Search results for: ITES (information technology enabled services)

Authors: Magdy Torab

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Ancient Egyptians built their temples purposefully close to the River Nile to use it for transporting construction stones from far away quarries to building sites in river-boats. Most temples, therefore, have river-harbors associated with their geometric designs. The paleoriver channel remapped by using this idea, besides other geomorphological and geoarchaeological indicators/evidence located between Aswan and Luxor cities. In this sense, this paper defines the characteristics of this ancient course and its associated landforms using paleochannel morphology, paleomeandering, and ancient river dynamics during historic and prehistoric times. Both geomorphological and geoarchaeological approaches used to reconstruct the paleomorphology of the river course. It helps to investigate the ancient river morphology by using the following techniques: comparison and interpretation of multi dates satellite images and historical maps between 1943 and 2004. The results illustrated on maps using GIS (ARC GIS V.10 software) and the field data collected from the western bank of The Nile River at Luxor area and Karnak, Edfu, Esna and Kom Ombo temples. Created both current and paleogeomorphological maps depending upon the results of geoarchaeological surveying and soil analysis and dating, for surface and subsurface soil sampling by handle auger, laser diffraction analysis for 7 soil samples collected from some mounds and Malkata channel in the western bank of The Nile River near Luxor. Paleo-current directions were determined by using standard Brunton compass to use it as an indicator is evidence for the direction of flow of The Nile River during deposition of some accumulated mounds on the western part of the floodplain near Luxor city. C-14 dating was used for two samples collected from these mounds as well as geographical information system (GIS) technique for mapping. The geomorphological and geoarchaeological evidence shows that the Nile River course in Luxor area was around 4.5 km wide and contained many islands and sandbars which separated inside the river channel, now appearing as scattered mounds inside the floodplain. Upper Egypt has migrated during the historic times to the east up to five kilometers and become far away from the ancient temples, quarries, and harbors. It has also become as well as become more meandering and narrower than before.

Keywords: Nile River, ancient harbours, Luxor, paleogeomorphology, geoarchaeology

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Yasir Bashawri, Vincent N. Chigor James McDonald, Merfyn Williams, Davey Jones, A. Prysor Williams

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Resistance to antibiotics has become a threat to public health. As a result of their misuse and overuse, bacteria have become resistant to many common antibiotics. Βeta lactam (β-lactam) antibiotics are one of the most significant classes of antimicrobials in providing therapeutic benefits for the treatment of bacterial infections in both human and veterinary medicine, for approximately 60% of all antibiotics are used. In particular, some Enterobacteriaceae produce Extend Spectrum Beta Lactamases (ESBLs) that enable them to some break down multi-groups of antibiotics. CTX-M enzymes have rapidly become the most important ESBLs, with increases in mainly CTX-M 15 in many countries during the last decade. Global travel by intercontinental medical ‘tourists’, migrant employees and overseas students could theoretically be a risk factor for spreading antibiotic resistance genes in different parts of the world. Bangor city, North Wales, is subject to sudden demographic changes due to a large proportion (>25%) of the population being students, most of which arrive over a space of days. This makes it a suitable location to study the impacts of large demographic change on the presence of ESBLs. The aim of this study is to monitor the presence of ESBLs in Escherichia coli and faecal coliform bacteria isolated from Bangor wastewater treatment plant, before, during and after the arrival week of students to Bangor University. Over a five-week period, water samples were collected twice a week, from the influent, primary sedimentation tank, aeration tank and the final effluent. Isolation and counts for Escherichia coli and other faecal coliforms were done on selective agar (primary UTI agar). ESBL presence will be confirmed by phenotypic and genotypic methods. Sampling at all points of the tertiary treatment stages will indicate the effectiveness of wastewater treatment in reducing the spread of ESBLs genes. The study will yield valuable information to help tackle a problem which many regard to be the one of the biggest threats to modern-day society.

Keywords: extended spectrum β-lactamase, enterobacteriaceae, international travel, wastewater treatment plant

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Saule Mussabekova

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A number of chemical elements widely presented in the nature is seldom met in people and vice versa. This is a peculiarity of accumulation of elements in the body, and their selective use regardless of widely changed parameters of external environment. Microelemental identification of human hair and particularly dead body is a new step in the development of modern forensic medicine which needs reliable criteria while identifying the person. In the condition of technology-related pressing of large industrial cities for many years and specific for each region multiple-factor toxic effect from many industrial enterprises it’s important to assess actuality and the role of researches of human hair while assessing degree of deposition with specific pollution. Hair is highly sensitive biological indicator and allows to assess ecological situation, to perform regionalism of large territories of geological and chemical methods. Besides, monitoring of concentrations of chemical elements in the regions of Kazakhstan gives opportunity to use these data while performing forensic medical identification of dead bodies of unknown persons. Methods based on identification of chemical composition of hair with further computer processing allowed to compare received data with average values for the sex, age, and to reveal causally significant deviations. It gives an opportunity preliminary to suppose the region of residence of the person, having concentrated actions of policy for search of people who are unaccounted for. It also allows to perform purposeful legal actions for its further identification having created more optimal and strictly individual scheme of personal identity. Hair is the most suitable material for forensic researches as it has such advances as long term storage properties with no time limitations and specific equipment. Besides, quantitative analysis of micro elements is well correlated with level of pollution of the environment, reflects professional diseases and with pinpoint accuracy helps not only to diagnose region of temporary residence of the person but to establish regions of his migration as well. Peculiarities of elemental composition of human hair have been established regardless of age and sex of persons residing on definite territories of Kazakhstan. Data regarding average content of 29 chemical elements in hair of population in different regions of Kazakhstan have been systemized. Coefficients of concentration of studies elements in hair relative to average values around the region have been calculated for each region. Groups of regions with specific spectrum of elements have been emphasized; these elements are accumulated in hair in quantities exceeding average indexes. Our results have showed significant differences in concentrations of chemical elements for studies groups and showed that population of Kazakhstan is exposed to different toxic substances. It depends on emissions to atmosphere from industrial enterprises dominating in each separate region. Performed researches have showed that obtained elemental composition of human hair residing in different regions of Kazakhstan reflects technogenic spectrum of elements.

Keywords: analysis of elemental composition of hair, forensic medical research of hair, identification of unknown dead bodies, microelements

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Kathleen Cravero, Amanda Nace, Samantha Ski

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The Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS) is nationally representative surveys of male and female youth ages 13-24, designed to measure the burden of sexual, physical, and emotional violence experienced in childhood and adolescence. As of 2019, 24 countries implemented or are in the process of implementing a VACS, covering over ten percent of the world’s child population. Since the first article using VACS data from Swaziland was published in 2009, several peer-reviewed articles have been published on the VACS. However, no publications to date have analyzed the breadth of the work and analyzed how the data are represented in the peer-reviewed literature. In this study, we conducted a literature review of all peer-reviewed research that used VACS data or discussed the implementation and methodology of the VACS. The literature review revealed several important findings. Between 2009 and July 2019, thirty-five peer-reviewed articles using VACS data from 12 countries have been published. Twenty of the studies focus on one country, while 15 of the studies focus on two or more countries. Some countries are featured in the literature more than others, for example Kenya (N=14), Malawi (N=12), and Tanzania (N=12). A review of the research by gender demonstrates that research on violence against boys is under-represented. Only two studies specifically focused on boys/young men, while 11 studies focused only on violence against girls. This is despite research which suggests boys and girls experience similar rates of violence. A review of the publications by type of violence revealed significant differences in the types of violence being featured in the literature. Thirteen publications specifically focused on sexual violence, while three studies focused on physical violence, and only one study focused on emotional violence. Almost 70% of the peer-reviewed articles (24 of the 35) were first-authored by someone at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were very few first authors from VACS countries, which raises questions about who is leveraging the data and the extent to which capacities for data liberation are being developed within VACS countries. The VACS provide an unprecedented amount of information on the prevalence and past-year incidence of violence against children. Through a review of the peer-reviewed literature on the VACS we can begin to identify trends and gaps in how the data is being used as well as identify areas for further research.

Keywords: data to action, global health, implementation science, violence against children surveys

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Elizabeth Behrens, Anne Timmermann, Alexander Yerkan, Joshua Thomas, Deborah Katz, Agne Paner, Melissa Larson, Shivi Jain, Seo-Hyun Kim, Celalettin Ustun, Ankur Varma, Parameswaran Venugopal, Jamile Shammo

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Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) causes persistent concern for poor outcomes in vulnerable populations. Patients with hematologic malignancies (HM) have been found to have higher COVID-19 case fatality rates compared to those without malignancy. While cytopenias are common in patients with HM, especially in those undergoing chemotherapy treatment, hemoglobin (Hgb) and platelet count have not yet been studied, to our best knowledge, as potential prognostic indicators for patients with HM and COVID-19. The goal of this study is to identify factors that may increase the risk of mortality in patients with HM and COVID-19. In this single-center, retrospective, observational study, 65 patients with HM and laboratory confirmed COVID-19 were identified between March 2020 and January 2021. Information on demographics, laboratory data the day of COVID-19 diagnosis, and prognosis was extracted from the electronic medical record (EMR), chart reviewed, and analyzed using the statistical software SAS version 9.4. Chi-square testing was used for categorical variable analyses. Risk factors associated with mortality were established by logistic regression models. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (37%), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (20%), and plasma cell dyscrasia (15%) were the most common HM. Higher Hgb level upon COVID-19 diagnosis was related to decreased mortality, odd ratio=0.704 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.511-0.969; P = .0263). Platelet count the day of COVID-19 diagnosis was lower in patients who ultimately died (mean 127 ± 72K/uL, n=10) compared to patients who survived (mean 197 ±92K/uL, n=55) (P=.0258). Female sex was related to decreased mortality, odd ratio=0.143 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.026-0.785; P = .0353). There was no mortality difference between the patients who were on treatment for HM the day of COVID-19 diagnosis compared to those who were not (P=1.000). Lower Hgb and male sex are independent risk factors associated with increased mortality of HM patients with COVID-19. Clinicians should be especially attentive to patients with HM and COVID-19 who present with cytopenias. Larger multi-center studies are urgently needed to further investigate the impact of anemia, thrombocytopenia, and demographics on outcomes of patients with hematologic malignancies diagnosed with COVID-19.

Keywords: anemia, COVID-19, hematologic malignancy, prognosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Eliana Bergamin

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This philosophical inquiry, influenced by the seminal works of Annemarie Mol and Jeannette Pols, critically examines the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on emotional caregiving practices within virtual healthcare. Rooted in the traditions of philosophy of care, philosophy of emotions, and applied philosophy, this study seeks to unravel nuanced shifts in the moral and emotional fabric of healthcare mediated by AI-powered technologies. Departing from traditional empirical studies, the approach embraces the foundational principles of care ethics and phenomenology, offering a focused exploration of the ethical and existential dimensions of AI-mediated emotional caregiving. At its core, this research addresses the introduction of AI-powered technologies mediating emotional and care practices in the healthcare sector. By drawing on Mol and Pols' insights, the study offers a focused exploration of the ethical and existential dimensions of AI-mediated emotional caregiving. Anchored in ethnographic research within a pioneering private healthcare company in the Netherlands, this critical philosophical inquiry provides a unique lens into the dynamics of AI-mediated emotional practices. The study employs in-depth, semi-structured interviews with virtual caregivers and care receivers alongside ongoing ethnographic observations spanning approximately two and a half months. Delving into the lived experiences of those at the forefront of this technological evolution, the research aims to unravel subtle shifts in the emotional and moral landscape of healthcare, critically examining the implications of AI in reshaping the philosophy of care and human connection in virtual healthcare. Inspired by Mol and Pols' relational approach, the study prioritizes the lived experiences of individuals within the virtual healthcare landscape, offering a deeper understanding of the intertwining of technology, emotions, and the philosophy of care. In the realm of philosophy of care, the research elucidates how virtual tools, particularly those driven by AI, mediate emotions such as empathy, sympathy, and compassion—the bedrock of caregiving. Focusing on emotional nuances, the study contributes to the broader discourse on the ethics of care in the context of technological mediation. In the philosophy of emotions, the investigation examines how the introduction of AI alters the phenomenology of emotional experiences in caregiving. Exploring the interplay between human emotions and machine-mediated interactions, the nuanced analysis discerns implications for both caregivers and caretakers, contributing to the evolving understanding of emotional practices in a technologically mediated healthcare environment. Within applied philosophy, the study transcends empirical observations, positioning itself as a reflective exploration of the moral implications of AI in healthcare. The findings are intended to inform ethical considerations and policy formulations, bridging the gap between technological advancements and the enduring values of caregiving. In conclusion, this focused philosophical inquiry aims to provide a foundational understanding of the evolving landscape of virtual healthcare, drawing on the works of Mol and Pols to illuminate the essence of human connection, care, and empathy amid technological advancements.

Keywords: applied philosophy, artificial intelligence, healthcare, philosophy of care, philosophy of emotions

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Christina Williams, Mehari Weldemariam, Ann M. Farese, Thomas J. MacVittie, Maureen A. Kane

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Radiation exposure results in dose-dependent and time-dependent multi-organ damage. Drug development of medical countermeasures (MCM) for radiation-induced injury occurs under the FDA Animal Rule because human efficacy studies are not ethical or feasible. The FDA Animal Rule requires the representation of both sexes and describes several uses for biomarkers in MCM drug development studies. Currently, MCMs are limited and there is no FDA-approved biomarker for any radiation injury. Sex as a variable is essential to identifying biomarkers and developing effective MCMs for acute radiation exposure (ARS) and delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE). These studies aim to address the death of information on sex differences that have not been determined by studies that included only male, single-sex cohorts. Studies have reported differences in radiosensitivity according to sex. As such, biomarker discovery for radiation-induced damage must consider sex as a variable. This study evaluated the plasma proteomic profile of Rhesus macaque non-human primates after different exposures and doses, as well as time points after radiation. Exposures and doses included total body irradiation between 5-7.5 Gy and partial body irradiation with 5% bone marrow sparing at 9, 9.5 and 10 Gy. Timepoints after irradiation included days 1, 3, 60, and 180, which encompassed both acute radiation syndromes and delayed effects of acute radiation exposure. Bottom-up proteomic analyses of plasma included equal numbers of males and females. In the control animals, few proteomic differences are observed between the sexes. In the irradiated animals, there are a few sex differences, with changes mostly consisting of proteins upregulated in the female animals. Multiple canonical pathways were upregulated in irradiated animals relative to the control animals when subjected to pathway analysis, but differential responses between the sexes are limited. These data provide critical baseline differences according to sex and establish sex differences in non-human primate models relevant to drug development of MCM under the FDA Animal Rule.

Keywords: ionizing radiation, sex differences, plasma proteomics, biomarker discovery

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Authors: Riana V. Ramanantsalama, Aristide Andrianarimisa, Achille P. Raselimanana, Steven M. Goodman

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Few details are available on the consumption of ectoparasites, specifically bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae), by their chiropteran hosts while grooming. Such details could provide information on the dynamics of host-parasite interactions. This study presents data on ectoparasite ingestion rates for an endemic Malagasy fruit bat (Pteropodidae: Rousettus madagascariensis) occupying a cave day roost colony in northern Madagascar. Using quantified behavioral analyses, grooming and associated ingestion rates were measured from infrared videos taken in close proximity to day-roosting bats. The recorded individual bats could be visually identified to age (adult, juvenile) and sex (male, female), allowing analyses of the proportion of time these different classes allocated to consuming ectoparasites via auto-grooming (self) or allo-grooming (intraspecific) per 10 min video recording session. These figures could then be extrapolated to estimates of individual daily consumption rates. Based on video recordings, adults spent significantly more time auto-grooming and allo-grooming than juveniles. The latter group was not observed consuming ectoparasites. Grooming rates and the average number of ectoparasites consumed per day did not differ between adult males and females. The mean extrapolated number consumed on a daily basis for individual adults was 37 ectoparasites. When these figures are overlaid on the estimated number of adult Rousettus occurring at the roost site during the dry season, the projected daily consumption rate was 57,905 ectoparasites. To the best knowledge of the authors of this study, the details presented here represent the first quantified data on bat consumption rates of their ectoparasites, specifically dipterans. These results provide new insights into host-parasite predation dynamics. More research is needed to explore the mechanism zoonotic diseases isolated from bat flies might be transmitted to their bat hosts, specifically those pathogens that can be communicated via an oral route.

Keywords: diptera, host-parasite interactions, Madagascar, nycteribiidae, pteropodidae, Rousettus madagascariensis

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Fatima Arrutia, Francisco Amador Riera

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The meat industry generates large volumes of blood as a result of meat processing. Several industrial procedures have been implemented in order to treat this by-product, but are focused on the production of low-value products, and in many cases, blood is simply discarded as waste. Besides, in addition to economic interests, there is an environmental concern due to bloodborne pathogens and other chemical contaminants found in blood. Consequently, there is a dire need to find extensive uses for blood that can be both applicable to industrial scale and able to yield high value-added products. Blood has been recognized as an important source of protein. The main blood serum protein in mammals is serum albumin. One of the top trends in food market is functional foods. Among them, bioactive peptides can be obtained from protein sources by microbiological fermentation or enzymatic and chemical hydrolysis. Bioactive peptides are short amino acid sequences that can have a positive impact on health when administered. The main drawback for bioactive peptide production is the high cost of the isolation, purification and characterization techniques (such as chromatography and mass spectrometry) that make unaffordable the scale-up. On the other hand, membrane technologies are very suitable to apply to the industry because they offer a very easy scale-up and are low-cost technologies, compared to other traditional separation methods. In this work, the possibility of obtaining bioactive peptide fractions from serum albumin by means of a simple procedure of only 2 steps (hydrolysis and membrane filtration) was evaluated, as an exploratory study for possible industrial application. The methodology used in this work was, firstly, a tryptic hydrolysis of serum albumin in order to release the peptides from the protein. The protein was previously subjected to a thermal treatment in order to enhance the enzyme cleavage and thus the peptide yield. Then, the obtained hydrolysate was filtered through a nanofiltration/ultrafiltration flat rig at three different pH values with two different membrane materials, so as to compare membrane performance. The corresponding permeates were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry technology in order to obtain the peptide sequences present in each permeate. Finally, different concentrations of every permeate were evaluated for their in vitro antihypertensive and antioxidant activities though ACE-inhibition and DPPH radical scavenging tests. The hydrolysis process with the previous thermal treatment allowed achieving a degree of hydrolysis of the 49.66% of the maximum possible. It was found that peptides were best transmitted to the permeate stream at pH values that corresponded to their isoelectric points. Best selectivity between peptide groups was achieved at basic pH values. Differences in peptide content were found between membranes and also between pH values for the same membrane. The antioxidant activity of all permeates was high compared with the control only for the highest dose. However, antihypertensive activity was best for intermediate concentrations, rather than higher or lower doses. Therefore, although differences between them, all permeates were promising regarding antihypertensive and antioxidant properties.

Keywords: bioactive peptides, bovine serum albumin, hydrolysis, membrane filtration

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Wan-Ling Jiang, Hsin Chi, Jia-Lu Cheng, Ming-Fang Cheng

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Background: Investigating the risk factors for the fecal carriage of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E.coli could contribute to further disease prevention. Previous research on third-generation cephalosporin-resistant prevalence in children in different regions of Taiwan is limited. This project aims to explore the risk factors and regional differences in the prevalence of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant and other antibiotic-resistant E. coli in the northern, southern, and eastern regions of Taiwan. Methods: We collected data from children aged 0 to 18 from community or outpatient clinics from July 2022 to May 2023 in southern, northern, and eastern Taiwan. The questionnaire was designed to survey the characteristics of participants and possible risk factors, such as clinical information, household environment, drinking water, and food habits. After collecting fecal samples and isolating stool culture with E.coli, antibiotic sensitivity tests and MLST typing were performed. Questionnaires were used to analyze the risk factors of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E. coli in the three different regions of Taiwan. Results: In the total 246 stool samples, third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E.coli accounted for 37.4% (97/246) of all isolates. Among the three different regions of Taiwan, the highest prevalence of fecal carriage with third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E.coli was observed in southern Taiwan (42.7%), followed by northern Taiwan (35.5%) and eastern Taiwan (28.4%). Multi-drug resistant E. coli had prevalence rates of 51.9%, 66.3%, and 37.1% in the northern, southern, and eastern regions, respectively. MLST typing revealed that ST131 was the most prevalent type (11.8%). The prevalence of ST131 in northern, southern, and eastern Taiwan was 10.1%, 12.3%, and 13.2%, respectively. Risk factors analysis identified lower paternal education, overweight status, and non-vegetarian diet as statistical significance risk factors for third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E.coli. Conclusion: The fecal carriage rates of antibiotic-resistant E. coli among Taiwanese children were on the rise. This study found regional disparities in the prevalence of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant and multi-drug-resistant E. coli, with southern Taiwan having the highest prevalence. Lower paternal education, overweight, and non-vegetarian diet were the potential risk factors of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E. coli in this study.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, fecal carriage, antimicrobial resistance, risk factors, prevalence

Procedia PDF Downloads 46

Authors: Eugene Y. C. Wong

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The increased market competition, customer expectation, and warehouse operating cost in third-party logistics have motivated the continuous exploration in improving operation efficiency in warehouse logistics. Cargo tracing in ordering picking process consumes excessive time for warehouse operators when handling enormous quantities of goods flowing through the warehouse each day. Internet of Things (IoT) with mobile cargo tracing apps and database management systems are developed this research to facilitate and reduce the cargo tracing time in order picking process of a third-party logistics firm. An operation review is carried out in the firm with opportunities for improvement being identified, including inaccurate inventory record in warehouse management system, excessive tracing time on stored products, and product misdelivery. The facility layout has been improved by modifying the designated locations of various types of products. The relationship among the pick and pack processing time, cargo tracing time, delivery accuracy, inventory turnover, and inventory count operation time in the warehouse are evaluated. The correlation of the factors affecting the overall cycle time is analysed. A mobile app is developed with the use of MIT App Inventor and the Access management database to facilitate cargo tracking anytime anywhere. The information flow framework from warehouse database system to cloud computing document-sharing, and further to the mobile app device is developed. The improved performance on cargo tracing in the order processing cycle time of warehouse operators have been collected and evaluated. The developed mobile voice picking and tracking systems brings significant benefit to the third-party logistics firm, including eliminating unnecessary cargo tracing time in order picking process and reducing warehouse operators overtime cost. The mobile tracking device is further planned to enhance the picking time and cycle count of warehouse operators with voice picking system in the developed mobile apps as future development.

Keywords: warehouse, order picking process, cargo tracing, mobile app, third-party logistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Rohit Shrivastava, Stefan Luding

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A mechanical wave is propagation of vibration with transfer of energy and momentum. Studying the energy as well as spectral energy characteristics of a propagating wave through disordered granular media can assist in understanding the overall properties of wave propagation through inhomogeneous materials like soil. The study of these properties is aimed at modeling wave propagation for oil, mineral or gas exploration (seismic prospecting) or non-destructive testing for the study of internal structure of solids. The study of Energy content (Kinetic, Potential and Total Energy) of a pulse propagating through an idealized one-dimensional discrete particle system like a mass disordered granular chain can assist in understanding the energy attenuation due to disorder as a function of propagation distance. The spectral analysis of the energy signal can assist in understanding dispersion as well as attenuation due to scattering in different frequencies (scattering attenuation). The selection of one-dimensional granular chain also helps in studying only the P-wave attributes of the wave and removing the influence of shear or rotational waves. Granular chains with different mass distributions have been studied, by randomly selecting masses from normal, binary and uniform distributions and the standard deviation of the distribution is considered as the disorder parameter, higher standard deviation means higher disorder and lower standard deviation means lower disorder. For obtaining macroscopic/continuum properties, ensemble averaging has been used. Interpreting information from a Total Energy signal turned out to be much easier in comparison to displacement, velocity or acceleration signals of the wave, hence, indicating a better analysis method for wave propagation through granular materials. Increasing disorder leads to faster attenuation of the signal and decreases the Energy of higher frequency signals transmitted, but at the same time the energy of spatially localized high frequencies also increases. An ordered granular chain exhibits ballistic propagation of energy whereas, a disordered granular chain exhibits diffusive like propagation, which eventually becomes localized at long periods of time.

Keywords: discrete elements, energy attenuation, mass disorder, granular chain, spectral energy, wave propagation

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Authors: Zhiqiang Yan, Chen Fan, Yafei Wang, Beicheng Xia

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Urban lakes play an invaluable role in urban water systems such as flood control, water supply, and public recreation. However, over 38% of the urban lakes have suffered from severe eutrophication in China. Chlorine that could remarkably inhibit the growth of phytoplankton in eutrophic, has been widely used in the agricultural, aquaculture and industry in the recent past. However, little information has been reported regarding the effects of chlorine on the lake ecosystem, especially on the main aquatic species.To investigate the ecological response of main aquatic species and system stability to chlorine interference in shallow urban lakes, a mini system dynamic model was developed based on the competition and predation of main aquatic species and total phosphorus circulation. The main species of submerged macrophyte, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, spiroggra and total phosphorus in water and sediment were used as variables in the model,while the interference of chlorine on phytoplankton was represented by an exponential attenuation equation. Furthermore, the eco-exergy expressing the development degree of ecosystem was used to quantify the complexity of the shallow urban lake. The model was validated using the data collected in the Lotus Lake in Guangzhoufrom1 October 2015 to 31 January 2016.The correlation coefficient (R), root mean square error-observations standard deviation ratio (RSR) and index of agreement (IOA) were calculated to evaluate accuracy and reliability of the model.The simulated values showed good qualitative agreement with the measured values of all components. The model results showed that chlorine had a notable inhibitory effect on Microcystis aeruginos，Rachionus plicatilis, Diaphanosoma brachyurum Liévin and Mesocyclops leuckarti (Claus).The outbreak of Spiroggra.spp. inhibited the growth of Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara, leading to a gradual decrease of eco-exergy and the breakdown of ecosystem internal equilibria. This study gives important insight into using chlorine to achieve eutrophication control and understand mechanism process.

Keywords: system dynamic model, urban lake, chlorine, eco-exergy

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Authors: Pamela Tancsik

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The stage production in 2018, titled ‘From‘Marikana to Mahagonny’, began with a prologue in the form of the award-winning documentary ‘Miners Shot Down' by Rehad Desai, followed by Brecht/Weill’s song play or scenic cantata ‘Mahagonny’, premièred in Baden-Baden 1927. The central directorial concept of the DUT musical production ‘From Marikana to Mahagonny’ was to show a connection between the socio-political alienation of mineworkers in present-day South Africa and Brecht’s alienation effect in his scenic cantata ‘Mahagonny’. Marikana is a mining town about 50 km west of South Africa’s capital Pretoria. Mahagonny is a fantasy name for a utopian mining town in the United States. The characters, setting, and lyrics refer to America with of songs like ‘Benares’ and ‘Moon of Alabama’ and the use of typical American inventions such as dollars, saloons, and the telephone. The six singing characters in ‘Mahagonny’ all have typical American names: Charlie, Billy, Bobby, Jimmy, and the two girls they meet later are called Jessie and Bessie. The four men set off to seek Mahagonny. For them, it is the ultimate dream destination promising the fulfilment of all their desires, such as girls, alcohol, and dollars – in short, materialistic goals. Instead of finding a paradise, they experience how money and the practice of exploitive capitalism, and the lack of any moral and humanity is destroying their lives. In the end, Mahagonny gets demolished by a hurricane, an event which happened in 1926 in the United States. ‘God’ in person arrives disillusioned and bitter, complaining about violent and immoral mankind. In the end, he sends them all to hell. Charlie, Billy, Bobby, and Jimmy reply that this punishment does not mean anything to them because they have already been in hell for a long time – hell on earth is a reality, so the threat of hell after life is meaningless. Human life was also taken during the stand-off between striking mineworkers and the South African police on 16 August 2012. Miners from the Lonmin Platinum Mine went on an illegal strike, equipped with bush knives and spears. They were striking because their living conditions had never improved; they still lived in muddy shacks with no running water and electricity. Wages were as low as R4,000 (South African Rands), equivalent to just over 200 Euro per month. By August 2012, the negotiations between Lonmin management and the mineworkers’ unions, asking for a minimum wage of R12,500 per month, had failed. Police were sent in by the Government, and when the miners did not withdraw, the police shot at them. 34 were killed, some by bullets in their backs while running away and trying to hide behind rocks. In the musical play ‘From Marikana to Mahagonny’ audiences in South Africa are confronted with a documentary about Marikana, followed by Brecht/Weill’s scenic cantata, highlighting the tragic parallels between the Mahagonny story and characters from 1927 America and the Lonmin workers today in South Africa, showing that in 95 years, capitalism has not changed.

Keywords: alienation, brecht/Weill, mahagonny, marikana/South Africa, musical theatre

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Nyong Princely Awazi, Gadinga Walter Forje, Barnabas Neba Nfornkah, Ndzifon Jude Kimengsi

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Ecotourism is documented as a sustainable measure of bridging conservation goals and livelihood sustenance around protected areas, due to its ability of not just providing alternative livelihood, but also in providing the necessary resources that can help finance conservation initiatives. In Cameroon, all ecotourism activities around national parks are aimed at generating revenue through the conservation service while providing sustainable livelihood options to the local population. There exists an information lacuna regarding the contribution of ecotourism finances to conservation efforts in the country. This study was aimed at establishing the contribution of ecotourism finances to conservation initiatives in and around the Campo Ma’an National Park (CMNP). Data were collected through the administering of 120 structured questionnaires to ecotourism actors and 15 key/expert interviews with tourism and conservation actors in the Campo Ma’an landscape. Chi-square test, Spearman’s rank correlation and regressions were used for data analysis. The study revealed that the main sources of ecotourism financing to the park service are through entrance fees, cameras and vehicle fees paid by tourists as well as ecotourism project financing through NGOs. Calculations from the tourism register of the park showed that the park was able to raise as much as 1,576,000 FCFA (US$ 3,152) annually. It was further established that ecotourism revenue has not greatly supported conservation, with 54% of respondents perceiving ecotourism not contributing to biodiversity conservation. Chi Square test results highlighted poor ecotourism governance, low level of ecotourism development, corruption from park management staff, obsolete nature of the current finance law on the management of protected area revenue as key factors hindering ecotourism financing in conservation. For ecotourism financing to contribute to biodiversity conservation in the CMNP and in Cameroon’s protected areas, the government needs to revise the finance law on the management of revenue generated from protected areas, improve park governance to fight corruption and enhance transparency, invest in the development and marketing of the Campo Ma’an national park as a tourism destination in the country.

Keywords: Cameroon, Campo Ma’an National Park, conservation, ecotourism, ecotourism financing

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Authors: Jinlu Ruan, Liang Chen, Bo Liu, Xiaoping Ouyang, Zhichao Zhu, Zhongbing Zhang, Shiyi He, Mengxuan Xu

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Plastic scintillators play an important role in the measurement of a mixed neutron/gamma pulsed radiation, neutron radiography and pulse shape discrimination technology. In some research, these luminescent properties are necessary that photons produced by the interactions between a plastic scintillator and radiations can be detected as much as possible by the photoelectric detectors and more photons can be emitted from the scintillators along a specific direction where detectors are located. Unfortunately, a majority of these photons produced are trapped in the plastic scintillators due to the total internal reflection (TIR), because there is a significant light-trapping effect when the incident angle of internal scintillation light is larger than the critical angle. Some of these photons trapped in the scintillator may be absorbed by the scintillator itself and the others are emitted from the edges of the scintillator. This makes the light extraction of plastic scintillators very low. Moreover, only a small portion of the photons emitted from the scintillator easily can be detected by detectors effectively, because the distribution of the emission directions of this portion of photons exhibits approximate Lambertian angular profile following a cosine emission law. Therefore, enhancing the light extraction efficiency and adjusting the emission angular profile become the keys for improving the number of photons detected by the detectors. In recent years, photonic crystal structures have been covered on inorganic scintillators to enhance the light extraction efficiency and adjust the angular profile of scintillation light successfully. However, that, preparation methods of photonic crystals will deteriorate performance of plastic scintillators and even destroy the plastic scintillators, makes the investigation on preparation methods of photonic crystals for plastic scintillators and luminescent properties of plastic scintillators with photonic crystal structures inadequate. Although we have successfully made photonic crystal structures covered on the surface of plastic scintillators by a modified self-assembly technique and achieved a great enhance of light extraction efficiency without evident angular-dependence for the angular profile of scintillation light, the preparation of photonic crystal structures with large area (the diameter is larger than 6cm) and perfect periodic structure is still difficult. In this paper, large area photonic crystals on the surface of scintillators were prepared by nanoimprint lithography firstly, and then a conformal layer with material of high refractive index on the surface of photonic crystal by atomic layer deposition technique in order to enhance the stability of photonic crystal structures and increase the number of leaky modes for improving the light extraction efficiency. The luminescent properties of the plastic scintillator with photonic crystals prepared by the mentioned method are compared with those of the plastic scintillator without photonic crystal. The results indicate that the number of photons detected by detectors is increased by the enhanced light extraction efficiency and the angular profile of scintillation light exhibits evident angular-dependence for the scintillator with photonic crystals. The mentioned preparation of photonic crystals is beneficial to scintillation detection applications and lays an important technique foundation for the plastic scintillators to meet special requirements under different application backgrounds.

Keywords: angular profile, atomic layer deposition, light extraction efficiency, plastic scintillator, photonic crystal

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Authors: Arunas Emeljanovas, Brigita Mieziene, Tomas Venckunas

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Background statement: Level of aerobic capacity in school age children provides important information about the current and future cardiovascular, skeletal and mental health. It is widely recognised that risk factors for modern chronic diseases of the adults have their origins in childhood and adolescence. The aim of the study was to analyse the trends of aerobic capacity across decades within groups of gender and age. Methods. The research included data of participants from the three nationally representative cohort studies performed in Lithuania in the years 1992, 2002 and 2012 among 11 to 18-years-old school children. Total of 18,294 school children were recruited for testing. Only those who had their body weight and height measured and completed 20 m shuttle endurance test were included in the analysis. The total number of students included in the analyses was 15,213 (7608 boys and 7605 girls). The permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Lithuanian Bioethics Committee (permission number BE-2-45). Major findings: Results are performed across gender and age groups. The comparison of shuttle endurance test, controlling for body mass index, indicated that in general there is a constant decrease of aerobic capacity across decades in both genders and age groups. The deterioration in aerobic capacity in boys accounted for 17 to 43 percent across age groups within decades. The biggest decrease was in 14 years-old boys. The deterioration in girls accounted for 19 to 37 percent across age groups with the highest decrease in 11 years-old girls. Though, girls had lower levels of aerobic capacity through all age groups and across three decades. Body mass index, as a covariate, accounted for up to six percent in deterioration of aerobic capacity. Final statement: The detected relationships may reflect the level and pattern of engagement in physical activity and sports where increased activity associates with superior performance in the tests because of the upregulated physiological function and instigated competitive/motivational level. The significance of the decade indirectly supports the importance of the recently changed activity among schoolchildren for this relationship.

Keywords: aerobic capacity, cardiovascular health, endurance, school age children

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: S. A. Krutovertsev, A. E. Tarasova, L. S. Krutovertseva, O. M. Ivanova

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The aim of the work was to get stable sensitive films with good sensitivity to ethanolamine (C2H7NO) in air. Ethanolamine is used as adsorbent in different processes of gas purification and separation. Besides it has wide industrial application. Chemical sensors of sorption type are widely used for gas analysis. Their behavior is determined by sensor characteristics of sensitive sorption layer. Forming conditions and characteristics of chemical gas sensors based on nanostructured modified silica films activated by different admixtures have been studied. As additives molybdenum containing polyoxometalates of the eighteen series were incorporated in silica films. The method of hydrolythic polycondensation from tetraethyl orthosilicate solutions was used for forming such films in this work. The method’s advantage is a possibility to introduce active additives directly into an initial solution. This method enables to obtain sensitive thin films with high specific surface at room temperature. Particular properties make polyoxometalates attractive as active additives for forming of gas-sensitive films. As catalyst of different redox processes, they can either accelerate the reaction of the matrix with analyzed gas or interact with it, and it results in changes of matrix’s electrical properties Polyoxometalates based films were deposited on the test structures manufactured by microelectronic planar technology with interdigitated electrodes. Modified silica films were deposited by a casting method from solutions based on tetraethyl orthosilicate and polyoxometalates. Polyoxometalates were directly incorporated into initial solutions. Composite nanostructured films were deposited by drop casting method on test structures with a pair of interdigital metal electrodes formed at their surface. The sensor’s active area was 4.0 x 4.0 mm, and electrode gap was egual 0.08 mm. Morphology of the layers surface were studied with Solver-P47 scanning probe microscope (NT-MDT, Russia), the infrared spectra were investigated by a Bruker EQUINOX 55 (Germany). The conditions of film formation varied during the tests. Electrical parameters of the sensors were measured electronically in real-time mode. Films had highly developed surface with value of 450 m2/g and nanoscale pores. Thickness of them was 0,2-0,3 µm. The study shows that the conditions of the environment affect markedly the sensors characteristics, which can be improved by choosing of the right procedure of forming and processing. Addition of polyoxometalate into silica film resulted in stabilization of film mass and changed markedly of electrophysical characteristics. Availability of Mn3P2Mo18O62 into silica film resulted in good sensitivity and selectivity to ethanolamine. Sensitivity maximum was observed at weight content of doping additive in range of 30–50% in matrix. With ethanolamine concentration changing from 0 to 100 ppm films’ conductivity increased by 10-12 times. The increase of sensor’s sensitivity was received owing to complexing reaction of tested substance with cationic part of polyoxometalate. This fact results in intramolecular redox reaction which sharply change electrophysical properties of polyoxometalate. This process is reversible and takes place at room temperature.

Keywords: ethanolamine, gas analysis, polyoxometalate, silica film

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Authors: David Serero, Loic Couton, Jean-Denis Parisse, Robert Leroy

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This paper presents an analysis method of airflow at the periphery of several typologies of architectural volumes. To understand the complexity of the urban environment on the airflows in the city, we compared three sites at different architectural scale. The research sets a method to identify the optimal location for the installation of wind turbines on the edges of a building and to achieve an improvement in the performance of energy extracted by precise localization of an accelerating wing called “aero foil”. The objective is to define principles for the installation of wind turbines and natural ventilation design of buildings. Instead of theoretical winds analysis, we combined numerical aeraulic simulations using STAR CCM + software with wind data, over long periods of time (greater than 1 year). If airflows computer fluid analysis (CFD) simulation of buildings are current, we have calibrated a virtual wind tunnel with wind data using in situ anemometers (to establish localized cartography of urban winds). We can then develop a complete volumetric model of the behavior of the wind on a roof area, or an entire urban island. With this method, we can categorize: - the different types of wind in urban areas and identify the minimum and maximum wind spectrum, - select the type of harvesting devices - fixing to the roof of a building, - the altimetry of the device in relation to the levels of the roofs - The potential nuisances around. This study is carried out from the recovery of a geolocated data flow, and the connection of this information with the technical specifications of wind turbines, their energy performance and their speed of engagement. Thanks to this method, we can thus define the characteristics of wind turbines to maximize their performance in urban sites and in a turbulent airflow regime. We also study the installation of a wind accelerator associated with buildings. The “aerofoils which are integrated are improvement to control the speed of the air, to orientate it on the wind turbine, to accelerate it and to hide, thanks to its profile, the device on the roof of the building.

Keywords: wind energy harvesting, wind turbine selection, urban wind potential analysis, CFD simulation for architectural design

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Narayan Moger, Divya B., Preethi Jambagi, Krishnaveni C. K., Apsana M. R., B. R. Patil, Basvaraj Bagewadi

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Salinity is one of the major threats to world food security. Considering the requirement for salt tolerant crop plants in the present study was undertaken to clone and transferred the salt tolerant ectA gene from marine ecosystem into agriculture crop system to impart salinity tolerance. Ectoine is the compatible solute which accumulates in the cell membrane, is known to be involved in salt tolerance activity in most of the Halophiles. The present situation is insisting to development of salt tolerant transgenic lines to combat abiotic stress. In this background, the investigation was conducted to develop transgenic tomato lines by cloning and transferring of ectA gene is an ectoine derivative capable of enzymatic action for the production of acetyl-diaminobutyric acid. The gene ectA is involved in maintaining the osmotic balance of plants. The PCR amplified ectA gene (579bp) was cloned into T/A cloning vector (pTZ57R/T). The construct pDBJ26 containing ectA gene was sequenced by using gene specific forward and reverse primers. Sequence was analyzed using BLAST algorithm to check similarity of ectA gene with other isolates. Highest homology of 99.66 per cent was found with ectA gene sequences of isolates Halomonas elongata with the available sequence information in NCBI database. The ectA gene was further sub cloned into pRI101-AN plant expression vector and transferred into E. coli DH5α for its maintenance. Further pDNM27 was mobilized into A. tumefaciens LBA4404 through tri-parental mating system. The recombinant Agrobacterium containing pDNM27 was transferred into tomato plants through In planta plant transformation method. Out of 300 seedlings, co-cultivated only twenty-seven plants were able to well establish under the greenhouse condition. Among twenty-seven transformants only twelve plants showed amplification with gene specific primers. Further work must be extended to evaluate the transformants at T1 and T2 generations for ectoine accumulation, salinity tolerance, plant growth and development and yield.

Keywords: salinity, computable solutes, ectA, transgenic, in planta transformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Duangduen L. Bhanthumnavin, Duchduen E. Bhanthumnavin

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Widening gap between new academic knowledge in all areas and habit of exploring and exploiting this precious information by students causes an alarm and need for urgent prevention. At present, all advanced nations are committed to WHO’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which require some objective achievements by the year 2030 and further. The responsibility has been enforced on university lecturers, in addition to the higher education learning outcomes (HELO). The two groups of goals (SDGs and HELO) can be realized if most university instructors are capable of inculcating some important psychological characteristics and behavioral change in the new generations. Thus, this study aimed at pinpointing the significant factors for additional teaching skills of instructors regardless of the area of study. University lecturers from various parts of Thailand, with the total of 540 persons, participated in this cross-sectional study. Based on interactionism model of behavior antecedents, it covers psychological situational factors, as well as their interaction. Most measuring instruments were summated rating with 10 or more items, each accompanied by a six-point rating scale. All these measures were constructed with acceptable standards. Most of the respondents were volunteers who gave their written responses in a meeting room or conference hall. By applying Multiple Regression Analysis in the total sample as well as in the subsamples of these university instructors, about 70 to 73 predictive percentages with 4 to 6 significant predictors were found. The major dependent variable was instructor’s teaching behavior for inculcating the psycho-moral strength for academic exploration and knowledge application. By performing ANOVA, the less-active instructors were identified as the ones with lower education (Master’s level or lower), the minimal research producers, and the ones with less in-service trainings. The preventive factors for these three groups of instructors were intention to increase the students’ psychological development as well as moral development in their regular teaching classes. In addition, social support from their supervisors and coworkers was also necessary. Recommendations for further research and training are offered and welcomed.

Keywords: psychological inculcation, at-risk instructors, preventive measures, undergraduate teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 51

Authors: Dipanshu Sur, Ratnabali Chakravorty, Rimi Pal, Siddhartha Chatterjee, Joyshree Chaterjee, Amal Mallik

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Background: Women with polycystic ovary disease (PCOD) frequently suffer from metabolic disturbances. PCOD is a common ovulatory disorder in young women, which affects 5-10% of the population and results in infertility due to anovulation. Importantly, aromatase in ovarian granulosa and luteinized granulosa cells plays an important role for women of reproductive age. Generation and metabolism of androgen is directly related to aromatase activity. The E2/T ratio provides important information about aromatase activity because conversion of androgens to estrogens is mediated by CYP19, suggesting that the E2/T ratio may be a direct marker of aromatase activity. The nature of the interaction between ovarian aromatase activity and PCOD in women has been controversial, and the impact of weight gain on aromatase activity as well as E2 levels is unknown. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the association and relation between aromatase activity and levels of body mass index (BMI) from a reproductive hormone perspective in a group of women with or without PCOD. Methods: We designed a cohort study which included 200 individuals. It enrolled 100 cases of PCOD based on 2006 Rotterdam criteria and 100 ovulatory normal- non PCOD, healthy, age-matched controls. Plasma sex hormones viz. estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured by ELISA on the second day of the menstrual cycle, together with BMI and E2/T were calculated. Aromatase activity in PCOD patients with different BMI, T and E2 levels were compared. Results: PCOD patients showed significantly increased levels of BMI, E2 (P=0.004), T and LH, while their E2/T (P= <0.001), FSH and FSH/LH values were decreased compared with the control group. Higher E2 levels correlated with a relatively enhanced E2/T as well as T and LH levels but reduced BMI, FSH and FSH/LH levels in women with PCOD. Hyperandrogenic PCOD patients had increased E2 levels but their aromatase activity was markedly inhibited independent of their BMI values. Conclusions: We found a significant decrease of ovarian aromatase activity in women with PCOD as compared to controls. Our study showed that ovarian aromatase activity in PCOD was decreased which was independent of BMI. Enhancing aromatase activity may become an optimized strategy for developing therapies for PCOD women, especially those with obesity.

Keywords: aromatase activity, polycystic ovary disease, obesity, body mass index

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Authors: Arup Dutta, Badrul Alam, Sayed M. Wazed, Taslima Newaz, Srobonti Dutta

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Background: In today's world, with modern science and contemporary technology, a lot of diseases may be quickly identified and ruled out, but children's fever of unknown origin (FUO) still presents diagnostic difficulties in clinical settings. Any fever that reaches 38 °C and lasts for more than seven days without a known cause is now classified as a fever of unknown origin (FUO). Despite tremendous progress in the medical sector, fever of unknown origin, or FOU, persists as a major health issue and a major contributor to morbidity and mortality, particularly in children, and its spectrum is sometimes unpredictable. The etiology is influenced by geographic location, age, socioeconomic level, frequency of antibiotic resistance, and genetic vulnerability. Since there are currently no known diagnostic algorithms, doctors are forced to evaluate each patient one at a time with extreme caution. A persistent fever poses difficulties for both the patient and the doctor. This prospective, observational study was carried out in a Bangladeshi tertiary care hospital from June 2018 to May 2019 with the goal of identifying the epidemiological patterns of fever of unknown origin in pediatric patients. Methods: It was a hospital-based prospective observational study carried out on 106 children (between 2 months and 12 years) with prolonged fever of >38.0 °C lasting for more than 7 days without a clear source. Children with additional chronic diseases or known immunodeficiency problems were not allowed. Clinical practices that helped determine the definitive etiology were assessed. Initial testing included a complete blood count, a routine urine examination, PBF, a chest X-ray, CRP measurement, blood cultures, serology and additional pertinent investigations. The analysis focused mostly on the etiological results. The standard program SPSS 21 was used to analyze all of the study data. Findings: A total of 106 patients identified as having FUO were assessed, with over half (57.5%) being female and the majority (40.6%) falling within the 1 to 3-year age range. The study categorized the etiological outcomes into five groups: infections, malignancies, connective tissue conditions, miscellaneous, and undiagnosed. In the group that was being studied, infections were found to be the main cause in 44.3% of cases. Undiagnosed cases came in at 31.1%, cancers at 10.4%, other causes at 8.5%, and connective tissue disorders at 4.7%. Hepato-splenomegaly was seen in people with enteric fever, malaria, acute lymphoid leukemia, lymphoma, and hepatic abscesses, either by itself or in combination with other conditions. About 53% of people who were not diagnosed also had hepato-splenomegaly at the same time. Conclusion: Infections are the primary cause of PUO (pyrexia of unknown origin) in children, with undiagnosed cases being the second most common cause. An incremental approach is beneficial in the process of diagnosing a condition. Non-invasive examinations are used to diagnose infections and connective tissue disorders, while invasive investigations are used to diagnose cancer and other ailments. According to this study, the prevalence of undiagnosed diseases is still remarkable, so extensive historical analysis and physical examinations are necessary in order to provide a precise diagnosis.

Keywords: children, diagnostic challenges, fever of unknown origin, pediatric fever, undiagnosed diseases

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Authors: Ezil Sam Leni, Shalen S.

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Transport service monitoring and upkeep are essential components of smart city initiatives. The main risks to the relevant departments and authorities are the ever-increasing vehicular traffic and the conditions of the roads. In India, the economy is greatly impacted by the road transport sector. In 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Transport, Government of India, produced a report with statistical data on traffic accidents. The data included the number of fatalities, injuries, and other pertinent criteria. This study proposes a distributed infrastructure for the monitoring, detection, and reporting of potholes to the appropriate authorities. In a distributed environment, the nodes are the edge devices, and local edge servers, and global servers. The edge devices receive the initial model to be employed from the global server. The YOLOv8 model for pothole detection is used in the edge devices. The edge devices run the pothole detection model, gather the pothole images on their path, and send the updates to the nearby edge server. The local edge server selects the clients for its aggregation process, aggregates the model updates and sends the updates to the global server. The global server collects the updates from the local edge servers, performs aggregation and derives the updated model. The updated model has the information about the potholes received from the local edge servers and notifies the updates to the local edge servers and concerned authorities for monitoring and maintenance of road conditions. The entire process is implemented in FedCV distributed environment with the implementation using the client-server model and aggregation entities. After choosing the clients for its aggregation process, the local edge server gathers the model updates and transmits them to the global server. After gathering the updates from the regional edge servers, the global server aggregates them and creates the updated model. Performance indicators and the experimentation environment are assessed, discussed, and presented. Accelerometer data may be taken into consideration for improved performance in the future development of this study, in addition to the images captured from the transportation routes.

Keywords: federated Learning, pothole detection, distributed framework, federated averaging

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Tobias Strübing, Fatemeh Ziaeetabar

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Humans usually manipulate objects with their hands. To represent these actions in a simple and understandable way, we need to use a semantic framework. For this purpose, the Semantic Event Chain (SEC) method has already been presented which is done by consideration of touching and non-touching relations between manipulated objects in a scene. This method was improved by a computational model, the so-called enriched Semantic Event Chain (eSEC), which incorporates the information of static (e.g. top, bottom) and dynamic spatial relations (e.g. moving apart, getting closer) between objects in an action scene. This leads to a better action prediction as well as the ability to distinguish between more actions. Each eSEC manipulation descriptor is a huge matrix with thirty rows and a massive set of the spatial relations between each pair of manipulated objects. The current eSEC framework has so far only been used in the category of manipulation actions, which eventually involve two hands. Here, we would like to extend this approach to a whole body action descriptor and make a conjoint activity representation structure. For this purpose, we need to do a statistical analysis to modify the current eSEC by summarizing while preserving its features, and introduce a new version called Enhanced eSEC or (e2SEC). This summarization can be done from two points of the view: 1) reducing the number of rows in an eSEC matrix, 2) shrinking the set of possible semantic spatial relations. To achieve these, we computed the importance of each matrix row in an statistical way, to see if it is possible to remove a particular one while all manipulations are still distinguishable from each other. On the other hand, we examined which semantic spatial relations can be merged without compromising the unity of the predefined manipulation actions. Therefore by performing the above analyses, we made the new e2SEC framework which has 20% fewer rows, 16.7% less static spatial and 11.1% less dynamic spatial relations. This simplification, while preserving the salient features of a semantic structure in representing actions, has a tremendous impact on the recognition and prediction of complex actions, as well as the interactions between humans and robots. It also creates a comprehensive platform to integrate with the body limbs descriptors and dramatically increases system performance, especially in complex real time applications such as human-robot interaction prediction.

Keywords: enriched semantic event chain, semantic action representation, spatial relations, statistical analysis

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Authors: Gauri Sreekumar, Sabuj Kumar Mandal

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Contributing about 18% to India’s Gross Domestic Product, the agricultural sector plays a significant role in the Indian rural economy. Despite being the primary source of livelihood for more than half of India’s population, most of them are marginal and small farmers facing several challenges due to agro-climatic shocks. Climate change is expected to increase the risk in the regions that are highly agriculture dependent. With systematic and scientific evidence of changes in rainfall, temperature and other extreme climate events, migration started to emerge as a survival strategy for the farm households. In this backdrop, our present study aims to combine the two strands of literature and attempts to explore whether migration is the only adaptation strategy for the farmers once they experience crop failures due adverse climatic condition. Combining the temperature and rainfall information from the weather data provided by the Indian Meteorological Department with the household level panel data on Indian states belonging to the Eastern and Semi-Arid Tropics regions from the Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) collected by the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics, we form a rich panel data for the years 2010-2014. A Recursive Econometric Model is used to establish the three-way nexus between climate change-yield-migration while addressing the role of irrigation and local non-farm income diversification. Using Three Stage Least Squares Estimation method, we find that climate change induced yield loss is a major driver of farmers’ migration. However, irrigation and local level non-farm income diversification are found to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on migration. Based on our empirical results, we suggest for enhancing irrigation facilities and making local non-farm income diversification opportunities available to increase farm productivity and thereby reduce farmers’ migration.

Keywords: climate change, migration, adaptation, mitigation

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Authors: Nafiseh Mirabdolhosseini, Jerry Zhou, Vincent Ho

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The dramatic global rise in acid reflux has also led to oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) becoming the fastest-growing cancer in developed countries. While gastroscopy with biopsy is used to diagnose OAC patients, this labour-intensive and expensive process is not suitable for population screening. This study aims to design, develop, and implement a minimally invasive system to capture optical data of the distal oesophagus for rapid screening of potential abnormalities. To develop the system and understand user requirements, a user-centric approach was employed by utilising co-design strategies. Target users’ segments were identified, and 38 patients and 14 health providers were interviewed. Next, the technical requirements were developed based on consultations with the industry. A minimally invasive optical system was designed and developed considering patient comfort. This system consists of the sensing catheter, controller unit, and analysis program. Its procedure only takes 10 minutes to perform and does not require cleaning afterward since it has a single-use catheter. A prototype system was evaluated for safety and efficacy for both laboratory and clinical performance. This prototype performed successfully when submerged in simulated gastric fluid without showing evidence of erosion after 24 hours. The system effectively recorded a video of the mid-distal oesophagus of a healthy volunteer (34-year-old male). The recorded images were used to develop an automated program to identify abnormalities in the distal oesophagus. Further data from a larger clinical study will be used to train the automated program. This system allows for quick visual assessment of the lower oesophagus in primary care settings and can serve as a screening tool for oesophageal adenocarcinoma. In addition, this system is able to be coupled with 24hr ambulatory pH monitoring to better correlate oesophageal physiological changes with reflux symptoms. It also can provide additional information on lower oesophageal sphincter functions such as opening times and bolus retention.

Keywords: endoscopy, MedTech, oesophageal adenocarcinoma, optical system, screening tool

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Authors: S. Behnia, S. Fathizadeh, A. Akhshani

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In the recent decades, DNA has increasingly interested in the potential technological applications that not directly related to the coding for functional proteins that is the expressed in form of genetic information. One of the most interesting applications of DNA is related to the construction of nanostructures of high complexity, design of functional nanostructures in nanoelectronical devices, nanosensors and nanocercuits. In this field, DNA is of fundamental interest to the development of DNA-based molecular technologies, as it possesses ideal structural and molecular recognition properties for use in self-assembling nanodevices with a definite molecular architecture. Also, the robust, one-dimensional flexible structure of DNA can be used to design electronic devices, serving as a wire, transistor switch, or rectifier depending on its electronic properties. In order to understand the mechanism of the charge transport along DNA sequences, numerous studies have been carried out. In this regard, conductivity properties of DNA molecule could be investigated in a simple, but chemically specific approach that is intimately related to the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. In SSH model, the non-diagonal matrix element dependence on intersite displacements is considered. In this approach, the coupling between the charge and lattice deformation is along the helix. This model is a tight-binding linear nanoscale chain established to describe conductivity phenomena in doped polyethylene. It is based on the assumption of a classical harmonic interaction between sites, which is linearly coupled to a tight-binding Hamiltonian. In this work, the Hamiltonian and corresponding motion equations are nonlinear and have high sensitivity to initial conditions. Then, we have tried to move toward the nonlinear dynamics and phase space analysis. Nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, regardless of any approximation, could open new horizons to understand the conductivity mechanism in DNA. For a detailed study, we have tried to study the current flowing in DNA and investigated the characteristic I-V diagram. As a result, It is shown that there are the (quasi-) ohmic areas in I-V diagram. On the other hand, the regions with a negative differential resistance (NDR) are detectable in diagram.

Keywords: DNA conductivity, Landauer resistance, negative dierential resistance, Chaos theory, mean Lyapunov exponent

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Authors: Sonika Sharma, Mohan G. Vairale, Sibnarayan Datta, Soumya Chatterjee, Dharmendra Dubey, Rajesh Prasad, Raghvendra Budhauliya, Bidisha Das, Vijay Veer

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Bacteriophages are viruses that parasitize specific bacteria and multiply in metabolising host bacteria. Bacteriophages hunt for a single or a subset of bacterial species, making them potential antibacterial agents. Utilizing the ability of phages to control bacterial populations has several applications from medical to the fields of agriculture, aquaculture and the food industry. However, harnessing phage based techniques in wastewater treatments to improve quality of effluent and sludge release into the environment is a potential area for R&D application. Phage mediated bactericidal effect in any wastewater treatment process has many controlling factors that lead to treatment performance. In laboratory conditions, titer of bacteriophages (coliphages) isolated from effluent water of a specially designed anaerobic digester of human night soil (DRDO Biotoilet) was successfully increased with a modified protocol of the classical double layer agar technique. Enrichment of the same was carried out and efficacy of the phage enriched medium was evaluated at different conditions (specific media, temperature, storage conditions). Growth optimization study was carried out on different media like soybean casein digest medium (Tryptone soya medium), Luria-Bertani medium, phage deca broth medium and MNA medium (Modified nutrient medium). Further, temperature-phage yield relationship was also observed at three different temperatures 27˚C, 37˚C and 44˚C at laboratory condition. Results showed the higher activity of coliphage 27˚C and at 37˚C. Further, addition of divalent ions (10mM MgCl2, 5mM CaCl2) and 5% glycerol resulted in a significant increase in phage titer. Besides this, effect of antibiotics addition like ampicillin and kanamycin at different concentration on plaque formation was analysed and reported that ampicillin at a concentration of 1mg/ml ampicillin stimulates phage infection and results in more number of plaques. Experiments to test viability of phage showed that it can remain active for 6 months at 4˚C in fresh tryptone soya broth supplemented with fresh culture of coliforms (early log phase). The application of bacteriophages (especially coliphages) for treatment of effluent of human faecal matter contaminated effluent water is unique. This environment-friendly treatment system not only reduces the pathogenic coliforms, but also decreases the competition between nuisance bacteria and functionally important microbial populations. Therefore, the phage based cocktail to treat fecal pathogenic bacteria present in black water has many implication in wastewater treatment processes including ‘DRDO Biotoilet’, which is an ecofriendly appropriate and affordable human faecal matter treatment technology for different climates and situations.

Keywords: wastewater, microbes, virus, biotoilet, phage viability

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Authors: Philipp Galkin

Abstract:

Government policy is a critical factor in the understanding of energy markets. Regardless, it is rarely approached systematically from a research perspective. Gaining a precise understanding of what policies exist, their intended outcomes, geographical extent, duration, evolution, etc. would enable the research community to answer a variety of questions that, for now, are either oversimplified or ignored. Policy, on its surface, also seems a rather unstructured and qualitative undertaking. There may be quantitative components, but incorporating the concept of policy analysis into quantitative analysis remains a challenge. The KAPSARC Energy Policy Database (KEPD) is intended to address these two energy policy research limitations. Our approach is to represent policies within a quantitative library of the specific policy measures contained within a set of legal documents. Each of these measures is recorded into the database as a single entry characterized by a set of qualitative and quantitative attributes. Initially, we have focused on the major laws at the national level that regulate coal in China. However, KAPSARC is engaged in various efforts to apply this methodology to other energy policy domains. To ensure scalability and sustainability of our project, we are exploring semantic processing using automated computer algorithms. Automated coding can provide a more convenient input data for human coders and serve as a quality control option. Our initial findings suggest that the methodology utilized in KEPD could be applied to any set of energy policies. It also provides a convenient tool to facilitate understanding in the energy policy realm enabling the researcher to quickly identify, summarize, and digest policy documents and specific policy measures. The KEPD captures a wide range of information about each individual policy contained within a single policy document. This enables a variety of analyses, such as structural comparison of policy documents, tracing policy evolution, stakeholder analysis, and exploring interdependencies of policies and their attributes with exogenous datasets using statistical tools. The usability and broad range of research implications suggest a need for the continued expansion of the KEPD to encompass a larger scope of policy documents across geographies and energy sectors.

Keywords: China, energy policy, policy analysis, policy database

Procedia PDF Downloads 306