Search results for: mixed (phthalocyaninato) (porphyrinato) rare earth complex

Authors: Getachew Mekaa, Bezatu Mengisteb, Tena Alamirewc

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Ashebeka River is the main source of drinking water supply for Assela City and its surrounding inhabitants. Apart from seasonal water reliability disruption, the cost of treating water downstream of the river has been increasing over time due to increased pollutants and suspended sediments. Therefore, this research aimed to identify geo-location and prioritize suspended sediment sources in the Ashebeka River catchment using sediment fingerprinting. We collected 58 composite soil samples and a river water sample for suspended sediment samples from the outlet, which were then filtered using Whatman filter paper. The samples were quantified for geochemical tracers with multi-element capability, and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Tracers with significant p-value and that passed the Kruskal-Wallis (KW) test were analyzed for stepwise discriminant function analysis (DFA). The DFA results revealed tracers with good discrimination were subsequently used for the mixed model analysis. The relative significant sediment source contributions from sub-catchments (km2): 3, 4, 1, and 2 were estimated as 49.31% (8), 26.71% (5), 23.65% (5.6), and 0.33% (28.4) respectively. The findings of this study will help the water utilities to prioritize areas of intervention, and the approach used could be followed for catchment prioritization in water safety plan development. Moreover, the findings of this research shed light on the integration of sediment fingerprinting into water safety plans to ensure the reliability of drinking water supplies.

Keywords: disruption of drinking water reliability, ashebeka river catchment, sediment fingerprinting, sediment source contribution, mixed model

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Authors: Sarah Barnard, John Arnold, Fehmidah Munir, Sara Bosley

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Gender issues in higher education continue to represent a complex issue as institutions grapple with the role that organisations can play in combatting inequality. Schemes like Athena SWAN and the Aurora leadership programme in the UK context are attempting to tackle some of the issues around representation and the recognition of women in the sector. This paper is the first of its kind in reporting findings from a mixed-methods longitudinal study on both professional services and academic women in higher education in the UK. Online surveys have been completed by over 2,000 women in the sector. The qualitative elements include interviews with women and their mentors, and diaries with a select group of women. So far results have shown that contrary to the stereotype of women lacking leadership skills or having no desire to go into higher roles, women in the sector consistently assessed their leadership abilities positively, especially but not only regarding interpersonal interaction and facilitation. Over 80% of women agreed that they felt confident about putting themselves forward for positions of responsibility at work. However, qualitative data shows that confidence remains a salient term for how women talk about the challenges they have faced at work. This suggests that the work needed to challenge systemic gender issues requires action to be driven above the individual level. Overall, academics reported more negative experiences than professional services staff. Similarly BAME women’s responses are more negative. Therefore, the study offers some information on the differential experiences of women. In conclusion, women in higher education are undertaking considerable ‘below the radar’ leadership activities in what they perceive to be a somewhat inhospitable hostile workplace culture. The significant amount of effort expended in the sector is affecting slow, partial impacts on gender inequalities.

Keywords: gender, higher education, leadership, longitudinal research

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Authors: Jyh-Cherng Chen, Yi-Jie Lin

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This study tries to reuse the fly ash of municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) for the synthesis of zeolites. The fly ashes were treated with NaOH alkali fusion at different temperatures for 40 mins and then synthesized the zeolites with hydrothermal method at 105oC for different operation times. The effects of different operation conditions and the optimum synthesis parameters were explored. The specific surface area, surface morphology, species identification, adsorption capacity, and the reuse potentials of the synthesized zeolites were analyzed and evaluated. Experimental results showed that the optimum operation conditions for the synthesis of zeolite from the mixed fly ash were Si/Al=20, alkali/ash=1.5, alkali fusion reaction with NaOH at 800oC for 40 mins, hydrolysis with L/S=200 at 105oC for 24 hr, and hydrothermal synthesis at 105oC for 48 hr. The largest specific surface area of synthesized zeolite could be increased to 943.05m2/g. The influence of different operation parameters on the synthesis of zeolite from mixed fly ash followed the sequence of Si/Al > hydrolysis L/S> hydrothermal time > alkali fusion temperature > alkali/ash ratio. The XRD patterns of synthesized zeolites were identified to be similar with the ZSM-23 zeolite. The adsorption capacities of synthesized zeolite for pollutants were increased as rising the specific surface area of synthesized zeolite. In summary, MSWI fly ash can be treated and reused to synthesize the zeolite with high specific surface area by the alkali fusion and hydrothermal method. The zeolite can be reuse for the adsorption of various pollutants. They have great potential for development.

Keywords: alkali fusion, hydrothermal, fly ash, zeolite

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Authors: Jing Yu, Hongyang Liu, Dong Hao

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On-Orbit Refueling is of great significance in extending space crafts' lifetime. The problem of minimum-fuel, time-fixed, Peer-to-Peer On-Orbit Refueling mission planning is addressed here with the particular aim of assigning fuel-insufficient satellites to the fuel-sufficient satellites and optimizing each rendezvous trajectory. Constraints including perturbation, communication link, sun illumination, hold points for different rendezvous phases, and sensor switching are considered. A planning model has established as well as a two-level solution method. The upper level deals with target assignment based on fuel equilibrium criterion, while the lower level solves constrained trajectory optimization using special maneuver strategies. Simulations show that the developed method could effectively resolve the Peer-to-Peer On-Orbit Refueling mission planning problem and deal with complex constraints.

Keywords: mission planning, orbital rendezvous, on-orbit refueling, space mission

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Authors: Wei Jun, Liao Hualin, Wang Huajian, Chen Jingkai, Liang Hongjun, Liu Chuanfu

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Kuqa Piedmont is rich in oil and gas resources and has great development potential in Tarim Basin, China. However, there is a huge thick gravel layer developed with high content, wide distribution and variation in size of gravel, leading to the condition of strong heterogeneity. So that, the drill string is in a state of severe vibration and the drill bit is worn seriously while drilling, which greatly reduces the rock-breaking efficiency, and there is a complex load state of impact and three-dimensional in-situ stress acting on the rock in the bottom hole. The dynamic mechanical properties and the influencing factors of conglomerate, the main component of gravel layer, are the basis of engineering design and efficient rock breaking method and theoretical research. Limited by the previously experimental technique, there are few works published yet about conglomerate, especially rare in dynamic load. Based on this, a kind of 3D SHPB system, three-dimensional prestress, can be applied to simulate the in-situ stress characteristics, is adopted for the dynamic test of the conglomerate. The results show that the dynamic strength is higher than its static strength obviously, and while the three-dimensional prestress is 0 and the loading strain rate is 81.25~228.42 s-1, the true triaxial equivalent strength is 167.17~199.87 MPa, and the strong growth factor of dynamic and static is 1.61~1.92. And the higher the impact velocity, the greater the loading strain rate, the higher the dynamic strength and the greater the failure strain, which all increase linearly. There is a critical prestress in the impact direction and its vertical direction. In the impact direction, while the prestress is less than the critical one, the dynamic strength and the loading strain rate increase linearly; otherwise, the strength decreases slightly and the strain rate decreases rapidly. In the vertical direction of impact load, the strength increases and the strain rate decreases linearly before the critical prestress, after that, oppositely. The dynamic strength of the conglomerate can be reduced properly by reducing the amplitude of impact load so that the service life of rock-breaking tools can be prolonged while drilling in the stratum rich in gravel. The research has important reference significance for the speed-increasing technology and theoretical research while drilling in gravel layer.

Keywords: huge thick gravel layer, conglomerate, 3D SHPB, dynamic strength, the deformation characteristics, prestress

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Authors: Anita Vidacs, Csaba Vagvolgyi, Judit Krisch

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The attachment of microorganisms to different surfaces and the development of biofilms can lead to outbreaks of food-borne diseases and economic losses due to perished food. In food processing environments, bacterial communities are generally formed by mixed cultures of different species. Plants are sources of several antimicrobial substances that may be potential candidates for the development of new disinfectants. We aimed to investigate cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), marjoram (Origanum majorana), and thyme (Thymus vulgaris). Essential oils and their major components (cinnamaldehyde, terpinene-4-ol, and thymol) on four-species biofilms of E. coli, L. monocytogenes, P. putida, and S. aureus. Experiments had three parts: (i) determination of minimum bactericide concentration and the killing time with microdilution methods; (ii) elimination of the four-species 24– and 168-hours old biofilm from stainless steel, polypropylene, tile and wood surfaces; and (iii) comparing the disinfectant effect with industrial used per-acetic based sanitizer (HC-DPE). E. coli and P. putida were more resistant to investigated essential oils and their main components in biofilm, than L. monocytogenes and S. aureus. These Gram-negative bacteria were detected on the surfaces, where the natural based disinfectant had not total biofilm elimination effect. Most promoted solutions were the cinnamon essential oil and the terpinene-4-ol that could eradicate the biofilm from stainless steel, polypropylene and even from tile, too. They have a better disinfectant effect than HC-DPE. These natural agents can be used as alternative solutions in the battle against bacterial biofilms.

Keywords: biofilm, essential oils, surfaces, terpinene-4-ol

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Authors: Collins C. Chiemeke, I. B. Osazuwa, S. O. Ibe, G. N. Egwuonwu, C. D. Ani, E. C. Chii

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The study area is Zaria, located in the basement complex of northern Nigeria. The rock type forming the major part of the Zaria batholith is granite. This research work was carried out to compare the responses of seismic refraction tomography and resistivity tomography in the same geologic environment and under the same conditions. Hence, the choice of the site that has a visible granitic outcrop that extends across a narrow stream channel and is flanked by unconsolidated overburden, a neutral profile that was covered by plain overburden and a site with thick lateritic cover became necessary. The results of the seismic and resistivity tomography models reveals that seismic velocity and resistivity does not always simultaneously increase with depth, but their responses in any geologic environment are determined by changes in the mechanical and chemical content of the rock types rather than depth.

Keywords: environment, resistivity, response, seismic, velocity

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Authors: D. Madhushanka, Y. Liu, H. C. Fernando

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Fires are one of the foremost factors of land surface disturbance in diverse ecosystems, causing soil erosion and land-cover changes and atmospheric effects affecting people's lives and properties. Generally, the severity of the fire is calculated as the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) index. This is performed manually by comparing two images obtained afterward. Then by using the bitemporal difference of the preprocessed satellite images, the dNBR is calculated. The burnt area is then classified as either unburnt (dNBR<0.1) or burnt (dNBR>= 0.1). Furthermore, Wildfire Severity Assessment (WSA) classifies burnt areas and unburnt areas using classification levels proposed by USGS and comprises seven classes. This procedure generates a burn severity report for the area chosen by the user manually. This study is carried out with the objective of producing an automated tool for the above-mentioned process, namely the World Wildfire Severity Assessment Tool (WWSAT). It is implemented in Google Earth Engine (GEE), which is a free cloud-computing platform for satellite data processing, with several data catalogs at different resolutions (notably Landsat, Sentinel-2, and MODIS) and planetary-scale analysis capabilities. Sentinel-2 MSI is chosen to obtain regular processes related to burnt area severity mapping using a medium spatial resolution sensor (15m). This tool uses machine learning classification techniques to identify burnt areas using NBR and to classify their severity over the user-selected extent and period automatically. Cloud coverage is one of the biggest concerns when fire severity mapping is performed. In WWSAT based on GEE, we present a fully automatic workflow to aggregate cloud-free Sentinel-2 images for both pre-fire and post-fire image compositing. The parallel processing capabilities and preloaded geospatial datasets of GEE facilitated the production of this tool. This tool consists of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to make it user-friendly. The advantage of this tool is the ability to obtain burn area severity over a large extent and more extended temporal periods. Two case studies were carried out to demonstrate the performance of this tool. The Blue Mountain national park forest affected by the Australian fire season between 2019 and 2020 is used to describe the workflow of the WWSAT. This site detected more than 7809 km2, using Sentinel-2 data, giving an error below 6.5% when compared with the area detected on the field. Furthermore, 86.77% of the detected area was recognized as fully burnt out, of which high severity (17.29%), moderate-high severity (19.63%), moderate-low severity (22.35%), and low severity (27.51%). The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest Park, California, the USA, which is affected by the Cameron peak fire in 2020, is chosen for the second case study. It was found that around 983 km2 had burned out, of which high severity (2.73%), moderate-high severity (1.57%), moderate-low severity (1.18%), and low severity (5.45%). These spots also can be detected through the visual inspection made possible by cloud-free images generated by WWSAT. This tool is cost-effective in calculating the burnt area since satellite images are free and the cost of field surveys is avoided.

Keywords: burnt area, burnt severity, fires, google earth engine (GEE), sentinel-2

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Authors: Jiraporn Prommaha

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The purpose of this research is to study the development of Thailand Brand Identity and the perception of its image in order to find any guidelines for the identity development and the image perception of Thailand Brand in Health and Wellness Tourism. The paper is conducted through mixed methods research, both the qualitative and quantitative researches. The qualitative focuses on the in-depth interview of executive administrations from public and private sectors involved scholars and experts in identity and image issue, main 11 people. The quantitative research was done by the questionnaires to collect data from foreign tourists 800; Chinese tourists 400 and UK tourists 400. The technique used for this was the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), this was to determine the relation between the structures of the variables by categorizing the variables into group by applying the Varimax rotation technique. This technique showed recognition the Thailand brand image related to the 2 countries, China and UK. The results found that guidelines for brand identity development and image perception of health and wellness tourism in Thailand; as following (1) Develop communication in order to understanding of the meaning of the word 'Health and beauty tourism' throughout the country, (2) Develop human resources as a national agenda, (3) Develop awareness rising in the conservation and preservation of natural resources of the country, (4) Develop the cooperation of all stakeholders in Health and Wellness Businesses, (5) Develop digital communication throughout the country and (6) Develop safety in Tourism.

Keywords: brand identity, image perception, nation branding, health and wellness tourism, mixed methods research

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Authors: Lukman O. Alimi, Vincent J. Smith, Leonard J. Barbour

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The thermosalient effect is an extremely rare propensity of certain crystalline solids for self-actuation by elastic deformation or a ballistic event1. Thermosalient compounds, colloquially known as ‘jumping crystals’ are promising materials for fabrication of actuators that are also being considered as materials for clean energy conversion because of their capabilities to convert thermal energy into mechanical motion directly. Herein, an organic aminonitrile and its derivatives have been probed by a combination of structural, microscopic and thermoanalytical techniques. Crystals of these compounds were analysed by means of single crystal XRD and hotstage microscopy in the temperature range of 100 to 298 K and found to exhibit the thermosalient effect. We also carried out differential scanning calorimetric analysis at the temperature corresponding to that at which the crystal jumps as observed under a hotstage microscope.

Keywords: aminonitrile, jumping crystal, self actuation, thermosalient effect

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Authors: Pranil Kumar Upadhayaya

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While peace is dividend to tourism, tourism can also be a vital force for world peace. The existing body of knowledge on a tripartite complex nexus between tourism, peace and conflict reveals that tourism is benefactor to peace and sensitive to conflict. By contextualizing the ongoing sporadic structural conflict in the transitional phase in the aftermath of a decade long (1996-2006), Maoist armed conflict in Nepal, the purpose of this study is to explore the potentials of tourism in peace-building. The outcomes of this research paper is based on the mixed methods of research (qualitative and quantitative). Though the armed conflict ended with the comprehensive peace agreement in 2006 but there is constant manifestations of non-violent structural conflicts, which continue to threaten the sustainability of tourism industry. With the persistent application of coping strategies, tourism is found resilient during the ongoing structural political conflict. The strong coping abilities of the private sector of tourism industry have also intersected with peace-building efforts with more reactive and less proactive (pro-peace) engagements. This paper ascertains about the application of the ‘theory of tourism security’ by Nepalese tourism industry while coping with conflict and reviving, and sustaining. It reveals that the multiple verities of tourism at present has heterogeneous degree of peace potentials. The opportunities of ‘peace through tourism’ can be promoted subject to its molding with responsible, sustainable and participatory characteristics. This paper comes out with pragmatic policy recommendations for strengthening the position of tourism as a true peace-builder: (a) a broad shift from mainstream conventional tourism to the community based rural with local participation and ownership to fulfill Nepal’s potentials for peace, and (b) building and applications of the managerial and operational codes of conducts for owners and workers (labor unions) at all tourism enterprises and strengthen their practices.

Keywords: code of conduct, community based tourism, conflict, peace-building, tourism

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Authors: Arindam Pramanik, Parimal Karmakar

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We have explored the synergistic anti-cancer activity of copper ion and acetylacetone complex containing 1,3 diketone group (like curcumin) in metallorganic compound “Copper acetylacetonate” (CuAA). The cytotoxicity mechanism of CuAA complex was evaluated on various cancer cell lines in vitro. Among these, reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione level (GSH) in the cell was found to increase. Further mitochondrial membrane damage was observed. The fate of cell death was found to be induced by apoptosis. For application purpose, we have developed a novel biodegradable, non-toxic polymer-based nanoparticle which has hydrophobically modified core for loading of the CuAA. Folic acid is conjugated on the surface of the polymer (chitosan) nanoparticle for targeting to cancer cells for minimizing toxicity to normal cells in-vivo. Thus, this novel drug CuAA has an efficient anticancer activity which has been targeted specifically to cancer cells through polymer nanoparticle.

Keywords: anticancer, apoptosis, copper nanoparticle, targeted drug delivery

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Authors: Areeg Shermaddo, Abedulgader Baktheer

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Solar updraft power plants (SUPPs) made from reinforced concrete (RC) are an innovative technology to generate solar electricity. An up to 1000 m high chimney represents the major part of each SUPP ensuring the updraft of the warmed air from the ground. Numerical simulation of nonlinear behavior of such large mega shell concrete structures is a challenging task, and computationally expensive. A general finite element approach to simulate reinforced concrete bearing behavior is presented and verified on a simply supported beam, as well as the technique of submodeling. The verified numerical approach is extended and consecutively transferred to a more complex chimney structure of a SUPP. The obtained results proved the reliability of submodeling technique in analyzing critical regions of simple and complex mega concrete structures with high accuracy and dramatic decrease in the computation time.

Keywords: ABAQUS, nonlinear analysis, submodeling, SUPP

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Authors: Chala Elhassen

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City planning and urban management seem more complex our days compared to past times. The interaction of many factors both endogenous and exogenous made more difficult the urban fact. The city has changed status with the demographic bulge. It passed the primary status meeting limited requirements to a multidisciplinary status marked by the diversity of needs. These increase with the increase in population and living standard. Our era is marked by urbanization, complex phenomenon that develops both in industrialized countries in those of the third world. Human concentrations increasingly have significant multiplier effects on the social and economic structure of a region or a country. On the whole, the issue of urban planning revolved around questions related firstly to the understanding of the phenomena of urbanization; and also in search of the most appropriate ways to ensure control, the efficiency and consistency of the urbanization process. Urban planning remains an ambiguous area that mixes scientific contributions, technical, artistic, administrative and legal in varying proportions. What is the founder of specificity is that it always presupposes the existence of a will to act, itself supported by a thorough knowledge of will.

Keywords: urbanization, urban planning, management, industrialized countries

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Authors: Aroonsri Priprem, Sucharat Limsitthichaikoon, Suttasinee Thappasarapong

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Anthocyanins are natural pigments with effective UV protection but their topical use could be limited due to their physicochemical characteristics. An attempt to overcome such limitations by complexation of 2 major anthocyanin-rich sources, C. ternatea, and Z. mays, for investigation on potential use as topical anti-inflammatory. Cell studies indicate no cytotoxicity of the anthocyanin complex (AC) up to 1 mg/ml tested in HaCaT and human forehead fibroblasts by MTT. Croton oil-induced ear edema in Wistar rats suggests an effective dose of 5 mg/cm2 of AC as a topical anti-inflammatory in comparison to 0.5 mg/cm2 of fluocinolone acetonide. Niosomal encapsulation of the AC significantly prolonged the anti-inflammatory activity particularly at 8 h after topical application (p = 0.0001). The AC was not cytotoxic and its anti-inflammatory and activity was dose-dependent and prolonged by niosomal encapsulation. It has also shown to promote collagen type 1 production in cell culture. Thus, AC could be a potential candidate for topical anti-inflammatory agent from natural resources.

Keywords: anthocyanin complex, ear edema, inflammation, niosomes, skin

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Authors: Melikulov A. A., Toshpulotov Sh. G., Akhmedova M. F., Beshimov A. S., Rakhimov M. K. Zokirov N. K.

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Postinfarction ventricular septal defect (PVSD) is a rare but life-threatening complication of acute myocardial infarction. Currently, an alternative direction of minimally invasive treatment of postinfarction ventricular septal defect (PVSD) is being developed - transcatheter closure of the defect using an occluder, but surgical closure of the defect remains the <> correction of post-infarction VSD. Our article presents a case of successful surgical treatment of a patient with a large post-infarction rupture of the interventricular septum (IVS) and post-infarction LV aneurysm under cardiopulmonary bypass and parallel perfusion.

Keywords: echocardiography, myocardial infarction, ventricular septal defect, parallel perfusion

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Authors: Kunal Ahluwalia, Ampara Aramcharoen, Chan Wai Luen, Swee Hock Yeo

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The different process engineering applications of vibratory finishing technology have led to its versatile use in the development of aviation components. The most noteworthy applications of vibratory finishing include deburring and imparting the required surface finish. In this paper, vibratory finishing has been used to study its effectiveness in removal of laser shock peened (LSP) layers from Titanium workpieces. A vibratory trough operating at a frequency of 25 Hz, amplitude 3.5 mm and titanium specimens (Ti-6Al-4V, Grade 5) of dimensions 50 x 50 x 10 mm³ were utilized for the experiments. A vibrating fixture operating at 200 Hz was used to provide vibration to the test piece and was immersed in the vibratory trough. It was evident that there is an increase in efficiency of removal of the complex featured layer and smoother surface finish with the introduction of the vibrating fixture in the vibratory finishing setup as compared to the conventional vibratory finishing setup wherein the fixture is not vibrating.

Keywords: laser shock peening, material removal, surface roughness, vibrating fixture, vibratory finishing

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Authors: Ana Claudia de Souza Costa, Beatriz de Cássia Pinheiro Goulart, Karine de Cássia Cavalari, Henrique Ceretta Oliveira, Edineis de Brito Guirardello

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Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing represents the largest category of health professionals who were on the front line. Thus, investigating the practice environment and the job satisfaction of nursing professionals during the pandemic becomes fundamental since it reflects on the quality of care and the safety climate. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the nursing professionals' perception of the work environment, job satisfaction, and safety climate of the different hospitals and work shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This is a cross-sectional survey with 130 nursing professionals from public, private and mixed hospitals in Brazil. For data collection, was used an electronic form containing the personal and occupational variables, work environment, job satisfaction, and safety climate. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis tests according to the data distribution. The distribution was evaluated by means of the Shapiro-Wilk test. The analysis was done in the SPSS 23 software, and it was considered a significance level of 5%. Results: The mean age of the participants was 35 years (±9.8), with a mean time of 6.4 years (±6.7) of working experience in the institution. Overall, the nursing professionals evaluated the work environment as favorable; they were dissatisfied with their job in terms of pay, promotion, benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures and satisfied with coworkers, nature of work, supervision, and communication, and had a negative perception of the safety climate. When comparing the hospitals, it was found that they did not differ in their perception of the work environment and safety climate. However, they differed with regard to job satisfaction, demonstrating that nursing professionals from public hospitals were more dissatisfied with their work with regard to promotion when compared to professionals from private (p=0.02) and mixed hospitals (p< 0.01) and nursing professionals from mixed hospitals were more satisfied than those from private hospitals (p= 0.04) with regard to supervision. Participants working in night shifts had the worst perception of the work environment related to nurse participation in hospital affairs (p= 0.02), nursing foundations for quality care (p= 0.01), nurse manager ability, leadership and support (p= 0.02), safety climate (p< 0.01), job satisfaction related to contingent rewards (p= 0.04), nature of work (p= 0.03) and supervision (p< 0.01). Conclusion: The nursing professionals had a favorable perception of the environment and safety climate but differed among hospitals regarding job satisfaction for the promotion and supervision domains. There was also a difference between the participants regarding the work shifts, being the night shifts, those with the lowest scores, except for satisfaction with operational conditions.

Keywords: health facility environment, job satisfaction, patient safety, nursing

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Authors: Murad Gasanov, Shagen Danielyan, Ali Gasanov, Yuri Teterin, Peter Yartsev

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Background: Despite the advances made in modern surgery, the treatment of patients with esophageal injuries remains one of the most topical and complex issues. In recent years, high-technology minimally invasive methods, such as endoscopic vacuum therapy (EVT) in the treatment of esophageal injuries. The effectiveness of EVT has been sufficiently studied in case of failure of esophageal anastomoses, however the application of this method in case of mechanical esophageal injuries is limited by a small series of observations, indicating the necessity of additional study. Aim: The aim was to аnalyzed of own experience in the use of endoscopic vacuum therapy (EVT) in a comprehensive examination of patients with esophageal injuries. Methods: We analyzed the results of treatment of 24 patients with mechanical injuries of the esophagus for the period 2019-2021. Complex treatment of patients included the use of minimally invasive technologies, including percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), EVT and video-assisted thoracoscopic debridement. Evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment was carried out using multislice computed tomography (MSCT), endoscopy and laboratory tests. The duration of inpatient treatment and the duration of EVT, the number of system replacements, complications and mortality were taken into account. Result: EVT in patients with mechanical injuries of the esophagus allowed to achieve epithelialization of the esophageal defect in 21 patients (87.5%) in the form of linear scar on the site of perforation or pseudodiverticulum. Complications were noted in 4 patients (16.6%), including bleeding (2) and and esophageal stenosis in the perforation area (2). Lethal outcome was in one observation (4.2%). Conclusion. EVT may be the method of choice in complex treatment in patients with esophageal lesions.

Keywords: esophagus injuries, damage to the esophagus, perforation of the esophagus, spontaneous perforation of the esophagus, mediastinitis, endoscopic vacuum therapy

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Authors: Jiří F. Urbánek, Alena Oulehlová, Hana Malachová, Jiří J. Urbánek Jr.

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Crisis situations investigation and modelling are introduced and made within the complex system of energetic critical infrastructure, operating on peril´s environments. Every crisis situations and perils has an origin in the emergency/ crisis event occurrence and they need critical/ crisis interfaces assessment. Here, the emergency events can be expected - then crisis scenarios can be pre-prepared by pertinent organizational crisis management authorities towards their coping; or it may be unexpected - without pre-prepared scenario of event. But the both need operational coping by means of crisis management as well. The operation, forms, characteristics, behaviour and utilization of crisis management have various qualities, depending on real critical infrastructure organization perils, and prevention training processes. An aim is always - better security and continuity of the organization, which successful obtainment needs to find and investigate critical/ crisis zones and functions in critical infrastructure organization models, operating in pertinent perils environment. Our DYVELOP (Dynamic Vector Logistics of Processes) method is disposables for it. Here, it is necessary to derive and create identification algorithm of critical/ crisis interfaces. The locations of critical/ crisis interfaces are the flags of crisis situation in organization of critical infrastructure models. Then, the model of crisis situation will be displayed at real organization of Czech energetic crisis infrastructure subject in real peril environment. These efficient measures are necessary for the infrastructure protection. They will be derived for peril mitigation, crisis situation coping and for environmentally friendly organization survival, continuity and its sustainable development advanced possibilities.

Keywords: algorithms, energetic infrastructure complex system, modelling, peril´s environment

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Authors: Radovan Bures, Madgalena Streckova, Maria Faberova, Pavel Kurek

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Composite material based on Fe3Si micro-particles and Mn-Zn nano-ferrite was prepared using powder metallurgy technology. The sol-gel followed by autocombustion process was used for synthesis of Mn0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 ferrite. 3 wt.% of mechanically milled ferrite was mixed with Fe3Si powder alloy. Mixed micro-nano powder system was homogenized by the Resonant Acoustic Mixing using ResodynLabRAM Mixer. This non-invasive homogenization technique was used to preserve spherical morphology of Fe3Si powder particles. Uniaxial cold pressing in the closed die at pressure 600 MPa was applied to obtain a compact sample. Microwave sintering of green compact was realized at 800°C, 20 minutes, in air. Density of the powders and composite was measured by Hepycnometry. Impulse excitation method was used to measure elastic properties of sintered composite. Mechanical properties were evaluated by measurement of transverse rupture strength (TRS) and Vickers hardness (HV). Resistivity was measured by 4 point probe method. Ferrite phase distribution in volume of the composite was documented by metallographic analysis. It has been found that nano-ferrite particle distributed among micro- particles of Fe3Si powder alloy led to high relative density (~93%) and suitable mechanical properties (TRS >100 MPa, HV ~1GPa, E-modulus ~140 GPa) of the composite. High electric resistivity (R~6.7 ohm.cm) of prepared composite indicate their potential application as soft magnetic material at medium and high frequencies.

Keywords: micro- and nano-composite, soft magnetic materials, microwave sintering, mechanical and electric properties

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Authors: Jerzy Banski

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The basic aim of this study is to discuss and assess different classifications and research approaches to small towns that take their social and economic functions into account, as well as relations with surrounding areas. The subject literature typically includes three types of approaches to the classification of small towns: 1) the structural, 2) the location-related, and 3) the mixed. The structural approach allows for the grouping of towns from the point of view of the social, cultural and economic functions they discharge. The location-related approach draws on the idea of there being a continuum between the center and the periphery. A mixed classification making simultaneous use of the different approaches to research brings the most information to bear in regard to categories of the urban locality. Bearing in mind the approaches to classification, it is possible to propose a synthetic method for classifying small towns that takes account of economic structure, location and the relationship between the towns and their surroundings. In the case of economic structure, the small centers may be divided into two basic groups – those featuring a multi-branch structure and those that are specialized economically. A second element of the classification reflects the locations of urban centers. Two basic types can be identified – the small town within the range of impact of a large agglomeration, or else the town outside such areas, which is to say located peripherally. The third component of the classification arises out of small towns’ relations with their surroundings. In consequence, it is possible to indicate 8 types of small-town: from local centers enjoying good accessibility and a multi-branch economic structure to peripheral supra-local centers characterised by a specialized economic structure.

Keywords: small towns, classification, functional structure, localization

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Authors: Hocine Hammoum, Karima Bouzelha, Lounis Ziani, Lounis Hamitouche

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In this paper, we study a complex structure which is an apartment building surmounted by a reinforced concrete water tank. The tank located on the top floor of the building is a container with capacity of 1000 m³. The building is complex in its design, its calculation and by its behavior under earthquake effect. This structure located in Algiers and aged of 53 years has been subjected to several earthquakes, but the earthquake of May 21^st, 2003 with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale that struck Boumerdes region at 40 Kms East of Algiers was fatal for it. It was downgraded after an investigation study because the central core sustained serious damage. In this paper, to estimate the degree of its damages, the seismic performance of the structure will be evaluated taking into account the hydrodynamic effect, using a static equivalent nonlinear analysis called pushover.

Keywords: performance analysis, building, reinforced concrete tank, seismic analysis, nonlinear analysis, hydrodynamic, pushover

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Authors: M. Jayandran

Abstract:

Continual professional development is an important concept for safety professionals to strengthen the knowledge base and to achieve the required qualifications or international memberships in a given time. But the main problems which have observed among most of the safety aspirants are as follows: lack of focus, inferiority complex, superiority complex, lack of interest and lethargy, family and off job stress, health issues, usage of drugs and alcohol, and absenteeism. A HSE trainer should be an expert in soft skills and other stress, emotional handling techniques, so as to manage the above aspirants during training. To do this practice, a trainer has to brainstorm himself of few of the soft skills like personnel resilience, mnemonic techniques, mind healing, and subconscious suggestion techniques by integrating with an emotional intelligence quotient of the aspirants. By adopting these techniques, a trainer can successfully deliver the course and influence the different types of audience to achieve success in training.

Keywords: personnel resilience, mnemonic techniques, mind healing, sub conscious suggestion techniques

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Authors: Aneal Khan, Elleine Allapitan, Desmond Koo, Katherine-Ann Piedalue, Shaneel Pathak, Utkarsh Subnis

Abstract:

Background: Disease management of metabolic, genetic disorders is long-term and can be cumbersome to patients and caregivers. Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) have been a useful tool in capturing patient perspectives to help enhance treatment compliance and engagement with health care providers, reduce utilization of emergency services, and increase satisfaction with their treatment choices. Currently, however, PROMs are collected during infrequent and decontextualized clinic visits, which makes translation of patient experiences challenging over time. The GRIT study aims to evaluate a digital health journal application called Zamplo that provides a personalized health diary to record self-reported health outcomes accurately and efficiently in patients with metabolic, genetic disorders. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) (1:1) that assesses the efficacy of Zamplo to increase patient activation (primary outcome), improve healthcare satisfaction and confidence to manage medications (secondary outcomes), and reduce costs to the healthcare system (exploratory). Using standardized online surveys, assessments will be collected at baseline, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Outcomes will be compared between patients who were given access to the application versus those with no access. Results: Seventy-seven patients were recruited as of November 30, 2021. Recruitment for the study commenced in November 2020 with a target of n=150 patients. The accrual rate was 50% from those eligible and invited for the study, with the majority of patients having Fabry disease (n=48) and the remaining having Pompe disease and mitochondrial disease. Real-time clinical responses, such as pain, are being measured and correlated to disease-modifying therapies, supportive treatments like pain medications, and lifestyle interventions. Engagement with the application, along with compliance metrics of surveys and journal entries, are being analyzed. An interim analysis of the engagement data along with preliminary findings from this pilot RCT, and qualitative patient feedback will be presented. Conclusions: The digital self-care journal provides a unique approach to disease management, allowing patients direct access to their progress and actively participating in their care. Findings from the study can help serve the virtual care needs of patients with metabolic, genetic disorders in North America and the world over.

Keywords: eHealth, mobile health, rare disease, patient outcomes, quality of life (QoL), pain, Fabry disease, Pompe disease

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Authors: P. Deepak Kumar, Aishwarya Alok, P. R. Maiti

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Liquid storage tanks have become widespread during the recent decades due to their extensive usage. Analysis of liquid containing tanks is known to be complex due to hydrodynamic force exerted on tank which makes the analysis a complex one. The objective of this research is to carry out analysis of liquid domain along with structural interaction for various geometries of circular tanks considering seismic effects. An attempt has been made to determine hydrodynamic pressure distribution on the tank wall considering impulsive and convective components of liquid mass. To get a better picture, a comparative study of Draft IS 1893 Part 2, ACI 350.3 and Eurocode 8 for Circular Shaped Tank has been performed. Further, the differences in the magnitude of shear and moment at base as obtained from static (IS 3370 IV) and dynamic (Draft IS 1892 Part 2) analysis of ground supported circular tank highlight the need for us to mature from the old code to a newer code, which is more accurate and reliable.

Keywords: liquid filled containers, circular tanks, IS 1893 (part 2), seismic analysis, sloshing

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Authors: Hyun Seop Uhm, Yong Ho Choi, Ji Eun Kim, Young Hoon Lee

Abstract:

Weapon-target assignment (WTA) is a problem that assigns available launchers to appropriate targets in order to defend assets. Various algorithms for WTA have been developed over past years for both in the static and dynamic environment (denoted by SWTA and DWTA respectively). Due to the problem requirement to be solved in a relevant computational time, WTA has suffered from the solution efficiency. As a result, SWTA and DWTA problems have been solved in the limited situation of the battlefield. In this paper, the general situation under continuous time is considered by Time based Weapon Target Assignment (TWTA) problem. TWTA are studied using the mixed integer programming model, and three heuristic algorithms; decomposed opt-opt, decomposed opt-greedy, and greedy algorithms are suggested. Although the TWTA optimization model works inefficiently when it is characterized by a large size, the decomposed opt-opt algorithm based on the linearization and decomposition method extracted efficient solutions in a reasonable computation time. Because the computation time of the scheduling part is too long to solve by the optimization model, several algorithms based on greedy is proposed. The models show lower performance value than that of the decomposed opt-opt algorithm, but very short time is needed to compute. Hence, this paper proposes an improved method by applying decomposition to TWTA, and more practical and effectual methods can be developed for using TWTA on the battlefield.

Keywords: air and missile defense, weapon target assignment, mixed integer programming, piecewise linearization, decomposition algorithm, military operations research

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Authors: Girum Tedla Assefa

Abstract:

Background: Granulomatous mycosis fungoides is an extremely rare type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (<55 cases reported worldwide). Case report: A 36-year-old female presented with soft tissue atrophy of right lower limb (dermis + hypodermis) of 22 years and plaques over trunk of 3 years duration. Histological examination of a biopsy taken from the atrophied tissue showed a granulomatous reaction with epidermotropic atypical lymphocytes. However, in other areas there were only findings of conventional MF without granuloma. Conclusion: The diagnosis of a granulomatous mycosis fungoides depends exclusively on the histological demonstration of granulomas. Distinct clinical characteristics are not present. This case highlights the importance of thorough investigation of lipoatrophic skin changes in the adult to exclude underlying causes, including MF.

Keywords: cutaneous lymphoma, granulomatous skin lymphoma, mycoses fungoides, skin atrophy

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Authors: Ming-Jong Yao, Chin-Sum Shui, Chih-Han Wang

Abstract:

This paper is developed based on a real-world decision scenario that an industrial gas company that applies the Vendor Managed Inventory model and supplies liquid oxygen with a self-operated heterogeneous vehicle fleet to hospitals in nearby cities. We name it as a Joint Replenishment and Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem with Cyclical Schedule and formulate it as a non-linear mixed-integer linear programming problem which simultaneously determines the length of the planning cycle (PC), the length of the replenishment cycle and the dates of replenishment for each customer and the vehicle routes of each day within PC, such that the average daily operation cost within PC, including inventory holding cost, setup cost, transportation cost, and overtime labor cost, is minimized. A solution method based on genetic algorithm, embedded with an encoding and decoding mechanism and local search operators, is then proposed, and the hash function is adopted to avoid repetitive fitness evaluation for identical solutions. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed solution method can effectively solve the problem under different lengths of PC and number of customers. The method is also shown to be effective in determining whether the company should expand the storage capacity of a customer whose demand increases. Sensitivity analysis of the vehicle fleet composition shows that deploying a mixed fleet can reduce the daily operating cost.

Keywords: cyclic inventory routing problem, joint replenishment, heterogeneous vehicle, genetic algorithm

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Authors: N.Quaranta, M. Caligaris, R. Varoli, A. Cristobal, M. Unsen, H. López

Abstract:

Corncobs are agricultural wastes and they can be used as fuel or as raw material in different industrial processes like cement manufacture, contaminant adsorption, chemical compound synthesis, etc. The aim of this work is to characterize this waste and analyze the feasibility of its use as a pore-forming material in the manufacture of lightweight ceramics for the civil construction industry. The characterization of raw materials is carried out by using various techniques: electron diffraction analysis X-ray, differential and gravimetric thermal analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, ecotoxicity evaluation, among others. The ground corncobs, particle size less than 2 mm, are mixed with clay up to 30% in volume and shaped by uniaxial pressure of 25 MPa, with 6% humidity, in moulds of 70mm x 40mm x 18mm. Then the green bodies are heat treated at 950°C for two hours following the treatment curves used in ceramic industry. The ceramic probes are characterized by several techniques: density, porosity and water absorption, permanent volumetric variation, loss on ignition, microscopies analysis, and mechanical properties. DTA-TGA analysis of corncobs shows in the range 20°-250°C a small loss in TGA curve and exothermic peaks at 250°-500°C. FTIR spectrum of the corncobs sample shows the characteristic pattern of this kind of organic matter with stretching vibration bands of adsorbed water, methyl groups, C–O and C–C bonds, and the complex form of the cellulose and hemicellulose glycosidic bonds. The obtained ceramic bodies present external good characteristics without loose edges and adequate properties for the market requirements. The porosity values of the sintered pieces are higher than those of the reference sample without waste addition. The results generally indicate that it is possible to use corncobs as porosity former in ceramic bodies without modifying the usual sintering temperatures employed in the industry.

Keywords: ceramic industry, biomass, recycling, hemicellulose glycosidic bonds

Procedia PDF Downloads 403