Search results for: optimum conditions

Authors: Dr. Luigi Iannacci

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This research critically explores the current educational landscape with respect to special education and dominant deficit/medical model discourses that continue to forward unresponsive problematic approaches to teaching students with disabilities. Asset-oriented perspectives and social/critical models of disability are defined and explicated in order to offer alternatives to these dominant discourses. To that end, a framework that draws on Brian Camborne’s conditions of learning and applications of his work in relation to instruction conceptualize learning conditions and their significance to students with special needs. Methodologically, the research is designed as Critical Narrative Inquiry (CNI). Critical incidents, interviews, documents, artefacts etc. are drawn on and narratively constructed to explore how disability is presently configured in language, discourses, pedagogies and interactions with students deemed disabled. This data was collected using ethnographic methods and as such, through participant-observer field work that occurred directly in classrooms. This narrative approach aims to make sense of complex classroom interactions and ways of reconceptualizing approaches to students with special needs. CNI is situated in the critical paradigm and primarily concerned with culture, language and participation as issues of power in need of critique with the intent of change in the direction of social justice. Research findings highlight the ways in which Cambourne’s learning conditions, such as demonstration, approximation, engagement, responsibility, immersion, expectation, employment (transfer, use), provide a clear understanding of what is central to and constitutes a responsive and inclusive this instructional frame. Examples of what each of these conditions look like in practice are therefore offered in order to concretely demonstrate the ways in which various pedagogical choices and questions can enable classroom spaces to be responsive to the assets and challenges students with special needs have and experience. These particular approaches are also illustrated through an exploration of multiliteracies theory and pedagogy and what this research and approach allows educators to draw on, facilitate and foster in terms of the ways in which students with special needs can make sense of and demonstrate their understanding of skills, content and knowledge. The contextual information, theory, research and instructional frame focused on throughout this inquiry ultimately demonstrate what inclusive classroom spaces and practice can look like. These perspectives and conceptualizations are in stark contrast to dominant deficit driven approaches that ensure current pedagogically impoverished teaching focused on narrow, limited and limiting understandings of special needs learners and their ways of knowing and acquiring/demonstrating knowledge.

Keywords: asset-oriented approach, social/critical model of disability, conditions for learning and teaching, students with special needs

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Authors: G. Agrawal, R. Agrawal, A. Pich

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The pH and temperature responsive biodegradable poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) based microgels functionalized with itaconic acid (IA) units are prepared via precipitation polymerization for drug delivery applications. Volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) of the obtained microgels is influenced by both IA content and pH of the surrounding medium. The developed microgels can be degraded under acidic conditions due to the presence of hydrazone based crosslinking points inside the microgel network. The microgel particles are able to effectively encapsulate doxorubicin (DOX) drug and exhibit low drug leakage under physiological conditions. At low pH, rapid DOX release is observed due to the changes in electrostatic interactions along with the degradation of particles. The results of the cytotoxicity assay further display that the DOX-loaded microgel exhibit effective antitumor activity against HeLa cells demonstrating their great potential as drug delivery carriers for cancer therapy.

Keywords: degradable, drug delivery, hydrazone linkages, microgels, responsive

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Authors: Aravind J.

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Passive design can be referred to a way of designing buildings that takes advantage of the prevailing climate and natural energy resources. Which will be a key to reduce the increasing energy usage in commercial buildings. Most of the small scale commercial buildings made are merely a thermal mass inbuilt with active systems to bring lively conditions. By bringing the passive design strategies for energy efficiency in commercial buildings will reduce the usage of active systems. Thus the energy usage can be controlled through analysis of daylighting and improved living conditions in the indoor spaces by using passive techniques. And comparative study on different passive design systems and conventional methods will be approached for commercial buildings in hot and humid region. Possible effects of existing risks implied with solution for those problems is also a part of the paper. The result will be carried on with the design programme to prove the workability of the strategies.

Keywords: passive design, energy efficiency, commercial buildings, hot and humid climate

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Authors: İsmail İnce, Osman Günaydin, Fatma Özer

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Stones used in the construction of historical structures are exposed to various direct or indirect atmospheric effects depending on climatic conditions. Building stones deteriorate partially or fully as a result of this exposure. The historic structures are important symbols of any cultural heritage. Therefore, it is important to protect and restore these historical structures. The aim of this study is to determine the weathering conditions at the Kilistra ancient city. It is located in the southwest of the Konya city, Central Anatolia, and was built by carving into pyroclastic rocks during the Byzantine Era. For this purpose, the petrographic and mechanical properties of the pyroclastic rocks were determined. In the assessment of weathering of structures in the ancient city, in-situ non-destructive testing (i.e., Schmidt hardness rebound value, relative humidity measurement) methods were applied.

Keywords: cultural heritage, Kilistra ancient city, non-destructive techniques, weathering

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Authors: Rajeev, N. K. Raigar

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In this study, one dimensional phase change problem (a Stefan problem) is considered and a numerical solution of this problem is discussed. First, we use similarity transformation to convert the governing equations into ordinary differential equations with its boundary conditions. The solutions of ordinary differential equation with the associated boundary conditions and interface condition (Stefan condition) are obtained by using a numerical approach based on operational matrix of differentiation of shifted second kind Chebyshev wavelets. The obtained results are compared with existing exact solution which is sufficiently accurate.

Keywords: operational matrix of differentiation, similarity transformation, shifted second kind chebyshev wavelets, stefan problem

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Authors: Mohammad Tahmasebipour, Hosein Salarpour

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Micro cantilevers are one of the components used in the manufacture of micro-electromechanical systems. Epoxy microcantilevers have a variety of applications in the manufacture of micro-sensors and micro-actuators. In this paper, the Timoshenko Micro cantilever was statically and dynamically analyzed using the finite element method. First, all boundary conditions and initial conditions governing micro cantilevers were considered. The effect of size on the deflection, angle of rotation, natural frequencies, and mode shapes were then analyzed and evaluated under different frequencies. It was observed that an increased micro cantilever thickness reduces the deflection, rotation, and resonant frequency. A good agreement was observed between our results and those obtained by the couple stress theory, the classical theory, and the strain gradient elasticity theory.

Keywords: microcantilever, microsensor; epoxy, dynamic behavior, static behavior, finite element method

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Authors: Imane Naboulsi, Mansour Sobeh, Rachid Lamzira, Karim El Fakhouri, Widad Ben Bakrim, Chaimae Ramdani, Rachid Boulamtat, Mustapha El Bouhssini, Jane ward, Abdelaziz Yasri, Aziz Aboulmouhajir

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The wild cochineal Dactylopius opuntiae (Cockerell) (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae) is the major insect pest of the prickly pear Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) in Morocco, which has causedenormous socio-economic and environmental losses to this crop in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the insecticidal potential of six aqueous (100% water), and methanolic (20/80 (v/v) MeOH/H2O) extracts obtained from aromatic and medicinal plants growing in arid and semi-arid regions of Morocco to control nymphs and adult females of D. opuntiae, under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Under laboratory conditions, the aqueous extracts of Atriplex halimus at 5% caused significant mortality in nymphs with 71% four days after application and 88%on adult females of D. opuntiae8 days post-treatment. Under greenhouse conditions, the aqueous extract of A. halimus combined with black soap at 10 g/L showed the highest mortality rate of nymphs with 100%, 4 days after application. The adult females' mortality increased significantly to reach 83.75%,14 days after the second application of A. halimus aqueous extract at 5%. Phytochemical analysis of the water extract of A. halimus revealed a high content of saponins (24.09 ± 0.71 mg SSE/g DW) compared to other plant extracts, which was confirmed by LC-MS characterization that showed the presence of 36 triterpenoid saponin compounds (derived from oleic-12-en-28-oic acid), in addition to phytoecdysones, simple carboxylic acids, and flavonoids. These findings showed that using the aqueous extract of A. halimus as a biological pesticide could be incorporated into the management package to control the wild cochineal as a safe alternative to chemical insecticides.

Keywords: dactylopius opuntiae, opuntia ficus-indica L., plant extracts, toxicity, atriplex halimus, saponins

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Authors: Pham-Thi Huong, Byeong-Kyu Lee, Jitae Kim, Chi-Hyeon Lee

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Fe-nano zeolite adsorbent was used for removal of Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution. The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the surface area Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) using for analysis of functional groups, morphology and surface area. Bath adsorption experiments were analyzed on the effect of pH, time, adsorbent doses and initial Ni (II) concentration. The optimum pH for Ni (II) removal using Fe-nano zeolite was found at 5.0 and 90 min of reaction time. The maximum adsorption capacity of Ni (II) was 231.68 mg/g based on the Langmuir isotherm. The kinetics data for the adsorption process was fitted with the pseudo-second-order model. The desorption of Ni (II) from Ni-loaded Fe-nano zeolite was analyzed and even after 10 cycles 72 % desorption was achieved. These finding supported that Fe-nano zeolite with high adsorption capacity, high reuse ability would be utilized for Ni (II) removal from water.

Keywords: Fe-nano zeolite, adsorption, Ni (II) removal, regeneration

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Authors: Talha A. Taj, Talha A. Khan, M. Imran Khalid

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Optimization techniques attract researchers to formulate a problem and determine its optimum solution. This paper presents an Enhanced Harmony Search (ENHS) algorithm for solving optimization problems. The proposed algorithm increases the convergence and is more efficient than the standard Harmony Search (HS) algorithm. The paper discusses the novel techniques in detail and also provides the strategy for tuning the decisive parameters that affects the efficiency of the ENHS algorithm. The algorithm is tested on various benchmark functions, a real world optimization problem and a constrained objective function. Also, the results of ENHS are compared to standard HS, and various other optimization algorithms. The ENHS algorithms prove to be significantly better and more efficient than other algorithms. The simulation and testing of the algorithms is performed in MATLAB.

Keywords: optimization, harmony search algorithm, MATLAB, electronic

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Authors: Barenten Suciu

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In this work, by replacing the traditional solid spokes with colloidal spokes, a vehicle wheel with a built-in suspension structure is proposed. Following the background and description of the wheel system, firstly, a vibration model of the wheel equipped with colloidal spokes is proposed, and based on such model the equivalent damping coefficients and spring constants are identified. Then, a modified model of a quarter-vehicle moving on a rough pavement is proposed in order to estimate the transmissibility of vibration from the road roughness to vehicle body. In the end, the optimal design of the colloidal spokes and the optimum number of colloidal spokes are decided in order to minimize the transmissibility of vibration, i.e., to maximize the ride comfort of the vehicle.

Keywords: built-in suspension, colloidal spoke, intrinsic spring, vibration analysis, wheel

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Authors: M. Diafi, M. Omari, B. Gasmi

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Perovskite-type La1−xCaxAlO3 were synthesized at 1000◦C by a co- precipitation method. The synthesized oxide powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the oxide powders were produced in the form of films on pretreated Ni-supports by an oxide-slurry painting technique their electrocatalytic activities towards methanol oxidation in alkaline solutions at 25°C using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and anodic Tafel polarization techniques. The oxide catalysts followed the rhombohedral hexagonal crystal geometry. The rate of electro-oxidation of methanol was found to increase with increasing substitution of La by Ca in the oxide matrix. The reaction indicated a Tafel slope of ~2.303RT/F, The electrochemical apparent activation energy (〖∆H〗_el^(°#)) was observed to decrease on increasing Ca content. The results point out the optimum electrode activity and stability of the Ca is x=0.6 of composition.

Keywords: electrocatalysis, oxygen evolution, perovskite-type La1−x Cax AlO3, methanol oxidation

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Authors: Parvaneh Ziviar Pardehei, Esmaeil Hossinnejad

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In this research, the tourism climate index Miczcofski (TCI) and to assess climate Trjvng Piranshahr city tourism is discussed. The index is a systematic way to evaluate the climatic conditions for tourism. To calculate the parameters of mean monthly maximum temperature, minimum relative humidity, average daily relative humidity, rainfall, sunshine and the wind speed are used. In the months of April, July, August and September of comfort there in December, January, February and March, the nerve is cold comfort factor. Baker calculation method showed that during spring and summer cooling environment, mild, pleasant, and comfortable Byvklymay there. TCI results suggest that the months of April to July are top rated and best climatic conditions in terms of comfort to the tourists. In general, indices used in this paper show that the months of April to October is the best time for tourism in the city Piranshahr.

Keywords: tourism, climate, Piranshahr city, TCI indicators and trjvng

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Kers Kapaj, Rialda Xhizdari, Ilma Robo

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Despite the existence of different dental specialties, the dentist-patient relationship is unique, in the very fact that the treatment is performed by one doctor and the patient identifies the malpractice presented as part of that doctor's practice; this is in complete contrast to cases of medical treatments where the patient can be presented to a team of doctors, to treat a specific pathology. The rules of dental ethics are almost the same as the rules of medical ethics. The appearance of dental malpractice affects exactly this two-party relationship, created on the basis of professionalism, without deviations in this direction, between the dentist and the patient, but with very narrow individual boundaries, compared to cases of medical malpractice. Main text: Malpractice can have different reasons for its appearance, starting from professional negligence, but also from the lack of professional knowledge of the dentist who undertakes the dental treatment. It should always be seen in perspective that we are not talking about the individual - the dentist who goes to work with the intention of harming their patients. Malpractice can also be a consequence of the impossibility, for anatomical or physiological reasons of the tooth under dental treatment, to realize the predetermined dental treatment plan. On the other hand, the dentist himself is an individual who can be affected by health conditions, or have vices that affect the systemic health of the dentist as an individual, which in these conditions can cause malpractice. So, depending on the reason that led to the appearance of malpractice, the method of treatment from a legal point of view also varies, for the dentist who committed the malpractice, evaluating the latter if the malpractice came under the conditions of applying the rules of dental ethics. Conclusions: The deviation from the predetermined dental plan is the minimum sign of malpractice and the latter should not be definitively related only to cases of difficult dental treatments. The identification of the reason for the appearance of malpractice is the initial element, which makes the difference in the way of its treatment, from a legal point of view, and the involvement of the dentist in the assessment of the malpractice committed, must be based on the legislation in force, which must be said to have their specific changes in different states. Malpractice should be referred to, or included in the lectures or in the continuing education of professionals, because it serves as a method of obtaining professional experience in order not to repeat the same thing several times, by different professionals.

Keywords: dental ethics, malpractice, negligence, legal basis, continuing education, dental treatments

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Authors: Birinderjit Singh Kalyan, Inderpreet Kaur, Balwinder Singh Sohi

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In this paper, an equivalent model for floating gate transistor has been proposed. Using the floating gate voltage value, capacitive coupling coefficients has been found at different bias conditions. The amount of charge present on the gate has been then calculated using the transient models of hot electron programming and Fowler-Nordheim Tunnelling. The proposed model can be extended to the transient conditions as well. The SPICE equivalent model is designed and current-voltage characteristics and Transfer characteristics are comparatively analysed. The dc current-voltage characteristics, as well as dc transfer characteristics, have been plotted for an FGMOS with W/L=0.25μm/0.375μm, the inter-poly capacitance of 0.8fF for both programmed and erased states. The Comparative analysis has been made between the present model and capacitive coefficient coupling methods which were already available.

Keywords: FGMOS, floating gate transistor, capacitive coupling coefficient, SPICE model

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Authors: Yong-Sung Kim, Je-Seok Shin, Ho-Jun Jo, Jin-O Kim

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Home Energy Management System (HEMS) which makes the residential consumers contribute to the demand response is attracting attention in recent years. An aim of HEMS is to minimize their electricity cost by controlling the use of their appliances according to electricity price. The use of appliances in HEMS may be affected by some conditions such as external temperature and electricity price. Therefore, the user’s usage pattern of appliances should be modeled according to the external conditions, and the resultant usage pattern is related to the user’s comfortability on use of each appliances. This paper proposes a methodology to model the usage pattern based on the historical data with the copula function. Through copula function, the usage range of each appliance can be obtained and is able to satisfy the appropriate user’s comfort according to the external conditions for next day. Within the usage range, an optimal scheduling for appliances would be conducted so as to minimize an electricity cost with considering user’s comfort. Among the home appliance, electric heater (EH) is a representative appliance which is affected by the external temperature. In this paper, an optimal scheduling algorithm for an electric heater (EH) is addressed based on the method of branch and bound. As a result, scenarios for the EH usage are obtained according to user’s comfort levels and then the residential consumer would select the best scenario. The case study shows the effects of the proposed algorithm compared with the traditional operation of the EH, and it also represents impacts of the comfort level on the scheduling result.

Keywords: load scheduling, usage pattern, user’s comfort, copula function, branch and bound, electric heater

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Authors: Mahmoud Karimi, Golmohammad Khoobbakht

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This study focuses on the exergy flow analysis in the transesterification of waste cooking oil with methanol to decrease the consumption of materials and energy and promote the use of renewable resources. The exergy analysis performed is based on the thermodynamic performance parameters namely exergy destruction and exergy efficiency to investigate the effects of variable parameters on renewability of transesterification. The experiment variables were methanol to WCO ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction temperature in the transesterification reaction. The optimum condition with yield of 90.2% and exergy efficiency of 95.2% was obtained at methanol to oil molar ratio of 8:1, 1 wt.% of KOH, at 55 °C. In this condition, the total waste exergy was found to be 45.4 MJ for 1 kg biodiesel production. However high yield in the optimal condition resulted high exergy efficiency in the transesterification of WCO with methanol.

Keywords: biodiesel, exergy, thermodynamic analysis, transesterification, waste cooking oil

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Authors: Evan W. Krieger, Vijayan K. Asari, Saibabu Arigela

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Video imagery captured for real-time security and surveillance applications is typically captured in complex lighting conditions. These less than ideal conditions can result in imagery that can have underexposed or overexposed regions. It is also typical that the video is too low in resolution for certain applications. The purpose of security and surveillance video is that we should be able to make accurate conclusions based on the images seen in the video. Therefore, if poor lighting and low resolution conditions occur in the captured video, the ability to make accurate conclusions based on the received information will be reduced. We propose a solution to this problem by using image preprocessing to improve these images before use in a particular application. The proposed algorithm will integrate an intensity enhancement algorithm with a super resolution technique. The intensity enhancement portion consists of a nonlinear inverse sign transformation and an adaptive contrast enhancement. The super resolution section is a single image super resolution technique is a Fourier phase feature based method that uses a machine learning approach with kernel regression. The proposed technique intelligently integrates these algorithms to be able to produce a high quality output while also being more efficient than the sequential use of these algorithms. This integration is accomplished by performing the proposed algorithm on the intensity image produced from the original color image. After enhancement and super resolution, a color restoration technique is employed to obtain an improved visibility color image.

Keywords: dynamic range compression, multi-level Fourier features, nonlinear enhancement, super resolution

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Authors: Javeed Akhtar, R. K. Pandey, Z. R. Azaz Ahmad Azad

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For the purpose of making different uses of food material for the development of extruded foods are produced using single and twin extruders. Extrusion cooking is a useful and economical tool for processing of novel food. This high temperature, short time processing technology causes chemical and physical changes that alter the nutritional and physical quality of the product. Extrusion processing of food ingredients characteristically depends on associating process conditions that influence the product qualities. The process parameters are optimized for extrusion of food material in order to obtain the maximum nutritive value by inactivating the anti-nutritional factors. The processing conditions such as moisture content, temperature and time are controlled to avoid over heating or under heating which otherwise would result in a product of lower nutritional quality.

Keywords: extrusion processing, single and twin extruder, operating condition of extruders and extruded novel foods, food and agricultural engineering

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Authors: Patricia Huedo, Maria José Ruá, Raquel Agost-Felip

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Ensuring sustainable development of urban environments means guaranteeing adequate environmental conditions, being resilient and meeting conditions of safety and inclusion for all people, regardless of their condition. All existing buildings should meet basic safety conditions and be equipped with safe and accessible routes, along with visual, acoustic and tactile signals to protect their users or potential visitors, and regardless of whether they undergo rehabilitation or change of use processes. Moreover, from a social perspective, we consider the need to prioritize buildings occupied by the most vulnerable groups of people that currently do not have specific regulations tailored to their needs. Some residential models in operation are not only outside the scope of application of the regulations in force; they also lack a project or technical data that would allow knowing the fire behavior of the construction materials. However, the difficulty and cost involved in adapting the entire building stock to current regulations can never justify the lack of safety for people. Hence, this work develops a simplified model to assess compliance with the basic safety conditions in case of fire and its compatibility with the specific accessibility needs of each user. The purpose is to support the designer in decision making, as well as to contribute to the development of a basic fire safety certification tool to be applied in inclusive residential models. This work has developed a methodology to support designers in adapting Social Services Centers, usually intended to vulnerable people. It incorporates a checklist of 9 items and information from sources or standards that designers can use to justify compliance or propose solutions. For each item, the verification system is justified, and possible sources of consultation are provided, considering the possibility of lacking technical documentation of construction systems or building materials. The procedure is based on diagnosing the degree of compliance with fire conditions of residential models used by vulnerable groups, considering the special accessibility conditions required by each user group. Through visual inspection and site surveying, the verification model can serve as a support tool, significantly streamlining the diagnostic phase and reducing the number of tests to be requested by over 75%. This speeds up and simplifies the diagnostic phase. To illustrate the methodology, two different buildings in the Valencian Region (Spain) have been selected. One case study is a mental health facility for residential purposes, located in a rural area, on the outskirts of a small town; the other one, is a day care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities, located in a medium-sized city. The comparison between the case studies allow to validate the model in distinct conditions. Verifying compliance with a basic security level can allow a quality seal and a public register of buildings adapted to fire regulations to be established, similarly to what is being done with other types of attributes such as energy performance.

Keywords: fire safety, inclusive housing, universal accessibility, vulnerable people

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Authors: Markus Nordlund, Arkadiusz K. Kuczaj

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Philip Morris International (PMI) is developing a range of novel tobacco products with the potential to reduce individual risk and population harm in comparison to smoking cigarettes. One of these products is the Tobacco Heating System 2.2 (THS 2.2), (named as the Electrically Heated Tobacco System (EHTS) in this paper), already commercialized in a number of countries (e.g., Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Portugal and Romania). During use, the patented EHTS heats a specifically designed tobacco product (Electrically Heated Tobacco Product (EHTP)) when inserted into a Holder (heating device). The EHTP contains tobacco material in the form of a porous plug that undergoes a controlled heating process to release chemical compounds into vapors, from which an aerosol is formed during cooling. The aim of this work was to investigate the aerosol formation characteristics for realistic operating conditions of the EHTS as well as for relevant gas mixture compositions measured in the EHTP aerosol consisting mostly of water, glycerol and nicotine, but also other compounds at much lower concentrations. The nucleation process taking place in the EHTP during use when operated in the Holder has therefore been modeled numerically using an extended Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) for multicomponent gas mixtures. Results from the performed simulations demonstrate that aerosol droplets are formed only in the presence of an aerosol former being mainly glycerol. Minor compounds in the gas mixture were not able to reach a supersaturated state alone and therefore could not generate aerosol droplets from the multicomponent gas mixture at the operating conditions simulated. For the analytically characterized aerosol composition and estimated operating conditions of the EHTS and EHTP, glycerol was shown to be the main aerosol former triggering the nucleation process in the EHTP. This implies that according to the CNT, an aerosol former, such as glycerol needs to be present in the gas mixture for an aerosol to form under the tested operating conditions. To assess if these conclusions are sensitive to the initial amount of the minor compounds and to include and represent the total mass of the aerosol collected during the analytical aerosol characterization, simulations were carried out with initial masses of the minor compounds increased by as much as a factor of 500. Despite this extreme condition, no aerosol droplets were generated when glycerol, nicotine and water were treated as inert species and therefore not actively contributing to the nucleation process. This implies that according to the CNT, an aerosol cannot be generated without the help of an aerosol former, from the multicomponent gas mixtures at the compositions and operating conditions estimated for the EHTP, even if all minor compounds are released or generated in a single puff.

Keywords: aerosol, classical nucleation theory (CNT), electrically heated tobacco product (EHTP), electrically heated tobacco system (EHTS), modeling, multicomponent, nucleation

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Authors: Tahir Saleem, Mohammad Usman, Nadeem Khan

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GPS signals are used for navigation and positioning purposes by a diverse set of users. However, this project intends to utilize the reflected GPS L5 signals for location of target in a region of interest by generating an image that highlights the positions of targets in the area of interest. The principle of bi-static radar is used to detect the targets or any movement or changes. The idea is confirmed by the results obtained during MATLAB simulations. A matched filter based technique is employed in the signal processing to improve the system resolution. The simulation is carried out under different conditions with moving receiver and targets. Noise and attenuation is also induced and atmospheric conditions that affect the direct and reflected GPS signals have been simulated to generate a more practical scenario. A realistic GPS L5 signal has been simulated, the simulation results verify that the detection and imaging of targets is possible by employing reflected GPS using L5 signals and matched filter processing technique with acceptable spatial resolution.

Keywords: GPS, L5 Signal, SAR, spatial resolution

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Authors: Zakaria S. G. Hegazy, Walid M. A. Ahmed

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This paper examines the dependence structure of Islamic stock markets on Bitcoin’s realized volatility components in bear, normal, and bull market periods. A quantile regression approach is employed, after adjusting raw returns with respect to a broad set of relevant global factors and accounting for structural breaks in the data. The results reveal that upside volatility tends to exert negative influences on Islamic developed-market returns more in bear than in bull market conditions, while downside volatility positively affects returns during bear and bull conditions. For emerging markets, we find that the upside (downside) component exerts lagged negative (positive) effects on returns in bear (all) market regimes. By and large, the dependence structures turn out to be asymmetric. Our evidence provides essential implications for investors.

Keywords: cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin, realized volatility measures, asymmetry, quantile regression

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Authors: Rasha Shoumar

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Background: Since the onset of the Syria crisis in 2011, Jordan has hosted many Syrian refugees, many of which are residing in urban and rural areas. Vulnerability of refugees has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to their already existing challenge in access to medical services, rendering them vulnerable to the complications of untreated medical conditions and amplifying their risk for severe COVID-19 disease. To improve health outcomes and access to health care services in a COVID-19 context, IOM (The International Organization for Migration) provided health services including awareness raising, direct primary health care through mobile teams and referrals to secondary services were extended to the vulnerable populations of refugees. Method: 6 community health volunteers were trained and deployed to different governorates to provide COVID-19 and non-communicable disease awareness and collect data rated to non-communicable disease and access to medical health services. Primary health care services were extended to 7 governorates through a mobile medical team, providing medical management. The collected Data was reviewed and analyzed. Results: 2150 refugees in rural areas were reached out by community health volunteers, out of which 78 received their medications through the Ministry of Health, 121 received their medications through different non-governmental organizations, 665 patients couldn’t afford buying any medications, 1286 patients were occasionally buying their medications when they were able to afford it. 853 patients received medications and follow up through IOM mobile clinics, the most common conditions were hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, anemia, heart disease, thyroid disease, asthma, seizures, and psychiatric conditions. 709 of these patients had more than 3 of the comorbidities. Multiple cases were referred for secondary and tertiary lifesaving interventions. Conclusion: Non communicable diseases are highly prevalent among refugee population in Jordan, access to medical services have proven to be a challenge in rural areas especially during the COVID-19 era, many of the patients have multiple uncontrolled medical conditions placing them at risk for complications and risk for severe COVID-19 disease. Deployment of mobile clinics to rural areas plays an essential role in managing such medical conditions, thus improving the continuum of health care approach, physical and mental wellbeing of refugees and reducing the risk for severe COVID-19 disease among this group, taking us one step forward toward universal health access.

Keywords: COVID-19, refugees, mobile clinics, primary health care

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Authors: Weixing Tan

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Production of nutraceuticals from microalgae—a virtually untapped natural phyto-based source of which there are 200,000 to 1,000,000 species—offers a sustainable and healthy alternative to conventionally sourced nutraceuticals for the market. Microalgae can be grown organically using only natural sunlight, water and nutrients at an extremely fast rate, e.g. 10-100 times more efficiently than crops or trees. However, the commercial success of microalgae products at scale remains limited largely due to the lack of economically viable technologies. There are two major microalgae production systems or technologies currently available: 1) the open system as represented by open pond technology and 2) the closed system such as photobioreactors (PBR). Each carries its own unique features and challenges. Although an open system requires a lower initial capital investment relative to a PBR, it conveys many unavoidable drawbacks; for example, much lower productivity, difficulty in contamination control/cleaning, inconsistent product quality, inconvenience in automation, restriction in location selection, and unsuitability for cold areas – all directly linked to the system openness and flat underground design. On the other hand, a PBR system has characteristics almost entirely opposite to the open system, such as higher initial capital investment, better productivity, better contamination and environmental control, wider suitability in different climates, ease in automation, higher and consistent product quality, higher energy demand (particularly if using artificial lights), and variable operational expenses if not automated. Although closed systems like PBRs are not highly competitive yet in current nutraceutical supply market, technological advances can be made, in particular for the PBR technology, to narrow the gap significantly. One example is a readily scalable P2P Microalgae PBR Technology at Grande Prairie Regional College, Canada, developed over 11 years considering return on investment (ROI) for key production processes. The P2P PBR system is approaching economic viability at a pre-commercial stage due to five ROI-integrated major components. They include: (1) optimum use of free sunlight through attenuation (patented); (2) simple, economical, and chemical-free harvesting (patent ready to file); (3) optimum pH- and nutrient-balanced culture medium (published), (4) reliable water and nutrient recycling system (trade secret); and (5) low-cost automated system design (trade secret). These innovations have allowed P2P Microalgae Technology to increase daily yield to 106 g/m2/day of Chlorella vulgaris, which contains 50% proteins and 2-3% omega-3. Based on the current market prices and scale-up factors, this P2P PBR system presents as a promising microalgae technology for market competitive nutraceutical supply.

Keywords: microalgae technology, nutraceuticals, open pond, photobioreactor PBR, return on investment ROI, technological advances

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Authors: Jing Nan

Abstract:

The air breakdown voltage in compact circuit breakers is a critical factor in the design and reliability of electrical distribution systems. This voltage determines the threshold at which the air insulation between conductors will fail or 'break down,' leading to an arc. This phenomenon is highly sensitive to the conditions within the breaker, such as the temperature and the distance between electrodes. Typically, air breakdown voltage models have been reliable for predicting failure under standard operational temperatures. However, in conditions post-arcing, where temperatures can soar above 2000K, these models face challenges due to the complex physics of ionization and electron behaviour at such high-energy states. Building upon the foundational understanding that the breakdown mechanism is initiated by free electrons and propelled by electric fields, which lead to ionization and, potentially, to avalanche or streamer formation, we acknowledge the complexity introduced by high-temperature environments. Recognizing the limitations of existing experimental data, a notable research gap exists in the accurate prediction of breakdown voltage at elevated temperatures, typically observed post-arcing, where temperatures exceed 2000K.To bridge this knowledge gap, we present a method that integrates gap distance and high-temperature effects into air breakdown voltage assessment. The proposed model is grounded in the physics of ionization, accounting for the dynamic behaviour of free electrons which, under intense electric fields at elevated temperatures, lead to thermal ionization and potentially reach the threshold for streamer formation as Meek's criterion. Employing the Saha equation, our model calculates equilibrium electron densities, adapting to the atmospheric pressure and the hot temperature regions indicative of post-arc temperature conditions. Our model is rigorously validated against established experimental data, demonstrating substantial improvements in predicting air breakdown voltage in the high-temperature regime. This work significantly improves the predictive power for air breakdown voltage under conditions that closely mimic operational stressors in compact circuit breakers. Looking ahead, the proposed methods are poised for further exploration in alternative insulating media, like SF6, enhancing the model's utility for a broader range of insulation technologies and contributing to the future of high-temperature electrical insulation research.

Keywords: air breakdown voltage, high-temperature insulation, compact circuit breakers, electrical discharge, saha equation

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Authors: Helen Johnson-Egemba

Abstract:

This paper will discuss the current effectiveness of music therapy for a range of conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Indeed, traditional forms of therapy have often been effective in treating various mental and physical health conditions. However, they are not with their limitations. Music therapy, on the other hand, is a non-invasive and cost-effective alternative that can produce similar or even better results. Music therapy can produce longer-lasting results. The research also highlights the underlying mechanisms of traditional music therapy, such as its complementary treatment. A systematic review of existing literature was conducted to gather relevant studies and establish a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Various research methods, including experimental studies, qualitative research, surveys, were utilized to explore the therapeutic potential of traditional music interventions. The findings reveal that traditional music therapy shows promise in managing anxiety and depression symptoms, with positive outcomes impacting brain activity, emotions, and stress regulation. The outcomes of this study contribute to evidence-based practice, providing insights for clinicians and therapists to incorporate traditional music therapy into their treatment approaches. Furthermore, the research promotes awareness and acceptance of traditional music as a legitimate and effective therapeutic intervention for anxiety and depression, potentially enhancing access to alternative and complementary treatment options. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential benefits of traditional music therapy in addressing anxiety and depression, offering valuable implications for mental health care and improving the well-being of individuals struggling with these conditions.

Keywords: anxiety, effectiveness, depression, traditional music, therapy, treatment

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Authors: Samira Abbaspour

Abstract:

Soil contamination by oil industry is unavoidable issue; irrespective of environmental impact, which occurs during the process of soil contaminating and remediating. Effect of this phenomenon on the geotechnical properties of the soil has not been investigated thoroughly. Some researchers studied the environmental aspects of these phenomena more than geotechnical point of view. In this research, compaction and unconfined compression tests were conducted on samples of natural, contaminated and treated soil after 50 days of bio-treatment. The results manifest that increasing the amount of crude oil, leads to decreased values of maximum dry density and optimum water content and increased values of unconfined compression strength (UCS). However, almost 65% of this contamination terminated by using a Bioremer as a bioremediation agent. Foremost, as bioremediation takes place, values of maximum dry density, unconfined compression strength and failure strain increase.

Keywords: contamination, shear strength, compaction, oil contamination

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: G. Khamooshian, A. Abbasimoshaei

Abstract:

Different methods are used to stabilize the sticks, among which the method of knitting is commonly used. In recent years, the use of nailing for the stability of excavation has been considered much, which is providing sufficient stability and controlling the structural defects of the guardian, also reduces the cost of the operation. In addition, this method is more prominent in deep excavations than other methods. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of groundwater level and soil type on the length and designing of nails. In this paper, analysis and modeling for vertical arena with constant depth and different levels of groundwater have been done. Also, by changing the soil resistance parameters and design of the nails, an optimum arrangement was made and the effect of changes in groundwater level and soil's type on the design of the nails, the maximum axial force mobilized in the nails and the confidence coefficient for the stability of the groove was examined.

Keywords: excavation, soil effects, nailing, hole analyzing

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: Joelle Penniston, E. B. Gueguim-Kana

Abstract:

Biohydrogen has been identified as a promising alternative to the use of non-renewable fossil reserves, owing to its sustainability and non-polluting nature. pH is considered as a key parameter in fermentative biohydrogen production processes, due to its effect on the hydrogenase activity, metabolic activity as well as substrate hydrolysis. The present study assesses the influence of regulating pH on dark fermentative biohydrogen production. Four experimental hydrogen production schemes were evaluated. Two were implemented using suspended cells under regulated pH growth conditions (Sus_R) and suspended and non-regulated pH (Sus_N). The two others regimes consisted of alginate immobilized cells under pH regulated growth conditions (Imm_R) and immobilized and non-pH regulated conditions (Imm_N). All experiments were carried out at 37.5°C with glucose as sole source of carbon. Sus_R showed a lag time of 5 hours and a peak hydrogen fraction of 36% and a glucose degradation of 37%, compared to Sus_N which showed a peak hydrogen fraction of 44% and complete glucose degradation. Both suspended culture systems showed a higher peak biohydrogen fraction compared to the immobilized cell system. Imm_R experiments showed a lag phase of 8 hours, a peak biohydrogen fraction of 35%, while Imm_N showed a lag phase of 5 hours, a peak biohydrogen fraction of 22%. 100% glucose degradation was observed in both pH regulated and non-regulated processes. This study showed that biohydrogen production in batch mode with suspended cells in a non-regulated pH environment results in a partial degradation of substrate, with lower yield. This scheme has been the culture mode of choice for most reported studies in biohydrogen research. The relatively lower slope in pH trend of the non-regulated pH experiment with immobilized cells (Imm_N) compared to Sus_N revealed that that immobilized systems have a better buffering capacity compared to suspended systems, which allows for the extended production of biohydrogen even under non-regulated pH conditions. However, alginate immobilized cultures in flask systems showed some drawbacks associated to high rate of gas production that leads to increased buoyancy of the immobilization beads. This ultimately impedes the release of gas out of the flask.

Keywords: biohydrogen, sustainability, suspended, immobilized

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: M. Habibi

Abstract:

The angular distribution of ion beam emission from the APF plasma focus device (15kV, 40μf, 115nH) filled with nitrogen gas has been examined through investigating the effect of ion beams on aluminum thin foils in different angular positions. The samples are studied in different distances from the anode end with different shots. The optimum pressure that would be obtained at the applied voltages of 12kV was 0.7 torr. The ions flux declined as the pressure inclined and the maximum ion density at 0.7 torr was about 10.26 × 1022 ions/steradian. The irradiated foils were analyzed with SEM method in order to study their surface and morphological changes. The results of the analysis showed melting and surface evaporation effects and generation of some cracks in the specimens. The result of ion patterns on the samples obtained in this study can be useful in determining ion spatial distributions on the top of anode.

Keywords: plasma focus, spatial distribution, high energy ions, ion angular distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 460