Search results for: possibility uncertainty

Authors: Emil Ghiocel Ioanid, Viorica Frunză, Dorina Rusu, Ana Maria Vlad, Catalin Tanase, Simona Dunca

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The application of cold radio-frequency (RF) plasma in the conservation of cultural heritage became important in the last decades due to the positive results obtained in decontamination treatments. This paper presents an equipment especially designed for RF cold plasma application on paper documents, developed within a research project. The equipment allows the application of decontamination and cleaning treatments on any type of paper support, as well as the coating with a protective polymer. The equipment consists in a Pyrex vessel, inside which are placed two plane-parallel electrodes, capacitively coupled to a radio-frequency generator. The operating parameters of the equipment are: 1.2 MHz frequency, 50V/cm electric field intensity, current intensity in the discharge 100 mA, 40 W power in the discharge, the pressure varying from 5∙10-1 mbar to 5.5∙10-1 mbar, depending on the fragility of the material, operating in gaseous nitrogen. In order to optimize the equipment treatments in nitrogen plasma have been performed on samples infested with microorganisms, then the decontamination and the changes in surface properties (color, pH) were assessed. The analyses results presented in the table revealed only minor modifications of surface pH the colorimetric analysis showing a slight change to yellow. The equipment offers the possibility of performing decontamination, cleaning and protective coating of paper-based documents in successive stages, thus avoiding the recontamination with harmful biological agents.

Keywords: nitrogen plasma, cultural heritage, paper support, radio-frequency

Procedia PDF Downloads 524

Authors: M. Agostini, A. Sonato, G. Greco, M. Travagliati, G. Ruffato, E. Gazzola, D. Liuni, F. Romanato, M. Cecchini

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Since their first demonstration in the early 1980s, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have been widely recognized as useful tools for detecting chemical and biological species, and the interest of the scientific community toward this technology has known a rapid growth in the past two decades owing to their high sensitivity, label-free operation and possibility of real-time detection. Recent works have suggested that a turning point in SPR sensor research would be the combination of SPR strategies with other technologies in order to reduce human handling of samples, improve integration and plasmonic sensitivity. In this light, microfluidics has been attracting growing interest. By properly designing microfluidic biochips it is possible to miniaturize the analyte-sensitive areas with an overall reduction of the chip dimension, reduce the liquid reagents and sample volume, improve automation, and increase the number of experiments in a single biochip by multiplexing approaches. However, as the fluidic channel dimensions approach the micron scale, laminar flows become dominant owing to the low Reynolds numbers that typically characterize microfluidics. In these environments mixing times are usually dominated by diffusion, which can be prohibitively long and lead to long-lasting biochemistry experiments. An elegant method to overcome these issues is to actively perturb the liquid laminar flow by exploiting surface acoustic waves (SAWs). With this work, we demonstrate a new approach for SPR biosensing based on the combination of microfluidics, SAW-induced mixing and the real-time phase-interrogation grating-coupling SPR technology. On a single lithium niobate (LN) substrate the nanostructured SPR sensing areas, interdigital transducer (IDT) for SAW generation and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chambers were fabricated. SAWs, impinging on the microfluidic chamber, generate acoustic streaming inside the fluid, leading to chaotic advection and thus improved fluid mixing, whilst analytes binding detection is made via SPR method based on SPP excitation via gold metallic grating upon azimuthal orientation and phase interrogation. Our device has been fully characterized in order to separate for the very first time the unwanted SAW heating effect with respect to the fluid stirring inside the microchamber that affect the molecules binding dynamics. Avidin/biotin assay and thiol-polyethylene glycol (bPEG-SH) were exploited as model biological interaction and non-fouling layer respectively. Biosensing kinetics time reduction with SAW-enhanced mixing resulted in a ≈ 82% improvement for bPEG-SH adsorption onto gold and ≈ 24% for avidin/biotin binding—≈ 50% and 18% respectively compared to the heating only condition. These results demonstrate that our biochip can significantly reduce the duration of bioreactions that usually require long times (e.g., PEG-based sensing layer, low concentration analyte detection). The sensing architecture here proposed represents a new promising technology satisfying the major biosensing requirements: scalability and high throughput capabilities. The detection system size and biochip dimension could be further reduced and integrated; in addition, the possibility of reducing biological experiment duration via SAW-driven active mixing and developing multiplexing platforms for parallel real-time sensing could be easily combined. In general, the technology reported in this study can be straightforwardly adapted to a great number of biological system and sensing geometry.

Keywords: biosensor, microfluidics, surface acoustic wave, surface plasmon resonance

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Authors: Victor Romanov, Daria Efimenko

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The focus on innovation in modern economy is the main factor in surviving business in a competitive environment. The innovations are based on the search and use of knowledge in a global context. Nowadays consumers and market demand are the main innovation drivers. This leads to build a business as a system with feedback, promptly restructuring production and innovation implementation in response to market demands. In modern knowledge economy, because of speed of technical progress, the product's lifecycle became much shorter, what makes more stringent requirements for innovation implementation on the enterprises of and therefore the possibility for enterprise for receiving extra income is decreasing. This circumstance imposes additional requirements for the replacement of obsolete products and the prompt release of innovative products to the market. The development of information technologies has led to the fact that only in the conditions of partnership and knowledge sharing with partners it is possible to update products quickly for innovative products. Many companies pay attention to updating innovations through the search for new partners, but the task of finding new partners presents some difficulties. The search for a suitable one includes several stages such as: determining the moment of innovation-critical, introducing a search, identifying search criteria, justifying and deciding on the choice of a partner. No less important is the question of how to manage an innovative product in response to a changing market. The article considers the problems of information support for the search for the source of innovation and partnership to decrease the time for implementation of novelty products.

Keywords: partnership, novelty, market feedback, alliance

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Authors: E. T. Carvalho Filho, J. T. N. Medeiros, L. G. Martinez

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Residual stresses are self equilibrating in a rigid body that acts on the microstructure of the material without application of an external load. They are elastic stresses and can be induced by mechanical, thermal and chemical processes causing a deformation gradient in the crystal lattice favoring premature failure in mechanicals components. The search for measurements with good reliability has been of great importance for the manufacturing industries. Several methods are able to quantify these stresses according to physical principles and the response of the mechanical behavior of the material. The diffraction X-ray technique is one of the most sensitive techniques for small variations of the crystalline lattice since the X-ray beam interacts with the interplanar distance. Being very sensitive technique is also susceptible to variations in measurements requiring a study of the factors that influence the final result of the measurement. Instrumental, operational factors, form deviations of the samples and geometry of analyzes are some variables that need to be considered and analyzed in order for the true measurement. The aim of this work is to analyze the sources of errors inherent to the residual stress measurement process by X-ray diffraction technique making an interlaboratory comparison to verify the reproducibility of the measurements. In this work, two specimens were machined, differing from each other by the surface finishing: grinding and polishing. Additionally, iron powder with particle size less than 45 µm was selected in order to be a reference (as recommended by ASTM E915 standard) for the tests. To verify the deviations caused by the equipment, those specimens were positioned and with the same analysis condition, seven measurements were carried out at 11Ψ tilts. To verify sample positioning errors, seven measurements were performed by positioning the sample at each measurement. To check geometry errors, measurements were repeated for the geometry and Bragg Brentano parallel beams. In order to verify the reproducibility of the method, the measurements were performed in two different laboratories and equipments. The results were statistically worked out and the quantification of the errors.

Keywords: residual stress, x-ray diffraction, repeatability, reproducibility, error analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: D. Osborn, L. Easthope

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The increasing threat of ‘marauding terror,' utilising improvised explosive devices and firearms, has focused the attention of policy makers and emergency responders once again on the treatment of the critically injured patient in a highly volatile scenario. Whilst there have been significant improvements made in the response and lessons learned from recent disasters in the international disaster community there still remain areas of uncertainty and a lack of clarity in the care of the critically injured. This innovative, longitudinal study has at its heart the aim of using ethnographic methods to ‘slow down’ the journey such patients will take and make visible the ethical complexities that 2017 technologies, expectations and over a decade of improved combat medicine techniques have brought. The primary researcher, previously employed in the hospital emergency management environment, has closely followed responders as they managed casualties with life-threatening injuries. Ethnographic observation of Exercise Unified Response in March 2016, exposed the ethical and legal 'vacuums' within a mass casualty and fatality setting, specifically the extrication, treatment and care of critically injured patients from crushed and overturned train carriages. This article highlights a gap in the debate, evaluation, planning and response to an incident of this nature specifically the incapacitated, unidentified patients and the ethics of submitting them to the invasive ‘Disaster Victim Identification’ process. Using a qualitative ethnographic analysis, triangulating observation, interviews and documentation, this analysis explores the gaps and highlights the next stages in the researcher’s pathway as she continues to explore with emergency practitioners some of this century’s most difficult questions in relation to the medico-legal and ethical challenges faced by emergency services in the wake of new and emerging threats and medical treatment expectations.

Keywords: ethics, disaster, Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), legality, unidentified

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Violina R. Angelova, Mariana N. Perifanova-Nemska, Galina P. Uzunova, Krasimir I. Ivanov, Huu Q. Lee

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A field study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. The experiment was performed on an agricultural field contaminated by the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Field experiments with a randomized, complete block design with five treatments (control, compost amendments added at 20 and 40 t/daa, and vemicompost amendments added at 20 and 40 t/daa) were carried out. The accumulation of heavy metals in the sunflower plant and the quality of the sunflower oil (heavy metals and fatty acid composition) were determined. The tested organic amendments significantly influenced the uptake of Pb, Zn and Cd by the sunflower plant. The incorporation of 40 t/decare of compost and 20 t/decare of vermicompost to the soil led to an increase in the ability of the sunflower to take up and accumulate Cd, Pb and Zn. Sunflower can be subjected to the accumulators of Pb, Zn and Cd and can be successfully used for phytoremediation of contaminated soils with heavy metals. The 40 t/daa compost treatment led to a decrease in heavy metal content in sunflower oil to below the regulated limits. Oil content and fatty acids composition were affected by compost and vermicompost amendment treatments. Adding compost and vermicompost increased the oil content in the seeds. Adding organic amendments increased the content of stearic, palmitoleic and oleic acids, and reduced the content of palmitic and gadoleic acids in sunflower oil. The possibility of further industrial processing of seeds to oil and use of the obtained oil will make sunflowers economically interesting crops for farmers of phytoremediation technology.

Keywords: heavy metals, phytoremediation, polluted soils, sunflower

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Authors: Megersa Olumana Dinka, Kassahun Birhanu Tadesse

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Irrigation suitability of shallow groundwater (SGW) was investigated by taking thirty groundwater samples from piezometers and hand-dug wells in Wonji Shoa Sugar Estate (WSSE) (Ethiopia). Many physicochemical parameters (Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, K⁺, CO₃-, SO4²⁻, HCO₃⁻, Cl⁻, TH, EC, TDS and pH) were analyzed following standard procedures. Different irrigation indices (MAR, SSP, SAR, RSC, KR, and PI) were also used for SGW suitability assessment. If all SGW are blended and used for irrigation, the salinity problem would be slight to moderate, and 100% of potential sugarcane yield could be obtained. The infiltration and sodium ion toxicity problems of the blended water would be none to moderate, and slight to moderate, respectively. As sugarcane is semi-tolerant to sodium toxicity, no significant sodium toxicity problem would be expected from the use of blended water. Blending SGW would also reduce each chloride and boron ion toxicity to none. In general, the rating of SGW was good to excellent for irrigation in terms of average EC (salinity), and excellent in terms of average SAR (infiltration). The SGW of the WSSE was categorized under C3S1 (high salinity and low sodium hazard). In conclusion, the conjunctive use of groundwater for irrigation would help to reduce the potential effect of waterlogging and salinization and their associated problems on soil and sugarcane production and productivity. However, a high value of SSP and RSC indicate a high possibility of infiltration problem. Hence, it is advisable to use the SGW for irrigation after blending with surface water. In this case, the optimum blending ratio of the surface to SGW sources has to be determined for sustainable sugarcane productivity.

Keywords: blending, infiltration, salinity, sodicity, sugarcane, toxicity

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Authors: Anna Piasek, Anna Szymkiewicz, Gabriela Wiktor, Jolanta Pulit-Prociak, Marcin Banach

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Carbon dots (CDs) have great potential for application in many fields of science. They are characterized by fluorescent properties that can be manipulated. The nanomaterial has many advantages in addition to its unique properties. CDs may be obtained easily, and they undergo surface functionalization in a simple way. In addition, there is a wide range of raw materials that can be used for their synthesis. An interesting possibility is the use of numerous waste materials of natural origin. In the research presented here, the synthesis of CDs was carried out according to the principles of Green chemistry. Beet molasses was used as a natural raw material. It has a high sugar content. This makes it an excellent high-carbon precursor for obtaining CDs. To increase the fluorescence effect, we modified the surface of CDs with silver (Ag-CDs) nanoparticles. The process of obtaining CQD was based on the hydrothermal method by applying microwave radiation. Silver nanoparticles were formed via the chemical reduction method. The synthesis plans were performed on the Design of the Experimental method (DoE). Variable process parameters such as concentration of beet molasses, temperature and concentration of nanosilver were used in these syntheses. They affected the obtained properties and particle parameters. The Ag-CDs were analyzed by UV-vis spectroscopy. The fluorescence properties and selection of the appropriate excitation light wavelength were performed by spectrofluorimetry. Particle sizes were checked using the DLS method. The influence of the input parameters on the obtained results was also studied.

Keywords: fluorescence, modification, nanosilver, molasses, Green chemistry, carbon dots

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Authors: Hui Zhang, Sherif Beskhyroun

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In this study, a highly flexible LoRa-Based wireless sensing system was used to assess the strain state performance of building structures. The system was developed to address the local damage limitation of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. The system is part of an intelligent SHM system designed to monitor, collect and transmit strain changes in key structural components. The main purpose of the wireless sensor system is to reduce the development and installation costs, and reduce the power consumption of the system, so as to achieve long-time monitoring. The highly stretchable flexible strain gauge is mounted on the surface of the structure and is waterproof, heat resistant, and low temperature resistant, greatly reducing the installation and maintenance costs of the sensor. The system was also developed with the aim of using LoRa wireless communication technology to achieve both low power consumption and long-distance transmission, therefore solving the problem of large-scale deployment of sensors to cover more areas in large structures. In the long-term monitoring of the building structure, the system shows very high performance, very low actual power consumption, and wireless transmission stability. The results show that the developed system has a high resolution, sensitivity, and high possibility of long-term monitoring.

Keywords: LoRa, SHM system, strain measurement, civil structures, flexible sensing system

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Bingxi Huang, Yiqing Li, Marek Morzynski, Bernd R. Noack

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We propose a Kriging-based global optimization method for active flow control with multiple actuation parameters. This method is designed to converge quickly and avoid getting trapped into local minima. We follow the model-free explorative gradient method (EGM) to alternate between explorative and exploitive steps. This facilitates a convergence similar to a gradient-based method and the parallel exploration of potentially better minima. In contrast to EGM, both kinds of steps are performed with Kriging surrogate model from the available data. The explorative step maximizes the expected improvement, i.e., favors regions of large uncertainty. The exploitive step identifies the best location of the cost function from the Kriging surrogate model for a subsequent weight-biased linear-gradient descent search method. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the improved Kriging-based optimization method, we have examined several comparative test problems of varying dimensions with limited evaluation budgets. The results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms some model-free optimization algorithms like genetic algorithm and differential evolution algorithm with a quicker convergence for a given budget. We have also performed direct numerical simulations of the fluidic pinball (N. Deng et al. 2020 J. Fluid Mech.) on three circular cylinders in equilateral-triangular arrangement immersed in an incoming flow at Re=100. The optimal cylinder rotations lead to 44.0% net drag power saving with 85.8% drag reduction and 41.8% actuation power. The optimal results for active flow control based on this configuration have achieved boat-tailing mechanism by employing Coanda forcing and wake stabilization by delaying separation and minimizing the wake region.

Keywords: direct numerical simulations, flow control, kriging, stochastic optimization, wake stabilization

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Authors: Aravella Flores, Jose Rafael E. Sotelo, Luis Romulus Phillippe R. Javier, Josh Christian V. Nunez

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This study focuses on analyzing the performance of Grade 12 STEM students of De La Salle University - Integrated School that has completed the Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction course in handling fire hazards through Minecraft Java Edition. This platform is suitable because fire DRRR is challenging to learn in a practical setting as well as questionable with regard to supplementing the successful implementation of textbook knowledge into actual practice. The purpose of this study is to acknowledge whether Minecraft can be a suitable environment to familiarize oneself to fire DRRR. The objectives are achieved through utilizing Minecraft in simulating fire scenarios which allows the participants to freely act upon and practice fire DRRR. The experiment was divided into the grounding and validation phase, where researchers observed the performance of the participants in the simulation. A pre-simulation and post-simulation survey was given to acknowledge the change in participants’ perception of being able to utilize fire DRRR procedures and their vulnerabilities. The paired t-test was utilized, showing significant differences in the pre-simulation and post-simulation survey scores, thus, insinuating improved judgment of DRRR, lessening their vulnerabilities in the possibility of encountering a fire hazard. This research poses a model for future research which can gather more participants and dwell on more complex codes outside just command blocks and into the code lines of Minecraft itself.

Keywords: minecraft, DRRR, fire, disaster, simulation

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Authors: Sarunpron Khruengsai, Patcharee Pripdeevech

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This study aimed to investigate the fumigation activities of the volatile compounds produced by Trichoderma spp. against Fusarium oxysporum and F. proliferatum fungi that cause significant rot in fresh chilies. Two Trichoderma spp. were isolated from the leaves of Schefflera leucantha grown in Thailand and later identified as T. afroharzianum MFLUCC19-0090 and T. afroharzianum MFLUCC19-0091. Both in vitro and in vivo dual culture volatile assays were used to study the effects of the produced volatile compounds on mycelial growth. In vitro results showed that the volatile compounds produced by T. afroharzianum MFLUCC19-0090 significantly inhibited the growth of F. oxysporum, while the volatile compounds produced by T. afroharzianum MFLUCC19-0091 significantly inhibited the growth of F. proliferatum. The effectiveness of Trichoderma-derived volatile compounds in inhibiting the mycelial growth of the selected pathogens in the inoculated, fresh chili samples was further demonstrated in vivo. The volatile profiles of both Trichoderma spp. were characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seventy-three volatile compounds were detected from both strains. Among the major volatile compounds detected, phenyl ethyl alcohol was found to possess the strongest antifungal activity against both pathogens. The results support the possibility of using volatile compounds produced by T. afroharzianum MFLUCC19-0090 and T. afroharzianum MFLUCC19-0091 as alternative fumigants for preventing Fusarium rot of fresh chilies during the post-harvest period.

Keywords: antifungal activity, biocontrol, endophytic fungi, post-harvest

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Authors: Ae Ra Han, Taek Hoo Lee, Sun Zoo Kim, Hwa Young Lee

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Introduction: Ovarian endometrioma is one of the important causes of poor ovarian reserve and up to half of them have recurred. However, the treatment for recurrence prevention has limited efficiency and repeated surgical management makes worsen the ovarian reserve. To find better management for recurrence prevention, we investigated risk factors and biomarkers for the recurrence of ovarian endometrioma. Methods: The medical records of women with the history of surgical dissection for ovarian endometrioma were collected. After exclusion of the cases with concurrent hysterectomy, been menopaused during follow-up, incomplete medical record, and loss of follow-up, a total of 134 women were enrolled. Immunohistochemical staining for progesterone receptor isoform B (PR-B) and nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) was done with the fixed tissue blocks of their endometriomas which were collected at the time of surgery. Results: Severity of dysmenorrhea and co-existence of adenomyosis had significant correlation with recurrence of endometrioma. Increased PR-B (P = .041) and decreased NFκB (P = .036) immunoreactivity were found in recurrent group. Serum CA-125 level at the time of recurrence was higher than the highest level of CA-125 during follow-up in unrecurred group (55.6 vs. 21.3 U/mL, P = .014). Conclusion: We found that the severity of dysmenorrhea and coexistence of adenomyosis are risk factors for recurrence of ovarian endometrioma, and serial follow-up of CA-125 is effective to detect and prevent the recurrence. However, to determine the possibility of immunoreactivity of PR-B and NFκB as biomarkers for ovarian endometrioma, further studies of various races and large numbers with prospective design are needed.

Keywords: endometriosis, recurrence, biomarker, risk factor

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Authors: Jaeun Park, Daekyoung Kim, Ho Kyoon Chung, Heeyeop Chae

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Quantum dots light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) have been considered as the next generation display and lighting devices due to their excellent color purity, photo-stability solution process possibility and good device stability. Currently typical quantum dot light emitting diodes contain organic layers such as PEDOT:PSS and PVK for charge transport layers. To make quantum dot light emitting diodes (QD-LED) more stable, it is required to replace those acidic and relatively unstable organic charge transport layers with inorganic materials. Therefore all inorganic and solution processed quantum dot light emitting diodes can potentially be a solution to stable and cost-effective display devices. We studied solution processed NiO films to replace organic charge transport layers that are required for stable all-inorganic based light emitting diodes. The transition metal oxides can be made by various vacuum and solution processes, but the solution processes are considered more cost-effective than vacuum processes. In this work we investigated solution processed NiOx for a hole transport layer (HTL). NiOx, has valence band energy levels of 5.3eV and they are easy to make sol-gel solutions. Water vapor oxidation process was developed and applied to solution processed all-inorganic QD-LED. Turn-on voltage, luminance and current efficiency of QD in this work were 5V, 1800Cd/m2 and 0.5Cd/A, respectively.

Keywords: QD-LED, metal oxide solution, NiO, all-inorganic QD-LED device

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Authors: Neda Seyyedi, Reza Berangi

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Voice over IP (VOIP) network, also known as Internet telephony, is growing increasingly having occupied a large part of the communications market. With the growth of each technology, the related security issues become of particular importance. Taking advantage of this technology in different environments with numerous features put at our disposal, there arises an increasing need to address the security threats. Being IP-based and playing a signaling role in VOIP networks, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) lets the invaders use weaknesses of the protocol to disable VOIP service. One of the most important threats is denial of service attack, a branch of which in this article we have discussed as flooding attacks. These attacks make server resources wasted and deprive it from delivering service to authorized users. Distributed denial of service attacks and attacks with a low rate can mislead many attack detection mechanisms. In this paper, we introduce a mechanism which not only detects distributed denial of service attacks and low rate attacks, but can also identify the attackers accurately. We detect and prevent flooding attacks in SIP protocol using Shannon (FDP-S), Renyi (FDP-R) and Tsallis (FDP-T) entropy. We conducted an experiment to compare the percentage of detection and rate of false alarm messages using any of the Shannon, Renyi and Tsallis entropy as a measure of disorder. Implementation results show that, according to the parametric nature of the Renyi and Tsallis entropy, by changing the parameters, different detection percentages and false alarm rates will be gained with the possibility to adjust the sensitivity of the detection mechanism.

Keywords: VOIP networks, flooding attacks, entropy, computer networks

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Authors: Özgür Öztürk, Cumhur Sipahi, Hande Yeşil

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Implant retained restorations commonly consist of a metal-framework veneered with ceramic or composite facings. The increasing and expanding use of indirect resin composites in dentistry is a result of innovations in materials and processing techniques. Of special interest to the implant restorative field is the possibility that composites present significantly lower peak vertical and transverse forces transmitted at the peri-implant level compared to metal-ceramic supra structures in implant-supported restorations. A 43-year-old male patient referred to the department of prosthodontics for an implant retained fixed prosthesis. The clinical and radiographic examination of the patient demonstrated the presence of an implant in the right mandibular first molar tooth region. A considerable amount of marginal bone loss around the implant was detected in radiographic examinations combined with a remarkable peri-implant soft tissue deficiency. To minimize the chewing loads transmitted to the implant-bone interface it was decided to fabricate an indirect composite resin veneered single metal crown over a screw-retained abutment. At the end of the treatment, the functional and aesthetic deficiencies were fully compensated. After a 6 months clinical and radiographic follow-up period the not any additional pathologic invasion was detected in the implant-bone interface and implant retained restoration did not reveal any vehement complication.

Keywords: dental implant, fixed partial dentures, indirect composite resin, peri-implant defects

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Authors: Lazic Marina, Sugden Scott, Sharma Kanta Hem, Sauvageau Dominic, Stein Lisa

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Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas mostly released through anthropogenic activities. Methane represents a low-cost and sustainable feedstock used for the biological production of value-added compounds by bacteria known as methanotrophs. In addition to methane, these organisms can utilize methanol, another cheap carbon source that is a common industrial by-product. Alphaproteobacteria methanotrophs can utilize both methane and methanol to produce the biopolymer polyhydroxybutyrate. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of methanol on polyhydroxybutyrate production in Methylocystis sp. Rockwell and to identify the optimal methane: methanol ratio that will improve PHB without reducing biomass production. Three methane: methanol ratios (4, 2.5., and 0.5) and three nitrogen source (ammonium or nitrate) concentrations (10 mM, 1 mM, and 0.1 mM) were combined to generate 18 growing conditions (9 per carbon source). The production of polyhydroxybutyrate and biomass was analyzed at the end of growth. Overall, the methane: methanol ratios that promoted polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis without reducing biomass were 4 and 2.5 and the optimal nitrogen concentration was 1 mM for both ammonium and nitrate. The physiological mechanism behind the beneficial effect of combining methane and methanol as carbon sources remain to be discovered. One possibility is that methanol has a dual role as a carbon source at lower concentrations and as a stringent response trigger at higher concentrations. Nevertheless, the beneficial effect of methanol and optimal nitrogen concentration for PHB production was confirmed, providing a basis for future physiological analysis and conditions for process scale-up.

Keywords: methane, methanol, methanotrophs, polyhydroxybutyrate, methylocystis sp. rockwell, single carbon bioconversions

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Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Sergio Romanò, Simonetta Vernocchi, Silvia Arnaboldi, Emilio Mazza

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As a result of the Sars-Cov2 pandemic, the incidence of thymism disorders has significantly increased and, often, patients are reluctant to want to take drugs aimed at stabilizing mood. In order to provide an alternative approach to drug therapies, we have prepared a study in order to evaluate the possibility of improving the quality of life of these subjects through osteopathic treatment. Patients were divided into visceral and fascial manual treatment with the aim of increasing serotonin levels and stimulating the vagus nerve through validated techniques. The results were evaluated through the administration of targeted questionnaires in order to assess quality of life, mood, sleep and intestinal functioning. At a first endpoint we found, in patients undergoing fascial treatment, an increase in quality of life and sleep: in fact, they report a decrease in the number of nocturnal awakenings; a reduction in falling asleep times and greater rest upon waking. In contrast, patients undergoing visceral treatment, as well as those included in the control group, did not show significant improvements. Patients in the fascial group have, in fact, reported an improvement in thymism and subjective quality of life with a generalized improvement in function. Although the study is still ongoing, based on the results of the first endpoint we can hypothesize that fascial stimulation of the vagus nerve with manual and osteopathic techniques may be a valid alternative to pharmacological treatments in mood and sleep disorders.

Keywords: ostheopathy, insomnia, noctural awakening, thymism

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Authors: Sonia Arradaza-Pajaron

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College students are expected to engage in an on-the-job training or internship for completion of a course requirement prior to graduation. In this scenario, they are exposed to the real world of work outside their training institution. To find out their readiness both emotionally and academically, this study has been conducted. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed and random sampling technique method was utilized among 265 randomly selected third year college students of PIT, SY 2014-15. A questionnaire on Emotional Intelligence (bearing the four components namely; emotional literacy, emotional quotient competence, values and beliefs and emotional quotient outcomes) was fielded to the respondents and GWA was extracted from the school automate. Data collected were statistically treated using percentage, weighted mean and Pearson-r for correlation. Results revealed that respondents’ emotional intelligence level is moderately high while their academic performance is good. A high significant relationship was found between the EI component; Emotional Literacy and their academic performance while only significant relationship was found between Emotional Quotient Outcomes and their academic performance. Therefore, if EI influences academic performance significantly when correlated, a possibility that their OJT performance can also be affected either positively or negatively. Thus, EI can be considered predictor of their academic and academic-related performance. Based on the result, it is then recommended that the institution would try to look deeply into the consideration of embedding emotional intelligence as part of the (especially on Emotional Literacy and Emotional Quotient Outcomes of the students) college curriculum. It can be done if the school shall have an effective Emotional Intelligence framework or program manned by qualified and competent teachers, guidance counselors in different colleges in its implementation.

Keywords: academic performance, emotional intelligence, college students, academic success

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Authors: Khashayar Nasrifar

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Ionic liquids (ILs) exhibit particular properties exemplified by extremely low vapor pressure and high thermal stability. The properties of ILs can be tailored by proper selection of cations and anions. As such, ILs are appealing as potential solvents to substitute traditional solvents with high vapor pressure. One of the IL properties required in chemical and process design is density. In developing corresponding state liquid density correlations, scaling hypothesis is often used. The hypothesis expresses the temperature dependence of saturated liquid densities near the vapor-liquid critical point as a function of reduced temperature. Extending the temperature dependence, several successful correlations were developed to accurately correlate the densities of normal liquids from the triple point to a critical point. Applying mixing rules, the liquid density correlations are extended to liquid mixtures as well. ILs are not molecular liquids, and they are not classified among normal liquids either. Also, ILs are often used where the condition is far from equilibrium. Nevertheless, in calculating the properties of ILs, the use of corresponding state correlations would be useful if no experimental data were available. With well-known generalized saturated liquid density correlations, the accuracy in predicting the density of ILs is not that good. An average error of 4-5% should be expected. In this work, a data bank was compiled. A simplified and concise corresponding state saturated liquid density correlation is proposed by phenomena-logically modifying reduced temperature using the temperature-dependence for an interacting parameter of the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state. This modification improves the temperature dependence of the developed correlation. Parametrization was next performed to optimize the three global parameters of the correlation. The correlation was then applied to the ILs in our data bank with satisfactory predictions. The correlation of IL density applied at 0.1 MPa and was tested with an average uncertainty of around 2%. No adjustable parameter was used. The critical temperature, critical volume, and acentric factor were all required. Methods to extend the predictions to higher pressures (200 MPa) were also devised. Compared to other methods, this correlation was found more accurate. This work also presents the chronological order of developing such correlations dealing with ILs. The pros and cons are also expressed.

Keywords: correlation, corresponding state principle, ionic liquid, density

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Authors: Fotios Spyropoulos, Evangelia Androulaki, Vasileios Karagiannopoulos, Aristotelis Kompothrekas, Nikolaos Karagiannis

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The problem of 'fake news' and 'hoaxes' has dominated in recent years the field of news, politics, economy, safety, and security as dissemination of false information can intensively affect and mislead public discourse and public opinion. The widespread use of internet and social media platforms can substantially intensify these effects, which often include public fear and insecurity. Misinformation, malinformation, and disinformation have also been blamed for affecting election results in multiple countries, and since then, there have been efforts to tackle the phenomenon both on national and international level. The presentation will focus on methods of prevention of disseminating false information on social media and on the internet and will discuss relevant criminological views. The challenges that have arisen for criminal law will be covered, taking into account the potential need for a multi-national approach required in order to mitigate the extent and negative impact of the fake news phenomenon. Finally, the analysis will include a discussion on the potential usefulness of non-legal modalities of regulation and crime prevention, especially situational and social measures of prevention and the possibility of combining an array of methods to achieve better results on national and international level. This project has received funding from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT), under grant agreement No 80529.

Keywords: cybercrime, disinformation, fake news, prevention

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Authors: Min-Chien Su, Tzu-Hsuan Hsu, Guan-Xuan Wu, Shyh-Ming Kuo

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Lung cancer is one of the clinically challenging malignant diseases worldwide. For efficient therapeutics in cancer, combination therapy has developed to acquire a better outcome. PLK-1 was one of the major factors affecting cell mitosis in cancer cells, its inhibitor Bi6727 was proven effective in treating several different cancers namely oral cancer, colon cancer and lung cancer. Despite its low toxicity toward normal cells compared to traditional chemotherapy, it is still yet to be evaluated in detail. Livistona Chinensis (LC) is a Chinese herb that used as a traditional prescription to treat lung cancer. Due to the uncertainty of the efficacy of LC, we utilized a water extraction method to extract the Livistona Chinensis and then lyophilized into powder for further study. In this study we investigated the antiproliferation activities of Bi6727 and LC extracts (LCE) on A549 non-small lung cancer cells. The IC50 of Bi6727 and LCE on A549 are 60 nM and 0.8 mg/mL, respectively. The fluorescent staining images shown nucleolus damage in cells treated with Bi6727 and mitochondrial damage after treated with LCE. A549 cells treated with Bi6727 and LCE showed increased expression of Bax, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 proteins from Western blot assay. LCE also inhibited A549 cells growth keeping cells at G2-M phase from cell cycle assay. Apoptosis assay results showed that LCE induced late apoptosis of A549 cells. JC-1 assay showed that the mitochondria damaged at the LCE concentration of 0.4 mg/mL. In our preliminary anti-proliferation test of combined LCE and Bi-6727 on A549 cells, we found a dramatically decrease in proliferation after treated with LCE first for 24-h and then Bi-6727 for extra 24-h. This was an important finding regarding synergistic anti-proliferation effect of these drugs, However, the usage, the application sequence of LCE and Bi-6727 on A549 cells and their related mechanisms still need to be evaluated. In summary, the drugs exerted anti-proliferation effect on A549 cells independently. We hopefully combine the usage of these two drugs will bring a different and potential outcome in treating lung cancer.

Keywords: anti-proliferation, A549, Livistona Chinensis fruit extracts, PLK-1 inhibitor

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Authors: Tatia Kekelia

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This paper is part of an ongoing research addressing gender discrimination in the Court of Georgia. The research suggests that gender stereotypes influence the processes at the Court in contemporary Georgia, which causes uneven fights for women and men, not to mention other gender identities. The sub-hypothesis proposes that the gender stereotypes derive from feudal representations, which persisted during the Soviet rule. It is precisely those stereotypes that feed gender-based discrimination today. However, this paper’s main focus is on the main hypothesis, describing the revealed stereotypes, and identifying the Court as a place where their presence is most hindering societal development. First of all, this happens by demotivating people, causing loss of trust in the Court, and therefore potentially encouraging crime. Secondly, it becomes harder to adequately mobilize human resources, since more than a half of the population is female, and under the influence of rigid or more subtle forms of discrimination, they lose not only equal rights, but also the motivation to work or fight for them. Consequently, this paper falls under democracy studies as well – considering that an unbiased Court is one of the most important criteria for assessing the democratic character of a state. As the research crosses the disciplines of sociology, law, and history, a complex of qualitative research methods is applied, among which this paper relies mainly on expert interviews, interviews with attorneys, and desk research. By showcasing and undermining the gender stereotypes that work at the Court of Georgia, this research might assist in rising trust towards it in the long-term. As for the broader relevance, the study of the Georgian case opens the possibility to conduct comparative analyses in the region and the continent, and, presumably, carve the lines of cultural influences.

Keywords: gender, stereotypes, bias, democratization, judiciary

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Authors: Zihan Geng, Yifan Hou

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Background: Loneliness is the feeling of being isolated, which is becoming increasingly common among adolescents. A cross-sectional study was performed to determine the association between loneliness and different demographics. Methods: To identify the presence of loneliness, the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3) was employed. The "Questionnaire Star" in Chinese version, as the online survey on the official website, was used to distribute the self-rating questionnaires to the students in Beijing from Grade 7 to Grade 12. The questionnaire includes sociodemographic items and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Results: Almost all of the participants exhibited “caseness” for loneliness, as defined by UCLA. Out of 266 questionnaires, 2.6% (7 in 266) students fulfilled the presence criteria for a low degree of loneliness. 29.7% (79 in 266) of adolescents met the criteria for a moderate degree of loneliness. Moreover, 62.8% (167 in 266) and 4.9% (13 in 266) of students fulfilled the presence criteria for a moderately high and high degree of loneliness, respectively. In the Pearson χ2 test, there were significant associations between loneliness and some demographic factors, including grade (P<0.001), the number of adults in the family (P=0.001), the evaluation of appearance (P=0.034), the evaluation of self-satisfaction (P<0.001), the love in family (P<0.001), academic performance (P=0.001) and emotional support from friends (P<0.001). In the multivariate logistic analysis, the number of adults (2 vs.≤1, OR=0.319, P=0.015), time spent on social media (≥4h vs. ≤1h, OR=4.862, P=0.029), emotional support of friends (more satisfied vs. dissatisfied, OR=0.363, P=0.027) were associated with loneliness. Conclusions: Our results suggest the relationship between loneliness and some sociodemographic factors, which raise the possibility to reduce the loneliness among adolescents. Therefore, the companionship of family, the encouragement from friends and regulating the time spent on social media may decrease the loneliness in adolescents.

Keywords: loneliness, adolescents, demographic factors, UCLA loneliness scale

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Authors: Desta Brhanu Gebrehiwot

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The purpose of this review was to analyze the overall or combined effect of scholarly studies conducted on the impacts of Food for work (FFW) and Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on farm households’ livelihood (agricultural investment on the adoption of fertilizer, food security, livestock holding, nutrition and its’ disincentive effect) in Ethiopia. In addition, to make a critical assessment of the internal and external validity of the existing studies, the review also indicates the possibility to redesign the program. The method of selecting eligible studies for review was PICOS (Participants, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Settings) framework. The method of analysis was the fixed effects model under Meta-Analysis. The findings of this systematic review confirm the overall or combined positive significant impact of PSNP on fertilizer adoption (combined point estimate=0.015, standard error=0.005, variance=0.000, lower limit 0.004 up to the upper limit=0.026, z-value=2.726, and p-value=0.006). And the program had a significant positive impact on the child nutrition of rural households and had no significant disincentive effect. However, the program had no significant impact on livestock holdings. Thus, PSNP is important for households whose livelihood depends on rain-fed agriculture and are exposed to rainfall shocks. Thus, better to integrate the program into the national agricultural policy. In addition, most of the studies suggested that PSNP needs more attention to the design and targeting issued in order to be effective and efficient in social protection.

Keywords: meta-analysis, fixed effect model, PSNP, rural-livelihood, Ethiopia

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Authors: Panatda Intanin, Sangutid Thongsawad, Chirapha Tannanonta, Todsaporn Fuangrod

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Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a highly precision delivery technique that requires comprehensive quality assurance (QA) tests prior to treatment delivery. An isocenter of delivery beam plays a critical role that affect the treatment accuracy. The uncertainty of isocenter is traditionally accessed using circular cone equipment, Winston-Lutz (WL) phantom and film. This technique is considered time consuming and highly dependent on the observer. In this work, the development of multileaf collimator (MLC)-based isocenter verification tool using electronic portal imaging device (EPID) was proposed and evaluated. A mechanical isocenter alignment with ball bearing diameter 5 mm and circular cone diameter 10 mm fixed to gantry head defines the radiation field was set as the conventional WL test method. The conventional setup was to compare to the proposed setup; using MLC (10 x 10 mm) to define the radiation filed instead of cone. This represents more realistic delivery field than using circular cone equipment. The acquisition from electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and radiographic film were performed in both experiments. The gantry angles were set as following: 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°. A software tool was in-house developed using MATLAB/SIMULINK programming to determine the centroid of radiation field and shadow of WL phantom automatically. This presents higher accuracy than manual measurement. The deviation between centroid of both cone-based and MLC-based WL tests were quantified. To compare between film and EPID image, the deviation for all gantry angle was 0.26±0.19mm and 0.43±0.30 for cone-based and MLC-based WL tests. For the absolute deviation calculation on EPID images between cone and MLC-based WL test was 0.59±0.28 mm and the absolute deviation on film images was 0.14±0.13 mm. Therefore, the MLC-based isocenter verification using EPID present high sensitivity tool for SRS QA.

Keywords: isocenter verification, quality assurance, EPID, SRS

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Authors: Farhat Jabeen, Syed Asfaq Hussain Bukhari

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In the wake of the contemporary period the basic objective of the research paper points out that socio-cultural scenario of Pakistan reveals that gender-based violence is deep rooted in the society irrespective of language and ethnicity. This paper would reconnaissance the possibility reforms in Pakistan for diminishing of violence. Women are not given their due role, rights, and respect. Furthermore, they are treated as chattels. This presentation will cover the socio-customary practices in the context of discrimination, stigmatization, and violence against women. This paper envisages justice in a broader sense of recognition of rights for women, and masculine structure of society, socio-customary practices and discrimination against women are a very serious concern which needs to be understood as a multidimensional problem. The paper will specially focus on understanding the existing obstacles of women in Pakistan in the constitutional scenario. Women stumble across discrimination and human rights manipulations, voluptuous violation and manipulation including domestic viciousness and are disadvantaged by laws, strategies, and programming that do not take their concerns into considerations. This presentation examines the role of honour killings among Pakistani community. This affects their self-assurance and capability to elevation integrity campaign where gender inequalities and discrimination in social, legal domain are to be put right. This paper brings to light the range of practices, laws and legal justice regarding the status of women and also covers attitude towards compensations for murders/killings, domestic violence, rape, adultery, social behavior and recourse to justice.

Keywords: discrimination, cultural, women, violence

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Authors: Joy Cao, Min Zhou

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Purpose: Acute Type A aortic dissection is a well-known cause of extremely high mortality rate. A highly accurate and cost-effective non-invasive predictor is critically needed so that the patient can be treated at earlier stage. Although various CFD approaches have been tried to establish some prediction frameworks, they are sensitive to uncertainty in both image segmentation and boundary conditions. Tedious pre-processing and demanding calibration procedures requirement further compound the issue, thus hampering their clinical applicability. Using the latest physics informed deep learning methods to establish an accurate and cost-effective predictor framework are amongst the main goals for a better Type A aortic dissection treatment. Methods: Via training a novel physics-informed deep residual network, with non-invasive 4D MRI displacement vectors as inputs, the trained model can cost-effectively calculate all these biomarkers: aortic blood pressure, WSS, and OSI, which are used to predict potential type A aortic dissection to avoid the high mortality events down the road. Results: The proposed deep learning method has been successfully trained and tested with both synthetic 3D aneurysm dataset and a clinical dataset in the aortic dissection context using Google colab environment. In both cases, the model has generated aortic blood pressure, WSS, and OSI results matching the expected patient’s health status. Conclusion: The proposed novel physics-informed deep residual network shows great potential to create a cost-effective, non-invasive predictor framework. Additional physics-based de-noising algorithm will be added to make the model more robust to clinical data noises. Further studies will be conducted in collaboration with big institutions such as Cleveland Clinic with more clinical samples to further improve the model’s clinical applicability.

Keywords: type-a aortic dissection, deep residual networks, blood flow modeling, data-driven modeling, non-invasive diagnostics, deep learning, artificial intelligence.

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Authors: Hyuk-Jin Lee

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Korea is a country with thousands of years of history, like its neighbors China and Japan. However, compared to China, which is famous for its ancient fantasy novel "Journey to the West", and Japan, which is famous for its monsters, its “monster culture” is not actively used for tourism. The reason is that the culture closest to the present, from the 17th to 20th centuries, was the Joseon Dynasty, when Neo-Confucianism, which suppressed a monster culture, was the strongest. This trend became stronger after Neo-Confucianism became dogmatic in the mid-17th century. However, Korea, which has a history of Taoism for thousands of years, clearly has many literatures on monsters that can be used as tourism resources. The problem is that these data are buried in texts and are unfamiliar even to Koreans. This study examines the possibility of developing them into attractive tourism resources based on the literary records of the so-called 'monsters densely located in Namsan Mountain, located in the center of Seoul' buried in texts from the 16th to early 17th centuries. In particular, we introduce the surprising consistency in the description of the area north of Namsan Mountain in terms of 'feng shui geography', an oriental philosophy, in a contemporary Korean newspaper. Finally, based on the theoretical foundation through the phenomenological classification table of cultural heritage, we examine phenomenologically how important this ‘visualization of imaginary or text-based entities’ is to changes in the perception of specific cultural resources in a society. In addition, we will deeply analyze related cases, including Japan's ninja culture.

Keywords: monster culture, Namsan mountain, neo-confucianism, phenomenology, tourism

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Authors: Margarita Gáfaro, Karelys Guzmán, Paola Poveda

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This paper establishes the theoretical aspects that explain the barriers to accessing credit for small agricultural producers in developing countries and identifies successful policy experiences to mitigate them. We will test two hypotheses. The first one is that information asymmetries, high transaction costs and high-risk exposure limit the supply of credit to small agricultural producers in developing countries. The second hypothesis is that low levels of financial education and productivity and high uncertainty about the returns of agricultural activity limit the demand for credit. To test these hypotheses, a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on access to rural credit in developing countries will be carried out. The first part of this review focuses on theoretical models that incorporate information asymmetries in the credit market and analyzes the interaction between these asymmetries and the characteristics of the agricultural sector in developing countries. Some of the characteristics we will focus on are the absence of collateral, the underdevelopment of the judicial systems and insurance markets, and the high dependence on climatic factors of production technologies. The second part of this review focuses on the determinants of credit demand by small agricultural producers, including the profitability of productive projects, security conditions, risk aversion or loss, financial education, and cognitive biases, among others. There are policies that focus on resolving these supply and demand constraints and managing to improve credit access. Therefore, another objective of this paper is to present a review of effective policies that have promoted access to credit for smallholders in the world. For this, information available in policy documents will be collected. This information will be complemented by interviews with officials in charge of the design and execution of these policies in a subset of selected countries. The information collected will be analyzed in light of the conceptual framework proposed in the first two parts of this section. The barriers to access to credit that each policy attempts to resolve and the factors that could explain its effectiveness will be identified.

Keywords: agricultural economics, credit access, smallholder, developing countries

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