Search results for: single warp beam

Authors: H. Fuad Usman, M. Rafay Khan Sial, Shahzaib Hamid

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The trend of renewable energy resources has been amplified due to global warming and other environmental related complications in the 21st century. Recent research has very much emphasized on the generation of electrical power through renewable resources like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc. The use of the photovoltaic cell has become very public as it is very useful for the domestic and commercial purpose overall the world. Although a single cell gives the low voltage output but connecting a number of cells in a series formed a complete module of the photovoltaic cells, it is becoming a financial investment as the use of it fetching popular. This also reduced the prices of the photovoltaic cell which gives the customers a confident of using this source for their electrical use. Photovoltaic cell gives the MPPT at single specific point of operation at a given temperature and level of solar intensity received at a given surface whereas the focal point changes over a large range depending upon the manufacturing factor, temperature conditions, intensity for insolation, instantaneous conditions for shading and aging factor for the photovoltaic cells. Two improved algorithms have been proposed in this article for the MPPT. The widely used algorithms are the ‘Incremental Conductance’ and ‘Perturb and Observe’ algorithms. To extract the maximum power from the source to the load, the duty cycle of the convertor will be effectively controlled. After assessing the previous techniques, this paper presents the improved and reformed idea of harvesting maximum power point from the photovoltaic cells. A thoroughly go through of the previous ideas has been observed before constructing the improvement in the traditional technique of MPP. Each technique has its own importance and boundaries at various weather conditions. An improved technique of implementing the use of both ‘Perturb and Observe’ and ‘Incremental Conductance’ is introduced.

Keywords: duty cycle, MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking), perturb and observe (P&O), photovoltaic module

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Authors: Jayotpaul Chaudhuri, Lutz Goedeke, Torsten Hallenga, Peter Ehrhard

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Purification of gases from aerosols or airborne particles via filters is widely applied in the industry and in our daily lives. This separation especially in the micron and submicron size range is a necessary step to protect the environment and human health. Fibrous filters are often employed due to their low cost and high efficiency. For designing any filter the two most important performance parameters are capture efficiency and pressure drop. Since the capture efficiency is directly proportional to the pressure drop which leads to higher operating costs, a detailed investigation of the separation mechanism is required to optimize the filter designing, i.e., to have a high capture efficiency with a lower pressure drop. Therefore a two-dimensional flow simulation around a single fiber using Ansys CFX and Matlab is used to get insight into the separation process. Instead of simulating a solid fiber, the present Ansys CFX model uses a fictitious domain approach for the fiber by implementing a momentum loss model. This approach has been chosen to avoid creating a new mesh for different fiber sizes, thereby saving time and effort for re-meshing. In a first step, only the flow of the continuous fluid around the fiber is simulated in Ansys CFX and the flow field data is extracted and imported into Matlab and the particle trajectory is calculated in a Matlab routine. This calculation is a Lagrangian, one way coupled approach for particles with all relevant forces acting on it. The key parameters for the simulation in both Ansys CFX and Matlab are the porosity ε, the diameter ratio of particle and fiber D, the fluid Reynolds number Re, the Reynolds particle number Rep, the Stokes number St, the Froude number Fr and the density ratio of fluid and particle ρf/ρp. The simulation results were then compared to the single fiber theory from the literature.

Keywords: BBO-equation, capture efficiency, CFX, Matlab, fibrous filter, particle trajectory

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Authors: Sharifah M. Syed Mohsin, Sayid J. Azimi, Abdoullah Namdar

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The present article reports the findings of a study into the behavior of oil palm shell reinforced concrete (OPSRC) beams with the addition of kenaf fibres. The work aim is to examine the potential of using kenaf fibres to improve the strength and ductility of the OPSRC beams and also observe its potential in serving as part of shear reinforcement in the beams. Two different arrangements of the shear links in OPSRC beams with a selection of kenaf fibres (amount of [10kg/m] ^3 and [20kg/m] ^3) content are tested under monotonic loading. In the first arrangement, the kenaf fibres are added to the beam which has full shear reinforcement to study the structural behavior of OPSRC beams with fibres. In the second arrangement, the spacing between the shear links in the OPSRC beams are increased by 50% and experimental work is carried out to study the effect of kenaf fibres without compromising the beams strength and ductility. The results show that the addition of kenaf fibres enhanced the load carrying capacity, ductility and also altered the failure mode of the beams from a brittle shear mode to a flexural ductile one. Furthermore, the study depicts that kenaf fibres are compatible with OPSRC and suggest prospective results.

Keywords: oil palm shell reinforced concrete, kenaf fibres, peak strength, ductility

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Authors: Igor V. Grigoriev

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Understanding of biological processes encoded in fungi is instrumental in addressing future food, feed, and energy demands of the growing human population. Genomics is a powerful and quickly evolving tool to understand these processes. The Fungal Genomics Program of the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) partners with researchers around the world to explore fungi in several large scale genomics projects, changing the fungal genomics landscape. The key trends of these changes include: (i) rapidly increasing scale of sequencing and analysis, (ii) developing approaches to go beyond culturable fungi and explore fungal ‘dark matter,’ or unculturables, and (iii) functional genomics and multi-omics data integration. Power of comparative genomics has been recently demonstrated in several JGI projects targeting mycorrhizae, plant pathogens, wood decay fungi, and sugar fermenting yeasts. The largest JGI project ‘1000 Fungal Genomes’ aims at exploring the diversity across the Fungal Tree of Life in order to better understand fungal evolution and to build a catalogue of genes, enzymes, and pathways for biotechnological applications. At this point, at least 65% of over 700 known families have one or more reference genomes sequenced, enabling metagenomics studies of microbial communities and their interactions with plants. For many of the remaining families no representative species are available from culture collections. To sequence genomes of unculturable fungi two approaches have been developed: (a) sequencing DNA from fruiting bodies of ‘macro’ and (b) single cell genomics using fungal spores. The latter has been tested using zoospores from the early diverging fungi and resulted in several near-complete genomes from underexplored branches of the Fungal Tree, including the first genomes of Zoopagomycotina. Genome sequence serves as a reference for transcriptomics studies, the first step towards functional genomics. In the JGI fungal mini-ENCODE project transcriptomes of the model fungus Neurospora crassa grown on a spectrum of carbon sources have been collected to build regulatory gene networks. Epigenomics is another tool to understand gene regulation and recently introduced single molecule sequencing platforms not only provide better genome assemblies but can also detect DNA modifications. For example, 6mC methylome was surveyed across many diverse fungi and the highest among Eukaryota levels of 6mC methylation has been reported. Finally, data production at such scale requires data integration to enable efficient data analysis. Over 700 fungal genomes and other -omes have been integrated in JGI MycoCosm portal and equipped with comparative genomics tools to enable researchers addressing a broad spectrum of biological questions and applications for bioenergy and biotechnology.

Keywords: fungal genomics, single cell genomics, DNA methylation, comparative genomics

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Authors: O.F. Akinmoladun, F.N. Fon, C.T. Mpendulo, O. Okoh

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The sustainability of livestock production is under threat as a result of water scarcity, fluctuating precipitation, and high environmental temperature. These combined stressors have impacted negatively on general animal production and welfare, necessitating a very reliable and cost-effective management practices, especially in arid and water-limited regions of the world. Instead of the above, this study was designed to investigate the growth performance and physiological response of water-restricted Xhosa ear-lobe goats fed diets supplemented with single or multiple vitamin C (VC) during summer. The total forty-eight goats used for the experiment were balanced for body weight and randomly assigned to the seven treatment groups (seven goats/treatment): GI (W100%); GII (W70%); GIII (W50%); GIV (W70%+3g/day VC); GV ((W50% +3g/day VC); GVI (W70%+3g/d VC+extra 5g on every eight-day); GVII (W50%+3g/d VC+extra 5g on every eight-day). The design was a complete randomized design and VC was administered per os. At the end of the 75-day feeding trial, GIII (W50%) animals were the most affected (P<0.05) and the effect was more pronounced in their body condition scores (BCs). Weight loss and depression in feed intake due to water restriction (P<0.05) were attenuated by VC treated groups (GIV-GVII). Changes in body thermal gradient (BTG) and rectal temperature (RcT) were similar (P>0.05) across the various experimental groups. The attenuation effect of VC was significant in responses to respiratory rate (RR) and cortisol. Supplementation of VC (either single or multiple) did not significantly (P>0.05) improve water restriction effect on body condition scores (BCs) and FAMACHA©. The current study found out that Xhosa ear lobe goats can adapt to the prevailing bioclimatic changes and limited water intake. However, supplementation of vitamin C can be beneficial at modulating these stressful stimuli. Continuous consistencies in the outcome of vitamin C on water-stressed animals can help validate recommendations especially to farmers in the arid and water-limited regions across the globe.

Keywords: vitamin C, Xhosa ear-lobe, thermotolerance, water stress

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Authors: Radhika V., J. M. Chandra Kishen

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The theory of critical distances (TCD), due to its appealing characteristics, has been successfully used in the past to predict the strength of brittle as well as ductile materials, weakened by the presence of stress risers under both static and fatigue loading. By utilising most of the TCD's unique features, this paper summarises an attempt for a reformulation of the point method of the TCD to predict the strength of notched plain concrete beams under mode I quasi-static loading. A zone of micro cracks, which is responsible for the non-linearity of concrete, is taken into account considering the concept of an effective elastic crack. An attempt is also made to correlate the value of the material characteristic length required for the application of TCD with the maximum aggregate size in the concrete mix, eliminating the need for any extensive experimentation prior to the application of TCD. The devised reformulation and the proposed power law based relationship is found to yield satisfactory predictions for static strength of notched plain concrete beams, with geometric dimensions of the beam, tensile strength, and maximum aggregate size of the concrete mix being the only needed input parameters.

Keywords: characteristic length, effective elastic crack, inherent material strength, modeI loading, theory of critical distances

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Authors: Charles Chikwendu Okpala, Christopher Chukwutoo Ihueze

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As a technique that reduces variation in a product by lessening the sensitivity of the design to sources of variation, rather than by controlling their sources, Taguchi Robust Design entails the designing of ideal goods, by developing a product that has minimal variance in its characteristics and also meets the desired exact performance. This paper examined the concept of the manufacturing approach and its application to brake pad product of an automotive parts manufacturing company. Although the firm claimed that only defects, excess inventory, and over-production were the few wastes that grossly affect their productivity and profitability, a careful study and analysis of their manufacturing processes with the application of Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) tool showed that the waste of waiting is the fourth waste that bedevils the firm. The selection of the Taguchi L9 orthogonal array which is based on the four parameters and the three levels of variation for each parameter revealed that with a range of 2.17, that waiting is the major waste that the company must reduce in order to continue to be viable. Also, to enhance the company’s throughput and profitability, the wastes of over-production, excess inventory, and defects with ranges of 2.01, 1.46, and 0.82, ranking second, third, and fourth respectively must also be reduced to the barest minimum. After proposing -33.84 as the highest optimum Signal-to-Noise ratio to be maintained for the waste of waiting, the paper advocated for the adoption of all the tools and techniques of Lean Production System (LPS), and Continuous Improvement (CI), and concluded by recommending SMED in order to drastically reduce set up time which leads to unnecessary waiting.

Keywords: lean production system, single minute exchange of dies, signal to noise ratio, Taguchi robust design, waste

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Authors: Sneha Kumari, Ravi Krishnan Elangovan

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This abstract describes the development of a high-speed tracking method by modification in motor components for nanoparticle attachment. Myosin motors are nano-sized protein machines powering movement that defines life. These miniature molecular devices serve as engines utilizing chemical energy stored in ATP to produce useful mechanical energy in the form of a few nanometre displacement events leading to force generation that is required for cargo transport, cell division, cell locomotion, translated to macroscopic movements like running etc. With the advent of in vitro motility assay (IVMA), detailed functional studies of the actomyosin system could be performed. The major challenge with the currently available IVMA for tracking actin filaments is a resolution limitation of ± 50nm. To overcome this, we are trying to develop Single Molecule IVMA in which nanoparticle (GNP/QD) will be attached along or on the barbed end of actin filaments using CapZ protein and visualization by a compact TIRF module called ‘cTIRF’. The waveguide-based illumination by cTIRF offers a unique separation of excitation and collection optics, enabling imaging by scattering without emission filters. So, this technology is well equipped to perform tracking with high precision in temporal resolution of 2ms with significantly improved SNR by 100-fold as compared to conventional TIRF. Also, the nanoparticles (QD/GNP) attached to actin filament act as a point source of light coffering ease in filament tracking compared to conventional manual tracking. Moreover, the attachment of cargo (QD/GNP) to the thin filament paves the way for various nano-technological applications through their transportation to different predetermined locations on the chip

Keywords: actin, cargo, IVMA, myosin motors and single-molecule system

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Authors: Ashwin Belle, Bryce Benson, Mark Salamango, Fadi Islim, Rodney Daniels, Kevin Ward

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A reliable, real-time, and non-invasive system that can identify patients at risk for hemodynamic instability is needed to aid clinicians in their efforts to anticipate patient deterioration and initiate early interventions. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the clinical capabilities of a real-time analytic from a single lead of an electrocardiograph to correctly distinguish between rapid response team (RRT) activations due to hemodynamic (H-RRT) and non-hemodynamic (NH-RRT) causes, as well as predict H-RRT cases with actionable lead times. The study consisted of a single center, retrospective cohort of 21 patients with RRT activations from step-down and telemetry units. Through electronic health record review and blinded to the analytic’s output, each patient was categorized by clinicians into H-RRT and NH-RRT cases. The analytic output and the categorization were compared. The prediction lead time prior to the RRT call was calculated. The analytic correctly distinguished between H-RRT and NH-RRT cases with 100% accuracy, demonstrating 100% positive and negative predictive values, and 100% sensitivity and specificity. In H-RRT cases, the analytic detected hemodynamic deterioration with a median lead time of 9.5 hours prior to the RRT call (range 14 minutes to 52 hours). The study demonstrates that an electrocardiogram (ECG) based analytic has the potential for providing clinical decision and monitoring support for caregivers to identify at risk patients within a clinically relevant timeframe allowing for increased vigilance and early interventional support to reduce the chances of continued patient deterioration.

Keywords: critical care, early warning systems, emergency medicine, heart rate variability, hemodynamic instability, rapid response team

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Authors: Makhosi Buthelezi

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Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene analyses linked the South African groundnut leaf miner (GLM) to the Australian soya bean moth Aproaerema simplexella (Walker) and Indian Aproaerema modicella (Deventer). Thus, the genetic relatedness of GLM, A. simplexela, and A. modicella was examined by performing mitochondrial and nuclear (COI, cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII), mitochondrial cytochrome b (CYTB), nuclear ribosomal 28S (28S) and intergenic spacer elongation factor-1 alpha ( EF-1 ALPHA) on 44 specimens collected from South Africa, four from Mozambique, and three each from single locations in India and Australia. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using the Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Neighbour-Joining (NJ) methods. All of the datasets of the five DNA gene regions that were sequenced were also analyzed using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) to find the closest matches for inclusion in the phylogenetic trees as outgroups and for purposes of information. In the phylogenetic trees for COI, COII, cytb and EF-1 ALPHA, a similar pattern was observed in the way that the sequences assembled into different groups; i.e., some sequences of A. simplexella from Australia were grouped separately from the others, but some Australian sequences grouped with those of the GLM from South Africa, India, and Mozambique. In the phylogenetic tree for 28S, all sequences from South Africa, Australia, India, and Mozambique grouped together and formed one group. For COI, genetic pairwise distance ranged from 0.97 to 3.60 %, for COII it ranged from 0.19% to 2.32%, for cytb it ranged from 0.25 to 9.77% and for EF-1 ALPHA it ranged 0.48 to 6.99%. Results of this study indicate that these populations are genetically related and presumably constitute a single species. Thus, further molecular and morphological studies need to be undertaken in order to resolve this apparent conundrum on the taxonomy of these populations.

Keywords: aproaerema modicella, aproaerema simplexella, mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA

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Authors: Gholamreza Hashemitabr, Reza Valadan, Alireza Rafiei, Mohammad Reza Bassami

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Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide. Cancer cells use a complex multilayer network of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) signaling pathways to support their survival and growth. The overlapping networks of EGFRs signaling pathways account for the failure of most ErbB-targeted therapies. The aim of this study was to enrich a pool of recombinant antibody fragments against common epitopes of ErbB1 and ErbB2 in order to simultaneous blockade of ErbBs signaling pathways. ErbB1 and ErbB2 were expressed stably in VERO cells. Selection of recombinant antibodies was performed on live cells expressing either of ErbB1 and ErbB2 receptors using subtractive phage display approach. The results of PCR and DNA fingerprinting in the last round of panning showed that most clones contained insert (80% and 85% for ErbB1 and ErbB2 respectively) with an identical restriction pattern. The selected clones showed positive reaction to both ErbB1 and ErbB2 receptors in phage-ELISA test. Furthermore, the resulting soluble antibody fragments recognized common epitopes of both immunoprecipitated ErbB1 and ErbB2 in western blot. Additionally, the antibodies directed against the dimerization domain of ErbB1 demonstrated a significant absorbance in EGF-stimulated VERO/ErbB1 cells than non-stimulated cells (1.91 and 1.09 respectively). Moreover, the results of dimerization inhibition test showed that these antibodies blocked ErbB1 and ErbB2 dimerization on the surface of ErbB1 and ErbB2 expressing VERO cells. Regarding the importance of pan-ErbB approach to cancer therapy, the antibodies developed here might provide novel therapeutics for simultaneous blockade of ErbBs signaling pathways.

Keywords: breast cancer, single-chain antibody, ErbB1, ErbB2, epitope

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Authors: Carla Ferreira, Helena Barros

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The paper termed “Design of reinforced concrete with Eurocode 2” presents the theory regarding the design of reinforced concrete sections and the development of the tables and abacuses to verify the concrete section to the ultimate limit and service limit states. This paper is a complement of it, showing how to use the previous tools. Different numerical results are shown, proving the capability of the methodology. When a section of a beam is already chosen, the computer program presents the reinforcing steel in many locations along the structure, and it is the engineer´s task to choose the layout available for the construction, considering the maximum regular kind of reinforcing bars. There are many computer programs available for this task, but the interest of the present kind of tools is the fast and easy way of making the design and choose the optimal solution. Another application of these design tools is in the definition of the section dimensions, in a way that when stresses are evaluated, the final design is acceptable. In the design offices, these are considered by the engineers a very quick and useful way of designing reinforced concrete sections, employing variable strength concrete and higher steel classes. Examples of nonlinear analyses and redistribution of the bending moment will be considered, according to the Eurocode 2 recommendations, for sections under bending moment and axial forces. Examples of the evaluation of the service limit state will be presented.

Keywords: design examples, eurocode 2, reinforced concrete, section design

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Authors: S. Ilakkiya, A. Merline

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A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems use modulated waveforms and directive antennas to transmit electromagnetic energy into a specific volume in space to search for targets. This paper deals with the design of transmit beamspace matrix and DOA estimation for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar with collocated antennas.The design of transmit beamspace matrix is based on minimizing the difference between a desired transmit beampattern and the actual one while enforcing the constraint of uniform power distribution across the transmit array elements. Rotational invariance property is established at the transmit array by imposing a specific structure on the beamspace matrix. Semidefinite programming and spatial-division based design (SDD) are also designed separately. In MIMO radar systems, DOA estimation is an essential process to determine the direction of incoming signals and thus to direct the beam of the antenna array towards the estimated direction. This estimation deals with non-adaptive spectral estimation and adaptive spectral estimation techniques. The design of the transmit beamspace matrix and spectral estimation techniques are studied through simulation.

Keywords: adaptive and non-adaptive spectral estimation, direction of arrival estimation, MIMO radar, rotational invariance property, transmit, receive beamforming

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Authors: Špela Hajduk, Sean P. Berglund, Matejka Podlogar, Goran Dražić, Fatwa F. Abdi, Zorica C. Orel, Menny Shalom

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Graphitic carbon nitride materials (g-CN) have emerged as an attractive photocatalyst and electrocatalyst for photo and electrochemical water splitting reaction, due to their environmental benignity nature and suitable band gap. Many approaches were introduced to enhance the photoactivity and electronic properties of g-CN and resulted in significant changes in the electronic and catalytic properties. Here we demonstrate the synthesis of thin and homogenous g-CN layer on highly ordered ZnO nanowire (NW) substrate by growing a seeding layer of small supramolecular assemblies on the nanowires. The new synthetic approach leads to the formation of thin g-CN layer (~3 nm) without blocking all structure. Two different deposition methods of carbon nitride were investigated and will be presented. The amount of loaded carbon nitride significantly influences the PEC activity of hybrid material and all the ZnO/g-CNx electrodes show great improvement in photoactivity. The chemical structure, morphology and optical properties of the deposited g-CN were fully characterized by various techniques as X-ray powder spectroscopy (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), high-resolution scanning microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

Keywords: carbon nitride, photoanode, solar water splitting, zinc oxide

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Authors: Ashneel Ajay Singh, Naoki Suzuki, Kazumi Sakuramoto, Swastika Roshni, Paras Nath, Alok Kalla

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Albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) is one of the commercially important species of tuna in the North Pacific region. Despite the long history of albacore fisheries in the Pacific, its ecological characteristics are not sufficiently understood. The effects of changing climate on numerous commercially and ecologically important fish species including albacore tuna have been documented over the past decades. The objective of this study was to explore and elucidate the relationship of environmental variables with the stock parameters of albacore tuna. The relationship of the North Pacific albacore tuna recruitment (R), spawning stock biomass (SSB) and recruits per spawning biomass (RPS) from 1970 to 2012 with the environmental factors of sea surface temperature (SST), Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific warm pool index (PWI) was construed. SST and PDO were used as independent variables with SSB to construct stock reproduction models for R and RPS as they showed most significant relationship with the dependent variables. ENSO and PWI were excluded due to collinearity effects with SST and PDO. Model selections were based on R2 values, Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and significant parameter estimates at p<0.05. Models with single independent variables of SST, PDO, ENSO and PWI were also constructed to illuminate their individual effect on albacore R and RPS. From the results it can be said that SST and PDO resulted in the most significant models for reproducing North Pacific albacore tuna R and RPS time series. SST has the highest impact on albacore R and RPS when comparing models with single environmental variables. It is important for fishery managers and decision makers to incorporate the findings into their albacore tuna management plans for the North Pacific Oceanic region.

Keywords: Albacore tuna, El Niño southern oscillation, Pacific decadal oscillation, sea surface temperature

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Authors: I. Badhrees

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This paper is an attempt to describe some of the results that had been found through a journey of study in the field of particle physics. This study consists of two parts, one about the measurement of the cross section of the decay of the Z particle in two electrons, and the other deals with the measurement of the cross section of the multi-photon absorption process using a beam of laser in the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber. The first part of the paper concerns the results based on the analysis of a data sample containing 8120 ee candidates to reconstruct the mass of the Z particle for each event where each event has an ee pair with PT(e) > 20GeV, and η(e) < 2.5. Monte Carlo templates of the reconstructed Z particle were produced as a function of the Z mass scale. The distribution of the reconstructed Z mass in the data was compared to the Monte Carlo templates, where the total cross section is calculated to be equal to 1432 pb. The second part concerns the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber, LAr TPC, the results of the interaction of the UV Laser, Nd-YAG with λ= 266mm, with LAr and through the study of the multi-photon ionization process as a part of the R&D at Bern University. The main result of this study was the cross section of the process of the multi-photon ionization process of the LAr, σe = 1.24±0.10stat±0.30sys.10 -56cm4.

Keywords: ATLAS, CERN, KACST, LArTPC, particle physics

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Authors: Sahar Javadi-Novashnagh, Mohammad Moradi-Shahrbabak, Mostafa Sadeghi, Katarzyna Ropka-Molik, Hossein Moradi-Shahrbabak, Maria Consuelo Mura

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The objective of this study was to investigate two single nucleotide polymorphisms located in exon 2 (g.939A > G) and intron 3 (g.4349A > G) of fatty acid binding protein 3 (FABP3) gene in two Iranian sheep breeds, Lori-Bakhtiari and Zel, using polymerase chain reaction -restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) approach. The association of the polymorphisms with growth traits and blood parameters was also examined. Results revealed a g.939A > G SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) in the exon 2 exhibiting three genotypes: AA, AG, and GG. Statistical analysis indicated that this polymorphism significantly influenced blood triglyceride (P < 0.05) and cholesterol (P < 0.08) levels as well as weaning weight (P < 0.05). Animals with AG genotype had the highest blood triglyceride level and weaning weight while the highest amount of blood cholesterol was observed in animals with GG genotype. On the other hand, no significant effect was observed on birth and fat-tail weight traits. The intron 3 (g.4349A > G) was monomorphic across the studied samples. Lori-Bakhtiari breed showed significantly higher blood triglyceride and cholesterol levels, as also birth and weaning weight compared to Zel breed (P < 0.01). Considering that the literature is bereft of any report on the association study between FABP3 SNPs and sheep growth traits and blood parameters, our findings suggest that the investigated polymorphism might be one of the main genetic factors affecting growth and physiological traits in sheep.

Keywords: FABP3 gene, fatness, weaning weight, blood triglyceride, cholesterol, Zel, Lori-Bakhtiari

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Authors: Eugene Ivanov, Eduardo del-Rio, Igor Kapchenko, Maija Nystrӧm, Juha Kotila

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Series of low modulus beta Ti alloy billets and powders can be produced in commercial quantities using a combination of electron beam melting (EBM) and EIGA atomization processes. In the present study, TNZT alloy powder was produced and processed in the EOSINT M290 laser sintering system to produce parts for mechanical testing. Post heat treatments such as diffusion annealing to reduce internal stresses or hot isostatic pressing to remove closed pores were not applied. The density can visually be estimated to be > 99,9 %. According to EDS study Nb, Zr, and Ta are distributed homogeneously throughout the printed sample. There are no indications for any segregation or chemical inhomogeneity, i.e. variation of the element distribution. These points to the fact that under the applied experimental conditions the melt generated by the laser rapidly cools down in the SLM (Selective Laser Melting) process. The selective laser sintering yielded dense structures with relatively good surface quality. The mechanical properties, especially the elongation (24%) along with tensile strength ( > 500MPa) and modulus of elasticity (~60GPa), were found to be promising compared to titanium alloys in general.

Keywords: beta titanium alloys, additive manufacturing, powder, implants

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Authors: Jonnalagadda Naveen, M. P. S. Tomar, Putluru Satish, Palanisamy Dharani

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Present investigation was carried out on a single specimen of the heart of yellow-bellied sea snake, which accidentally came to the seashore with the fisherman’s net. After the death, these specimens was preserved in 10% neutral buffered formalin and observe for its morphology. The literature cited revealed that meager information was available on the anatomy of the heart of this species of snake thus present study was planned on the gross anatomy of the heart of yellow-bellied sea snake. The heart of yellow-bellied sea snake was located between 28-35th rib in an oblique direction in the pericardial sac. It was three chambered with the complete division of atria but the ventricular cavity was incompletely divided. The apex did not show any gubernaculum cordis. The sinus venosus was the common cavity for confluence of anterior and posterior vana cava and the jugular vein was opened with anterior vena cava. The opening of posterior vena cava was slit-like and it was guarded by membranous valves whereas no valve could be observed at the opening of anterior vana cava and the jugular vein. Both the caval veins ran along the right border of the heart. Pulmonary vein was single which later divided into two branches. The length-width index for the atria was 1.33 whereas it was 1.67 for the ventricle. The atrioventricular canal was situated slightly towards the left of the midline of the heart and was divided into a right cavum pulmonale and left cavum arteriosum of which the right one was slightly larger and longer than the left. The cavum venosum was present in between the cavum pulmonale and the cavum arteriosum. The Ventricle was elongated triangle muscular compartment with ventrally located apex. Internally the cavity of ventricle was divided into two partial chambers dorsally by a muscular ridge and ventrally by an incomplete inter ventricular septum.

Keywords: aorta, atrium, heart, sea snake, sinus venosus, ventricle

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Authors: P. Kamphikul, P. Krachodnok, R. Wongsan

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This paper presents the gain improvement of a sector antenna for mobile phone base station by using the new technique to enhance its gain for microstrip antenna (MSA) array without construction enlargement. The curved woodpile Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) has been utilized to improve the gain instead. The advantages of this proposed antenna are reducing the length of MSAs array but providing the higher gain and easy fabrication and installation. Moreover, it provides a fan-shaped radiation pattern, wide in the horizontal direction and relatively narrow in the vertical direction, which appropriate for mobile phone base station. The paper also presents the design procedures of a 1x8 MSAs array associated with U-shaped reflector for decreasing their back and side lobes. The fabricated curved woodpile EBG exhibits bandgap characteristics at 2.1 GHz and is utilized for realizing a resonant cavity of MSAs array. This idea has been verified by both the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software and experimental results. As the results, the fabricated proposed antenna achieves a high gain of 20.3 dB and the half-power beam widths in the E- and H-plane of 36.8 and 8.7 degrees, respectively. Good qualitative agreement between measured and simulated results of the proposed antenna was obtained.

Keywords: gain improvement, microstrip antenna array, electromagnetic band gap, base station

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Authors: Manel Hammami, Gabriele Grandi

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In recent years, multilevel inverters have become more attractive for single-phase photovoltaic (PV) systems, due to their known advantages over conventional H-bridge pulse width-modulated (PWM) inverters. They offer improved output waveforms, smaller filter size, lower total harmonic distortion (THD), higher output voltages and others. The most common multilevel converter topologies, presented in literature, are the neutral-point-clamped (NPC), flying capacitor (FC) and Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) converters. In both NPC and FC configurations, the number of components drastically increases with the number of levels what leads to complexity of the control strategy, high volume, and cost. Whereas, increasing the number of levels in case of the cascaded H-bridge configuration is a flexible solution. However, it needs isolated power sources for each stage, and it can be applied to PV systems only in case of PV sub-fields. In order to improve the ratio between the number of output voltage levels and the number of components, several hybrids and asymmetric topologies of multilevel inverters have been proposed in the literature such as the FC asymmetric H-bridge (FCAH) and the NPC asymmetric H-bridge (NPCAH) topologies. Another asymmetric multilevel inverter configuration that could have interesting applications is the cascaded asymmetric H-bridge (CAH), which is based on a modular half-bridge (two switches and one capacitor, also called level doubling network, LDN) cascaded to a full H-bridge in order to double the output voltage level. This solution has the same number of switches as the above mentioned AH configurations (i.e., six), and just one capacitor (as the FCAH). CAH is becoming popular, due to its simple, modular and reliable structure, and it can be considered as a retrofit which can be added in series to an existing H-Bridge configuration in order to double the output voltage levels. In this paper, an original and effective method for the analysis of the DC-link voltage ripple is given for single-phase asymmetric H-bridge multilevel inverters based on level doubling network (LDN). Different possible configurations of the asymmetric H-Bridge multilevel inverters have been considered and the analysis of input voltage and current are analytically determined and numerically verified by Matlab/Simulink for the case of cascaded asymmetric H-bridge multilevel inverters. A comparison between FCAH and the CAH configurations is done on the basis of the analysis of the DC and voltage ripple for the DC source (i.e., the PV system). The peak-to-peak DC and voltage ripple amplitudes are analytically calculated over the fundamental period as a function of the modulation index. On the basis of the maximum peak-to-peak values of low frequency and switching ripple voltage components, the DC capacitors can be designed. Reference is made to unity output power factor, as in case of most of the grid-connected PV generation systems. Simulation results will be presented in the full paper in order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed developments in all the operating conditions.

Keywords: asymmetric inverters, dc-link voltage, level doubling network, single-phase multilevel inverter

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Authors: Arin Ghazarian, Cyril Rakovski

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Differential privacy has become the leading technique to protect the privacy of individuals in a database while allowing useful analysis to be done and the results to be shared. It puts a guarantee on the amount of privacy loss in the worst-case scenario. Differential privacy is not a toggle between full privacy and zero privacy. It controls the tradeoff between the accuracy of the results and the privacy loss using a single key parameter called

Keywords: arrhythmia, cardiology, differential privacy, ECG, epsilon, medi-cal data, privacy preserving analytics, statistical databases

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Authors: Ahmadreza Bagheri, Seyyed S. Eftekhari, Shervin Rashidinia

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Background: Various stress tests have been proposed yet to assess patients with suspected coronary artery disease. However, their diagnostic properties in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy are variable and their applicability remained somewhat vague. The aim of this study is to validate per-vessel diagnostic properties of 3 types of stress myocardial perfusion scintigraphy in gated SPECT (Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography) using either exercise or pharmacological stress testing with dipyridamole or dobutamine. Materials and Methods: Hospital records of 314 patients who referred to Imam Khomeini hospital of Tehran between September 2015 and January 2017 were completely reviewed in this study. All patients underwent coronary angiography within 3 months after stress myocardial perfusion scan. Eventually, the results were analyzed in per-vessel basis to find the proper modality for each involved vessel or scanned site. Results: The mean age of patients was 62.15 ± 4.94 years (30-85) and 35.03% were women. The overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated as 56.59%, 54.24%, and 55.09%, respectively. These values were 56.43% and 53.25%, 54.46% and 47.36%, 56.75% and 54.83% for dipyridamole and exercise, respectively. Ischemia of the anterior wall through exercise stress testing has the highest diagnostic accuracy in detecting LAD (Left Anterior Descending artery) involvement. Inferior wall hypokinesia and anterolateral wall ischemia during exercise stress testing have the highest diagnostic accuracy in detecting RCA (Right Coronary Artery) and LCX artery (Left Circumflex Artery) stenosis, respectively. Conclusion: Stress myocardial perfusion scan should be carried out on the basis of the findings of the preliminary investigations on suspicion of a specific coronary artery or involved myocardial wall.

Keywords: dipyridamole, dobutamine, single-photon emission computed tomography, stress myocardial perfusion scintigraphy

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Authors: Hannah Bigelow, Marcus D. Gottlieb, Michelle Ogrodnik, Jeffrey, D. Graham, Barbara Fenesi

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders affecting approximately 6% of children worldwide. ADHD is characterized by a combination of persistent deficits including impaired inhibitory control, working memory and task-switching. Many children with ADHD also have comorbid mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. There are several treatment options to manage ADHD impairments, including drug and behavioural management therapy, but they all have drawbacks, such as worsening mood disturbances or being inaccessible to certain demographics. Both physical exercise and mindfulness meditation serve as alternative options to potentially help mitigate ADHD symptoms. Although there is extensive support for the benefits of long-term physical exercise or mindfulness meditation programs, there is insufficient research investigating how acute bouts (i.e., single, short bouts) can help children with ADHD. Thus, the current study aimed to understand how single, short bouts of exercise and mindfulness meditation impacts executive functioning and psycho-emotional well-being in children with ADHD, as well as to directly compare the efficacy of these two interventions. The study used a a pre- post-test, within-subjects design to assess the effects of a 10-minute bout of moderate intensity exercise versus a 10-minute bout of mindfulness meditation (versus 10 minutes of a reading control) on the executive functioning and psycho-emotional well-being of 16 children and youth with ADHD aged 10-14 (male=11; White=80%). Participants completed all three interventions: 10 minutes of exercise, 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation, and 10 minutes of reading (control). Executive functioning (inhibitory control, working memory, task-switching) and psycho-emotional well-being (mood, self-efficacy) were assessed before and after each intervention. Mindfulness meditation promoted executive functioning, while exercise enhanced positive mood and self-efficacy. Critically, this work demonstrates that a single, short bout of mindfulness meditation session can promote inhibitory control among children with ADHD. This is especially important for children with ADHD as inhibitory control deficits are among the most pervasive challenges that they face. Furthermore, the current study provides preliminary evidence for the benefit of acute exercise for promoting positive mood and general self-efficacy for children and youth with ADHD. These results may increase the accessibility of acute exercise for children with ADHD, providing guardians and teachers a feasible option to incorporate just 10 minutes of exercise to assist children emotionally. In summary, this research supports the use of acute exercise and mindfulness meditation on varying aspects of executive functioning and psycho-emotional well-being in children and youth with ADHD. This work offers important insight into how behavioural interventions could be personalized according to a child’s needs.

Keywords: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), acute exercise, mindfulness meditation, executive functioning, psycho-emotional well-being

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Authors: M. Umar Dahot, G. S. Mangrio

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In this study Agro-industrial waste was used as a carbon source, which is a low cost substrate. Along with this, various sugars and molasses of 2.5% and 5% were investigated as substrate/carbon source for the growth of A.niger and Pectinase production. Different nitrogen sources were also used. An overview of results obtained show that 5% sucrose, 5% molasses and 0.4% (NH4)2SO4 were found the best carbon and nitrogen sources for the production of pectinase by A. niger. The maximum production of pectinase (26.87units/ml) was observed at pH 6.0 after 72 hrs incubation. The optimum temperature for the maximum production of pectinase was achieved at 35ºC when maximum production of pectinase was obtained as 28.25Units/ml.Pectinase enzyme was purified with ammonium sulphate precipitation and dialyzed sample was finally applied on gel filtration chromatography (Sephadex G-100) and Ion Exchange DEAE A-50. The enzyme was purified 2.5 fold by gel chromatography on Sephadex G-100 and Four fractions were obtained, Fraction 1, 2, 4 showed single band while Fraction -3 showed multiple bands on SDS Page electrophoresis. Fraction -3 was pooled, dialyzed and separated on Sephdex A-50 and two fractions 3a and 3b showed single band. The molecular weights of the purified fractions were detected in the range of 33000 ± 2000 and 38000± 2000 Daltons. The purified enzyme was specifically most active with pure pectin, while pectin, Lemon pectin and orange peel given lower activity as compared to (control). The optimum pH and temperature for pectinase activity was found between pH 5.0 and 6.0 and 40°- 50°C, respectively. The enzyme was stable over the pH range 3.0-8.0. The thermostability of was determined and it was observed that the pectinase activity is heat stable and retains activity more than 40% when incubated at 90°C for 10 minutes. The pectinase activity of F3a and F3b was increased with different metal ions. The Pectinase activity was stimulated in the presence of CaCl2 up to 10-30%. ZnSO4, MnSO4 and Mg SO4 showed higher activity in fractions F3a and F3b, which indicates that the pectinase belongs to metalo-enzymes. It is concluded that A. niger is capable to produce pH stable and thermostable pectinase, which can be used for industrial purposes.

Keywords: pectinase, a. niger, production, purification, characterization

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Authors: N. Moradi, C. M. Lopez-Vazquez, H. Garcia Hernandez, F. Rubio Rincon, D. Brdanovic, Mark van Loosdrecht

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Advanced oxidation processes have been widely used for disinfection, removal of residual organic material, and for the removal of emerging contaminants from drinking water and wastewater. Yet, the application of these technologies to sludge treatment processes has not gained enough attention, mostly, considering the complexity of the sludge matrix. In this research, ozone and UV/H₂O₂ treatment were applied for the removal of emerging contaminants from a digestate supernatant. The removal of the following compounds was assessed:(i) salicylic acid (SA) (a surrogate of non-stradiol anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)), and (ii) sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamethazine (SMN), and tetracycline (TCN) (the most frequent human and animal antibiotics). The ozone treatment was carried out in a plexiglass bubble column reactor with a capacity of 2.7 L; the system was equipped with a stirrer and a gas diffuser. The UV and UV/H₂O₂ treatments were done using a LED set-up (PearlLab beam device) dosing H₂O₂. In the ozone treatment evaluations, 95 % of the three antibiotics were removed during the first 20 min of exposure time, while an SA removal of 91 % occurred after 8 hours of exposure time. In the UV treatment evaluations, when adding the optimum dose of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂:COD molar ratio of 0.634), 36% of SA, 82% of TCN, and more than 90 % of both SMX and SMN were removed after 8 hours of exposure time. This study concluded that O₃ was more effective than UV/H₂O₂ in removing emerging contaminants from the digestate supernatant.

Keywords: digestate sludge, emerging contaminants, ozone, UV-AOP

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Authors: Houari Boumediene University of Science, Technology.

Abstract:

"Various methods are typically used in the dynamic analysis of transversely vibrating beams. To achieve this, numerical methods are used to solve the general eigenvalue problem. The equations of equilibrium, which describe the motion, are derived from a fourth-order differential equation. Our study is based on the finite element method, and the results of the investigation are the vibration frequencies obtained using the Jacobi method. Two types of elementary mass matrices are considered: one representing a uniform distribution of mass along the element and the other consisting of concentrated masses located at fixed points whose number increases progressively with equal distances at each evaluation stage. The beams studied have different boundary constraints, representing several classical situations. Comparisons are made for beams where the distributed mass is replaced by n concentrated masses. As expected, the first calculation stage involves determining the lowest number of beam parts that gives a frequency comparable to that obtained from the Rayleigh formula. The obtained values are then compared to theoretical results based on the assumptions of the Bernoulli-Euler theory. These steps are repeated for the second type of mass representation in the same manner."

Keywords: finite element method, bernouilli eulertheory, structural analysis, vibration analysis, rayleigh quotient

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Authors: Wei-Na Li, Mei-Lan Piao, Nam Kim

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We proposed a novel computer-generated hologram (CGH) achieved scheme, wherein the CGH is generated from a point cloud which is transformed by a mapping relationship of a series of elemental images captured from a real three-dimensional (3D) object by using a lens array. This scheme is composed of three procedures: mapping from elemental images to point cloud, hologram generation, and hologram display. A mapping method is figured out to achieve a virtual volume date (point cloud) from a series of elemental images. This mapping method consists of two steps. Firstly, the coordinate (x, y) pairs and its appearing number are calculated from the series of sub-images, which are generated from the elemental images. Secondly, a series of corresponding coordinates (x, y, z) are calculated from the elemental images. Then a hologram is generated from the volume data that is calculated by the previous two steps. Eventually, a spatial light modulator (SLM) and a green laser beam are utilized to display this hologram and reconstruct the original 3D object. In this paper, in order to show a more auto stereoscopic display of a real 3D object, we successfully obtained the actual depth data of every discrete point of the real 3D object, and overcame the inherent drawbacks of the depth camera by obtaining point cloud from the elemental images.

Keywords: elemental image, point cloud, computer-generated hologram (CGH), autostereoscopic display

Procedia PDF Downloads 578

Authors: Kyoungwoon Kim, Cuong Huynh, Cam Nguyen

Abstract:

Exploding demands for more data, faster data transmission speed, less interference, more users, more wireless devices, and better reliable service-far exceeding those provided in the current mobile communications networks in the RF spectrum below 6 GHz-has led the wireless communication industry to focus on higher, previously unallocated spectrums. High frequencies in RF spectrum near (around 28 GHz) or within the millimeter-wave regime is the logical solution to meet these demands. This high-frequency RF spectrum is of increasingly important for wireless communications due to its large available bandwidths that facilitate various applications requiring large-data high-speed transmissions, reaching up to multi-gigabit per second, of vast information. It also resolves the traffic congestion problems of signals from many wireless devices operating in the current RF spectrum (below 6 GHz), hence handling more traffic. Consequently, the wireless communication industries are moving towards 5G (fifth generation) for next-generation communications such as mobile phones, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proved on 14th July 2016 three frequency bands for 5G around 28, 37 and 39 GHz. We present some silicon-based RFIC power amplifiers (PA) for possible implementation for 5G wireless communications around 28, 37 and 39 GHz. The 16.5-28 GHz PA exhibits measured gain of more than 34.5 dB and very flat output power of 19.4±1.2 dBm across 16.5-28 GHz. The 25.5/37-GHz PA exhibits gain of 21.4 and 17 dB, and maximum output power of 16 and 13 dBm at 25.5 and 37 GHz, respectively, in the single-band mode. In the dual-band mode, the maximum output power is 13 and 9.5 dBm at 25.5 and 37 GHz, respectively. The 10-19/23-29/33-40 GHz PA has maximum output powers of 15, 13.3, and 13.8 dBm at 15, 25, and 35 GHz, respectively, in the single-band mode. When this PA is operated in dual-band mode, it has maximum output powers of 11.4/8.2 dBm at 15/25 GHz, 13.3/3 dBm at 15/35 GHz, and 8.7/6.7 dBm at 25/35 GHz. In the tri-band mode, it exhibits 8.8/5.4/3.8 dBm maximum output power at 15/25/35 GHz. Acknowledgement: This paper was made possible by NPRP grant # 6-241-2-102 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors

Keywords: Microwaves, Millimeter waves, Power Amplifier, Wireless communications

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Gabriel Acha Ekobi

Abstract:

Fathers play a crucial role in meeting family needs such as affection, protection, and socio-economic needs of children in the world in general and South Africa in particular. Fathers’ role in children’s lives is important in providing socialization, leadership skills, and teaching societal norms. Fathers influence is very significant for children’s well-being and development as it provides the child with moral lessons, guidance, and economic support. However, there is a paucity of information regarding the effects of fathers on children. In addition, despite legal frameworks such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the child (1999) introduced by the African Union to promote child rights nevertheless, it appears maltreatment, abuse, and poor health care continue to face children. Also, the Constitution of 1996 of the Republic of South Africa (Section 28 of the Bill of Rights) and the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 were introduced by the South African government to foster the rights of children. Nevertheless, these legal frameworks remain ineffective as children’s rights are still neglected by resident fathers. This paper explores the impact of resident fathers on children in the Golf View, Alice town of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. A qualitative research method and an exploratory research design were utilized, and 30 participants took part in the study. The participants comprised of single mothers or caregivers of children, resident fathers and social workers. Eighteen (18) single mothers or caregivers, 10 resident fathers, and two (2) social workers participated in the study. Data was collected using semi-structured and unstructured interviews and analysed thematically. Two main themes were identified: the role of fathers on children and the effects of resident fathers on children. The study found that the presence of fathers in the lives of children prevented psychosocial issues such as stress, depression, violence, and substance abuse. A father’s presence in a household was crucial in instilling moral values in children. This allowed them to build positive characters such as respect, kindness, humility, and compassion. Children with more involved fathers tend to have fewer impulse control problems, longer attention spans, and a higher level of sociability. The study concludes that the fathers’ role prevented anxiety, depression, and stress and led to the improvement of children’s education performance. Nevertheless, the absence of a father as a role model to act as a leader by instilling moral values hinders positive behaviours in children. This study recommended that occupational training and life skills programmes should be introduced by the government and other stakeholders to empower the fathers as this might provide the platform for them to bring up their children properly.

Keywords: children, fathering, household, resident, single parent

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