Search results for: behavior pattern

Authors: Mi Yuan

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Employment issues have become increasingly severe in contemporary society, with job seekers' criteria for work environments becoming more complex. However, most studies lack an analysis from the perspective of employment spatial environment. This study employs qualitative research methods such as interviews and thematic analysis, focusing on spatial environment behavior research. By analyzing the behaviors and preferences of key employment groups in China (college graduates, migrant workers, and reemployed laid-off workers) from the perspectives of physical and socio-cultural environments, this study identifies the consistencies and differences in personal viewpoints during job selection and their impact on employment decisions. The findings indicate that college graduates tend to emphasize the macro spatial environment, while migrant workers and reemployed laid-off workers are more concerned with micro spatial environment factors. Additionally, college graduates have higher requirements for the diversity of space types and the distinction between public and private spaces. Furthermore, aside from salary considerations, key employment groups generally place less importance on the socio-cultural environment compared to the physical environment. This study aims to highlight the significance of spatial environment in job selection decisions from the perspective of diverse job seekers, providing insights for policy-making and corporate recruitment strategies.

Keywords: job-seeking populations, spatial environment behavior, micro, macro, qualitative research, physical environment, socio-cultural environment

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Authors: Harun Gülan, Muhsin Tunay Gencoglu, Mehmet Cebeci

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The main function of the insulators used in high voltage (HV) transmission lines is to insulate the energized conductor from the pole and hence from the ground. However, when the insulators fail to perform this insulation function due to various effects, failures occur. The deterioration of the insulation results either from breakdown or surface flashover. The surface flashover is caused by the layer of pollution that forms conductivity on the surface of the insulator, such as salt, carbonaceous compounds, rain, moisture, fog, dew, industrial pollution and desert dust. The source of the majority of failures and interruptions in HV lines is surface flashover. This threatens the continuity of supply and causes significant economic losses. Pollution flashover in HV insulators is still a serious problem that has not been fully resolved. In this study, a water jet test system has been established in order to investigate the behavior of insulators under dirty conditions and to determine their flashover performance. Flashover behavior of the insulators is examined by applying impulse voltages in the test system. This study aims to investigate the insulator behaviour under high impulse voltages. For this purpose, a water jet test system was installed and experimental results were obtained over a real system and analyzed. By using the water jet test system instead of the actual insulator, the damage to the insulator as a result of the flashover that would occur under impulse voltage was prevented. The results of the test system performed an important role in determining the insulator behavior and provided predictability.

Keywords: insulator, pollution flashover, high impulse voltage, water jet model

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Authors: Sabyasachi Biswas, Indrajit Ghosh

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The random and heterogeneous behavior of vehicles in India puts up a greater challenge for researchers. Stop-and-go modeling at signalized intersections under heterogeneous traffic conditions has remained one of the most sought-after fields. Vehicles are often caught up in the dilemma zone and are unable to take quick decisions whether to stop or cross the intersection. This hampers the traffic movement and may lead to accidents. The purpose of this work is to develop a stop and go prediction model that depicts the drivers’ decision during the yellow time at signalised intersections. To accomplish this, certain traffic parameters were taken into account to develop surrogate model. This research investigated the Stop and Go behavior of the drivers by collecting data from 4-signalized intersections located in two major Indian cities. Model was developed to predict the drivers’ decision making during the yellow phase of the traffic signal. The parameters used for modeling included distance to stop line, time to stop line, speed, and length of the vehicle. A Kriging base surrogate model has been developed to investigate the drivers’ decision-making behavior in amber phase. It is observed that the proposed approach yields a highly accurate result (97.4 percent) by Gaussian function. It was observed that the accuracy for the crossing probability was 95.45, 90.9 and 86.36.11 percent respectively as predicted by the Kriging models with Gaussian, Exponential and Linear functions.

Keywords: decision-making decision, dilemma zone, surrogate model, Kriging

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Authors: Leila Azadbakht, Maedeh Moradi, Mohammad Reza Merasi, Farzaneh Jahangir

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Maternal dietary intake during lactation might affect the growth rate of an exclusive breastfed infant. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of maternal dietary patterns and quality during lactation on the growth of the exclusive breastfed infant. Methods: 484 healthy lactating mothers with their infant were enrolled in this study. Only exclusive breastfed infants were included in this study which was conducted in Iran. Dietary intake of lactating mothers was assessed using a validated and reliable semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Diet quality indices such as alternative Healthy eating index (HEI), Dietary energy density (DED), and adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern score, Nordic and dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) eating pattern were created. Anthropometric features of infant (weight, height, and head circumference) were recorded at birth, two and four months. Results: Weight, length, weight for height and head circumference of infants at two months and four months age were mostly in the normal range among those that mothers adhered more to the HEI in lactation period (normal weight: 61%; normal height: 59%). The prevalence of stunting at four months of age among those whose mothers adhered more to the HEI was 31% lower than those with the least adherence to HEI. Mothers in the top tertiles of HEI score had the lowest frequency of having underweight infants (18% vs. 33%; P=0.03). Odds ratio of being overweight or obese at four months age was the lowest among those infants whose mothers adhered more to the HEI (OR: 0.67 vs 0.91; Ptrend=0.03). However, there was not any significant association between adherence of mothers to Mediterranean diet as well as DASH diet and Nordic eating pattern and the growth of infants (none of weight, height or head circumference). Infant weight, length, weight for height and head circumference at two months and four months did not show significant differences among different tertile categories of mothers’ DED. Conclusions: Higher diet quality indices and more adherence of lactating mother to HEI (as an indicator of diet quality) may be associated with better growth indices of the breastfed infant. However, it seems that DED of the lactating mother does not affect the growth of the breastfed infant. Adherence to the different dietary patterns such as Mediterranean, DASH or Nordic among mothers had no different effect on the growth indices of the infants. However, higher diet quality indices and more adherence of lactating mother to HEI may be associated with better growth indices of the breastfed infant. Breastfeeding is a complete way that is not affected much by the dietary patterns of the mother. However, better diet quality might be associated with better growth.

Keywords: breastfeeding, growth, infant, maternal diet

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Authors: Hadi Barghlame, M. A. Lotfollahi-Yaghin, Mehdi Mohammad Rezaei, Saeed Eskanderzadeh

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In this paper, the capacity of cracking torsion on rectangular and cylindrical beams with spiral and normal stirrups in similar properties are investigated. Also, in the beams with spiral stirrups, stirrups are not wrapping and spiral stirrups similar to normal stirrups in ACI code. Therefore, models of above-mentioned beams have been numerically analyzed under various loads using ANSYS software. In this research, the behavior of rectangular reinforced concrete beams is compared with the cylindrical reinforced concrete beams. The capacity of cracking torsion of rectangular and cylindrical RC beams with spiral and normal stirrups are same. In the other words, the behavior of rectangular RC beams is similar to cylindrical beams.

Keywords: cracking torsion, RC beams, spiral stirrups, normal stirrups

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Authors: Abdullah Mukhtar, Shehroz Mukhtar, Amina Mukhtar, Choudhry Shahid, Hafiz Raza Razzaq, Saif Ur Rahman

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The aim of this study is to find out the negative and positive impacts of social media platforms on the attitude toward learning and the educational environment of the student community. Social Media platforms have become a source of collaboration with one another throughout the globe, making it a small world. This study performs a focalized investigation of the adverse and constructive factors that have a strong impact not only on psychological adjustments but also on the academic performance of peers. This study is quantitative research adopting a random sampling method in which the participants were the students at the university. The researcher distributed 1000 questionnaires among the university students from different departments and asked them to fill in the data on the Lickert Scale. The participants are from the age group of 18-24 years. The study applies user and gratification theory in order to examine the behavior of students practicing social media in their academic and personal lives. The findings of the study reveal that the use of social media platforms in the Pakistani context has less positive impact as compared to negative impacts on the behavior of students towards learning. The research suggests that usage of online social media platforms should be taught to students; awareness must the created among the users of social media by means of seminars, workshops and by media itself to overcome the negative impacts of social media, leading towards sustainable education in Pakistan.

Keywords: social media, positive impacts, negative impacts, sustainable education, learning behaviour

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Authors: Nameer A. Alwash, Dunia A. Abd AlRadha, Arshed M. Aljanaby

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This study present an experimental investigation of composite behavior for hybrid reinforced concrete slab on girder from locale material in Iraq, ordinary concrete, NC, in slab and reactive powder concrete in girder ,RPC, with steel fibers of different types(straight, hook, and mix between its), tested as simply supported span subjected under two point loading, also study effects on overall behavior such as the ultimate load, crack width and deflection. The result shows that the most suitable for production girder from RPC by using 2% micro straight steel fiber, in terms of ultimate strength and min crack width. Also the results shows that using RPC in girder of composite section increased ultimate load by 79% when compared with same section made of NC, and increased the shear strength which erased the effect of changing reinforcement in shear, and using RPC in girder and epoxy (in shear transfer between composite section) (meaning no stirrups) equivalent presence of shear reinforcement by 90% when compared with same section using Φ8@100 as shear reinforcement. And the result shows that changing the cross section girder shape of the composite section to inverted T, with same section area, increased the ultimate load by 5% when compared with same section of rectangular shape girder.

Keywords: reactive powder concrete, RPC, hybrid concrete, composite section, RC girder, RC slab, shear connecters, inverted T section, shear reinforcment, shear span over effective depth

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Authors: M. Abbasi

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A spillway structure is used to pass excess water and floods from upstream or upstream to downstream or tributary. The spillway is considered one of the most key members of the dam, and the failure of many dams is attributed to the inefficiency of their spillway. Weirs should be selected as strong, reliable and high-performance structures, and weirs should be ready for use in all conditions and able to drain the flood so that we do not witness many casualties and financial losses when a flood occurs. The purpose of this study is to simulate the flow pattern passing over the peak spillway in order to optimize and adjust the height of the spillway walls. In this research, the effect of the shape of the side wings on the flow pattern over the peak spillways of the Gotvand reservoir dam was simulated and modelled using Flow3D software. In this research, side wings with rounded walls with six different approach angles were used. In addition, the different value of H/Hd was used to check the effect of the tank head. The results showed that with the constant H/Hd ratio and the increase of the approach angle of the side wing, the flow depth first decreases and then increases. These changes were the opposite regarding the depth average speed of the flow and the depth average concentration of the air entering the flow. At the same time, with the constant angle of approach of the side wing and with the increase of H/Hd ratio, the flow depth increases. In general, a correct understanding of the operation of overflows and a correct design can significantly reduce construction costs and solve flooding problems.

Keywords: effect of the shape, gotvand reservoir dam, narrowing coefficients, supports of the gates

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Authors: Guru Prasad Satsangi, Shiv Shankar Gautam

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Allelopathy is a potential area of research for sustainable agriculture. It is environmentally safe, can conserve the available resources, and also may mitigate the problems raised by synthetic chemicals. The allelo-chemicals are secondary metabolites produced by plants, which are the byproducts of the primary metabolic process. These allelo-chemicals may be stimulatory, inhibitory, or may have no effect on the growth of the other plants. It has been observed in the present study that foliar extracts of Leucaena leucocephala showed an inhibitory effect on the germination of the test crop maize. The results revealed that at different concentrations of Leucaena leucocephala foliar extract, caused a significant inhibition in germination and growth behavior of Zea mays L. seedlings. Minimum germination and growth occurred in 100 % concentration, and an increase in extract concentrations result in a decrease in the germination. Bioassay also depicted that this inhibitory effect was proportional to the concentration of the extract as the higher concentration having a lesser stimulatory effect or vice versa. The phytochemical analysis of the secondary metabolites from foliar extracts of Leucaena leucocephala L. showed the presence of tannins, saponins, phenols, alkaloids, and flavanoids. Among various extracts, the presence of methanol extract was found in a significant amount of phytochemicals, followed by the aqueous and ethanol extracts. Leaves showed a significantly higher amount of the allelochemicals.

Keywords: allelopathic effect, germination /growth behavior , foliar extracts, Leucaena leucceophala , Zea mays L.

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Authors: Johanna Lindstrom, Jacob Mickelsson

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Changes in the current media environment are transforming peoples’ everyday media consumption patterns all over the world. Digital media have become a natural, almost unavoidable, part of everyday lives of humans. While this has led to many positive consequences, there is also a growing concern for harmful effects. This paper contributes to knowledge about “the dark side” of media use by considering the topic of media addiction and subsequent coping strategies among young adults. The paper draws on a longitudinal media diary study conducted among young university students between the years 2013 and 2021. A total of 1029 diaries have been collected (approximately 100 each year), aiming at capturing the students’ everyday media behavior. In this paper, reflective narratives in the diaries have been analyzed, aiming at answering the following questions: Which of their own media behaviors do the students perceive as particularly destructive, addictive or problematic? How do they cope with such behaviors? Results from the study indicate a noticeable increase in reflections on addictive media behavior over the years. For example, compared to earlier years, the amount of such reflections significantly started to increase in the diaries in 2016 and 2017, and this trend has continued ever since. Furthermore, the nature of these reflections has changed, displaying a growing concern for one’s own excessive media use and general wellbeing. Media addiction seems particularly difficult to cope with as digital media is literally everywhere and media use in general is described as consistent and habitual, in terms of regularly repeated routines that are fragmented but performed continuously and often unintentionally throughout the day. Reflections on “the dark side” of everyday media consumption become particularly prominent in times of the Covid -19 pandemic. However, this trend was noticeable well before the pandemic started. The study also identifies a countertrend regarding reflections on how to deal and cope with problematic media behavioral patterns. This countertrend portrays a general development of increased awareness of factors that may trigger compulsive behavior and how to avoid or handle such trigger points. The countertrend is particularly evident in recent years, despite the ongoing pandemic and subsequent increases in time spent using media. Addictive media behavior may lead to severe consequences for students’ learning processes and general well-being. Increased awareness of this growing trend and coping strategies are needed on an individual as well as a broader educational level.

Keywords: coping strategies, media addiction, media behavior, well-being

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Authors: S. Mahdi S. Kolbadi, Ramezan Ali Alvand, Afrasiab Mirzaei

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In this study, to investigate and analyze the seismic behavior of concrete in open rectangular water storage tanks in two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces, the Finite Element Method has been used. Through this method, dynamic responses can be investigated together in fluid storages system. Soil behavior has been simulated using tanks boundary conditions in linear form. In this research, in addition to flexibility of wall, the effects of fluid-structure interaction on seismic response of tanks have been investigated to account for the effects of flexible foundation in linear boundary conditions form, and a dynamic response of rectangular tanks in two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces using finite element method has been provided. The boundary conditions of both rigid and flexible walls in two-dimensional finite element method have been considered to investigate the effect of wall flexibility on seismic response of fluid and storage system. Furthermore, three-dimensional model of fluid-structure interaction issue together with wall flexibility has been analyzed under the three components of earthquake. The obtained results show that two-dimensional model is also accurately near to the results of three-dimension as well as flexibility of foundation leads to absorb received energy and relative reduction of responses.

Keywords: dynamic behavior, flexible wall, fluid-structure interaction, water storage tank

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Authors: Nandini B. Nagaraju, Punya D. Gowda, S. Aishwarya, Benjamin Rohit

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This paper attempts to understand the structural behavior of non-prismatic channel beams subjected to bending through finite element (FE) analysis. The present study aims at shedding some light on how tapered channel beams behave by studying the effect of taper ratio on structural behavior. As a weight reduction is always desired in aerospace structures beams are tapered in order to obtain highest structural efficiency. FE analysis has been performed to study the effect of taper ratio on linear deflection, lateral torsional buckling, non-linear parameters, stresses and dynamic parameters. Taper ratio tends to affect the mechanics of tapered beams innocuously and adversely. Consequently, it becomes important to understand and document the mechanics of channel tapered beams. Channel beams generally have low torsional rigidity due to the off-shear loading. The effect of loading type and location of applied load have been studied for flange taper, web taper and symmetric taper for different conditions. Among these, as the taper ratio is increased, the torsional angular deflection increases but begins to decrease when the beam is web tapered and symmetrically tapered for a mid web loaded beam. But when loaded through the shear center, an increase in the torsional angular deflection can be observed with increase in taper ratio. It should be considered which parameter is tapered to obtain the highest efficiency.

Keywords: channel beams, tapered beams, lateral torsional bucking, shear centre

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Authors: Yusuf Emirov, Abdullatif Hakami, Prasanta K Biswas, Elias K Stefanakos, Sesha S Srinivasan

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This study is aimed to develop microencapsulated thermochromic materials and the analysis of core-shell formation using high resolution electron microscopy. The candidate metal oxides (e.g., titanium oxide and silicon oxide) used for the microencapsulation of thermochromic materials are based on the microemulsion route that involves the micelle formation using different surfactants. The effectiveness of the core-shell microstructure formationrevealed the influence of surfactants and the metal oxide precursor concentrations. Additionally, a detailed thermal and color chromic behavior of these core-shell microcapsules are evaluated with the pristine thermochromic dye particles.

Keywords: core-shell thermochromic materials, core-shell microstructure formation, thermal and color chromic behavior of core-shell microcapsules, development micro-capsulated thermochromic materials

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Authors: Warunpun Kongsom, Chaiwat Kongsom

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The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness, knowledge and consumer behavior towards organic products in Thailand. For this study, a purposive sampling technique was used to identify a sample group of 2,575 consumers over the age of 20 years who intended or made purchases from 1) green shops; 2) supermarkets with branches; and, 3) green markets. A questionnaire was used for data collection across the country. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The results showed that more than 92% of consumers were aware of organic agriculture, but had less knowledge about it. More than 60% of consumers knew that organic agriculture production and processing did not allow the use of chemicals. And about 40% of consumers were confused between the food safety logo and the certified organic logo, and whether GMO was allowed in organic agriculture practice or not. In addition, most consumers perceived that organic agricultural products, good agricultural practice (GAP) products, agricultural chemicals free products, and hydroponic vegetable products had the same standard. In the view of organic consumers, the organic Thailand label was the most seen and reliable among various organic labels. Less than 3% of consumers thought that the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Global Organic Mark (GOM) was the most seen and reliable. For the behaviors of organic consumers, they purchased organic products mainly at the supermarket and green shop (55.4%), one to two times per month, and with a total expenditure of about 200 to 400 baht each time. The main reason for buying organic products was safety and free from agricultural chemicals. The considered factors in organic product selection were price (29.5%), convenience (22.4%), and a reliable certification system (21.3%). The demands for organic products were mainly rice, vegetables and fruits. Processed organic products were relatively small in quantity.

Keywords: consumer behavior, consumer knowledge, organic products, Thailand

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Authors: Hamidreza Namazi

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Fractal analysis is assessing fractal characteristics of data. It consists of several methods to assign fractal characteristics to a dataset which may be a theoretical dataset or a pattern or signal extracted from phenomena including natural geometric objects, sound, market fluctuations, heart rates, digital images, molecular motion, networks, etc. Fractal analysis is now widely used in all areas of science. An important limitation of fractal analysis is that arriving at an empirically determined fractal dimension does not necessarily prove that a pattern is fractal; rather, other essential characteristics have to be considered. For this purpose a Visual C++ based software called FRATSAN (FRActal Time Series ANalyser) was developed which extract information from signals through three measures. These measures are Fractal Dimensions, Jeffrey’s Measure and Hurst Exponent. After computing these measures, the software plots the graphs for each measure. Besides computing three measures the software can classify whether the signal is fractal or no. In fact, the software uses a dynamic method of analysis for all the measures. A sliding window is selected with a value equal to 10% of the total number of data entries. This sliding window is moved one data entry at a time to obtain all the measures. This makes the computation very sensitive to slight changes in data, thereby giving the user an acute analysis of the data. In order to test the performance of this software a set of EEG signals was given as input and the results were computed and plotted. This software is useful not only for fundamental fractal analysis of signals but can be used for other purposes. For instance by analyzing the Hurst exponent plot of a given EEG signal in patients with epilepsy the onset of seizure can be predicted by noticing the sudden changes in the plot.

Keywords: EEG signals, fractal analysis, fractal dimension, hurst exponent, Jeffrey’s measure

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Authors: N. Malatji, A. P. I. Popoola

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Zn-Al2O3 and Cr2O3 nanocomposite coatings were successfully produced by electrodeposition technique from chloride acidic bath. Particle loading of Al2O3 (50nm) particles were varied from 5-10 g/L and for Cr2O3(100nm) was 10-20 g/L. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) affixed with energy dispersive spectrometry was used to study the surface morphology and content of the nanoparticles incorporated into the coatings. Microhardness, thermal stability, wear and corrosion behavior of the coatings were also evaluated to study the effect of these nanoparticles on these properties. Zn-Al2O3 nanocomposite was found to exhibit good surface properties especially corrosion resistance. On the other side, Cr2O3 incorporation resulted in the improvement of only mechanical properties. Therefore, Zn-Al2O3 proved to be a better coating for most industrial applications where both chemical and mechanical properties are required.

Keywords: electrodeposition, nanocomposite coatings, corrosion, thermal stability, tribology

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Authors: Astrid de Leeuw, Pierre Valois

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Environmental education is the key to enhancing or changing students’ ways of thinking and acting in order to create an environmentally robust future for all. The present study investigates the beliefs of 812 primary school students, which merit consideration when developing educational interventions. Results of multiple regression analyses reveal that educational interventions should focus on promoting students’ feelings of control over pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). For example, schools could provide recycling bins on the premises. Furthermore, it is critical to develop positive attitudes in students by stressing the various benefits of PEB for keeping our planet clean and protecting wildlife. Unfortunately, our results indicate that students believe that PEB is boring and annoying. Suggestions are offered for making PEB more interesting and relevant. Further research is needed to test the effectiveness of interventions based on the present results.

Keywords: pro-environmental behavior, primary school students, theory of planned behavior, beliefs, educational interventions

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Authors: A. A. M. A. S. S. Perera, L. A. Ranasinghe, T. K. H. Nimeshika, D. M. Dhanushka Dissanayake, Namalie Walgampaya

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Nowadays, skin fungal diseases are mostly found in people of tropical countries like Sri Lanka. A skin fungal disease is a particular kind of illness caused by fungus. These diseases have various dangerous effects on the skin and keep on spreading over time. It becomes important to identify these diseases at their initial stage to control it from spreading. This paper presents an automated skin fungal disease identification system implemented to speed up the diagnosis process by identifying skin fungal infections in digital images. An image of the diseased skin lesion is acquired and a comprehensive computer vision and image processing scheme is used to process the image for the disease identification. This includes colour analysis using RGB and HSV colour models, texture classification using Grey Level Run Length Matrix, Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix and Local Binary Pattern, Object detection, Shape Identification and many more. This paper presents the approach and its outcome for identification of four most common skin fungal infections, namely, Tinea Corporis, Sporotrichosis, Malassezia and Onychomycosis. The main intention of this research is to provide an automated skin fungal disease identification system that increase the diagnostic quality, shorten the time-to-diagnosis and improve the efficiency of detection and successful treatment for skin fungal diseases.

Keywords: Circularity Index, Grey Level Run Length Matrix, Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix, Local Binary Pattern, Object detection, Ring Detection, Shape Identification

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Authors: Arifuzzaman Nayeem, Tafannum Torsha, Tanvir Manzur, Shaurav Alam

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Performance evaluation of reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to accidental fire is significant for post-fire capacity measurement. Mechanical properties of any RC beam degrade due to heating since the strength and modulus of concrete and reinforcement suffer considerable reduction under elevated temperatures. Moreover, fire-induced thermal dilation and shrinkage cause internal stresses within the concrete and eventually result in cracking, spalling, and loss of stiffness, which ultimately leads to lower service life. However, conducting full-scale comprehensive experimental investigation for RC beams exposed to fire is difficult and cost-intensive, where the finite element (FE) based numerical study can provide an economical alternative for evaluating the post-fire capacity of RC beams. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the fire behavior of RC beams using FE software package ABAQUS under different durations of fire. The damaged plasticity model of concrete in ABAQUS was used to simulate behavior RC beams. The effect of temperature on strength and modulus of concrete and steel was simulated following relevant Eurocodes. Initially, the result of FE models was validated using several experimental results from available scholarly articles. It was found that the response of the developed FE models matched quite well with the experimental outcome for beams without heat. The FE analysis of beams subjected to fire showed some deviation from the experimental results, particularly in terms of stiffness degradation. However, the ultimate strength and deflection of FE models were similar to that of experimental values. The developed FE models, thus, exhibited the good potential to predict the fire behavior of RC beams. Once validated, FE models were then used to analyze several RC beams having different strengths (ranged between 20 MPa and 50 MPa) exposed to the standard fire curve (ASTM E119) for different durations. The post-fire performance of RC beams was investigated in terms of load-deflection behavior, flexural strength, and deflection characteristics.

Keywords: fire durations, flexural strength, post fire capacity, reinforced concrete beam, standard fire

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Authors: G. Minak, D. Ghelli, A. Zucchelli

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This paper presents the results of an experimental characterization of a glass fibre-epoxy composite. The behavior of the traditional two-phase composite has been compared with the one of a new three-phase composite where the epoxy matrix was modified by addition of a 3% weight fraction of montmorillonite nano-particles. Two different types of nano-clays, Cloisite® 30B and RXG7000, produced by Southern Clay Products Inc., have been considered. Three-point bending tests, both monotonic and cyclic, were carried out. A strong reduction of the ultimate flexural strength upon nano-modification has been observed in quasi-static tests. Fatigue tests yielded a smaller strength loss. In both quasi-static and fatigue tests a more pronounced tendency to delamination has been noticed in three-phase composites, especially in the case of 30B nano-clay, with respect to the standard two-phase glass fiber composite.

Keywords: bending fatigue, epoxy resin, glass fiber, montmorillonite

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Authors: Laszlo Dorner

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Background: In the last few decades there has been a significant discussion within the researchers of prosocial behavior about to what extent personality characteristics matter in determining the quality and frequency of helping behaviors. Of these community activities the most important is formal volunteering which mainly realises in civil services and organizations. Recently many researches have been showed up regarding the personality factors and motivations behind volunteering). Most of these researches found strong correlation between Agreeableness and Extraversion as global traits and the time spent on volunteering and its frequency as well. Aims of research: In this research we investigate the relation between formal volunteer activities and global traits in a Hungarian volunteer sample. We hypothetise that the results appeared in the previous researches show the same pattern in Hungary as well: volunteering would be related to Agreeableness and Extraversion. We also assume that the time spent on volunteering is related to these traits, since these traits would serve as an indicator of long-term volunteering. Methods: We applied the Hungarian adaptation of Big Five Questionnaire created by Caprara, Barbaranelli és Borgogni. This self-reported questionnaire contains 132 items, and explore 5 main traits examining the person’s most important emotional and motivational features regarding its personality. This research took into account the most important socio-economical factors (age, gender, religiosity, income) which can determine volunteer activities per se. The data is evaluated by SPSS 19.0 Statistical Software. Sample: 92 volunteer (formal, mainly the volunteers of Hungarian Red Cross and Hospice Organizations)and 92 non volunteer person, with matched subsamples by the factors of age, gender and qualification. Results: The volunteer subsample shows higher values of Energy and significantly higher values of Agreeableness and Openness, however, regarding Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability the differences are not significant between the volunteer and non-volunteer subsamples.

Keywords: Big Five, comparative analysis, global traits, volunteering

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Authors: Erkan Polat, Barlas Ozden Caglayan

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By day-to-day developed techniques, it is possible to pass through larger openings by using smaller beam-column sections. Parallel to this trend, it is aimed to produce not only smaller but also economical and architecturally more attractive beams. This study aims to explain the structural behavior of arch steel beam reinforced by using post-tension cable. Due to the effect of post-stressed cable, the arch beam load carrying capacity increases and an optimized section in a smaller size can be obtained with a better architectural view. It also allows better mechanical and applicational solutions for buildings. For better understanding the behavior of the reinforced beam, steel beam and arch steel beam with post-tensioned cable are all modeled and analyzed by using SAP2000 Finite element computer program and compared with each other. Also, full scale test specimens were prepared to test for figuring out the structural behavior and compare the results with the computer model results. Test results are very promising. The similarity of the results between the test and computer analysis shows us that there are no extra knowledge and effort of engineer is needed to calculate such beams. The predicted (and proved by tests) beam carrying capacity is 35% higher than the unreinforced beam carrying capacity. Even just three full scale tests were completed, it is seen that the ratio (%35) may be increased ahead by adjusting the cable post-tension force of beams in much smaller sizes.

Keywords: arch steel beams, pre-stressed cables, finite element, specimen Test

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Authors: Xiaoqing Peng, Aijing Luo, Yang Chen

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Background: Cyberchondria, as an "emerging risk" accompanied by the information era, is a new abnormal pattern characterized by excessive or repeated online searches for health-related information and escalating health anxiety, which endangers people's physical and mental health and poses a huge threat to public health. Objective: To explore and discuss the research status, hotspots and trends of Cyberchondria. Methods: Based on a total of 77 articles regarding "Cyberchondria" extracted from Web of Science from the beginning till October 2019, the literature trends, countries, institutions, hotspots are analyzed by bibliometric analysis, the concept definition of Cyberchondria, instruments, relevant factors, treatment and intervention are discussed as well. Results: Since "Cyberchondria" was put forward for the first time in 2001, the last two decades witnessed a noticeable increase in the amount of literature, especially during 2014-2019, it quadrupled dramatically at 62 compared with that before 2014 only at 15, which shows that Cyberchondria has become a new theme and hot topic in recent years. The United States was the most active contributor with the largest publication (23), followed by England (11) and Australia (11), while the leading institutions were Baylor University(7) and University of Sydney(7), followed by Florida State University(4) and University of Manchester(4). The WoS categories "Psychiatry/Psychology " and "Computer/ Information Science "were the areas of greatest influence. The concept definition of Cyberchondria is not completely unified in the world, but it is generally considered as an abnormal behavioral pattern and emotional state and has been invoked to refer to the anxiety-amplifying effects of online health-related searches. The first and the most frequently cited scale for measuring the severity of Cyberchondria called “The Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) ”was developed in 2014, which conceptualized Cyberchondria as a multidimensional construct consisting of compulsion, distress, excessiveness, reassurance, and mistrust of medical professionals which was proved to be not necessary for this construct later. Since then, the Brazilian, German, Turkish, Polish and Chinese versions were subsequently developed, improved and culturally adjusted, while CSS was optimized to a simplified version (CSS-12) in 2019, all of which should be worthy of further verification. The hotspots of Cyberchondria mainly focuses on relevant factors as follows: intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, internet addition, abnormal illness behavior, Whiteley index, problematic internet use, trying to make clear the role played by “associated factors” and “anxiety-amplifying factors” in the development of Cyberchondria, to better understand the aetiological links and pathways in the relationships between hypochondriasis, health anxiety and online health-related searches. Although the treatment and intervention of Cyberchondria are still in the initial stage of exploration, there are kinds of meaningful attempts to seek effective strategies from different aspects such as online psychological treatment, network technology management, health information literacy improvement and public health service. Conclusion: Research on Cyberchondria is in its infancy but should be deserved more attention. A conceptual consensus on Cyberchondria, a refined assessment tool, prospective studies conducted in various populations, targeted treatments for it would be the main research direction in the near future.

Keywords: cyberchondria, hypochondriasis, health anxiety, online health-related searches

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Authors: Erma Desmaliana, Saptahari Sugiri

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Limited availability of solid timber in large dimensions becomes a problem. The demands of timbers in Indonesia is more increasing compared to its supply from natural forest. It is associated with the issues of global warming and environmental preservation. The uses of timbers from HTI (Industrial Planting Forest) and HTR (Society Planting Forest), such as Jabon, is an alternative source that required to solve these problems. Having shorter lifespan is the benefit of HTI/HTR timbers, although they are relatively smaller in dimension and lower in strength. Engineering Wood Product (EWP) such as glulam (glue-laminated) timber, is required to overcome their losses. Glulam is fabricated by gluing the wooden planks that having a thickness of 20 to 45 mm with an adhesive material and a certain pressure. Glulam can be made a curved beam, is one of the advantages, thus making it strength is greater than a straight beam. This paper is aimed to know the material behavior of curved glue-laminated beam of Jabon timber. Preliminary methods was to gain physical and mechanical properties, and glue spread strength of Jabon timber, which following the ASTM D-143 standard test method. Dimension of beams were 50 mm wide, 760 mm span, 50 mm thick, and 50 mm rise. Each layer of Jabon has a thickness of 5 mm and is glued with polyurethane. Cold press will be applied to beam laminated specimens for more than 5 hours. The curved glue-laminated beams specimens will be tested about the bending behavior. This experiments aims to obtain the increasing of load carrying capacity and stiffness of curved glulam beam.

Keywords: curved glulam beam, HTR&HTI, load carrying, strength

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Authors: Meena Kumari, Ajitha Sharma, Mohan Babu Amberkar, Hasitha Manohar, Joseph Thomas, K. L. Bairy

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Aim: To evaluate the pattern of occurrence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) with platinum compounds in cancer chemotherapy at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: It was a retrospective, descriptive case record study done on patients admitted to the medical oncology ward of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from July to November 2012. Inclusion criteria comprised of patients of both sexes and all ages diagnosed with cancer and were on platinum compounds, who developed at least one adverse drug reaction during or after the treatment period. CDSCO proforma was used for reporting ADRs. Causality was assessed using Naranjo Algorithm. Results: A total of 65 patients was included in the study. Females comprised of 67.69% and rest males. Around 49.23% of the ADRs were seen in the age group of 41-60 years, followed by 20 % in 21-40 years, 18.46% in patients over 60 years and 12.31% in 1-20 years age group. The anticancer agents which caused adverse drug reactions in our study were carboplatin (41.54%), cisplatin (36.92%) and oxaliplatin (21.54%). Most common adverse drug reactions observed were oral candidiasis (21.53%), vomiting (16.92%), anaemia (12.3%), diarrhoea (12.3%) and febrile neutropenia (0.08%). The results of the causality assessment of most of the cases were probable. Conclusion: The adverse effect of chemotherapeutic agents is a matter of concern in the pharmacological management of cancer as it affects the quality of life of patients. This information would be useful in identifying and minimizing preventable adverse drug reactions while generally enhancing the knowledge of the prescribers to deal with these adverse drug reactions more efficiently.

Keywords: adverse drug reactions, platinum compounds, cancer, chemotherapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: Gurkirandeep Kaur, Rana Pratap Yadav

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This experimental study is aimed to examine the radiation characteristics of different plasma structures of a surface wave-driven plasma antenna by an automated measuring system. In this study, a 30 cm long plasma column of argon gas with a diameter of 3 cm is excited by surface wave discharge mechanism operating at 13.56 MHz with RF power level up to 100 Watts and gas pressure between 0.01 to 0.05 mb. The study reveals that a single structured plasma monopole can be modified into an array of plasma antenna elements by forming multiple striations or plasma blobs inside the discharge tube by altering the values of plasma properties such as working pressure, operating frequency, input RF power, discharge tube dimensions, i.e., length, radius, and thickness. It is also reported that plasma length, electron density, and conductivity are functions of operating plasma parameters and controlled by changing working pressure and input power. To investigate the antenna radiation efficiency for the far-field region, an automation-based radiation measuring system has been fabricated and presented in detail. This developed automated system involves a combined setup of controller, dc servo motors, vector network analyzer, and computing device to evaluate the radiation intensity, directivity, gain and efficiency of plasma antenna. In this system, the controller is connected to multiple motors for moving aluminum shafts in both elevation and azimuthal plane whereas radiation from plasma monopole antenna is measured by a Vector Network Analyser (VNA) which is further wired up with the computing device to display radiations in polar plot forms. Here, the radiation characteristics of both continuous and array plasma monopole antenna have been studied for various working plasma parameters. The experimental results clearly indicate that the plasma antenna is as efficient as a metallic antenna. The radiation from plasma monopole antenna is significantly influenced by plasma properties which provides a wider range in radiation pattern where desired radiation parameters like beam-width, the direction of radiation, radiation intensity, antenna efficiency, etc. can be achieved in a single monopole. Due to its wide range of selectivity in radiation pattern; this can meet the demands of wider bandwidth to get high data speed in communication systems. Moreover, this developed system provides an efficient and cost-effective solution for measuring the radiation pattern in far-field zone for any kind of antenna system.

Keywords: antenna radiation characteristics, dynamically reconfigurable, plasma antenna, plasma column, plasma striations, surface wave

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Shivani Jha, Klaus Baier, Rafiq Azzam, Ramakar Jha

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In India, generally people migrate from rural area to the urban area for better infra-structural facilities, high standard of living, good job opportunities and advanced transport/communication availability. In fact, unplanned urban development due to migration of people causes seriou damage to the land use, water pollution and available water resources. In the present work, an attempt has been made to use satellite data of different years for urban change detection of Chennai metropolitan city along with pattern analysis to generate future scenario of urban development using buffer zoning in GIS environment. In the analysis, SRTM (30m) elevation data and IRS-1C satellite data for the years 1990, 2000, and 2014, are used. The flow accumulation, aspect, flow direction and slope maps developed using SRTM 30 m data are very useful for finding suitable urban locations for industrial setup and urban settlements. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) have been used in ERDAS imagine software for change detection in land use of Chennai metropolitan city. It has been observed that the urban area has increased exponentially in Chennai metropolitan city with significant decrease in agriculture and barren lands. However, the water bodies located in the study regions are protected and being used as freshwater for drinking purposes. Using buffer zone analysis in GIS environment, it has been observed that the development has taken place in south west direction significantly and will do so in future.

Keywords: urban change, satellite data, the Chennai metropolis, change detection

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Authors: Cenk Sezen, Turgay Partal

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North Sea Caspian Pattern Index (NCP) refers to an atmospheric teleconnection between the North Sea and North Caspian at the 500 hPa geopotential height level. The aim of this study is to search for effects of NCP on annual and seasonal mean temperature and also annual and seasonal precipitation totals in the Aegean region of Turkey. The study contains the data that consist of 46 years obtained from nine meteorological stations. To determine the relationship between NCP and the climatic parameters, firstly the Pearson correlation coefficient method was utilized. According to the results of the analysis, most of the stations in the region have a high negative correlation NCPI in all seasons, especially in the winter season in terms of annual and seasonal mean temperature (statistically at significant at the 90% level). Besides, high negative correlation values between NCPI and precipitation totals are observed during the winter season at the most of stations. Furthermore, the NCPI values were divided into two group as NCPI(-) and NCPI(+), and then mean temperature and precipitation total values, which are grouped according to the NCP(-) and NCP(+) phases, were determined as annual and seasonal. During the NCPI(-), higher mean temperature values are observed in all of seasons, particularly in the winter season compared to the mean temperature values under effect of NCP(+). Similarly, during the NCPI(-) in winter season precipitation total values have higher than the precipitation total values under the effect of NCP(+); however, in other seasons there no substantial changes were observed between the precipitation total values. As a result of this study, significant proof is obtained with regards to the influences of NCP on the temperature and precipitation regime in the Aegean region of Turkey.

Keywords: Aegean region, NCPI, precipitation, temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: K. S. Zaytsev, Y. R. Nartsissov

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Glycine is one of the key inhibitory neurotransmitters in Central nervous system (CNS) meanwhile glycinergic transmission is highly dependable on its appropriate reuptake from synaptic cleft. Glycine transporters (GlyT) of types 1 and 2 are the enzymes providing glycine transport back to neuronal and glial cells along with Na⁺ and Cl⁻ co-transport. The distribution and stoichiometry of GlyT1 and GlyT2 differ in details, and GlyT2 is more interesting for the research as it reuptakes glycine to neuron cells, whereas GlyT1 is located in glial cells. In the process of GlyT2 activity, the translocation of the amino acid is accompanied with binding of both one chloride and three sodium ions consequently (two sodium ions for GlyT1). In the present study, we developed a computer simulator of GlyT2 and GlyT1 activity based on known experimental data for quantitative estimation of membrane glycine transport. The trait of a single protein functioning was described using the probability approach where each enzyme state was considered separately. Created scheme of transporter functioning realized as a consequence of elemental steps allowed to take into account each event of substrate association and dissociation. Computer experiments using up-to-date kinetic parameters allowed receiving the number of translocated glycine molecules, Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions per time period. Flexibility of developed software makes it possible to evaluate glycine reuptake pattern in time under different internal characteristics of enzyme conformational transitions. We investigated the behavior of the system in a wide range of equilibrium constant (from 0.2 to 100), which is not determined experimentally. The significant influence of equilibrium constant in the range from 0.2 to 10 on the glycine transfer process is shown. The environmental conditions such as ion and glycine concentrations are decisive if the values of the constant are outside the specified range.

Keywords: glycine, inhibitory neurotransmitters, probability approach, single protein functioning

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Thangavelu Muthukumar, Thotapalli Parvathaleswara Sastry

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Collagen is the most abundantly available connective tissue protein, which is being used as a biomaterial for various biomedical applications. Presently, fish wastes are disposed improperly which is causing serious environmental pollution resulting in offensive odour. Fish scales are promising source of Type I collagen. Medicinal plants have been used since time immemorial for treatment of various ailments of skin and dermatological disorders especially cuts, wounds, and burns. Developing biomaterials from the natural sources which are having wound healing properties within the search of a common man is the need of hour, particularly in developing and third world countries. With these objectives in view we have developed a wound dressing material containing fish scale collagen (FSC) incorporated with Macrotyloma uniflorum plant extract (PE). The wound dressing composite was characterized for its physiochemical properties using conventional methods. SEM image revealed that the composite has fibrous and porous surface which helps in transportation of oxygen as well as absorbing wound fluids. The biomaterial has shown 95% biocompatibility with required mechanical strength and has exhibited antimicrobial properties. This biomaterial has been used as a wound dressing material in experimental wounds of rats. The healing pattern was evaluated by macroscopic observations, panimetric studies, biochemical, histopathological observations. The results showed faster healing pattern in the wounds treated with CSPE compared to the other composites used in this study and untreated control. These experiments clearly suggest that CSPE can be used as wound/burn dressing materials.

Keywords: collagen, wound dressing, Macrotyloma uniflorum, burn dressing

Procedia PDF Downloads 423