Search results for: Kawabata evaluation system

Authors: Xuguo Zhang, Jimmy Fung, Kenneth Leung, Alexis Lau

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Fine particulate matter concentrations have been decreasing in the past few years while the ozone concentrations are posing an increasing trend in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China. A series of control policies have been released to mitigate the country-wide air pollution, however, how to effectively evaluate the exercised control measures and efficiently reveal potential projected mitigation pathways are still limited. By refining an enhanced air-quality-modeling system, this study provides an account of the air quality assessments from 2019 to 2025 to appraise the air quality results and improvement under designed scenarios for assessing the optimum scope for tightening the Air Quality Objectives (AQOs). The results show that it is doable to tighten the 24-hour AQO for SO2 from the World Health Objective air quality guidelines Interim Targets Level-1 (IT-1) (125μg/m3) to IT-2 level (50μg/m3) with the current number of exceedance allowed (three) remains unchanged. It is also possible to tighten the annual AQO for PM2.5 from IT-1 (35 μg/m3) to IT 2 (25 μg/m3), and its 24-hr AQO from IT-1 (75 μg/m3) to IT 2 (50 μg/m3) with the number of exceedances allowed increased from current nine to 35. Regional cooperation under the development of the GBA cooperation are still needed to be focused and strengthen due to the cross-boundary transport characteristics of the air pollution.

Keywords: air quality attainment, Hong Kong, mitigation policy, chemical transport modeling, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Alon Cohen, Jeffrey Kantor, Shalom Levy

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The use of the audit risk model in auditing has faced limitations and difficulties, leading auditors to rely on a conceptual level of its application. The qualitative approach to assessing risks has resulted in different risk assessments, affecting the quality of audits and decision-making on the adoption of CAATTs. This study aims to investigate risk factors impacting the implementation of the audit risk model and propose a complementary risk-based instrument (KRIs) to form substance risk judgments and mitigate against heightened risk of material misstatement (RMM). The study addresses the question of how risk factors impact the implementation of the audit risk model, improve risk judgments, and aid in the adoption of CAATTs. The study uses a three-stage scale development procedure involving a pretest and subsequent study with two independent samples. The pretest involves an exploratory factor analysis, while the subsequent study employs confirmatory factor analysis for construct validation. Additionally, the authors test the ability of the KRIs to predict audit efforts needed to mitigate against heightened RMM. Data was collected through two independent samples involving 767 participants. The collected data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to assess scale validity and construct validation. The suggested KRIs, comprising two risk components and seventeen risk items, are found to have high predictive power in determining audit efforts needed to reduce RMM. The study validates the suggested KRIs as an effective instrument for risk assessment and decision-making on the adoption of CAATTs. This study contributes to the existing literature by implementing a holistic approach to risk assessment and providing a quantitative expression of assessed risks. It bridges the gap between intuitive risk evaluation and the theoretical domain, clarifying the mechanism of risk assessments. It also helps improve the uniformity and quality of risk assessments, aiding audit standard-setters in issuing updated guidelines on CAATT adoption. A few limitations and recommendations for future research should be mentioned. First, the process of developing the scale was conducted in the Israeli auditing market, which follows the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). Although ISAs are adopted in European countries, for greater generalization, future studies could focus on other countries that adopt additional or local auditing standards. Second, this study revealed risk factors that have a material impact on the assessed risk. However, there could be additional risk factors that influence the assessment of the RMM. Therefore, future research could investigate other risk segments, such as operational and financial risks, to bring a broader generalizability to our results. Third, although the sample size in this study fits acceptable scale development procedures and enables drawing conclusions from the body of research, future research may develop standardized measures based on larger samples to reduce the generation of equivocal results and suggest an extended risk model.

Keywords: audit risk model, audit efforts, CAATTs adoption, key risk indicators, sustainability

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Authors: Morteza Aien, Masoud Rashidinejad, Mahmud Fotuhi-Firuzabad

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Power systems are innately uncertain systems. To face with such uncertain systems, robust uncertainty assessment tools are appealed. This paper inspects the uncertainty assessment formulation of the load flow (LF) problem considering different kinds of uncertainties, developed in its companion paper through some case studies. The proposed methodology is based on the evidence theory and joint propagation of possibilistic and probabilistic uncertainties. The load and wind power generation are considered as probabilistic uncertain variables and the electric vehicles (EVs) and gas turbine distributed generation (DG) units are considered as possibilistic uncertain variables. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the system output parameters obtained by the pure probabilistic method lies within the belief and plausibility functions obtained by the joint propagation approach. Furthermore, the imprecision in the DG parameters is explicitly reflected by the gap between the belief and plausibility functions. This gap, due to the epistemic uncertainty on the DG resources parameters grows as the penetration level increases.

Keywords: electric vehicles, joint possibilistic- probabilistic uncertainty modeling, uncertain load flow, wind turbine generator

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Authors: Chongyang Ye, Rong Liu

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Compression textiles such as compression stockings (CSs) have been extensively applied for the prevention and treatment of chronic venous insufficiency of lower extremities. The involvement of multiple mechanical factors such as interface pressure, frictional force, and elastic materials make the interactions between lower limb and CSs to be complex. Determination of Poisson’s ratio and elastic moduli of CS materials are critical for constructing finite element (FE) modeling to numerically simulate a complex interactive system of CS and lower limb. In this study, a mixed approach, including an analytic model based on the orthotropic Hooke’s Law and experimental study (uniaxial tension testing and pure shear testing), has been proposed to determine Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and shear modulus of CS fabrics. The results indicated a linear relationship existing between the stress and strain properties of the studied CS samples under controlled stretch ratios (< 100%). The newly proposed method and the determined key mechanical properties of elastic orthotropic CS fabrics facilitate FE modeling for analyzing in-depth the effects of compression material design on their resultant biomechanical function in compression therapy.

Keywords: elastic compression stockings, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, shear modulus, mechanical analysis

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Authors: R. N. Begum, Ambalika Sharma, G. K. Singh

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Identity theft has serious ramifications beyond data and personal information loss. This necessitates the implementation of robust and efficient user identification systems. Therefore, automatic biometric recognition systems are the need of the hour, and ECG-based systems are unquestionably the best choice due to their appealing inherent characteristics. The CNNs are the recent state-of-the-art techniques for ECG-based user identification systems. However, the results obtained are significantly below standards, and the situation worsens as the number of users and types of heartbeats in the dataset grows. As a result, this study proposes a highly accurate and resilient ECG-based person identification system using CNN's dense learning framework. The proposed research explores explicitly the calibre of dense CNNs in the field of ECG-based human recognition. The study tests four different configurations of dense CNN which are trained on a dataset of recordings collected from eight popular ECG databases. With the highest FAR of 0.04 percent and the highest FRR of 5%, the best performing network achieved an identification accuracy of 99.94 percent. The best network is also tested with various train/test split ratios. The findings show that DenseNets are not only extremely reliable but also highly efficient. Thus, they might also be implemented in real-time ECG-based human recognition systems.

Keywords: Biometrics, Dense Networks, Identification Rate, Train/Test split ratio

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Authors: Ahmad Sahir Jais

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This paper is focusing on the roles played by Malaysian polytechnics in halal education in the context of technical, vocational education and training (TVET). A critical review of the previous literature, as well as documents analysis of the curriculum structure, highlighted several theme concerning dietary halal sectors in Malaysia as well as the depth of halal education ingrained in Malaysia polytechnics education system. Dietary halal in Malaysia has gained prominence exposure lately, due to the heighten awareness among Muslim consumers. Therefore, this has contributed to a surge in demand for halal food. Growth in halal sub sectors has a consequent effect with the demand for halal competent human capital resulting in demands for halal competent human capital by the industries cannot be matched by the educational institution. It can be concluded that, Malaysian Polytechnics has taken up the lead role in halal education in comparison with other academic institution in filling the needs for halal competent workers by offering halal related courses at diploma level as well as short courses for the local communities. They has successfully positioned themselves as an academic institution that meets the demands of the industry as the demand for halal competent workers which is expected to grow significantly due to new legislation introduces by the government, expansion of halal economy and increase awareness and interest in halal among consumer.

Keywords: halal in TVET, TVET, halal, Malaysian polytechnics

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Authors: Md. Abid Khan

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Arc Flash safety assessment is a critical component for continuous improvement of any company’s safe electrical arc flash standard (SEAFS). The standard requires periodic internal or external audits to verify compliance and assess implementation. Assessments will identify strengths and opportunities for improvement, and serve as the basis for corrective actions. An arc flash safety assessment is comprised of a review of any existing safe electrical arc flash standard documentation (e.g., such as work procedures or other supporting documents), onsite interviews, and observations (e.g., facility inspections and work task observations). Substation-based arc flash assessment is very popular as it is more specific for each substation. The enhanced department-based arc flash safety assessment will shift focus to more effective hazard control measures and emphasis will be placed on highlighting inherently unsafe equipment to support resolution actions by facility management, rather than relying on lessor effective control methods in the hierarchy of controls currently deployed at a number of facilities.

Keywords: assessment, remote racking device (RRD), key performance indicator (KPI), personal protective equipment (PPE), operation & maintenance (O&M), safety management system (SMS), safe electrical arc flash standard (SEAFS)

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Authors: Jihad S. Daba, J. P. Dubois, Yvette Antar

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With the exponential growth of cellular users, a new generation of cellular networks is needed to enhance the required peak data rates. The co-channel interference between neighboring base stations inhibits peak data rate increase. To overcome this interference, multi-cell cooperation known as coordinated multipoint transmission is proposed. Such a solution makes use of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems under two different structures: Micro- and macro-diversity. In this paper, we study the capacity and bit error rate in cellular networks using MIMO technology. We analyse both micro- and macro-diversity schemes and develop a hybrid model that switches between macro- and micro-diversity in the case of hard handoff based on a cut-off range of signal-to-noise ratio values. We conclude that our hybrid switched micro-macro MIMO system outperforms classical MIMO systems at the cost of increased hardware and software complexity.

Keywords: cooperative multipoint transmission, ergodic capacity, hard handoff, macro-diversity, micro-diversity, multiple-input-multiple output systems, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

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Authors: M. M. Akhmediev, J. R. Ashrapov, T. M. Akhmediev

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Hydrocephalus frequently occurs with spina bifida, and up to 80% of such patients need to be shunted. Objective: It’s sought to improve the results of the surgical treatment of hydrocephalus in children with spina bifida. Methods: We have analyzed the results of the surgical treatment of 80 patients aged between 1 month and 1,5-year-old with hydrocephalus and myelomeningocele. All patients underwent surgery in the period of 2013-2018. Results: In all patients, spina bifida was associated with hydrocephalus with a predominant extension of the posterior horns of the lateral ventricles in the form of colpocephaly, Chiari malformation type 2. Based on the method “Choose right shunt” the determination of the point of critical deformation of the ventricular system was established, 47 (58.8%) patients for the 1st stage underwent ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt surgery with a low-pressure valve, 28 (35.0%) patients with medium pressure and 5 (6.2%) with high-pressure valve. Under or over drainage complications were not observed in the postoperative period. The 2nd stage of surgery for myelomeningocele repair was planned in 1-2 months with the follow-up head ultrasonography and electromyography study. Conclusion: The implantable shunt systems parameters chosen before surgery in the surgical management of hydrocephalus in children with myelomeningocele are important in the causes of under or over drainage states, cerebrospinal fluid leakage from the myelomeningocele sac. Management of hydrocephalus should be performed by considering myelomeningocele affecting craniospinal compliance.

Keywords: hydrocephalus, spina bifida, myelomeningocele, ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt

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Authors: Simon Bambey, Edward Lim, Kai Corley-Jory, Pooya Taheri

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The main goal of this paper is to propose a simple and low-cost microcontroller-based laser communication link. To demonstrate that laser communication is a viable and efficient means for transmitting data, a transceiver capable of transfer rates of approximately 0.7 kB/s is prototyped. The hardware used for the transceiver consists of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) lasers, photodiodes, and the Arduino Mega 2560 which is an open-source and easy-to-use microcontroller-based platform intended for making interactive projects. A graphic user interface utilizing the Meteor framework is developed to facilitate the communication between the user and transceiver. The developed transceiver prototype is capable of receiving and transmitting data at significant ranges with no loss of information. Furthermore, stable and secure communication is achieved through several mechanisms developed to manage simultaneous sending and receiving, in addition to detecting physical interruptions during transmission. The design setup is scalable and with further development can be transformed into a fiber-optic transmission system. Due to its nature, laser communication is very secure and can provide a safe and private communication link. Overall, this paper demonstrates how laser communication can be an economical, durable, and effective means of information transfer.

Keywords: Arduino microcontrollers, laser applications, user interfaces, wireless communication

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Authors: Zuzana Tatarkova, Ivana Pilchova, Michal Cibulka, Martin Kolisek, Peter Racay, Peter Kaplan

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Introduction: Normal functioning of mitochondria is crucial for cardiac performance. Mitochondria undergo mitophagy and biogenesis, and mitochondrial proteins are subject to extensive post-translational modifications. The state of mitochondrial homeostasis reflects overall cellular fitness and longevity. Perturbed mitochondria produce less ATP, release greater amounts of reactive molecules, and are more prone to apoptosis. Therefore mitochondrial turnover is an integral aspect of quality control in which dysfunctional mitochondria are selectively eliminated through mitophagy. Currently, the progressive deterioration of physiological functions is seen as accumulation of modified/damaged proteins with limiting regenerative ability and disturbance of such affected protein-protein communication throughout aging in myocardial cells. Methodologies: For our study was used immunohistochemistry, biochemical methods: spectrophotometry, western blotting, immunodetection as well as more sophisticated 2D electrophoresis and mass spectrometry for evaluation protein-protein interactions and specific post-translational modification. Results and Discussion: Mitochondrial stress response to reactive species was evaluated as electron transport chain (ETC) complexes, redox-active molecules, and their possible communication. Protein-protein interactions revealed a strong linkage between age and ETC protein subunits. Redox state was strongly affected in senescent mitochondria with shift in favor of more pro-oxidizing condition within cardiomyocytes. Acute myocardial ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury affected ETC complexes I, II and IV with no change in complex III. Ischemia induced decrease in total antioxidant capacity, MnSOD, GSH and catalase activity with recovery in some extent during reperfusion. While MnSOD protein content was higher in IR group, activity returned to 95% of control. Nitric oxide is one of the biological molecules that can out compete MnSOD for superoxide and produce peroxynitrite. This process is faster than dismutation and led to the 10-fold higher production of nitrotyrosine after IR injury in adult with higher protection in senescent ones. 2D protein profiling revealed 140 mitochondrial proteins, 12 of them with significant changes after IR injury and 36 individual nitrotyrosine-modified proteins further identified by mass spectrometry. Linking these two groups, 5 proteins were altered after IR as well as nitrated, but only one showed massive nitration per lowering content of protein after IR injury in adult. Conclusions: Senescent cells have greater proportion of protein content, which might be modulated by several post-translational modifications. If these protein modifications are connected to functional consequences and protein-protein interactions are revealed, link may lead to the solution. Assume all together, dysfunctional proteostasis can play a causative role and restoration of protein homeostasis machinery is protective against aging and possibly age-related disorders. This work was supported by the project VEGA 1/0018/18 and by project 'Competence Center for Research and Development in the field of Diagnostics and Therapy of Oncological diseases', ITMS: 26220220153, co-financed from EU sources.

Keywords: aging heart, mitochondria, proteomics, redox state

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Authors: Priti Saha, Biswajit Paul

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Rapid urbanization and industrialization have increased the demand of groundwater. However, the present era has evident an enormous level of groundwater pollution. Therefore, water quality assessment is paramount importance to evaluate its suitability for drinking, irrigation and industrial use. This study focus to evaluate the groundwater quality of an industrial city in eastern India through interdisciplinary techniques. The multi-purpose Water Quality Index (WQI) assess the suitability for drinking as well as irrigation of forty sampling locations, where 2.5% and 15% of sampling locations have excellent water quality (WQI:0-25) as well as 15% and 40% have good quality (WQI:25-50), which represents its suitability for drinking and irrigation respectively. However, the industrial water quality was assessed through Ryznar Stability Index (LSI), which affirmed that only 2.5% of sampling locations have neither corrosive nor scale forming properties (RSI: 6.2-6.8). These techniques with the integration of geographical information system (GIS) for spatial assessment indorsed its effectiveness to identify the regions where the water bodies are suitable to use for drinking, irrigation as well as industrial activities. Further, the sources of these contaminants were identified through factor analysis (FA), which revealed that both the geogenic as well as anthropogenic sources were responsible for groundwater pollution. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of statistical and GIS techniques for the analysis of environmental contaminants.

Keywords: groundwater, water quality analysis, water quality index, WQI, factor analysis, FA, spatial assessment

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Authors: Chan Ka Lok Sobel

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Recently, several famous Asian films have been remade in North America, set in the context of U.S. society and with the financial and cultural scale of Hollywood cinema. Notably, the practice of remaking films is interactive, with famous Hollywood films also being remade in Asia; for example, Charlie’s Angels (McG, 2002) was remade as So Close (Yuen, 2002), Seven (Fincher, 1995) was remade as Double Vision (Fu, 2002), and Cellular (Ellis, 2004) was remade as Connected (Chan, 2008). Conversely, Asian films such as Infernal Affairs (Lau & Mak, 2002), il Mare (Lee, 2000), and Bangkok Dangerous (Pang, 2000) were remade into Hollywood blockbuster films The Departed (Scorsese, 2006), The Lake House (Agresti, 2006), and Bangkok Dangerous (Pang, 2007), respectively. This research examined Asian cinema and Hollywood remakes from the perspective of cultural hybridization and partition in the context of global capitalism and postmodernism. Using Infernal Affairs and The Departed as a case study, key concepts such as crosscultural adaptation, intercultural and global communication competence, and cultural identity and authorship were compared and analyzed.

Keywords: remake and originality, double cultural identity, studio system, genre and authorship

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Authors: Andreea Campu, Ilinica Muresan, Simona Cainap, Simion Astilean, Monica Focsan

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Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most severe cardiovascular disease, which has threatened human lives for decades, thus a continuous interest is directed towards the detection of cardiac biomarkers such as cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in order to predict risk and, implicitly, fulfill the early diagnosis requirements in AMI settings. Microfluidics is a major technology involved in the development of efficient sensing devices with real-time fast responses and on-site applicability. Microfluidic devices have gathered a lot of attention recently due to their advantageous features such as high sensitivity and specificity, miniaturization and portability, ease-of-use, low-cost, facile fabrication, and reduced sample manipulation. The integration of gold nanoparticles into the structure of microfluidic sensors has led to the development of highly effective detection systems, considering the unique properties of the metallic nanostructures, specifically the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR), which makes them highly sensitive to their microenvironment. In this scientific context, herein, we propose the implementation of a novel detection device, which successfully combines the efficiency of gold bipyramids (AuBPs) as signal transducers and thermal generators with the sample-driven advantages of the microfluidic channels into a miniaturized, portable, low-cost, specific, and sensitive test for the dual LSPR-thermographic cTnI detection. Specifically, AuBPs with longitudinal LSPR response at 830 nm were chemically synthesized using the seed-mediated growth approach and characterized in terms of optical and morphological properties. Further, the colloidal AuBPs were deposited onto pre-treated silanized glass substrates thus, a uniform nanoparticle coverage of the substrate was obtained and confirmed by extinction measurements showing a 43 nm blue-shift of the LSPR response as a consequence of the refractive index change. The as-obtained plasmonic substrate was then integrated into a microfluidic “Y”-shaped polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel, fabricated using a Laser Cutter system. Both plasmonic and microfluidic elements were plasma treated in order to achieve a permanent bond. The as-developed microfluidic plasmonic chip was further coupled to an automated syringe pump system. The proposed biosensing protocol implicates the successive injection inside the microfluidic channel as follows: p-aminothiophenol and glutaraldehyde, to achieve a covalent bond between the metallic surface and cTnI antibody, anti-cTnI, as a recognition element, and target cTnI biomarker. The successful functionalization and capture of cTnI was monitored by LSPR detection thus, after each step, a red-shift of the optical response was recorded. Furthermore, as an innovative detection technique, thermal determinations were made after each injection by exposing the microfluidic plasmonic chip to 785 nm laser excitation, considering that the AuBPs exhibit high light-to-heat conversion performances. By the analysis of the thermographic images, thermal curves were obtained, showing a decrease in the thermal efficiency after the anti-cTnI-cTnI reaction was realized. Thus, we developed a microfluidic plasmonic chip able to operate as both LSPR and thermal sensor for the detection of the cardiac troponin I biomarker, leading thus to the progress of diagnostic devices.

Keywords: gold nanobipyramids, microfluidic device, localized surface plasmon resonance detection, thermographic detection

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

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

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

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Authors: Paramita Nur Kurniati, Stanislaus Riyanta

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In the midst of the heightened usage of electronic money (e-money), Indonesian government expenditure is yet governed through cash-basis transactions. This conventional system brings about a number of potential risks and obstacles to operational conduct, including state financial liquidity issue. Consequently, Ministry of Finance is currently establishing the cashless payment methods for State Budget (APBN). Included in those advance methods is credit card facility as a government expenditure payment scheme. This policy is one of the innovations within the public sector learned from other countries’ best practices. Moreover, this particular method is already prominent within the private-sector realm. Qualitative descriptive analysis technique is implemented to evaluate the contemporary innovation of using government credit card in the path towards cashless society. This approach is expected to generate several benefits for the government, particularly in minimizing corruption within the state financial management. Effective coordination among policy makers and policy implementers is essential for the success of this policy’s exercise, without neglecting prudence and public transparency aspects. Government credit card usage shall be the potent resolution for enhancing the government’s overall public service performance.

Keywords: cashless basis, cashless society, government credit card, public sector innovation

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Authors: M. Al-Farttoosi, M. Y. Rafiq, J. Summerscales, C. Williams

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Structures can be subjected to impact loading from various sources like earthquake, tsunami, missiles and explosions. The impact loading can cause different degrees of damage to concrete structures. The demand for strengthening and rehabilitation of damaged structures is increasing. In recent years, Car0bon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) matrix composites has gain more attention for strengthening and repairing these structures. To study the impact behaviour of the reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened or repaired using CFRP, a heavy impact test machine was designed and manufactured .The machine included a newly designed support system for beams together with various instrumentation. This paper describes the support design configuration of the impact test machine, instrumentation and dynamic analysis of the concrete beams. To evaluate the efficiency of the new impact test machine, experimental impact tests were conducted on simple supported reinforced concrete beam. Different methods were used to determine the impact force and impact response of the RC beams in terms of inertia force, maximum deflection, reaction force and fracture energy. The manufactured impact test machine was successfully used in testing RC beams under impact loading and used successfully to test the reinforced concrete beams strengthened or repaired using CFRP under impact loading.

Keywords: beam, concrete, impact, machine

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Authors: Philemon Wokoma Iyagba, Obey Onenee Christie

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From the hindbrain, which is responsible for motor activities, to the forebrain, responsible for processing information related to complex cognitive activities, the human brain has continued to evolve over the years. This evolution- has been progressive, leading to advancements in science and technology. However, the development of science and technology in Africa, where ancient civilization arguably began, has been retrogressive. Dialectics was done by dissecting different opinions on the reason behind the stunted development of science and technology in Africa. The researchers proposed that the inability to sustain the technological advancements made by early Africans is due to poor or lack of replicability of the African knowledge-based system, almost no or poor documentation of adopted procedures and the approval-seeking mentality that cheaply paved the way for westernization which also led to the adulteration of the African way of life and education without making room for incorporating her identity and proper alignment of her rich cultural heritage in education and her enormous achievements before and during the middle age. This article discussed conceptual issues, with its positions based on established facts, the discussion was based on relevant literature and recommendations were made accordingly.

Keywords: forebrain, hindbrain, dialectics from African perspective, development in science and technology

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Authors: Yousef Almutairi, Yajue Wu

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Various large-scale trends have characterized the current century thus far, including increasing shifts towards urbanization and greater movement. It is predicted that there will be 9.3 billion people on Earth in 2050 and that over two-thirds of this population will be city dwellers. Moreover, in larger cities worldwide, mass transportation systems, including underground systems, have grown to account for the majority of travel in those settings. Underground networks are vulnerable to fires, however, endangering travellers’ safety, with various examples of fire outbreaks in this setting. This study aims to increase knowledge of the impacts of extreme climatic conditions on fires, including the role of the high ambient temperatures experienced in Middle Eastern countries and specifically in Saudi Arabia. This is an element that is not always included when assessments of fire safety are made (considering visibility, temperatures, and flows of smoke). This paper focuses on a tunnel within Riyadh’s underground system as a case study and includes simulations based on computational fluid dynamics using ANSYS Fluent, which investigates the impact of various ventilation systems while identifying smoke density, speed, pressure and temperatures within this tunnel.

Keywords: fire, subway tunnel, CFD, mechanical ventilation, smoke, temperature, harsh weather

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Authors: Muthana A. M. Jamel Al-Gburi

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Elimination of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas from the atmosphere is very important but complicated since there is increasing in the amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which mainly caused by some of the human activities and the burning of fossil fuels. So that will lead to global warming. The global warming affects the earth temperature causing an increase to a higher level and, at the same time, creates tornadoes and storms. In this project, we are going to do a new technique for extracting carbon dioxide directly from the air and change it to useful minerals and Nano scale fibers made of carbon by using several chemical processes through chemical reactions. So, that could lead to an economical and healthy way to make some valuable building materials. Also, it may even work as a weapon against environmental change. In our device (Carbone Dioxide Domestic Extractor), we are using Ocean-seawater to dissolve the CO₂ gas and then converted it into carbonate minerals by using a number of additives like Shampoo, clay, and MgO. Note that the atmospheric air includes CO₂ gas, has circulated within the seawater by the air pump. More, that we will use a number of chemicals agents to convert the water acid into useful minerals. After we constructed the system, we did intense experiments and investigations to find the optimum chemical agent, which must be work at the environmental condition. Further to that, we will measure the solubility of CO₂ and other salts in the seawater.

Keywords: global warming, CO₂ gas, ocean-sea water, additives, solubility level

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Authors: Naseem Akhter, Rozina Khattak, Arshad Munir

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The Islamic social and family system is very clear concerning will, choice, consent and negation of compulsion and force in human life. Marriage is not only a civil contract but also a religious and spiritual contract between spouse (man and woman), which allows them for each other to live gladly, joyfully and legally in the society. It is an immortal and perpetual association between man and woman, which is filled with sympathetic affection, kindness, compassion and security. Islam gives specific rights to parents and guardians to set up the marriage ceremony and get done it as a respectful family occasion, confer their blessing and advice for a life partner of their children. The rights of parents and guardians are summed up in the term of "Willayah”. Islam does not permit parents, guardians and other relatives to compel their children regarding the marriage of their choice, because the groom and the bride are the real parties of the contract. Therefore, their willingness is of prime importance in order to spend whole life with each other. The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibits forcing a virgin to marriage without her permission, whether this is her father or someone else. The right of free consent to choose a life partner is the basic right for the human which is God (Allah) gifted. Unfortunately, forced marriage is a common practice in Pakistani society that has no link with Islam. This article is being written in the same context.

Keywords: choice, consent, forced marriage, Islam, parents, spouse

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Authors: H. G. Noh, H. G. Park, B. S. Kang, J. Kim

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Electromagnetic forming process (EMF) is one of high-velocity forming processes using Lorentz force. Advantages of EMF are summarized as improvement of formability, reduction in wrinkling, non-contact forming. In this study, numerical simulations were conducted to determine the practical parameters for EMF process. A 2-D axis-symmetric electromagnetic model was considered based on the spiral type forming coil. In the numerical simulation, RLC circuit coupled with spiral coil was made to consider the design parameters such as system input current and electromagnetic force. In order to deform the sheet in the patter shape die, two types of spiral shape coil were considered to deform the pattern shape sheet. One is a spiral coil that has 6turns with dead zone at centre point. Another is a normal spiral coil without dead zone that has 8 turns. In the electric analysis, input current and magnetic force were compared and then plastic deformation was treated in the mechanical analysis for two coil cases. Deformation behaviour of dead zone coil case has good agreement with pattern shape die. As a result, deformation behaviour could be controlled by giving dead zone at centre of the coil in spiral shape coil case.

Keywords: electromagnetic forming, spiral coil, Lorentz force, manufacturing

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Authors: A. Bhatt, C. Bassi, H. Farragher, J. Musk

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Background: All medicines placed on the EU market are legally required to be accompanied by labeling and package leaflet, which provide comprehensive information, enabling its safe and appropriate use. Mock-ups with results of assessments using a target patient group must be submitted for a marketing authorisation application. Consumers need confidence in non-prescription, OTC medicines in order to manage their minor ailments and umbrella brands assist purchasing decisions by assisting easy identification within a particular therapeutic area. A number of regulatory agencies have risk management tools and guidelines to assist in developing umbrella brands for OTC medicines, however assessment and decision making is subjective and inconsistent. This study presents an evaluation in the UK following the US FDA warning concerning methaemoglobinaemia following 21 reported cases (11 children under 2 years) caused by OTC oral analgesics containing benzocaine. METHODS: A standard face to face, 25 structured task based user interview testing methodology using a standard questionnaire and rating scale in consumers aged 15-91 years, was conducted independently between June and October 2015 in their homes. Whether individuals could discriminate between the labelling, safety information and warnings on cartons and PILs between 3 different OTC medicines packs with the same umbrella name was evaluated. Each pack was presented with differing information hierarchy using, different coloured cartons, containing the 3 different active ingredients, benzocaine (oromucosal spray) and two lozenges containing 2, 4, dichlorobenzyl alcohol, amylmetacresol and hexylresorcinol respectively (for the symptomatic relief of sore throat pain). The test was designed to determine whether warnings on the carton and leaflet were prominent, accessible to alert users that one product contained benzocaine, risk of methaemoglobinaemia, and refer to the leaflet for the signs of the condition and what to do should this occur. Results: Two consumers did not locate the warnings on the side of the pack, eventually found them on the back and two suggestions to further improve accessibility of the methaemoglobinaemia warning. Using a gold pack design for the oromucosal spray, all consumers could differentiate between the 3 drugs, minimum age particulars, pharmaceutical form and the risk factor methaemoglobinaemia. The warnings for benzocaine were deemed to be clear or very clear; appearance of the 3 packs were either very well differentiated or quite well differentiated. The PIL test passed on all criteria. All consumers could use the product correctly, identify risk factors ensuring the critical information necessary for the safe use was legible and easily accessible so that confusion and errors were minimised. Conclusion: Patients with known methaemoglobinaemia are likely to be vigilant in checking for benzocaine containing products, despite similar umbrella brand names across a range of active ingredients. Despite these findings, the package design and spray format were not deemed to be sufficient to mitigate potential safety risks associated with differences in target populations and contraindications when submitted to the Regulatory Agency. Although risk management tools are increasingly being used by agencies to assist in providing objective assurance of package safety, further transparency, reduction in subjectivity and proportionate risk should be demonstrated.

Keywords: labelling, OTC, risk, user testing

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Authors: Malarvizhi Selvaraj, Paul Fergus, Andy Shaw

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Uterine contractions produced during labour have the potential to damage the foetus by diminishing the maternal blood flow to the placenta. In order to observe this phenomenon labour and delivery are routinely monitored using cardiotocography monitors. An obstetrician usually makes the diagnosis of foetus hypoxia by interpreting cardiotocography recordings. However, cardiotocography capture and interpretation is time-consuming and subjective, often lead to misclassification that causes damage to the foetus and unnecessary caesarean section. Both of these have a high impact on the foetus and the cost to the national healthcare services. Automatic detection of foetal heart rate may be an objective solution to help to reduce unnecessary medical interventions, as reported in several studies. This paper aim is to provide a system for better identification and interpretation of abnormalities of the fetal heart rate using RStudio. An open dataset of 552 Intrapartum recordings has been filtered with 0.034 Hz filters in an attempt to remove noise while keeping as much of the discriminative data as possible. Features were chosen following an extensive literature review, which concluded with FIGO features such as acceleration, deceleration, mean, variance and standard derivation. The five features were extracted from 552 recordings. Using these features, recordings will be classified either normal or abnormal. If the recording is abnormal, it has got more chances of hypoxia.

Keywords: cardiotocography, foetus, intrapartum, hypoxia

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Authors: T. M. Samuel, O. O. Aremu, I. O. Ismaila, L. I. Onu, B. O. Adetifa, S. E. Adegbite, O. O. Olokoshe

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The imperative of anthropometry in designing to fit cannot be overemphasized. Of essence is the variability of measurements among population for which data is collected. In this paper anthropometric data were collected for the design of gari-frying facility such that work system would be designed to fit the gari-frying population in the Southwestern states of Nigeria comprising Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti. Twenty-seven body dimensions were measured among 120 gari-frying processors. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS package to determine the mean, standard deviation, minimum value, maximum value and percentiles (2nd, 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 95th, and 98th) of the different anthropometric parameters. One sample t-test was conducted to determine the variation within the population. The 50th percentiles of some of the anthropometric parameters were compared with those from other populations in literature. The correlation between the worker’s age and the body anthropometry was also investigated.The mean weight, height, shoulder height (sitting), eye height (standing) and eye height (sitting) are 63.37 kg, 1.57 m, 0.55 m, 1.45 m, and 0.67 m respectively.Result also shows a high correlation with other populations and a statistically significant difference in variability of data within the population in all the body dimensions measured. With a mean age of 42.36 years, results shows that age will be a wrong indicator for estimating the anthropometry for the population.

Keywords: anthropometry, cassava processing, design to fit, gari-frying, workstation design

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Authors: Matheus Fonseca Durães, Bruno da Silva Pereira, Bruna Stewart

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The concept of Brazil’s water governance has been the topic of discussion and has undergone legal and organizational improvements due to the need to promote a more effective and sustainable relationship with natural resources and stemming from conflicts related to shortcomings in decision-making. The Waters Act has enabled Brazil to create interesting mechanisms for integrated management, but, on the other hand, it has created a challenge that involves the implementation of the principles established in this legal framework. This study aims to evaluate some challenges and opportunities for water governance in two watersheds based on data collection and analysis of concessions, the water use register, and flow data. The elements presented demonstrated, via an analysis of legally instituted criteria, that the level of commitment of water resources is high, especially to public supply, and the adoption of the reference flow constituted one of the main barriers to implementing an efficient system, demonstrating the need for a regulatory policy that considers the hydrological behavior of the watersheds. Finally, the current water management model presents challenges to be addressed to achieve the objectives proposed by the water policy, such as ensuring sustainable, rational, and integrated use of water resources.

Keywords: management, hydrology, public policies, Brazil

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Authors: M.F. Elkady, Sahar Zaki, Desouky Abd-El-Haleem

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Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are already widely prepared using different technologies. However, there are limited data on the effects of hydrogen ion concentration on nano-silver production. In this investigation, the impact of the pH reaction medium toward the particle size, agglomeration and the yield of the produced bio-synthesized silver were established. Quasi-spherical silver nanoparticles were synthesized through the biosynthesis green production process using the Egyptian E. coli bacterial strain 23N at different pH values. The formation of AgNPs has been confirmed with ultraviolet–visible spectra through identification of their characteristic peak at 410 nm. The quantitative production yield and the orientation planes of the produced nano-silver were examined using X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Quantitative analyses indicated that the silver production yield was promoted at elevated pH regarded to increase the reduction rate of silver precursor through both chemical and biological processes. As a result, number of the nucleus and thus the size of the silver nanoparticles were tunable through changing pH of the reaction system. Accordingly, the morphological structure and size of the produced silver and its aggregates were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. It was considered that the increment in pH value of the reaction media progress the aggregation of silver clusters. However, the presence of stain 23N biomass decreases the possibility of silver aggregation at the pH 7.

Keywords: silver nanoparticles, biosynthesis, reaction media pH, nano-silver characterization

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Authors: Magdalena Hałupka-Bryl, Magdalena Bednarowicz, Ryszard Krzyminiewski, Yukio Nagasaki

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Due to their unique physical properties, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are increasingly used in medical applications. They are very useful carriers for delivering antitumor drugs in targeted cancer treatment. Magnetic nanoparticles (PEG-PIONs/DOX) with chemotherapeutic were synthesized by coprecipitation method followed by coating with biocompatible polymer PEG-derivative (poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(4-vinylbenzylphosphonate). Complete physicochemical characterization was carried out (ESR, HRTEM, X-ray diffraction, SQUID analysis) to evaluate the magnetic properties of obtained PEG-PIONs/DOX. Nanoparticles were investigated also in terms of their stability, drug loading efficiency, drug release and antiproliferative effect on cancer cells. PEG-PIONs/DOX have been successfully used for the efficient delivery of an anticancer drug into the tumor region. Fluorescent imaging showed the internalization of PEG-PIONs/DOX in the cytoplasm. Biodistribution studies demonstrated that PEG-PIONs/DOX preferentially accumulate in tumor region via the enhanced permeability and retention effect. The present findings show that synthesized nanosystem is promising tool for potential magnetic drug delivery.

Keywords: targeted drug delivery, magnetic properties, iron oxide nanoparticles, biodistribution

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Authors: Leyla Yesilbas, M. Sukru Ozcoban, M. Ergenekon Selcuk

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From past to present, there is a constant need for engineering structures such as high-rise buildings, wide-span bridges, airports and stadiums, business towers due to technological developments and increasing population. Because of the large loads transferred from the superstructure to the ground layers in these types of structures, the bearing strength and seating problems usually occur on the floors. In order to solve these problems, piled foundations are used by passing the weak soil layers and transferring the loads from the superstructure to the solid soil layers. Considering the factors such as the characteristics of the building to be constructed, the purpose and location of the building, the basic cost of the pile should be at normal levels. When these requirements are taken into consideration, a new basic system called 'Barette Foundation' has been developed. In this thesis, an application made to provide slope stability with 'Baret Piles' was investigated. In addition, the ground parameters obtained from the field and laboratory experiments were numerically modeled using a PLAXİS 2D finite element software and barette piles. The effects of barette piles on slope stability were investigated by numerical analysis, and the results of inclinometer measurements in the field were compared with numerical analysis results.

Keywords: barette pile, PLAXİS 2D, slope, soil

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran, A. Geetha

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This paper addresses three issues: how to prepare 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 the m-learners perform better than the other learners. This paper examines these issues through an experimental study conducted among the distance learners enrolled in preparatory program for bachelor’s degree. This program is designed for the disadvantage 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 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

Procedia PDF Downloads 666