Search results for: total floating time (TFT)

Authors: Alice Carter, Lucy Dumbell, Lorna Cameron, Victoria Lewis

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The Olympic discipline of eventing is the triathlon of equestrian sport, consisting of dressage, cross-country and show jumping. Falls on the cross-country are common and can be serious even causing death to rider. Research identifies an increased risk of a fall with an increasing number of obstacles and for jumping efforts later in the course suggesting fatigue maybe a contributing factor. Advice based on anecdotal evidence suggests riders undertake strength and conditioning programs to improve their ‘core’, thus improving their ability to maintain and control their riding position. There is little empirical evidence to support this advice. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate truck muscle fatigue and cognitive function during a simulated jumping test. Eight adult riders participated in a riding test on a Racewood Event simulator for 10 minutes, over a continuous jumping programme. The SEMG activity of six trunk muscles were bilaterally measured at every minute, and normalised root mean squares (RMS) and median frequencies (MDF) were computed from the EMG power spectra. Visual analogue scales (VAS) measuring Fatigue and Pain levels and Cognitive Function ‘tapping’ tests were performed before and after the riding test. Average MDF values for all muscles differed significantly between each sampled minute (p = 0.017), however a consistent decrease from Minute 1 and Minute 9 was not found, suggesting the trunk muscles fatigued and then recovered as other muscle groups important in maintaining the riding position during dynamic movement compensated. Differences between the MDF and RMS of different muscles were highly significant (H=213.01, DF=5, p < 0.001), supporting previous anecdotal evidence that different trunk muscles carry out different roles of posture maintenance during riding. RMS values were not significantly different between the sampled minutes or between riders, suggesting the riding test produced a consistent and repeatable effect on the trunk muscles. MDF values differed significantly between riders (H=50.8, DF = 5, p < 0.001), suggesting individuals may experience localised muscular fatigue of the same test differently, and that other parameters of physical fitness should be investigated to provide conclusions. Lumbar muscles were shown to be important in maintaining the position, therefore physical training program should focus on these areas. No significant differences were found between pre- and post-riding test VAS Pain and Fatigue scores or cognitive function test scores, suggesting the riding test was not significantly fatiguing for participants. However, a near significant correlation was found between time of riding test and VAS Pain score (p = 0.06), suggesting somatic pain may be a limiting factor to performance. No other correlations were found between the factors of participant riding test time, VAS Pain and Fatigue, however a larger sample needs to be tested to improve statistical analysis. The findings suggest the simulator riding test was not sufficient to provoke fatigue in the riders, however foundations for future studies have been laid to enable methodologies in realistic eventing settings.

Keywords: eventing, fatigue, horse-rider, surface EMG, trunk muscles

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Yu-Kai Ting, Jia-Ying Tu, Chung-Chun Hsiao

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New physical insights into the nonlinear Lorenz equations related to flow resistance is discussed in this work. The chaotic dynamics related to Lorenz equations has been studied in many papers, which is due to the sensitivity of Lorenz equations to initial conditions and parameter uncertainties. However, the physical implication arising from Lorenz equations about convectional motion attracts little attention in the relevant literature. Therefore, as a first step to understand the related fluid mechanics of convectional motion, this paper derives the Lorenz equations again with different forced conditions in the model. Simulation work of the modified Lorenz equations without the viscosity or buoyancy force is discussed. The time-domain simulation results may imply that the states of the Lorenz equations are related to certain flow speed and flow resistance. The flow speed of the underlying fluid system increases as the flow resistance reduces. This observation would be helpful to analyze the coupling effects of different fluid parameters in a convectional model in future work.

Keywords: Galerkin method, Lorenz equations, Navier-Stokes equations, convectional motion

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: R. H. Begaydarova, B. Zh. Kultanov, B. T. Esilbaeva, G. E. Nasakaeva, Y. Yukhnevich, G. K. Alshynbekova, A. E. Dyusembaeva

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Background: The level of middle molecules of peptides (MMP) allows to evaluate the severity and prognosis of the disease and is a criterion for the effectiveness of the treatment. The detection the products of lipidperoxidation cascade, such as conjugated dienes, malondialdehyde in biological material, has an important role in the development of pathogenesis, the diagnosis and prognosis in different parasitic diseases. Purpose of the study was to evaluate the state of endogenous intoxication and indicators of lipid peroxidation in patients with giardiasis before and after treatment. Materials and methods: Endogenous intoxication was evaluated in patients with giardiasis in the level of middle molecules of peptides (MMP) in the blood. The amount of MMP and products of lipid peroxidation were determined in the blood of 198 patients with giardiasis, 129 of them were women (65%), 69 were men (35%). The MMP level was detected for comparison in the blood of 84 healthy volunteers. The lipid peroxidation were determined in 40 healthy men and women without giardiasis and history of chronic diseases. Data were processed by conventional methods of variation statistics, we calculated the arithmetic mean (M) and standard dispersion (m). t-test (t) was used to assess differences. Results: The level of MMP in the blood was significantly higher in patients with giardiasis in comparison with group of healthy men and women. MMP concentration in the blood of women with Giardia was 2.5 times greater than that of the comparison groups of women. The level of MMP exceeds more than 6 times in men with giardiasis. The decrease in the intensity of endogenous intoxication was two weeks after antigiardia therapy, both men and women. According to the study, a statistically significant increase in the level of all the studied parameters lipid peroxidation cascade was observed in the blood of men with giardiasis, with the exception of the total primary production (NGN). The treatment of giardiasis helped to stabilize the level of almost all metabolites of lipid peroxidation cascade. The exception was level of malondialdehyde, it was significantly elevated to compare with the control group and after treatment. Conclusion: Thus, the MMP level was significantly higher in blood of patients with giardiasis than in comparison group. This is evidence of severe endogenous intoxication caused by giardia infection. The accumulation of primary and secondary products of lipid peroxidation was observed in the blood of men and women. These processes tend to be more active in men than in women. Antigiardiasis therapy contributed to the normalization of almost all the studied indicators of lipid peroxidation in the blood of participants, except the level malondialdehyde in the blood of men.

Keywords: enzymes of antioxidant protection, giardiasis, blood, treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: Krista Mae F. Ramos, Lance Micaiah C. Dauz, Gylza Nicole D. Bautista, Rua R. Galang, Jeric Xyrus G. Karganilla

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With the recent proclamation of the possible reinforcement of Compulsory Military Service in the Philippines, debates and societal talks rose and circulated as opinions and perceptions regarding the topic continue to clash. This study aims to determine the perception of the youth on its reimplementation and identify various advantages and disadvantages based on their perspective. The responses were gathered through a virtual call interview, underwent the process of thematization, and were categorized into different themes. Results reflect that the students perceive compulsory military service as a necessity for national defense but requires a long time that can hinder their education and needs a strong foundation to be implemented and sustained. The participants acknowledged that the practice would instill discipline, patriotism, and nationalism, develop an individual’s physical abilities, provide skills and knowledge and improve a person’s self-defense. However, there are also concerns regarding the prominent military shaping and abuse, their loss of freedom of choice, and the chances of health deterioration.

Keywords: compulsory, military, service, reinforcement, perception

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Basma Yassa

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Evidence on cash transfers’ effectiveness in mitigating macro and idiosyncratic shocks’ impacts has been mixed and is mostly concentrated in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia with very limited evidence from the MENA region. Yet conditional cash transfers schemes have been continually used, especially in Egypt, as the main social protection tool in response to the recent socioeconomic crises and macro shocks. We use 2 panel datasets and 1 cross-sectional dataset to estimate the effectiveness of cash transfers as a shock-mitigative mechanism in the Egyptian context. In this paper, the results from the different models (Panel Fixed Effects model and the Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) model) confirm that micro and macro shocks lead to significant decline in several household-level welfare outcomes and that Takaful cash transfers have a significant positive impact in mitigating the negative shock impacts, especially on households’ debt incidence, debt levels, and asset ownership, but not necessarily on food, and non-food expenditure levels. The results indicate large positive significant effects on decreasing household incidence of debt by up to 12.4 percent and lowered the debt size by approximately 18 percent among Takaful beneficiaries compared to non-beneficiaries’. Similar evidence is found on asset ownership levels, as the RDD model shows significant positive effects on total asset ownership and productive asset ownership, but the model failed to detect positive impacts on per capita food and non-food expenditures. Further extensions are still in progress to compare the models’ results with the DID model results when using a nationally representative ELMPS panel data (2018/2024) rounds. Finally, our initial analysis suggests that conditional cash transfers are effective in buffering the negative shock impacts on certain welfare indicators even after successive macro-economic shocks in 2022 and 2023 in the Egyptian Context.

Keywords: cash transfers, fixed effects, household welfare, household debt, micro shocks, regression discontinuity design

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Authors: Kyung Min Park, Cheol Hee Moon

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In this study we are to develop a sealing process using a mixture of a LMPA and an epoxy for the atmospheric OLED sealing process as a substitute for the thin-film process. Electrode lines were formed on the substrates, which were covered with insulating layers and sacrificial layers. A mixture of a LMPA and an epoxy was screen printed between the two electrodes. In order to generate a heat for the melting of the mixture, Joule heating method was used. Were used instantaneous discharge process for generating Joule heating. Experimental conditions such as voltage, time and constituent of the electrode were varied to optimize the heating conditions. As a result, the mixture structure of this study showed a great potential for a low-cost, low-temperature, atmospheric OLED sealing process as a substitute for the thin-film process.

Keywords: organic light emitting diode, encapsulation, low melting point alloy, joule heat

Procedia PDF Downloads 531

Authors: Farzaneh Badinloo, Niloufar Jalali-Moghadam, Reza Kormi-Nouri

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The aim of this study was to explore the short-term and working memory performances across age and gender in school aged children. Most of the studies have been interested in looking into memory changes in adult subjects. This study was instead focused on exploring both short-term and working memories of children over time. Totally 410 school child participants belonging to four age groups (approximately 8, 10, 12 and 14 years old) among which were 201 girls and 208 boys were employed in the study. digits forward and backward tests of the Wechsler children intelligence scale-revised were conducted respectively as short-term and working memory measures. According to results, there was found a general increment in both short-term and working memory scores across age (p ˂ .05) by which whereas short-term memory performance was shown to increase up to 12 years old, working memory scores showed no significant increase after 10 years old of age. No difference was observed in terms of gender (p ˃ .05). In conclusion, this study suggested that both short-term and working memories improve across age in children where 12 and 10 years of old are likely the crucial age periods in terms of short-term and working memories development.

Keywords: age, gender, short-term memory, working memory

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Authors: Aruma Baduge Kithma De Silva

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Haskap (Lonicera caerulea L.), also known as blue honeysuckle, is a newly commercialized berry crop in Canada. Haskap berries are rich in polyphenols, including, anthocyanins, which are known for potential health-promoting properties. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G) is the most abundant anthocyanin of haskap berries. The compound C3G has the ability to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), which has become an increasingly common health issue around the world. The T2D is characterized as a metabolic disorder of hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. It has been demonstrated that C3G has anti-diabetic effects through several ways, including inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), reduction of gluconeogenesis, improvement in insulin sensitivity, and inhibition of activities of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes, including α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of variety and harvests maturity of haskap on C3G, other fruit quality characteristics and anti-diabetic activities of haskap berries using in vitro studies. The polyphenols present in four commercially grown haskap cultivars, Aurora, Rebecca, Larissa, and Evie harvested at five harvesting dates (H1-H5) apart from 2-3 days, were extracted separately. High-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) analyzes of polyphenols revealed that haskap berries contain predominantly anthocyanins, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, and phenolic acids. The compound C3G was the most prominent anthocyanin, which is available in approximately 79% of total anthocyanin in four cultivars. The Larissa at H5 contained the highest C3G content. The antioxidant capacity of Evie at H5 was greater than other cultivars. Furthermore, Larissa H5 showed the greatest inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes including alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase. In conclusion, the haskap variety and harvesting date influenced the polyphenol composition and biological properties. The variety Larissa, at H5 harvesting date, contained the highest polyphenol content and the ability of inhibition of the carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzyme as well as DPP4 enzyme in order to reduce type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: anthocyanin, Haskap, type 2 diabetes, polyphenol

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: M. Sakthivel, A. Devaki, D. Balasubramanyam, P. Kumarasamy, A. Raja, R. Anilkumar, H. Gopi

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The influence of inbreeding on growth traits in the New Zealand White rabbits maintained at Sheep Breeding and Research Station, Sandynallah, The Nilgiris, India was studied in a closed herd. Data were collected over a period of 15 years (1998 to 2012). The traits studied were body weights at weaning (W42), post-weaning (W70) and marketing (W135) age and growth efficiency traits viz., average daily gain (ADG), relative growth rate (RGR) and Kleiber ratio (KR) estimated on a daily basis at different age intervals (1=42 to 70 days; 2=70 to 135 days and 3=42 to 135 days) from weaning to marketing. The effects of inbreeding along with other non-genetic factors (sex of the kit, season and period of birth of the kit) were analyzed using least-squares method. The inbreeding (F) and equivalent inbreeding (EF) coefficients were taken as fixed classes as well as covariates in separate analyses. When taken as covariate, the effect was analyzed as partial regression of respective growth trait on individual inbreeding coefficient (F or EF). The mean body weights at weaning, post-weaning and marketing were 0.715, 1.276 and 2.187 kg, respectively. The maximum growth efficiency was noticed between weaning and post-weaning. Season and period had highly significant influence on all the growth parameters studied and sex of the kit had significant influence on certain growth efficiency traits only. The average coefficients of inbreeding and equivalent inbreeding in the population were 13.233 and 17.585 percent, respectively. About 11.17 percent of total matings were highly inbred in which full-sib, half-sib and parent-offspring matings were 1.20, 6.30 and 3.67 percent, respectively. The regression of body weight traits on F and EF showed negative effect whereas most of the growth efficiency traits showed positive effects. Significant inbreeding depression was observed in W42 and W70. The depression in W42 was 0.214 kg and 0.139 kg and in W70 was 0.269 kg and 0.172 kg for every one unit increase in F and EF, respectively. Though the trait W135 showed positive value and ADG1 showed depression, the effects of inbreeding and equivalent inbreeding were non-significant in these traits. Higher values of inbreeding depression could be due to more variance of F or EF in the population. The analysis of the effect of level of inbreeding on growth traits revealed that the inbreeding class was significant on W70, ADG2, RGR2 and KR2 while EF classes had significant influence only on ADG2, RGR2 and KR2. Obviously, inbreeding does not have a positive effect, therefore, these results suggest that inbreeding had no effect on these traits.

Keywords: growth parameters, equivalent inbreeding, inbreeding effects, rabbit genetics

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Hongmei Wang, Ziyun Xiang, Ying liu, Li Yu, Dongsheng Yue

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Intro: The COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) has greatly changed the global economic, political and financial ecology. The mutation of the coronavirus in the UK in December 2020 has brought new panic to the world. Deep learning was performed on Chest Computed tomography (CT) of COVID-19 and Influenza and describes their characteristics. The predominant features of COVID-19 pneumonia was ground-glass opacification, followed by consolidation. Lesion density: most lesions appear as ground-glass shadows, and some lesions coexist with solid lesions. Lesion distribution: the focus is mainly on the dorsal side of the periphery of the lung, with the lower lobe of the lungs as the focus, and it is often close to the pleura. Other features it has are grid-like shadows in ground glass lesions, thickening signs of diseased vessels, air bronchi signs and halo signs. The severe disease involves whole bilateral lungs, showing white lung signs, air bronchograms can be seen, and there can be a small amount of pleural effusion in the bilateral chest cavity. At the same time, this year's flu season could be near its peak after surging throughout the United States for months. Chest CT for Influenza infection is characterized by focal ground glass shadows in the lungs, with or without patchy consolidation, and bronchiole air bronchograms are visible in the concentration. There are patchy ground-glass shadows, consolidation, air bronchus signs, mosaic lung perfusion, etc. The lesions are mostly fused, which is prominent near the hilar and two lungs. Grid-like shadows and small patchy ground-glass shadows are visible. Deep neural networks have great potential in image analysis and diagnosis that traditional machine learning algorithms do not. Method: Aiming at the two major infectious diseases COVID-19 and influenza, which are currently circulating in the world, the chest CT of patients with two infectious diseases is classified and diagnosed using deep learning algorithms. The residual network is proposed to solve the problem of network degradation when there are too many hidden layers in a deep neural network (DNN). The proposed deep residual system (ResNet) is a milestone in the history of the Convolutional neural network (CNN) images, which solves the problem of difficult training of deep CNN models. Many visual tasks can get excellent results through fine-tuning ResNet. The pre-trained convolutional neural network ResNet is introduced as a feature extractor, eliminating the need to design complex models and time-consuming training. Fastai is based on Pytorch, packaging best practices for in-depth learning strategies, and finding the best way to handle diagnoses issues. Based on the one-cycle approach of the Fastai algorithm, the classification diagnosis of lung CT for two infectious diseases is realized, and a higher recognition rate is obtained. Results: A deep learning model was developed to efficiently identify the differences between COVID-19 and influenza using chest CT.

Keywords: COVID-19, Fastai, influenza, transfer network

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Idris Lawal

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Electronic payment system is simply a payment or monetary transaction made over the internet or a network of computers. This study was carried out in order to assess how electronic payment system has impacted on banks service delivery, to examine the efficiency of electronic payment system in Nigeria and to determine the level of customer's satisfaction as a direct result of the deployment of electronic payment systems. It is an empirical study conducted using structured questionnaire distributed to officials and customers of Access Bank plc. Chi-square(x2) was adopted for the purpose of data analysis. The result of the study showed that the development of electronic payment system offer great benefit to bank customers including improved services, reduced turn-around time, ease of banking transaction, significant cost saving etc. The study recommends that customer protection laws should be properly put in place to safeguard the interest of end users of e-payment instruments.

Keywords: bank, electronic payment systems, service delivery, customer's satisfaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Chigbo Emmanuel Ikechukwu

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Constructed wetlands are seen as a potential means of ameliorating the poor quality water that derives from coal and gold mining operations. However, the processes whereby a wetland environment is able to improve water quality are not well understood and techniques for optimising their performance poorly developed. A parameter that may be manipulated in order to improve the treatment capacity of a wetland is the substrate in which the aquatic plants are rooted. This substrate can provide an environment wherein sulphate reducing bacteria, which contribute to the removal of contaminants from the water, are able to flourish. The bacteria require an energy source which is largely provided by carbon in the substrate. This paper discusses the form in which carbon is most suitable for the bacteria and describes the results of a series of experiments in which different materials were used as substrate. Synthetic acid mine drainage was passed through an anaerobic bioreactor that contained either compost or cow manure. The effluent water quality was monitored with respect to time and the effect of the substrate composition discussed.

Keywords: constructed wetland, bacteria, carbon, acid mine drainage, sulphate

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Ali Asheibi

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The rapid increase in the size of databases required to store power quality monitoring data has demanded new techniques for analysing and understanding the data. One suggested technique to assist in analysis is data mining. Preparing raw data to be ready for data mining exploration take up most of the effort and time spent in the whole data mining process. Clustering is an important technique in data mining and machine learning in which underlying and meaningful groups of data are discovered. Large amounts of harmonic data have been collected from an actual harmonic monitoring system in a distribution system in Australia for three years. This amount of acquired data makes it difficult to identify operational events that significantly impact the harmonics generated on the system. In this paper, harmonic data preparation processes to better understanding of the data have been presented. Underlying classes in this data has then been identified using clustering technique based on the Minimum Message Length (MML) method. The underlying operational information contained within the clusters can be rapidly visualised by the engineers. The C5.0 algorithm was used for classification and interpretation of the generated clusters.

Keywords: data mining, harmonic data, clustering, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 232

Authors: Muhammad Waqas Baqai, Noman Shahzad, Rehman Alvi

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Communication among health care givers is the essence of quality patient care and any compromise results in errors and inefficiency leading to cumbersome outcomes. The use of smartphone among health professionals has increased tremendously. Almost every health professional carries it and majority of them uses a third party communication software called whatsApp for work related communications. It gives instant access to the person responsible for any particular query and therefore helps in efficient and timely decision making. It is also an easy way of sharing medical documents, multimedia and provides platform for consensual decision making through group discussions. However clinical communication through whatsApp has some demerits too including reduction in verbal communication, worsening professional relations, unprofessional behavior, risk of confidentiality breach and threats from cyber-attacks. On the other hand the traditional pager device being used in many health care systems is a unidirectional communication that lacks the ability to convey any information other than the number to which the receiver has to respond. Our study focused on these two widely used modalities of communication among doctors of the largest tertiary care center of Pakistan i.e. The Aga Khan University Hospital. Our aim was to note which modality is considered better and has fewer threats to medical data. Approval from ethical review committee of the institute was taken prior to conduction of this study. We submitted an online survey form to all the interns and residents working at our institute and collected their response in a month’s time. 162 submissions were recorded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Only 20% of them were comfortable with using pagers exclusively, 52% with whatsApp and 28% with both. 65% think that whatsApp is time-saving and quicker than pager. 54% of them considered whatsApp to be causing nuisance from work related notifications in their off-work hours. 60% think that they are more likely to miss information through pager system because of the unidirectional nature. Almost all (96%) of residents and interns found whatsApp to be useful in terms of saving information for future reference. For urgent issues, majority (70%) preferred pager over whatsApp and also pager was considered more valid in terms of hospital policies and legal issues. Among major advantages of whatsApp as listed by them were; easy mass communication, sharing of clinical pictures, universal access and no need of carrying additional device. However the major drawback of using whatsApp for clinical communication that everyone shared was threat to patients’ confidentiality as clinicians usually share pictures of wounds, clinical documents etc. Lastly we asked them if they think there is a need of a separate application for instant communication dedicated to clinical communication only and 90% responded positively. Therefore, we concluded that both modalities have their merits and demerits but the greatest drawback with whatsApp is the risk of breach in patients’ confidentiality and off-work disturbance. Hence, we recommend a more secure, institute-run application for all intra hospital communications where they can share documents, pictures etc. easily under a controlled environment.

Keywords: WhatsApp, pager, clinical communication, confidentiality

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Aamir Shahzad, Mao-Gang He

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Currently, dusty plasmas motivated the researchers' widespread interest. Since the last two decades, substantial efforts have been made by the scientific and technological community to investigate the transport properties and their nonlinear behavior of three-dimensional and two-dimensional nonideal complex (dusty plasma) liquids (NICDPLs). Different calculations have been made to sustain and utilize strongly coupled NICDPLs because of their remarkable scientific and industrial applications. Understanding of the thermophysical properties of complex liquids under various conditions is of practical interest in the field of science and technology. The determination of thermal conductivity is also a demanding question for thermophysical researchers, due to some reasons; very few results are offered for this significant property. Lack of information of the thermal conductivity of dense and complex liquids at different parameters related to the industrial developments is a major barrier to quantitative knowledge of the heat flux flow from one medium to another medium or surface. The exact numerical investigation of transport properties of complex liquids is a fundamental research task in the field of thermophysics, as various transport data are closely related with the setup and confirmation of equations of state. A reliable knowledge of transport data is also important for an optimized design of processes and apparatus in various engineering and science fields (thermoelectric devices), and, in particular, the provision of precise data for the parameters of heat, mass, and momentum transport is required. One of the promising computational techniques, the homogenous nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (HNEMD) simulation, is over viewed with a special importance on the application to transport problems of complex liquids. This proposed work is particularly motivated by the FIRST TIME to modify the problem of heat conduction equations leads to polynomial velocity and temperature profiles algorithm for the investigation of transport properties with their nonlinear behaviors in the NICDPLs. The aim of proposed work is to implement a NEMDS algorithm (Poiseuille flow) and to delve the understanding of thermal conductivity behaviors in Yukawa liquids. The Yukawa system is equilibrated through the Gaussian thermostat in order to maintain the constant system temperature (canonical ensemble ≡ NVT)). The output steps will be developed between 3.0×105/ωp and 1.5×105/ωp simulation time steps for the computation of λ data. The HNEMD algorithm shows that the thermal conductivity is dependent on plasma parameters and the minimum value of lmin shifts toward higher G with an increase in k, as expected. New investigations give more reliable simulated data for the plasma conductivity than earlier known simulation data and generally the plasma λ0 by 2%-20%, depending on Γ and κ. It has been shown that the obtained results at normalized force field are in satisfactory agreement with various earlier simulation results. This algorithm shows that the new technique provides more accurate results with fast convergence and small size effects over a wide range of plasma states.

Keywords: molecular dynamics simulation, thermal conductivity, nonideal complex plasma, Poiseuille flow

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Authors: Andres Nieto-Leal, Victor N. Kaliakin, Tania P. Molina

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The nature of most engineering materials is quite complex. It is, therefore, difficult to devise a general mathematical model that will cover all possible ranges and types of excitation and behavior of a given material. As a result, the development of mathematical models is based upon simplifying assumptions regarding material behavior. Such simplifications result in some material idealization; for example, one of the simplest material idealization is to assume that the material behavior obeys the elasticity. However, soils are nonhomogeneous, anisotropic, path-dependent materials that exhibit nonlinear stress-strain relationships, changes in volume under shear, dilatancy, as well as time-, rate- and temperature-dependent behavior. Over the years, many constitutive models, possessing different levels of sophistication, have been developed to simulate the behavior geomaterials, particularly cohesive soils. Early in the development of constitutive models, it became evident that elastic or standard elastoplastic formulations, employing purely isotropic hardening and predicated in the existence of a yield surface surrounding a purely elastic domain, were incapable of realistically simulating the behavior of geomaterials. Accordingly, more sophisticated constitutive models have been developed; for example, the bounding surface elastoplasticity. The essence of the bounding surface concept is the hypothesis that plastic deformations can occur for stress states either within or on the bounding surface. Thus, unlike classical yield surface elastoplasticity, the plastic states are not restricted only to those lying on a surface. Elastoplastic bounding surface models have been improved; however, there is still need to improve their capabilities in simulating the response of anisotropically consolidated cohesive soils, especially the response in extension tests. Thus, in this work an improved constitutive model that can more accurately predict diverse stress-strain phenomena exhibited by cohesive soils was developed. Particularly, an improved rotational hardening rule that better simulate the response of cohesive soils in extension. The generalized definition of the bounding surface model provides a convenient and elegant framework for unifying various previous versions of the model for anisotropically consolidated cohesive soils. The Generalized Bounding Surface Model for cohesive soils is a fully three-dimensional, time-dependent model that accounts for both inherent and stress induced anisotropy employing a non-associative flow rule. The model numerical implementation in a computer code followed an adaptive multistep integration scheme in conjunction with local iteration and radial return. The one-step trapezoidal rule was used to get the stiffness matrix that defines the relationship between the stress increment and the strain increment. After testing the model in simulating the response of cohesive soils through extensive comparisons of model simulations to experimental data, it has been shown to give quite good simulations. The new model successfully simulates the response of different cohesive soils; for example, Cardiff Kaolin, Spestone Kaolin, and Lower Cromer Till. The simulated undrained stress paths, stress-strain response, and excess pore pressures are in very good agreement with the experimental values, especially in extension.

Keywords: bounding surface elastoplasticity, cohesive soils, constitutive model, modeling of geomaterials

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Authors: Sapfo Mortaki

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Over the years, Greeks were leaving their homeland looking for better luck, including artists - painters and sculptors. Until mid-1940's, few were the ones who lived, worked, studied and were distinguished abroad. After the end of the Second World War, the group exit towards the cultural centers of the West commences. Since the mid-1970s, and especially in the early 1980s, Modern Greek Diaspora has undergone a new period. The creation of the European Community affects both the character of the immigration of artists as well as the creation of their identity within cultural pluralism. Since 1980 the situation in Greece changed significantly, and the contacts of artists with their homeland became greatly enhanced. Based on the above, this paper examines the cultural identity of the Greek artists in Paris during the 1980s, in comparison to the creation of the identity of the artists of the previous migratory movements, since this decade constitutes a critical point. Their cultural presence in Paris, as reflected in French and Greek daily press and journals of the period, is also investigated. At the same time, their connection with Greece and their contribution to the development and evolution of Contemporary Greek Art is discussed.

Keywords: artistic migration in Paris, cultural identity, cultural interaction, greek artists, greek contemporary art

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Tshilidzi C. Manyanya, Nthaduleni S. Nethengwe, Edmore Kori

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The UNFCCC, FAO, GCF, IPCC and other global structures advocate for agro-ecology do address food security and sovereignty. However, most of the expected outcomes concerning agro-ecological were not empirically tested for universal application. Agro-ecology is theorised to increase crop health over ago-ecological farms and decrease over conventional farms. Increased crop health means increased carbon sequestration and thus less CO2 in the atmosphere. This is in line with the view that global warming is anthropogenically enhanced through GHG emissions. Agro-ecology mainly affects crop health, soil carbon content and yield on the cultivated land. Economic sustainability is directly related to yield capacity, which is theorized to increase by 3-10% in a space of 3 - 10 years as a result of agro-ecological implementation. This study aimed to empirically assess the practicality and validity of these assumptions. The study utilized mainly GIS and RS techniques to assess the effectiveness of agro-ecology in crop health improvement from satellite images. The assessment involved a longitudinal study (2013 – 2015) assessing the changes that occur after a farm retrofits from conventional agriculture to agro-ecology. The assumptions guided the objectives of the study. For each objective, an agro-ecological farm was compared with a conventional farm in the same climatic conditional occupying the same general location. Crop health was assessed using satellite images analysed through ArcGIS and Erdas. This entailed the production of NDVI and Re-classified outputs of the farm area. The NDVI ranges of the entire period of study were thus compared in a stacked histogram for each farm to assess for trends. Yield capacity was calculated based on the production records acquired from the farmers and plotted in a stacked bar graph as percentages of a total for each farm. The results of the study showed decreasing crop health trends over 80% of the conventional farms and an increase over 80% of the organic farms. Yield capacity showed similar patterns to those of crop health. The study thus showed that agro-ecology is an effective strategy for crop-health improvement and yield increase.

Keywords: agro-ecosystem, conventional farm, dialectical, sustainability

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Authors: Estifanos H. Zeru

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Introduction: Epidemiological research is important to draw need-based rational public health policy. However, research on child and adolescent mental health in low and middle income countries, where socioeconomic, political, cultural, biological and other mental health hazards are in abundance, is almost nonexistent. To the author's knowledge, there is no published research in this field in Eritrea, whose child and adolescent population constitutes 53% of its total population. Study Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and patterns of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders and identify their socio-demographic correlates among children and adolescents in Mendefera, Eritrea. The study aims to provide local information to public health policymakers to guide policy in service development. Methodology: In a cross-sectional two stage procedure, both the Parent and Child versions of the SDQ were used to screen 314 children and adolescents aged 4-17 years, recruited by a multi-stage random sampling method. All parents/adult guardians also completed a socio-demographic questionnaire. All children and adolescents who screened positive for any of the SDQ abnormality sub-classes were selected for the second stage interview, which was conducted using the K-SADS-PL 2009 Working Draft version to generate specific DSM-IV diagnoses. All data gathered was entered into CSPro version 6.2 and was then transported in to and analyzed using SPSS version 20 for windows. Results: Prevalence of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders was found to be 13.1%. Adolescents 11-17 years old and males had higher prevalence than children 4-10 years old and females, respectively. Behavioral disorders were the commonest disorders (9.9%), followed by affective disorders (3.2%) and anxiety disorders (2.5). Chronic medical illness in the child, poor academic performance, difficulties with teachers in school, psychopathology in a family member and parental conflict were found to be independently associated with these disorders. Conclusion: Prevalence of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders in Eritrea is high. Promotion, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation for child and adolescent mental health services need to be made widely available in the country. The socio-demographic correlates identified by this study can be targeted for intervention. The need for further research is emphasized.

Keywords: adolescents, children, correlates, DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, Eritrea, K-SAD-PL 2009, prevalence and correlates, SDQ

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Authors: Emiru Birhane, Tesfay Gidey, Haftu Abrha, Abrha Brhan, Amanuel Zenebe, Girmay Gebresamuel, Florent Noulèkoun

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Dracaena ombet and Dobera glabra are two of the most rare and endangered tree species in dryland areas. Unfortunately, their sustainability is being compromised by different anthropogenic and natural factors. However, the impacts of ongoing land use and climate change on the population structure and distribution of the species are less explored. This study was carried out in the grazing lands and hillside areas of the Desa'a dry Afromontane forest, northern Ethiopia, to characterize the population structure of the species and predict the impact of climate change on their potential distributions. In each land-use type, abundance, diameter at breast height, and height of the trees were collected using 70 sampling plots distributed over seven transects spaced one km apart. The geographic coordinates of each individual tree were also recorded. The results showed that the species populations were characterized by low abundance and unstable population structure. The latter was evinced by a lack of seedlings and mature trees. The study also revealed that the total abundance and dendrometric traits of the trees were significantly different between the two land uses. The hillside areas had a denser abundance of bigger and taller trees than the grazing lands. Climate change predictions using the MaxEnt model highlighted that future temperature increases coupled with reduced precipitation would lead to significant reductions in the suitable habitats of the species in northern Ethiopia. The species' suitable habitats were predicted to decline by 48–83% for D. ombet and 35–87% for D. glabra. Hence, to sustain the species populations, different strategies should be adopted, namely the introduction of alternative livelihoods (e.g., gathering NTFP) to reduce the overexploitation of the species for subsistence income and the protection of the current habitats that will remain suitable in the future using community-based exclosures. Additionally, the preservation of the species' seeds in gene banks is crucial to ensure their long-term conservation.

Keywords: grazing lands, hillside areas, land-use change, MaxEnt, range limitation, rare and endangered tree species

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Authors: Emad Askar, Eldesoky Elsoaly, Mohamed Kamel, Hisham Kamel

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The objective of this article is to improve the passive vibration damping of solar array (SA) used in space structures, by the effective application of numerical optimization. A case study of a SA is used for demonstration. A finite element (FE) model was created and verified by experimental testing. Optimization was then conducted by implementing the FE model with the genetic algorithm, to find the optimal placement of aluminum circular patches, to suppress the first two bending mode shapes. The results were verified using experimental testing. Finally, a parametric study was conducted using the FE model where patch locations, material type, and shape were varied one at a time, and the results were compared with the optimal ones. The results clearly show that through the proper application of FE modeling and numerical optimization, passive vibration damping of space structures has been successfully achieved.

Keywords: damping optimization, genetic algorithm optimization, passive vibration damping, solar array vibration damping

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Authors: Asma Rashid, Shazia Iram, Iftikhar Ahmad

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Mango sudden death is an emerging problem in Pakistan. As its prevalence is observed in almost all mango growing areas and severity varied from 2-5% in Punjab and 5-10% in Sindh. Symptoms on affected trees include bark splitting, discoloration of the vascular tissue, wilting, gummosis and at the end rapid death. Total of n= 45 isolates were isolated from different mango growing areas of Punjab and Sindh. Pathogenicity of these fungal isolates was tested through artificial inoculation method on different hosts (potato tubers, detached mango leaves, detached mango twigs and mango plants) under controlled conditions and all were proved pathogenic with varying degree of aggressiveness in reference to control. The findings of the present study proved that out of these four methods, potato tubers inoculation method was the most ideal as this fix the inoculums on the target site. Increased fungal growth and spore numbers may be due to soft tissues of potato tubers from which Ceratocystis isolates can easily pass. Lesion area on potato tubers was in the range of 7.09-0.14 cm2 followed by detached mango twigs which were ranged from 0.48-0.09 cm2). All pathological results were proved highly significant at P<0.05 through ANOVA but isolate to isolate showed non-significant behaviour but they have the positive effect on lesion area. Re-isolation of respective fungi was achieved with 100 percent success which results in the verification of Koch’s postulates. DNA of fungal pathogens was successfully extracted through phenol chloroform method. Amplification was done through ITS, b-tubulin gene, and Transcription Elongation Factor (EF1-a) gene primers and the amplified amplicons were sequenced and compared from NCBI which showed 99-100 % similarity with Ceratocystis manginecans. Fungus Ceratocystis manginecans formed one of strongly supported sub-clades through phylogenetic tree. Results obtained through this work would be supportive in establishment of relation of isolates with their region and will give information about pathogenicity level of isolates that would be useful to develop the management policies to reduce the afflictions in orchards caused by mango sudden death.

Keywords: artificial inoculation, mango, Ceratocystis manginecans, phylogenetic, screening

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Authors: Satish Y. Deodhar

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Science without history is like a man without memory. The colossal history of India stores many ideas on economic ethics and public policy, which have been forgotten in the course of time. This paper is an attempt to bring to the fore contributions from ancient Indian treatises. In this context, the paper briefly summarizes alternative economic ideas such as communism, capitalism, and the holistic approach of ancient Indian writings. Thereafter, the idea of a welfare brick for an individual consisting of three dimensions -Purusharthas, Ashramas, and Varnas is discussed. Given the contours of the welfare brick, the concept of the state, its economic policies, markets, prices, interest rates, and credit are covered next. This is followed by delving into the treatment of land, property rights, guilds, and labour relations. The penultimate section summarises the economic advice offered to the head of a household in the treatise Shukranitisara. Finally, in concluding comments, the relevance of ancient Indian writings for modern times is discussed -both for pedagogy and economic policies.

Keywords: ancient Indian treatises, history of economic thought, science of political economy, Sanskrit

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Authors: N. Hoosain, S. Nene, B. Pearce, C. Jacobs, M. Du Plessis, M. Benjeddou

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Organic Cation Transporters play a vital role in the absorption, tissue distribution and elimination of various substrates. Numerous studies have suggested that variations in non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of SLC22A2 could influence an individual’s response to various treatments, including clinically important drugs. This study is the first to determine the baseline frequency distribution for twenty SNPs of SLC22A2in the Zulu population. DNA was collected from 101 unrelated “healthy” Zulu participants. Genotypes of all samples were determined using a multiplex PCR and SNaPshot assay followed by the generation of the haplotype structure. This is the first time that the baseline frequency distribution of SNPs is reported for the Zulu population. Data from this study could be used in in vitro and in vivo pharmacogenetic and pharmacokinetic studies to evaluate the potential role the studied SNPs play in the therapeutic efficacy of clinically important drugs.

Keywords: SLC22A2 gene, SNaPshot assay, PCR, Zulu population

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Authors: Saniya Ablatt, Matthew Jacobsson, Jamie Whisler, Austin Forbes

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Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is a complication that occurs in up to 41% of patients after pancreaticoduodenectomy. Although certain characteristics such as individual patient anatomy are known risk factors for POPF, the effect of barbed suture techniques remains underexplored. This study examines whether the use of Stratafix barbed suture versus PDS impacts the risk of developing POPF. After obtaining IRB exemption, a retrospective chart review was initiated involving patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for the treatment of malignant or premalignant lesions of the pancreas at our institution between April 1st 2020 and April 30th 2022. Patients were stratified into 2 groups respective to the technique used to suture the pancreatico-jejunal anastomosis: Group 1 was composed to patients in which 4.0 Stratafix® suture was used n=41. Group 1 was composed to patients in which 4.0 PDS suture was used n=42. Data regarding patient age, sex, BMI, presence or absence of biochemical leak, presence or absence of grade B & C postoperative pancreatic fistulas, rate and type of in hospital complication, rate of reoperation, 30 day readmission rate, 90 day mortality, and total mortality were compared between groups. 83 patients were included in our study with 42 receiving Stratafix and 41 receiving PDS (50.6% vs 49.4%). Stratafix patients had less biochemical leaks (0.0% vs 4.8%, p=0.19) and higher rates of POPF but this was not statistically significant (7.2% vs 2.4%, p=0.26). Additionally, there was no difference between the use of stratafix versus PDS on the risk of clinically relevant grade B or C POPF (p=0.26, OR=3.25 [CI= 0.74-16.43]). Of the independent variables including age, race, sex, BMI, and ASA class, BMI greater than 25 increased the risk of clinically relevant POPF by 7.7 times compared to patients with BMI less than 25 (p=0.03, OR=7.79 [1.04-88.51]). Despite no significant difference in primary outcomes, the Stratafix group had lower rates of secondary outcomes including 90-day mortality; bleeding, cardiac, and infectious complications; reoperation; and 30-day readmission. On statistical analysis, Stratafix decreased the risk of 30-day readmission (p=0.04, OR=0.21, CI=0.04-0.97) and had a marginally significant effect on the risk of reoperation (p=0.08, OR=0.24, CI=0.04-1.26). There was no difference between the use of Stratafix versus PDS on the risk of POPF (p=0.26). However, Stratafix decreased the risk of 30-day readmission (p=0.04) and BMI greater than 25 increased the risk of clinically relevant POPF (p=0.03).

Keywords: pancreas, hepatobiliary surgery, hepatobiliary, pancreatic leak, biochemical leak, fistula, pancreatic fistula

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Authors: Abobaker Mohammed Qasem Farhan, Olof M. A. Saif

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The demand for parking spaces in urban areas, particularly in developing countries, has led to a significant issue in the absence of sufficient parking spaces in crowded areas, which results in daily traffic congestion as drivers search for parking. This not only affects the appearance of the city but also has indirect impacts on the economy, society, and environment. In response to these challenges, researchers from various countries have sought technical and intelligent solutions to mitigate the problem through the development of smart parking systems. This paper aims to analyze and design three models of parking lots, with a focus on parking time and security. The study used computer software and Uppaal tools to simulate the models and determine the best among them. The results and suggestions provided in the paper aim to reduce the parking problems and improve the overall efficiency and safety of the parking process. The conclusion of the study highlights the importance of utilizing advanced technology to address the pressing issue of insufficient parking spaces in urban areas.

Keywords: preliminaries, system requirements, timed Au- tomata, Uppaal

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Authors: Nurul-Akidah M. Yusak, Rahmah Mohamed, Noor Zuhaira Abd Aziz

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The introduction of degradable plastic materials into agricultural sectors has represented a promising alternative to promote green agriculture and environmental friendly of modern farming practices. Major challenges of developing degradable agricultural films are to identify the most feasible types of degradation mechanisms, composition of degradable polymers and related processing techniques. The incorrect choice of degradable mechanisms to be applied during the degradation process will cause premature losses of mechanical performance and strength. In order to achieve controlled process of agricultural film degradation, the compositions of degradable agricultural film also important in order to stimulate degradation reaction at required interval of time and to achieve sustainability of the modern agricultural practices. A set of photodegradable polyethylene based agricultural film was developed and produced, following the selective optimization of processing parameters of the agricultural film manufacturing system. Example of agricultural films application for oil palm seedlings cultivation is presented.

Keywords: photodegradable polyethylene, plasticulture, processing schemes

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Authors: A. Kouadri-Henni, L. Barrallier

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The objective of the study was to characterize the properties of a magnesium alloy welded by friction stir welding (FSW). The results led to a better understanding of the relationship between this process, the microstructure and anisotropic properties of alloy materials. Welding principally leads to a large reduction in grain size in welded zones due to the phenomenon of dynamic recrystallization. The most remarkable observation was that crystallographic textures changed from a base metal with one texture in two zones: the thermo-mechanically affected and stir welded zones. The latter zone has the peculiarity of possessing a marked texture with two components on the basal plane and the pyramidal plane. These characteristics disappeared in the TMAZ, which had only one component following the basal plane. These modifications have been explained by the nature of the plastic deformation in these zones, which occurs at a moderate temperature in the TMAZ and high temperature in the SWZ. In the same time, we compared this evolution with the nature and the level of the residual stresses obtained by X-ray diffraction.

Keywords: texture christallography, residual stresses, FSW process

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Authors: James Moir

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This paper considers the political controversy in Britain, both pre- and post-EU referendum, concerning claims over welfare benefit tourism and immigration in the UK. These claims were seen to be a significant reason for the vote for Brexit despite evidence to the contrary that benefit tourism was not, and is not, implicated in the migration of East Europeans to the UK. Populist rhetoric is analysed alongside studies that contradict such views. These contentious issues are examined with respect to the agenda set by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) concerning anti-EU and anti-immigrant sentiment and the notion of cultural differences as the basis for supporting Brexit. The paper also examines the paradoxical claim that East European migrants are taking British jobs and driving down wages. Taken together, it is argued that these two kinds of claims effectively contribute to anti-immigration discourse based on the logic of economics, but also at the same time conceal more irrational fears of adapting to change through the inclusion of others. Such fears are considered as being founded upon a challenge to the stability of totems of national life and identity.

Keywords: benefits, Brexit, immigration, tourism, welfare

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Authors: Ruth Shapira

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Introduction: The rapid urbanization of the last century confronts planners, regulatory bodies, developers and most of all – the public with seemingly unsolved conflicts regarding values, capital, and wellbeing of the built and un-built urban space. This is reflected in the quality of the urban form and life which has known no significant progress in the last 2-3 decades despite the on-growing urban population. It is the objective of this paper to analyze some of these fundamental issues through the case study of a relatively small town in the center of Israel (Kiryat-Ono, 100,000 inhabitants), unfold the deep structure of qualities versus disruptors, present some cure that we have developed to bridge over and humbly suggest a practice that may be generic for similar cases. Basic Methodologies: The OBJECT, the town of Kiryat Ono, shall be experimented upon in a series of four action processes: De-composition, Re-composition, the Centering process and, finally, Controlled Structural Disintegration. Each stage will be based on facts, analysis of previous multidisciplinary interventions on various layers – and the inevitable reaction of the OBJECT, leading to the conclusion based on innovative theoretical and practical methods that we have developed and that we believe are proper for the open ended network, setting the rules for the contemporary urban society to cluster by. The Study: Kiryat Ono, was founded 70 years ago as an agricultural settlement and rapidly turned into an urban entity. In spite the massive intensification, the original DNA of the old small town was still deeply embedded, mostly in the quality of the public space and in the sense of clustered communities. In the past 20 years, the recent demand for housing has been addressed to on the national level with recent master plans and urban regeneration policies mostly encouraging individual economic initiatives. Unfortunately, due to the obsolete existing planning platform the present urban renewal is characterized by pressure of developers, a dramatic change in building scale and widespread disintegration of the existing urban and social tissue. Our office was commissioned to conceptualize two master plans for the two contradictory processes of Kiryat Ono’s future: intensification and conservation. Following a comprehensive investigation into the deep structures and qualities of the existing town, we developed a new vocabulary of conservation terms thus redefying the sense of PLACE. The main challenge was to create master plans that should offer a regulatory basis to the accelerated and sporadic development providing for the public good and preserving the characteristics of the PLACE consisting of a tool box of design guidelines that will have the ability to reorganize space along the time axis in a coherent way. In Conclusion: The system of rules that we have developed can generate endless possible patterns making sure that at each implementation fragment an event is created, and a better place is revealed. It takes time and perseverance but it seems to be the way to provide a healthy framework for the accelerated urbanization of our chaotic present.

Keywords: housing, architecture, urban qualities, urban regeneration, conservation, intensification

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