia Camargo Wilson, Juan Andrés López Barreras

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This research work presents a proposal to evaluate the environmental performance of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Mexico in order to minimize their environmental impact. Given that public education has limited financial resources, it is necessary to conduct studies that support priorities in decision-making situations and thus obtain the best cost-benefit ratio of continuous improvement programs as part of the environmental management system implemented. The methodology employed, adapted from the Environmental Effect Analysis (EEA), weighs the environmental aspects identified in the environmental diagnosis by two characteristics. Number one, environmental priority through the perception of the stakeholders, compliance of legal requirements, and environmental impact of operations. Number two, the possibility of improvement, which depends of factors such as the exchange rate that will be made, the level of investment and the return time of it. The highest environmental priorities, or hot spots, identified in this evaluation were: electricity consumption, water consumption and recycling, and disposal of municipal solid waste. However, the possibility of improvement for the disposal of municipal solid waste is higher, followed by water consumption and recycling, in spite of having an equal possibility of improvement to the energy consumption, time of return and cost-benefit is much greater.

Keywords: environmental performance, environmental priority, possibility of improvement, continuous improvement programs

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Authors: Pantelis Sklias, Panagiota Chatzimichailidou

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This study intents to clarify the nexus of adult education and economic development within the methodological framework of political economy within EU. The main logic behind this study is that economies with a higher level of adult education have higher levels of economic development. Despite the assumption that policy making in adult education will clearly be facilitated by any ‘proofs’ of efficiency, mainly monetary, this study acknowledges the limitations following the use of the narrow economic approaches embedded in the neoclassical framework and proposes that the methodological framework of political economy is the most relevant to explore the correlation between adult education and economic development. Focusing only on neoclassical economics to explore the financial impact of adult education, it will marginalize the consideration of its history, producing a short of historical amnesia, besides the social harm, namely the devaluation of its socio-cultural influences. On the other side the political economy perspective offers a wider perception of adult education’s profits from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective too. The understanding of adult education engages questions of political economy because it is identified mainly as means of transformation, either personal or societal, serving humanistic values, besides its accepted monetary attributes. The political economy elevates questions regarding how the three institutional arrangements -the state, the market, and the civil society, are engaged in promoting adult education and therefore how adult education could reinforce economic development. Here the economic substance is still considered but it is placed into a wider social spectrum, where politics, economy, and history interact with one another. This study restricts itself in EU and explores the role of the three institutional arrangements both in the formulation of policy planning, and in the mental transformational process of the individual learners, which opens the path to a deeper understanding of the interaction between the individual and the social action, and therefore between adult education and economic development. This study also elevates the idea that economic development can have a positive impact on the unification of Europe, which encompasses economic, political, and cultural components.

Keywords: adult education, economic development, EU, political economy, unification of Europe

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Makhlouf Mourad, Messabih Sidi Mohamed, Bouchher Omar, Houali Farida, Benrachedi Khaled

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Mesoporous materials are very commonly used as adsorbent materials for removing phenolic compounds. However, the adsorption mechanism of these compounds is still poorly controlled. However, understanding the interactions mesoporous materials/adsorbed molecules is very important in order to optimize the processes of liquid phase adsorption. The difficulty of synthesis is to keep an orderly and cubic pore structure and achieve a homogeneous surface modification. The grafting of Si(CH₃)₃ was chosen, to transform hydrophilic surfaces hydrophobic surfaces. The aim of this work is to study the kinetics and thermodynamics of two volatile organic compounds VOC phenol (PhOH) and P hydroxy benzoic acid (4AHB) on a mesoporous material of type MCM-48 grafted with an organosilane of the Trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) type, the material thus grafted or functionalized (hereinafter referred to as MCM-48-G). In a first step, the kinetic and thermodynamic study of the adsorption isotherms of each of the VOCs in mono-solution was carried out. In a second step, a similar study was carried out on a mixture of these two compounds. Kinetic models (pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order) were used to determine kinetic adsorption parameters. The thermodynamic parameters of the adsorption isotherms were determined by the adsorption models (Langmuir, Freundlich). The comparative study of adsorption of PhOH and 4AHB proved that MCM-48-G had a high adsorption capacity for PhOH and 4AHB; this may be related to the hydrophobicity created by the organic function of TMCS in MCM-48-G. The adsorption results for the two compounds using the Freundlich and Langmuir models show that the adsorption of 4AHB was higher than PhOH. The values ​​obtained by the adsorption thermodynamics show that the adsorption interactions for our sample with the phenol and 4AHB are of a physical nature. The adsorption of our VOCs on the MCM-48 (G) is a spontaneous and exothermic process.

Keywords: adsorption, kinetics, isotherm, mesoporous materials, Phenol, P-hydroxy benzoique acid

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Authors: Basavaraj R. Endigeri, S. G. Sarganachari

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Steel is widely used in machine parts, structural equipment and many other applications. In many steel structural elements, holes of different shapes and orientations are made with a view to satisfy the design requirements. The presence of holes in steel elements creates stress concentration, which eventually reduce the mechanical strength of the structure. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate the state of stress around the holes for the safety and properties design of such elements. By literature survey, it is known that till date, there is no analytical solution to reduce the stress concentration by providing auxiliary holes at a definite location and radii in a steel plate. The numerical method can be used to determine the optimum location and radii of auxiliary holes. In the present work plate with an elliptical hole, for a steel material subjected to uniaxial load is analyzed and the effect of stress concentration is graphically represented .The introduction of auxiliary holes at a optimum location and radii with its effect on stress concentration is also represented graphically. The finite element analysis package ANSYS 11.0 is used to analyse the steel plate. The analysis is carried out using a plane 42 element. Further the ANSYS optimization model is used to determine the location and radii for optimum values of auxiliary hole to reduce stress concentration. All the results for different diameter to plate width ratio are presented graphically. The results of this study are in the form of the graphs for determining the locations and diameter of optimal auxiliary holes. The graph of stress concentration v/s central hole diameter to plate width ratio. The Finite Elements results of the study indicates that the stress concentration effect of central elliptical hole in an uniaxial loaded plate can be reduced by introducing auxiliary holes on either side of the central circular hole.

Keywords: finite element method, optimization, stress concentration factor, auxiliary holes

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Authors: Sachin Pawar, Suman Patra, Goutam Mukhopadhyay

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The primary function of a shaft is to transfer power. The shaft can be cast or forged and then machined to the final shape. Manufacturing of ~5 m length and 0.6 m diameter shaft is very critical. More difficult is to maintain its straightness during heat treatment and machining operations, which involve thermal and mechanical loads, respectively. During the machining operation of a such forged mandrel shaft, a deflection of 3-4mm was observed. To remove this deflection shaft was pressed at both ends which led to the development of cracks in it. To investigate the root cause of the deflection and cracking, the sample was cut from the failed shaft. Possible causes were identified with the help of a cause and effect diagram. Chemical composition analysis, microstructural analysis, and hardness measurement were done to confirm whether the shaft meets the required specifications or not. Chemical composition analysis confirmed that the material grade was 42CrMo4. Microstructural analysis revealed the presence of untempered martensite, indicating improper heat treatment. Due to this, ductility and impact toughness values were considerably lower than the specification of the mentioned grade. Residual stress measurement of one more bent shaft manufactured by a similar route was done by portable X-ray diffraction(XRD) technique. For better understanding, measurements were done at twelve different locations along the length of the shaft. The occurrence of a high amount of undesirable tensile residual stresses close to the Ultimate Tensile Strength(UTS) of the material was observed. Untempered martensitic structure, lower ductility, lower impact strength, and presence of a high amount of residual stresses all confirmed the improper tempering heat treatment of the shaft. Tempering relieves the residual stresses. Based on the findings of this study, stress-relieving heat treatment was done to remove the residual stresses and deflection in the shaft successfully.

Keywords: residual stress, mandrel shaft, untempered martensite, portable XRD

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Muhammad Alkhunayn, Sajedah Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Ayah Al Yaari, Fatehi Eissa

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Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder of written expression that impairs writing ability and fine motor skills, resulting primarily in problems relating not only to handwriting but also to writing coherence and cohesion. We investigate the properties of smart writing technology to highlight some unique features of the effects they cause on the academic performance of pupils with dysgraphia. In Amis, dysgraphics undergo writing problems to express their ideas due to ordinary writing aids, as the default strategy. The Amis data suggests a possible connection between available writing aids and pupils’ writing improvement; therefore, texts’ expression and comprehension. A group of thirteen dysgraphic pupils were placed in a regular classroom of primary school, with twenty-one pupils being recruited in the study as a control group. To ensure validity, reliability and accountability to the research, both groups studied writing courses for two semesters, of which the first was equipped with smart writing aids while the second took place in an ordinary classroom. Two pre-tests were undertaken at the beginning of the first two semesters, and two post-tests were administered at the end of both semesters. Tests examined pupils’ ability to write coherent, cohesive and expressive texts. The dysgraphic group received the treatment of a writing course in the first semester in classes with smart technology and produced significantly greater increases in writing expression than in an ordinary classroom, and their performance was better than that of the control group in the second semester. The current study concludes that using smart teaching aids is a ‘MUST’, both for teaching and learning dysgraphia. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that for young dysgraphia, expressive tasks are more challenging than coherent and cohesive tasks. The study, therefore, supports the literature suggesting a role for smart educational aids in writing and that smart writing techniques may be an efficient addition to regular educational practices, notably in special educational institutions and speech-language therapeutic facilities. However, further research is needed to prompt the adults with dysgraphia more often than is done to the older adults without dysgraphia in order to get them to finish the other productive and/or written skills tasks.

Keywords: smart technology, writing aids, pupils with dysgraphia, hands’ movement

Procedia PDF Downloads 38

Authors: K. A. Ghazaryan, H. S. Movsesyan, N. P. Ghazaryan

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The present study was aimed in assessing the heavy metal pollution of the soils around Agarak copper-molybdenum mine complex and related environmental risks. This mine complex is located in the south-east part of Armenia, and the present study was conducted in 2013. The soils of the five riskiest sites of this region were studied: surroundings of the open mine, the sites adjacent to processing plant of Agarak copper-molybdenum mine complex, surroundings of Darazam active tailing dump, the recultivated tailing dump of “ravine - 2”, and the recultivated tailing dump of “ravine - 3”. The mountain cambisol was the main soil type in the study sites. The level of soil contamination by heavy metals was assessed by Contamination factors (Cf), Degree of contamination (Cd), Geoaccumulation index (I-geo) and Enrichment factor (EF). The distribution pattern of trace metals in the soil profile according to Cf, Cd, I-geo and EF values shows that the soil is much polluted. Almost in all studied sites, Cu, Mo, Pb, and Cd were the main polluting heavy metals, and this was conditioned by Agarak copper-molybdenum mine complex activity. It is necessary to state that the pollution problem becomes pressing as some parts of these highly polluted region are inhabited by population, and agriculture is highly developed there; therefore, heavy metals can be transferred into human bodies through food chains and have direct influence on public health. Since the induced pollution can pose serious threats to public health, further investigations on soil and vegetation pollution are recommended. Finally, Cf calculating based on distance from the pollution source and the wind direction can provide more reasonable results.

Keywords: Agarak copper-molybdenum mine complex, heavy metals, soil contamination, enrichment factor (EF), Armenia

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Robert Smith, Omar Espinoza, Anna Pitta

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In the United States, trees felled in urban areas and wood generated through construction and demolition are primarily disposed of as low-value resources, such as biomass for energy, landscaping mulch, composting, or landfilled. An emerging industry makes use of these underutilized resources to produce high value-added products, with associated benefits for the environment, the local economy, and consumers. For the circular economy to be successful, markets must be created for sustainable, reusable natural materials. Research was carried out to increase the understanding of the marketing practices of urban and reclaimed wood industries. This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of these companies. The results indicate that a majority of companies in this industry are small firms, operating for less than 10 years, which produce mostly to order and sell their products at comparatively higher prices than competing products made from virgin natural resources. Promotional messages included quality, aesthetics, and customization, conveyed through company webpages, word of mouth, and social media. Distribution channels used include direct sales, online sales, and retail sales. Partnerships are critical for effective raw material procurement. Respondents indicated optimistic growth expectations, despite barriers associated with urban and reclaimed wood materials and production.

Keywords: urban and reclaimed wood, circular economy, marketing, wood products

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Mannar R. Maurya, Bithika Sarkar, Fernando Avecilla

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Peroxidase activity is possibly successfully used for different industrial processes in medicine, chemical industry, food processing and agriculture. However, they bear some intrinsic drawback associated with denaturation by proteases, their special storage requisite and cost factor also. Now a day’s artificial enzyme mimics are becoming a research interest because of their significant applications over conventional organic enzymes for ease of their preparation, low price and good stability in activity and overcome the drawbacks of natural enzymes e.g serine proteases. At present, a large number of artificial enzymes have been synthesized by assimilating a catalytic center into a variety of schiff base complexes, ligand-anchoring, supramolecular complexes, hematin, porphyrin, nanoparticles to mimic natural enzymes. Although in recent years a several number of vanadium complexes have been reported by a continuing increase in interest in bioinorganic chemistry. To our best of knowledge, the investigation of artificial enzyme mimics of vanadium complexes is very less explored. Recently, our group has reported synthetic vanadium schiff base complexes capable of mimicking peroxidases. Herein, we have synthesized monoidovanadium(IV) and dioxidovanadium(V) complexes of pyrazoleone derivateis ( extensively studied on account of their broad range of pharmacological appication). All these complexes are characterized by various spectroscopic techniques like FT-IR, UV-Visible, NMR (1H, 13C and 51V), Elemental analysis, thermal studies and single crystal analysis. The peroxidase mimic activity has been studied towards oxidation of pyrogallol to purpurogallin with hydrogen peroxide at pH 7 followed by measuring kinetic parameters. The Michaelis-Menten behavior shows an excellent catalytic activity over its natural counterparts, e.g. V-HPO and HRP. The obtained kinetic parameters (Vmax, Kcat) were also compared with peroxidase and haloperoxidase enzymes making it a promising mimic of peroxidase catalyst. Also, the catalytic activity has been studied towards the oxidation of 1-phenylethanol in presence of H2O2 as an oxidant. Various parameters such as amount of catalyst and oxidant, reaction time, reaction temperature and solvent have been taken into consideration to get maximum oxidative products of 1-phenylethanol.

Keywords: oxovanadium(IV)/dioxidovanadium(V) complexes, NMR spectroscopy, Crystal structure, peroxidase mimic activity towards oxidation of pyrogallol, Oxidation of 1-phenylethanol

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Omar Youssef, Aija Knuuttila, Paivi Piirilä, Virinder Sarhadi, Sakari Knuutila

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Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is a unique sample that allows studying different genetic changes in lung carcinoma through a non-invasive way. With the aid of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology, analysis of genetic mutations has been more efficient with increased sensitivity for detection of genetic variants. In order to investigate the possibility of applying this method for cancer diagnostics, mutations in EBC DNA from lung cancer patients and healthy individuals were studied by using NGS. The key aim is to assess the feasibility of using this approach to detect clinically important mutations in EBC. EBC was collected from 20 healthy individuals and 9 lung cancer patients (four lung adenocarcinomas, four 8 squamous cell carcinoma, and one case of mesothelioma). Mutations in hotpot regions of 22 genes were studied by using Ampliseq Colon and Lung cancer panel and sequenced on Ion PGM. Results demonstrated that all nine patients showed a total of 19 cosmic mutations in APC, BRAF, EGFR, ERBB4, FBXW7, FGFR1, KRAS, MAP2K1, NRAS, PIK3CA, PTEN, RET, SMAD4, and TP53. In controls, 15 individuals showed 35 cosmic mutations in BRAF, CTNNB1, DDR2, EGFR, ERBB2, FBXW7, FGFR3, KRAS, MET, NOTCH1, NRAS, PIK3CA, PTEN, SMAD4, and TP53. Additionally, 45 novel mutations not reported previously were also seen in patients’ samples, and 106 novel mutations were seen in controls’ specimens. KRAS exon 2 mutations G12D was identified in one control specimen with mutant allele fraction of 6.8%, while KRAS G13D mutation seen in one patient sample showed mutant allele fraction of 17%. These findings illustrate that hotspot mutations are present in DNA from EBC of both cancer patients and healthy controls. As some of the cosmic mutations were seen in controls too, no firm conclusion can be drawn on the clinical importance of cosmic mutations in patients. Mutations reported in controls could represent early neoplastic changes or normal homeostatic process of apoptosis occurring in lung tissue to get rid of mutant cells. At the same time, mutations detected in patients might represent a non-invasive easily accessible way for early cancer detection. Follow up of individuals with important cancer mutations is necessary to clarify the significance of these mutations in both healthy individuals and cancer patients.

Keywords: exhaled breath condensate, lung cancer, mutations, next generation sequencing

Procedia PDF Downloads 176