Search results for: automated power system

Authors: Alena Radina

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On the global stage, national image is shaped by historical memory of wars and alliances, government ideology and particularly media stereotypes which represent countries in positive or negative ways. News magazine covers are a key site for national representation. The object of analysis in this paper is the portrayals of the US, Germany, China, and Russia in the front pages and cover stories of “Time”, “Der Spiegel”, “Beijing Review”, and “Expert”. Political comedy helps people learn about current affairs even if politics is not their area of interest, and thus satire indirectly sets the public agenda. Coupled with satirical messages, cover images and the linguistic messages embedded in the covers become persuasive visual and verbal factors, known to drive about 80% of magazine sales. Preliminary analysis identified satirical elements in magazine covers, which are known to influence and frame understandings and attract younger audiences. Multimodal and transnational comparative framing analyses lay the groundwork to investigate why journalists, editors and designers deploy certain frames rather than others. This research investigates to what degree frames used in covers correlate with frames within the cover stories and what these framings can tell us about media professionals’ representations of their own and other nations. The study sample includes 32 covers consisting of two covers representing each of the four chosen countries from the four magazines. The sampling framework considers two time periods to compare countries’ representation with two different presidents, and between men and women when present. The countries selected for analysis represent each category of the international news flows model: the core nations are the US and Germany; China is a semi-peripheral country; and Russia is peripheral. Examining textual and visual design elements on the covers and images in the cover stories reveals not only what editors believe visually attracts the reader’s attention to the magazine but also how the magazines frame and construct national images and national leaders. The cover is the most powerful editorial and design page in a magazine because images incorporate less intrusive framing tools. Thus, covers require less cognitive effort of audiences who may therefore be more likely to accept the visual frame without question. Analysis of design and linguistic elements in magazine covers helps to understand how media outlets shape their audience’s perceptions and how magazines frame global issues. While previous multimodal research of covers has focused mostly on lifestyle magazines or newspapers, this paper examines the power of current affairs magazines’ covers to shape audience perception of national image.

Keywords: framing analysis, magazine covers, multimodality, national image, satire

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Authors: Victor Oyewumi Ogunbiyi

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Food waste is a global sustainability issue that demands that multiple stakeholders participate in solving it. This article examines how different food system stakeholders are held responsible in the policy debate related to food waste reduction. The study adopts a qualitative approach, paying attention to the views of both public and private policymakers and constructing their views relating to opportunities and policy initiatives towards waste reduction. The data consists of a list of opportunities and food policy initiatives in the development process in Nigeria. The authors identify three emerging opportunities: sectoral growth, technological demands in food service, and sustainable collaborative behaviour. The findings also revealed key policy initiatives for development: law and regulations, multi-stakeholder collaboration, economic incentives, research, and new knowledge. The study extends the marketing literature on food sustainability by investigating several stakeholders’ roles beyond the practical management of the food services sector. Additionally, considering policy initiative development for food waste mitigation sheds light on how stakeholders’ policy initiatives can sustain the food service sector. Finally, the authors outline policy implications.

Keywords: multistakeholder engagement, food services, food waste, policy initiatives, Nigeria

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Authors: Dolapop Sribudda, Ura Pancharoen

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The separation of Hg(II) from produced water by hollow fiber contactors (HFC) was investigation. This system included of two hollow fiber modules in the series connecting. The first module used for the extraction reaction and the second module for stripping reaction. Aliquat336 extractant was fed from the organic reservoirs into the shell side of the first hollow fiber module and continuous to the shell side of the second module. The organic liquid was continuously feed recirculate and back to the reservoirs. The feed solution was pumped into the lumen (tube side) of the first hollow fiber module. Simultaneously, the stripping solution was pumped in the same way in tube side of the second module. The feed and stripping solution was fed which had a counter current flow. Samples were kept in the outlet of feed and stripping solution for 1 hour and characterized concentration of Hg(II) by Inductively Couple Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Feed solution was produced water from natural gulf of Thailand. The extractant was Aliquat336 dissolved in kerosene diluent. Stripping solution used was nitric acid (HNO3) and thiourea (NH2CSNH2). The effect of carrier concentration and type of stripping solution were investigated. Results showed that the best condition were 10 % (v/v) Aliquat336 and 1.0 M NH2CSNH2. At the optimum condition, the extraction and stripping of Hg(II) were 98% and 44.2%, respectively.

Keywords: Hg(II), hollow fiber contactor, produced water, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Harish K. Chandrawanshi, Mithun S. Rajput, Neelima Choure, Purnima Dey Sarkar, Shailesh Jain

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The present research study aimed to fabricate and evaluate biodegradable nanoparticles of aromatase inhibitor letrozole, intended for breast cancer therapy. Letrozole loaded poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide acid) nanoparticles were prepared by solvent evaporation method using dichlorometane as solvent (oil phase) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as aqueous phase. Prepared nanoparticles were characterized by particle size, infrared spectra, drug loading efficiency, drug entrapment efficiency and in vitro release and also evaluated for in vivo anticancer activity. The high speed homogenizer was used to produce stable nanoparticles of mean size range 198.35 ± 0.04 nm with high entrapment efficiency (69.86 ± 2.78%). Percentage of drug and homogenization speed significantly influenced the particle size, entrapment efficiency and release (p<0.05). The nanoparticles show significant in vivo anticancer activity against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in mice. The significant system sustained the release of letrozole drug effectively and further investigation could exhibit its potential usefulness in breast cancer therapy.

Keywords: breast cancer/therapy, letrozole, nanoparticles, PLGA

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Authors: S. Alfalah, J. Falah, T. Alfalah, M. Elfalah, O. Falah

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The field of education is an ever-evolving area constantly enriched by newly discovered techniques provided by active research in all areas of technologies. The recent years have witnessed the introduction of a number of promising technologies and applications to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Virtual Reality (VR) applications are considered one of the evolving methods that have contributed to enhancing education in many fields. VR creates an artificial environment, using computer hardware and software, which is similar to the real world. This simulation provides a solution to improve the delivery of materials, which facilitates the teaching process by providing a useful aid to instructors, and enhances the learning experience by providing a beneficial learning aid. In order to assure future utilization of such systems, students’ perceptions were examined toward utilizing VR as an educational tool in the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) in The University of Jordan. A questionnaire was administered to IT undergraduates investigating students’ opinions about the potential opportunities that VR technology could offer and its implications as learning and teaching aid. The results confirmed the end users’ willingness to adopt VR systems as a learning aid. The result of this research forms a solid base for investing in a VR system for IT education.

Keywords: information, technology, virtual reality, education

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Authors: Rohith J. K., Amir Nazemi, Abbas S. Milani

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In Paralympic sports, athletes often depend on some form of equipment to enable competitive sporting, where most of this equipment would only allow passive physiological supports and discrete physiological measurements. Active feedback physiological support and continuous detection of performance indicators, without time or space constraints, would be beneficial in more effective training and performance measures of Paralympic athletes. Moreover, occasionally the athletes suffer from fatigue and muscular stains due to improper monitoring systems. The latter challenges can be overcome by using Smart Composites technology when manufacturing, e.g., knee brace and other sports wearables utilities, where the sensors can be fused together into the fabric and an assisted system actively support the athlete. This paper shows how different sensing functionality may be created by intrinsic and extrinsic modifications onto different types of composite fabrics, depending on the level of integration and the employed functional elements. Results demonstrate that fabric sensors can be well-tailored to measure muscular strain and be used in the fabrication of a smart knee brace as a sample potential application. Materials, connectors, fabric circuits, interconnects, encapsulation and fabrication methods associated with such smart fabric technologies prove to be customizable and versatile.

Keywords: smart composites, sensors, smart fabrics, knee brace

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Authors: Larissa Negris de Souza, Ana Regina Mizrahy Cuperschmid, Daniel de Carvalho Moreira

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Augmented Reality (AR) alters the elaboration of the architectural project, which relates to project cognition: representation, visualization, and perception of information. Understanding these features from the earliest stages of the design can facilitate the study of relationships, zoning, and overall dimensions of the forms. This paper’s goal was to explore a new approach for information visualization during the early stages of architectural design using Augmented Reality (AR). A three-dimensional marker inspired by the Rubik’s Cube was developed, and its performance, evaluated. This investigation interwovens the acquired knowledge of traditional briefing methods and contemporary technology. We considered the concept of patterns (Alexander et al. 1977) to outline geometric forms and associations using visual programming. The Design Science Research was applied to develop the study. An SDK was used in a game engine to generate the AR app. The tool's functionality was assessed by verifying the readability and precision of the reconfigurable 3D marker. The results indicated an inconsistent response. To use AR in the early stages of architectural design the system must provide consistent information and appropriate feedback. Nevertheless, we conclude that our framework sets the ground for looking deep into AR tools for briefing design.

Keywords: augmented reality, cuboid marker, early design stages, graphic representation, patterns

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Authors: Sandile Daniel Ngidi

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A brickforce is a product consisting of two main parallel wires joined by in-line welded cross wires. Embedded in the normal thickness of the brickwork joint, the wires are manufactured to a flattened profile to simplify location into the mortar joint without steel build-up problems at lap positions corners/junctions or when used in conjunction with wall ties. A brickforce has been in continuous use since 1918. It is placed in the cement between courses of bricks. Brickforce is used in every course of the foundations and every course above lintel height. Otherwise, brickforce is used every fourth course in between the foundations and lintel height or a concrete slab and lintel height. The brickforce strengthens and stabilizes the wall, especially if you are building on unstable ground. It provides brickwork increased resistance to tensional stresses. Brickforce uses high tensile steel wires, which can withstand high forces but with a very little stretch. This helps to keep crack widths to a minimum. Recently a debate has opened about the purpose of using brickforce in single-story buildings. The debate has been compounded by the fact that there is no consensus about the spacing of brickforce in brickwork or masonry. In addition, very little information had been published on the relative merits of using the same size of brickforce for the different atmospheric conditions in South Africa. This paper aims to compare different types of brickforce systems used in different countries. Conclusions are made to identify the point and location of brickforce that optimize the system.

Keywords: brickforce, masonry concrete, reinforcement, strengthening, wall panels

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Authors: Bengan Simbarashe Manwere

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The entire African continent, comprising 55 countries, holds a 2% share of the global carbon market. The World Bank attributes the continent’s insignificant share and participation in the carbon market to the limited access to electricity. Approximately 800 million people spread across 47 African countries generate as much power as Spain, with a population of 45million. Only South Africa and North Africa have carbon-reduction investment opportunities on the continent and dominate the 2% market share of the global carbon market. On the back of the 2015 Paris Agreement, South Africa signed into law the Carbon Tax Act 15 of 2019 and the Customs and Excise Amendment Act 13 of 2019 (Gazette No. 4280) on 1 June 2019. By these laws, South Africa was ushered into the league of active global carbon market players. By increasing the cost of production by the rate of R120/tCO2e, the tax intentionally compels the internalization of pollution as a cost of production and, relatedly, stimulate investment in clean technologies. The first phase covered the 1 June 2019 – 31 December 2022 period during which the tax was meant to escalate at CPI + 2% for Scope 1 emitters. However, in the second phase, which stretches from 2023 to 2030, the tax will escalate at the inflation rate only as measured by the consumer price index (CPI). The Carbon Tax Act provides for carbon allowances as mitigation strategies to limit agents’ carbon tax liability by up to 95% for fugitive and process emissions. Although the June 2019 Carbon Tax Act explicitly makes provision for a carbon trading scheme (CTS), the carbon trading regulations thereof were only finalised in December 2020. This points to a delay in the establishment of a carbon trading scheme (CTS). Relatedly, emitters in South Africa are not able to benefit from the 95% reduction in effective carbon tax rate from R120/tCO2e to R6/tCO2e as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has not yet finalized the establishment of the market for trading carbon credits. Whereas most carbon trading schemes have been designed and constructed from the beginning as new tailor-made systems in countries the likes of France, Australia, Romania which treat carbon as a financial product, South Africa intends, on the contrary, to leverage existing trading infrastructure of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Clearing and Settlement platforms of Strate, among others, in the interest of the Paris Agreement timelines. Therefore the carbon trading scheme will not be constructed from scratch. At the same time, carbon will be treated as a commodity in order to align with the existing institutional and infrastructural capacity. This explains why the Carbon Tax Act is silent about the involvement of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).For South Africa, there is need to establish they equilibrium stability of the CTS. This is important as South Africa is an innovator in carbon trading and the successful trading of carbon credits on the JSE will lead to imitation by early adopters first, followed by the middle majority thereafter.

Keywords: carbon trading scheme (CTS), Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE), carbon tax act 15 of 2019, South Africa

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Authors: S. Benchelha, H. C. Aoudjehane, M. Hakdaoui, R. El Hamdouni, H. Mansouri, T. Benchelha, M. Layelmam, M. Alaoui

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The logistic regression (LR) and multivariate adaptive regression spline (MarSpline) are applied and verified for analysis of landslide susceptibility map in Oudka, Morocco, using geographical information system. From spatial database containing data such as landslide mapping, topography, soil, hydrology and lithology, the eight factors related to landslides such as elevation, slope, aspect, distance to streams, distance to road, distance to faults, lithology map and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were calculated or extracted. Using these factors, landslide susceptibility indexes were calculated by the two mentioned methods. Before the calculation, this database was divided into two parts, the first for the formation of the model and the second for the validation. The results of the landslide susceptibility analysis were verified using success and prediction rates to evaluate the quality of these probabilistic models. The result of this verification was that the MarSpline model is the best model with a success rate (AUC = 0.963) and a prediction rate (AUC = 0.951) higher than the LR model (success rate AUC = 0.918, rate prediction AUC = 0.901).

Keywords: landslide susceptibility mapping, regression logistic, multivariate adaptive regression spline, Oudka, Taounate

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Authors: Dharshini Selvarajah, Karen Kong

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Background: Uterine fibroids are a common benign gynaecologic neoplasm in reproductive-aged women. Fibroids may become symptomatic in a vast majority of nulliparous women. Their diagnosis and management are often coordinated between gyneacologists, radiologists and urologists depending on the anatomical location, growth, size and the fibroids' sarcomatous evolvement. Some patients may develop obstructive uropathy symptoms, either uni or bilateral secondary urethral obstruction causing hydronephrosis. Uterine artery embolization (UAE) has previously been shown to effectively resolve symptoms as well as relieve urethral obstruction and resolve hydronephrosis. UAE has now established itself as an organ-preserving and minimally invasive procedure in the management of symptomatic uterine fibroids. It is a safe and effective alternative to hysterectomy for resolving fibroid-related pressure symptoms. The case presented examines the clinical manifestations and impact of uterine fibroids on the urinary tract system. The therapeutic options to relieve the urological symptoms as well as preserve fertility are explored and presented. Case: The case is a 29-year-old Nepalese female admitted to the hospital with recurrent urosepsis with multiresistant organisms. This was on a background of an enlarged uterus (measuring 17cm x11cm) with multiple subserosal, intramural and exophytic fibroids- causing external ureteric compression. She had bilateral ureteric stents in situ and required bilateral right and left nephrostomies during repeated episodes of urosepsis and bilateral ureteric obstruction. The left nephrostomy was removed a month prior to admission, and her most recent CT KUB demonstrated hypofunctioning ureteric stents with bilateral hydronephrosis. Options of hysterectomy versus uterine artery embolization (UAE) were extensively explored. The patient was keen to preserve fertility. Risks associated with UAE, such as the expulsion of the submucosal component of the fibroids and the possibilities of sepsis in the setting of ongoing ureteric colonisation were particularly high. The patient opted to trial UAE even though the risks of recurrent hospital admissions with urosepsis were going to be particularly high. In the event, the uterus fails to shrink adequately enough to relieve the obstructed ureters, a hysterectomy would inevitably be required in the future. Day 3 post-UAE the patient developed fevers, was hypotensive and tachycardic post-receiving prophylactic meropenem and fluconazole pre emoblisation. She was noted to have a CRP of 293 with the most recent urine culture during this time growing Candida albicans. The patient was recommenced on oral fluconazole and IV meropenum, with good effect. Her repeat renal tract ultrasound post-UAE showed ongoing marked left hydronephrosis relatively unchanged from the scan one month prior to the procedure; however, the right-sided hydronephrosis had resolved. The patient was discharged on a 2-week course of antibiotics. The patient will have a repeat renal tract ultrasound and MRI of the ureters to re-evaluate the degree of hydronephrosis and progress- this was unavailable at the time of abstract submission and will be presented at the conference. Conclusion: Fibroids are a common benign tumor of the uterus and can frequently impact the lower urinary system resulting in significant uropathy. They often enlarge and compress the urinary bladder, urethra and lower end of the ureters. The effectiveness of the UAE as a fertility-preserving option is described.

Keywords: uterine artery embolisation for fibroids, urological complications from fibroids, uropathy of fibroids, obstructive fibroid management

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Authors: Ariful Islam, Showkat Ahmad Lone

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The Mukherjee-Islam Model is commonly used as a simple life time distribution to assess system reliability. The model exhibits a better fit for failure information and provides more appropriate information about hazard rate and other reliability measures as shown by various authors. It is possible to introduce a location parameter at a time (i.e., a time before which failure cannot occur) which makes it a more useful failure distribution than the existing ones. Even after shifting the location of the distribution, it represents a decreasing, constant and increasing failure rate. It has been shown to represent the appropriate lower tail of the distribution of random variables having fixed lower bound. This study presents the reliability computations and probability weighted moment estimation of three parameter model. A comparative analysis is carried out between three parameters finite range model and some existing bathtub shaped curve fitting models. Since probability weighted moment method is used, the results obtained can also be applied on small sample cases. Maximum likelihood estimation method is also applied in this study.

Keywords: comparative analysis, maximum likelihood estimation, Mukherjee-Islam failure model, probability weighted moment estimation, reliability

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Authors: Deawan Rakin Ahamed Remal, Sinthia Chowdhury, Sharun Akter Khushbu, Sheak Rashed Haider Noori

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Native Speech to text synthesis has its own leverage for the purpose of mankind. The extensive nature of art to speaking different accents is common but the purpose of communication between two different accent types of people is quite difficult. This problem will be motivated by the extraction of the wrong perception of language meaning. Thus, many existing automatic speech recognition has been placed to detect text. Overall study of this paper mentions a review of NSTTR (Native Speech Text to Text Recognition) synthesis compared with Text to Text recognition. Review has exposed many text to text recognition systems that are at a very early stage to comply with the system by native speech recognition. Many discussions started about the progression of chatbots, linguistic theory another is rule based approach. In the Recent years Deep learning is an overwhelming chapter for text to text learning to detect language nature. To the best of our knowledge, In the sub continent a huge number of people speak in Bangla language but they have different accents in different regions therefore study has been elaborate contradictory discussion achievement of existing works and findings of future needs in Bangla language acoustic accent.

Keywords: TTR, NSTTR, text to text recognition, deep learning, natural language processing

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Authors: Abhijith N. V., Abhijit Pattnayak, Deepak Kumar

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Nowadays, a group of alloys, namely high entropy alloys (HEA), because of their excellent properties. However, the fabrication of HEAs requires multistage techniques, especially mill-ing, sieving, compaction, sintering, inert media, etc. These processes are laborious, costly, time-oriented, and unsuitable for commercial application. This study adopted a single-stage process-based HVOF thermal spray to develop HEA coating on SS304L substrates. The wear behavior of the deposited HEA coating was explored under different milling time durations (5h, 10h, and 15h, respectively). The effect of feedstock preparation, microstructure, surface chemistry, and mechanical and metallurgical properties on wear resistance was also investigated. The microstructure and composition of both coating and feedstock were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Finally, the phase distribution was correlated by X-ray diffraction (XRD ) analysis. The results showed that 15h milled powder coating indicated better tribological than the base substrate and 5h,10h milled powder coating. A chemically stable Body Centered Cubic (BCC) solid solution phase was generated within the 15h milled powder-coated system, which resulted in superior tribological properties.

Keywords: high entropy alloys coating, wear mechanism, HVOF coating, microstructure

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Authors: Fanjun Zhou

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In today's drug-ridden society, drug injection is gradually becoming more popular and has hidden danger to IDUs (injection drug users) such as infectious diseases. According to reports, 67% of IDUs reported improper disposal at some point over the prior 30 days, leading to a proliferation of injection needles on the streets. In recent years, the number of cases of children or ordinary people unintentionally picking up needles have increased. Various needle remover inventions have begun to surface, but the existing ones are either expensive, unportable, or risky for IDUs. In order to effectively alleviate the proliferation of drug injection needles and improve the invention of needle removers, a miniature portable needle remover and receptacle is invented. The device for capturing and storing syringe needles contains an upper lid portion mounted tightly onto the lower box portion through an interlock system on the opposing sides of the device with a breaking-twisting mechanism to remove the needle. The invention is intended to be affordable to the general public, safe enough for IDUs to use, reliable enough not to harm others, and effective in breaking needles from the syringe. This report is conducted in the hope of spreading awareness of the dangers of drug injection and to provide a way to mitigate this drug rampant situation.

Keywords: needle remover, drug injection, injection drug users, portable, receptacle

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Authors: Mayowa Philips Ibitola, Abe Oluwaseun Banji, Olorunfemi Akinade-Solomon

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A total of 20 bottom sediment samples were collected from the Lekki Lagoon during the wet and dry season. The study was carried out to determine the textural characteristics, sediment distribution pattern and energy of transportation within the lagoon system. The sediment grain sizes and depth profiling was analyzed using dry sieving method and MATLAB algorithm for processing. The granulometric reveals fine grained sand both for the wet and dry season with an average mean value of 2.03 ϕ and -2.88 ϕ, respectively. Sediments were moderately sorted with an average inclusive standard deviation of 0.77 ϕ and -0.82 ϕ. Skewness varied from strongly coarse and near symmetrical 0.34- ϕ and 0.09 ϕ. The kurtosis average value was 0.87 ϕ and -1.4 ϕ (platykurtic and leptokurtic). Entirely, the bathymetry shows an average depth of 4.0 m. The deepest and shallowest area has a depth of 11.2 m and 0.5 m, respectively. High concentration of fine sand was observed at deep areas compared to the shallow areas during wet and dry season. Statistical parameter results show that the overall sediments are sorted, and deposited under low energy condition over a long distance. However, sediment distribution and sediment transport pattern of Lekki Lagoon is controlled by a low energy current and the down slope configuration of the bathymetry enhances the sorting and the deposition rate in the Lekki Lagoon.

Keywords: Lekki Lagoon, Marine sediment, bathymetry, grain size distribution

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Authors: Ramadhan Febriansyah, Sarah Novianti, Santi Agustini

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Indonesia is a big country with Moslem population. The government must fulfill all needs of the people. However, we do not have a good policy yet especially on healthy, safety and halal food. We try to offer a new solution to overcome this with ASUH (Aman, Sehat, Utuh, Halal) or in English is SHIH (Safe, Healthy, Intact, Halal) as alternative Indonesian policy on food security. This policy is Indonesian Government’s commitment to support Sustainability Development Goals program for the zero hunger (end hunger, to achieve food security and improved nutrition for Indonesian people, of course, to promote sustainable agriculture). Hopefully, it not only can increasing quality on food especially on livestock goods (meat, egg, milk) but also to guarantee the halal food. However, this policy can be an example to others country especially Moslem countries to support SDG’s programs. This research conducted means of the descriptive method; the authors find compare the secondary data obtained from journals, textbook and scientific articles in order to determine the factors that influence food safety and food security. Relevant data used and contain a description of SDG’s as well as about the system food safety and food security that SHIH (Safe, Healthy, Intact and Halal) so these ideas can be implemented.

Keywords: food safety, food security, food sovereignty, halal SDG's

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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: Shahin Shabani, Pouya Pourmadadi

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Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been used for the construction of various tunnels for mining projects for the purpose of access, conveyance of ore and waste, drainage, exploration, water supply and water diversion. Several mining projects have seen the successful and economic beneficial use of TBMs, and there is an increasing awareness of the benefits of TBMs for mining projects. Key technical considerations for the use of TBMs for the construction of tunnels for mining projects include geological issues (rock type, rock alteration, rock strength, rock abrasivity, durability, ground water inflows), depth of cover and the potential for overstressing/rockbursts, site access and terrain, portal locations, TBM constraints, minimum tunnel size, tunnel support requirements, contractor and labor experience, and project schedule demands. This study focuses on tunnelling mining, with the goal to develop methods and tools to be used to gain understanding of these processes, and to analyze metro of Tehran. The Metro Line 7 of Tehran is one of the Longest (26 Km) and deepest (27m) of projects that’s under implementation. Because of major differences like passing under all geotechnical layers of the town and encountering part of it with underground water table and also using mechanized excavation system, is one of special metro projects.

Keywords: TBM, tunnel boring machines economic, metro, line 7

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran, A. Geetha

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This paper addresses three issues: how to prepare the instructional design for imparting English language skill from inter-disciplinary self-learning material; how the disadvantaged students are benefited from such kind of language skill imparted through m-learning; and how do m-learners perform better than the other learners. This paper examines these issues through an experimental study conducted among the distance learners enrolled in a preparatory program for bachelor’s degree. This program is designed for the disadvantaged learners especially for the school drop-outs to qualify to pursue graduate program through distant education. It also explains how mobile learning helps them to enhance their capacity in learning despite their rural background and other disadvantages. In India, nearly half of the students enrolled in schools do not complete their study. The pursuance of higher education is very low when compared with developed countries. This study finds a significant increase in their learning capacity and mobile learning seems to be a viable alternative where the conventional system could not reach the disadvantaged learners. Improving the English language skill is one of the reasons for such kind of performance. Exercises framed from the relevant self-learning material for enhancing English language skill not only improves language skill but also widens the subject-knowledge. This paper explains these issues out of the study conducted among the disadvantaged learners.

Keywords: English language skill, disadvantaged learners, distance education, m-learning

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Authors: Yadgar Tayfur, Antony Darby, Tim Ibell, Mark Evernden, John Orr

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Fabric form-work is a technique to cast concrete structures with a great advantage of saving concrete material of up to 40%. This technique is particularly associated with the optimized concrete structures that usually have smaller cross-section dimensions than equivalent prismatic members. However, this can make the structural system produced from these members prone to smaller serviceability safety margins. Therefore, it is very important to understand the serviceability issue of non-prismatic concrete structures. In this paper, an analytical computer-based model to optimize concrete beams and to predict load-deflection behaviour of both prismatic and non-prismatic concrete beams is presented. The model was developed based on the method of sectional analysis and integration of curvatures. Results from the analytical model were compared to load-deflection behaviour of a number of beams with different geometric and material properties from other researchers. The results of the comparison show that the analytical program can accurately predict the load-deflection response of concrete beams with medium reinforcement ratios. However, it over-estimates deflection values for lightly reinforced specimens. Finally, the analytical program acceptably predicted load-deflection behaviour of on-prismatic concrete beams.

Keywords: fabric-formed concrete, continuous beams, optimisation, serviceability

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Authors: Vinay Kumar Vanjakula, Frank Adam, Nils Goseberg

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Wind power is one of the leading renewable energy generation methods. Due to abundant higher wind speeds far away from shore, the construction of offshore wind turbines began in the last decades. However, installation of offshore foundation-based (monopiles) wind turbines in deep waters are often associated with technical and financial challenges. To overcome such challenges, the concept of floating wind turbines is expanded as the basis from the oil and gas industry. The unfolding of Universal heavyweight gravity anchor (UGA) for floating based foundation for floating Tension Leg Platform (TLP) sub-structures is developed in this research work. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) for a three-year (2019-2022) research program called “Offshore Wind Solutions Plus (OWSplus) - Floating Offshore Wind Solutions Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.” It’s a group consists of German institutions (Universities, laboratories, and consulting companies). The part of the project is focused on the numerical modeling of gravity anchor that involves to analyze and solve fluid flow problems. Compared to gravity-based torpedo anchors, these UGA will be towed and lowered via controlled machines (tug boats) at lower speeds. This kind of installation of UGA are new to the offshore wind industry, particularly for TLP, and very few research works have been carried out in recent years. Conventional methods for transporting the anchor requires a large transportation crane vessel which involves a greater cost. This conceptual UGA anchors consists of ballasting chambers which utilizes the concept of buoyancy forces; the inside chambers are filled with the required amount of water in a way that they can float on the water for towing. After reaching the installation site, those chambers are ballasted with water for lowering. After it’s lifetime, these UGA can be unballasted (for erection or replacement) results in self-rising to the sea surface; buoyancy chambers give an advantage for using an UGA without the need of heavy machinery. However, while lowering/rising the UGA towards/away from the seabed, it experiences difficult, harsh marine environments due to the interaction of waves and currents. This leads to drifting of the anchor from the desired installation position and damage to the lowering machines. To overcome such harsh environments problems, a numerical model is built to investigate the influences of different outer contours and other fluid governing shapes that can be installed on the UGA to overcome the turbulence and drifting. The presentation will highlight the importance of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical model in OpenFOAM, which is open-source programming software.

Keywords: anchor lowering, towing, waves, currrents, computational fluid dynamics

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Authors: A. Srion, W. Thepsuwan, N. Monmaturapoj

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Two Lithium disilicate (LD) glass ceramics based on SiO2-Li2O-K2O-Al2O3 system were prepared through glass melting method and then fabricated into dental crowns via hot pressing at 850˚C and 900˚C in order to study the effect of the pressing temperatures on theirs phase formation and microstructure. The factor such as heat treatment temperature (as-cast glass, 600˚C and 700˚C) of the glass ceramics used to press was also investigated the effect of an initial microstructure before pressing. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to determine phase formation and microstructure of the samples, respectively. X-ray diffraction result shows that the main crystalline structure was Li2Si2O5 by having Li3PO4, Li0.6Al0.6Si2O6, Li2SiO3, Ca5 (PO4)3F, SiO2 as minor phases. Glass compositions with different heat treatment temperatures exhibited a difference phase formation but have less effect during pressing. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed microstructure of lath-like of Li2Si2O5 in all glasses. With increasing the initial heat treatment temperature, the longer the lath-like crystals of lithium disilicate were increased especially when using glass heat treatment at 700˚C followed by pressing at 900˚C. This could be suggested that LD1 heat treatment at 700˚C which pressing at 900˚C presented the best formation by hot pressing and compiled microstructure.

Keywords: lithium disilicate, hot pressing, dental crown, microstructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Sophio Kobauri, Temur Kantaria, Nina Kulikova, David Tugushi, Ramaz Katsarava

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Polymeric nanoparticles-based drug delivery systems and therapeutics have a great potential in the treatment of a numerous diseases, due to they are characterizing the flexible properties which is giving possibility to modify their structures with a complex definition over their structures, compositions and properties. Important characteristics of the polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) used as drug carriers are high particle’s stability, high carrier capacity, feasibility of encapsulation of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, and feasibility of variable routes of administration, including oral application and inhalation; NPs are especially effective for intracellular drug delivery since they penetrate into the cells’ interior though endocytosis. A variety of PNPs based drug delivery systems including charged and neutral, degradable and non-degradable polymers of both natural and synthetic origin have been developed. Among these huge varieties the biodegradable PNPs which can be cleared from the body after the fulfillment of their function could be considered as one of the most promising. For intracellular uptake it is highly desirable to have positively charged PNPs since they can penetrate deep into cell membranes. For long-lasting circulation of PNPs in the body it is important they have so called “stealth coatings” to protect them from the attack of immune system of the organism. One of the effective ways to render the PNPs “invisible” for immune system is their PEGylation which represent the process of pretreatment of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the surface of PNPs. The present work deals with constructing PNPs from amino acid based biodegradable polymers – regular poly(ester amide) (PEA) composed of sebacic acid, leucine and 1,6-hexandiol (labeled as 8L6), cationic PEA composed of sebacic acid, arginine and 1,6-hexandiol (labeled as 8R6), and comb-like co-PEA composed of sebacic acid, malic acid, leucine and 1,6-hexandiol (labeled as PEG-PEA). The PNPs were fabricated using the polymer deposition/solvent displacement (nanoprecipitation) method. The regular PEA 8L6 form stable negatively charged (zeta-potential within 2-12 mV) PNPs of desired size (within 150-200 nm) in the presence of various surfactants (Tween 20, Tween 80, Brij 010, etc.). Blending the PEAs 8L6 and 8R6 gave the 130-140 nm sized positively charged PNPs having zeta-potential within +20 ÷ +28 mV depending 8L6/8R6 ratio. The PEGylating PEA PEG-PEA was synthesized by interaction of epoxy-co-PEA [8L6]0,5-[tES-L6]0,5 with mPEG-amine-2000 The stable and positively charged PNPs were fabricated using pure PEG-PEA as a surfactant. A firm anchoring of the PEG-PEA with 8L6/8R6 based PNPs (owing to a high afinity of the backbones of all three PEAs) provided good stabilization of the NPs. In vitro biocompatibility study of the new PNPs with four different stable cell lines: A549 (human), U-937 (human), RAW264.7 (murine), Hepa 1-6 (murine) showed they are biocompatible. Considering high stability and cell compatibility of the elaborated PNPs one can conclude that they are promising for subsequent therapeutic applications. This work was supported by the joint grant from the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine and Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia #6298 “New biodegradable cationic polymers composed of arginine and spermine-versatile biomaterials for various biomedical applications”.

Keywords: biodegradable poly(ester amide)s, cationic poly(ester amide), pegylating poly(ester amide), nanoparticles

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Authors: Marthella Rivera Roidatua

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Since the release of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, disability became a mainstreamed global issue. Many developed countries have shown the continuous effort to improve their disability employment policy, for example, the US and the UK with their integrated support system through disability benefits. Relative little recent research on developing country is available. Surprisingly, Indonesia, just enacted the Law No.8/2016 on Disability that bravely highlighted on integrating disabled people into the workforce. It shows a positive progress shifting traditional perspective to what Tom Shakespeare’s concept of a social model of disability. But, the main question is how can this law support the disabled people to access and maintain paid work. Thus, besides the earlier literature reviews, interviews with leading sectors, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Manpower, was conducted to examine government’s attitude towards the disabled worker. Insights from two local social enterprises on disability were also engaged in building better perspective. The various source of data was triangulated then analysed with a thematic approach. Results were encouraging the Indonesian government to have a better collaboration with other impactful local organisations in promoting the disability employment. In the end, this paper also recommends the government to make a reasonable adjustment and practical guideline for companies in hiring disabled.

Keywords: disability, employment, policy, Indonesia, collaboration, guidelines

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Authors: Chiung-Hui Chen

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The Internet of Things (IoT) was designed for widespread convenience. With the smart tag and the sensing network, a large quantity of dynamic information is immediately presented in the IoT. Through the internal communication and interaction, meaningful objects provide real-time services for users. Therefore, the service with appropriate decision-making has become an essential issue. Based on the science of human behavior, this study employed the environment model to record the time sequences and locations of different behaviors and adopted the probability module of the hierarchical Hidden Markov Model for the inference. The statistical analysis was conducted to achieve the following objectives: First, define user behaviors and predict the user behavior routes with the environment model to analyze user purposes. Second, construct the hierarchical Hidden Markov Model according to the logic framework, and establish the sequential intensity among behaviors to get acquainted with the use and activity fabric of the intelligent environment. Third, establish the intensity of the relation between the probability of objects’ being used and the objects. The indicator can describe the possible limitations of the mechanism. As the process is recorded in the information of the system created in this study, these data can be reused to adjust the procedure of intelligent design services.

Keywords: behavior, big data, hierarchical hidden Markov model, intelligent object

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Authors: Obiora E. Anisiji, Jeremiah L. Chukwuneke, Chinonso H. Achebe, Paul C. Okolie

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This work developed a mathematical model of a biogas plant from a mechanistic point of view, for urban area clean energy requirement. It aimed at integrating thermodynamics; which deals with the direction in which a process occurs and Biochemical kinetics; which gives the understanding of the rates of biochemical reaction. The mathematical formulation of the proposed gas plant follows the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, and further analysis were accomplished to develop an algorithm for evaluating the plant performance preferably in terms of daily production capacity. In addition, the capacity of the plant is equally estimated for a given cycle of operation and presented in time histories. A nominal 1500m3 biogas plant was studied characteristically and its performance efficiency evaluated. It was observed that the rate of biogas production is essentially a function of enthalpy ratio, the reactor temperature, pH, substrate concentration, rate of degradation of the biomass, and the accumulation of matter in the system due to bacteria growth. The results of this study conform to a very large extent with reported empirical data of some existing plant and further model validations were conducted in line with classical records found in literature.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biogas plant, biogas production, bio-reactor, energy, fermentation, rate of production, temperature, therm

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Authors: Guozhen Li, Philip Hall, Nick Miles, Tao Wu

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This paper presents a numerical investigation of two horizontally mounted four-lobed swirl pipes in terms of swirl induction effectiveness into flows passing through them. The swirl flows induced by the two swirl pipes have the potential to improve the efficiency of Clean-In-Place procedures in a closed processing system by local intensification of hydrodynamic impact on the internal pipe surface. Pressure losses, swirl development within the two swirl pipe, swirl induction effectiveness, swirl decay and wall shear stress variation downstream of two swirl pipes are analyzed and compared. It was found that a shorter length of swirl inducing pipe used in joint with transition pipes is more effective in swirl induction than when a longer one is used, in that it has a less constraint to the induced swirl and results in slightly higher swirl intensity just downstream of it with the expense of a smaller pressure loss. The wall shear stress downstream of the shorter swirl pipe is also slightly larger than that downstream of the longer swirl pipe due to the slightly higher swirl intensity induced by the shorter swirl pipe. The advantage of the shorter swirl pipe in terms of swirl induction is more significant in flows with a larger Reynolds Number.

Keywords: swirl pipe, swirl effectiveness, CFD, wall shear stress, swirl intensity

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Authors: Amel Hannech, Mehdi Adda, Hamid Mcheick

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In computer science, the purpose of finding useful information is still one of the most active and important research topics. The most popular application of information retrieval (IR) are Search Engines, they meet users' specific needs and aim to locate the effective information in the web. However, these search engines have some limitations related to the relevancy of the results and the ease to explore those results. In this context, we proposed in previous works a Multi-Space Search Engine model that is based on a multidimensional interpretation universe. In the present paper, we integrate an additional dimension that allows to offer users new research experiences. The added component is based on creating user profiles and calculating the similarity between them that then allow the use of collaborative filtering in retrieving search results. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model, a prototype is developed. The experiments showed that the additional dimension has improved the relevancy of results by predicting the interesting items of users based on their experiences and the experiences of other similar users. The offered personalization service allows users to approve the pertinent items, which allows to enrich their profiles and further improve research.

Keywords: information retrieval, v-facets, user behavior analysis, user profiles, topical ontology, association rules, data personalization

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Khanita Limhan

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Due to the fact that the instructional media is a very crucial implement in English as Foreign Language (EFL) teaching and learning because it simply motivates or demotivates the learners to learn English. Furthermore, it could enormously involve the learners in the real language. The mixed-method research investigates undergraduate student teachers at the Faculty of Education in aspects of the preferences and attitudes towards the use of instructional media in a Thai EFL classroom. Therefore, there were 21 female and 4 male students, who are being educated to be secondary English teachers in Thai educational system, participated in this study. Moreover, the data was gathered from six open-ended questions; obviously, all were given at least 30 - 45 minutes to express their preferences and thoughts in their native tongue at the end of the English for English teacher course. The results of this study indicated that 64 % of student teachers preferred to study English grammar through songs and music; 54% of them desire to learn English grammar through English movies; and 40% of them want to acquire English grammar by watching short documentaries. Since, the participants illustrated that they feel neither anxious nor bored; however, they feel very excited and fun while studying. In addition, they pointed out that they could improve their listening proficiency; obtain new vocabulary; and comprehend the cultural content authentically from the instructional media. It can be concluded that the use of instructional media affects students and teachers’ motivations and attitudes on English teaching and learning.

Keywords: attitudes, preferences, student teachers, instructional media

Procedia PDF Downloads 272